The Mystery, Crime, and Thriller Group discussion

Justin wrote: "I've been watching Eli Roth's History of Horror which explores the types and genres of horror films. It's great."

Where is that streaming, Justin?

Nancy wrote: "Suzy wrote: "Lots of fun recommendations! Here are mine.
On Britbox: Also loved Karen Pirie, all 6 seasons of Inspector Lynley, Line of Duty, New Tricks (old but very fun), Death in Paradise.
On ..."

Nancy wrote: "Suzy wrote: "Lots of fun recommendations! Here are mine.
On Britbox: Also loved Karen Pirie, all 6 seasons of Inspector Lynley, Line of Duty, New Tricks (old but very fun), Death in Paradise.
On ..."

Line of Duty is great, watch from Season One, and Foyle's War is magic, an absolute must for Anthony Horowitz fans (or just about anyone else)

I tried to watch "Foyle's War". Couldn't get into it. That's a British TV series on WW II from the 1970's, right?
As much as I love BBC productions, but that one was a dud.

Christine wrote: "I tried to watch "Foyle's War". Couldn't get into it. That's a British TV series on WW II from the 1970's, right?
As much as I love BBC productions, but that one was a dud."

Not a dud as far as I was concerned. Starred Michael Kitchen.

I loved Foyle’s War and watched it start to finish twice, once on my own and once with my husband. It ran 2002-2015. (Is now on Acorn)

Christine wrote: "I tried to watch "Foyle's War". Couldn't get into it. That's a British TV series on WW II from the 1970's, right?
As much as I love BBC productions, but that one was a dud."

That was one of my favorite series! We watched every season.

Severance on Apple TV is good. It is a kind of SciFi, but also quite a mystery that slowly unravels. Already looking forward to the second season.

I liked Foyle''s War, but my wife didn't.

Thomas wrote: "I liked Foyle''s War, but my wife didn't."


I usually love WW II TV series. The best I ever watched was "The Winds of War" with Robert Mitchum, Ali MacGraw and Victoria Tennant.

Thomas wrote: "I liked Foyle''s War, but my wife didn't."

I like it too.

Christine wrote: "Thomas wrote: "I liked Foyle''s War, but my wife didn't."


I usually love WW II TV series. The best I ever watched was "The Winds of War" with Robert Mitchum, Ali MacGraw and Victoria Tennant."

This is good. The book is also well done. 🙂

Barbara wrote: "Christine wrote: "Thomas wrote: "I liked Foyle''s War, but my wife didn't."


I usually love WW II TV series. The best I ever watched was "The Winds of War" with Robert Mitchum, Ali MacGraw and Vic..."

Barbara, I'm just rereading Herman Wouk's first part of "The Winds of War". It's so compelling.

I started 2 more series recently, in addition to the others I’m still watching, Peaky Blinders, and Danger Man. Both are great so far.

I watched the series "Almost Australian" with Miriam Margolyes. Margolyes became an Australian citizen six years ago (her partner is Australian), but she felt she didn't know much about the country she now called home.

She rents an RV and takes a 2 month (8000 mile) road trip all over the country to find out what the Australian dream is to the people in the country. She goes to remote cattle stops, truck stops, drag shows, Aboriginal villages, and asks the people their perspectives on the Australian dream.

It's quite touching, and Margolyes also finds herself changing her once staunch perspectives and opinions, after putting herself in others' shoes.

Highly recommend.

I’m so glad to know this! She’s a favorite actor and I see it’s streaming on Netflix.

Suzy-I hope you enjoy it! I certainly did!

We finished watching Love and Death on the streaming channel formerly known as HBO Max (now just Max). It's a dramatization of the story of Candy Montgomery, a Texas mom/housewife who killed the wife of her former lover with an axe. Axe murderers aren't are usual fare, but this was an interesting series.

I started watching Once Upon a Time in Northern Ireland on PBS. Very well done. It's all about the Troubles - uses first person narratives

I just returned from a river cruise, Antwerp, Belgium to Basel, Switzerland.. Antwerp is both a sea port, with access to the North sea/Atlantic ocean and the Rhine river, via a canal. The access to the North Sea is through the Scheldt, in the Netherlands. The Allies wanted to use this port to bring in supplies in Sept of 1944 when they captured it, but could not, because the Nazis still held the Scheldt. Not until Dec'44--Jan '45 did Canadian soldiers capture the Scheldt, with the help of a resistance woman who supplied them with crucial maps. There a Netflix movie called "The Forgotten Battle", a Canada/Dutch co-production, which details this battle. The Netherlands still sends several thousand tulips every year to Canada in gratitude. They are planted in Ottawa capital gardens.
I recommend the movie.

