Judy’s Comments (group member since Oct 01, 2015)

Judy’s comments from the Reading the Detectives group.

Sorry Neer, I typed your name and didn't spot that Google changed it!

Good to hear, Meet, glad you are enjoying the Jack Haldean book. I heard the author speak at the Bodies from the Library conference in London last year but she wasn't talking about her own books, she was talking about true crime and how it feeds into classic crime fiction.

Neer wrote: "I have just started Dolores Gordon-Smith's As If by Magic, the third in her Jack Haldean series. I remember discussing the first two. Is there a thread for this one too?"

Hi Neer, sorry but there isn't a thread for that one, as we just read the first 2 books in the Jack Haldean series as part of our challenge in 2024 where we tried out a number of modern series. Hope you enjoy it though - I really liked most of this series, though I don't think I've read the last couple of titles.

Great, Susan - I'd be fine to wait until after Harrogate. You must be getting excited about that! Any time that works for you is find by me. :)

Oh good, Sandy, great to hear that you loved it too!

A *lot* of smoking in this book! I suppose it makes a change from Gently eating peppermint creams, but it feels a bit like padding. I sympathised when Gently opened a window!

Hope you enjoy it, Frances. I'm about a third of the way through now and finding it fairly enjoyable, but I agree with the others that I'm not hooked for the whole 40-plus series as yet.

I've started this and am warming to Gently - he seems to have a lot of determination and some dry humour, which I'm enjoying.

I am getting slightly fed up with the peppermint creams already, just a few pages in. But I realise this book was published in 1955, only a couple of years after sweet rationing ended in the UK, so I suppose being able to buy such a lot of sweets would have had novelty value. (Oddly, peppermint creams have also cropped up in another book I'm currently reading!)

The TV series was completely different from this book - set in the north of England during the 1960s, and much darker in tone than this one has been so far, although it is early days.

For anyone wondering what Pellestrina looks like, I found this page with a few good photos:
https://www.visitvenezia.eu/en/veneti...
There are loads of others!

As I've just said over in the other thread, I really liked this book and I think it builds up the tension brilliantly. It was good to see from Elettra's viewpoint, if only briefly, so that she becomes more of a person rather than just a glamorous someone in the office who can find everything on the internet.

I became increasingly frightened that she would die - I was suspicious of her new boyfriend from the start and thought the various twists involving him were very well worked. In the end he is quite heroic and justifies her trust.

What does anyone think of Brunetti's feelings for Elettra? Paola seems slightly jealous but I didn't think he seemed unprofessional for most of the book... but then, late on, he becomes obsessed with her safety at the expense of everyone else's.

Does he go too far in his determination to save her, when he sets out on an almost suicidal mission, but it's another member of his work team who ends up dying? I'm not sure what to think... I was cheering Brunetti on up to that point but then wondered if he had made the right decisions in the face of the storm and all the warnings he is given. A lot of shades of grey here.

I've finished this now and it is probably my favourite in the series so far - a 5-star book for me. I really liked the way the tension builds up, not quite sure how Leon creates such a feeling of menace even when nothing much seems to be happening!

I do agree that there is a feeling of times changing and yet of corruption holding up progress at the same time. Over to the spoiler thread now...

I'm nearly halfway through now and enjoying all the details of life in Pellestrina, although the plot is developing quite slowly. I'm also interested to see that Elettra gets involved in a case.

Did you want to buddy read another Christianna Brand, Susan, and anyone else who's interested? Maybe Cat and Mouse which has just been reprinted in the UK? Sorry just posted this in the non-mystery thread;

Sorry wrong thread! I will copy over to the mystery reading thread.

Did you want to buddy read another Christianna Brand, Susan, and anyone else who's interested? Maybe Cat and Mouse which has just been reprinted in the UK?

Here we go with another new series! Who is reading this one? I've ordered it from the library so should have it soon.

The spoiler thread is linked below:

https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

Mid-month already! Who is reading this one? The spoiler thread is linked below:

https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

Thank you for opening up the threads, Susan. Who is reading this one? I've started it but am not very far in yet.

The spoiler thread is linked below:

https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

They were really interesting, I'd never heard of the Easter mystery tradition in Norway!

Thank you Susan, hope you enjoy it!