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Tag Archives: hiatus
Your Just Desserts hiatus reading assignment – 2016: The Gideon Oliver series
During the Nov/Dec 2016 hiatus between meetings of the Just Desserts mystery fiction discussion group, we encourage regular attendees to continue to participate as a group…but in a virtual way. While we may not have an actual meeting scheduled during these two months, this blog is available to keep everyone active with their mystery reading and discussions.
Our “hiatus assignment” for 2016 is the “Professor Gideon Oliver” series by author Aaron Elkins. Comprised of eighteen volumes (so far), published between 1982’s first volume (Fellowship of Fear), and 2016’s latest volume (Switcheroo). Aaron Elkins began writing the first novel in the Gideon Oliver series in 1978, and has been steadily putting out books by himself, or in collaboration with his mystery-writing wife, Charlotte Elkins, ever since.
For those who are unfamiliar with Gideon Oliver, here’s a general overview of the series: Professor Gideon Oliver is a forensic anthropologist, whose expertise (especially in ancient human cultures) frequently allows him to assist in various investigations. Together with his wife, Julie, Gideon Oliver travels the world to various historical dig sites, stumbling across murder mysteries in many international settings.
Catalog Links: The libraries own all 18 novels in the Gideon Oliver series, starting with “Fellowship of Fear” (1982) through “Switcheroo” (2016) — although there are only limited numbers of copies of each title — anywhere from a single copy to as many as 4 of some of the older entries. Although none of the Gideon Oliver series is available in audiobook or Large Type editions, it does appear that all of them are available as eBooks through the libraries Hoopla digital content service!
In 1989, when the ABC television network had revived the concept of a “mystery movie night” with rotating sleuths, including Columbo, Kojak and B.L. Stryker, Gideon Oliver was one of their stable of mystery solvers. Louis Gossett Jr. played the anthropologist in 5 two-hour tv-movies. Those have not been released on DVD, but can be found on various online streaming sites.
Discuss the Professor Gideon Oliver series by Aaron Elkins on the Just Desserts Blog!
Handout with plots of all 18 Gideon Oliver novels — distributed at the October 2016 Just Desserts meeting.
Here’s the official Elkins website:
We look forward to seeing your comments here over the course of the next two months!
So…here’s your question:
Which of the “Gideon Oliver” novels did you read, and what was your opinion?
Your Just Desserts hiatus reading assignment – 2015: Holiday Mysteries
During the Nov/Dec 2015 hiatus between meetings of the Just Desserts mystery fiction discussion group, we encourage regular attendees to continue to participate as a group…but in a virtual way. While we may not have an actual meeting scheduled during these two months, this blog is available to keep everyone active with their mystery reading and discussions.
Our “hiatus assignment” for 2015 is “Holiday Mysteries” — including Christmas, Hanukkah, Thanksgiving, or New Year’s.
One of the most popular annual book displays at the Bennett Martin Public Library every year is the Mistletoe Mysteries display that goes up at the beginning of December…in fact, it’s hard to keep it fully loaded for all of December, as so many titles get grabbed by eager readers. In conjunction with that display, a special Mistletoe Mysteries booklist was created several years ago, and is updated each year on our website to reflect new additions to the “Christmas Mystery” category, as well as withdrawals of older titles no longer being read.
You can certainly wait until the start of December and check out the book display downtown, or you can click on the Mistletoe Mysteries links in this blog entry to jump straight to the online booklist, which will give you dozens, if not hundreds, of mystery reading choices for this festive time of year! So — your assignment is: read one or more Holiday Mysteries (either novels or short story collections), and respond to the question at the bottom of this post!
We look forward to seeing your comments here over the course of the next two months, until Just Desserts meets again in January 2016!
So…here’s your question:
Which of the “Holiday Mystery” novel or short story collection did you read, and what was your opinion?
Your Just Desserts hiatus reading assignment – 2014: The Benjamin January series
November 07, 2014 by sdc
During the Nov/Dec 2014 hiatus between meetings of the Just Desserts mystery fiction discussion group, we encourage regular attendees to continue to participate as a group…but in a virtual way. While we may not have an actual meeting scheduled during these two months, this blog is available to keep everyone active with their mystery reading and discussions.
Our “hiatus assignment” for 2014 is the “Benjamin January” series by author Barbara Hambly. Comprised of thirteen volumes, published between 1997’s first volume (A Free Man of Color), and 2014’s latest volume (Crimson Angel). Barbara Hambly was first published in 1982, and has been a prolific writer of genre fiction, including not just mysteries but also science fiction and fantasy. Her “Benjamin January” series is considered to be among the best of all of her works. This series was described as follows on Wikipedia:
“This historical mystery series begins with A Free Man of Color (1997) and features Benjamin January, a brilliant, classically educated, free colored surgeon and musician living in New Orleans during the antebellum years of the 1830s. At the time, New Orleans had a large and prosperous population of free people of color. Born a slave, as his mother was enslaved, January was freed as a young child by his mother’s lover, under the plaçage system. Provided with an excellent education, he gained fluency in several classical and modern languages, and was thoroughly versed in the whole of classical Western learning and arts. He studied medicine in Paris, where he trained as a surgeon. He returned to Louisiana to escape the memory of his late wife, a woman from North Africa. As a free black in Louisiana, he cannot find work as a surgeon. He earns a modest living by his exceptional talent as a musician.
