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Summer Reading Recap
109 Plays2 years ago
After a short break, Clued in Mystery returns for Season 2 and Brook and Sarah recap their summer reading.
Books discussed in order:
The House Across the Lake by Riley Sager The Science of Agatha Christie by Carla Valentine The Murder of Roger Ackroyd by Agatha Christie Butcher, Baker, Candlestick Taker by Patricia Meredith The Agathas by Kathleen Glasgow and Liz Lawson The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman The Three Dahlias by Katy Watson The It Girl by Ruth Ware
For more information: https://www.cluedinmystery.com Instagram: @cluedinmystery Contact us: hello@cluedinmystery.com Music: Signs To Nowhere by Shane Ivers - www.silvermansound.com
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Transcript
Summer Reading Catch-Up
00:00:10
Speaker
Welcome to Clued in Mystery. I'm Sarah. And I'm Brooke, and we both love mystery. Brooke, it's so good to be talking to you again. We took a little break over the summer to read and rest and relax, but we're back at it today. How are you doing?
00:00:28
Speaker
I'm great and I've missed you, Sarah. So I'm super happy to be recording again. Me too. I couldn't sleep last night. I was so excited. So today we are going to talk about our summer reading. So in the last episode that we recorded, we shared what we were planning to read over the summer. And so today we'll just share some of our thoughts about, about some of those books.
00:00:54
Speaker
I will get started and the first book that I'll talk about is The House Across the Lake by Riley Sager. When we talked about this before I said I was planning to read this by a lake and I did manage, I didn't finish the whole thing, but I did read some of it by a lake which I thought was really fitting.
00:01:12
Speaker
This was the first of Riley Sager's books that I've read and I thought it was compelling but it took an unexpected turn that I don't know that the book needed to be honest. It almost felt forced but I would definitely read another one of Sager's books because I was really entertained
00:01:33
Speaker
The other thing that I will say about this is it was quite reminiscent of The Woman in the Window, Girl on the Train, and other books that use that drunk woman, unreliable narrator trope. But I do think that that worked for this book. It was an integral part of the story.
00:01:50
Speaker
Yeah, because it sounded so good. I had some time and I ended up reading it this summer too. And I'll agree with everything you said, Sarah. I will say that one of the things I loved about it was the play off of the Hitchcock movie, Rear Window. So that made it really fun for me. But yeah, I'm not sure that the twist did the rest of the story justice.
Thriller and Mystery Novel Insights
00:02:10
Speaker
I will just say that. And what about you, Brooke? What's one of the books that you read over the summer?
00:02:15
Speaker
Yeah, so the first one that I'll talk about is The Science of Murder, The Forensics of Agatha Christie and this is by Carla Valentine. Carla is a forensic pathologist and so this is a nonfiction book and it just dives really deep into forensics
00:02:30
Speaker
the origins of forensics forensic techniques she definitely could have written this without the backdrop of agatha christie because like i say she is a forensic pathologist but she's also a lifelong agatha christie fan and so i thought it was great because it gave a lay person like myself a lot of opportunities to have examples so she would perhaps talk about fingerprinting and then she would reference
00:02:55
Speaker
some of the Agatha Christie stories where fingerprints are an integral part of the clues or the story. So it really made it accessible because it is deep, it has a lot of detail. But I'd recommend it to anyone who's a mystery lover, and especially for mystery authors, I would say you're really going to love it. It's going to add a lot of ideas to your work.
00:03:16
Speaker
I actually started reading it again because after after our conversation because it sounded it sounded like a great resource but I was listening to the audio version and I think I'm actually going to stop listening to the audio and get a physical copy of it because it was
00:03:36
Speaker
I found a little bit too detailed for audio. I'm not sure if that makes sense, but I think it's something that I would rather be able to flip through and look at specific elements rather than, you know, you don't so much have that option with audiobooks.
00:03:56
Speaker
Yeah, I find that a lot of times with nonfiction, I do better with an actual paper copy. And I did one of those things where you do a little bit of both. I had the audio version and I also have a paperback. So I was going back and forth, but I agree. I want to go back and mark up that paperback and like put some notes in there for myself.
00:04:16
Speaker
Yeah, exactly. And you can't do that as easily with an audio. So I'm definitely adding that to my to buy soon list. So the next book that I'm going to talk about is actually one of Agatha Christie's books. So I listened to the murder of Roger Aykroyd, which I had never read before. I knew, as I mentioned,
00:04:41
Speaker
In the last episode, I knew what the twist was and I thought it was so excellent. This is another one actually that I think I want to get a physical copy and go back and almost deconstruct the story and make some notes because it just was a great story and just a masterclass, I think. It's one of those that really gives her the namakur of a queen of crime. Absolutely.
00:05:08
Speaker
All right, the next one that I'll mention is Butcher Baker, Candlestick Taker by Patricia Meredith. Patricia is an indie author that I've connected with over Instagram, or at least I've seen her posts and she's been a great fan of the show so far.
00:05:25
Speaker
And, you know, I love perusing antique stores and I love touring historic homes. If we travel to a city, I always look like to see if they have any historic homes that you can tour. And reading this book kind of gave me that same thrill. But
00:05:40
Speaker
with a murder mystery. So great job to Patricia Meredith on a really great debut novel for this series and I'm looking forward to staying up to date with the Carew brothers who are her investigators and the quirky Archie Prescott who is a clockmaker in this series.
