English Mysteries Club discussion

Hi Helen, Rosemarie, Jackie and Jean! Thank you for the welcome and recommendations :)

Helen wrote: "Welcome, Katja! I enjoy the Amory Ames and Bunburry books also, good reads. Have you tried the "Royal Spyness" series by Rhys Bowen? First one is, luckily enough, [bookcover:Her Royal Spyness|38351..."

Thanks a lot, I'll put it my 'Want to read' shelf to check out later :)

Katja wrote: "Hi! My name is Katja, I'm originally from Belarus but have lived in Sweden for many years. Now I'm also in the UK sometimes, since my husband works there for the time being, so we share our time be..."

Welcome in the group Katja !
I'm a great fan of Agatha Christie too :-)

I saw the others already gave you good suggestion, If you like cozy mysteries set in early 1900s I can add :

CLARA FITZGERALD mysteries by Evelyn James

I liked also DAISY DALRYMPLE serie by Carola Dunn

but the best to me is Her Royal Spyness by Rhys Bowen suggested by Helen.

Welcome aboard !

Tiziana wrote: "Katja wrote: "Hi! My name is Katja, I'm originally from Belarus but have lived in Sweden for many years. Now I'm also in the UK sometimes, since my husband works there for the time being, so we sha..."

Thank you, Tiziana! :)

Hi Everyone!

My name is Jamie. I'm a elementary school teacher in the US. I've been a fan of English lit ever since reading The Secret Garden as a child.

Since then, I've become a huge Agatha Christie fan. After working my way through most of her canon, I've branched out and mostly recently discovered Richard Osman and Anthony Horowitz, among others authors. I am excited to join a group with similar interests. I'm always looking for a new book or author and some discussion.

Welcome to the group, Jamie!

Welcome, Jamie!

Welcome, Jamie!

Welcome, Jamie!

Hi Jamie, and welcome to the "English Mysteries Club". Agatha Christie is definitely central to our reading -and we have had a group read of a book by Richard Osman too. I hope you like it here, and look forward to getting to know you 😊

Hello, I'm Sophie. I'm an avid reader who loves cozy mysteries. My favorite cozy series are anything by Agatha Christie, Library Lover's Mystery Series and the Hat Shop Mystery series by Jenn McKinlay, Booktown Mystery Series by Lorna Barrett, and the Book Collector Mystery Series by Victoria Abbott.

Hi Sophie, and welcome to the "English Mysteries Club". You've got a good range of authors there, so I think this group will be just your cup of tea. 😊 Join in wherever you like and have fun!

Hi Jean,
I’m so glad I found this group. I’ve been a huge fan of English mysteries since I was a young kid. I’m the mother of eight and have been homeschooling for 22 years in addition to writing curriculum for homeschool curriculum company. I’ve been married for over 30 years and live in New York. My Nana got me hooked on Drew mysteries and then I get the Christie and from there I just took off my favorites are Patricia Wentworth, Ngaio Marsh, Arthur Conan Doyle, Edmond, Crispin, and many others. I look forward to reading with you all.

Hi Mary Ellen, and welcome to the "English Mysteries Club". Wow, you have a busy life, and it's so great that reading English Mysteries are a big part of it!

I'm so glad you found us, and look forward to chatting with you in the group 😊

Welcome to the group, Mary Ellen!

Good Day everyone!

I just recently joined this club and wanted to introduce myself. I hail from the United States of America. I can admit that though I watched “Unsolved Mysteries” and even some early films that featured a mystery or Sherlock Holmes I never got into reading mysteries.

I knew of Agatha Christie thanks to an episode of “Unsolved Mysteries” and some of the titles of her books but never read her works. My school district never even required or recommend Christie or Doyle to us.

I think my first mystery I read was over 10 years ago which was “Death comes to Pemberly” by P. D. James. Again it took years before I would finally begin reading mysteries. This all changed in 2023 when I read the latest Railway Detective book by Edward Marston. I began reading more of his work, but then I kept feeling the nag to read Doyle or Christie.

