Jump to content

Mysteries: Cosy, Cats, Capers, Historical, Medical, Procedural and everything in between


lady narcissa
 Share

Recommended Posts

On 3/25/2023 at 5:41 PM, Zorral said:

What? you quoted my description of novel and author and responded with nothing. Why bother doing that?

Got caught in quote limbo and then the next few days was a bit too preoccupied to come back and edit what with each of my children being so sick as to require emerg visits. Sorry if that was confusing, but I really don’t understand the level of antagonism here. What is the very worst explanation you can imagine for the war crime above? JFC. Can’t even remember what I was saying, something about some mystery novel or show I’d imagine. 

Edited by James Arryn
Link to comment
Share on other sites

4 hours ago, James Arryn said:

hat is the very worst explanation you can imagine for the war crime above? JFC.

What war crime are you complaining about?  No war crimes here, just brilliant serial killers who kidnap people, particularly women and torture them to death in name of environmental justice -- just like the equally ridiculous and implausible Neflix series The Night Agent.   You continue to make no sense.  Doubtless to lack of sleep with sick kids, of course.  

Anyway, the novel goes on and on and on with the agonies of women trapped and terrorized in the dark, over which the author -- or at least translator? -- is rather licking chops.

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Currently trying to read Scorched Grace, the first volume of projected "Sister Holiday Series."

Set in New Orleans, which is why I picked it up; have no interest in Religious as protagonists generally.

In this case, Sister Holiday is a goth and punk, of course, who breaks the rules against smoking, is covered in tats and piercings, which she must conceal in NO's climate with gloves and long sleeves, etc.  It's not grabbin' me, gotta say.

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Zorral, I have to agree that some things in crime fiction have to go. Super intelligent serial killers and detectives who are mentally wounded but have an IQ in the 200s is enough to make me toss a book away. Isaac Asimov pointed out years ago that the whole IQ thing started with someone claiming that since they scored 140 and finished the test in half the time they had an IQ of 280.  

Link to comment
Share on other sites

This might be more appropriately posted in the Entertainment forum, however, since I think it will be of interest to some of you who read this thread I will mention it here...

Occasionally, maybe twice a year, I do a quick internet news search on C.J. Sansom just on the off (ever unlikely) chance there might be news about a new book.  Today I came across somewhat recent news of...not a new book...but a 4 part Disney+ adaption of his first book, Dissolution.

 https://variety.com/2023/global/news/cj-sansom-shardlake-disney-1235570006/

Personally I'd rather have a new book but I still think this is rather nice for Sansom.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hope they do it justice. Look forward to hearing more about/seeing the filming locations. Dissolution is set in a snowbound abbey:

Quote

Production of “Shardlake” has already begun, with filming taking place in Hungary, Austria and Romania.

They'll maybe use a composite of different ones?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...

Just saw that Anne Perry died. And, on reading her obituary, discovered that, as well as being a hugely successful crime writer, she was a teenage murderer and inspiration for Kate Winslet’s character in Heavenly Creatures. Huh. I kind of feel like they should put that disclaimer on the books.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

15 minutes ago, john said:

Just saw that Anne Perry died. And, on reading her obituary, discovered that, as well as being a hugely successful crime writer, she was a teenage murderer and inspiration for Kate Winslet’s character in Heavenly Creatures. Huh. I kind of feel like they should put that disclaimer on the books.

The whole thing is bizzare, disturbing and fascinating at the same time. :o

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parker–Hulme_murder_case

Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 hours ago, john said:

Just saw that Anne Perry died. And, on reading her obituary, discovered that, as well as being a hugely successful crime writer, she was a teenage murderer and inspiration for Kate Winslet’s character in Heavenly Creatures. Huh. I kind of feel like they should put that disclaimer on the books.

I’d made that discovery a year or so back. I’d only ever read one or two of the Pitt/Charlotte? mysteries, which were okay but it felt like a formula bound to be repeated, the aristocratic wife investigating from the inside, the Yard (?) man from the outside, etc. that would get pretty stifling for me pretty early, but I have always intended to read more. Finding out about her past put paid to that…I avoid true crime stuff and where fiction and true crime intersect, I have a hard time getting past it. James Ellroy’s L.A. Confidential was brilliant, though it contained a lot of pretty extreme grossness, and each Elroy novel seemed to get more so, though remaining compelling. But it was always disturbing; once I read about the author’s life (among other things his father murdered his mother in front of him when he was a little kid and he was alone, locked in the room where she died with her corpse for several days before being freed by the police.) I have never been able to go back. Too disturbing in the real sense. 
 

I haven’t seen Heavenly Creatures beyond exploring it a bit for film class, but I know the general story and, yeah, hard to get past. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 hours ago, john said:

Just saw that Anne Perry died. And, on reading her obituary, discovered that, as well as being a hugely successful crime writer, she was a teenage murderer and inspiration for Kate Winslet’s character in Heavenly Creatures. Huh. I kind of feel like they should put that disclaimer on the books.