Thomas wrote: "I just returned from a river cruise, Antwerp, Belgium to Basel, Switzerland.. Antwerp is both a sea port, with access to the North sea/Atlantic ocean and the Rhine river, via a canal. The access to..."



Thanks for the tip!
I'm searching for a river cruise company in Europe for years. We need beds in two different rooms, because my husband snores, but even Viking only offers the beds in one room and the other room has just a small sofa on which I could not sleep on.

Christine wrote: "Thomas wrote: "I just returned from a river cruise, Antwerp, Belgium to Basel, Switzerland.. Antwerp is both a sea port, with access to the North sea/Atlantic ocean and the Rhine river, via a canal..."

You are Welcome

I watched Where the Crawdads Sing and recommend it. I had already read the book. The movie is pretty faithful to the book.
On Netflix

Some streaming recommendations:
Unbroken on Amazon prime. This is based on the book, which I have not read. It is the story of an American Olympic athlete who enlists in the US Army Air Force during WWII, and is then captured by the Japanese.
A man called Otto, with Tom hanks in the title role. Another book that I didn't read. I especially liked the ending.
Finally Outlander, season 7 on Starz. Liz and I recommend it

We enjoyed "A Man called Otto" at the movie theater last year. It was an unusual role for Tom Hanks.

Thomas wrote: "Some streaming recommendations:
Unbroken on Amazon prime. This is based on the book, which I have not read. It is the story of an American Olympic athlete who enlists in the US Army Air Force durin..."

I read Unbroken. It's a good book.

Christine wrote: "We enjoyed "A Man called Otto" at the movie theater last year. It was an unusual role for Tom Hanks."

Saw it on one of the streaming services and it was a wonderful movie. I don't think it was out of line of any of his other work since he has portrayed other characters (including real life people) in a spectacular manner.

The Lincoln Lawyer is back for a second season on Netflix!

I just watched the last episode of the last season of Endeavour. So very very well done! Weepsville.

Nancy wrote: "I just watched the last episode of the last season of Endeavour. So very very well done! Weepsville."

I agree. I have also finished the 1st 6 episodes of the Lincoln Lawyer, which ends with a cliffhanger.

I liked the 1st season of Lincoln Lawyer, but cannot get excited over this 2nd season. Too much "awe shucks I'm so good in the sack" looks from Haller.

Judy wrote: "I liked the 1st season of Lincoln Lawyer, but cannot get excited over this 2nd season. Too much "awe shucks I'm so good in the sack" looks from Haller."

Uh oh. I don't think I'll like that. 😣

I am also watching Deadloch, on Amazon Prime. It is a police procedural set in Tasmania, Australia. The 2 women detectives are on the way to solving the mystery of a serial killer, when an obnoxious superintendent takes them off the case and proceeds to make major mistakes. There is only 1 competent male policeman in the series, which was developed by 2 women. I recommend it with the warning that 1 detective does use the f word quite a bit.

On Kanopy, I watched the movie ON THE WAY TO SCHOOL. This film follows four children (and their siblings and friends) on their journeys to school.

One child, from Kenya, walks two hours every day to school, with his little sister in tow. They must worry about being hurt by elephants and other animals, along with thorn and other hazards. His dream is to be a pilot.

Another child from Morocco walks 4 hours to school every Monday. She travels with two of her female friends, and if they are lucky, sometimes a passerby may give them a ride. They stay the week at school. Her dream is to be a doctor, as well as the hope that girls in remote villages like her will also be able to go to school.

An Argentinian boy travels by horse 1.5 hours everyday, with his little sister sharing the horse. His dream is to be a veterinarian, and she would like to be a school teacher.

The last one is a sixth grade boy from India. We are not told what his disability is, but he is confined to a wheelchair (which is a lawn chair with bike tires attached). It's very touching, his love and desire to be be a doctor. His little brothers (Perhaps 2nd and kindergarten) push him to school everyday for 1.5 hours. The love these siblings have for each other, was beautiful.

Highly recommend this outside and well-done documentary.

Last night we watched the first episode of Dark Winds season 2 (AMC+). Started off with a bang, literally.

I am watching Dahaad, an Indian police procedural, on Amazon Prime. One of the police officers investigating a serial killer is a woman who was born into a lower caste. Although caste discrimination is now prohibited in India, she still faces discrimination, but continues on and does well, even threatening, one man with arrest for violating the law.

I am watching Dahaad, an Indian police procedural, on Amazon Prime. One of the police officers investigating a serial killer is a woman who was born into a lower caste. Although caste discrimination is now prohibited in India, she still faces discrimination, but continues on and does well, even threatening one man with arrest for violating the law.

