Reading the Detectives discussion

Judy wrote: "Sandy wrote: "Without 'spending' a valuable credit on Audible, I am limited to the ebook. Oh well...."

Sandy, the British Library edition of [book:The Theft of the Iron Dogs: A Lancashire Mystery|..."

Thank you. Kindle not yet available here. I will check out Spotify; it gets mentioned often.

Sandy wrote: "Judy wrote: "Judy wrote: "Susan in NC wrote: Also startedMurderer's Mistake Murderer's Mistake (Robert Macdonald #28) by E.C.R. Lorac by E.C.R. Lorac, one of my favorite GA authors, for our Februar..."

Same, I horde those credits like gold, try to spend wisely, with my Everand subscription coming to an end, I’ll have to decide whether to move up my Audible subscription to get two credits a month, or just buy audiobooks as desired…

Judy wrote: "Sandy wrote: "Without 'spending' a valuable credit on Audible, I am limited to the ebook. Oh well...."

Spotify, interesting!

Just finished last ‘Freddy’ last night, A Case of Perplexity in Piccadilly - fun as usual, but forgot most of it as soon as I finished it! Still, fun and entertaining and definitely not taxing, a welcome relief after hours of heavy nonfiction reading.

Susan in NC wrote: "Judy wrote: "Sandy wrote: "Without 'spending' a valuable credit on Audible, I am limited to the ebook. Oh well...."

Spotify, interesting!


I've signed up for the free version.

Audible and Spotify both seem to have titles that the other doesn't have. With Spotify you can listen to up to 15 hours of audiobooks "free" with a music subscription, though not all the books on the platform are included in this. As my husband has a music subscription and doesn't listen to audiobooks, it's a nice bonus for me!

Judy wrote: "Audible and Spotify both seem to have titles that the other doesn't have. With Spotify you can listen to up to 15 hours of audiobooks "free" with a music subscription, though not all the books on t..."

Perfect!

Started a reread of Duplicate Death for our upcoming read; I’m in a Georgette Heyer group here on GR so I’ve read it a few times, but I love her humor!

So sorry for being late to open up this month's group and challenge read!

The good news is that they are open now, so please do join in on the discussions.

Susan in NC wrote: "Started a reread of Duplicate Death for our upcoming read; I’m in a Georgette Heyer group here on GR so I’ve read it a few times, but I love her humor!"
oh, boy, I need to find that since I'm up for a re-read. It is almost my least favorite Heyer mystery and yet still worth reading!

Jackie wrote: "Susan in NC wrote: "Started a reread of Duplicate Death for our upcoming read; I’m in a Georgette Heyer group here on GR so I’ve read it a few times, but I love her humor!"
oh, boy, I..."

Ha! Hope you enjoy your reread, Jackie!

I just started Passing Strange by Catherine Aird. I was reading Dr. Priestley's Quest: A Dr. Priestley Detective Story but kindle saw fit to close my book while charging last night. I'll get back to it sometime.

I just started Murder at the Grand Hotel by Isabella Bassett, our March challenge read; only a few pages in, and I like how the author has already humorously introduced our heroine, explained her current situation. Excellent stage setting, good sense of place and time, plus humor? Yes, promising!

I am well into The Wine of Angels by Phil Rickman for the February buddy read. Very much liking it

Murder at the Grand Hoteldidn’t hold my interest, DNF after about 20%, might try book 2 if available; moving on to The Invisible Host by Gwen Bristow

I am reading Everyone on This Train Is a Suspect and enjoying it so far. All the author's straight forward hints and complete honesty didn't help me solve his first book and I don't expect this to be any different.

Finished The Strong Room: A Golden Age Mystery by R.A.J. Walling. I liked it. It was his first book, published in 1927.

Will continue The Hollow Msn and start the Big Four, Agatha Christie.

Reading two books: The Friends of Eddie Coyle by George V. Higgins. Reading it again so I can watch the movie with Robert Mitchum. Also reading Killshot by Elmore Leonard.

Books are similar in style and both are about criminals.

Finished Everyone on This Train Is a Suspect and recommend the series (two books) for a unique take on the Detective Club rules.

I've started our forthcoming buddy read Operation Pax by Michael Innes and am enjoying it so far - a very tense opening. So far it is quite different from others that I've read by this author.

Judy wrote: "I've started our forthcoming buddy read Operation Pax by Michael Innes and am enjoying it so far - a very tense opening. So far it is quite different from others that..."

I,too, was surprised by it!

I have started The Invisible Host and finding it pretty scary.

I did, too!

Just finished The 39 Steps by John Buchan, but I guess that’s more adventure thriller than mystery- but it was a fast-paced, fun listen!

Put aside, temporarily, The Wine of Angels and picked up The Busy Body a new book by an author I only know from an Agathie Christie podcast I once followed. As could be expected by the author's interest, it has a GA flavor. It is written in the first person by an unnamed female lead who is a ghost writer for the rich and famous. I am enjoying it quite a lot and expect to get back to 'Wine' soon.

Reading The Mystery of the Kneeling Woman by Moray Dalton

I've just finished The Road to Eden is Overgrown which is a very good police procedural with an assassin angle set in Liverpool. Huge cast of characters, but very well-paced. the trilogy is free on Amazon if anyone is interested.

Carolien wrote: "I've just finished The Road to Eden is Overgrown which is a very good police procedural with an assassin angle set in Liverpool. Huge cast of characters, but very well-paced. the tr..."

I picked them up; free is always a draw.

Sandy wrote: "Carolien wrote: "I've just finished The Road to Eden is Overgrown which is a very good police procedural with an assassin angle set in Liverpool. Huge cast of characters, but very w..."

they are well worth it. The author is a former police officer and it shows in the details.

