Reading the Detectives discussion

Hello! My name is Jessica and I am so excited to have found this group. Like a lot of people, I started off reading Agatha Christie, particularly her Miss Marple series, and haven't looked back. Now I'm hoping to expand my library and find some new gems to become enamored with.

I was looking forward to checking out Ngaio Marsh, but my local library doesn't have any of her earlier work, will have to do some digging to find a copy.

Welcome to the group, Jessica :)

Welcome Jessica, glad you have joined us. Hope you are able to get hold of the Ngaio Marsh books.

Hello, I'm a new member of the group :)

I am a huge fan of the golden age of crime writing and in particular, Agatha Christie's novels. I find her writing totally engaging, exciting, fun, and she always manages to astound me with her denouements. I never manage to correctly guess the real culprits!

I have been thinking of branching out into the world of Ngaio Marsh and her books have been on my to-read list for a while now. The 2018 challenge is right up my street and I'm really looking forward to it.

I'm currently reading Dorothy L Sayers' "Hangman's Holiday", a collection of short stories featuring Lord Peter Wimsey. So far very enjoyable. :)

Hi Laura. Welcome to the group :)

Agatha Christie is my favourite author too and I am also looking forward to reading more Ngaio Marsh.

Welcome, Laura, great to have you with us and it's good that you want to join in with the Ngaio Marsh challenge. I'm really looking forward to that too. :)

Hello! I found the group via a mention on the Facebook group I belong to [Golden Age Detection]. I've been thinking about going back to Ngaio Marsh (after sprinting through all the books our public library had by her back in the 1980s) and was excited to hear that this group planned the Marsh Challenge for 2018. I pretty much love all mysteries from the Golden Age--from Marsh to Christie and Anthony Berkeley to Freeman Wills Crofts. If I had to pick a favorite, I'd have to choose Dorothy L Sayers--I'm a big Lord Peter fangirl.

Great that you've joined, Bev - there seems to be a lot of enthusiasm for the Ngaio Marsh Challenge, which is ready to start on January 1! Sayers is probably my top favourite too.

Hi Bev, welcome to the group :) I love Sayers too and our challenge (a couple of years ago now, amazingly!) prompted me to finally read all her books.

Judy wrote: "Great that you've joined, Bev - there seems to be a lot of enthusiasm for the Ngaio Marsh Challenge, which is ready to start on January 1! Sayers is probably my top favourite too."

Thanks, Judy. I had a book all picked out for my first read (The White Cottage Mystery by Margery Allingham. As soon as I've finished that, I'll be plunging into Alleyn's first case.

Susan wrote: "Hi Bev, welcome to the group :) I love Sayers too and our challenge (a couple of years ago now, amazingly!) prompted me to finally read all her books."

Thanks, Susan. I've read Sayers more times than I can count (sporadically). I finally read her chronologically a couple of years ago for a blog-world Sayers challenge. That was great fun.

Hello everyone. I am afraid I might be overcommitting on reading challenges this year, but I was so excited to find this group devoted to my favorite genre that I just couldn't help myself.

I've loved classic mysteries since I started reading Agatha Christie novels in middle school. In the early 1990s, when my children were small, I went on a golden age binge at my public library and read everything they had by Ngaio Marsh, Margery Allingham, Gladys Mitchell, and Josephine Tey.

Dorothy Sayers might be my all time favorite mystery author, but I have not read her books since high school. I am sorry I didn't know about this group when you chose her as the featured offer. I am hoping maybe to find another newbie or two who might want to do them as buddy reads.

I am the librarian at an international school in Cairo, Egypt. Lately I've been rereading Elizabeth Peters' Amelia Peabody series; I am enjoying them even more now that I am familiar with the places she and Emerson visit.

Welcome Lorna, so glad you found us! Sorry you missed out on our Sayers challenge, but all the threads are still open and some of us do respond if there are new posts in them. I also love Sayers.

We also have a buddy read of Sayers’ non-Wimsey book The Documents in the Case coming up soon if you are tempted. :)

It must be exciting to read the Amelia Peabody books while working in Egypt. Again, welcome!