Each title is a murder mystery, with a complex plot and well-developed characters. Each explores many aspects of French Creole and overall Louisiana society. Most tend to emphasize some particular element of antebellum Louisiana life, such as Voodoo religion (Graveyard Dust), opera and music (Die Upon a Kiss), the annual epidemics of yellow fever and malaria (Fever Season), fear of miscegenation (Dead and Buried), or the harsh nature of commercial sugar production by enslaved labor (Sold Down the River).
Important themes of the series are 1) the cultural clash between the rising Protestant English-speaking Anglo-Americans, and the declining Catholic, French-speaking Creoles, 2) skin color discrimination within the society of Creoles of color, with favor given to lighter-skinned persons 3) January’s bitterness at the many forms of racial injustice he observes, 4) the complex, partially race-based sexual politics of colonial French and United States society, and 5) January’s comparison of what he thinks of as the open and frank African outlook of his early childhood with the more restrained and rational European worldview he acquired through education and experience. This last theme occurs most often with respect to music, spirituality, and respect for law and social custom.”
We encourage Just Desserts participants to read any of the 13 books in this series, at some point in November or December 2014, then come back here to this blog post and leave a comment about whatever you read or watched, as a response to this discussion topic.
- 1. A Free Man of Color (1997)
- 2. Fever Season (1998)
- 3. Graveyard Dust (1999)
- 4. Sold Down the River (2000)
- 5. Die upon a Kiss (2001)
- 6. Wet Grave (2002)
- 7. Days of the Dead (2003)
- 8. Dead Water (2004)
- 9. Dead and Buried (2011)
- 10. The Shirt on His Back (2011)
- 11. Ran Away (2011)
- 12. Good Man Friday (2013)
- 13. Crimson Angel (2014)
As a bit of background, here are some links to Barbara Hambly information:
We look forward to seeing your comments here over the course of the next two months!
So…here’s your question:
Which of the “Benjamin January” novels did you read, and what was your opinion?
Scott C. – Just Desserts coordinator and host
Your Just Desserts hiatus reading assignment: 2013 — Elmore Leonard
During the Nov/Dec 2013 hiatus between meetings of the Just Desserts mystery fiction discussion group, we encourage regular attendees to continue to participate as a group…but in a virtual way. While we may not have an actual meeting scheduled during these two months, this blog is available to keep everyone active with their mystery reading and discussions.
Our “hiatus author” for 2013 is Elmore Leonard, one of the most distinctive “voices” in American mystery/thriller writing of the past 50 years. Leonard began his fiction career putting out western novels, before putting out his first thriller, The Big Bounce, in 1969. Since then, Elmore Leonard was a regular fixture of the best-seller lists, and many of his novels were also turned into successful films and television series, including Mr. Majestyk, Glitz, Freaky Deaky, Get Shorty, Maximum Bob (TV series), Rum Punch (filmed as Jackie Brown), and Out of Sight (both a film and a TV series were based on this one). The recent TV series Justified is based on the characters Leonard introduced in Riding the Rap and Fire in the Hole, and was continued in his final novel Raylan. Leonard died in August 2013. [ See our complete Remembering…Elmore Leonard booklist on BookGuide ]
We encourage Just Desserts participants to read any mystery or thriller book by Elmore Leonard, at some point in November or December 2013, then come back here and leave a comment about whatever you read or watched, as a response to this discussion topic.
As a bit of background, here are some links to Elmore Leonard information:
- Elmore Leonard’s official website
- Elmore Leonard entry on Wikipedia
- Elmore Leonard entry on the Internet Movie Database
We look forward to seeing your comments here over the course of the next two months! So…here’s your question: Which of the Elmore Leonard novels did you read, and what was your opinion?
Scott C. – Just Desserts coordinator and host
Your 2012 Just Desserts hiatus reading assignment: John D. Macdonald
During the Nov/Dec 2012 hiatus between meetings of the Just Desserts mystery fiction discussion group, we encourage regular attendees to continue to participate as a group…but in a virtual way. While we may not have an actual meeting scheduled during these two months, this blog is available to keep everyone active with their mystery reading and discussions.
Our “hiatus author” for 2012 is John D. McDonald, creator of the classic mystery/suspense series featuring Travis McGee. McGee isn’t a typical P.I. or detective, but instead calls himself a “salvage consultant”, specializing in recovering lost or missing items. His standard fee is 50% of the value of the item recovered. McGee lives aboard a large houseboat called “The Busted Flush”, which he won in a poker game, and which is now docked at Fort Lauderdale, Florida. McGee appears in 21 novels, starting with The Deep Blue Goodbye in 1964 and ending in The Lonely Silver Rain in 1984. The Lincoln City Libraries have all but one of the 21 Travis McGee novels (we are missing #9).
We encourage Just Desserts participants to read any book in the Travis McGee series (click this link to jump to the library catalog), at some point in November or December 2012, then come back here and leave a comment about whatever you read or watched, as a response to this discussion topic.
As a bit of background, here are some links to MacDonald and Travis McGee information:
- Travis McGee series entry on Wikipedia, including series order
- John D. MacDonald entry on Wikipedia
- The JDMHomepage – a comprehensive fan site about MacDonald
John D. MacDonald wrote much more than the Travis McGee series. In total, he wrote over 40 additional stand-alone novels, in both the mystery/thriller, general fiction and science fiction genres.
We look forward to seeing your comments here over the course of the next two months!
So…here’s your question: Which of the Travis McGee novels did you read, and what was your opinion?
Scott C. – Just Desserts coordinator and hos