Reading the Detectives discussion

Thanks for the welcome Susan

Welcome Jemima, glad you found us, and thanks for the lovely introduction. Some great favourite authors there. :)

Welcome Jemima - sure you’ll enjoy the group. Your list of books resonated with me - as a child - Enid Blyton, Nancy Drew - brought back great memories!

Jemima wrote: "A little bit about me:

Enid Blytons, Trixie Beldens and Nancy Drews to my favourite Georgette Heyers, Agatha Christies etc...."

That could well be me writing about my childhood and teen reading.

Welcome Jemima. Sounds like you have a very busy and rewarding life. Hope you enjoy our group.

Thanks to all of you for making me feel so welcome

Hey, Jemima, hey, Emma, welcome - I just joined last month, and I have gotten some great reading ideas from the group already. I’ve also been a mystery buff since I was a kid, getting hooked on The Three Investigators (oh, to be a boy - they seemed to get all of the adventures!)

Hi, I'm Nashwa. Hope this is introduction thread. I'm from India. I read a lot of english books. My favourite books are Chronicle of narnia , harry porter , secrets of droon etc. My friend Anne is an author and I read her books too.
-Nashwa

Welcome Nashwa, yes, this is the introduction thread. Nice to meet you.

Do you like mysteries? We mainly read classic mysteries here, but also some more modern ones - since you mentioned Harry Potter, I know we have a few fans of J.K. Rowling who like her series written under the name Robert Galbraith, about Cormoran Strike.

Hi Nashwa. I love Narnia and Harry Potter books best in the world. I love lots of other books too. Welcome to the group.

Hi, Nashwa! Welcome!

I am from India and have loved detective fiction for a long time. I had taken a hiatus from reading fiction for many years as video became available in India. But, I have returned to reading over the last 2 years. Though I am enjoying some of the present day writers, I remain fond of the old school. My three favourite writers of detective fiction are Agatha Christie, Rex Stout and Ruth Rendell. It is great to have discovered this group.

Hi Bicky - glad you have found us. Welcome to the group.

Welcome, Bicky, glad you found us. We have lots of fans of Christie and Stout here - I haven't read all that much Ruth Rendell, but really liked some of her books "writing as Barbara Vine."

Hi Bicky, welcome! I like those authors too!

Hello! My name is Katherine, and I am from the USA. Recently moved to Indianapolis from Cincinnati.

My stepmother introduced me to Agatha Christie when I was 10, and it was love at first sight. I have read Mrs. Christie's books time and again, and never get tired of them.

As for other "golden age" authors, my mother's favorite book was "The Daughter of Time" by Josephine Tey. I read and enjoyed that one, but never got around to reading any other books by Mrs. Tey.

While not "golden age" per se, I adore the Maisie Dobbs books. I have also read a number of mysteries by Antonia Fraser and Ruth Rendell.

I decided to try some other "golden age" authors recently. My favorite narrator, Anton Lesser, has narrated some Ngaio Marsh books, so I bought two from Audible. Didn't notice they were abridged versions, though, until I started to listen. I have to admit that I didn't really care for the books, either as stories or as mysteries. Maybe it was because they were abridged? I was writing a review of "A Surfeit of Lampreys" here on Goodreads, and found a link to this group below my review.

Anyway, I am glad to have found this group!

Welcome aboard, Katherine. Several years ago I moved to western North Carolina from Chicago area.

I wasn't crazy about Marsh the first time I read her books either. But I am really enjoying them this time around. A couple of years ago I started picking up the paperbacks at a local annual used book sale.

Nice to see you Katherine! (And nice name, same as my younger daughter.)

Welcome Katherine. I'm also a Maisie Dobbs fan and am on my library's wait list for the new book.

Hey Katherine, welcome! Like Jan, I now live in NC but am originally from Chicago. Like you, I was introduced to Christie in my teens and have loved her ever since! I wasn’t bowled over by Marsh at first, but on rereading with the group I am appreciating them more, and this group has put me on to several new-to-me authors.

Hi Katherine, welcome to the group.

Welcome Katherine, glad you found us. I hope you enjoy the discussions here. You are welcome to join in with the Marsh discussions if you do feel like giving her another go. Also, there are lots of Christie fans here and one of our members is organising buddy reads of the Poirot books.

Welcome back, Carrie. Glad you re-joined us.

Welcome, Carrie! Great that you have rejoined.

Hello classic mystery fiction readers – I have only used Goodreads intermittently, but I’m excited to change that behavior and join the Reading the Detectives group and participate in some of the upcoming reads.