Hi. I am an avid fan of Agatha Christie especially Tommy and Tuppence and Miss Marple and I am loving the British Crime Library Classics. Friends think I was born in the wrong era so these novels really appeal to me. I want to expand my knowledge and range of authors so will look forward to recommendations.

Hi Lorna and Jennifer and welcome to the group :)

Welcome Lorna. I envy your reread of Amelia Peabody, not only because you are living in the location, but because I look forward to visiting the Emerson clan again.

Welcome Jennifer, great to have you with us. As you’re a big fan of Miss Marple, sorry you missed our challenge last year, but the threads are still open, so you are very welcome to comment - and we also have this year’s Ngaio Marsh challenge and lots of other great reads in store. :)

Thank you :-)

Hello:
I can't remember a time I didn't love British mysteries. I was raised on a steady diet of Agatha Christie, Ngaio Marsh, Patricia Wentworth, Edmund Crispin, John Dickson Carr, Carter Dickson, Dorothy Sayers, GK Chesterton and others. I'm happy to be in this group and look forward to discussing old favorites and discovering new authors to love.

Good to have you join Mary Ellen. You certainly have a head start with the golden age authors. Hope you enjoy finding still more!

Welcome to the group, Mary Ellen :)

Sandy wrote: "Good to have you join Mary Ellen. You certainly have a head start with the golden age authors. Hope you enjoy finding still more!"

Thanks! I can't wait.

Susan wrote: "Welcome to the group, Mary Ellen :)"
Thanks Susan!

Sandy wrote: "Good to have you join Mary Ellen. You certainly have a head start with the golden age authors. Hope you enjoy finding still more!"

Welcome Mary Ellen. Glad you found the group. :)

Hello! My name is Elena and I am a huge detectives lover. Never had a person to discuss so I am thrilled to be a part of this group.
My heart belongs to Hercule Poirot. But I also admire works of Jo Nesbø.
Right now I am reading Father Brown Stories so it is a perfect time to join.

Welcome to the group, Elena. Poirot is my favourite too :)

Welcome Elena. I have read a couple of Father Brown, but not many. Enjoy.

Hi everyone!

Mysteries are my favorite books, especially Agatha Christie and Georgette Heyer. Also I enjoy E.C.R. Lorac and Catherine Aird.

I have recently started reading Ngaio Marsh, and am excited to join in the 2018 challenge.

Authors whom I have wanted to read for ages include Dorothy Sayers, Josephine Tey, Patricia Wentworth, and more.

Welcome Critterbee. I read a few Aird books a couple of years ago, enjoyed them and always intended to read more. There are just so many good authors.

Welcome to the group, Critterbee. Some of our members run a Georgette Heyer group, so you may want to check that out too.

We are currently reading a Dorothy L Sayers Buddy Read, The Documents in the Case and our group read next month is Christie's And Then There Were None.

Welcome Critterbee, great to see you over here! It's good to hear that you want to join in the Ngaio Marsh challenge - I'm really enjoying it so far.

I also love Sayers and am currently reading my way through all the Josephine Tey books.

Thanks for the welcome everyone! I will see if I can find a copy of The Documents in the Case in time for the buddy read.

It looks like a stand alone story, which works well, as I eventually want to read Dorothy Sayer's books in order.

Yes, it's a stand alone story. We read the Peter Wimsey books as our first ever challenge. The discussions are all in the challenge archives (1st year Lord Peter, 2nd year Miss Marple, 3rd year the first 12 Ngaio Marsh novels), so you can always comment as you read them. Lord Peter is a very close second to Poirot for me, which is praise indeed!

Hello,
I grew up reading Agatha Christie as a teenager, thanks mostly i suppose to seeing the Margaret Rutherford films on tv. I never bothered much with classic detective fiction after except for odd dips when i felt i needed to read something light, entertaining and non-demanding.
About 20 years ago a friend introduced me to Ellis Peters and, more importantly, Dorothy L Sayers, who, for me is probably the greatest writer of detective fiction.
Over Christmas i read Edward Marston's book on the Detective Club and the golden age of detective fiction and old longings were stirred. At the same time Radio 4extra broadcast a series where each episode was written by a classic detective writer. This led me onto read my very first Margery Allingham, following the suggestion of a very good friend. I look forward to getting more ideas and suggestions from members.

