I just posted a lengthy review on my blog of Norma Schier's brilliant "The
Anagram Detective," which is the only short story collection I have ever read
without any real duds.

<http://moonlight-detective.blogspot.com/2011/05/redrum-and-other-mirecs.html>

Huang's book is a remarkable work. I was rooting for it to win.  I also voted
for it at Malice Domestic even though I knew it hadn't a chance - especially
since John Curran's book was nominated for Best Non-Fiction work by the Malice
Domestic people.  I was there this past weekend for the first time and
thoroughly enjoyed talking with the many fans, a few booksellers, and several of
my favorite authors including L.C. Tyler and Louise Penny.

Malice Domestic is a organization that hosts a convention every spring.  They
celebrate and encourage the continuation of the traditional detective novel.
Although the field is dominated by modern cozy novels and women writers they do
invite male writers to participate as long as their work fits the criteria. I
attended the conference to educate myself about a genre that I have been rather
unkind to in some of my posts throughout the internet and maybe even here.  I
entered with an unclouded mind and listened and read a lot.  Was I ever
surprised by the varied topics, the richness of writing, and the very unusual
plots and characters in the books discussed in the panels that I attended.  Many
of these writers were completely unknown to me and at least four of them have
won a new reader in me.  I have had my eyes opened. Already a list of new books
I will most definitely be reading.

As for the Agatha awards:  John Curran's book won the Agatha for Best
Non-Fiction work as I predicted. It was a shoo-in, frankly.  Louise Penny won
the Agatha for the Best First Novel for the 4th year in a row.  This is a record
that will be hard to break by any of her contemporaries.  While several women
(notably Nancy Pickard) have won the Agatha more than once, no one has won this
many times in succession.  It seems that in the Malice Domestic community -  a
group of congenial and welcoming people - Louise Penny has definitely inherited
the mantle of the new Queen of Crime.

If MWA may be looking less to honor the traditional detective novel with awards,
Malice Domestic is doing their best not only to award new and established
writers, but to preserve the genre with all that they do. It's not all cat,
recipe and handicraft mysteries.  There really are some intriguing writers doing
mature, sophisticated and unusual work. The trouble is that with so much crime
fiction being published some of these real jewels get lost in the sea of the
overhyped books and the veteran writers with such large followings.

John

P.S. I think it is so fitting that Robert Goddard finally won an Edgar for a
book called LONG TIME COMING. His books dazzle me in all aspects - character,
setting and ingenious plot structure.


--- In GAdetection@yahoogroups.com, Xavier Lechard <lechardxavier@...> wrote:
>
> The Edgar winners:
>
> http://theedgars.com/nominees.html
>
> Coming after P.D. James's defeat last year, the snub of the Christie
> notebooks suggests a definite bias against traditional mysteries from the
> MWAs. The Best Novel going for the second consecutive year to a past winner
> (Hamilton had won Best First Novel some years ago) and for the fourth
> consecutive year to an American writer suggests the pool of winners is
> getting increasingly narrower. Robert Goddard's win in the Best Paperback
> category is good news, though.
>
> Friendly,
> Xavier

I'm missing something - how does someone win a "Best First Novel" award more
than once?

John Curran's award was richly deserved.
   ----- Original Message -----
   From: prettysinister
   To: GAdetection@yahoogroups.com
   Sent: Monday, May 02, 2011 6:34 PM
   Subject: [GAdetection] Re: For the record



   Huang's book is a remarkable work. I was rooting for it to win. I also voted
for it at Malice Domestic even though I knew it hadn't a chance - especially
since John Curran's book was nominated for Best Non-Fiction work by the Malice
Domestic people. I was there this past weekend for the first time and thoroughly
enjoyed talking with the many fans, a few booksellers, and several of my
favorite authors including L.C. Tyler and Louise Penny.

   Malice Domestic is a organization that hosts a convention every spring. They
celebrate and encourage the continuation of the traditional detective novel.
Although the field is dominated by modern cozy novels and women writers they do
invite male writers to participate as long as their work fits the criteria. I
attended the conference to educate myself about a genre that I have been rather
unkind to in some of my posts throughout the internet and maybe even here. I
entered with an unclouded mind and listened and read a lot. Was I ever surprised
by the varied topics, the richness of writing, and the very unusual plots and
characters in the books discussed in the panels that I attended. Many of these
writers were completely unknown to me and at least four of them have won a new
reader in me. I have had my eyes opened. Already a list of new books I will most
definitely be reading.

   As for the Agatha awards: John Curran's book won the Agatha for Best
Non-Fiction work as I predicted. It was a shoo-in, frankly. Louise Penny won the
Agatha for the Best First Novel for the 4th year in a row. This is a record that
will be hard to break by any of her contemporaries. While several women (notably
Nancy Pickard) have won the Agatha more than once, no one has won this many
times in succession. It seems that in the Malice Domestic community - a group of
congenial and welcoming people - Louise Penny has definitely inherited the
mantle of the new Queen of Crime.

   If MWA may be looking less to honor the traditional detective novel with
awards, Malice Domestic is doing their best not only to award new and
established writers, but to preserve the genre with all that they do. It's not
all cat, recipe and handicraft mysteries. There really are some intriguing
writers doing mature, sophisticated and unusual work. The trouble is that with
so much crime fiction being published some of these real jewels get lost in the
sea of the overhyped books and the veteran writers with such large followings.

   John

   P.S. I think it is so fitting that Robert Goddard finally won an Edgar for a
book called LONG TIME COMING. His books dazzle me in all aspects - character,
setting and ingenious plot structure.

   --- In GAdetection@yahoogroups.com, Xavier Lechard <lechardxavier@...> wrote:
   >
   > The Edgar winners:
   >
   > http://theedgars.com/nominees.html
   >
   > Coming after P.D. James's defeat last year, the snub of the Christie
   > notebooks suggests a definite bias against traditional mysteries from the
   > MWAs. The Best Novel going for the second consecutive year to a past winner
   > (Hamilton had won Best First Novel some years ago) and for the fourth
   > consecutive year to an American writer suggests the pool of winners is
   > getting increasingly narrower. Robert Goddard's win in the Best Paperback
   > category is good news, though.
   >
   > Friendly,
   > Xavier





[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

It must have been a really, REALLY good first novel!

I’m going to go on a reading blitz soon of mysteries published in the last
forty years (I’ve been so preoccupied with the really old stuff).  To me
anything published from 1970 is “new”!

I’ve only ever read one of the Chan books, found well enough written but it
just didn’t grab me.

Curt

From: Tony Medawar
Sent: Monday, May 02, 2011 4:12 PM
To: GAdetection@yahoogroups.com
Subject: Re: [GAdetection] Re: For the record


I'm missing something - how does someone win a "Best First Novel" award more
than once?

John Curran's award was richly deserved.
----- Original Message -----
From: prettysinister
To: mailto:GAdetection%40yahoogroups.com
Sent: Monday, May 02, 2011 6:34 PM
Subject: [GAdetection] Re: For the record

Huang's book is a remarkable work. I was rooting for it to win. I also voted for
it at Malice Domestic even though I knew it hadn't a chance - especially since
John Curran's book was nominated for Best Non-Fiction work by the Malice
Domestic people. I was there this past weekend for the first time and thoroughly
enjoyed talking with the many fans, a few booksellers, and several of my
favorite authors including L.C. Tyler and Louise Penny.

Malice Domestic is a organization that hosts a convention every spring. They
celebrate and encourage the continuation of the traditional detective novel.
Although the field is dominated by modern cozy novels and women writers they do
invite male writers to participate as long as their work fits the criteria. I
attended the conference to educate myself about a genre that I have been rather
unkind to in some of my posts throughout the internet and maybe even here. I
entered with an unclouded mind and listened and read a lot. Was I ever surprised
by the varied topics, the richness of writing, and the very unusual plots and
characters in the books discussed in the panels that I attended. Many of these
writers were completely unknown to me and at least four of them have won a new
reader in me. I have had my eyes opened. Already a list of new books I will most
definitely be reading.

As for the Agatha awards: John Curran's book won the Agatha for Best Non-Fiction
work as I predicted. It was a shoo-in, frankly. Louise Penny won the Agatha for
the Best First Novel for the 4th year in a row. This is a record that will be
hard to break by any of her contemporaries. While several women (notably Nancy
Pickard) have won the Agatha more than once, no one has won this many times in
succession. It seems that in the Malice Domestic community - a group of
congenial and welcoming people - Louise Penny has definitely inherited the
mantle of the new Queen of Crime.

If MWA may be looking less to honor the traditional detective novel with awards,
Malice Domestic is doing their best not only to award new and established
writers, but to preserve the genre with all that they do. It's not all cat,
recipe and handicraft mysteries. There really are some intriguing writers doing
mature, sophisticated and unusual work. The trouble is that with so much crime
fiction being published some of these real jewels get lost in the sea of the
overhyped books and the veteran writers with such large followings.

