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Summer 2024 Reading Recap
161 Plays2 months ago
To open our next season, we discuss what we read over the summer, including what we loved and what we recommend. Note, Brook refers to T.L. Brown's series as "Through the Door" but it is "Door to Door Paranormal Mysteries".
Discussed
Brook’s list
Before the Fact (1932) Francis Iles (Anthony Berkely)
And Only to Deceive (2005) Tasha Alexander
Dissolution, Matthew Shardlake Tudor Mysteries Book 1 (2003) C.J. Sansom
Body in the Bookstore (2024) Ellie Alexander
Brook’s pick for Sarah: The Witch Elm (2018) Tana French
Sarah’s list
Rock, Paper, Scissors (2021) Alice Feeney
An Inconvenient Wife (2024) by Karen E. Olson
Mill House Murders (1988) by Yukito Ayatsuji, translated in 2023 by Ho-Ling Wong
Towards Zero(1944) Agatha Christie
Sarah’s pick for Brook: The Cartographers (2022) Peng Shepherd
Mentioned
Gone Girl (2012) Gillian Flynn
Girl on a Train (2015) Paula Hawkins
Suspicion (1941) Alfred Hitchcock
The Decagon House Murders (1987; translation 2015) Yukito Ayatsuji
Door to Door Paranormal Mysteries (2020-2021) T.L. Brown
Dublin Murder Squad (2007-2016) Tana French
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Transcript
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Transcript
Introductions & Love for Mystery
00:00:10
Speaker
Welcome to Clued in Mystery. I'm Sarah. And I'm Brooke. And we both love mystery. Hi Brooke. Hi
Anticipation for 2024 Fall Shows
00:00:20
Speaker
Sarah. It's time to start our 2024 fall shows. I am so excited. It feels like it's been a long time since you and I have talked about books. I know. I'm i'm really ready this year.
Summer Reads Tradition
00:00:37
Speaker
So as is our tradition, we are kicking off this season by talking about what we've read over the summer. That's right. And we'll just remind you guys that if you want short descriptions and explanations of why we chose these books, then make sure you go back and listen to our final episode of, of the last season. And ah then you'll be all prepared to hear our thoughts on our, on the books that we read.
Discussion: 'Before the Fact' by Francis Iles
00:01:05
Speaker
All right, so the first one that I'll discuss is the book Before the Fact by Francis Iles. And you might remember that Francis Iles is a pen name for Anthony Berkeley. We did a full episode on Berkeley. And after reading one of his books, I thought I would like to read more.
00:01:24
Speaker
So I did read um before the fact. And like I've said, I find Berkeley to be really readable, kind of a modern style prose. And it's pretty surprising considering that his work is almost 100 years old. um That being said, his work is almost 100 years old. And there's some things about the story that definitely had me rolling my eyes, ah namely the dialogue. It's very melodramatic.
00:01:51
Speaker
And, um, women aren't portrayed great, you know, it's, they're very naive and very gullible. But I really feel like this is a great example of an early domestic thriller. And I can see the influence on that marital relationship thriller set up, um, that we see in like gone girl or girl on a train.
00:02:13
Speaker
But I had to laugh because the word suspicion is used so many times that I don't think Alfred Hitchcock had any other choice but to title his adaptation suspicion. Oh, that's, that's great.
00:02:28
Speaker
um And so I haven't read that or anything under that pen name. Did you notice a real difference between that and the stories that you read that were under um Anthony Berkeley's actual name?
00:02:45
Speaker
I you definitely feel the difference in tone because this is more like a romantic thriller I guess you would call it so um yeah i I definitely felt like a little bit more ah of that suspense feeling of in the writing versus you'll remember we discussed how as a journalist hit some of his you know, straight mysteries are kind of told like a very black and white factual way. So um so yeah, I would say and and it would be interesting to read more Francis Iles and see if that's something ah you know, a style he kept up under that pen
Discussion: 'An Inconvenient Wife' and Historical Interpretations
00:03:20
Speaker
name. I'm assuming he did.
00:03:23
Speaker
The first book that I'm going to talk about is An Inconvenient Wife by Karen E. Olson. This was a modern telling of the relationships between Henry VIII and some of his wives with a mystery entwined in there. And um I did have some reservations before I read it around the names because some of the names had been changed.
00:03:48
Speaker
And so it was sometimes a little bit challenging to figure out like who was um who was supposed to be who in terms of um actual historical figures. So I really like the idea of setting the tutors in modern times. um And I would, I think it would be fun actually to do it the other way to have maybe some modern things happening in tutor times.
00:04:13
Speaker
So to have them, say, have access to social media or something so that that like real gossip mill, you can see it in in real time. um But this was the reverse. This was tutors in modern times.
