Reading the Detectives discussion

I just rediscovered SS Van Dine. Finished reading the Canary Murder. I just love these cerebral mysteries.

Always good to discover, or rediscover, an author, Chris :)

Hi ! I'm from France and I'm just starting reading mysteries. I finished yeasterday Duplicate death by Georgette Heyer, really loved it and found myself wanting to read a lot more of those type of books - and that's why I'm here, to discover great mysteries and maybe to take part in a group read as well !

Welcome, Elinor! Great to have you join us.

Welcome, Elinor - great that you have joined. We have quite a few Georgette Heyer fans here!

Thank you :) I think I will join you for this month read, Missing or murdered !

Good to hear, Elinor. Next month we are reading The Red House Mystery.

Judy wrote: "Welcome to the group! Please introduce yourself and say a little about your favourite classic detectives, authors and series."

Dear Gentle Readers: The golden age of English mysteries is my especial reading passion (as well as, typically, all things English). Not only Sayers, Wentworth, Christie, Rinehart and the like, but I also like 19th century authors such as Wilke (yes, a bit of a trudge sometimes, and one must be in the mood, but highly rewarding when one is). I read for sheer joy. Goals: I'd like to get into Sayers; I fear I haven't given her a real chance. And this seems to be the Sayers year for this group!

I live in the United States in the Midwest in the St. Louis area in the state of Illinois (for you out-of-towners, it's nowhere near Chicago-that's much further upstate. Or DisneyWorld--lol!). I'm a Speech-Language Pathologist, recently retired. Have lived in many places (husband, Air Force), including England (Aylesbury Vale area). And we treasured every moment of this experience! I have grandkids, dogs, cats... And I'll leave you with this, my new friends, "Too many books, so little time!" Happy reading, out there!

Welcome, Sydney - so glad you found us and hope you enjoy joining in on Sayers. A great selection of favourite writers! I'm just busy discovering Wentworth at the moment, but must confess Mary Roberts Rinehart is new to me. Just googled her and I see that she is described as the American Agatha Christie, which sounds intriguing!

I also love 19th century authors, especially Dickens and Trollope, and do like Wilkie Collins too. Happy reading to you too!

Yes, Rinehart has that Golden Age of mystery writer's sensibility.

PS-the nice thing about our choice of lit. is that much of it is free online to boot!

I've just about read everything that my library system has to offer on Wentworth mysteries (which is quite a bit).

Welcome Sydney from a former Illinoisian, Chicago area. I moved last year to western North Carolina.

I've been enjoying Wentworth' Miss Silver stories, one of Rinehart's books.

Welcome, Sydney. Nice to have you join us :)

Judy wrote: "Welcome, Sydney - so glad you found us and hope you enjoy joining in on Sayers. A great selection of favourite writers! I'm just busy discovering Wentworth at the moment, but must confess [author:M..."

I quite like "The Circular Staircase" by Rinehart. That may have been the first of her novels that I read.

Jan C wrote: "Welcome Sydney from a former Illinoisian, Chicago area. I moved last year to western North Carolina.

I've been enjoying Wentworth' Miss Silver stories, one of Rinehart's books."

What is it about N. Carolina? A number of people that I know have made the move there from Illinois. And as a matter of fact, we, too, are contemplating a possible move to NC in the future. Still have an elderly parent here.

Elinor wrote: "Hi ! I'm from France and I'm just starting reading mysteries. I finished yeasterday Duplicate death by Georgette Heyer, really loved it and found myself wanting to read a lot more of those type of ..."

A warm welcome to you, Elinor.

And a big "thank you" to all for welcoming me into this unique group of readers.

At the moment, I am indulging in "Lady Audley's Secret" by Mary Elizabeth Braddon and I'm in and out of Wilke Collins "Antonina." Getting bogged down in this one, so I go back to it periodically. May have to give it up.

And, you all are giving me new reading ideas already.

Sydney wrote: "And a big "thank you" to all for welcoming me into this unique group of readers.

At the moment, I am indulging in "Lady Audley's Secret" by Mary Elizabeth Braddon and I'm in and out of Wilke Colli..."

I enjoyed Lady Audley very much- though one knows pretty much what's she up to, one looks forward to seeing how it all pans out.

Lady Clementina wrote: "Sydney wrote: "And a big "thank you" to all for welcoming me into this unique group of readers.