John

P.S. I think it is so fitting that Robert Goddard finally won an Edgar for a
book called LONG TIME COMING. His books dazzle me in all aspects - character,
setting and ingenious plot structure.

--- In mailto:GAdetection%40yahoogroups.com, Xavier Lechard <lechardxavier@...>
wrote:
>
> The Edgar winners:
>
> http://theedgars.com/nominees.html
>
> Coming after P.D. James's defeat last year, the snub of the Christie
> notebooks suggests a definite bias against traditional mysteries from the
> MWAs. The Best Novel going for the second consecutive year to a past winner
> (Hamilton had won Best First Novel some years ago) and for the fourth
> consecutive year to an American writer suggests the pool of winners is
> getting increasingly narrower. Robert Goddard's win in the Best Paperback
> category is good news, though.
>
> Friendly,
> Xavier

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]





[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

Possessed by typing gremlins once again.  Penny won for BEST NOVEL.  And won
Best Novel four years in a row.  The addition of "First" was an idiotic error.

John


--- In GAdetection@yahoogroups.com, "curt evans" <praed_street@...> wrote:
>
> It must have been a really, REALLY good first novel!
>
> I’m going to go on a reading blitz soon of mysteries published in the last
forty years (I’ve been so preoccupied with the really old stuff).  To me
anything published from 1970 is “new”!
>
> I’ve only ever read one of the Chan books, found well enough written but it
just didn’t grab me.
>
> Curt
>
> From: Tony Medawar
> Sent: Monday, May 02, 2011 4:12 PM
> To: GAdetection@yahoogroups.com
> Subject: Re: [GAdetection] Re: For the record
>
>
> I'm missing something - how does someone win a "Best First Novel" award more
than once?
>
> John Curran's award was richly deserved.
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: prettysinister
> To: mailto:GAdetection%40yahoogroups.com
> Sent: Monday, May 02, 2011 6:34 PM
> Subject: [GAdetection] Re: For the record
>
> Huang's book is a remarkable work. I was rooting for it to win. I also voted
for it at Malice Domestic even though I knew it hadn't a chance - especially
since John Curran's book was nominated for Best Non-Fiction work by the Malice
Domestic people. I was there this past weekend for the first time and thoroughly
enjoyed talking with the many fans, a few booksellers, and several of my
favorite authors including L.C. Tyler and Louise Penny.
>
> Malice Domestic is a organization that hosts a convention every spring. They
celebrate and encourage the continuation of the traditional detective novel.
Although the field is dominated by modern cozy novels and women writers they do
invite male writers to participate as long as their work fits the criteria. I
attended the conference to educate myself about a genre that I have been rather
unkind to in some of my posts throughout the internet and maybe even here. I
entered with an unclouded mind and listened and read a lot. Was I ever surprised
by the varied topics, the richness of writing, and the very unusual plots and
characters in the books discussed in the panels that I attended. Many of these
writers were completely unknown to me and at least four of them have won a new
reader in me. I have had my eyes opened. Already a list of new books I will most
definitely be reading.
>
> As for the Agatha awards: John Curran's book won the Agatha for Best
Non-Fiction work as I predicted. It was a shoo-in, frankly. Louise Penny won the
Agatha for the Best First Novel for the 4th year in a row. This is a record that
will be hard to break by any of her contemporaries. While several women (notably
Nancy Pickard) have won the Agatha more than once, no one has won this many
times in succession. It seems that in the Malice Domestic community - a group of
congenial and welcoming people - Louise Penny has definitely inherited the
mantle of the new Queen of Crime.
>
> If MWA may be looking less to honor the traditional detective novel with
awards, Malice Domestic is doing their best not only to award new and
established writers, but to preserve the genre with all that they do. It's not
all cat, recipe and handicraft mysteries. There really are some intriguing
writers doing mature, sophisticated and unusual work. The trouble is that with
so much crime fiction being published some of these real jewels get lost in the
sea of the overhyped books and the veteran writers with such large followings.
>
> John
>
> P.S. I think it is so fitting that Robert Goddard finally won an Edgar for a
book called LONG TIME COMING. His books dazzle me in all aspects - character,
setting and ingenious plot structure.
>
> --- In mailto:GAdetection%40yahoogroups.com, Xavier Lechard <lechardxavier@>
wrote:
> >
> > The Edgar winners:
> >
> > http://theedgars.com/nominees.html
> >
> > Coming after P.D. James's defeat last year, the snub of the Christie
> > notebooks suggests a definite bias against traditional mysteries from the
> > MWAs. The Best Novel going for the second consecutive year to a past winner
> > (Hamilton had won Best First Novel some years ago) and for the fourth
> > consecutive year to an American writer suggests the pool of winners is
> > getting increasingly narrower. Robert Goddard's win in the Best Paperback
> > category is good news, though.
> >
> > Friendly,
> > Xavier
>
> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
>
>
>
>
>
> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
>

Booklist on Louise Penny:

“Penny has been compared to Agatha Christie [but] it sells her short.  Her
character are too rich, her grasp of nuance and human psychology too firm....”

I always have disliked this “[Author X] actually is much better than Agatha
Christie” approach.  It would be nice if these authors just could be praised
on their own terms, but I guess Christie is too big a target, even today, 
Pretty amazing.

Penny’s newest book is out in August.  I’ll have to pay attention.  I
suppose it will be big news if it DOESN’T win an Agatha next year!

Has anyone ever attempted to determine the favorite so-called cozy writers over
the last thirty years (since the demise of Christie of Marsh)?

Curt

From: prettysinister
Sent: Monday, May 02, 2011 12:34 PM
To: GAdetection@yahoogroups.com
Subject: [GAdetection] Re: For the record


As for the Agatha awards: John Curran's book won the Agatha for Best Non-Fiction
work as I predicted. It was a shoo-in, frankly. Louise Penny won the Agatha for
the Best First Novel for the 4th year in a row. This is a record that will be
hard to break by any of her contemporaries. While several women (notably Nancy
Pickard) have won the Agatha more than once, no one has won this many times in
succession. It seems that in the Malice Domestic community - a group of
congenial and welcoming people - Louise Penny has definitely inherited the
mantle of the new Queen of Crime.

If MWA may be looking less to honor the traditional detective novel with awards,
Malice Domestic is doing their best not only to award new and established
writers, but to preserve the genre with all that they do. It's not all cat,
recipe and handicraft mysteries. There really are some intriguing writers doing
mature, sophisticated and unusual work. The trouble is that with so much crime
fiction being published some of these real jewels get lost in the sea of the
overhyped books and the veteran writers with such large followings.

John

P.S. I think it is so fitting that Robert Goddard finally won an Edgar for a
book called LONG TIME COMING. His books dazzle me in all aspects - character,
setting and ingenious plot structure.

--- In mailto:GAdetection%40yahoogroups.com, Xavier Lechard <lechardxavier@...>
wrote:
>
> The Edgar winners:
>
> http://theedgars.com/nominees.html
>
> Coming after P.D. James's defeat last year, the snub of the Christie
> notebooks suggests a definite bias against traditional mysteries from the
> MWAs. The Best Novel going for the second consecutive year to a past winner
> (Hamilton had won Best First Novel some years ago) and for the fourth
> consecutive year to an American writer suggests the pool of winners is
> getting increasingly narrower. Robert Goddard's win in the Best Paperback
> category is good news, though.
>
> Friendly,
> Xavier




[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

Friends,



Louise Penny (and, for that matter. Agatha Christie herself), is hardly a cozy
write.  She does write about a small village in Canada. And, I have to admit, is
very good. Some of the plotting and clueing is truly first rate – she is an
original.



Enrique F. Bird Picó



From: GAdetection@yahoogroups.com [mailto:GAdetection@yahoogroups.com] On Behalf
Of curt evans
Sent: Monday, May 02, 2011 11:09 PM
To: GAdetection@yahoogroups.com
Subject: [GAdetection] Modern Cozy





Booklist on Louise Penny:

“Penny has been compared to Agatha Christie [but] it sells her short. Her
character are too rich, her grasp of nuance and human psychology too firm....”

I always have disliked this “[Author X] actually is much better than Agatha
Christie” approach. It would be nice if these authors just could be praised on
their own terms, but I guess Christie is too big a target, even today, Pretty
amazing.

Penny’s newest book is out in August. I’ll have to pay attention. I suppose
it will be big news if it DOESN’T win an Agatha next year!

Has anyone ever attempted to determine the favorite so-called cozy writers over
the last thirty years (since the demise of Christie of Marsh)?

