Messages

451

What I'm Reading / Re: My latest read is...

« on: August 06, 2019, 03:48:05 am »

Kate,

Like I said, I was floored when she just offered to do that. And I loved that interview that was in Mystery Scene.

I've gone to a couple of her book signings and had a great time listening to her talk about her books/writing.

I'm really hoping that people show up to the group in a couple of days, I think they'd really enjoy hearing Ingrid talk.

The library supposedly did a press release up for the local papers and the woman who moderates the meetings sent out an email to everyone that has attended past meetings.

452

What I'm Reading / Re: My latest read is...

« on: August 03, 2019, 06:32:47 pm »

My local library has a mystery book club and this month's selection was Ingrid Thoft's "Loyalty". I had suggested it and that's what the group picked.

I finished reading it again yesterday and still think it is a fantastic book and the start of what has turned out to be a fabulous series.

I exchanges messages with Ingrid on Facebook on rare occasions so when we picked her book, I sent a message to her. She got back to me a few days later and said that it was great we chose the book and thanked me for suggesting the group read the book.

Then she floored me by offering to Skype in for part of our meeting when we discuss the book! So that's going to be happening this coming week. Well, assuming the library director does what he needed to do by contacting her and doing the finalizing of things.

453

What I'm Reading / Re: My latest read is...

« on: August 01, 2019, 04:04:17 am »

I finished the new Maddie Day Country Store mystery "Strangled Eggs and Ham". I'm a huge fan of the series and this book was just great! My review of it is up on a certain site and I linked it on my personal Facebook page.

454

What I'm Reading / Re: My latest read is...

« on: July 28, 2019, 07:36:39 pm »

I spent the better part of the afternoon and this evening finishing up the ARC of C.J. Box's new book "The Bitterroots".

455

What I'm Reading / Re: My latest read is...

« on: July 24, 2019, 04:08:16 pm »

Finished up the Ellen Hart ARC "Twisted At The Root"!

456

Welcome and General Discussion / Re: Say Hi and Introduce Yourself

« on: July 20, 2019, 07:04:07 pm »

Hi, I'm Meredith Phillips, editor/publisher of Perseverance Press, along w/ my partners John & Susan Daniel. We've been publishing traditional mysteries by established authors for 20 years now.

I began mystery reading, thanks to Mom, in the '60s w/ Agatha C and Daphne D. In the '70s PBS Mystery! inspired me to read everything by Dorothy L. My tastes continually broadened till I was reading every subgenre but hard-boiled. I wrote a mystery myself in the '80s, Death Spiral, but decided I preferred telling others how to write instead, and edited/published 9 more mysteries as a one-woman publishing house. My old writing friends the Daniels wanted a mystery imprint, so we joined forces in 1999.

My current favorites are Kate Atkinson, Peter Lovesey, Laura Lippman, Donna Leon, Sue Grafton & Ruth Rendell (RIP both), Patricia Highsmith, Laurie King--I could go on and on!

Hi Meredith and welcome to the board!

I'm sadly unfamiliar with your book Death Spiral. Is it readily available? If not, can you tell me a little about it?

I'm a big fan of Laurie R. King as well. I particularly enjoy her Kate Martinelli books and of course the Mary Russell series as well.

I'm sure editing the work of others is just as difficult as writing the books yourself. Is it as fulfilling helping others shepherd their book to publication as it was writing your own?

457

What I'm Reading / Re: My latest read is...

« on: July 12, 2019, 08:43:07 pm »

I just finished up reading the upcoming David Baldacci novel 'One Good Deed'. Now to write up a review draft before starting in on another ARC.

458

Welcome and General Discussion / Re: MYSTERY TITLES THAT ASK QUESTIONS

« on: July 06, 2019, 06:14:09 pm »

How about Gary K. Wolf's "Who Censored Roger Rabbit?" which went on to become the highly successful movie (albeit drastically changed) "Who Framed Roger Rabbit?"

459

Welcome and General Discussion / Re: Say Hi and Introduce Yourself

« on: July 05, 2019, 06:00:19 am »

Hi, I'm José Ignacio, a reader of crime fiction. My book notes are available at my blog A Crime is Afoot (https://jiescribano.wordpress.com/). My tastes are quite eclectic. Actually I'm quite interested in Golden Age Detective Fiction. And without hesitation, Georges Simenon is one of my favourite authors.