I think it was in October of 2023 that I finally read “Murder on the Orient Express” and I finally was understanding why Agatha Christie is held with such high esteem when it comes to mysteries. Since then I have “Death on the Nile” and “And Then There Were None”.

I am hoping in the next few years more of her works, but also more of Edward Marston, and Sir Conan Doyle.

I hope to engage and converse within this community, but also learn of other authors. Thank you for letting me joint. Happy Reading!

Hi Nikita, and welcome to the "English Mysteries Club"! It's lovely to meet you and I'm sure we can introduce you to lots of fantastic mysteries, bot in our group reads and dotted around the group too.

Oh dear, I didn't enjoy Death Comes to Pemberley very much, (although otherwise P.D. James is an excellent mystery author) so I'm very glad it did not put you off reading English mysteries. The other three you mention are of course well worth reading, and I'm sure our members will have lots of suggestions.

Just join in wherever you like, and have fun 😊

Hi Nikita!
Don't let Death Comes to Pemberley influence you.

PD James has written 14 mystery novels featuring police detective Adam Dalgliesh and 2 featuring private detective Cordelia Gray, as well as a few other novels. She writes very well - in a classic and meticulous English style - and the police investigations are professionally documented. Try the first Dalgliesh mysteries, Devices and Desires, or A Taste for Death, or Original Sin - she was at the top of her form. But others are still worth reading.

Elizabeth George's mysteries are less classically written. There are more colloquial phrases in a fast-moving context. Her backgrounds - apart from police investigations - are carefully researched. Her detective characters are atypical and therefore interesting. You are very quickly drawn into the plot. Each novel is set in a different part of the UK - but Ms George is an American who lives partly in England and has a thorough knowledge of the area. I have just read This Body of Death, but try any of them. It may be advisable to read them in chronological order, but personally I read them regardless.

There are plenty of great English-speaking mystery writers, just look for them in this group!

Welcome to the group, Nikita. You started with the three best Christies! One of my favourites is The Murder of Roger Ackroyd.

Thank you all for welcome.

I should mention that “Death Comes to Pemberly” did not deter me from mysteries. I found it a solid read (but now I need to reread it to see after reading more mysteries if I still is). It was more I did not know where to go with finding my next mystery and then I was reading other genres.

Not many in my family read mysteries; many of my friends did not read the genre. So, I am very glad to join this group and hope to have more authors to read. :)

Hi Nikita, There are lots of other Americans like us in the group! Besides reading suggestions, we can ask group members for explanations of British terms we read and can’t understand - especially in older British books. It is so nice to meet another mystery fan. Happy reading!

Hi everyone, Randy from southern California here but I go by RJ - Slayer of Trolls on GR so I don't get mixed up with other Randys and RJs (there are more of us than you might think!). I enjoy a good mystery/crime book and those probably account for about 25% of my reads in any given year. I look forward to meeting everyone and talking book!

Hi RJ, and welcome to the "English Mysteries Club"! I'm so pleased to see you here, and think you might recognise a few other friends too. I hope you enjoy the group, and find yourself joining in a few of our group reads. We alternate between golden age English Mysteries and anything from about 1960 onwards. Hopefully we will read plenty of mystery authors you might not have come across, and will look forward to your suggestions too! 😊

Hi RJ!

Hi R.J. Welcome to the group!

Hello, I am KeenReader. I'll read pretty much any genre, but I do like Golden Age mysteries, or mysteries written in that style, even the cheeky ones like James Anderson's The Affair of the Bloodstained Egg Cosy.
I also like Dorothy LSayers's Lord Peter Wimsey books and I'll always check out the books the British Library publish whenever I come across them.

Hello I am Keen Reader and this is the third time I have tried to introduce myself. I'll read pretty much any genre, but I keep coming back to Golden Age mysteries, or mysteries in that style. I even like the cheeky ones like The Affair of the Bloodstained Egg Cosy and A Murder to Die For. whenever I come across one of the classic mysteries the British Library publish, I'll check it out carefully and it'll probably go on my TBR pile (the real one, which has too many books on it to transfer onto Goodreads).