Curt

From: prettysinister
Sent: Monday, May 02, 2011 12:34 PM
To: GAdetection@yahoogroups.com <mailto:GAdetection%40yahoogroups.com>
Subject: [GAdetection] Re: For the record

As for the Agatha awards: John Curran's book won the Agatha for Best Non-Fiction
work as I predicted. It was a shoo-in, frankly. Louise Penny won the Agatha for
the Best First Novel for the 4th year in a row. This is a record that will be
hard to break by any of her contemporaries. While several women (notably Nancy
Pickard) have won the Agatha more than once, no one has won this many times in
succession. It seems that in the Malice Domestic community - a group of
congenial and welcoming people - Louise Penny has definitely inherited the
mantle of the new Queen of Crime.

If MWA may be looking less to honor the traditional detective novel with awards,
Malice Domestic is doing their best not only to award new and established
writers, but to preserve the genre with all that they do. It's not all cat,
recipe and handicraft mysteries. There really are some intriguing writers doing
mature, sophisticated and unusual work. The trouble is that with so much crime
fiction being published some of these real jewels get lost in the sea of the
overhyped books and the veteran writers with such large followings.

John

P.S. I think it is so fitting that Robert Goddard finally won an Edgar for a
book called LONG TIME COMING. His books dazzle me in all aspects - character,
setting and ingenious plot structure.

--- In mailto:GAdetection%40yahoogroups.com, Xavier Lechard <lechardxavier@...>
wrote:
>
> The Edgar winners:
>
> http://theedgars.com/nominees.html
>
> Coming after P.D. James's defeat last year, the snub of the Christie
> notebooks suggests a definite bias against traditional mysteries from the
> MWAs. The Best Novel going for the second consecutive year to a past winner
> (Hamilton had won Best First Novel some years ago) and for the fourth
> consecutive year to an American writer suggests the pool of winners is
> getting increasingly narrower. Robert Goddard's win in the Best Paperback
> category is good news, though.
>
> Friendly,
> Xavier

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]





[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

Enrique,

A lot of authors are categorized as “cozy,” however, going by
cozy-mystery.com (and I guess they should know).  They define cozy as having the
following qualities:

1. Crime solver is usually a woman and amateur sleuth.

2. Takes place in small town or village.

3. Likeable characters.

4. No graphic violence, profanity, explicit sex.

3 and 4 could be applied to a huge number of books, especially older ones. 
Female sleuth and village setting are limiting factors though.  For example, the
Miss Maples would be “cozy” but not the Poirots.

Curt

From: Enrique F Bird
Sent: Monday, May 02, 2011 10:15 PM
To: GAdetection@yahoogroups.com
Subject: RE: [GAdetection] Modern Cozy


Friends,

Louise Penny (and, for that matter. Agatha Christie herself), is hardly a cozy
write. She does write about a small village in Canada. And, I have to admit, is
very good. Some of the plotting and clueing is truly first rate – she is an
original.

Enrique F. Bird Picó

From: mailto:GAdetection%40yahoogroups.com
[mailto:mailto:GAdetection%40yahoogroups.com] On Behalf Of curt evans
Sent: Monday, May 02, 2011 11:09 PM
To: mailto:GAdetection%40yahoogroups.com
Subject: [GAdetection] Modern Cozy

Booklist on Louise Penny:

“Penny has been compared to Agatha Christie [but] it sells her short. Her
character are too rich, her grasp of nuance and human psychology too firm....”

I always have disliked this “[Author X] actually is much better than Agatha
Christie” approach. It would be nice if these authors just could be praised on
their own terms, but I guess Christie is too big a target, even today, Pretty
amazing.

Penny’s newest book is out in August. I’ll have to pay attention. I suppose
it will be big news if it DOESN’T win an Agatha next year!

Has anyone ever attempted to determine the favorite so-called cozy writers over
the last thirty years (since the demise of Christie of Marsh)?

Curt

From: prettysinister
Sent: Monday, May 02, 2011 12:34 PM
To: mailto:GAdetection%40yahoogroups.com <mailto:GAdetection%40yahoogroups.com>
Subject: [GAdetection] Re: For the record

As for the Agatha awards: John Curran's book won the Agatha for Best Non-Fiction
work as I predicted. It was a shoo-in, frankly. Louise Penny won the Agatha for
the Best First Novel for the 4th year in a row. This is a record that will be
hard to break by any of her contemporaries. While several women (notably Nancy
Pickard) have won the Agatha more than once, no one has won this many times in
succession. It seems that in the Malice Domestic community - a group of
congenial and welcoming people - Louise Penny has definitely inherited the
mantle of the new Queen of Crime.

If MWA may be looking less to honor the traditional detective novel with awards,
Malice Domestic is doing their best not only to award new and established
writers, but to preserve the genre with all that they do. It's not all cat,
recipe and handicraft mysteries. There really are some intriguing writers doing
mature, sophisticated and unusual work. The trouble is that with so much crime
fiction being published some of these real jewels get lost in the sea of the
overhyped books and the veteran writers with such large followings.

John

P.S. I think it is so fitting that Robert Goddard finally won an Edgar for a
book called LONG TIME COMING. His books dazzle me in all aspects - character,
setting and ingenious plot structure.

--- In mailto:GAdetection%40yahoogroups.com, Xavier Lechard <lechardxavier@...>
wrote:
>
> The Edgar winners:
>
> http://theedgars.com/nominees.html
>
> Coming after P.D. James's defeat last year, the snub of the Christie
> notebooks suggests a definite bias against traditional mysteries from the
> MWAs. The Best Novel going for the second consecutive year to a past winner
> (Hamilton had won Best First Novel some years ago) and for the fourth
> consecutive year to an American writer suggests the pool of winners is
> getting increasingly narrower. Robert Goddard's win in the Best Paperback
> category is good news, though.
>
> Friendly,
> Xavier

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]





[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

Just to add, I know “cozy” often is taken as a pejorative, but, heck, if you
set aside the fact that the female protagonists in them are not crime solvers
(though they are presented with mysteries), Jane Austen novels are cozies, by
the below definition (well, how big was Bath in those days?).  And you can’t
get much superior literature to that!

Curt

From: curt evans
Sent: Monday, May 02, 2011 10:27 PM
To: GAdetection@yahoogroups.com
Subject: Re: [GAdetection] Modern Cozy


Enrique,

A lot of authors are categorized as “cozy,” however, going by
cozy-mystery.com (and I guess they should know). They define cozy as having the
following qualities:

1. Crime solver is usually a woman and amateur sleuth.

2. Takes place in small town or village.

3. Likeable characters.

4. No graphic violence, profanity, explicit sex.

3 and 4 could be applied to a huge number of books, especially older ones.
Female sleuth and village setting are limiting factors though. For example, the
Miss Maples would be “cozy” but not the Poirots.

Curt

From: Enrique F Bird
Sent: Monday, May 02, 2011 10:15 PM
To: mailto:GAdetection%40yahoogroups.com
Subject: RE: [GAdetection] Modern Cozy

Friends,

Louise Penny (and, for that matter. Agatha Christie herself), is hardly a cozy
write. She does write about a small village in Canada. And, I have to admit, is
very good. Some of the plotting and clueing is truly first rate – she is an
original.

Enrique F. Bird Picó

From: mailto:GAdetection%40yahoogroups.com
[mailto:mailto:GAdetection%40yahoogroups.com] On Behalf Of curt evans
Sent: Monday, May 02, 2011 11:09 PM
To: mailto:GAdetection%40yahoogroups.com
Subject: [GAdetection] Modern Cozy

Booklist on Louise Penny:

“Penny has been compared to Agatha Christie [but] it sells her short. Her
character are too rich, her grasp of nuance and human psychology too firm....”

I always have disliked this “[Author X] actually is much better than Agatha
Christie” approach. It would be nice if these authors just could be praised on
their own terms, but I guess Christie is too big a target, even today, Pretty
amazing.

Penny’s newest book is out in August. I’ll have to pay attention. I suppose
it will be big news if it DOESN’T win an Agatha next year!

Has anyone ever attempted to determine the favorite so-called cozy writers over
the last thirty years (since the demise of Christie of Marsh)?

Curt

From: prettysinister
Sent: Monday, May 02, 2011 12:34 PM
To: mailto:GAdetection%40yahoogroups.com <mailto:GAdetection%40yahoogroups.com>
Subject: [GAdetection] Re: For the record

As for the Agatha awards: John Curran's book won the Agatha for Best Non-Fiction
work as I predicted. It was a shoo-in, frankly. Louise Penny won the Agatha for
the Best First Novel for the 4th year in a row. This is a record that will be
hard to break by any of her contemporaries. While several women (notably Nancy
Pickard) have won the Agatha more than once, no one has won this many times in
succession. It seems that in the Malice Domestic community - a group of
congenial and welcoming people - Louise Penny has definitely inherited the
mantle of the new Queen of Crime.

