Welcome friends!
Show Posts
This section allows you to view all posts made by this member. Note that you can only see posts made in areas you currently have access to.
I've had FACETS OF DEATH in my waiting-to-be-read pile since February, but I finally read it yesterday and now I want MORE! I love Kubu, I love the setting (I've been fond of the literary Botswana ever since reading THE FIRST LADIES' DETECTIVE AGENCY books), and I was fascinated by the plot. A local thrift shop with a huge library of used books has just reopened - I might venture out with my mask in place and see if I can find more books in this series there.
Okay, we're a long way from February (and in coronavirus time, it feels like about a million years ago), but this seemed like a good place to post about the cozy mystery I'm currently reading.
Ellery Adams' MURDER IN THE LOCKED LIBRARY is the 4th book in her Book Retreat mystery series. It's the first one I've read, but a back cover blurb that mentioned "the Agatha Christie tea room" made me buy the book. I'm about 3/4 of the way through it and I'm enjoying it. A little spoiler, it features a skeleton that was buried with a very vintage book.
I'm always drawn to books about books, and I've read other books by Ellery Adams that I liked, so I may go back and read the earlier books in the series. I'm sure more have been added since this one came out, too!
Hi all,
I just joined (and just subscribed to Mystery Scene Magazine) and figured that I'd go and introduce myself for what's it worth.
I'm more on the newbie side to mysteries (more of a SF&F person over the years) but I've always followed a bit. Thanks to the Covidication of our lives I've been watching more especially since subscribing to Britbox where I roared through Vera and am working my way through Inspector Morse as well as Dalziel and Pascoe. I've historically been a fan of shows like classic Columbo and the 1970s all too short Ellery Queen tv series. And I have a lot of love for the classic Hollywood comedic mysteries like the Thin Man movies and ones that I'd be less brave enough to admit this early on!Because of my interests in things French and Japanese - I do follow some mystery shows and books along there as well.
On the reading front I do things a bit less but it's slowly growing. Generally I read in ebook form and/or get from the library then only buy the print version when I think I'll be wanting a more permanent copy (or find a good deal on something I want) since space is precious. I started as a child with Alfred Hitchcock and the Three Investigators (aka Jupiter Jones...) and over the years I've read Rabbi Small, Perry Mason, Ellery Queen, Charlie Chan, Nero Wolfe and Sherlock Holmes, 'natch! Probably the most recent one I've read and really liked was M.B. Shaw's Murder at the Mill. I've periodically (pun so intended) read Ellery Queen's and Alfred Hitchcock's magazines (not currently subscribing since I'm way behind in my reading there.) Recently I bought my first print mystery which I'll looking forward to sitting down with soon is the The First Rumpole Omnibus.
So that's medium of it (not short and not, hopefully, too long) of it. So still very much on the newish side but hope to learn more!
I went through some boxes of old paperbacks and found Going for the Gold by Emma Lathen. I was nervous to read it again in case it felt really dated, but I still liked it. Of course there were no cell phones (not as we know them) when this was written in 1981, and being a travel agent was considered a nice, safe career in those pre-internet times but I still found it an entertaining read.
The book is about a couple mysteries at the 1980 Winter Olympics in Lake Placid, New York and the chaos that ensues when a massive blizzard engulfs the area in several feet of snow. We meet several of the Olympic athletes. The book mentions ski-jumps, luge, ice skating and a couple that I'm forgetting.
In addition to the Olympic games and the blizzard, there are all kinds of things going on, from murder to counterfeiting and bank fraud. I read this book when it first came out but I had forgotten who did it. I don't know if I have any other Emma Lathen books around, but now I'd like to reread some of her others.
I'm almost finished with MURDER ON CAPE COD and I want to comment on one character in particular - Belle, the African Gray Parrot. I've never had a pet bird, but several years ago I read a fascinating book by an author I've met, Jenny Gardiner, called "Winging It: A Memoir of Caring for a Vengeful Parrot Who's Determined to Kill Me." It's been re-released with the title "Bite Me: A parrot, a family, and a whole lot of flesh wounds." I'm curious about Bella, who is more entertaining than vicious, and I wonder who Edith/Maddie modeled her on.
Okay, got to go - I'm determined to finish this book tonight!
I came across several books by John Feinstein while I was searching for sports-related mysteries. Have you reviewed any of his books?
I hope all of you are managing to read and relax during this time of social distancing. I wonder how authors will work the pandemic into their mystery plots?
Thanks for the link to your review. I'm looking forward to reading this series now. I must admit, I go a little bananas when I find misused words in a book. I notice typos/misspellings but I hope those are printing errors rather than neglect on the part of the author or publisher.
I try to forget this type of error - if I dwell on it I know it will drive me up the wall. I occasionally receive Advance Reader Copies and I'm assuming you (as a reviewer) receive a lot more than I do. I've learned to be very forgiving of ARCs - often they will have a number of errors that are corrected by the official publishing date. I feel sorry for authors when there are errors not of their doing - that must be so frustrating!
