Fiction_L Archives Best mysteries for discussions Dates: 1/16/02,7:30 PM  through  1/26/02,8:25 AM  (11 postings) Search for: Select one or more indexes to search: 2011-current     2009-2010     2004-2008    1995-2003    (Matches from each index will be displayed separately in the results page.) Return to January 2002 thread menu   |   Fiction_L Archives Menu

FROM: Patti <[removed]@libcoop.net>
REC'D: 1/16/02, 7:30 PM

Hi All!

I'm beginning a new mystery book discussion group next week, and for
future discussion titles, I would like your recommendations of titles
that worked well in the past for book discussion. I'll post a list in a
few weeks. Thank you!

I'm doing a slight twist for my group; we're calling it Supper Sleuths,
we meet at 6:30 PM, and people can "brown bag" their supper! We've had
a good response so far, in that it seems like quite a few people have
requested the book--we shall see!

Thanks again, and take care!
Patti Cheney
Romeo District Library
Washington, MI

FROM: Karen Dini <[removed]@addison.lib.il.us>
REC'D: 1/17/02, 10:16 AM

We've had good luck doing The Moonstone by Wilkie Collins and The Hound of
the Baskervilles by Conan Doyle. The group really seemed to like the
historical aspect/facts that we were able to bring into the discussions.

Karen Dini
Reader Services Coordinator
Addison Public Library
[removed]@addison.lib.il.us

-----Original Message-----
From: Patti [[removed]@libcoop.net]
Sent: Wednesday, January 16, 2002 7:29 PM
To: Fiction_L
Subject: Best mysteries for discussions


Hi All!

I'm beginning a new mystery book discussion group next week, and for
future discussion titles, I would like your recommendations of titles
that worked well in the past for book discussion. I'll post a list in a
few weeks. Thank you!

I'm doing a slight twist for my group; we're calling it Supper Sleuths,
we meet at 6:30 PM, and people can "brown bag" their supper! We've had
a good response so far, in that it seems like quite a few people have
requested the book--we shall see!

Thanks again, and take care!
Patti Cheney
Romeo District Library
Washington, MI

FROM: "Mary Rindfleisch" <[removed]@biblio.org>
REC'D: 1/17/02, 11:30 AM

Several groups I am aware of have done Josephine Tey's _Daughter of Time_
with great success. It is not really a traditional mystery, as the sleuth
is flat on his back in the hospital and "solves" the crime of Richard II and
the princes of the tower to keep his mind agile while he is laid up. But it
uses the basic techniques of the classic puzzler, and it also appeals to
folks less familiar with the genre because of the historical aspects.

Also, a selection of Sherlock Holmes stories might work, as almost everyone
has had some exposure to the various re-tellings and media versions of the
characters. Beyond the stories themselves, it might be fun to compare the
different portrayals and whether they have any basis in the original, and to
discuss Holmes as a cultural phenomenon as well as a sleuth.

Mary Rindfleisch
Adult Services/Readers' Advisory Librarian
Ridgefield Library
472 Main St.
Ridgefield, CT 06877
Phone: 203-438-2282
e-mail: [removed]@biblio.org

-----Original Message-----
From: [removed]@maillist.webrary.org
[[removed]@maillist.webrary.org]On Behalf Of Patti
Sent: Wednesday, January 16, 2002 8:29 PM
To: Fiction_L
Subject: Best mysteries for discussions


Hi All!

I'm beginning a new mystery book discussion group next week, and for
future discussion titles, I would like your recommendations of titles
that worked well in the past for book discussion. I'll post a list in a
few weeks. Thank you!

I'm doing a slight twist for my group; we're calling it Supper Sleuths,
we meet at 6:30 PM, and people can "brown bag" their supper! We've had
a good response so far, in that it seems like quite a few people have
requested the book--we shall see!

Thanks again, and take care!
Patti Cheney
Romeo District Library
Washington, MI

FROM: Dottie MacKeen <[removed]@bellatlantic.net>
REC'D: 1/17/02, 1:26 PM

Our group has had great discussions with the following books:

Rose by Martin Cruz Smith - this one is set in the coal mines of England
and has great historical background discussion material

Motherless Brooklyn by Jonathan Lethem - kind of a take off on 40's
detective stories but the main character has tourette's syndrome and you
learn about that

Seville Communion by Arturo Pérez-Reverte - he has several that would work=20
with discussion groups by this is my favorite. Has great location
background in Seville, three wonderful comic characters who will be very
familiar, and the pitting of the old Catholic Church against the new.