If MWA may be looking less to honor the traditional detective novel with awards,
Malice Domestic is doing their best not only to award new and established
writers, but to preserve the genre with all that they do. It's not all cat,
recipe and handicraft mysteries. There really are some intriguing writers doing
mature, sophisticated and unusual work. The trouble is that with so much crime
fiction being published some of these real jewels get lost in the sea of the
overhyped books and the veteran writers with such large followings.

John

P.S. I think it is so fitting that Robert Goddard finally won an Edgar for a
book called LONG TIME COMING. His books dazzle me in all aspects - character,
setting and ingenious plot structure.

--- In mailto:GAdetection%40yahoogroups.com, Xavier Lechard <lechardxavier@...>
wrote:
>
> The Edgar winners:
>
> http://theedgars.com/nominees.html
>
> Coming after P.D. James's defeat last year, the snub of the Christie
> notebooks suggests a definite bias against traditional mysteries from the
> MWAs. The Best Novel going for the second consecutive year to a past winner
> (Hamilton had won Best First Novel some years ago) and for the fourth
> consecutive year to an American writer suggests the pool of winners is
> getting increasingly narrower. Robert Goddard's win in the Best Paperback
> category is good news, though.
>
> Friendly,
> Xavier

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]





[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

Curt wrote:

"Has anyone ever attempted to determine the favorite so-called cozy writers
over the last thirty years (since the demise of Christie of Marsh)?"

That "cozy" concept has always been puzzling to me. If you take the Agatha
Awards as a reference, you find yourself with writers that can reasonably
labeled as cozy (Carolyn G. Hart, Nancy Pickard) but also others for whom
the label is much more debatable such as Sharyn McCrumb or Laura Lippman.
Interestingly, the author most responsible for the rebirth and rise of
"cozy" mystery writing, Charlotte MacLeod, never won a competitive Agatha.

Friendly,
Xavier


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

I'm not very well read in the field of contemporary mysteries/cozies (i.e. the
very recent ones), which probably has something to do with my knack for picking
the worst possible books every time I try one.

Robert Adair's "The Act of Roger Murgatroyd" was one of the most atrocious
mysteries I have ever read, and I'm still dumbfounded how anyone could label
this as a hilarious send-up of Agatha Christie. It was more like sliding a
stiletto between her ribs. There was simply no delight and his little
Frankenstein creation, Evadne Mount, and her clever little jokes about her books
and stories, were as funny as a doctor telling you that you've got a brain
tumor.

The only reason I kept on reading was the locked room angle, but when I reached
the solution, I came to the conclusion that it wasn't worth the journey. Easily
one of the worst mysteries I have ever read.

Next up, I tried Frederick Ramsey's "Stranger Room," which, for the first two
chapters, or so, actually started out really well � drawing parallels between
two locked room killing from the past and present, but after only thirty page he
literarily flings the key to the solution in your face and the book rapidly
spirals into mediocrity.

Ramsey probably thought one of the following things: 1) that the intellectual
prowess of his readers resembles that of someone who's in a vegetative state, or
2) that thirty pages of actual writing and plotting afforded him with an excuse
to pad out the rest of the book with "real writing" � i.e. completely shifts the
focus of the book from the plot to the little backward town he created and what
makes the people who live there tick. Yeah. It's that bad.

I won't dirty any words on David Marsh's "Dead Box" (I couldn't describe, even
if I tried my best), but it's the only book I ever flung into the trashcan after
reading it.


--- In GAdetection@yahoogroups.com, "curt evans" <praed_street@...> wrote:
>
> Booklist on Louise Penny:
>
> “Penny has been compared to Agatha Christie [but] it sells her short.  Her
character are too rich, her grasp of nuance and human psychology too firm....”
>
> I always have disliked this “[Author X] actually is much better than Agatha
Christie” approach.  It would be nice if these authors just could be praised
on their own terms, but I guess Christie is too big a target, even today, 
Pretty amazing.
>
> Penny’s newest book is out in August.  I’ll have to pay attention.  I
suppose it will be big news if it DOESN’T win an Agatha next year!
>
> Has anyone ever attempted to determine the favorite so-called cozy writers
over the last thirty years (since the demise of Christie of Marsh)?
>
> Curt
>
> From: prettysinister
> Sent: Monday, May 02, 2011 12:34 PM
> To: GAdetection@yahoogroups.com
> Subject: [GAdetection] Re: For the record
>
>
> As for the Agatha awards: John Curran's book won the Agatha for Best
Non-Fiction work as I predicted. It was a shoo-in, frankly. Louise Penny won the
Agatha for the Best First Novel for the 4th year in a row. This is a record that
will be hard to break by any of her contemporaries. While several women (notably
Nancy Pickard) have won the Agatha more than once, no one has won this many
times in succession. It seems that in the Malice Domestic community - a group of
congenial and welcoming people - Louise Penny has definitely inherited the
mantle of the new Queen of Crime.
>
> If MWA may be looking less to honor the traditional detective novel with
awards, Malice Domestic is doing their best not only to award new and
established writers, but to preserve the genre with all that they do. It's not
all cat, recipe and handicraft mysteries. There really are some intriguing
writers doing mature, sophisticated and unusual work. The trouble is that with
so much crime fiction being published some of these real jewels get lost in the
sea of the overhyped books and the veteran writers with such large followings.
>
> John
>
> P.S. I think it is so fitting that Robert Goddard finally won an Edgar for a
book called LONG TIME COMING. His books dazzle me in all aspects - character,
setting and ingenious plot structure.
>
> --- In mailto:GAdetection%40yahoogroups.com, Xavier Lechard <lechardxavier@>
wrote:
> >
> > The Edgar winners:
> >
> > http://theedgars.com/nominees.html
> >
> > Coming after P.D. James's defeat last year, the snub of the Christie
> > notebooks suggests a definite bias against traditional mysteries from the
> > MWAs. The Best Novel going for the second consecutive year to a past winner
> > (Hamilton had won Best First Novel some years ago) and for the fourth
> > consecutive year to an American writer suggests the pool of winners is
> > getting increasingly narrower. Robert Goddard's win in the Best Paperback
> > category is good news, though.
> >
> > Friendly,
> > Xavier
>
>
>
>
> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
>

I'm not particularly knowledgeable about modern mysteries, either. I have read
some here and there (Christopher Fowler, for instance), but overall, I find far
more enjoyment in the Golden Age. Far too many modern books are bloated or have
no mystery to begin with. (I will take a gamble on Hal White's Rev. Dean stories
soon, though, which should arrive for me at a bookstore today or tomorrow.)

I haven't read Adair and don't plan on doing so. He sounds frighteningly like
George Baxt, whose book "The Affair at Royalties" is currently in a spot of
complete dishonour, usefully keeping a desk in another room from wobbling too
much. I'd have burned it, but it might open a portal into Hell. I'm still
attending group therapy trying to get over it...