I guess I am very surprised that you did not know this about her already (or even that James Arryn just discovered it a year ago.)  I thought this had been general knowledge for years among fans of the mystery genre. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

It has been known to mystery readers, writers and publishers all of Perry's life! Or, at least since very very very early in her writing career.  Couldn't keep that secret, though all involved did their best to keep it on the down lo.  But as soon -- and it was very soon -- her books became best sellers it was all over the media, and this was BEFORE online.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, Ormond said:

I guess I am very surprised that you did not know this about her already (or even that James Arryn just discovered it a year ago.)  I thought this had been general knowledge for years among fans of the mystery genre. 

I don’t even remember how I found out aside from online somehow. Sent down a brief rabbit hole, seem to remember Australia or NZ was involved. Not remotely pretending it was a big secret, just news to me. 

Edited by James Arryn
Link to comment
Share on other sites

3 hours ago, Ormond said:

I guess I am very surprised that you did not know this about her already (or even that James Arryn just discovered it a year ago.)  I thought this had been general knowledge for years among fans of the mystery genre. 

True, you’d think I would have heard about it. Didn’t know about James Ellroy’s unhappy past either. I suppose I don’t know much about most of the crime writers I read compared to fantasy and sci-fi, even though I consume more crime books.

I’ve read everything by Michael Connelly and, apart from assuming he was an older white guy, I didn’t know a thing about him. Just looked him up on Wikipedia and apparently he saw a guy secretively throw a gun into a hedge when he was a kid. I guess they all have some kind of trigger moment, so to speak.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

52 minutes ago, dog-days said:

For readers of Anne Perry, how do you rate her as a writer?  She had name-recognition for me, but nothing more, and it was a surprise to find out about her history in the obituaries.

As mentioned, only one or two under my belt, so grain of salt;

 

Thought it was well written, characters were generally believable, but once you ‘get’ the premise of Victoriana being all about deceit and hiding secrets > truth, especially but not exclusively to the upper class, it kinda feels like it’ll all break that way. Then, too, the dynamic of her on the inside, him on the outside, it feels both almost necessary (though I’m sure the pattern must have been broken sometime) and it’s accompanying sensations (his fear for her, her guilt over betraying peers, etc.) standardized in order to make them both credibly involved, and that kind of artifice can get in the way of suspension of disbelief for me. That said, there are definitely formulaic authors I’m able to enjoy in spite of same, but usually those got their foot in the door while I was younger and less jaded. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

8 minutes ago, James Arryn said:

As mentioned, only one or two under my belt, so grain of salt;

 

Thought it was well written, characters were generally believable, but once you ‘get’ the premise of Victoriana being all about deceit and hiding secrets > truth, especially but not exclusively to the upper class, it kinda feels like it’ll all break that way. Then, too, the dynamic of her on the inside, him on the outside, it feels both almost necessary (though I’m sure the pattern must have been broken sometime) and it’s accompanying sensations (his fear for her, her guilt over betraying peers, etc.) standardized in order to make them both credibly involved, and that kind of artifice can get in the way of suspension of disbelief for me. That said, there are definitely formulaic authors I’m able to enjoy in spite of same, but usually those got their foot in the door while I was younger and less jaded. 

Thanks!  I might try one and pass on the rest. The set-up sounds like it could make for a pretty compelling one-off mystery story even if I don't want to keep going through reiterations of the same book. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

8 minutes ago, dog-days said:

Thanks!  I might try one and pass on the rest. The set-up sounds like it could make for a pretty compelling one-off mystery story even if I don't want to keep going through reiterations of the same book. 

It was at least that. The Hangman of something…usually a region or street or w/e of London is in the title, was good. I think th second one was where my ~ quibbles began, but can’t remember clearly. As I said I’d ~ intended to read more, not urgently but with interest, until the RL stuff put me off. And that’s totally a me thing, it might not affect you that way. 
 

Just checked my kindle, I have 7 of her works, which isn’t that much but my reading her predates my kindle, probably have 10-20 paperbacks boxed up in the garage. So obviously I was not too put off. On an aside, does anyone know offhand a way to see how many titles you have in your kindle?

Edited by James Arryn
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I've read most of the books in her various series -- which though the names, and maybe even gender, of protags change, the milieu -- class-ridden Victorian England -- doesn't nor, neither do the sorts of crimes and solutions, and either the protagonist him/herself is connected to the upper class, which allows doors to open, or there is a secondary character who opens the doors for the protags who aren't part of those circles.

That she was able to successfully ring enough, even if slight, changes on the formula is admirable, and I only stopped reading the new ones relatively recently, due to the repetition.  But that's a sign of how long she's been doing this: working women in Victorian or Regency London solving crimes was a whole new thing when she began her career.  Now, of course, there a hundreds.  So the books don't have the same frisson they used to.  

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Guest
This topic is now closed to further replies.
 Share

×
×
  • Create New...