Reading the Detectives discussion

Glad to see all the new people. Golden Age detecting lives!! And we are having such fun with it, as you will see!

Judy wrote: "Welcome, Mary, great that you have found us! Discussing Miss Marple all through 2017 should be a lot of fun."really looking forward to this, great to find fellow lovers of Agatha Christie

Ah! I'm home. You can't imagine the joy I feel having found people that love Agatha Christie as much as I do. Actually you probably do, or this goup would not exist. While I adore Miss Marple, I think I have read more of the books with Poirot. I know he was my first. Now I just have to find the subgroup of Whovians still giddy over "The Unicorn and the Wasp".

I loved that one! Donna was by far the best companion, although I did like Rose in hindsight for being normal. I can't abide this trend of having very pretty young Mary Sues who have neither the personal time or the money to look *that* groomed.

Learnin Curve wrote: "I loved that one! Donna was by far the best companion, although I did like Rose in hindsight for being normal. I can't abide this trend of having very pretty young Mary Sues who have neither the pe..."

I always wondered how Clara could afford that house on a teacher's salary. Unless the Doctor bought it, the same as Rory and Amy's house.

Oddly enough I was listening to Roger Allam being interviewed the other day and he said it was always the houses in modern TV shows set in the past which breaks them for him.
Say you have a house set in the sixties, then 9/10 the set dresser will make absolutely sure that the furniture is from that year so no one gets any letters saying "that lamp is from 1972 not 1968 you fools"
Problem is that it means that nice working class couple must have won the pools to have all that up to date modern furniture. *Real* houses in the 1960s had a mish mash of older furniture, some of which would have been inherited, and maybe a couple of new chairs and a new kitchen gadget or two.

I think the point is that the devil is in the details.

Hello my name is Catherine and I have joined after seeing a friend's reading challenge from this group, which I thought I must take part in! I love detective fiction, but particularly the old whodunnits. Having said that, I have only mostly read Agatha Christie so far, even though I began reading those as a teenager! I have also read a Geogette Heyer mystery, a few Margery Allingham, an Edmund Crispin, Josephine Tey etc. I am hoping this group will prompt me to read more of those authors as well as others. I started reading the British Library Crime Classics last year and as well as publishing some forgotten writers from the golden age of detective fiction, they have some gorgeous covers to their books, which reflect the age they hail from.

Welcome Catherine!

Catherine wrote: "Hello my name is Catherine and I have joined after seeing a friend's reading challenge from this group, which I thought I must take part in! I love detective fiction, but particularly the old whodu..."Hi Catherine, lovely to meet here. I have read a lot of Agatha Christie but very little Margery Allingham. lots more to try

Hi Catherine, welcome to the group :)

David wrote: "Ah! I'm home. You can't imagine the joy I feel having found people that love Agatha Christie as much as I do. Actually you probably do, or this goup would not exist. While I adore Miss Marple, I th..."

Welcome David, glad you found us - plenty of Christie in store over the coming year. :) Must confess I haven't read much Poirot as yet but intend to put that right!

Catherine wrote: "Hello my name is Catherine and I have joined after seeing a friend's reading challenge from this group, which I thought I must take part in! I love detective fiction, but particularly the old whodu..."

Welcome Catherine! Glad you've joined and are planning to join in with our challenge. I also love the British Library Crime Classics and agree about the gorgeous covers.

Thank you guys. : )

Welcome Catherine and David! For golden age mystery lovers, this place is Home Sweet Home! I am finding new authors, and rediscovering some I haven't read for years. That is part of the fun.

Hi to all the new comers. Just thought I would mention that we have a poll for our March Group Read:-
https://www.goodreads.com/poll/show/1...
Hope you get as much pleasure from this group as I have, and find lots of new authors, as I, most definitely have.

Thanks for publicising the poll, Jill! :)

Just voted!

Hi all. I'm glad to found this group, but despite the year am focused on your 2016 challenge. More by circumstance since I have already finished Lord Wimsey book #1, and well into #2. I might consider reading Miss Marple in parallel, but with authors like Dororthy L. Sayers and Agatha Christie it might be better off to limit myself to a single thread of deep mystery and rich characters!