--- In GAdetection@yahoogroups.com, "Last Century Detective"
<lastcenturydetective@...> wrote:
>
>
>
> I'm not very well read in the field of contemporary mysteries/cozies (i.e. the
very recent ones), which probably has something to do with my knack for picking
the worst possible books every time I try one.
>
> Robert Adair's "The Act of Roger Murgatroyd" was one of the most atrocious
mysteries I have ever read, and I'm still dumbfounded how anyone could label
this as a hilarious send-up of Agatha Christie. It was more like sliding a
stiletto between her ribs. There was simply no delight and his little
Frankenstein creation, Evadne Mount, and her clever little jokes about her books
and stories, were as funny as a doctor telling you that you've got a brain
tumor.
>
> The only reason I kept on reading was the locked room angle, but when I
reached the solution, I came to the conclusion that it wasn't worth the journey.
Easily one of the worst mysteries I have ever read.
>
> Next up, I tried Frederick Ramsey's "Stranger Room," which, for the first two
chapters, or so, actually started out really well � drawing parallels between
two locked room killing from the past and present, but after only thirty page he
literarily flings the key to the solution in your face and the book rapidly
spirals into mediocrity.
>
> Ramsey probably thought one of the following things: 1) that the intellectual
prowess of his readers resembles that of someone who's in a vegetative state, or
2) that thirty pages of actual writing and plotting afforded him with an excuse
to pad out the rest of the book with "real writing" � i.e. completely shifts the
focus of the book from the plot to the little backward town he created and what
makes the people who live there tick. Yeah. It's that bad.
>
> I won't dirty any words on David Marsh's "Dead Box" (I couldn't describe, even
if I tried my best), but it's the only book I ever flung into the trashcan after
reading it.
>
>
> --- In GAdetection@yahoogroups.com, "curt evans" <praed_street@> wrote:
> >
> > Booklist on Louise Penny:
> >
> > “Penny has been compared to Agatha Christie [but] it sells her short.  Her
character are too rich, her grasp of nuance and human psychology too firm....”
> >
> > I always have disliked this “[Author X] actually is much better than
Agatha Christie” approach.  It would be nice if these authors just could be
praised on their own terms, but I guess Christie is too big a target, even
today,  Pretty amazing.
> >
> > Penny’s newest book is out in August.  I’ll have to pay attention.  I
suppose it will be big news if it DOESN’T win an Agatha next year!
> >
> > Has anyone ever attempted to determine the favorite so-called cozy writers
over the last thirty years (since the demise of Christie of Marsh)?
> >
> > Curt
> >
> > From: prettysinister
> > Sent: Monday, May 02, 2011 12:34 PM
> > To: GAdetection@yahoogroups.com
> > Subject: [GAdetection] Re: For the record
> >
> >
> > As for the Agatha awards: John Curran's book won the Agatha for Best
Non-Fiction work as I predicted. It was a shoo-in, frankly. Louise Penny won the
Agatha for the Best First Novel for the 4th year in a row. This is a record that
will be hard to break by any of her contemporaries. While several women (notably
Nancy Pickard) have won the Agatha more than once, no one has won this many
times in succession. It seems that in the Malice Domestic community - a group of
congenial and welcoming people - Louise Penny has definitely inherited the
mantle of the new Queen of Crime.
> >
> > If MWA may be looking less to honor the traditional detective novel with
awards, Malice Domestic is doing their best not only to award new and
established writers, but to preserve the genre with all that they do. It's not
all cat, recipe and handicraft mysteries. There really are some intriguing
writers doing mature, sophisticated and unusual work. The trouble is that with
so much crime fiction being published some of these real jewels get lost in the
sea of the overhyped books and the veteran writers with such large followings.
> >
> > John
> >
> > P.S. I think it is so fitting that Robert Goddard finally won an Edgar for a
book called LONG TIME COMING. His books dazzle me in all aspects - character,
setting and ingenious plot structure.
> >
> > --- In mailto:GAdetection%40yahoogroups.com, Xavier Lechard <lechardxavier@>
wrote:
> > >
> > > The Edgar winners:
> > >
> > > http://theedgars.com/nominees.html
> > >
> > > Coming after P.D. James's defeat last year, the snub of the Christie
> > > notebooks suggests a definite bias against traditional mysteries from the
> > > MWAs. The Best Novel going for the second consecutive year to a past
winner
> > > (Hamilton had won Best First Novel some years ago) and for the fourth
> > > consecutive year to an American writer suggests the pool of winners is
> > > getting increasingly narrower. Robert Goddard's win in the Best Paperback
> > > category is good news, though.
> > >
> > > Friendly,
> > > Xavier
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
> >
>

I think "prettysinister" meant BEST NOVEL. For the record, Louise Penny has
never received an Agatha Award for BEST FIRST NOVEL, but has won BEST NOVEL for
four consecutive years.

John Curran's award for SECRET NOTEBOOKS was well deserved. There's a certain
poetic harmony that a book about Christie won an "Agatha" award.

At the close of Malice Domestic, during the Malice Tea (Sunday afternoon), John
Curran held the attention of 500 attendees as Caroline Todd interviewed him
about the notebooks and about John's experiences at Greenway. That was no small
feat. 500 teacups held still as he spoke of meeting with David Suchet, of
sitting in Christie's own easy chair poring over her handwritten notebooks, and
of being alone in the Greenway mansion during a thunderstorm.


--- In GAdetection@yahoogroups.com, "Tony Medawar" <tonymedawar@...> wrote:
>
> I'm missing something - how does someone win a "Best First Novel" award more
than once?
>
> John Curran's award was richly deserved.

Hi everyone,
Just about to start my first Austin Freeman novel, I bought 3 to start and see
how I get on with them I bought "The Red Thumb Mark", "A silent Witness" and "
The Penrose Mystery" I have decided to try the Penrose mystery first, anyone any
comments or thoughts on these novels or others, thanks.


Allen.

Allen,



You should try "The Red Tzhumb Mark" first - it is the first published
novel. Although some may find it dissapointing, the date it is from makes it
a classic together with Freeman's writing ability. I never found it boring
nor tedious.



Enrique F. Bird



From: GAdetection@yahoogroups.com [mailto:GAdetection@yahoogroups.com] On
Behalf Of Allen Askew
Sent: Tuesday, May 03, 2011 9:54 AM
To: GAdetection@yahoogroups.com
Subject: [GAdetection] RE: Austin Freeman





Hi everyone,
Just about to start my first Austin Freeman novel, I bought 3 to start and
see how I get on with them I bought "The Red Thumb Mark", "A silent Witness"
and " The Penrose Mystery" I have decided to try the Penrose mystery first,
anyone any comments or thoughts on these novels or others, thanks.

Allen.





[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

In GAdetection@yahoogroups.com, "Enrique F Bird" <enfbirdp@...> wrote:

> You should try "The Red Tzhumb Mark" first - it is the first published
> novel. Although some may find it dissapointing, the date it is from makes it
> a classic together with Freeman's writing ability. I never found it boring
> nor tedious.
>
> Enrique F. Bird

I thought "The Mystery of 31, New Inn" was the first full-length Thorndyke
novel?

"The Red Thumb Mark" is still very readable today, but, as a detective story,
its only interesting point is its historical value as one of the first books in
the genre that took a in-depth look at fingerprinting as a mean to identify of
exonerate suspects.

I haven't read the other two titles you listed, but I can enthusiastically
recommend "The Eye of Osiris" � one of the best Pre-GAD era mysteries.

I've read nearly all the Thordyke tales and love them. Upon famliarity with his
style, the formula becomes obvious, but the quaintness of the period shines
through and the early examples of use of scientific methods is noteworthy. One
of my favorites is the later title Mr Pottermack's Oversight. I agree that
reading the Red Thumb mark first is a good plan. The many RAF short stories are
also fun reads.

While reading these 3 authors it may also be interesting to observe the
influences of Conan Doyle on RAF as well as what I perceive to be HC Bailey's
occasional jabs at the style of Freeman/Thorndyke.
Brad


-----Original Message-----
From: Last Century Detective <lastcenturydetective@...>
To: GAdetection@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Tue, May 3, 2011 10:48 am
Subject: [GAdetection] Re: Austin Freeman




In GAdetection@yahoogroups.com, "Enrique F Bird" <enfbirdp@...> wrote:

> You should try "The Red Tzhumb Mark" first - it is the first published
> novel. Although some may find it dissapointing, the date it is from makes it
> a classic together with Freeman's writing ability. I never found it boring
> nor tedious.
>
> Enrique F. Bird

I thought "The Mystery of 31, New Inn" was the first full-length Thorndyke
novel?

"The Red Thumb Mark" is still very readable today, but, as a detective story,
its only interesting point is its historical value as one of the first books in
the genre that took a in-depth look at fingerprinting as a mean to identify of
exonerate suspects.

I haven't read the other two titles you listed, but I can enthusiastically
recommend "The Eye of Osiris" – one of the best Pre-GAD era mysteries.







[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

¿And The Silent Witnes?

--- On Tue, 5/3/11, Last Century Detective <lastcenturydetective@...>
wrote:


From: Last Century Detective <lastcenturydetective@...>
Subject: [GAdetection] Re: Austin Freeman
To: GAdetection@yahoogroups.com
Date: Tuesday, May 3, 2011, 7:48 AM


 



In GAdetection@yahoogroups.com, "Enrique F Bird" <enfbirdp@...> wrote:

> You should try "The Red Tzhumb Mark" first - it is the first published
> novel. Although some may find it dissapointing, the date it is from makes it
> a classic together with Freeman's writing ability. I never found it boring
> nor tedious.
>
> Enrique F. Bird

I thought "The Mystery of 31, New Inn" was the first full-length Thorndyke
novel?

"The Red Thumb Mark" is still very readable today, but, as a detective story,
its only interesting point is its historical value as one of the first books in
the genre that took a in-depth look at fingerprinting as a mean to identify of
exonerate suspects.

I haven't read the other two titles you listed, but I can enthusiastically
recommend "The Eye of Osiris" – one of the best Pre-GAD era mysteries.








[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

I would have thought part of the definition would have been “genteel
environment” or something such.  But I guess that would exclude some American
cozies.  Not that we can’t be genteel!  Elizabeth Daly, for example, is quite
such.  Now she would be my idea of “cozy” (no denigration meant), except
according to that definition she isn’t because she has a male detective and
some of her books take place in New York City.  Though her NYC brownstone are as
cozy as any English country vicarage, I think.

Curt

From: Xavier Lechard
Sent: Tuesday, May 03, 2011 5:39 AM
To: GAdetection@yahoogroups.com
Subject: Re: [GAdetection] Modern Cozy


Curt wrote:

"Has anyone ever attempted to determine the favorite so-called cozy writers
over the last thirty years (since the demise of Christie of Marsh)?"

