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Tag Archives: book group
Ngaio Marsh’s “Grave Mistake”
In February 2008, we discussed a classic mystery by Ngaio Marsh. The title to read was Grave Mistake, one of her Inspector Alleyn novels. “A bit snobbish and a trifle high-strung, Sybil Foster prides herself on owning the finest estate in Upper Quintern and hiring the best gardener. In fact, she is rapturous over the new asparagus beds when a visit from her unwelcome stepson sends her scurrying to a chic spa for a rest cure, a liaison with the spa’s director…and an apparent suicide. Her autopsy holds one surprise, a secret drawer a second. And Inspector Roderick Alleyn, C.I.D., digging about Upper Quintern, may unearth still a third…deeply buried motive for murder.” From her first book in 1934 to her final volume just before her death in 1982, Ngaio Marsh’s work has remained legendary, and is often compared to that of Agatha Christie and Dorothy L. Sayers. During her celebrated fifty-year career, Marsh was made a Grand Master by the Mystery Writers of America, was named Dame Commander, Order of the British Empire, won numerous prestigious awards, and penned 32 mystery novels.
This title was discussed at the Just Desserts meeting on February 28, 2008. We encourage you to share your own thoughts and opinions about this book in a reply comment to this blog post, below!
James D. Doss’ “Shadow Man”
Following our holiday hiatus at the end of 2007, Just Desserts returned in January 2008 with another Native American mystery. Our author was James Doss. Our selected title is Shadow Man, a 2005 entry in his Shaman Mysteries series, featuring Ute tribal investigator Charlie Moon. “When a fomer prosecuting attorney is killed by a shot from a long-range rifle while dining late one evening at an exclusive Granite Creek, Colorado, restaurant, it seems obvious that a vengeful criminal is to blame. But orthodontist Manfred Blinkoe was sitting ten feet away and he insists to Chief of Police Scott Parris that he was the intended victim. In fact, he claims that just before the shot was fired, he saw his doppelganger — an eerie look-alike — as he has in the past just before other near-death experiences. Terrified that his would-be killer is getting closer and closer, Blinkoe hires Ute tribal investigator Charlie Moon to find this mysterious stalker before he can hit his mark. But before Charlie or Scott — or the lovely FBI Special Agent Lila McTeague, also working out of Granite Creek — can get anywhere in their respective investigations, the killer strikes again, and this time he doesn’t miss. Charlie, a reluctant private eye who would much rather be working out on his cattle ranch than playing detective, suddenly has a much bigger – and much more dangerous – case to solve.”
This title was discussed at the Just Desserts meeting on January 31, 2008. We encourage you to share your own thoughts and opinions about this book in a reply comment to this blog post, below!
Mignon Eberhart’s “The Mystery of Hunting’s End”
To finish off the 2007 season, we read a classic mystery by Nebraska’s own Mignon Eberhart — often called America’s Agatha Christie. The title we’ve selected is The Mystery of Hunting’s End, a traditional “locked room mystery.”
The Sand Hills of Nebraska, where Mignon G. Eberhart lived as a newlywed, inspired the setting of this 1930 chiller. Smack in the middle of the rolling desolation is Hunting’s End, a weekend lodge owned by the rich Kingery family. To that place socialite Matil Kingery invites a strange collection of guests — the same people who were at the lodge when her father died of “heart failure” exactly five years ago. She intends to find out which one of them murdered him. Posing as another guest is the dapper young detective, Lance O’Leary. At his recommendation, Matil has engaged Nurse Sarah Keate to care for Aunt Lucy Kingery at Hunting’s End — not a pleasant assignment as it turns out. Gathered at the lodge, Matil’s guests are shut off from the outside by a November snowstorm. Nurse Keate is the same sharp-eyed, stiletto-tongued, strong-stomached Nightingale and sleuth who established Mignon Eberhart as a mainstay of the golden age of detective fiction.
This title was discussed at the Just Desserts meeting on October 25, 2007. We encourage you to share your own thoughts and opinions about this book in a reply comment to this blog post, below!
Walter Mosley’s “Black Betty”
In September 2007, we tackled a modern-day mystery author, Walter Mosley, and one of his popular Easy Rawlins seires — Black Betty. In 1961 Los Angeles, Easy is tracking down Elizabeth Eady, a.k.a. “Black Betty” — a stunning beauty with mayhem in her wake. Easy’s search takes readers deep into America’s racial dilemmas and the mysteries of human character.
This title was discussed at the Just Desserts meeting on September 27, 2007. We encourage you to share your own thoughts and opinions about this book in a reply comment to this blog post, below!
Dashiell Hammett’s “The Maltese Falcon”
In August 2007, we read another classic mystery — this time a noirish standard of the genre, Dashiel Hammett’s The Maltese Falcon. A treasure worth killing for. Sam Spade, a slightly shopworn private eye with his own solitary code of ethics. A perfumed grifter named Joel Cairo, a fat man named Gutman, and Brigid O’Shaughnessy, a beautiful and treacherous woman whose loyalties shift at the drop of a dime. These are the ingredients of Dashiell Hammett’s coolly glittering gem of detective fiction, a novel that has haunted three generations of readers.
This title was discussed at the Just Desserts meeting on August 30, 2007. We encourage you to share your own thoughts and opinions about this book in a reply comment to this blog post, below!