Reading the Detectives discussion

Can you believe it's already time to nominate for our July 2024 group read?! Please only nominate books written and published in the Golden Age period, or a little earlier or later - if in doubt whether a title is eligible, please ask. As usual, just one nomination per group member, and only one book by any individual writer can be nominated per month.

If you aren't sure whether we have read something, the group bookshelves may help, or just ask. If it was at least 3 years ago that we read it, it is fine to renominate.

I will renominate A Shilling for Candles, the second of Jospehine Tey's Inspector Grant books. The group read it in 2017 and I can't remember the discussion, so it's suitable for a re-read, I think.

"When a woman's body washes up on an isolated stretch of beach on the southern coast of England, Scotland Yard's Inspector Alan Grant is on the case. But the inquiry into her death turns into a nightmare of false leads and baffling clues. Was there anyone who didn't want lovely screen actress Christine Clay dead?"

I will nominate So Pretty a Problem by Francis Duncan If that is possible


Amateur sleuth Mordecai Tremaine is back in another classic mystery from the author of Murder for Christmas

Adrian Carthallow, enfant terrible of the art world, is no stranger to controversy. But this time it’s not his paintings that have provoked a blaze of publicity – it’s the fact that his career has been suddenly terminated by a bullet to the head. Not only that, but his wife has confessed to firing the fatal shot.

Inspector Penross of the town constabulary is, however, less than convinced by Helen Carthallow’s story – but has no other explanation for the incident that occurred when the couple were alone in their clifftop house.

Luckily for the Inspector, amateur criminologist Mordecai Tremaine has an uncanny habit of being in the near neighbourhood whenever sudden death makes its appearance. Investigating the killing, Tremaine is quick to realise that however handsome a couple the Carthallows were, and however extravagant a life they led, beneath the surface there’s a pretty devil’s brew…

Thanks, ladies, both on my TBR, and I’ve never read them, so I’m not going to nominate.

Thank you for the nominations so far, two great choices. I have read A Shilling for Candles but don't remember the plot in any detail, just that I enjoyed it. I've read and enjoyed the other Mordecai Tremaine books that are in print but not So Pretty a Problem as yet.

'So Pretty a Problem' is waiting on my iPod so it would be good to have an incentive.

I'll nominate a book I've had waiting on my shelf for a while, Death in White Pyjamas by John Bude. It's available on its own or with another Bude novel in a British Library book, Death in White Pyjamas / Death Knows No Calendar.

A theatre-owner, a 'slightly sinister' producer, a burgeoning playwright and a cast of ego-driven actors have gathered at a country home to read through the promising script for Pigs in Porcelain. Before the production ever reaches the stage, one of their number is found murdered in the grounds wearing what mysteriously seems to be somebody else's white pyjamas. Enter Inspector Harting and Sergeant Dane to unravel this curious plot.

Nominations so far:

Rosina:A Shilling for Candles by Josephine Tey

Jill: So Pretty a Problem by Francis Duncan

Judy Death in White Pyjamas by John Bude

Last call for nominations - I'd like to put the poll up tomorrow.

I have just enjoyed Jill Paton Walsh's 'The Wyndham Case' which is set in the 1990s. Her character is Imogen Quy, the nurse at a Cambridge Universty college. I know it is not a GA story but most enjoyable, it is the first of four that she has written of Imogen Quy.
You may decide it is out of era, if so, that's fine but, as a story it fits.

Thanks Keith, The Wyndham Case a bit out of era but, as you say, very much in the GA tradition. We've occasionally had 1980s books in the poll, so let's stretch it on this occasion and include one from the 1990s.

I seem to be able to look up US availability at the moment by putting in a US zip code when looking at amazon.com and I see The Wyndham Case is currently $0.99 on Kindle - it says it is a "limited time deal" though.

Our latest poll is now up - please vote for your top choice to read in July.

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

We currently have a 3-way tie! So if you haven't voted, please do.
https://www.goodreads.com/poll/show/2...

Whoops! I missed another nominating round. I wasn't on the computer for a few days. Miss a little miss a lot.

We have a winner! It's So Pretty a Problem by Francis Duncan, which will be our July read.

Full results:
So Pretty a Problem (Mordecai Tremaine #5) 7 votes, 35.0%
Death in White Pyjamas 5 votes, 25.0%
The Wyndham Case (Imogen Quy, #1) 5 votes, 25.0%
A Shilling for Candles (Inspector Alan Grant, #2) 3 votes, 15.0%