At the moment, I am indulging in "Lady Audley's Secret" by Mary Elizabeth Braddon and I'm in and out..."

Lady Clementina wrote: "Sydney wrote: "And a big "thank you" to all for welcoming me into this unique group of readers.

At the moment, I am indulging in "Lady Audley's Secret" by Mary Elizabeth Braddon and I'm in and out..."

Precisely! My thoughts also. Enjoying seeing it all unfold!

Sydney wrote: "Jan C wrote: "Welcome Sydney from a former Illinoisian, Chicago area. I moved last year to western North Carolina.

I've been enjoying Wentworth' Miss Silver stories, one of Rinehart's books."

Wh..."

I would have loved to have stayed in Evanston. Or, at least to have moved to the big town of Asheville (population the same as Evanston). But, I, too, have elderly parent. It is nice being near the mountains and the forest. There is a creek right behind me. It is a nice difference from the hustle and bustle of Chicago. No smog. Mild winters - 1 snow last winter.

Circular Staircase is the one Rinehart I read. I liked it.

Hello everyone I'm Rhi. I'll read just about any mystery/crime fiction novel but I always take great comfort in reading those novels from the 20's and 30's. I've yet to read anything by Anthony Berkley though I am hoping to rectify that this year.

Also a big fan of Lady Audley's Secret

Rhi wrote: "Hello everyone I'm Rhi. I'll read just about any mystery/crime fiction novel but I always take great comfort in reading those novels from the 20's and 30's. I've yet to read anything by Anthony Ber..."

Welcome Rhi.

I read Lay Audley's Secret earlier this year & really enjoyed it. :)

Welcome to the group, Rhi :)

I read across the mystery genre, but I do enjoy many golden age mysteries, including Allingham, Christie, John Dickson Carr, Ngaio Marsh, and John Bude, I am reading some Dorothy Sayers, but I am not where you are yet in the series. I would have to catch up! I have read this month's current read by AA Milne with the English Kindle Mystery Club and quite enjoyed it. I look forward to participating in the group

Welcome fanficfan44. That's a good list of writers you have there.

Welcome, Fanficfan44. All of the Dorothy Sayers discussion threads will stay open, so do please join in as and when you want.

Welcome, Fanficfan 44 - some great favourites there. Glad you've joined us!

Welcome fanficfan44!

Sydney wrote: "Yes, Rinehart has that Golden Age of mystery writer's sensibility. ."

But I think quite a bit darker, a bit scarier (in her mysteries at least) than most of the Golden Age writers?

But if you don't know her other side, be sure to read some of her Tish stories. They're utterly delightful. And available free to read online (or on any device) from Gutenberg.

http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/3464

Hello, im just reading Conan Doyle and Agatha Christie's books. At my country, its difficult enough to find another detective books :''

Hi and welcome to the group! We are doing a Miss Marple challenge next year, so hopefully you will be able to join in :)

Welcome, Hamster. Glad you found us!

Hamster.In.A.Bookshelf wrote: "Hello, im just reading Conan Doyle and Agatha Christie's books. At my country, its difficult enough to find another detective books :''"

Welcome Hamster! If you can read ebooks, you can find some other Golden Age (and earlier) mysteries online at Project Gutenberg and other sites.

For example, our current Book of the Month, The Red House Mystery:
http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/1872

Hi, I'm new to the group and to Goodreads - I can tell I'm going to spend a lot of time on here! So many great books to read and so little time. I love Agatha Christie, Dorothy Sayers and Josephine Tey.

Welcome to the group, M.P. :)

Welcome, M.P., glad you joined us. That's a great trio of favourite authors - we have a Sayers challenge at the moment and a Christie book coming up next month so hopefully you will feel right at home!

Welcome M.P.!

I'm currently obsessed with vintage mysteries and was considering starting my own group until I found this one!

I'm disappointed that I missed out on the Peter Wimsey reading challenge, as I would've enjoyed revisiting those books. Do you have a plan for 2017?

Welcome to the group, Moonlight Reader, glad you found us! We are planning to read the Miss Marple books as a group challenge in 2017. It will be great if you can join in.

All the threads for the Peter Wimsey challenge will stay open, though, so you'd be welcome to post in those at any time.

