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Tell you what I am looking forward to, is the latest Ruth Rendell. I think it is titled ST ZITA'S CLUB.

I'm reading "Before I Go to Sleep" by S.J. Watson

Before I Go To Sleep

Mehsaidmet wrote: "I'm reading "Before I Go to Sleep" by S.J. Watson

Before I Go To Sleep"
I enjoyed that book.

I too love Pettigrew. I am quite into Kate Ellis' Wesley Petersen mysteries as they have historical and crime altogether.
Susan, I too love all the same authors as you !

I'm new to this group and pretty much just getting into English mysteries but I'm finding I rather enjoy them :) I just read A Beautiful Blue Death by Charles Finch and liked it so much I dove right into The September Society. I had won his 5th book as a Å·±¦ÓéÀÖ Giveaway, but I HATE reading a series out of order so I decided to go back to the beginning and work my way through. So far they are quite good :)

This thread just murdered my TBR list though... so many books so little time

I ma reading Where Shadows Dance by C. S. Harris. She is an American author, but her Sebastian St. Cyr series of books are Regency England mysteries.

Susan wrote: "Cheryl S. wrote: "Brenda wrote: "I loved PETTIGREW too. It is not that usual, to have protagonists who are getting on in years."

My book club members call books like "Pettigrew" Geezer Lit. I re..."

LOL!

Mary wrote: "I ma reading Where Shadows Dance by C. S. Harris. She is an American author, but her Sebastian St. Cyr series of books are Regency England mysteries."

Do you like it, Mary? I've read all but the second book in the series. I'm not particularly impressed by the writing, but for some reason I keep coming back for more.

I have read most of them, Kim. I wouldn't say they are my favorites, by I find the main character intriguing and I need to follow along to see what happens to him next! Always a problem with me once I start a series.

Mary wrote: "I have read most of them, Kim. I wouldn't say they are my favorites, by I find the main character intriguing and I need to follow along to see what happens to him next! Always a problem with me onc..."

I know what you mean. That's probably why I keep reading 'em, even though some of what Harris does in the books drives me crazy!

Hi and hello! I've just joined this group, so go easy on me!

Just to say I am curently reading Oxford Knot by Veronica Stallwood - has anyone else read any of the Kate Ivory series? They're all about a romantic novelist who solves mysteries in her spare time in Oxford and is set in and around the University there. They're very gentle books, but intelligent and I quite like the unusual heroine, who's a bit spiky and different.

Have only just begun Tana French The Likeness and am expecting good things from it as I loved her book In The Woods.

Julia wrote: "Hello Caz,
I've read all of Stallwood's Kate Ivory series and wish there were more."

Hi Julia, I read somewhere recently that she was finishing the series - I am only about halfway through so I don't mind so much, but if you have read all of them it must be annoying. Still, don't you think sometimes a series just runs out of steam? (I stopped reading the Scarpetta novels after about six or seven of them)

It is difficult to keep a series afloat over many volumes, and the project is full of pitfalls. If you go for the Potholder strategy -- each novel is like a potholder, woven separate and not connected to any other -- then a reader gets the sense that things never progress. The Nero Wolfe or Hercule Poirot books are like this -- Wolfe or Poirot move ageless through adventures, never learning or changing or developing. If you go the Plot Coupon route -- the characters start out ISO true love, spiritual fulfilment, the One Ring, or whatever -- then eventually all the Coupons are redeemed and you either have to take some back (the James Bond novels do this, with Bond always mislaying the girl between books) or find new ones. Eventually you run out of them.

Brenda wrote: " If you go for the Potholder strategy -- each novel is like a potholder, woven separate and not connected to any other -- then a reader gets the sense that things never progress. The Nero Wolfe or Hercule Poirot books are like this -- Wolfe or Poirot move ageless through adventures, never learning or changing or developing."

Well, although I agree with your basic premise, I disagree that Wolfe or Poirot never learn, change, or develop. Poirot, for example, does age -- it is just that his personal life is not the point of the story.

