What are you reading right now?

[Everyman]

Got into re-reading Ngaio Marsh for my bedside reading, and may go through the whole series, all for at least the second time, some for the third or more. Yes, she's that good!

[becke_davis]

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Everyman wrote:
Got into re-reading Ngaio Marsh for my bedside reading, and may go through the whole series, all for at least the second time, some for the third or more. Yes, she's that good!

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Maybe we should focus on her books in the future. I've read them all over and over -- I love her writing style, even though I definitely love some books better than others.

[Everyman]

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becke_davis wrote:

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Everyman wrote:
Got into re-reading Ngaio Marsh for my bedside reading, and may go through the whole series, all for at least the second time, some for the third or more. Yes, she's that good!

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Maybe we should focus on her books in the future. I've read them all over and over -- I love her writing style, even though I definitely love some books better than others.

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Count me in!

Which are your favorites?

[dhaupt]

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shtt13 wrote:

I am hooked on the Stephanie Plum series.  My friend gave me one of the books, and now I can not stop reading them.  I can not help but laugh out loud while reading them.

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My sentiments exactly!!

[dulcinea3]

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Everyman wrote:

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becke_davis wrote:

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Everyman wrote:
Got into re-reading Ngaio Marsh for my bedside reading, and may go through the whole series, all for at least the second time, some for the third or more. Yes, she's that good!

---

Maybe we should focus on her books in the future. I've read them all over and over -- I love her writing style, even though I definitely love some books better than others.

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Count me in!

Which are your favorites?

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I'd like that, too!  I have the whole series, but it's been many, many years since I've read any of them, so it would be good motivation (to the continued detriment of my TBR shelves!).  At this point, I can't remember enough to have favorites.  Isn't there one that reminded me of Sayers' Gaudy Night, in that it's set at Oxford, or am I hallucinating?  I seem to think that I preferred the books where Alleyn is already married to Troy, rather than the earlier ones.

[becke_davis]

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Everyman wrote:

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becke_davis wrote:

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Everyman wrote:
Got into re-reading Ngaio Marsh for my bedside reading, and may go through the whole series, all for at least the second time, some for the third or more. Yes, she's that good!

---

Maybe we should focus on her books in the future. I've read them all over and over -- I love her writing style, even though I definitely love some books better than others.

---

Count me in!

Which are your favorites?

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I'm away from home right now, I'll answer this when I can go through my books. I have all of hers (some really old ones!). I'm terrible with titles, but I know A Clutch of Constables was a good one, Died in the Wool, Night at the Dolphin (was the that the one with the leather glove?) -- I'll have to do this when I can physically go through the books.

[Reader_Renee]

I am reading Murder at the PTA Luncheon by Valerie Wolzien.  I wasn't sure I was going to like it but it has turned out to be a very good book.

After I finish this book I am going to read A Great Deliverance by Elizabeth George to start that series.

[dulcinea3]

Last night I started reading Christietown, a Cece Caruso mystery by Susan Kandel, "A Novel About Vintage Clothing, Romance, Mystery, and Agatha Christie."  I think this is the fourth novel in the series, but I had not read any of the others; I was pulled in by the Christie reference.  Cece Caruso writes biographies of mystery authors, and is working on one of Agatha Christie, but her editor has asked her to flesh out Christie's mysterious disappearance more, so some of the chapters in this book are short and represent excerpts from Cece's book.  In the meantime, a British developer claiming to be a distant relation to Christie is promoting his new 'theme development', Christietown - a Cotswolds-type village on the edge of the Mojave Desert.  Cece, as an expert, has been employed to run the opening day events.  Of course, murder occurs!  That's as far as I am; looks like fun.

Message Edited by dulcinea3 on 05-21-2008 11:38 AM

[Everyman]

Just finished Earlene Fowler's Mariner's Compass. Not great, but perfectly readable, which is an accolade I don't give all that many contemporary mysteries (most of which seem to me to be pumped out by sadly inadequate writers who turn to a convenient genre so they won't have to write well to sell). It was good enough that I plan to get more of hers out of the library today.