Judy wrote: "Welcome to the group, Moonlight Reader, glad you found us! We are planning to read the Miss Marple books as a group challenge in 2017. It will be great if you can join in.

All the threads for the ..."

I probably will jump into the Marple challenge! I read all 40 of the full-length Poirot mysteries last year and had a blast. I planned to read Marple this year, but didn't manage it. It would also be fun to do a group challenge reading Agatha's non-Poirot/non-Marple books. There's some good ones in there (although the Passenger to Frankfurt is one of them, and that's one of the worst books I've ever read)!

Welcome to the group, Moonlight Reader. You can always set up a buddy read for any book you want to suggest and see if there are any other members who want to read along. I have started a buddy read for the first Nigel Strangeways mystery next month, for example. The problem with our main challenge for the year is that we have to get it to fit, more or less, within twelve months! This is easier said than done, but we have found that the Wimsey books fit well, as will Miss Marple.

Hamster.In.A.Bookshelf wrote: "Hello, im just reading Conan Doyle and Agatha Christie's books. At my country, its difficult enough to find another detective books :''"

Welcome.

You can find quite a few detective books on line that you can read on your computer. There are free programs to read Kindle and epub books online. Try Gutenberg.org, http://gutenberg.net.au/, and others.

Hello, everyone! I've recently joined Good Reads but I've always had a passion for reading - particularly the Golden Age of detective fiction. I was lucky enough to study this area in a module at University (Crime and Englishness was the module) as part of my English Studies degree. My mum introduced me to Agatha Christie when I was young so I read the majority of her books then. No surprised, then, that I did my dissertation (final piece) at University on Agatha Christie. The Cultural and Social Importance of the Works of Agatha Christie. At the time it really frustrated me that there were little critical works on her writing, mainly because she wasn't seen as a "serious" author. I'm sorry but anyone who can construct a "clue puzzle" mystery as expertly as she could (she WAS the expert at it!) is a serious writer in my eyes. I look forward to doing the reading challenges!

T.G. wrote: "Hello, everyone! I've recently joined Good Reads but I've always had a passion for reading - particularly the Golden Age of detective fiction. I was lucky enough to study this area in a module at U..."

Well said T.G. - I get so frustrated when people put down Agatha Christie's books. She really was a master of her craft!

Susan in Perthshire wrote: "T.G. wrote: "Hello, everyone! I've recently joined Good Reads but I've always had a passion for reading - particularly the Golden Age of detective fiction. I was lucky enough to study this area in ..." When I was 16 I came across a book called Writing Crime Fiction by HRF Keating at my local library and it, basically, gives you a step-by-step guide on how to write a "clue puzzle" mystery. Having read that alongside Agatha Christie's works I quickly realised how amazing her stuff was because just reading the HRF Keating book alone blew my mind and yet here was an author who not only nailed it but also made the stories incredibly satisfying.

Glad you found us, T.G, and that you plan to join in the reading challenges! We will be reading the Miss Marple books next year. :)

Welcome, T.G. Christie is my favourite GA author :)

Thank you for the warm welcome, everyone!

Hello! I am Michelle. I haven't been reading mysteries all that long, although it seems like most of the books I read do include some aspect of a mystery, even if it's ostensibly an urban fantasy romance novel. ;) I had read a little bit of Sherlock Holmes, and a couple of years ago I decided to read and re-read the whole collection. Then I found the Poirot TV series on Netflix, which I thought was quite good, and have been enjoying reading those novels and short stories as well.

After finding this group, I borrowed an audio book of the first Lord Peter novel, and I'm not loving it as much. I can't decide if it's Lord Peter himself that I find off-putting, or the way he's portrayed by the narrator. The book is read by what seems to be an elderly English woman, who tries (and fails) to put on a masculine voice for Lord Peter, and that combined with his 20s style slang is just sort of grating.

I am excited about the plans to read Miss Marple next year, though. I think I will like her better.

You will discover your own tastes, Michelle, as you read more. I often find audio books off-putting, especially if I don't like the reader's voice.

So glad you found the group, Michelle. I also love Sherlock Holmes and read all the stories earlier this year! Glad you are looking forward to Miss Marple. :)

I'm another one who finds audio books a bit of a struggle - I love the idea of them but often find I start thinking about something else and miss a big chunk. I also find I need to absolutely love the reader's voice, or else it can quickly start to get annoying.