00:04:29
Speaker
um I think the mystery would have worked a little bit better if it had been more removed from history. So rather than having one of the victims as one of his wives to have someone who is more adjacent and you know part of their entourage because that isn't what actually happened. And so I kept, you know, I, I didn't like that departure as much as I thought I i would have, but I did enjoy the book if there's a series and the second book is around someone who's more adjacent to them. I think that might be really interesting. Yeah. I was excited to hear your, your feelings on that one because it sounded, it sounded like a really interesting concept. So that's great.
Exploring 'Dissolution' by CJ Sansom
00:05:19
Speaker
Uh, and we might as well stick with the era of the Tudors because one of my books from this summer was Dissolution by CJ Sansom. And this is book one in his Matthew Shardlake Tudor mysteries. And Sarah had been suggesting this to me for a really long time and I finally read book one and I found it to be a really great historical mystery. I loved the actual facts that, um,
00:05:47
Speaker
Sansom weaves in and uses the actual, uh, you know, historical figures in the story. Uh, I, I also really liked the sleuth character of, of Shardlake. I mean, I think that he's fresh and something new. Um, the case is really tricky. And so that was fun, but I did find myself sometimes getting confused between characters because they are in a monastery. So they have many things in common with just different, different roles. And I would get confused between who was who.
00:06:18
Speaker
Um, I was listening to this book and perhaps if I was reading it with my eyes instead of my ears, that wouldn't have happened. But, um, that was my only, my only issue. But I also did start the Hulu Disney Plus series, which is fairly new. And, um, although there are a few changes to the characters, nothing that pulled me out of the story and I thought the production quality was great. It was, it's, it's really a great series.
00:06:46
Speaker
I agree, Brooke, and I'm glad that you enjoyed the book. I hope you continue this series. I think it's an excellent series. um And yeah, Shardlake is ah he's a really complex character. Yes.
00:07:04
Speaker
ah So the next one that I'm going to share my thoughts about is at the Milhouse Murders. And so this was translated from Japanese. ah it The English version ah only came out in 2023, but the original book was in 1988. So they don't have any of the you know modern technology that that we have.
00:07:25
Speaker
um This is the second book that I've read by Yukido Ayatsuji. And I have to say, I think I preferred The Decagon House Murders, which is the first one that I read. This one, um The Millhouse Murders was a little bit more predictable, but it was still very enjoyable. I will suggest though, if someone was to pick up one of his books, I would start with The Decagon House Murders.
00:07:51
Speaker
Great suggestion. And the next one on my list was And Only to Deceive by Tasha Alexander. and This is a historical mystery um and a mystery without murder, sort of. ah Throughout most of the book, the mystery revolves around um faked and or stolen artifacts. and so ah But then towards the end, you do realize that there was a death that was probably a murder.
00:08:19
Speaker
I also really enjoyed this main character. Emily is our main character and she set up right from the beginning to be you know this rebellious sort. She has pretty much waited too long to get married, but she finally does and then is rapidly widowed.
00:08:35
Speaker
And at that point, she remains this rebellious nature. She drinks port instead of sherry, and she has no intention of remarrying after her period of mourning. um And this works really good to give, you know, this is a quite ah cozy mystery, I would say, at least it leans in that area. And so it gives us the reason why this amateur would become involved in um solving a mystery.
00:09:01
Speaker
And really, all the characters are really well done. ah They're either very likable or very unlikable in the case of Emily's mother. So you know that works good. That's exactly what what you want to happen is to have these emotions about the characters. um The story was really suspenseful. It kept my interest, and I would read more of the series.
00:09:21
Speaker
I would say, too, if you this is an older book. Many of you have probably already finished the series long ago. But if you enjoyed it, I would also point you towards Elizabeth Peters as more of a classic author who does sort of the same type of storytelling. Well, that's a great suggestion. And I actually don't think I've read any Elizabeth Peters. So maybe that's something for me to add to a future reading list, Brooke.
Insights on 'Towards Zero' and Christie Universe
00:09:48
Speaker
So next I read towards Zero, which was my Agatha Christie pick. um And apparently this was one of her favorite books that she wrote. ah It is the last book with Superintendent Battle in it. ah But I really liked that it makes reference to the Christie verse because there is a reference to Poirot.
00:10:12
Speaker
And Battle is kind of inspired by Poirot's detection methods, which I thought was great. I enjoyed the book. I don't know that it is my favorite of the Christie's that I've read, but you know it's the house party and and someone dies and and you have to figure out who who it was and lots of lies and secrets. And yeah, so it was it was definitely enjoyable.
00:10:41
Speaker
Oh, that's fun. I didn't realize that that was one of her favorites. So that's a ah fun little tidbit.