About me: I’m Jason Half, an educator in southern Ohio and owner of The Stone House, a tribute site to GAD author Gladys Mitchell (gladysmitchell.com) where I offer summaries and reviews of her Mrs. Bradley books and her adventure/teen titles. Other favorite authors include Nicholas Blake – I’m rereading The Dreadful Hollow now in anticipation of the upcoming Buddy Read – as well as John Rhode/Miles Burton, Richard Hull, Rex Stout, Nicolas Freeling, and Ruth Rendell.

I will add that I’m thrilled to find that so many English and American GAD fiction books are being reprinted and made accessible to a new generation of readers. Titles from authors like Henry Wade, Christopher Bush, Q. Patrick, and E.R. Punshon are now available to me when first editions (and even 50s/60s/70s reprints) would be prohibitively expensive. So I celebrate the renaissance of e-book and paper reprints and the fans who are rediscovering these formerly hard-to-find stories!

All best wishes to the group – Jason Half

Hi - welcome to the group, Jason. I agree that it is fantastic that so many GAD fiction novels are being re-printed.

Welcome Jason. Mrs. Bradley has been on my TBR for ages and I will have to move her up the list as we now have an expert in the group. I have heard I cannot expect her to bear any resemblance to Emma Peel (I've forgotten the actor's name but remember the character!).

Welcome Jason! I did not know that Mrs. Bradley mysteries were books!!! ((HAPPY DANCE)) I have only seen the PBS series starring Diana Rigg. I will visit your site for more info. Too, I am currently binge reading ER Punshon's Bobby Owen series. I am on number 14 . You will enjoy this fabulous group!!!

Hi Susan! Thanks so much for moderating the group and providing a fun community. I'm so grateful for all of the presses that are making out-of-print classic detective fiction available again. I've been enjoying reprints and ebooks recently from Dean Street Press, Stark House, Ramble House, and Crippen & Landru, to name a few. All best wishes -- JH

I've added A Speedy Death by my over-burdened wish list, thought I have no idea if/when I'll get to it.

Sandy wrote: Mrs. Bradley has been on my TBR for ages and I will have to move her up the list as we now have an expert in the group. I have heard I cannot expect her to bear any resemblance to Emma Peel."

Hi Sandy -- thanks too for moderating this fun group! I always say Gladys Mitchell is an acquired taste because many GAD readers don't like the books. Mitchell emphasizes style and mood over plotting sometimes, but I find her writing lively and evocative. You're right that the page version of Mrs. Bradley doesn't resemble the glamorous Diana Rigg television character, nor do many of the TV plots resemble the source material (except for Speedy Death).

I've sponsored a few GM group reads of my own under the heading Mitchell Mystery Reading Group on my blog at jasonhalf.com, where new and veteran readers can report on a set of chapters each week (no spoilers) and I weave the comments into the posts. I started with 1929's The Mystery of a Butcher's Shop and this spring we looked at 1937's Greece-set Come Away, Death. I'm hoping to launch another one at the end of the year.

Cheers! JH

ShanDizzy wrote: "I did not know that Mrs. Bradley mysteries were books!!! ((HAPPY DANCE)) I have only seen the PBS series starring Diana Rigg. I will visit your site for more info."

Thanks so much, ShanDizzy! Lovely to meet you. Yes, you have 66 Gladys Mitchell Mrs. Bradley (later Dame Beatrice Bradley) books waiting for you should you be brave enough to attempt them! :) Generally, her 1930s and 1940s books are the strongest, and if you visit my tribute site, you'll find spoiler-free summaries and ratings if you choose to dabble and not read in order.

You are two Punshons ahead of me in the Bobby Owen series! I was able to read Comes a Stranger only through the Dean Street reprint; for years I expected I would never be able to read this book since a first edition is extremely rare and would sell for hundreds of dollars. Then I moved on to Suspects-Nine, another rare title. I just finished the 2015 Punshon short story collection Bobby Owen, Black Magic, Bloodshed, and Burglary, a very fun mix of detective, crime, and supernatural tales.

Happy reading -- JH

Hi Jason. Is it definitely Speedy Death before The Mystery of The Butcher's Shop? I have both but was unsure which to start with. And welcome Good to have an expert

Ah, I can feel a possible Mrs Bradley nomination for the next vote coming up :) I have read a couple, and enjoyed them, so good to have an expert among us.