Sandy wrote: "Carolien wrote: "I've just finished The Road to Eden is Overgrown which is a very good police procedural with an assassin angle set in Liverpool. Huge cast of characters, but very w..."

Me too. Thanks Carolien

Carolien wrote: "Sandy wrote: "Carolien wrote: "I've just finished The Road to Eden is Overgrown which is a very good police procedural with an assassin angle set in Liverpool. Huge cast of characte..."

Thanks, it sounds interesting!

I started and finished the second in the trilogy this afternoon, they are not good for my productivity. Ask The River is set about a year after the first one and involves a very complicated local crime gang fall-out. Definitely worth reading.

I started a new mystery last night and am loving it: The Last Dance. While the main character is deeply mourning his wife, it is an upbeat book with touches of humor.

I’m reading Murder at the Spring Ball for our upcoming April challenge read, and Death of an Author by E.C.R. Lorac because I love her books, and they’ve never let me down yet!

I've gone on to the 5th Sir Clinton Driffield story, Nemesis at Raynham Parva by J.J. Connington. He has "retired" from the force and visiting his sister when a murder practically plops in his lap. Per the Introduction it was his plan to dump Driffield but apparently he goes back to him in a few years. Reminiscent of Doyle trying to dump Sherlock Holmes.

Susan in N.C., I liked Death of an author. I'm listening to Murder at the Spring Ball on Spotify and enjoying it so far - the narrator has a strange mid-Atlantic accent but she has a beautiful voice anyway so I don't really mind.

I'm still making my way through The L.A. Quartet: The Black Dahlia / The Big Nowhere / L.A. Confidential / White Jazz by James Ellroy

Judy wrote: "Susan in N.C., I liked Death of an author. I'm listening to Murder at the Spring Ball on Spotify and enjoying it so far - the narrator has a strange mid-Atlantic accent but she has a beautiful voic..."

Interesting, my narrator was an Englishman, I thought he did a pretty decent job. I enjoyed the book somewhat, but felt the second might be better, this one seemed to spend a good bit establishing the series, and seemed more of a cozy mystery approach. The grandfather/grandson crime-solving duo is interesting. Starting Death of an Author at the same time was a cruel contrast, an actual excellent GA author, compared to a modern author trying to emulate the style. Lorac is a favorite of mine, and I’m enjoying it very much. Only a few chapters in, and the complexity has me on my toes! ;o)

Sorry Susan, I'm getting mixed up - the book I'm listening to with the narrator with a mid-Atlantic accent is Murder at the Grand Hotel, not Murder at the Spring Ball. Good to hear you enjoyed that one

Oh, sorry, no I liked Spring Ball - ok, not great - but the Grand Hotel was a DNF for me, afraid I just didn’t click after the first bit and chucked it, I had the same odd accent narrator, too, BTW.

got bogged down with Wentworth and Miss Silver, had a break back with a reread of Peter and Harriet, they are always relaxing to me however may times I read them. I am now with Ngaio Marsh, Alleyn and his Troy who are more like Peter and Harriet. having a touch of romance is a help in filling out our cardboard cutouts and turning them into 'real' three dimensional people nfor me.

I've started Murder at the Grand Hotel for our March challenge. Not sure how I feel about it yet, but it is not going to take much of a time commitment!

I've started a new series set in Scotland#, Dead Man’s Grave is the first. Written by a former policeman so the procedural details are interesting, highly addictive reading.

I'm reading The Paddington Mystery by John Rhode, first in the Dr Priestley series. I enjoy his writing and it's interesting to see how this series started, even though I don't think this will turn out to be anywhere near his best.

I've now finished The Paddington Mystery by John Rhode and it is not very good at all - I suspect it was only republished because it was first in the series. I've enjoyed a few later books from this series and will read more, but this one was really disappointing.

Judy wrote: "Judy wrote: "Susan in NC wrote: Also startedMurderer's Mistake Murderer's Mistake (Robert Macdonald #28) by E.C.R. Lorac by E.C.R. Lorac, one of my favorite GA authors, for our February read. Also ..."

Sorry, I missed your comment somehow! Belatedly, I’ll just say I’m glad I realized the ‘abridging’, well done though it was. As you say, the plot remained intact, so it was well done, but a lot of my enjoyment of Lorac comes from her humor, descriptions of scenery, characters, their inner thoughts - all the touches that make her writing more like a novel than pure GA mystery. I’m glad to have got “Murderer’s Mistake” cheap on kindle, as I’m trying to get all of the Lorac reissues I can, but if I see a BLCC version under the uk title, I’ll snap that up for my collection!

I agree, it was probably done originally, paper shortages make sense - and maybe an American publisher thought US readers at the time wouldn’t be familiar enough with the landscape of rural England to make sense of/appreciate those bits, so they edited down to the “meat” of the murder mystery. I guess we’ll never know, but I’ll wonder from now on about those cheaper Kindle versions of her books, from that publisher (I’ve picked up a few, they all have the stylized noir type drawings for covers), and will check for an original uk title!

I've started The Lantern's Dance, latest in the Mary Russell / Sherlock Holmes series. One of my favorite series and this entry is off to a promising start.

Here are two of the kindle books I’ve bought with cartoonish covers: and . I think the little cover badge says “The Crime Club”.

Inspired by a GR friend’s recent reviews, I’m listening/rereading Miss Marple, starting with Miss Marple: The Complete Short Stories .

Sandy wrote: "I've started The Lantern's Dance, latest in the Mary Russell / Sherlock Holmes series. One of my favorite series and this entry is off to a promising start."

Yet another series I began and enjoyed years ago, but have lost sight of! As we cast about for new series to Buddy read, this might be a possibility…

I have a number of these books but have never started them, so would be willing to give them a try