Reading the Detectives discussion

Miss M, thanks so much for joining, great to have you here. It would be great to hear your thoughts on Silent Nights.

Karlyne, glad you are back online after your move!

Hi, I'm Gina. Huge fan of Dorothy L. Sayers -- I love everything she ever wrote. :-) Also a fan of Margery Allingham. I've also read a good deal of Marsh and Christie and some of Tey and liked them fairly well, though I wouldn't list them among my favorite authors, for various reasons. Going a little further back, I also love the works of G. K. Chesterton and E. C. Bentley.

If that Rex Stout thread gets set up, I'd be interested in joining that!

Welcome, Gina, nice to see you here - I really like Sayers and Allingham too.

I'm sure Nigeyb will set up his Rex Stout thread soon! :)

^ I'd decided not to set up the Rex Stout thread after all.

When I originally suggested it I'd not properly understood the group's terms of reference.

The Rex Stout books, great though they are, stray too far from the vintage British mystery tradition.

Nigeyb wrote: "^ I'd decided not to set up the Rex Stout thread after all.

When I originally suggested it I'd not properly understood the group's terms of reference.

The Rex Stout books, great though they are,..."

We needa vintage North American board then! Is there one already?

Let's not be too strict :) I think it would be fine - he's not that far removed, since he is quite similar to Sherlock Holmes!

That reminds me, I've just come across an article about the private detectives featuring in the works of Stout's pal P.G. Wodehouse - I wondered if he had ever written a murder mystery, and it seems that, while he didn't exactly do so, there were quite a few detectives in his books!

http://www.thrillingdetective.com/non...

☆ Ｃａｒｏｌ ☆ wrote: "We needa vintage North American board then! Is there one already?"

I found there were already groups for hard-boiled mysteries, so decided to focus this one more on the British tradition, but it's fine by me if we have some threads on authors who don't exactly fit. The main thing is to have some good discussion. :)

Judy wrote: "Let's not be too strict :) I think it would be fine - he's not that far removed, since he is quite similar to Sherlock Holmes!

That reminds me, I've just come across an article about the private d..."

I just read that blog - is one of my favourite humour books of all time!

& my local library has so I've added that to one of my to read lists!

Carr really doesn't have to be read in order. The first in his Gideon Fell series is Hag's Nook, which I have on my shelf but haven't gotten to yet. I'm still reading The Three Coffins a/k/a The Hollow Man. One of Peter Lovesey's books, Bloodhounds, referred deeply to it, noting that it was "the book" on locked room mysteries.

The first in the Henry Merrivale books is The Plague Court Murders, which I did enjoy.

I'm Carolien and live in Johannesburg, South Africa. I work for a bank, currently doing mostly IT and management reporting. My daughters are 6 and 8 years old.

I've been reading mysteries for years. I enjoy Josephine Tey and most of the authors mentioned in this thread. I am planning on rereading Dorothy Sayers and PD James in the correct order over the next year or so. Since I have only read one Ngaio Marsh, I may tackle her books as well.

Thanks, Jan. I really prefer to read a series in order, so will have a look. Actually, I suspect that I have Nags Hook somewhere on my shelves and never got to it...

Jan C wrote: "Carr really doesn't have to be read in order. The first in his Gideon Fell series is Hag's Nook, which I have on my shelf but haven't gotten to yet. ..."

I have in the house somewhere. That would be a read I won't get to till next year though.

Welcome, Carolien, thanks for joining - nice to meet you! Rereading Sayers and James in order sounds like fun. I haven't read all that many by Tey but really enjoyed those I did read. I've got Brat Farrar somewhere - must give it a look.

Carolien, I would love to re-read Sayers and James, so hope you set up a buddy thread if you decide to go ahead. I have never read all the books and the same with Marsh. I tend to start series and then never get to the end.

Just wanted to say I've created a couple of new folders - one for buddy reads, and a 'world of vintage crime' one for books not set in Britain.

I have made a Rex Stout thread in there as I'm now keen to discuss him following the mentions here, and also one for Georges Simenon - but have put Ngaio Marsh in the main section as her books were set in Britain. Not that it really matters too much who is in which folder, of course!

What other folders does anyone think we need? I was wondering about one for 'After the Golden Age', where we could talk about more modern authors such as Elizabeth George etc - and maybe one for sequels and pastiches set in the Golden Age?

Thanks Judy - I've added a comment to the Rex Stout thread.


I love Raymond Chandler and Dashiell Hammett but guess they might be too hard boiled? There's definitely elements of the hard boiled style in the Nero Wolfe books - but they also retain some of the Golden Age vibe too.

Greetings!

I'm in the big bad city of London with my librarian husband, love books, in particular non-fiction, poetry, art, ancient classics and books from the 1930s, 1940s, Dorothy L Sayers, Agatha Christie etc. Professionally a librarian too, and worked in public libraries for many years. Studied art prior to going to library school, intended to go into art libraries but got distracted and ended up in public ones instead, supporting and helping others to read and discover books. I left a few years back to improve my artistic skills. : )

This group is looking great Judy. Some very interesting links. I will definitely be making some new discoveries from this group. F.A.B!

