The GMG Mystery/Suspense/Thriller Club

[DavidW]

I've been reading the entire series of novels by Tony Hillerman, and then his daughter Anne Hillerman, based in the Southwest, Navajo country. I enjoy the references to Navajo and other tribes' theology Hillerman includes - as well as how the plots are constructed.

I'm nopw into the thrid book by Anne.  She's not as good a writer, but is capable enough and I am happy to have the series extended. 

However, the tv series based on the books, Dark Winds, has not impressed me in a good way.  It may improve, I hope so. 

I like Tony Hillerman. I've been reading them in order. Last one I read was The Dark Wind. I bought a bunch of his novels as ebooks on sale so I might drop the whole read-in-order thing.

[T. D.]

Strange coincidence, but I had been thinking earlier today about the late Michael Dibdin.
I liked his Aurelio Zen series a lot. There was a related (one-year) BBC series (Wiki says in 2011) entitled Zen. Despite getting the axe, the show wasn't too bad.

[Brian]

I found a really suitable choice for this time of year! This is a real page turner:



It was originally published in 1937, so if you like those golden era whodunits, there you go.

I absolutely love this series of British Library reissues of great 1930s-40s mysteries. So much golden age goodness that is now forgotten because all the attention goes to Poirot, Marple, or, maybe, Lord Peter Wimsey. The books by Anthony Berkeley Cox (a.k.a. Anthony Berkeley, a.k.a. Francis Iles) are consistently terrific, and I rather enjoy a meta-puzzle by him called the Poisoned Chocolates Case where a club of detectives learns about a case and all investigates it. Every single chapter is a new solution to the mystery, and all of them (until the last, of course) also disprove all the previous solutions!

E.C.R. Lorac (really Edith Revitt, the fake name is her initials plus Carol backwards) is hit-or-miss on the mysteries but always very good at description and a sense of place in some small British community. The one on a rural Lancashire farm, Crook O' Lune, is especially good. But the real big find for me so far has been Michael Gilbert. He has a very funny style and entertaining characters, plus driven plots that are half-mystery, half-thriller. Smallbone Deceased is on the lighter side, set in a law firm full of craven lawyers. Death Has Deep Roots is a WWII French Resistance adventure. But the masterpiece (which I luckily saved for last) is Death in Captivity, a classic locked-room murder mystery set inside a Nazi prison camp! With all the prisoners and guards for suspects, spies in their midst, a daring escape, and a really impressive ending. Wow!

I am looking your wintry pick up now!

[Roy Bland]

Strange coincidence, but I had been thinking earlier today about the late Michael Dibdin.
I liked his Aurelio Zen series a lot. There was a related (one-year) BBC series (Wiki says in 2011) entitled Zen. Despite getting the axe, the show wasn't too bad.

Its Italian settings are unlikely, but this is also due to the rapid change in our way of life.

[Brian]

However, the tv series based on the books, Dark Winds, has not impressed me in a good way.  It may improve, I hope so. 

Agreed. They assembled a good cast but the TV series has a very self-serious tone that skews it toward melodrama. After seeing Zahn McClarnon's genius for comedy on Reservation Dogs, it's been sad to see him on this show, all the comedy gone and replaced with Sad Meaningful Stares.

[DavidW]

Agreed. They assembled a good cast but the TV series has a very self-serious tone that skews it toward melodrama. After seeing Zahn McClarnon's genius for comedy on Reservation Dogs, it's been sad to see him on this show, all the comedy gone and replaced with Sad Meaningful Stares.

That is too bad because there is a subtle humor in the novels.

[Jo498]

One of the oddest mysteries I've ever read appeared also in the British library classics shown above: "Murder Underground" (1935) by Mavis Doriel Hay.
It was her debut and she wrote 2 more, one seasonal taking place around Christmas and another one in a fictional Oxbridge college but I found the first one so odd that I didn't explore the others.

The uncommon thing is the narrative technique. There is a detective inspector but we never get his perspective (or only at the end). Instead a considerable number of people related or known to the victim talk with each other about the case and as they are almost all potential suspects they are quite unreliable. Some of them are also characters of Wodehousian excentricity. It's a bit slow in the proceedings, so it's a somewhat qualified recommendation but it's really different from anything else I read and it's remarkable that a debut novel in the golden age dared and managed successfully to do something different.

[Brian]

I found a really suitable choice for this time of year! This is a real page turner:



It was originally published in 1937, so if you like those golden era whodunits, there you go.

Got this for Christmas and just read it. Wow, that was a lot of twists and turns and a LOT of murders