Free Man of Color by Barbara Hambly - set in New Orleans before the Civil
War - great historical background info

Death of a Red Heroine - by Qiu Xiaolong - look at life in modern day China

Church of Dead Girls by Stephen Dobyns - shows what happens in a small town=20
when people can no longer trust each other and how quickly people are
willing to trade freedom for perceived safety (perhaps especially relevant now)

What all of these books (and others we've enjoyed) have in common is that
there is more to discuss than just the mystery. They all offer points of
view, historical background, locations, etc, that are good discussion
topics. When the group wants to read a simpler book we often look at a
category (and read a sample) like books with food/cooking or humorous
mysteries.

Have fun

Dottie

FROM: "Marnie Oakes" <[removed]@mailserv.mvlc.lib.ma.us>
REC'D: 1/17/02, 1:26 PM

Some years ago the Vermont library where I worked developed a
reading/discussion series titled Crime and the Cultural
Landscape. I just found that the Wyoming Council for Humanities
lists a series by that title listing most of the books in the
original series. Have a look at:
http://www.uwyo.edu/wch/crime.htm
Massachusetts Foundation for the Humanities also lists the series
with [I think] the original books.
http://www.mfh.org/resources/indivseries/crime.htm
The State Library of Ohio has a program called Murder & Mayhem at
http://www.letstalkaboutit.lib.oh.us/mamorder.html
and Oklahoma lists Private Investigations: Hard-Boiled and Soft-Hearted
Heroes
at http://connections.oklahoman.net/ohc/talk.html

Some of these titles have been discussed for nearly 20 years so I have to
guess that they work well. You may even be able to lease/borrow a
collection
of multiple copies from a humanities foundation or from libraries that have
used the series in the past.

Hope this helps,

Marnie Oakes, Director
Reuben Hoar Library
41 Shattuck Street
Littleton, MA 01460
978-486-4046
[removed]@mailserv.mvlc.lib.ma.us
www.littletonlibrary.org


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FROM: "Ron Asher" <[removed]@imail.slcl.lib.mo.us>
REC'D: 1/17/02, 2:50 PM

Hi,
"The Beekeeper's Apprentice" worked well for our group. We,also, contrasted a John Grisham book with Barry Reed,an author that knows how to nail his endings.

Ron

FROM: Ligonier Valley Library <[removed]@wpa.net>
REC'D: 1/17/02, 3:44 PM

Hi Patti:
We have a mystery book club at our library and it works very well. If you
go to our website at www.wpa.net/lvlibrary and click on the link to BOOK
CLUB, you will see a list of all of the titles that we have read lately.
Most were very good for discussion, even the titles no one liked.
Janet Hudson
Ligonier Valley Library

Patti wrote:

> Hi All!
>
> I'm beginning a new mystery book discussion group next week, and for
> future discussion titles, I would like your recommendations of titles
> that worked well in the past for book discussion. I'll post a list in a
> few weeks. Thank you!
>
> I'm doing a slight twist for my group; we're calling it Supper Sleuths,
> we meet at 6:30 PM, and people can "brown bag" their supper! We've had
> a good response so far, in that it seems like quite a few people have
> requested the book--we shall see!
>
> Thanks again, and take care!
> Patti Cheney
> Romeo District Library
> Washington, MI
>
> ......................................................................
> Need to subscribe, unsubscribe, search the archives?
> Everything Fiction_L: http://www.webrary.org/rs/flmenu.html

FROM: Barbara Stepina <[removed]@SLS.LIB.IL.US>
REC'D: 1/17/02, 4:26 PM

We've had a mystery book group going for three years now. We choose titles
about four months in advance and make choices as a group. Most times I
present a list of possible titles based on what I have read or on what has
been recommended by other members. Everyone's recommendations are
considered. The group has quite a loyal following. They don't want to
take any time off even during the summer and, they've met on their own when
I was on vacation.

Below, in no particular order, are some of the our best selections. As you
will note, at time we stretch the mystery category a little.