Anyway, not sure anyone still reads these, but I am just getting back into reading after a 20-year hiatus, and found with a few exceptions, it is only these classic british mysteries that keep my attention. I've tried some modern authors like CLara Benson, and although her Freddy is a decent character, I was eager to get back to the deep wit and humor of Lord Peter.

Look forward to some great reads and recommendations, thank all!

Hi Eddie. The Wimsey challenge threads will stay open, so feel free to post as you read the series.

Welcome Eddie, great that you have joined! As Susan says, we will be keeping the Wimsey challenge threads open, and there are a lot of Sayers fans here who I'm sure will respond if you do post in them.

I have only read one by Clara Benson so far, the first in her Angela Marchmont series, which I enjoyed - must give her another try.

Hi Andreia, welcome to the group :)

Welcome, Andreia! I think you'll find many fellow addicts of detective stories here. We're currently reading all the Miss Marple books as our challenge, so you are very welcome to join in!

Just know from another Goodreads group that the rereading feature is now on. Now members can indicated a rereading in order to count to his/her reading challenge. The details are in the Goodreads Blog (I don't know how to link it here).

Marcus wrote: "Just know from another Goodreads group that the rereading feature is now on. Now members can indicated a rereading in order to count to his/her reading challenge. The details are in the Goodreads B..."
Here is a link which should also be at the top of the page you see all the updates from your friends

https://www.goodreads.com/blog/show/8...

The rereads feature sounds like good news - they are rolling it out gradually and it's not available for me yet, but I'm looking forward to using it when it is!

Andreia, the Miss Marple challenge is as follows:

Welcome to our 2017 challenge, in which we intend to read all of Agatha Christie's Miss Marple novels.

In order to make the challenge fit within 12 months, only the original novels will be included. There will be two 'extra' reads, which will consist of two short story volumes featuring Miss Marple.

We have taken the reading order from the Agatha Christie recommended list. The books included in this challenge are:

Jan: The Murder at the Vicarage (1930)

Feb: The Body in the Library (1942) (extra book: The Thirteen Problems (1932). This is actually the second Miss Marple volume published and consists of short stories)

March: The Moving Finger (1943)

April: Sleeping Murder (1976) *

May: A Murder is Announced (1950)

June: 4:50 from Paddington (1957)

July: The Mirror Crack'd from Side to Side (1962)

Aug: A Caribbean Mystery (1964)

Sep: At Bertram's Hotel (1965)

Oct: They Do It With Mirrors (1952)

Nov: A Pocket Full of Rye (1953)

Dec: Nemesis (1971) (Extra Book: MIss Marple's Final Cases (1979). Volume of short stories)

* Although Sleeping Murder was not published until 1976 it was actually written during WWII and shows a younger Miss Marple.

If you have a book of complete Miss Marple Stories, rather the titles listed, then do not worry. We will list the stories in each book when we get to them.

If you go to the groups Home page, you can set up your personal challenge. The challenge only counts the books you read this year, but you don't need to sign up if you just want to read along. If you look at the discussion threads, you will find the Miss Marple discussions under Group Challenges. So far, we have discussions for the first three books underway.

Welcome Photo Eclectic, glad you joined - I'm impressed that you've read all of Christie several times over! It's great that you are going to join in the Miss Marple challenge.

Hello everyone! I've been a member of this group for sometime now, but did not participate until just recently! I am very excited about the Agatha Christie theme this year... seeing as I was gifted a complete set of her books (including original printed titles and later printed titles... and Mary Westmacott's) from my grandparents about 15 years ago! Because of her, I almost exclusively read mysteries, but try to grab random book on tapes for my drives. I think my favorite mysteries right now are anything by M.C. Beaton, or some chemical experiment of Flavia de Luce (author Alan Bradley). I also love reading crime thrillers like Patricia Cornwell.

I really look forward to participating more, and reading outside of my box!

Happy page turning!

Welcome, Rachelle, glad you found us and that you have decided to participate more! That Christie set sounds wonderful - I haven't read all that much by her yet, and none of the Mary Westmacott titles, but am really enjoying our Miss Marple challenge.

I also like the M.C. Beaton titles that I've read so far - I have read one of the Flavia books and have been meaning to try another.