Welcome to the group, Roy. Good to hear of your awakened interest in Golden Age crime fiction. I am sure you will find lots of great reading suggestions here :)

Welcome Roy, glad you found us. Sayers and Allingham are both favourites here, as of course is Christie! I'm interested to hear about that Radio 4 extra series - do you remember what it was called?

Yes, sounds interesting. Just realised that Roy is from Liverpool - my favourite city in all the world (sorry, Roy, I know that everyone is Liverpool is fed up with us, but I'm a crazy Beatles fan!).

Welcome Roy. Have you tried Edward Marston's railroad detective series? I really liked the Jim Stringer series by Andrew Martin, but he doesn't seem to be continuing them. However I couldn't find a book on the detective club by Marston. He does have four pages of books so I could have missed it. Did you mean Martin Edwards?

Too many Martins and Edwards in this post!

hi Sandy, you are right, I did mean Martin Edwards! that's what comes of not bothering to check and relying on memory.
I haven't tried any of the other books you suggested, too many books & not enough time! I'd like to read some more Allingham after my first taste of her style after Christmas.

Judy, the series was "Behind the screen". the first episode was written by Hugh Walpole, the 2nd by Christie, the 3rd by Sayers and so on - I forget who else, and each chapter was read by an appropriate actor or actress. its bound to be repeated at some point - radio 4 extra survives on repeats!

Thank you, Roy, I will look out for a repeat run of Behind the Screen. I really like Allingham - we are reading Mystery Mile this month, and have a buddy read of Look to the Lady coming up in May.

thank you Judy, I'll put Look to the Lady on my to read list

thanks for the welcome Susan.
Liverpool is a great place, even for non-Beatles fans. if ever you get the chance, you must visit if you haven't been before, great architecture, parks, shops, great views across the Mersey. my favourite place here (beside our brilliant library) is Crosby beach the home of Anthony Gormley's Iron Men. And not far from me is the site of a famous murder in Anfield that attracted the members of the Detective Club. if I remember right, both Christie and Sayers attempted to solve it.

Thanks, Roy. I have visited Liverpool many, many (many!) times (last time was in the summer). I agree totally that it is a beautiful, historic city and I love the Albert Docks, the museums, the ferries and the cathedrals. A wonderful place with such generous, kind and helpful people. Many is the time when I have gone exploring, looking for a lesser known Beatles spot and, if I am looking even slightly lost, people will always stop and say, "are you looking for so and so?" and point you in the right direction. Endlessly patient :)

Hello and good morning, please, call me Anska. My reading habits can perhaps best be described as following breadcrumbs: I like a book, its author or editor refers to another one, my interest is piqued and I will follow the trail. Recently though, I decided to take up writing book reviews as an exercise and this forced my aimless journey to a halt. For once I had to make a choice, settle down, pick a genre. What a hard choice! In the end, I decided on detective fiction, since a good mystery is what I love best: A slip of paper carelessly dropped on the pavement, a half-finished love-letter in the pocket of some old coat stored in the attic…

So, this is how I ended up reading and rereading classical detective fiction and how I ended up joining this group - since traveling alone is dreary. Before joining I had set out to tackle Agatha Christie’s body of work, but I am happy to stray from my path to follow the leads of monthly or annual reads … like I said, I am a breadcrumb reader.

Hi Anska and welcome to the group. Hope you find lots of interesting reads, and company, here.

Welcome Anska, glad you joined - we are reading an Agatha Christie novel this month, And Then There Were None, but there will also be lots of other reads... and those breadcrumbs will keep coming with all kinds of suggestions for further books...

Welcome Anska. I am also easily distracted from any path I set and I find life has just too many breadcrumbs. Enjoy the journey.

Welcome Anska. I'm a breadcrumb follower, too.

Hello! I'm happy to find this group and look forward to engaging in this year's challenge!