She Walks These Hills by Sharyn McCrumb
A Thief of Time by Tony Hillerman
Booked to Die by John Dunning
Rebecca by Daphne DuMaurier
Farewell, My Lovely by Raymond Chandler
The Beekeeper's Apprentice by Laurie King
All She Was Worth by Miyuki Miyabe (in translation)
Blood Work by Michael Connelly
Mallory's Oracle by Carol O'Connell
Wings of Fire by Charles Todd
The Daughter of Time by Josephine Tey
The Defense by D.W. Buffa
Devil in a Blue Dress by Walter Mosley
The Marx Sisters by Barry Maitland
The Face of a Stranger by Anne Perry

Hope this helps!

Barbara Stepina
Clarendon Hills Public Library
[removed]@sls.lib.il.us

>......................................................................
>Need to subscribe, unsubscribe, search the archives?
>Everything Fiction_L: http://www.webrary.org/rs/flmenu.html

FROM: Barbara Stepina <[removed]@SLS.LIB.IL.US>
REC'D: 1/17/02, 4:37 PM

Sorry - I missed including two of my favorite mysteries for discussion in
my previous posting.

In a Dry Season by Peter Robinson
Shackles by Bill Pronzini

Barbara Stepina
Clarendon Hills Public Library
Clarendon Hills, Illinois
[removed]@sls.lib.il.us

>......................................................................
>Need to subscribe, unsubscribe, search the archives?
>Everything Fiction_L: http://www.webrary.org/rs/flmenu.html

FROM: [removed]@ci.mesa.az.us
REC'D: 1/24/02, 5:17 PM

At Mesa Public Library's Dobson Ranch Mystery Discussion run by John
Burke,these mystery titles have elicited the most discussion recently:

The Shape of Dread by Marcia Muller
The Franchise Affair by Josephine Tey
Bank Shot by Donald Westlake
Dust to Dust by Tami Hoag
A Test of Wills by Charles Todd
If Ever I Return, Pretty Peggy O by Sharyn McCrumb
Final Option by Gini Hartzmark

Andrea Greenslade
East Mesa Public Library

FROM: Patti Cheney <[removed]@libcoop.net>
REC'D: 1/26/02, 8:25 AM

Best Mysteries for Book Discussions

Compiled by Patti Cheney from contributions by the members of Fiction_L
and DorothyL listservs.

Buffa, D. W. The Defense
Burke, James Lee Black Cherry Blues
Byatt, A. S. Possession: A Romance
Chandler, Raymond The Big Sleep (2 recommendations)
Chandler, Raymond Farewell, My Lovely (2)
Christie, Agatha The Mysterious Affair at Styles
Collins, Wilkie The Moonstone
Connelly, Michael Blood Work
Cross, Amanda Death in a Tenured Position (3)
Doyle, Conan The Hound of the Baskervilles
Doyle, Conan A Study in Scarlet (2)
DuMaurier, Daphne Rebecca
Dunning, John Booked to Die
Francis, Dick Bonecrack
Friedman, Kinky A Case of Lone Star
Grafton, Sue A is for Alibi
Gur, Batya Murder on the Kibbutz
Hambly, Barbara A Free Man of Color
Hammett, Dashiell The Maltese Falcon
Hartzmark, Gini Final Option
Hillerman, Tony Coyote Waits
Hillerman, Tony The Ghostway
Hillerman, Tony Thief of Time
Hillerman, Tony Listening Woman
Hoag, Tami Dust to Dust
James, P. D. Devices and Desires
James, P. D. Shroud for a Nightingale
King, Laurie The Beekeeper’s Apprentice (4)
Langton, Jane Dark Nantucket Moon
Maitland, Barry The Marx Sisters
McCrumb, Sharyn If Ever I Return, Pretty Peggy-O
McCrumb, Sharyn She Walks These Hills
Miyabe, Miyuki All She Was Worth
Mosley, Walter Devil in a Blue Dress
Muller, Marcia The Shape of Dread
O’Connell, Carol Mallory’s Oracle
Paretsky, Sara Killing Orders
Perry, Anne The Face of a Stranger
Pronzini, Bill Shackles
Roberts, Les Deep Shaker
Robinson, Peter In a Dry Season (3)
Sayers, Dorothy The Nine Tailors
Tey, Josephine Daughter of Time (4)
Tey, Josephine The Franchise Affair
Todd, Charles Wings of Fire
Todd, Charles A Test of Wills
Westlake, Donald Bank Shot


Thanks for all your help! What a great list to work from!
Patti Cheney
Romeo District Library
Washington, MI

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