Fiction_L Archives Bumbling Detectives Dates: 3/21/02,1:57 PM  through  4/18/02,11:32 AM  (13 postings) Search for: Select one or more indexes to search: 2009-current     2007-2008     1996-2006    (Matches from each index will be displayed separately in the results page.) Return to March 2002 thread menu   |   Fiction_L Archives Menu

FROM: "Karen Kleckner" <kkleck@nslsilus.org>
REC'D: 3/21/02, 1:57 PM

We're planning a display of "bumbling detective" mysteries. We'd like to
focus on amateur detectives, hapless heroes and heroines who stumble onto a
crime and through their own ineptitude end up accidentally solving the case.

You supply the suggestions, I'll supply the tidy list at the end.

Thanks,

Karen Kleckner
Deerfield Public Library
920 Waukegan Road
Deerfield, IL 60015

(847) 945-3311

kkleck@nslsilus.org

FROM: Cathy Reid <creid@ccpl.lib.oh.us>
REC'D: 3/21/02, 2:19 PM

I'd suggest the Miss Seeton mysteries, the Agatha Raisin series by M.C.
Beaton, and the Ellie Haskell mysteries by Dorothy Cannell.

Cathy Reid
Clark County Public Library
Springfield, OH

>===== Original Message From "Karen Kleckner" <kkleck@nslsilus.org> =====
>We're planning a display of "bumbling detective" mysteries. We'd like to
>focus on amateur detectives, hapless heroes and heroines who stumble onto a
>crime and through their own ineptitude end up accidentally solving the case.
>
>You supply the suggestions, I'll supply the tidy list at the end.
>
>Thanks,
>
>Karen Kleckner
>Deerfield Public Library
>920 Waukegan Road
>Deerfield, IL 60015
>
>(847) 945-3311
>
>kkleck@nslsilus.org
>
>
>
>
>.....................................................................
>Need to subscribe, unsubscribe, search the archives?
>Everything Fiction_L: http://www.webrary.org/rs/flmenu.html

FROM: Dennis Lien <Dennis.K.Lien-1@tc.umn.edu>
REC'D: 3/21/02, 2:29 PM

At 01:35 PM 3/21/02 -0600, you wrote:
>We're planning a display of "bumbling detective" mysteries. We'd like to
>focus on amateur detectives, hapless heroes and heroines who stumble onto a
>crime and through their own ineptitude end up accidentally solving the case.
>
>You supply the suggestions, I'll supply the tidy list at the end.
>
>Thanks,
>
>Karen Kleckner


Even if you're focusing on amateurs, I can't help recommending that
most bumbling and ghastly of professionals, Chief Inspector Dover from
Joyce Porter's canon.

Porter's amateur detective "Hon. Con." (the Honourable Constance
Ethel Morrison-Burke) is equally bumbling and ghastly in comparable
ways, but there are fewer books in the series and I don't think
any have been in print recently in the US.


Dennis Lien / U of Minnesota Libraries // d-lien@tc.umn.edu

FROM: kdugan@wepl.lib.oh.us
REC'D: 3/21/02, 3:02 PM

Elizabeth Daniels Squire wrote a series (I think 4 titles) with the
main character Peaches Dann, who had memory problems but still managed
to solve crimes. They have great titles like "Who Killed What's-her-
name"

----- Original Message -----
From: Karen Kleckner <kkleck@nslsilus.org>
Date: Thursday, March 21, 2002 2:35 pm
Subject: Bumbling Detectives

> We're planning a display of "bumbling detective" mysteries. We'd
> like to
> focus on amateur detectives, hapless heroes and heroines who
> stumble onto a
> crime and through their own ineptitude end up accidentally solving
> the case.
>
> You supply the suggestions, I'll supply the tidy list at the end.
>
> Thanks,
>
> Karen Kleckner
> Deerfield Public Library
> 920 Waukegan Road
> Deerfield, IL 60015
>
> (847) 945-3311
>
> kkleck@nslsilus.org
>
>
>
>
> ......................................................................
> Need to subscribe, unsubscribe, search the archives?
> Everything Fiction_L: http://www.webrary.org/rs/flmenu.html
>

FROM: "Bessie Makris" <bmakris@acpl.lib.in.us>
REC'D: 3/21/02, 5:09 PM

Bounty hunter Stephanie Plum (ONE FOR THE MONEY, etc. by Janet Evanovich) surely deserves a place on this list.