[becke_davis]

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dulcinea3 wrote:

Last night I started reading Christietown, a Cece Caruso mystery by Susan Kandel, "A Novel About Vintage Clothing, Romance, Mystery, and Agatha Christie."  I think this is the fourth novel in the series, but I had not read any of the others; I was pulled in by the Christie reference.  Cece Caruso writes biographies of mystery authors, and is working on one of Agatha Christie, but her editor has asked her to flesh out Christie's mysterious disappearance more, so some of the chapters in this book are short and represent excerpts from Cece's book.  In the meantime, a British developer claiming to be a distant relation to Christie is promoting his new 'theme development', Christietown - a Cotswolds-type village on the edge of the Mojave Desert.  Cece, as an expert, has been employed to run the opening day events.  Of course, murder occurs!  That's as far as I am; looks like fun.

Message Edited by dulcinea3 on 05-21-2008 11:38 AM

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This is part of a series?  Didn't know that.  I actually bought this book last summer but it's buried in my TBR pile.  The Christie connection hooked me, I need to read this one.

[dulcinea3]

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becke_davis wrote:

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dulcinea3 wrote:

Last night I started reading Christietown, a Cece Caruso mystery by Susan Kandel, "A Novel About Vintage Clothing, Romance, Mystery, and Agatha Christie."  I think this is the fourth novel in the series, but I had not read any of the others; I was pulled in by the Christie reference.  Cece Caruso writes biographies of mystery authors, and is working on one of Agatha Christie, but her editor has asked her to flesh out Christie's mysterious disappearance more, so some of the chapters in this book are short and represent excerpts from Cece's book.  In the meantime, a British developer claiming to be a distant relation to Christie is promoting his new 'theme development', Christietown - a Cotswolds-type village on the edge of the Mojave Desert.  Cece, as an expert, has been employed to run the opening day events.  Of course, murder occurs!  That's as far as I am; looks like fun.

Message Edited by dulcinea3 on 05-21-2008 11:38 AM

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This is part of a series?  Didn't know that.  I actually bought this book last summer but it's buried in my TBR pile.  The Christie connection hooked me, I need to read this one.

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I had no idea it was part of a series, either.  Like you, "Christie" called me like a beacon!  That's how I first discovered Carolyn Hart, too; the first novel I read by her was The Christie Caper, and I was hooked.

I wonder if each of the Cece Caruso books focuses in so much on a specific author (I think, from what I've read so far, she may only write biographies of deceased mystery authors).  That could be fun!

Just checked it out, and it appears so:

I Dreamed I Married Perry Mason is the debut novel in a hip, sexy, smart and, yes, cozy mystery series with a great hook. Think "Sex and the City" collides with "Murder, She Wrote".

All that writer Cece Caruso really wants to do is complete her biography of mystery legend Erle Stanley Gardner, find a vintage 1970s Ossie Clark gown to add to her collection, and fix the doorknob on her picturesque West Hollywood bungalow. Then a chance visit with a prison inmate who knew Gardner lands her right in the middle of a 40–year–old murder and another case where the blood is still warm. In fact, Cece finds the body. This brings her into irresistible contact with her inner personal sleuth and shows how crime and greed can reverberate through several generations of a single family.

Not a Girl Detective concerns Cece's research into 'Carolyn Keene' (or whoever was behind that name) and Nancy Drew.  And Shamus in the Green Room involves Dashiell Hammett and Sam Spade.

[becke_davis]

Oh my gosh, I've read one of her books and I didn't even realize it -- I read the Carolyn Keene/Nancy Drew one.  It was good -- I passed it on to a friend who had also grown up on Nancy Drews.

I have Carolyn Hart's The Christie Caper, too.  I have a whole bookcase just for Agatha Christie books and books related to her.  It's amazing how many there are!