00:10:49
Speaker
All right, so next up for me is Body in the Bookstore by Ellie Alexander, and this is the first book in her brand new series. um Like what Vicky Delaney does building that fictional Sherlock Holmes bookstore that I really, really wanted to visit, Ellie Alexander has done it again, and her bookstore is ah mostly dedicated to Agatha Christie, and it's called The Hidden Bookshelf.
00:11:15
Speaker
um The descriptions of the store and the little town that she's created just really made me wish it was a real place that I could go live in. If you're someone who's on the fence about the cuteness of cozies, I would really recommend Ellie Alexander. um I think she's right in the middle of that spectrum that we've talked about before that's like the traditional mystery on one end to what we learned were called cutesies.
00:11:43
Speaker
Um, and so it's a great way to kind of see if it's something that you like that very quaint and endearing world with a mystery. Oh, that sounds like lots of fun. And I hope she writes more in that series. I think that they're just coming out really quickly. So, uh, the character is, is great. And actually there's a through line mystery. So I think that's a smart way. People are going to have to pick up the following books to find out, you know, the solution to the overarching story. Oh, that's great.
00:12:18
Speaker
So I read ah Rock, Paper, Scissors by Alice Feeney and um if you recall this is one of those books that I kind of felt like I'd seen everywhere when it first came out and I never read it and I thought you know it was one that I thought I should.
00:12:35
Speaker
So I really enjoyed this, although it did take a while for me to get into it, but it was, you know, primarily two characters, this husband and wife who ah were having a ah weekend getaway and things did not go well. And, you know, it's interesting to build a story around just two characters.
00:13:02
Speaker
And I don't want to give too much away. um there's Obviously, there are some other people um that are that are part of the story, but I think this was my favorite of the books that I set out to read this summer. Oh, nice. That's excellent. And and good that youth kept going, right? You had that feeling where like, I'm not sure that I'm going to get into this. And it ended up being a favorite. That's a great lesson.
00:13:29
Speaker
Well, we're down to the books that we suggested for each other. And I will say that this was probably my favorite read of the summer. So thank you, Sarah. You suggested The Cartographers to Me by Pong Shepherd.
00:13:44
Speaker
And you know, I don't read a lot of books that incorporate any magical or paranormal um elements. It's just usually not something that I'm drawn to. And for a really long time in this story, I didn't know that that's where it was going.
00:14:00
Speaker
But it wasn't jarring and it wasn't like out of the question when the magical elements were introduced. And i so I thought that was like a really good sign that this was going to be you know a great story. And there are other big surprises along the way as well that really keep the story moving.
00:14:17
Speaker
I loved the focus on old documents and old friendships that hooked me. And if you like mysteries, including magical realism, I would definitely pick up this book. And as I was reading, it reminded me of maybe what the only other magical realism ah series I've ever read, and that is T.L. Brown's Through the Door series. I highly recommend it. It's very similar in the amount of you know magical things happening in an otherwise normal world. um So I think if you like that ah type of story, you would like either one of these. Oh, great recommendation, Brooke.
00:14:58
Speaker
So yeah as you say ah the last that I'm going to talk about today is the book that you recommended to me and that was The Witch Elm by Tana French and I found this to be such an interesting story so it's definitely a slower pace and you know I would say much more of a literary mystery, but I i definitely enjoyed it. It was very descriptive, um particularly ah you know when the character is describing kind of his the way his thinking has changed after he had quite a traumatic brain injury.
00:15:41
Speaker
I would definitely read another book by her. It was it it just felt it was almost refreshing in in the slower pace and the. The way that the that the story was approached.
00:15:56
Speaker
Yeah, those are great observations. It is almost literary, isn't it? And some of her other work I think is less so like she writes the double in Murder Squad as well. And so obviously as a more of a police procedural, they're going to be quicker paced. But I do think that she keeps that like really rich language and like a lot of descriptions. So if you're in the mood, that's a good author to turn to.
Reflecting on Summer Reads & Future Excitement
00:16:25
Speaker
Well, Brooke, it sounds like we had a successful summer of reading and I hope it has set us up for a fantastic next season as we talk more about mystery.
00:16:39
Speaker
I do too, Sarah. I'm really excited and we hope that you had a great summer and are ready to dive back in to talk mystery each week with us. But for today, I'm Brooke. And I'm Sarah. And we both love mystery.
00:16:53
Speaker
includding mystery is written and produced by brooke peterson and sarah m stephen music is by shane iors If you liked what you heard, please consider telling a friend, leaving a review, or subscribing with your favourite podcast listening app. Visit our website at cluedinmystery.com to sign up for our newsletter, The Clued In Chronicle, or to join our paid membership, The Clued In Cartel. We run social media at Clued In Mystery.