----- Original Message -----
From: Karen Kleckner <kkleck@nslsilus.org>
Date: Thursday, March 21, 2002 2:35 pm
Subject: Bumbling Detectives

> We're planning a display of "bumbling detective" mysteries. We'd
> like to
> focus on amateur detectives, hapless heroes and heroines who
> stumble onto a
> crime and through their own ineptitude end up accidentally solving
> the case.
>
> You supply the suggestions, I'll supply the tidy list at the end.
>
> Thanks,
>
> Karen Kleckner
> Deerfield Public Library
> 920 Waukegan Road
> Deerfield, IL 60015
>
> (847) 945-3311
>
> kkleck@nslsilus.org
>
>
>
>
> ......................................................................
> Need to subscribe, unsubscribe, search the archives?
> Everything Fiction_L: http://www.webrary.org/rs/flmenu.html
>




Bessie Makris
Allen County Public Library
P.O. Box 2270
Fort Wayne, IN 46802

"The view, opinions, and judgments expressed in this message
are solely those of the author. The message contents have not
been reviewed or approved by the Allen County Public Library."

FROM: "Joyce Sparrow" <joycesparrow@hotmail.com>
REC'D: 3/22/02, 6:07 AM

Has anyone suggested Bubbles Unbound by Sarah Strohmeyer? It is a light,
fun mystery about a hairdresser/reporter/amateur sleuth. The language is
mild and the characters are amusing.

Joyce Sparrow


>From: Cathy Reid <creid@ccpl.lib.oh.us>
>Reply-To: "Fiction_L" <Fiction_L@maillist.webrary.org>
>To: Fiction_L <fiction_l@maillist.webrary.org>
>Subject: RE: Bumbling Detectives
>Date: Thu, 21 Mar 2002 15:08:37 -0500
>
>I'd suggest the Miss Seeton mysteries, the Agatha Raisin series by M.C.
>Beaton, and the Ellie Haskell mysteries by Dorothy Cannell.
>
>Cathy Reid
>Clark County Public Library
>Springfield, OH
>
> >===== Original Message From "Karen Kleckner" <kkleck@nslsilus.org> =====
> >We're planning a display of "bumbling detective" mysteries. We'd like to
> >focus on amateur detectives, hapless heroes and heroines who stumble onto
>a
> >crime and through their own ineptitude end up accidentally solving the
>case.
> >
> >You supply the suggestions, I'll supply the tidy list at the end.
> >
> >Thanks,
> >
> >Karen Kleckner
> >Deerfield Public Library
> >920 Waukegan Road
> >Deerfield, IL 60015
> >
> >(847) 945-3311
> >
> >kkleck@nslsilus.org
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >.....................................................................
> >Need to subscribe, unsubscribe, search the archives?
> >Everything Fiction_L: http://www.webrary.org/rs/flmenu.html
>
>
>......................................................................
>Need to subscribe, unsubscribe, search the archives?
>Everything Fiction_L: http://www.webrary.org/rs/flmenu.html


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FROM: "Janice Doxtator" <jandox@fibernetcc.com>
REC'D: 3/22/02, 8:58 AM

I thought of two for you:

Lovell, Marc. The Appleton Porter spy series. Apple is a spy for Great
Britain whose superior, as I recall, gives him impossible assignments in
hopes that he'll not survive.

Jeffries, Roderic. The Inspector Enrique Alvarez series. Set on the island
of Mallorca, Alvarez perhaps is less bumbling than lazy but is perceived by
others to be bumbling.

Both series are wonderfully humerous.

Jan Doxtator
Stevens Point, WI

FROM: "Warner, Deb" <dwarner@co.durham.nc.us>
REC'D: 3/22/02, 12:00 PM

MISSING SUSAN by Sharyn McCrumb has a bumblling crook (hence the title) and
a less than ept detective. I love Elizabeth MacPherson, mind you, she just
doen't know as much as she thinks she does...some others in this series may
fit too.
Joyce Porter's DOVER books would fit if they are still in print
I must think on this more

FROM: dbeaver@co.wake.nc.us
REC'D: 3/23/02, 11:42 AM

Some of my favorite "bumbling detectives" are:

Jill Churchill's Jane Jeffreys series is great. Jane is a cross between
Miss Marple and Erma Bombeck. The book titles are: The Class Menagerie
A Farewell to Yarns
A Knife to Remember
A Quiche Before Dying
From Here to Paternity
Grime and Punishment
Silence of Hams
War and Peas
A Groom with a View
Fear of Frying
Merchant of Menace

Ayelet Waldman has a series with Juliet Applebaum as its character. She's a
stay-at-home ex-lawyer who has a toddler and is pregnant with her second
child. She has the child in her second book. Hilarious reading.
Nursery Crimes
The Big Nap
A Playdate with Death (due out in June, 2002)