Hi Keen Reader, Jackie, and welcome to the "English Mysteries Club"! That book title made me chuckle - it sounds tempting! I think you're in absolutely the right place, and l look forward to seeing your posts here. Join in wherever you like and have fun!😊

Bionic Jean wrote: "Hi RJ, and welcome to the "English Mysteries Club"!..."

Jackie wrote: "Hi RJ!"

Rosemarie wrote: "Hi R.J. Welcome to the group!"

Hello all! And Hello also to Keen Reader who supplanted me as the newest member!

Welcome, Keen Reader!

Hello everyone, I am Veronica from Kansas City, MO. I was introduced to Mysteries by Enid Blyton as a young child. Then by way of AC, Dorothy L. Sayers, Patricia Wentworth, P.D. James & Elizabeth George, I became an avid fan of English murder mysteries. Currently I am reading Ann Cleeves, Richard Osman, Ian Rankin, Tana French, Jane Casey etc. I would like to expand on to some other new or old authors that will give me a different perspective on the murder mystery genre than I am used to. I am excited and looking forward to checking out some suggestions by the group.

Welcome to the group,Veronica!

Hi Veronica, and welcome to the "English Mysteries Club"! You have some great names there! We too like reading both old and new mysteries, and our monthly group reads alternate between a "golden age" English mystery and one more recent. Check out the current monthly read LINK HERE, and vote for the next if you like LINK HERE

you could also have a look to see if any of your favourite authors have their own threads. Have fun exploring and join in wherever you like! 😊

welcome, Veronica!

Thank you for the links and the welcome :-)

Hi Morgan, and welcome to the "English Mysteries Club"! Thank you for such a great intro post; I'm sure you'll fit right in! Join in wherever you like and just have fun here 😊

Welcome, Morgan!

Welcome, Morgan!

My name is Amanda, while typically I love reading character based books, I've recently joined a read/knit-a-long featuring Margery Allingham mysteries and it has sparked my interest in the genre. I'm here to get further recommendations and learn more about England. ( I live in the US) I read Agatha Christie as a teen, and fell out of love with mystery at some point in my 20's. Now, I am immensely enjoying these for the twists and turns and historical references. I struggled with Sweet Danger, but found Death of a Ghost kept my attention with its setting in Little Venice and the art crowd.
Cheers!

Hi Amanda, and welcome to the "English Mysteries Club"! You've probably noticed that we are just finishing a group read of a Margery Allingham novel, and are about to start a contemporary English mystery. Typically we alternate them each month. But we have lots of other things going on too, so just join in wherever you like and have fun!

Hi, Amanda!

Hi Amanda, We are readers from all over the world - but mainly UK and US. I love having explanations for English traditions, foods, and phrases for the first time in my life - all those things I run across while reading UK books. Now , if someone could explain UK sports to me, but I fear this die hard baseball fan may never understand cricket or rugby. Happy reading!

Hello, I'm D.

Retired. Mixed Media artist, sewist, jewelry creator, and a lover of stories. Mysteries are just one of the genres that I frequent.

Peace.

Hi, D! Welcome to the group!

Hello and Welcome, D!

Hi D, and welcome to the "English Mysteries Club"! I hope you like it here 😊It's good to see you joining in.

It's lovely to meet you ... would you believe "sewist" is a word I've never heard before, but googling it confirmed what I assumed 😄

Bionic Jean wrote: "Hi D, and welcome to the "English Mysteries Club"! I hope you like it here 😊It's good to see you joining in.

It's lovely to meet you ... would you believe "sewist" is a word I've never heard befor..."

Thank you all for your warm welcomes.

Yes, that word suits what I do much better than "I sew things". 😂

I’m in the US and love mysteries. My favorite music is the intro to PBS Masterpiece Mystery! I love Agatha Christie, Dorothy Sayre, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Wilkie Collins, P.D. James, and Mary Stewart. I look forward to becoming acquainted with new authors as well.

Hi Debbie! Welcome to the English Mysteries Club. We read all those authors you mentioned so you're in the right place and I hope you like it here 😊

Check out our group read, which is Evil Under the Sun by Agatha Christie. LINK HERE

We'd love to see you there!

Welcome to the group, Debbie!