I am thinking of the S. J. Rozan novels, about private eyes Lydia Chin and Bill (lastname). She knows about the Plot Coupons, and so those two have been romanticallyl frustrated for NINE books. It is getting too aggravating to read any more! In other words, the author is deliberately not letting the characters progress.

Mike wrote: "I've just started Tooth and Nail by Ian Rankin.

Ian Rankin"

Love Ian Rankin!

Brenda wrote: "Mike wrote: "I've just started Tooth and Nail by Ian Rankin.

Ian Rankin"

Love Ian Rankin!"

Brenda, I enjoy Ian Rankin as well, have read quite a few Rebus novels. But the link you added for TOOTH AND NAIL is for a different book (about Zombies, I think! LOL).

Finished and enjoyed The Likeness. my review

I finished Elizabeth George's "Playing for the Ashes" in her Inspector Lynley series las night. Sadly I had seen one on a table at B&N last year and picked it up recalling the old PBS series. It made me want to read them in chronological order so I'm now stuck in the mid-'90s. I really enjoy her characterizations of the main characters as well as those of the butlers, etc.
"Ashes" is loaded with suspects which makes it loaded with red herrings and all sorts of permutations for the reader to figure out. It is an excellent series with Lynley and his DS Barbara Havers leading the way.

Due to the current archaeological discoveries in Britain, I am thinking I should read DAUGHTER OF TIME by Josephine Tey. Anybody read it?

Brenda wrote: "Due to the current archaeological discoveries in Britain, I am thinking I should read DAUGHTER OF TIME by Josephine Tey. Anybody read it?"

Haven't heard of it but this is all reminding me to go back to Cadfael.

Brenda wrote: "Due to the current archaeological discoveries in Britain, I am thinking I should read DAUGHTER OF TIME by Josephine Tey. Anybody read it?"

I have, on several occasions. It's one of the books which popularised the Richard III-was-really-a-good-guy industry. Tey's an excellent writer, and as long as you remember that The Daughter of Time is a novel and not something written by a reliable historian, it's definitely worth reading.

ETA: I first read the book when I was a teenager, and one of it's key values for me was that it demonstrated that what we think of as historical fact is not necessarily objectively true and is always worth questioning.

I'm currently reading Hermione Lee's biography of Virginia Woolf, James Joyce's "Ulysses", and a cozy mystery called "Carbs & Cadavers" by J.B. Stanley.

I love Daughter of Time (my review is here). It's a great novel, and - as Kim says, taken as a novelist's and not a historian's point of view - and pretty eye-opening in regards to how and why history is written.

Currently reading The Woman in White and The Golden Compass. I hope to be picking up Uncle Silas soon. It looks creepy, which both scares and intrigues me.

Paulina -- I just finished The Woman in White a few days ago! Very enjoyable & great Gothic atmosphere...

I'm finding the beginning a bit slow, it picks up right?

Yes, to some extent, but it is Victorian in style so pretty wordy throughout.

Tracey, Kim, Brenda, I'd agree with you about how good 'The Daughter of Time' is - I've enjoyed all Tey's novels, but I think my favourite is 'To Love and be Wise'.

I've just finished Val McDermid's latest, The Vanishing Point, and it has such a fantastic plot that I'm scared to say more in case I give something away.

Now I'm deep in an oldie - Dickson Carr's 'The Murder of Sir Edmund Godfrey'. Like DOT it investigates a historical murder, and he really brings Charles II's court to life. Great stuff!

Kim wrote: "Brenda wrote: "Due to the current archaeological discoveries in Britain, I am thinking I should read DAUGHTER OF TIME by Josephine Tey. Anybody read it?"

I have, on several occasions. It's one of..."

I love The Daughter of Time and, as Kim says, it really causes one to question "established" history. I never forget that history is written by the winners. It also affected how I felt about Shakespeare - I know now that the play Richard III wasn't deliberate propaganda on his part (given that he wrote it over a hundred years after the Battle of Bosworth), but at the time I just lumped him in with the Tudors and didn't appreciate the timescale.

My favourite Tey is Brat Farrar but I love all her books.