Mr W loves Chandler! I might have read the odd one of his a very, very long time ago, but must read more.

Hi Carolien, I'd be interested in the Sayers re-read too, and maybe the PD James (I actually did the James re-reads a while back, but nowadays it just feels like the plots/stories disappear from my memory...)

Judy, I'll let you know my thoughts on Silent Nights, will be a little while before I start my Christmas reading. Though I have a lot stacked up!

Judy, great idea to have a folder for after the Golden Age and all of the books written now, but set during that period. There are some great homages out too, such as the series featuring Josephine Tey as sleuth, of which I have only read one.

I am about halfway through my re-read of James. Of course, I am finding that I hadn't actually read all of these books. Or, if I read them I had totally forgotten them.

'...Josephine Tey as a sleuth...'

Sounds interesting! Which book? Series? : )

It starts with An Expert in Murder. I've read three of them so far. I liked the first two the best. I'm in the middle of the fourth one now, Fear in the Sunlight.

Ta Jan! : )

Jan C wrote: "It starts with An Expert in Murder. I've read three of them so far. I liked the first two the best. I'm in the middle of the fourth one now, Fear in the Sunlight."

I'm really enjoying this series. I've read the first two books so far.

Carolien wrote: "Jan C wrote: "It starts with An Expert in Murder. I've read three of them so far. I liked the first two the best. I'm in the middle of the fourth one now, ..."

I have only read the first one. It was well done but I couldn't get over the feeling that Tey herself would have hated being featured like that.

Overall I really like the series though I could definitely do without all the love woes, especially the relationship triangle that develops as time goes on. Nothing to do with the sexuality, just way too much dramarama and stiff upper lip/refusing to speak clearly, IMHO.

That said, I especially loved the most recent book with lots of atmospheric background on the coronation and behind the scenes at BBC Broadcasting House. I bought the movie based on Val Gielgud's 'Death at Broadcasting House' but yet to be watched.

☆ Ｃａｒｏｌ ☆ wrote: "Green for Danger is her best known. I'm still trying to get hold of the first in the series Heads You Lose, but nothing by her has come my way."

& an ex-library copy of Heads You Lose turned up at work today!

I got Heads You Lose when Brand's books appeared on Kindle in the UK. Sadly, they vanished later - but luckily I splurged and downloaded them all at the time...

They can be obtained on iBook and the first one is cheap too.

Thanks for the invite, Lesley. This looks right up my alley. Mysteries are my favorite read and I love Golden AGe detectives. Love Agatha Christie, Rex Stout, P.D. James. I see have quite a friends in here so I am excited. I am from N. CA.

Hi Susan. Nice to see you over here.

It's great to meet up with you, Arpita.

Welcome, Susan - great that you joined!

Hello everyone!

I'm Jennifer Girardin, and I've been enjoying classic detective fiction since I was a child.

I enjoy Agatha Christie, Dorothy Sayers, Margery Allingham, Ngaio Marsh, P.D. James and others, as well as Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, John Mortimer, Carola Dunn and countless others.

Greetings to everyone and have a great day!

Hi Jennifer! Welcome to the group.

Welcome, Jennifer! That's a great list of favourite authors. Glad to meet you.

Yes it is. I love Dorothy L Sayers and Agatha Christie.

Oh and Doyle's Holmes stories.

Welcome Jennifer!

I like most on your list, too, Jennifer.

Jan C wrote: "It starts with An Expert in Murder. I've read three of them so far. I liked the first two the best. I'm in the middle of the fourth one now, Fear in the Sunlight."
Re Nicola Upson's Josephine Tey series - I've just finished the first book which I really loved. I've had a look at the other books in the series and there are some later ones that I like the look of but not the second one. Do I need to read them in order or can I skip one?

Hello everyone, I just joined the group today, I am an avid mystery reader and I especially enjoy the Golden Age detectives, and cozy mysteries (curses to the person that got me hooked on those! - just kidding *grin*).

Welcome to the group, Hilary! Great to meet you. Who are your favourites?

Ruth wrote: "Jan C wrote: "It starts with An Expert in Murder. I've read three of them so far. I liked the first two the best. I'm in the middle of the fourth one now, [book:Fear in the Sunlight|..."

I always think that if you skip a volume you may be missing a facet in the development of the character.

Judy wrote: "Welcome to the group, Hilary! Great to meet you. Who are your favourites?"

Oh blimey!, Well Agatha Christie, Ngaio Marsh, Margery Allingham, Dorothy L Sayers and Josephine Tey for the Golden Age, more modern then Kathy Reichs, Ben Aaranovitch, Laura Childs, Kate Carlisle to name but a few!

Welcome Hilary!

Welcome to the group Hilary :)