00:05:58
Speaker
Yeah, that book, it sounds it sounds wonderful. And I actually have a copy that I'm going to start reading very soon because it just sounds like it's a great story. And, you know, that I love historical mysteries. So particularly ones that are set near where where I live. So Spokane's not not too far from from Vancouver. See, I really look forward to reading that.
00:06:26
Speaker
I think it's right up your alley, Sarah.
YA and Historical Mysteries
00:06:29
Speaker
So next on my list is another book that kind of references Agatha Christie, and that is The Agathas by Kathleen Glasgow and Liz Lawson. So I thought this was really fun. This is a YA mystery, and the two protagonists are investigating the case of a missing classmate.
00:06:51
Speaker
So I was hoping for a little bit more reference to Agatha Christie. I thought there could have been tying more of her works to the story, but it was still a very enjoyable read. And what I really liked was that the two main characters, each of them was written by one of the co-authors, which really made sure that the characters had different voices. And so I thought that was really great. And when I finished reading it, I thought, oh, I want to co-author a book.
00:07:20
Speaker
It just sounded like a really fun project. So, you know, at some point in my future, that that may be something that I do. But it was yeah, it was it was it was definitely lots of fun. Nice. That sounds great. The next on my list is the Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman. And I admitted when we shared our TBR lists that I'm a little behind the curve on this one that's been out for a long time. But I loved the characters, the humor,
00:07:45
Speaker
They cared about each other. They were super smart and spunky. I just loved this group of sleuths. And I think I'm kind of looking forward to moving into a retirement community someday. They have cocktails starting at noon. They solve mysteries. And I was thinking, maybe, Sarah, you and I can live in the same retirement facility someday and solve mysteries together. Absolutely, Brooke. I would love that.
00:08:12
Speaker
many, many years down the road. Of course. Yeah, I felt the same when I read the book, like it just such a charming set of set of characters. And yeah, what a great place that they live in. So I would definitely sign up to live in a retirement community if those were some of the features.
00:08:34
Speaker
I'm so glad that you enjoyed the book because I absolutely adored it. I have listened to the audio version twice. I listened to it back to back actually because I just thought it was, it was almost magical listening to the, um, to the audio version. And it was one of those books where I felt like, okay, I, again, I kind of want to unpack this first as a reader and then as a writer, right? And then I've also got a physical copy of it. And I think I've got an ebook version as well. So, uh, yeah, it's one of my faves.
00:09:04
Speaker
I read the paperback, but I would definitely like to listen to it as an audio book. I think it is such a different experience. And like we said, sometimes the audio is hard to take in the story because, you know, maybe it's because it's a nonfiction.
00:09:20
Speaker
But many times it just gives you an entirely different level of enjoyment. It's just a different experience. And that's one that I would definitely do that. And I'm for sure going to continue the series. Yeah. And there's another one coming out in September, I think the third one in the series. So that's one that I'm definitely looking forward to when it comes out. Cool.
Final Thoughts and Listener Engagement
00:09:42
Speaker
So the final book that was on my list, I actually didn't get a chance to read it. So we were out of town for part of the summer and I didn't get as much reading time as I'd hoped. And I am still on hold at my library for the copy of this. And so it is The Three Dahlias by Katie Watson, which is still very much on my list of books.
00:10:06
Speaker
to read, but when I check this morning, I'm sixth in line for one of three copies at my library, so I should be getting a hold of it pretty soon, I hope.
00:10:17
Speaker
That's great. That was one of that I remember writing down thinking that it sounded really good. So once you get a chance to get your hands on it, Sarah, you'll have to share with us and tell us what you thought. My final book on my list is The It Girl by Ruth Ware. And I think I've shared before that Ruth Ware is one of my auto buys. As far as authors go, I always love her books.
00:10:38
Speaker
And this one lift up to my love for her novels. I did read it as an audio book and that is mostly because her narrator that does all of her work is image in church and her voice is just, it reminded me, like you said, it was magical. Like I just love listening to her read these books. One thing I really liked about this Ruth Ware in particular is it was a little different in setting. Many times she does sort of the closed circle or rural or remote
00:11:08
Speaker
location to set her thrillers in. And this one was not like that. So it was a nice departure and kind of gave it a new spin on that domestic thriller kind of story. Cool. So I didn't read that, but I did read the Woman in Cabin 10.
00:11:25
Speaker
which is one of her earlier books and it was the first of Ruth Ware's books that I've read and definitely not going to be the last. I quite enjoyed it and I know we're going to talk about that book in another episode.
00:11:40
Speaker
Yes, I'm glad that you enjoyed it because she was somebody that I had read and you hadn't, sort of like the Richard Osman and vice versa. So that was really fun to share our recommendations with one another. Cool. Well, I think it sounds like we both had a very successful summer of reading and I look forward to sharing more, doing more of our TBR lists and what we thought about them later in future episodes. Me too, Sarah. This was great.
00:12:09
Speaker
Thank you for listening. We'd love to hear your feedback. You can reach us at hello at cluedinmystery.com or on Instagram at cluedinmystery. If you enjoyed this episode, please consider leaving a rating or review or telling a friend to help spread the word.
00:12:23
Speaker
For today, thank you for joining us on Clued in Mystery. I'm Brooke. And I'm Sarah. And we both love mystery. Clued in Mystery is produced by Brooke Peterson and Sarah M. Stephen. Music is by Shane Ivers at silvermansound.com. Visit us online at cluedinmystery.com or social media at Clued in Mystery. If you liked what you heard, please consider subscribing, leaving a review, or telling your friends.