Hi Jose! Thanks for the link to your site, I'll add it to my list of review spots to check out.

460

Welcome and General Discussion / Re: Say Hi and Introduce Yourself

« on: July 05, 2019, 05:59:02 am »

Hi, I'm Rob from Ireland. I'm a keen reader of crime fiction since my early 20s. Before that I had a thing for cold war spy novels. I mostly read noir, hardboiled, historical (esp set between 1930 and 1960), police procedurals and comic crime capers, not so much thrillers, psychologicals or cozies. I like to read crime fiction set in different countries and I'm slowly working my way round the world.

I post all my reviews on my blog 'The View From the Blue House' (https://theviewfromthebluehouse.blogspot.com/) and Goodreads and I've just passed the 1000 reviews mark. My on-going issue is wanting to keep up with the work of favourite authors and series while discovering new authors.

I look forward to the chat and also discovering new authors and books.

Hi Rob,

For the books I read that I'm not reviewing for MS, I also post to Goodreads, though I am nowhere near 1000 reviews like yourself. And trying to keep up with authors I like while discovering new ones is definitely a continual issue for me. Probably for most of us here.

461

Welcome and General Discussion / Re: POLL: Favorite Kid Detective

« on: July 05, 2019, 05:55:54 am »

It's interesting how world geography affects these things. I grew up in New Zealand, and we got plenty of media (film, TV, books) from both UK and USA, as well as our own local NZ/Australia stuff. As I've gotten older I realised that was unusual - eg chatting to a UK friend recently of a similar age who'd never seen or heard of the show "Married With Children", which to me was one of those incredibly well-known shows that even if people hadn't watched, they would have still heard of, eg The Simpsons, Friends, Seinfeld, MacGyver, Magnum PI etc. But she was British and never recalled seeing it on British TV growing up. Similarly Enid Blyton is one of the most popular children's authors of all time - she's sold more than 600 million books. She's still 'pop culture' in UK and I imagine Commonwealth countries even for those who haven't read her, but perhaps didn't penetrate as much in USA because you had other alternatives - eg the Stratemeyer Syndicate (Hardy Boys, Nancy Drew etc) put out many kids adventure/mystery series that were hugely popular in US and historically, but only Nancy/Hardy Boys really went huge internationally and for decades of longevity. Interesting how that works sometimes.

Yes, it does tend to intrigue when I hear about something previously unknown to me only to learn that it is a massive success elsewhere. Sadly, since it is kid fiction, I can't say that I really have much of an interest in going back to check out what I missed. I've just got too many other things to read these days.

462

What I'm Writing / Re: Southern Cross Crime

« on: July 05, 2019, 05:53:26 am »

Yes, SCRUBLANDS is terrific, eh. One of my fave reads of 2018 (it came out in NZ/Oz then - even though I'm in London I get sent books for review by NZ/Oz publishers/multinational offices). I thought it was a fantastic tale - will get compared to Jane Harper's THE DRY, which was so huge a couple of years ago, but despite both having the dusty smalltown Outback setting (in different states of Australia), quite different books. Very fine tales in different ways.

I have Jane Harper's THE DRY in my piles of books waiting to be read so at least I will at some point get around to reading that one.

463

Favorites / Re: LGBTQ Mysteries & Thrillers

« on: July 05, 2019, 05:51:48 am »

Kristen Lepionka's series starring bisexual private eye Roxanne Weary

Craig, thanks for reminding me about Kristen Lepionka's series. I've read the first two books in the series and just freaking loved them to pieces!

464

Welcome and General Discussion / Re: POLL: Favorite Kid Detective

« on: July 04, 2019, 08:15:25 am »

Also popular for us (being a British Commonwealth country) where the Secret Seven and Famous Five by Enid Blyton. Not sure if they were as big in North America.

You've got me stumped. I've never heard about either of these series before.

465

Welcome and General Discussion / Re: Say Hi and Introduce Yourself

« on: July 04, 2019, 08:14:24 am »

I'm a bit of a crime and thriller omnivore, devouring a wide range of tales, from funny to dark and lots in between. I have a lot of US and British favourites, but particularly like exploring other parts of the world through great mystery storytelling.

Looking forward to chatting with other booklovers.

Hi Craig!

I've found through the books that I've been sent to review that I do invariably end up loving to read about other places in the world (that it is unlikely I'll ever actually visit) and getting to learn a thing or two about life there alongside the mystery itself.