Hey!! Let's get some action going! What are we reading?

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

Next up: Towards Zero by Agatha Christie. Her 42nd detective fiction book.

Only a few of chapters in, but it's an interesting way of doing a murder mystery. We're given the events leading up to the murder, but not the murder itself yet, and so we get a chance to work out not only who the murderer is, and also who the victim will be, before (I expect) all will be made plain in the last few chapters. Fun.

[Stitchawl]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

Only a few of chapters in, but it's an interesting way of doing a murder mystery. We're given the events leading up to the murder, but not the murder itself yet, and so we get a chance to work out not only who the murderer is, and also who the victim will be, before (I expect) all will be made plain in the last few chapters. Fun.

Sounds like the old TV show, 'Midsummer Murders.' Even at the end my wife often couldn't figure out who got murdered!



Stitchawl

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by Stitchawl

Sounds like the old TV show, 'Midsummer Murders.' Even at the end my wife often couldn't figure out who got murdered!



Stitchawl

That's what I liked about "Columbo". You knew who did it right at the start, so you didn't have to bother watching the rest of the programme .

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by Stitchawl

Sounds like the old TV show, 'Midsummer Murders.' Even at the end my wife often couldn't figure out who got murdered!

Ah, Midsomer. The murder capital of the UK! Well over six murders a year, on average, since 1996. Thank goodness it's fictional.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

Ah, Midsomer. The murder capital of the UK! Well over six murders a year, on average, since 1996. Thank goodness it's fictional.

Well, that kind of thing happens quite a lot. If you found yourself in the same hotel, ship, train, or plane, as Hercule Poirot you just KNEW you were going to die .

[Apache]

Originally Posted by HarryT

That's what I liked about "Columbo". You knew who did it right at the start, so you didn't have to bother watching the rest of the programme .

But Colombo wasn't about figuring out whodunit. It was watching him stalk his unsuspecting prey.
Apache

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by Apache

But Colombo wasn't about figuring out whodunit. It was watching him stalk his unsuspecting prey.
Apache

Yes, I do actually know that - I was making a joke . "Colombo" is an example of what's called the "inverted detective story", where the reader knows "whodunnit", and the book is about how the detective figures it out. The genre was invented by the British author R. Austin Freeman in his 1912 collection of short stories, "The Singing Bone".

[covingtoncat73]

Originally Posted by Apache

But Colombo wasn't about figuring out whodunit. It was watching him stalk his unsuspecting prey.
Apache

Just one more thing...

[Stitchawl]

Originally Posted by covingtoncat73

Just one more thing...

Stitchawl

[Lizzie in Ma]

Just did a re-read of an old favorite, Katherine Kurtz's Adept series.
Then the new Ilona Andrews book I had pre-ordered, Gunmetal Magic, was delivered to my Kindle and I am happily ensconced in it.
In between I am reading The Politically Incorrect Guide to British and American Literature.

[issybird]

I'm reading a terrific book about Harold Acton and Brian Howard called Children of the Sun. It's chock-full of insight about the zeitgeist of the 20s.

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

Only a few of chapters in, but it's an interesting way of doing a murder mystery. We're given the events leading up to the murder, but not the murder itself yet, and so we get a chance to work out not only who the murderer is, and also who the victim will be, before (I expect) all will be made plain in the last few chapters. Fun.

It was indeed an excellent read, starring Inspector Battle.

Next up: Analog SFF, September 2012 by Dell Magazine Authors

The antepenultimate issue of my fictionwise subscription to Analog. The August Asimov's is now also at Fictionwise, but my subscription for that has run out, so I need to wait for a good discount code.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

It was indeed an excellent read, starring Inspector Battle.

Yes, I like the "Inspector Battle" books myself. He's not the best known of Agatha Christie's detectives, to be sure, but I like him a lot.

[CRussel]

Originally Posted by CRussel

Devoured A Brother's Price, and then the first of the Ukiah Oregon series Alien Taste. I've definitely found a new favourite author. But I think I'll take a short break before my next Wen Spencer and go back to Weber's Bahzell Bahnakson series. Next there is The War God's Own.

Finished up The War God's Own. This is a good story, and fun, and I'm enjoying it a lot. I'd rate the series as a 4 out of 5. Well worth the read, but not an absolute must read.

Next, back to the Ukiah Oregon series, by Wen Spencer. Number two in the series is Tainted Trail.

[Apache]

Originally Posted by CRussel

Finished up The War God's Own. This is a good story, and fun, and I'm enjoying it a lot. I'd rate the series as a 4 out of 5. Well worth the read, but not an absolute must read.

Next, back to the Ukiah Oregon series, by Wen Spencer. Number two in the series is Tainted Trail.

There are still two others in the series.
Wind Rider's Oath and War Maid's Choice.
Apache