Tamar Myers has a series of books featuring Magdalena Yoder, a 40 something
mennonite woman who is owner of the Pennsylvania Dutch Inn. A real hoot!
Her books include:
Too Many Crooks Spoil the Broth
Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Crime
No Use Dying Over Spilled Milk
Just Plain Pickled to Death
Between a Wok and a Hard Place
Eat Drink and Be Wary
Play it Again Spam
The Hand that Rocks the Ladle
The Crepes of Wrath
Gruel and Unusual Punishment

Rick Hanson's Adam McFleet series is funny, too. Adam is an ex-marine,
ex-cop and all he wants to do is be a sculptor. His crazy sister Margot
keeps getting him into hot water. His books include:
Spare Parts
Mortal Remains
Still Life
Splitting Heirs
Extreme Odds

Donna Beaver
Wake County Libraries
Zebulon, NC branch

FROM: Mona Stevenson <stevensonm@wtcpl.lib.oh.us>
REC'D: 3/23/02, 1:30 PM

The Inspector Jack Frost series by R. D. Wingfield, available in print and
audio should qualify. Frost always seems to get the job done, but his
methods and shabby appearance are the bane of his supervisors.

Mona Stevenson
Warren-Trumbull County Public Library

FROM: "Bessie Makris" <bmakris@acpl.lib.in.us>
REC'D: 3/23/02, 7:52 PM

A couple more series featurning bumbling detectives are the Victor Daniel mysteries by David M. Pierce (V. Daniel is 6'5", wears Hawaiian shirts and drives a Morris Minor) and the Southern Sisters mysteries by Anne George.

Bessie Makris
Allen County Public Library
P.O. Box 2270
Fort Wayne, IN 46802

"The view, opinions, and judgments expressed in this message
are solely those of the author. The message contents have not
been reviewed or approved by the Allen County Public Library."

FROM: "christine jeffords" <sevenstars39@hotmail.com>
REC'D: 3/24/02, 8:29 AM

Possibly Charlotte MacLeod would qualify. Certainly her "detectives" (Peter
Shandy, Sarah Kelling & Max Bittersohn) often "fall into" their cases
without planning to, and Sarah's eccentric relatives and Peter's slightly
weird colleagues add to the confusion--but somehow they always manage to
catch the baddies! The series she writes as Alisa Craig (Madoc Rhys, the
Grub-and-Stakers) could be described the same way.

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FROM: "Karen Kleckner" <kkleck@nsls.info>
REC'D: 4/18/02, 11:32 AM

Many thanks to those who responded to our SOS regarding “Bumbling
Detectives.” The following is the list of suggestions provided.

Beaton, M.C. - Agatha Raisin series

Cannell, Dorothy – The Ellie Haskell mysteries (Bridesmaids Revisited, The
Spring Cleaning Murders, The Importance of Being Ernestine)

Churchill, Jill - The Jane Jeffries series (A Quiche Before Dying, From
Here to Paternity, etc)

Craig, Alisa - aka Charlotte MacLeod - (The Grub-and-Stakers series)

Evanovich, Janet - Stephanie Plum series (One For The Money, Two For The
Dough, etc)

George, Anne - Southern Sisters series (Murder Makes Waves, Murder Gets A
Life, etc)

Hamilton, Crane - The Miss Seeton series

Hanson, Rick - Adam McFleet series (Spare Parts, Mortal Remains, Still
Life, etc)

Jeffries, Roderic - Inspector Enrique Alvarez series (Deadly Petard,
Layers of Deceit, etc)

Lovell, Marc - The Appleton Porter spy series (How Green Was My Apple,
Apple Spy In The Sky, etc)

MacLeod, Charlotte - The Sarah Kelling mysteries (Family Vault, The
Withdrawing Room, etc)

Peter Shandy mysteries (Rest You Merry,
Exit The Milkman, etc)

McCrumb, Susan - Missing Susan

Myers, Tamar - Magdalena Yoder series (Play It Again, Spam, Between a Wok
and a Hard Place, etc)

Pearce, Jonathan - One Brick Shy

Pierce, David M. - Victor Daniel Mysteries (As She Rides By, Roses Love
Sunshine, etc.)

Porter, Joyce - Dover One, Dover Three, etc (Inspector Wilfred Dover
series)

Squire, Elizabeth Daniels - Peaches Dann series (Who Killed What’
s-Her-Name, Forget About Murder)

Strohmeyer, Sarah - Bubbles Unbound

Waldman, Ayelet – Juliet Applebaum series (Nursery Crimes, The Big Nap,
Playdate With Death)

Karen Kleckner and Frances Miller
Deerfield Public Library
920 Waukegan Road
Deerfield, IL 60015
(847) 945-3311

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