Comments on: Post-Summer Mystery Reading

By: Harry

Harry — Sat, 13 Sep 2008 11:47:16 +0000

mossy—I tried reading one of those Pears books on the strength of reading An Instance of the Fingerpost, which I found terrific, but found the art world one disappointing. I’ll give them another try now: maybe I was unfairly comparing them to something else by him rather than to the rest of the competition.

By: Steve

Steve — Fri, 12 Sep 2008 07:32:25 +0000

Don’t know why they do that (change titles for different markets) but it’s even worse for movies – and especially so for “foreign” ones… “La Momie” I can handle but “la mémoire dans la peau” anyone?

And why do the french (amongst others) write the title on a book spine THE OTHER WAY

;-)

By: 3Lllama

3Lllama — Thu, 11 Sep 2008 20:59:10 +0000

I was tempted into reading a Peter Robinson (Friend of the Devil) by Ian Rankin’s endorsement on the back cover, but now wish I hadn’t. The detective remains a bit of a blank space to me, despite being told in tedious detail about his private life and musical tastes, one mystery thread is hurredly resoved in a deus ex machina and the other ends in one of those “Ha ha ha, I did it! You’ll never take me alive!” just-in-the-nick-of-time crime thriller endings. I know some people find that sort of thing exciting, but I just feel let down.

I was impressed by Stephen Booth’s new “Dying to Sin”, though, and I’ll be reading the rest of the series from the beginning if they’re all this good.

By: mossy

mossy — Thu, 11 Sep 2008 19:51:04 +0000

Oh, forgot the delightful series by Iain Pears. English art historian turned art dealer and his Italian art crime squad girlfriend. Very funny and satisfying.

By: mossy

mossy — Thu, 11 Sep 2008 19:47:56 +0000

May I jump in? For American murder mysteries, I highly recommend Julia Spencer-Fleming.’s Adirondack series. Despite the improbable-sounding heroine (air force pilot turned Episcopalian priest), they are well-plotted with dialog that sounds like the way people speak. For foreign mysteries—Donna Leon’s Venice, Barbara Nadel’s Istambul and Michael Pearce’s Egypt in the 1920s.

By: Helen

Helen — Thu, 11 Sep 2008 04:07:53 +0000

No, never been able to stomach RR, Harry. They’re a bit like Midsomer Murders with all the cute village copper stuff. But some Barbara Vines like A Dark Adapted Eye and Asta’s Book are absolute page-turners. (Really more mystery/thriller than crime).

Perhaps my favourite mystery/thriller ever was Peter Hoeg’s Miss Smilla’s Feeling for Snow. I recently bought The Quiet Girl, which was a monster of a book – even denser and more full of twists, turns and arcane philosophical ramblings. I loved it, possibly biased because of MSFFS; Husband couldn’t stand it.

By: vivian

vivian — Thu, 11 Sep 2008 03:14:09 +0000

(you may well hate E. George, by the way. Her detectives do a lot of inner monologuing about angst-y personal stuff. In early books it’s love affairs and loss or absence of same. They are way better than the tv adaptation though.)

By: Harry

Harry — Wed, 10 Sep 2008 18:17:03 +0000

Agree completely about BV/RR. What a puzzle that is. Did you ever like the RR books?

I haven’t read Elizabeth George, despite being recommended to several times. I cannot put my finger on what it is about Grimes, to be honest. I read 3, so feel that I gave her a chance. Everything felt not quite right—I wasn’t in the England I knew—and only then did I find out she wasn’t English. I’ll try George. Also, I should say, that I once had nothing to listen to except a Tim Curry narration of a Grimes novel, and found it delightful, and have listened to one other, but this is certainly a case of Tim Curry making just about anything palatable (I think I’d be able to listen to George W Bush’s memoirs on tape if Tim Curry read them).

I’ll try Charles Todd, thanks. And sure, vivian, I’ll do this again (maybe Lawton merits a thread to himself).

By: Bernd Kochanowski

Bernd Kochanowski — Wed, 10 Sep 2008 16:32:45 +0000

Being a German, I found the English atmosphere (by the language and the places) that Deborah Crombie evokes in “Water like Stone” really satisfying, but even when I was reading it I assumed that British readers would not be amused.

By: Katherine

Katherine — Wed, 10 Sep 2008 10:55:52 +0000

Got the same tacit pact with my mother-in-law for feminist fiction. Doesn’t always work, since she’s a bit more 70’s radical separatist than I, but it’s led to some interesting conversations that’s for sure.

By: Helen

Helen — Wed, 10 Sep 2008 02:07:02 +0000

I’m quite a fan of Barbara Vine but fairly bored by Ruth Rendell. The first writes about crime and mystery not so much as a whodunit as whydidththeydunit or whatdidtheydun. Of course, they are the same person. But she seems to even write slightly better as Barbara Vine (with a few clunky bits here and there) than as Ruth Rendell. This intrigues me. Since you can’t write better than you can, she must be deliberately writing badly as RR. Why would you do that?

By: vivian

vivian — Wed, 10 Sep 2008 01:00:11 +0000

Is the Martha Grimes issue getting some things wrong, or is it the way she’ll let a character slide out of character (or into burlesque) if it allows her to make fun of US Wannabes-who-don’t-get-it-right? I can never decide of those things amuse or annoy me (except for Aunt Agatha who is mostly just annoying) but of course I wouldn’t notice her real mistakes. How do you like Elizabeth George as a contrast? I suppose she does for angst what Goddard does for war…

Also, thanks for these recommendations. Please would you give us occasional pointers to good books in the future too? Or maybe ask your mother for a guest post?

By: Rohan Maitzen

Rohan Maitzen — Wed, 10 Sep 2008 00:40:37 +0000

I agree about Peter Robinson getting better over the years. Does Elizabeth George seem to get her details right? I just read Inger Ash Wolfe's The Calling, which has been getting a lot of publicity lately (in Canada, anyway)--I didn't like it much, though. Have you read any Chester Himes? I read my first one this summer, A Rage in Harlem. I've never read anything like it before, that's for sure. You probably know it, but in case you don't, the blog Petrona is a good source for mystery recommendations and reviews.

By: Luke

Luke — Tue, 09 Sep 2008 21:56:58 +0000

I’d consider adding Charles Todd to the list of American writers who do the UK (A mother-son pairing whose detective is a survivor of the Somme). Being Anglo-American, I find him rather convincing, but then again, I’m not an Anglo-American who was alive between 1900-1920, and haven’t spent too much time in small English villages nearish London.

Rennie Airth does a similar thing, but rather better, at least on the artistic scale, but offers rather fewer books, to my dismay.

By: Amanda

Amanda — Tue, 09 Sep 2008 20:59:23 +0000

Hm. I believe Amagansett is one of those books I bought from the remainder desk years ago and have not looked at since, but whose spine I have committed to memory because it taunts me every time I walk past and think about how many of the books on my shelves I have not actually read.

Some of my family have a similar pact about thrillers , and one for sc-fi which excludes me. The latest doing the rounds is Tony Hillerman’s Arizona based mysteries.