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Archive through June 01, 2003

The TVClubHouse: Archives: Movies & Library 2003 -2004: Library: June 2003 - April 2004: Mystery fans' thread: Archive through June 01, 2003 users admin

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Hermione69

Wednesday, February 19, 2003 - 5:18 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post    
<I really need to get off the computer! I have been online almost all day!>

Crazydog

Tuesday, February 25, 2003 - 9:16 am   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post    
Just received a collection of 25 or so slightly used Christie paperbacks off of Ebay for what I would have paid for two of them brand new! What a great idea. Thanks again Fluffy for the suggestion. Now I'm just trying to get through the book I'm currently reading so I can start on these! I think I'm going to start with "Thirteen at Dinner". I like the original title "Lord Edgware Dies" better, but I guess it was too English sounding for the original American audience.

Crazydog

Monday, March 17, 2003 - 1:19 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post    
Just finished "Lord Edgware Dies". Liked it a lot. Very surprised by who the killer was. Good fun.

Kstme

Thursday, March 20, 2003 - 8:19 am   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post    
I've been in a reading frenzy lately. Trying some "new" authors and having a blast! Herm and Crazy...I got most my Ruth Rendel and Peter Robinson books off eBay. So much cheaper!! I also got the complete set of "Inspector Morse" from there.

I LOVE Agatha!! I've got over 50 and reread them off and on! She truly was a master of her craft!

Fluff...I don't what a "drawingroom mystery" is but a cozy mystery (to me) is a quick read that makes you think and you have fun while doing it!LOL

I have just ordered the "Miss Julia" series. Understand they are on the floor funny!!

I like the Jill Churchill series about the "Grace and Favor" house.

I'm reading "Death, Lies and Apple Pies" right now and it is cute!! Thanks!

Fluffybbw

Thursday, March 20, 2003 - 9:17 am   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post    
To me Kstme, a drawingroom mystery is the one where everyone is very English, very proper, very little blood is shed, poison is usually the method used most for murder. The person who solves the crime is very often an older women, very frail looking but very witty and wise. You learn alot about the characters, alot of verbal interaction takes place between the characters.

Usually no fast car chases, actually very little running takes place until the very end. And generally all the prime players in the drama gather in the library or drawingroom of the big manor house and the killer is revealed.

I just got the first four mysteries in the "Death, Lies and Apple Pies" series off Ebay.

Fluffybbw

Thursday, March 20, 2003 - 9:40 am   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post    
Kstme I think your definition of a "cosy" is exactly right, they are thinking mysteries and I always have fun while reading them!!

Try Patricia Wentworth's Miss Silver mysteries or some of Mary Roberts Rinehart's books sometime, they are great cosy reads!

Kstme

Thursday, March 20, 2003 - 9:48 am   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post    
Fluff...YES!! I totally agree!! The "Grace and Favor" Mysteries are like that. They take place during the depression, in NY state, but really have that English flare to them.

Has anyone read any Cynthia Harrod-Eagles books?? I have not but she was recommended.

I bought a book last week called "An English Mystery" by Doughty. Haven't read it yet. The reviews are all over the board from "fantastic" to "the worst I've ever read!" hmmmm

One more question. Has anyone read Caroline Graham? The "Midsomer Murder" series? I've been watching the TV series on A&E and love them.

Kstme

Thursday, March 20, 2003 - 9:55 am   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post    
Fluff...for some reason I've steered away from Wentworth. Don't have a clue as to why. I will definitely look up her Ms. Silver series! I've never heard of Rinehart. I will look her up also! THANK YOU!!!!

It was funny. The other night, my dh and I were talking about how, before JA Jance, the only woman author I would read was Ms. Agatha...LOL Women authors have really come into their own and sometimes write better than men!!!!

I still pick through my old John McDonald books.

Parker has lost his edge with Spencer lately and I'm still not too sure about Sunny Randall. Do not like the other series he's writing (can't even remember the character's name!).

Kstme

Tuesday, March 25, 2003 - 9:27 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post    
Ahmmmm...guess no one had the answers to my questions

I read the new "Aunt Dimity" book today. It was a treat!! Nancy Atherton just writes a fun book!!
I'm not talking rocket-science but it took a bit to figure out "who" and "why"...I should have picked it up sooner but...LOL

Kstme

Friday, April 04, 2003 - 1:49 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post    
I finished the third "Grace and Favor" mystery yesterday. I really love the way Jill Churchill writes. She seems to find so many interesting things about the 1930s to weave into her stories.

This time she used "The Bonus Marches" as a way to promote the newspaper editor. I found the subject so fascinating I looked it up on Google. It was very interesting and very sad!

I've read two of the "Inspector Banks" novels and love them. Real British crime, not "cozies", yet worth the read. Both books have grabbed me from the beginning and I haven't wanted to take my necessary breaks!LOL

Kstme

Tuesday, April 08, 2003 - 4:21 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post    
Just finished the new "Murder, She Wrote" "Majoring in Murder." Easy and fast read. Standard for the series yet better than the last two. Donald Bain seemed to put an edge in this one that I liked.

Why am I the only person posting in this thread?