I am reading, or apparently re-reading, The Lighthouse by P D James. As I have gotten further in it has dawned on me that I have read this one before, but as I can't recall "who dunnit" I am enjoying it just as much as the first time. That is what happens when you read series books out of order!

I am just starting "Curiosity Killed the Cat Sitter" by Blaize Clement for a real-life mystery book group. Does anyone else have an in-person book group they enjoy?

I recently read Sharon Kay Penman's "The Queen's Man" series set during the time of Eleanor of Aquitaine. They're really an engaging set of mysteries.

Leslie wrote: "Paulina -- I just finished The Woman in White a few days ago! Very enjoyable & great Gothic atmosphere..."

A real classic!!!

I just started The Crabtree Affair by Michael Innes... It seems vaguely familiar, so I may have read it before years ago but I can't be sure.

I am currently reading
which I am thoroughly enjoying - I have to make myself go back to Badger's Drift!! - but this I am racing through.

Since you're reading Phillip Pullman you might also like his Sally Lockhart mysteries. They're Victorian mysteries similar to the Moonstone and The Woman In White.

Paulina wrote: "Currently reading The Woman in White and The Golden Compass. I hope to be picking up Uncle Silas soon. It looks creepy, which both scares and intrigues me."

Kim wrote: "Brenda wrote: "Due to the current archaeological discoveries in Britain, I am thinking I should read DAUGHTER OF TIME by Josephine Tey. Anybody read it?"

I have, on several occasions. It's one of..."

OK. I just took your recommendation and ordered "Daughter of Time". I just finished Alison Weir's new book that really slams Richard 3 so I need to read something on the other side. I have never (I ashamed to admit) read Josephine Tey so I am looking forward to it.

Tracey wrote: "I love Daughter of Time (my review is here). It's a great novel, and - as Kim says, taken as a novelist's and not a historian's point of view - and pretty eye-opening in regards to how and why hist..."

Great review. You are quite funny.

Ann wrote: "Josephine Tey’s mystery novels are well worth reading too. If you have a kindle or other ebook reader you can download them free."

Really? From what site?

You can get them here:

Thanks!

I'm reading George Orwell's "1984." Sad to say I haven't read it before! Liking it so far, although to me, it's quite terrifying in that Orwell seems to have been a psychic.

I am re-reading Ngaio Marsh's books. She is an excellent writer and her Inspector Allyn is one of my favorite detectives.

Ann wrote: "I am re-reading Ngaio Marsh's books. She is an excellent writer and her Inspector Allyn is one of my favorite detectives."

Oh yes! She's one of my all-time favourites. I love Artists in Crime and Death In A White Tie especially, because I think Troy is perfect for him. I think NM handles the way their relationship develops over decades very well. I also particularly like Clutch Of Constables.

Ngaio Marsh managed to write several very different books with some fascinating characters (e.g. Death At The Bar) within the framework of the murder investigated by the police, and even though Alleyn appears in them all he grows and changes and feels like a real person rather than a stereotype. And like Lord Peter Wimsey, Alleyn has an excellent mother!

I'm currently reading the Libby Serjeant books - the first one is Murder in Steeple Martin by Lesley Cookman

Jay-me (Janet) ~plum chutney is best~ wrote: "I'm currently reading the Libby Serjeant books - the first one is Murder in Steeple Martin by Lesley Cookman"

Am currently reading Lesley Cookman's Murder to Music .. Though its 8th in the Libby Serjeant series, this is my first book of hers.

Am just beginning DAUGHTER OF TIME now. I am looking forward to the result of those DNA tests they're doing in Britain. If it turns out they really have found the skeleton of Richard, there will be a big funeral!

Brenda wrote: "Am just beginning DAUGHTER OF TIME now. I am looking forward to the result of those DNA tests they're doing in Britain. If it turns out they really have found the skeleton of Richard, there will b..."

I read this a while back and my daughter has just read it - we too are awaiting these DNA results with interest. I so wish we could have a way of knowing for sure whether Richard III actually did or did not murder his nephews.