Help us choose a book as the September 2011 eBook for the Mobile Read Book Club. The poll will be open for 5 days. We will start the discussion thread for this book on September 20th. Select from the following books.
Official choices each with three nominations:
The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency (The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency Series #1) by Alexander McCall Smith [Hamlet53, sun surfer, Nyssa]
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A Study in Scarlet by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle [John F, Hamlet53, VioletVal]
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Mobi/PRC upload by djulian |
Mobi/PRC /
ePub included in the Complete Sherlock Holmes uploaded by HarryT
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson [voodooblues, The Terminator, VioletVal]
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The Chinese Maze Murders by Robert van Gulik (1st Judge Dee mystery by van Gulik) [issybird, anjirlly, lila55]
Celebrated Cases of Judge Dee was a translation from the Chinese. After translating it, van Gulik went on to write Chinese Maze Murders (the first book written by him with Judge Dee).
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Spoiler:
Condensed from the
Wikipedia article:
The Chinese Maze Murders is a detective novel written by Robert van Gulik and set in Imperial China. It was based on three actual cases from Chinese criminal investigations. The three mysteries: "The Case of the Sealed Room", "The Case of the Hidden Testament", and "The Case of the Girl with the Severed Head" are all based on actual Chinese murder casebooks. The book contains a postscript by the author on the Chinese Imperial Justice system (something that Van Gulik was an expert on).
Judge Dee is the magistrate in the fictional border town of Lan-fang. He confronts three mysteries involving poisoned plums, a mysterious scroll picture, passionate love letters, a hidden murder, and a ruthless robber. These are all somehow linked to the Governor's garden maze.
The Moonstone by Wilkie Collins [arkietech, lila55, GA Russell]
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ePub &
illustrated ePub uploaded by AlexBell |
Mobi/PRC uploaded by HarryT
Spoiler:
From HarryT's upload:
"The Moonstone", published in 1868, is widely regarded as the precursor of the modern mystery and suspense novels. T. S. Eliot called it "the first, the longest, and the best of modern English detective novels". The story concerns the theft of a large Indian diamond; it contains a number of ideas which became common tropes of the genre: a large number of suspects, red herrings, a crime being investigated by talented amateurs who happen to be present when it is committed, and two police officers who exemplify respectively the "local bungler" and the skilled, professional, Scotland Yard detective. The story is told through a series of first person narratives by the various people involved - before, during, and after the theft.
Wilkie Collins was the master of what were called at the time "sensation novels" - the precursor to modern "thrillers". These were the books that had refined young Victorian ladies "swooning", and requiring frequent recourse to the "smelling salts" . This novel was famed for its vivid depiction of the effects of opium addiction (Collins himself was addicted to opium, and wrote from personal experience).
A fabulous story. Both a classic and fun to read - what more could you ask for?
The Book of Fate by Brad Meltzer [JSWolf, voodooblues, WT Sharpe]
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Spoiler:
In six minutes, one of us would be dead. None of us knew it was coming...
So says Wes Holloway, a once-cocky and ambitious presidential aide, about the day that changed his life forever. On that Fourth of July, Wes put Ron Boyle, the chief executive's oldest friend, into the presidential limousine. By the time the trip came to an end, Wes was permanently disfigured, and Boyle was dead, the victim of a crazed assassin.
Eight years later, Boyle is spotted, alive and well, in Malaysia. In that moment, Wes has the chance to undo the worst day of his life. Trying to figure out what really happened takes Wes back to a decade old presidential crossword puzzle, mysterious facts buried in Masonic history, and a two-hundred-year-old code invented by Thomas Jefferson.
But what Wes doesn't realize is that The Book of Fate holds everyone's secrets. Especially the ones worth dying for. The Book of Fate. What does it say about you?
Murder on the Orient Express by Agatha Christie [The Terminator, VioletVal, voodooblues]
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Spoiler:
Subjects: Mystery, Fiction, General Fiction, Mysteries / Crime
Description: E-book exclusive extras: Christie biographer Charles Osborne's essay on Murder on the Orient Express; "The Poirots": the complete guide to all the cases of the great Belgian detective. Just after midnight, a snowstorm stops the Orient Express dead in its tracks in the middle of Yugoslavia. The luxurious train is surprisingly full for this time of year. But by morning there is one passenger … more »less. A 'respectable American gentleman' lies dead in his compartment, stabbed a dozen times, his door locked from the inside. Hercule Poirot is also aboard, having arrived in the nick of time to claim a second-class compartment -- and the most astounding case of his illustrious career. Regarding chronology: Agatha Christie seems not much concerned in the course of her books with their relationship to each other. It is why the Marples and the Poirots may be ready in any order, really, with pleasure. However, the dedicated Poirotist may wish to note that the great detective is returning from 'A little affair in Syria' at the start of Murder on the Orient Express. It is a piece of business after this 'little affair' -- the investigation into the death of an archaeologist's wife -- that is the subject of Murder in Mesopotamia (1936). If one wishes to delay a tad longer the pleasures of Orient Express, Murder in Mesopotamia, available as a PerfectBound e-book, offers no better opportunity. Of note: Murder on the Orient Express is one of Agatha Christie's most famous novels, owing no doubt to a combination of its romantic setting and the ingeniousness of its plot; its non-exploitative reference to the sensational kidnapping and murder of the infant son of Charles and Anne Morrow Lindbergh only two years prior; and a popular 1974 film adaptation, starring Albert Finney as Poirot -- one of the few cinematic versions of a Christie work that met with the approval, however mild, of the author herself. (from Diesel eBook Store)
Bruno, Chief of Police: A Novel Of The French Countryside by Martin Walker [lila55, sun surfer, Asawi]
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Ghost Story: A Novel of the Dresden Files (The Dresden Files, Book #13) by Jim Butcher [alansplace, jgaiser, JSWolf]
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Storm Front (The Dresden Files, Book #1) by Jim Butcher [alansplace, Nyssa, JSWolf]
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