Reading the Detectives discussion

It's time to nominate again! Please post your nominations for our August 2020 group read.

You can 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 would like to nominate Thirteen Guests by
J. Jefferson Farjeon

On a fine autumn weekend, Lord Aveling hosts a hunting party at his country house, Bragley Court. Among the guests are an actress, a journalist, an artist, and a mystery novelist. The unlucky thirteenth is John Foss, injured at the local train station and brought to the house to recuperate – but John is nursing a secret of his own.

Soon events take a sinister turn when a painting is mutilated, a dog stabbed, and a man strangled. Death strikes more than one of the house guests, and the police are called. Detective Inspector Kendall’s skills are tested to the utmost as he tries to uncover the hidden past of everyone at Bragley Court.

This country-house mystery is a forgotten classic of 1930s crime fiction by one of the most undeservedly neglected of golden age detective novelists.

Good choice, Jill.

I will nominate (again, I think):

The Ghost It Was

He seemed as if he might be interesting. People with no morals often are, and someone who makes no pretence of having any always is.

A convert to the recent fad of ‘spiritualism’, James Warrenton purchases the old, and purportedly haunted, Amberhurst Place. A cantankerous, yet easily amused, old man, he has far too many nephews, and far too much time.

Suspecting his family of only ever wanting his fortune, James strikes up a bet for his own entertainment with his nephews on the existence of ghosts.

Desperate to get into their uncle’s good graces, or at least not irritate him further, his four nephews vie for the place as prime heir to James’ estate.

Snide comments and ruthless remarks volley around Amberhurst, but when a harmless prank turns deadly, everyone is a suspect – even the ghost.

Two great suggestions to start us off, Jill and Susan. I enjoyed our previous J. Jefferson Farjeon book and have been wanting to try Richard Hull.

Susan wrote: "Good choice, Jill.

I will nominate (again, I think):

The Ghost It Was

He seemed as if he might be interesting. People with no morals often a..."

Great choice. I want to read more by this author.

I'd like to nominate Fallen Into the Pit by Ellis Peters. This first book in the Inspector Felse series

Carolien wrote: "I'd like to nominate Fallen Into the Pit by Ellis Peters. This first book in the Inspector Felse series"

This is available on Kindle Unlimited in the UK - so well worth a re-read chosen or not!

I downloaded Fallen Into the Pit, when it was nominated previously, so great suggestions so far.

Maybe I can also stick a toe in with another re-nomination? Anybody brave enough to venture back into Michael Innes again? (This is a short one.) The Daffodil Affair

$5.99 on Kindle in the USA and cheap used copies available.

The blurb says, “In the midst of the Blitz, a house in Bloomsbury disappears. In York and London, two young girls have been kidnapped. And in Harrogate, a cab horse named Daffodil has gone missing.” I thought it might be a good counterpart to the Allingham we recently read.

Thanks for all the nominations - some great suggestions as usual.

So far we have:

Jill: Thirteen Guests by J. Jefferson Farjeon

Susan: The Ghost It Was by Richard Hull

Carolien: Fallen into the Pit by Ellis Peters

Abigail: The Daffodil Affair by Michael Innes

Any more? The poll will go up at the weekend.

I don't have the Hull book but I do have the other books.

I'll try a nomination - Ianthe Jerrold's Let Him Lie - it begins with the death of a kitten. This one was published in 1940.

Thank you for the nomination, Jan - I like Ianthe Jerrold.

Nominations so far:

Jill: Thirteen Guests by J. Jefferson Farjeon

Susan: The Ghost It Was by Richard Hull

Carolien: Fallen into the Pit by Ellis Peters

Abigail: The Daffodil Affair by Michael Innes

Jan: Let Him Lie by Ianthe Jerrold

Last call for nominations before the poll goes up!

The poll is now open - 5 great choices, so please head for the polling booths now and cast your vote!

https://www.goodreads.com/poll/show/2...

We've done that a few times lately, over the last couple of years! Personally, I hope we have a break from voting for a while now...

Ah, but voting in our group polls is a lot more fun :)

This is true. Mind you, I do love watching the results on election night.

They all look interesting, I’m just limited by which titles I can actually get through Scribd or my library’s ebook collection- the actual library is still closed here.

And the winner is... Thirteen Guests by J. Jefferson Farjeon, which will be our August group read. Thanks to Jill for the nomination.

Full results:

Thirteen Guests (Inspector Kendall #1) 11 votes, 44.0%
The Ghost It Was 6 votes, 24.0%
Fallen Into the Pit (Felse Investigations, #1) 6 votes, 24.0%
The Daffodil Affair (Sir John Appleby, #8) 2 votes, 8.0%
Let Him Lie 0 votes, 0.0%

Thank you, Judy. Thanks, Jill.

yes, thanks for putting in the work.

It was a hard choice this month - I want to read most of them.

Sandy wrote: "It was a hard choice this month - I want to read most of them."

I'm hoping they will be nominated again at a later poll