Jill wrote: "Is it definitely Speedy Death before The Mystery of The Butcher's Shop? I have both but was unsure which to start with."

Hi Jill -- Very happy to meet you. Speedy Death is indeed the book that introduces Beatrice Lestrange Bradley (she picks up the "Adela" six books in, after writer Helen Simpson suggested it). Both that one and The Mystery of a Butcher's Shop were published by Gollancz in 1929, but Speedy came first.

I will also add that Mitchell dropped her overuse of adverbs after the first couple titles. Reading Speedy Death now is a bit trying because everyone speaks or acts "determinedly", "shrewdly", "felicitously", etc. It's also helpful to remember that in Speedy Death, Butcher's Shop, Longer Bodies, and Saltmarsh Murders, the author is actually satirizing the detective genre as much as she is working within its confines. So there's that too.....

Felicitous reading -- JH

Elizabeth (Alaska) wrote: "I've added A Speedy Death by my over-burdened wish list, though I have no idea if/when I'll get to it."

Hello Elizabeth -- I will be interested to know what you think of the book! And if you don't get to it immediately, it's 90 years old so can probably wait another month or two! :)

Welcome, Jason, great to meet you and also to hear more about Gladys Mitchell and Mrs Bradley - she is an author I have been meaning to try for ages, so your comments will spur me on to do so sooner rather than later.

It's good to hear that you will be joining our buddy read of The Dreadful Hollow, which is coming up very soon.

PS, I meant to say thank you for that list of presses republishing GA books - Stark House, Ramble House, and Crippen & Landru are all new names to me.

Hi Judy -- looking forward to discussing The Dreadful Hollow! Thanks for the opportunity to bring like-minded readers together.

Crippen & Landru is really interesting, as their specialty is presenting unpublished, uncollected, and hard-to-find stories from some big names in detective fiction: Carr, Queen, Christianna Brand, and they even published a collection of all of Gladys Mitchell's short stories, in Sleuth's Alchemy. It's fun to look at their back catalog.

Stark House is interesting and eclectic -- I'm reading some noir fiction by David Goodis from them right now -- and Ramble House is super-eclectic: they specialize in strange alternate-mystery authors like Harry Stephen Keeler and James Corbett. But I'm glad you have even more to explore! I'm sure your TBR list is already a busy and impressive one...

Welcome Jason from western North Carolina.

I just started my second Mrs. Bradley - The Mystery of a Butcher's Shop. I enjoyed the first one. I've picked up a number of them on Kindle - they had a sale a couple of months ago. Not sure if I picked up 64 of them though - unread and unbought. Also pick up all the Carr and Phoebe Atwood Taylor books I can find. Just recently finished her standalone Murder at the New York World's Fair.

Welcome Jason, also from NC, just not as far west as Jan! I also only knew Mrs. Bradley as a TV character, and enjoyed the show with Diana Rigg.

Hello Jan C, and thanks for the info! Hope you continue to like Gladys Mitchell's books; I love those Kindle sales. I have some e-books of Carr waiting -- never really got into Carr and locked room/impossible crimes -- and I don't have anything by Atwood Taylor, so shall have to give her a try. Best wishes -- Jason H

Susan in NC wrote: "Welcome Jason, also from NC, just not as far west as Jan!"

Thanks, Susan! Happy to be here and I'm looking forward to discussing some upcoming mystery titles with others!

Welcome Rita, glad you have joined! That's a great list of favourite authors - we have fans of all of them here. :)

Hi Rita - welcome to the group. We have a P.D. James themed challenge coming up next year.

Welcome, Rita! I just joined this group recently, and the book discussions have been very enjoyable. Of your author list, I've never read Wentworth, although I've heard much about her. I shall have to give one of the Miss Silver books a try very soon! Cheers -- Jason

P.S., I see you live in Fond du Lac, Rita. Hope the Wisconsin summer hasn't been too warm for you! I grew up near Eau Claire before leaving after college and settling in Maine for a spell. Best wishes --

Hi Rita!! Glad you joined this group. I too like many of the authors you mentioned. I own the entire series of Sayers' Lord Peter Wimsey books as I tend to periodically reread them. Too, it's AMAZING how many new authors I've been introduced to since joining this group. The mods are STUPENDOUS and keep the topics and group reads very interesting. Welcome & enjoy.

Rita wrote: "ShanDizzy wrote: "When I finish a paper book now I give it away but then a book will come along that I can't resist.."

'Tis a common problem!

And the books I own are always last to be read as the library is not calling for their return. The backlog grows!