Reading the Detectives discussion

It's time to suggest books for our June 2020 group read.

Please nominate mystery/detective books written in/set in the GA period, or a little earlier or later.

As usual, just one nomination per group member. Also, only one book by any individual writer can be nominated per month.

I'll start us off by nominating one of the Patricia Wentworth books sitting on my Kindle - The Blind Side: An Ernest Lamb Mystery. I gather from the reviews that this one is actually a murder mystery, not a thriller like many of her non-Miss Silver books - it is the first of the three Inspector Lamb mysteries, which feature policemen who are also in the Miss Silver books.

Ross Craddock was just the type to be murdered. The new landlord of Craddock house, he begins by giving eviction notice to his aunt Lucy. He threatens the doorman with dismissal. He makes a violent and unwelcome pass to his cousin Mavis. He is vindictive and spiteful and ends up dead.

Murder of a Lady by Anthony Wynne. This was a British Library Crime Classic reprint from 1931. There are 26 in the series but it looks like this is the only one available. Another was reprinted but it costs about $24 in paperback. This is available on Kindle for $1.99.

"Duchlan Castle is a gloomy, forbidding place in the Scottish Highlands. Late one night the body of Mary Gregor, sister of the laird of Duchlan, is found in the castle. She has been stabbed to death in her bedroom―but the room is locked from within and the windows are barred. The only tiny clue to the culprit is a silver fish's scale, left on the floor next to Mary's body.
Inspector Dundas is dispatched to Duchlan to investigate the case. The Gregor family and their servants are quick―perhaps too quick―to explain that Mary was a kind and charitable woman. Dundas uncovers a more complex truth, and the cruel character of the dead woman continues to pervade the house after her death. Soon further deaths, equally impossible, occur, and the atmosphere grows ever darker. Superstitious locals believe that fish creatures from the nearby waters are responsible; but luckily for Inspector Dundas, the gifted amateur sleuth Eustace Hailey is on the scene, and unravels a more logical solution to this most fiendish of plots."

Murder of a Lady sounds great, Jan - thanks for the nomination. :)

I will nominate The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie

Book 1 in the Flavia de Luce series. I read the first when it first came out, but then did not continue the series, so I have been meaning to get back to it.

Meet Flavia: Mystery Solver. Master Poisoner. 11 Years Old.
England 1950. At Buckshaw, the crumbling country seat of the de Luce family, very-nearly-eleven-year-old Flavia is plotting revenge on her older sisters.

Then a dead bird is left on the doorstep, which has an extraordinary effect on Flavia's eccentric father, and a body is found in the garden. As the police descend on Buckshaw, Flavia decides to do some investigating of her own.

Susan wrote: "I will nominate The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie

Book 1 in the Flavia de Luce series. I read the first when it fir..."

Love this series Susan 🤗

I’ve been wanting to read the Flavia de Luce series!

I have read the first three and loved them. I will be reading the fourth shortly

Thanks for the nomination, Susan. I read the first Flavia book a few years ago and remember it was fun, but haven't carried on with the series so far either!

Nominations so far:
Judy: The Blind Side: An Ernest Lamb Mystery by Patricia Wentworth
Jan: Murder of a Lady by Anthony Wynne
Susan: The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie by Alan Bradley

I've dipped into the Flavia series and loved it too - but have never read the first one - great pick!

I love Flavia and would enjoy a reread.

Sandy wrote: "I love Flavia and would enjoy a reread."

Me, too!

Good to hear I picked a popular nomination, but the other books look good too.

I´ll try this again, as I already got it at home, and so nominate The Lake District Murder by John Bude. It´s also a British Library Crime Classic, and is 99p on kindle.

Thanks, Michaela. Nominations so far:

Judy: The Blind Side: An Ernest Lamb Mystery by Patricia Wentworth
Jan: Murder of a Lady by Anthony Wynne
Susan: The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie by Alan Bradley
Michaela: The Lake District Murder by John Bude

Any more nominations to add? The poll will go up mid-week.

The poll is now open - please cast your votes!

https://www.goodreads.com/poll/show/1...

The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie has gone into an early lead - but there is still time to cast your votes.

https://www.goodreads.com/poll/show/1...

And the winner is... The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie by Alan Bradley, which will be our June group read.

Full results:

The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie (Flavia de Luce, #1) 10 votes, 40.0%
The Blind Side: An Ernest Lamb Mystery 7 votes, 28.0%
The Lake District Murder (Superintendent Meredith, #1) 5 votes, 20.0%
Murder of a Lady (Dr. Hailey, #12) 3 votes, 12.0%