Kstme

Monday, April 14, 2003 - 4:52 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post    
I'm keeping this thread going...barely...

Two books I read over the weekend..."Mrs. Jefferies Pleads Her Case" by Emily Brightwell and "Gunpowder Green" by Laura Childs.

Both were worth my time. I always love Mrs Jefferies! Victorian Murder Mysteries with comedic undertones. I, seriously, did not "get it" until the end!

"Gunpowder Green" I had figured out right away but it was fun reading how it played out.

Maesin just finished "CSI", the first book in this new series. She said it was "pretty cool"...not a real brain-picker, but a decent book!

Crazydog

Wednesday, April 23, 2003 - 7:16 am   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post    
Kstme, I'll try and help you keep the thread alive...

I am making my way through the Agatha Christies I picked up from Ebay. Just finished "The ABC Murders". I thought it was very well done. It seemed odd to me that the apparent murderer appeared to be revealed to the reader early on, but there was so much more to it. Brilliant.

Chai

Sunday, May 11, 2003 - 4:13 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post    
Crazy,

I'm on an Agatha Christie craze, myself, these days! Right now I'm reading "The Murder of Roger Ackroyd". It may turn out to my my favorite all-time book, ever!!! I don't know if I'll figure out whodunnit in this one! There are so many susupicious people with strong motives! I guess I just don't have the "little grey cells" of Poirot!!! LOL!

Dheiner

Monday, May 12, 2003 - 11:08 am   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post    
Lawrence Block.


Scudder and Rhodenbarr.


Read them.

Caroline

Thursday, May 22, 2003 - 11:04 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post    
Been reading Agatha on and off for many, many years ...have to go grab one this weekend...thanks for the reminder.

Thanks also, Dheiner...will check them out.


Chai

Saturday, May 31, 2003 - 9:25 am   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post    
Caroline,
(and everyone else who's been reading Agatha)

Her work is awesome, isn't it? She was truly the Queen of her craft!

Right now I'm reading my first ever Cornwell (Kay Scarpetta series), Unnatural Exposure. Cornwell has been so hugely popular, and now I know why! The book is so well written! I'm amazed at the amount of research she seems to put into her book. I love it, even if it is a bit gory and gruesome! (I wouldn't recommend reading this one while eating! LOL!)

There must be some other Cornwell fans out there!

Tess

Saturday, May 31, 2003 - 8:57 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post    
There are quite a few of us I think, Chai. I've read all of her books so far except for the last one. It's on my shelf of books to read and I expect to get to it this summer.

Bookworm

Saturday, May 31, 2003 - 9:05 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post    
I just discovered Cornwell by accident. One of her books was on clearance at Half Price Books. I really like her too and have read a couple of her books. However the Scarpetta books are a series, so you might check out the first, which I believe is Postmortem. I think I read the last one first (forget the name right now) and then went back and bought some of her earlier ones and read Postmortem next. I love Agatha Christie too.

Hermione69

Sunday, June 01, 2003 - 9:59 am   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post    
Agatha Christie is awesome. I have read every single one of her books and only guessed the murderer ONE time. That was in Sleeping Murder.

I love Patricia Cornwell and I have lived in both the Tidewater and Central areas of the state of Virginia and recognize many of her locations, which is always very cool to me.

She really wigs me out.

I have read a few of Linda Fairstein and enjoyed them, but she doesn't hold a candle to Cornwell, IMHO.

Bookworm

Sunday, June 01, 2003 - 11:40 am   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post    
I checked out patriciacornwell.com and here is the list of her Scarpetta series. This is in what I would call reverse order--from most recently published, back.

The Last Precinct
Black Notice
Point of Origin
Unnatural Exposure
Cause of Death
From Potter's Field
The Body Farm
Cruel and Unusual
All That Remains
Body of Evidence
Postmortem

Bookworm

Sunday, June 01, 2003 - 11:42 am   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post    
.

Ophiliasgrandma

Sunday, June 01, 2003 - 4:04 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post    
I've read all of Cornwell. The Scarpetta series started with a bang, but the author seems to have run out of whatever it was that made the first few so darn good. The past 3 or 4 left me dissatisfied.

And I agree that Cristie was the Queen and King of mysteries!

Tess

Sunday, June 01, 2003 - 7:28 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post    
I have the entire Agatha Christie collection in a matched hard cover set. It took me 2 years to get them all but I'll never give them up. The first Agatha Christie book I read was when I was 12 (And Then There Were None) and I've read every single one---many of them more than once. Like Hermione, I've only guessed the killer correctly one time.

I agree with Ophiliasgrandma regarding the Scarpetta series. I can't say the turning point for me because that would really spoil things for those who haven't read all her books yet. I've struggled to get through The Last Precint but I'm sure I'll pick it up again this summer and finish it off.

I also enjoy Carolyn Hart for some lighter mysteries.

Myjohnhenry

Sunday, June 01, 2003 - 8:31 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post    
Has anyone read Donna Anders books? Ann Rule highly recommends her on her website so I have requested one of her books on tape from the library. The reviews on Amazon look pretty good too although I am worried that they are too much horror for me...we shall see.