That "cozy" concept has always been puzzling to me. If you take the Agatha
Awards as a reference, you find yourself with writers that can reasonably
labeled as cozy (Carolyn G. Hart, Nancy Pickard) but also others for whom
the label is much more debatable such as Sharyn McCrumb or Laura Lippman.
Interestingly, the author most responsible for the rebirth and rise of
"cozy" mystery writing, Charlotte MacLeod, never won a competitive Agatha.

Friendly,
Xavier

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]





[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

I’ve meant to read the Adair, even if it is a horror.  I hate books that
parody a “Golden Age” that is more a snide post-Golden Age construction than
something that actually existed.

Curt

From: Patrick O
Sent: Tuesday, May 03, 2011 7:26 AM
To: GAdetection@yahoogroups.com
Subject: [GAdetection] Re: Modern Cozy


I'm not particularly knowledgeable about modern mysteries, either. I have read
some here and there (Christopher Fowler, for instance), but overall, I find far
more enjoyment in the Golden Age. Far too many modern books are bloated or have
no mystery to begin with. (I will take a gamble on Hal White's Rev. Dean stories
soon, though, which should arrive for me at a bookstore today or tomorrow.)

I haven't read Adair and don't plan on doing so. He sounds frighteningly like
George Baxt, whose book "The Affair at Royalties" is currently in a spot of
complete dishonour, usefully keeping a desk in another room from wobbling too
much. I'd have burned it, but it might open a portal into Hell. I'm still
attending group therapy trying to get over it...

--- In mailto:GAdetection%40yahoogroups.com, "Last Century Detective"
<lastcenturydetective@...> wrote:
>
>
>
> I'm not very well read in the field of contemporary mysteries/cozies (i.e. the
very recent ones), which probably has something to do with my knack for picking
the worst possible books every time I try one.
>
> Robert Adair's "The Act of Roger Murgatroyd" was one of the most atrocious
mysteries I have ever read, and I'm still dumbfounded how anyone could label
this as a hilarious send-up of Agatha Christie. It was more like sliding a
stiletto between her ribs. There was simply no delight and his little
Frankenstein creation, Evadne Mount, and her clever little jokes about her books
and stories, were as funny as a doctor telling you that you've got a brain
tumor.
>
> The only reason I kept on reading was the locked room angle, but when I
reached the solution, I came to the conclusion that it wasn't worth the journey.
Easily one of the worst mysteries I have ever read.
>
> Next up, I tried Frederick Ramsey's "Stranger Room," which, for the first two
chapters, or so, actually started out really well – drawing parallels between
two locked room killing from the past and present, but after only thirty page he
literarily flings the key to the solution in your face and the book rapidly
spirals into mediocrity.
>
> Ramsey probably thought one of the following things: 1) that the intellectual
prowess of his readers resembles that of someone who's in a vegetative state, or
2) that thirty pages of actual writing and plotting afforded him with an excuse
to pad out the rest of the book with "real writing" – i.e. completely shifts
the focus of the book from the plot to the little backward town he created and
what makes the people who live there tick. Yeah. It's that bad.
>
> I won't dirty any words on David Marsh's "Dead Box" (I couldn't describe, even
if I tried my best), but it's the only book I ever flung into the trashcan after
reading it.
>
>
> --- In mailto:GAdetection%40yahoogroups.com, "curt evans" <praed_street@>
wrote:
> >
> > Booklist on Louise Penny:
> >
> > “Penny has been compared to Agatha Christie [but] it sells her short.
Her character are too rich, her grasp of nuance and human psychology too
firm....”
> >
> > I always have disliked this “[Author X] actually is much better than
Agatha Christie” approach. It would be nice if these authors just could be
praised on their own terms, but I guess Christie is too big a target, even
today, Pretty amazing.
> >
> > Penny’s newest book is out in August. I’ll have to pay attention.
I suppose it will be big news if it DOESN’T win an Agatha next year!
> >
> > Has anyone ever attempted to determine the favorite so-called cozy writers
over the last thirty years (since the demise of Christie of Marsh)?
> >
> > Curt
> >
> > From: prettysinister
> > Sent: Monday, May 02, 2011 12:34 PM
> > To: mailto:GAdetection%40yahoogroups.com
> > Subject: [GAdetection] Re: For the record
> >
> >
> > As for the Agatha awards: John Curran's book won the Agatha for Best
Non-Fiction work as I predicted. It was a shoo-in, frankly. Louise Penny won the
Agatha for the Best First Novel for the 4th year in a row. This is a record that
will be hard to break by any of her contemporaries. While several women (notably
Nancy Pickard) have won the Agatha more than once, no one has won this many
times in succession. It seems that in the Malice Domestic community - a group of
congenial and welcoming people - Louise Penny has definitely inherited the
mantle of the new Queen of Crime.
> >
> > If MWA may be looking less to honor the traditional detective novel with
awards, Malice Domestic is doing their best not only to award new and
established writers, but to preserve the genre with all that they do. It's not
all cat, recipe and handicraft mysteries. There really are some intriguing
writers doing mature, sophisticated and unusual work. The trouble is that with
so much crime fiction being published some of these real jewels get lost in the
sea of the overhyped books and the veteran writers with such large followings.
> >
> > John
> >
> > P.S. I think it is so fitting that Robert Goddard finally won an Edgar for a
book called LONG TIME COMING. His books dazzle me in all aspects - character,
setting and ingenious plot structure.
> >
> > --- In mailto:GAdetection%40yahoogroups.com, Xavier Lechard <lechardxavier@>
wrote:
> > >
> > > The Edgar winners:
> > >
> > > http://theedgars.com/nominees.html
> > >
> > > Coming after P.D. James's defeat last year, the snub of the Christie
> > > notebooks suggests a definite bias against traditional mysteries from the
> > > MWAs. The Best Novel going for the second consecutive year to a past
winner
> > > (Hamilton had won Best First Novel some years ago) and for the fourth
> > > consecutive year to an American writer suggests the pool of winners is
> > > getting increasingly narrower. Robert Goddard's win in the Best Paperback
> > > category is good news, though.
> > >
> > > Friendly,
> > > Xavier
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
> >
>





[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

Friends,



I like Freeman and what has made me appreciate him even more is having read the
first 2 volumes of Craig Kennedy short stories. You might see him as the
contemporative American equivalent of Dr. Thorndyke, but upon reading them,
Reeve’s science ultimately seems science-fictionish while Freeman’s always
seems genuine.



I do recommend giving Craiig Kennedy a try – although as to plot apart from
the “science” the stories are almost all too simple, they are evocative of a
different age. And very readable. Incidentally, John Dickson Carr seems to have
been a fan in his “Grandest Game” essay.



By the way, I have read somewhere that “The Mystery of 31, New Inn” was the
first written novel, which is why I specified “published”. At any rate, TRTM
does introduce some of the supporting characters which reappear throughout the
years.



Best regards,



Enrique F. Bird



From: GAdetection@yahoogroups.com [mailto:GAdetection@yahoogroups.com] On Behalf
Of watchcarefully@...
Sent: Tuesday, May 03, 2011 11:12 AM
To: GAdetection@yahoogroups.com
Subject: Re: [GAdetection] Re: Austin Freeman






I've read nearly all the Thordyke tales and love them. Upon famliarity with his
style, the formula becomes obvious, but the quaintness of the period shines
through and the early examples of use of scientific methods is noteworthy. One
of my favorites is the later title Mr Pottermack's Oversight. I agree that
reading the Red Thumb mark first is a good plan. The many RAF short stories are
also fun reads.

While reading these 3 authors it may also be interesting to observe the
influences of Conan Doyle on RAF as well as what I perceive to be HC Bailey's
occasional jabs at the style of Freeman/Thorndyke.
Brad

-----Original Message-----
From: Last Century Detective <lastcenturydetective@...
<mailto:lastcenturydetective%40yahoo.com> >
To: GAdetection@yahoogroups.com <mailto:GAdetection%40yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Tue, May 3, 2011 10:48 am
Subject: [GAdetection] Re: Austin Freeman

In GAdetection@yahoogroups.com <mailto:GAdetection%40yahoogroups.com> , "Enrique
F Bird" <enfbirdp@...> wrote:

> You should try "The Red Tzhumb Mark" first - it is the first published
> novel. Although some may find it dissapointing, the date it is from makes it
> a classic together with Freeman's writing ability. I never found it boring
> nor tedious.
>
> Enrique F. Bird

I thought "The Mystery of 31, New Inn" was the first full-length Thorndyke
novel?

"The Red Thumb Mark" is still very readable today, but, as a detective story,
its only interesting point is its historical value as one of the first books in
the genre that took a in-depth look at fingerprinting as a mean to identify of
exonerate suspects.

I haven't read the other two titles you listed, but I can enthusiastically
recommend "The Eye of Osiris" – one of the best Pre-GAD era mysteries.