Thomas wrote: "I am watching Dahaad, an Indian police procedural, on Amazon Prime. One of the police officers investigating a serial killer is a woman who was born into a lower caste. Although caste discriminatio..."

Oh! I really need to see that. Thanks!

Streaming on BritBox: Shakespeare & Hathaway, Sister Boniface, McDonald & Dodds, The Coroner, The Last Detective, Rosemary & Thyme, Jonathan Creek...all in the cozy mystery genre

Nancy wrote: "Thomas wrote: "I am watching Dahaad, an Indian police procedural, on Amazon Prime. One of the police officers investigating a serial killer is a woman who was born into a lower caste. Although cast..."

You're Welcome.

Once upon a time, I too had access to cable. There was a great channel called MHZ that all mystery buffs should know about. I watched Wallander in Swedish (the Krister Henriksson series is best), a moody Maigret series with Bruno Cremer, and many others -- all with subtitles, of course. I was in heaven! Best of all, there was Inspector Montalbano -- highly recommended. Montalbano I know is still out there. He's on YouTube sometimes, but alas without subtitles!

I watched the 2011 French film, Welcome Aboard, on Amazon. A woman who is the HR director for a large cruise company has been having an affair with her boss, the President of the company, for the last five years.

One day, while she's interviewing candidates for the Activities Director position on their brand new cruise ship, he calls her into his office to say that he must bring his wife on the virgin voyage of the new cruise ship, and that they are over (and so is her job).

In order to exact the best possible revenge, she hires the least qualified most annoying man for the job....and boy does he turn the boat upside....

Was a fun movie for free, but nothing earth shattering.

I’m streaming Peacemaker on Max, starring John Cena, Danielle Brooks, Freddie Stroma, Jennifer Holland, Steve Agee, Chukwudi Iwuji, and Robert Patrick. James Gunn directed several episodes. Spin-off series to The Suicide Squad (2021). Cena, Holland, and Agee reprise their roles from the film.

A real find: Rough Diamonds
https://www.netflix.com/nl-en/title/8...
on Netflix.

A series you'll need to watch with subtitles as there are at least four languages spoken in it: Dutch Flemish, English and Jiddisch. Great actors in this surprising story. Highly recommended.

We started watching Painkiller on Netflix, credited as being based on the book Pain Killer: A "Wonder" Drug's Trail of Addiction and Death by Barry Meier but I can definitely see Patrick Radden-Keefe's work on the Sacklers

(New Yorker -- https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/20...),

the basis of his Empire of Pain: The Secret History of the Sackler Dynasty, at work here as well. Not surprisingly, he has writing credits on this show. I own but haven't read the Meier book, but if you haven't yet experienced Empire of Pain , you really ought to.

Christine wrote: "We enjoyed "A Man called Otto" at the movie theater last year. It was an unusual role for Tom Hanks."

Thank you for recommending this one. We've watched it yesterday and Tom Hanks is great in this movie, but I also loved Marisol. It is a remake of a Swedish movie from 2015. I never understand why Americans don't want to watch movies from other countries (with other languages), but in this case at least the author of the original book worked on the Swedish and the American version.

Jannelies (slowly getting there) wrote: "Christine wrote: "We enjoyed "A Man called Otto" at the movie theater last year. It was an unusual role for Tom Hanks."

Thank you for recommending this one. We've watched it yesterday and Tom Hank..."

My wife won't watch tv/movies with subtitles. She says it is too distracting. I don't mind and enjoy learning about other countries.

Nancy wrote: "We started watching Painkiller on Netflix, credited as being based on the book Pain Killer: A "Wonder" Drug's Trail of Addiction and Death by Barry Meier but I can definitely see Pat..."

I didn't know about the Meier book, but I read Empire and I think I have Dopesick. Empire was excellent although I could not find anyone in that book that I liked. But it was very well written,

Jan C wrote: "Nancy wrote: "We started watching Painkiller on Netflix, credited as being based on the book Pain Killer: A "Wonder" Drug's Trail of Addiction and Death by Barry Meier but I can defi..."

I wasn't as in love with Dopesick: Dealers, Doctors, and the Drug Company that Addicted America as I was with a couple of others on the topic, but I think it was the author's writing style which caused that.

We finished watching Painkiller last night. Very well done. I can also recommend The Crime of the Century airing on Max (which used to be HBO Max).

I watched the original House of Cards mini series from 1990. I still have to see the next two, To Play the King, and The Final Cut.

Bruce wrote: "I watched the original House of Cards mini series from 1990. I still have to see the next two, To Play the King, and The Final Cut."

I saw that too. It was awesome. The books I didn't really care for very much.