[dulcinea3]

I have a lot of Christie-related books, too.  Crossword puzzles, trivia books, biographies, etc.  Not a whole bookcase-full, but between those and all of her mysteries, they take up about three shelves, I guess.  But The Christie Caper is with my other Carolyn Hart books.

[becke_davis]

I have all of her books in paperback, many of them in English and American editions, several in hardback, all kinds of chronologies and books discussing her works, her autobiography, her husband's autobiography, the Westmacott books, books like the Carolyn Hart one and Christieville that relate to her, and so on...

[dulcinea3]

Ah, well, that's where you have me beat - I only have one copy each of her books! Most in paperback, but a few are in hardback with other (non-Christie mysteries) that I got from some short-lived book club ages ago.  And I only have two or three of the Westmacott novels.  I have her autobiography, and her earlier memoir (Come, Tell Me How You Live), but not Max' autobiography.  I do have the Kathleen Tynan novel Agatha, about her disappearance, a book of Christie's plays, and a couple of books that I think were unfinished, and more recently completed by Charles Osborne.  I thought I had only two of those, but when I look at the listings here on B&N, they all look familiar!  I'll have to take another look when I get home.  I definitely have Black Coffee, and The Unexpected Guest, but I think I must have Spider's Web, too.  And then there's The Harlequin Tea Set and Other Stories, that had previously only been published in newspapers and magazines.

It seems that when an author passes away, that doesn't mean the end of their output!  I have a couple of those unfinished/later completed by someone else novels by Dorothy L. Sayers, too, and one by Charlotte Bronte.

[becke_davis]

I have the Osborne books but I don't really like them (don't get me started) -- I hate the way they are shelved with "real" Christies, to me that's just false advertising.

I was very lucky -- when I was a teenager I babysat for a woman who was a Christie buff.  When she found out that I was a fan she gave me BOXES of old Christies from the 30s and 40s.  They were paperback, and many were falling apart.  They fell apart more after I read them but I still have a lot of those old copies.  I've picked up new ones over the years, and when I lived in England I tried to get copies of all the British titles.  And of course I have all those trivia books, too.  It adds up to a lot of books.

[fordmg]

I just finished reading "Kafka on the Shore" by Haruki Murakami.  Quite western in a Japanese setting.  I thought it was good.  I will probably read some of his other works.

MG

[Luanne]

I just finished Christopher Brookmyre's Quite Ugly One Morning, which I picked up after reading earlier comments here or in another thread.  I laughed out loud (on a bus, commuting) for the first time in ages while reading a mystery -- maybe this comment should go in the funniest line thread also.  The book was good and fun, but much raunchier than my usual reads, very 'bodily fluid explicit' so it may not suit everyone.

[momgee]

Becke -  you might try hitting the clearance bin at B&N    -I just bought Murder in Mesopotamia and The 4:50 from Paddington in hardcover  for $1.00 each. A fabulous find!

kaye

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becke_davis wrote:

I have the Osborne books but I don't really like them (don't get me started) -- I hate the way they are shelved with "real" Christies, to me that's just false advertising.

I was very lucky -- when I was a teenager I babysat for a woman who was a Christie buff.  When she found out that I was a fan she gave me BOXES of old Christies from the 30s and 40s.  They were paperback, and many were falling apart.  They fell apart more after I read them but I still have a lot of those old copies.  I've picked up new ones over the years, and when I lived in England I tried to get copies of all the British titles.  And of course I have all those trivia books, too.  It adds up to a lot of books.

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[dulcinea3]

I finished Christietown.  It was a fun read.

Now, on to Persuasion and Sherlock Holmes!

I rearranged my mystery collection this weekend, too.  I now have all of my Amelia Peabody, Death on Demand, Henrie O., and Richard Jury series together, for the first time in quite a while.  I didn't have enough room to put my other Martha Grimes books together with them, though, but they're all together on another shelf.  I also managed to fit a few more of my historical books on the Plantagenet and Tudor periods into their section, as well.