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]





[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

Arun,

Your messages never seem to reach the group, which is why I'm always late in
responding to them. But to answer your question: Spiral is one long, on-going
story and definitely must be read in order. It's comprised of 15 volumes, and
the last one of them was recently released, making it very easy for new readers
to step into the series.


Here's the review Arun is referring to (it was posted early last month):

<http://moonlight-detective.blogspot.com/2011/04/melody-of-logic-must-be-played.\
html>







________________________________
From: "arun.pkumar@..." <arun.pkumar@...>
To: lastcenturydetective@...
Sent: Fri, April 29, 2011 12:57:57 AM
Subject: RE: [GAdetection] Amnesia Labyrinth


Needed a clarification from you please. Based on your review, I wanted to start
the Spiral series. Is it like the whole series is just one story which needs to
read in an order or every book has a different story and ends in that one book?

~Arun.

________________________________
  From: comGAdetection@... behalf of Last Century Detective
Sent: Thu 4/28/2011 1:14 PM
To: GAdetection@yahoogroups.com
Subject: [GAdetection] Amnesia Labyrinth



Like the note at the beginning of the blog post says, a regular book review will
be up in the next day or two, but in the meantime, I posted a short piece on the
first volume of Amnesia Labyrinth.


<http://moonlight-detective.blogspot.com/2011/04/they-were-all-dead-by-end-of-au\
gust.html>




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[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

Leonaur has reprinted the complete cases of Craig Kennedy in six handsome
volumes, both softcover and hardback, and many other unusual detective stories �
and wanted the groups advise on some of them.

They published two volumes of stories of Augusta Groner's "Detective M�ller:
Imperial Austrian Police" and four volumes of "The Mounted Police Novels" by
James Oliver Curwood, and I wanted to know if they're any good.

The first volume of The Imperial Austrian Police stories:
<http://www.leonaur.co.uk/books/booknumber.php?bookid=669>

The first volume of The Mounted Police stories:
<http://www.leonaur.co.uk/books/booknumber.php?bookid=573>



In GAdetection@yahoogroups.com, "Enrique F Bird" <enfbirdp@...> wrote:
>
> Friends,
>
>
>
> I like Freeman and what has made me appreciate him even more is having read
the first 2 volumes of Craig Kennedy short stories. You might see him as the
contemporative American equivalent of Dr. Thorndyke, but upon reading them,
Reeve’s science ultimately seems science-fictionish while Freeman’s always
seems genuine.
>
>
>
> I do recommend giving Craiig Kennedy a try �" although as to plot apart from
the “science” the stories are almost all too simple, they are evocative of a
different age. And very readable. Incidentally, John Dickson Carr seems to have
been a fan in his “Grandest Game” essay.
>
>
>
> By the way, I have read somewhere that “The Mystery of 31, New Inn” was
the first written novel, which is why I specified “published”. At any rate,
TRTM does introduce some of the supporting characters which reappear throughout
the years.
>
>
>
> Best regards,
>
>
>
> Enrique F. Bird
>
>
>
> From: GAdetection@yahoogroups.com [mailto:GAdetection@yahoogroups.com] On
Behalf Of watchcarefully@...
> Sent: Tuesday, May 03, 2011 11:12 AM
> To: GAdetection@yahoogroups.com
> Subject: Re: [GAdetection] Re: Austin Freeman
>
>
>
>
>
>
> I've read nearly all the Thordyke tales and love them. Upon famliarity with
his style, the formula becomes obvious, but the quaintness of the period shines
through and the early examples of use of scientific methods is noteworthy. One
of my favorites is the later title Mr Pottermack's Oversight. I agree that
reading the Red Thumb mark first is a good plan. The many RAF short stories are
also fun reads.
>
> While reading these 3 authors it may also be interesting to observe the
influences of Conan Doyle on RAF as well as what I perceive to be HC Bailey's
occasional jabs at the style of Freeman/Thorndyke.
> Brad
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Last Century Detective <lastcenturydetective@...
<mailto:lastcenturydetective%40yahoo.com> >
> To: GAdetection@yahoogroups.com <mailto:GAdetection%40yahoogroups.com>
> Sent: Tue, May 3, 2011 10:48 am
> Subject: [GAdetection] Re: Austin Freeman
>
> In GAdetection@yahoogroups.com <mailto:GAdetection%40yahoogroups.com> ,
"Enrique F Bird" <enfbirdp@> wrote:
>
> > You should try "The Red Tzhumb Mark" first - it is the first published
> > novel. Although some may find it dissapointing, the date it is from makes it
> > a classic together with Freeman's writing ability. I never found it boring
> > nor tedious.
> >
> > Enrique F. Bird
>
> I thought "The Mystery of 31, New Inn" was the first full-length Thorndyke
novel?
>
> "The Red Thumb Mark" is still very readable today, but, as a detective story,
its only interesting point is its historical value as one of the first books in
the genre that took a in-depth look at fingerprinting as a mean to identify of
exonerate suspects.
>
> I haven't read the other two titles you listed, but I can enthusiastically
recommend "The Eye of Osiris" �" one of the best Pre-GAD era mysteries.
>
> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
>
>
>
>
>
> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
>

I never thought of Shute as a "mystery" author, but I'm reading his
Marazan (1926) and it fits in the expanded genre, more crime fiction than
mystery. He himself wrote in the 1970 intro: "So much is published in
this modern age about murder, detection, and prison that a young writer
who has yet to learn the nature of drama tends to turn to these
threadbare subjects..."  Not likely to endear him to the mystery
community! It was his first published book  and certainly hasn't the
strength of his later, non-mystery work, which I love. It owes a lot to
John Buchan IMHO, and the non-gentleman protagonist seems a deliberate
parting of the ways from JB's oh-so-gentlemanly characters. The parting
is more in the telling than the action though. For the most part,
Stenning is a gentleman in all but his self-description. All Shute's
interest in aeroplanes is there. Quite readable.

Can anyone explain the phrase: "missing his Kruschens"? It appears 3
times and I've never seen it before.

Carola
                http://CarolaDunn.WEEBLY.com    Facebook
Daisy Dalrymple mysteries-England 1920s-hc,pb,audio,LP, now in UK
    ANTHEM FOR DOOMED YOUTH-19th Daisy mystery
        Regency  ebooks: www.RegencyReads.com

I found a list, Cozies: 22 Core Titles, at libraryjournal.com:

Susan Wittig Albert, The Table of Hill Top Farm (Beatrix Potters solves murders,
along with her animals, apparently—this sounds horribly cute)
M. C. Beaton, the Quiche of Death (I’ve been put off this series by the fact
the protagonist is named Agatha Raisin—the author, Marion Chesney, also does
the Hamish Macbeth—another rather twee name—books that were televised in
Britain)
Lawrence Block, Burglars Can’t Be Choosers
Lilian Jackson Braun, The Cat Who Read Backwards (more animals solving crime,
how I don’t know)
Diane Mott Davidson, Catering to Nobody (recipes included)
Carolyn G. Hart, Death on Demand
Charlotte MacLeod, The Family Vault
Dorothy L. Sayers, Whose Body?
Josephine Tey, The Daughter of Time (seems an odd choice)
Emily Arsenault, The Broken Teaglass
Alan Bradley, The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie (I like this series,
charming)
Laura Childs, Death by Darjeeling (all the ones in this series involve a
Charleston teashop—nothing cozier than tea!)
Jane Cleland, Consigned to Death (antiques)
Elizabeth Duncan, The Cold Light of Mourning (involves a nail care shop)
Tarquin Hall, The Case of the Missing Servant (Indian cozy)
Alexander McCall, The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency
Ian Samson, The Case of the Missing Books
Maggie Sefton, Knit One, Kill Two (recipes AND kitting patterns)
Leonie Swann (sheep solves a murder in this one, actual sheep, you know, the
fuzzy white things that are easily led and go baaaa)
Richard Yancey, The Highly Effective Detective

Curt




From: Xavier Lechard
Sent: Tuesday, May 03, 2011 5:39 AM
To: GAdetection@yahoogroups.com
Subject: Re: [GAdetection] Modern Cozy


Curt wrote:

"Has anyone ever attempted to determine the favorite so-called cozy writers
over the last thirty years (since the demise of Christie of Marsh)?"

That "cozy" concept has always been puzzling to me. If you take the Agatha
Awards as a reference, you find yourself with writers that can reasonably
labeled as cozy (Carolyn G. Hart, Nancy Pickard) but also others for whom
the label is much more debatable such as Sharyn McCrumb or Laura Lippman.
Interestingly, the author most responsible for the rebirth and rise of
"cozy" mystery writing, Charlotte MacLeod, never won a competitive Agatha.