Welcome Photo Electric and Rachelle - glad you have both decided to participate more. To any other members who don't participate - please do feel free to vote and comment. We welcome participation and, as the goodreads is moderated, we hope this is a nice, safe, friendly part of the internet :)

Rachelle wrote: "Hello everyone! I've been a member of this group for sometime now, but did not participate until just recently! I am very excited about the Agatha Christie theme this year... seeing as I was gifted..."

I've read the first Flavia book which I enjoyed very much and one MC Beaton as well.

Hello everyone!!
I joined the group a couple of days ago, I think my passion for crimes start in primary school with Topolino, they was little mysteries not only) but for me was just grate buying every week a book, I was and I still do that...watching detective Conan, lupin, Sherlock Holmes after the movies I start to read the books. Its definitely my favorite book, all of them. Later I start to read different crimes, recently I try the series Robert Hunter what I fell in love and now I start the challenge Miss Marple i finished the first book Murder at the Vicarage and I try to catch-up and finish them all

Welcome Dorota.

Dorota wrote: "Hello everyone!!
I joined the group a couple of days ago, I think my passion for crimes start in primary school with Topolino, they was little mysteries not only) but for me was jus..."

Welcome! I'm sure you will like Miss Marble and hope you try some of the monthly reads. Its a great way to discover new authors.

Welcome to the group, Dorota. I am glad you discovered Miss Marple :) Hopefully you will find other authors you also enjoy.

Welcome Dorota! I love Sherlock Holmes too, and am glad you enjoyed your first Miss Marple... lots more to enjoy!

Thank you all

Dorota wrote: "Thank you all "

I'm a Sherlock Holmes fan as well :)

Hi! I recently joined Goodreads to kick-start my reading which I've neglected. I love Agatha Christie,Ngaio Marsh,Dorothy L Sayers and thought this group looked just what I needed! Would love to get involved.

Fatmonica wrote: "Hi! I recently joined Goodreads to kick-start my reading which I've neglected. I love Agatha Christie,Ngaio Marsh,Dorothy L Sayers and thought this group looked just what I needed! Would love to ge..."

I see we have some favourites in common! I love all those authors as well.

Welcome to the group - we certainly have included Agatha Christie, Ngaio Marsh and Dorothy L. Sayers in current/past reads, so you should feel at home :)

Welcome Monica - we are currently reading Agatha Christie's Miss Marple books in our group challenge, and you'd be very welcome to join in.

Fatmonica wrote: "Hi! I recently joined Goodreads to kick-start my reading which I've neglected. I love Agatha Christie,Ngaio Marsh,Dorothy L Sayers and thought this group looked just what I needed! Would love to ge..."

Goodreads certainly inspired my reading; I've discovered so many books I want to read, both new and old. Enjoy! And welcome to the group.

Thanks everyone for the welcome. Would love to get reading with the reading group- love Miss Marple!

Sandy wrote: "Fatmonica wrote: "Hi! I recently joined Goodreads to kick-start my reading which I've neglected. I love Agatha Christie,Ngaio Marsh,Dorothy L Sayers and thought this group looked just what I needed..."

Me too- new (to me) series, books, authors - I've even made some interesting discoveries from GR's recommendations.

Good to hear, Monica. You can post on any threads, even books we read previously. I am sure someone here will always be eager to join in the discussion of past - as well as present - reads.

Hi all, just joined this group as I have been making my way through Miss Marple and am looking forward to more Christie books in the near future.
I lave been on GR for a while now and know some of the members here already.
My favourite author at this time is probably Bernard Cornwelll as I really look forward to my annual installment of his Saxon Chronicles.
Happy reading to you all.
Ace

Welcome to the group, Ace. Good to have you join us.

Great to meet you, Ace - as a Miss Marple fan you are welcome to join in with the discussions for our group challenge! Must admit I haven't read any Bernard Cornwell as yet, but I'd like to go back in time and try some Saxon detective stories.

Judy wrote: "Great to meet you, Ace - as a Miss Marple fan you are welcome to join in with the discussions for our group challenge! Must admit I haven't read any Bernard Cornwell as yet, but I'd like to go back..."

Thanks Susan, I've also recently got around (finally) to Brother Cadfael series by Ellis Peterswhich I'm really enjoying.