Friendly,
Xavier

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]





[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

 The reference is to a brand of medicinal salts and their advertising. If you
were "missing your Kruschens" you became grumpy and out of sorts. See here:
 
http://www.thevirtualdimemuseum.com/2009/03/missing-his-sense-of-kruschen.html 
 
      Ron Smyth         
 

--- On Tue, 5/3/11, Carola Dunn <caroladunn@...> wrote:


From: Carola Dunn <caroladunn@...>
Subject: [GAdetection] Re: Nevil Shute
To: GAdetection@yahoogroups.com
Received: Tuesday, May 3, 2011, 7:00 PM


 



I never thought of Shute as a "mystery" author, but I'm reading his
Marazan (1926) and it fits in the expanded genre, more crime fiction than
mystery. He himself wrote in the 1970 intro: "So much is published in
this modern age about murder, detection, and prison that a young writer
who has yet to learn the nature of drama tends to turn to these
threadbare subjects..." Not likely to endear him to the mystery
community! It was his first published book and certainly hasn't the
strength of his later, non-mystery work, which I love. It owes a lot to
John Buchan IMHO, and the non-gentleman protagonist seems a deliberate
parting of the ways from JB's oh-so-gentlemanly characters. The parting
is more in the telling than the action though. For the most part,
Stenning is a gentleman in all but his self-description. All Shute's
interest in aeroplanes is there. Quite readable.

Can anyone explain the phrase: "missing his Kruschens"? It appears 3
times and I've never seen it before.

Carola
http://CarolaDunn.WEEBLY.com Facebook
Daisy Dalrymple mysteries-England 1920s-hc,pb,audio,LP, now in UK
ANTHEM FOR DOOMED YOUTH-19th Daisy mystery
Regency ebooks: www.RegencyReads.com







[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

Oops, left off

Simon Brett, A Nice Class of Corpse
Agatha Christie, The Murder at the Vicarage

From: curt evans
Sent: Tuesday, May 03, 2011 8:32 PM
To: GAdetection@yahoogroups.com
Subject: Re: [GAdetection] Modern Cozy


I found a list, Cozies: 22 Core Titles, at libraryjournal.com:

Susan Wittig Albert, The Table of Hill Top Farm (Beatrix Potters solves murders,
along with her animals, apparently—this sounds horribly cute)
M. C. Beaton, the Quiche of Death (I’ve been put off this series by the fact
the protagonist is named Agatha Raisin—the author, Marion Chesney, also does
the Hamish Macbeth—another rather twee name—books that were televised in
Britain)
Lawrence Block, Burglars Can’t Be Choosers
Lilian Jackson Braun, The Cat Who Read Backwards (more animals solving crime,
how I don’t know)
Diane Mott Davidson, Catering to Nobody (recipes included)
Carolyn G. Hart, Death on Demand
Charlotte MacLeod, The Family Vault
Dorothy L. Sayers, Whose Body?
Josephine Tey, The Daughter of Time (seems an odd choice)
Emily Arsenault, The Broken Teaglass
Alan Bradley, The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie (I like this series,
charming)
Laura Childs, Death by Darjeeling (all the ones in this series involve a
Charleston teashop—nothing cozier than tea!)
Jane Cleland, Consigned to Death (antiques)
Elizabeth Duncan, The Cold Light of Mourning (involves a nail care shop)
Tarquin Hall, The Case of the Missing Servant (Indian cozy)
Alexander McCall, The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency
Ian Samson, The Case of the Missing Books
Maggie Sefton, Knit One, Kill Two (recipes AND kitting patterns)
Leonie Swann (sheep solves a murder in this one, actual sheep, you know, the
fuzzy white things that are easily led and go baaaa)
Richard Yancey, The Highly Effective Detective

Curt

From: Xavier Lechard
Sent: Tuesday, May 03, 2011 5:39 AM
To: mailto:GAdetection%40yahoogroups.com
Subject: Re: [GAdetection] Modern Cozy

Curt wrote:

"Has anyone ever attempted to determine the favorite so-called cozy writers
over the last thirty years (since the demise of Christie of Marsh)?"

That "cozy" concept has always been puzzling to me. If you take the Agatha
Awards as a reference, you find yourself with writers that can reasonably
labeled as cozy (Carolyn G. Hart, Nancy Pickard) but also others for whom
the label is much more debatable such as Sharyn McCrumb or Laura Lippman.
Interestingly, the author most responsible for the rebirth and rise of
"cozy" mystery writing, Charlotte MacLeod, never won a competitive Agatha.

Friendly,
Xavier

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]





[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

I read one book by M.C. Beaton, "Agatha Raisin and the Haunted House", and it
was absolutely awful- a combination of the most ludicrous "surprises" and twists
you could see from a mile off. I don't recommend it in the least, and my
impression of the author (and her incredibly annoying detective) is extremely
negative.

--- In GAdetection@yahoogroups.com, "curt evans" <praed_street@...> wrote:
>
> M. C. Beaton, the Quiche of Death (I’ve been put off this series by the fact
the protagonist is named Agatha Raisin�"the author, Marion Chesney, also does
the Hamish Macbeth�"another rather twee name�"books that were televised in
Britain)

Marion Chesney has written so much, it wouldn’t surprise me if her later books
aren’t inferior.  I’m going to read three of the Hamish Macbeths for a
review piece.  I do draw the line, when it come to cozies, at books that have
recipes or murders solved by four-legged mammals.

Curt

From: Patrick O
Sent: Tuesday, May 03, 2011 9:06 PM
To: GAdetection@yahoogroups.com
Subject: [GAdetection] Re: Modern Cozy


I read one book by M.C. Beaton, "Agatha Raisin and the Haunted House", and it
was absolutely awful- a combination of the most ludicrous "surprises" and twists
you could see from a mile off. I don't recommend it in the least, and my
impression of the author (and her incredibly annoying detective) is extremely
negative.

--- In mailto:GAdetection%40yahoogroups.com, "curt evans" <praed_street@...>
wrote:
>
> M. C. Beaton, the Quiche of Death (I’ve been put off this series by the
fact the protagonist is named Agatha Raisinâ€"the author, Marion Chesney, also
does the Hamish Macbethâ€"another rather twee nameâ€"books that were
televised in Britain)





[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

Curt,
I do read Beaton's books, they are a fun, light reading that do not over tax the
mind, and I tend to read them inbetween reading my locked room books, carr,
hare, brand etc
 
 
 
 
Allen.

--- On Wed, 4/5/11, curt evans <praed_street@...> wrote:


From: curt evans <praed_street@...>
Subject: Re: [GAdetection] Modern Cozy
To: GAdetection@yahoogroups.com
Date: Wednesday, 4 May, 2011, 1:32


 



I found a list, Cozies: 22 Core Titles, at libraryjournal.com:

Susan Wittig Albert, The Table of Hill Top Farm (Beatrix Potters solves murders,
along with her animals, apparently—this sounds horribly cute)
M. C. Beaton, the Quiche of Death (I’ve been put off this series by the fact
the protagonist is named Agatha Raisin—the author, Marion Chesney, also does
the Hamish Macbeth—another rather twee name—books that were televised in
Britain)
Lawrence Block, Burglars Can’t Be Choosers
Lilian Jackson Braun, The Cat Who Read Backwards (more animals solving crime,
how I don’t know)
Diane Mott Davidson, Catering to Nobody (recipes included)
Carolyn G. Hart, Death on Demand
Charlotte MacLeod, The Family Vault
Dorothy L. Sayers, Whose Body?
Josephine Tey, The Daughter of Time (seems an odd choice)
Emily Arsenault, The Broken Teaglass
Alan Bradley, The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie (I like this series,
charming)
Laura Childs, Death by Darjeeling (all the ones in this series involve a
Charleston teashop—nothing cozier than tea!)
Jane Cleland, Consigned to Death (antiques)
Elizabeth Duncan, The Cold Light of Mourning (involves a nail care shop)
Tarquin Hall, The Case of the Missing Servant (Indian cozy)
Alexander McCall, The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency
Ian Samson, The Case of the Missing Books
Maggie Sefton, Knit One, Kill Two (recipes AND kitting patterns)
Leonie Swann (sheep solves a murder in this one, actual sheep, you know, the
fuzzy white things that are easily led and go baaaa)
Richard Yancey, The Highly Effective Detective

Curt

From: Xavier Lechard
Sent: Tuesday, May 03, 2011 5:39 AM
To: GAdetection@yahoogroups.com
Subject: Re: [GAdetection] Modern Cozy

Curt wrote:

"Has anyone ever attempted to determine the favorite so-called cozy writers
over the last thirty years (since the demise of Christie of Marsh)?"

That "cozy" concept has always been puzzling to me. If you take the Agatha
Awards as a reference, you find yourself with writers that can reasonably
labeled as cozy (Carolyn G. Hart, Nancy Pickard) but also others for whom
the label is much more debatable such as Sharyn McCrumb or Laura Lippman.
Interestingly, the author most responsible for the rebirth and rise of
"cozy" mystery writing, Charlotte MacLeod, never won a competitive Agatha.

Friendly,
Xavier

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]








[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]