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| Mystery novels | |
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| Topic Started: 17 May 2008, 07:12 (212 Views) | |
| Jedikatie | 17 May 2008, 07:12 Post #1 |
Moderate you, I will...
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Anyone else like to read mysteries? Some of my favorites are the Sherlock Holmes stories by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, as well as a number of other authors (Larry Millett being the one I can think of off the top of my head). And for a bit of fun, I rather like the Sherlock Holmes vs. Dracula story by Loren D. Estleman. I'm also fond of Steven Saylor's Gordianus the Finder books. Those are set in ancient Rome, during the time of Julius Caesar. And the protagonist, Gordianus, ends out becoming involved in various cases for the rich and powerful of the time. He investigates everything from the Sextus Roscius murder (which was Cicero's first case) to the murder of Publius Clodius. The action takes places primarily in Rome, though he also goes to Campania (during the time of Spartacus' slave uprising) to Gaul, where his adopted son is serving in Caesar's army to Brundisium (at the time of Pompey's flight from Italy) to Alexandria when Caesar meets Cleopatra. Over the course of the series, Gordianus makes mistakes, gains and loses family members, gets into a nasty disagreement with his adopted son Meto over Meto's support of Caesar which results in the two of them not talking for years, among other things. Gordianus comes alive off the page, and Steven Saylor's descriptions of the places make you feel as if you're there. The first novel in this series is called Roman Blood. And his latest book (which I haven't read yet) in this series, The Triumphs of Caesar came out just a few days ago... I was also fond of series of novels about Miss Seeton, who was a very proper British art teacher and a sweet old lady, who had a peculiar knack for ending up in the wrong place at the wrong time. She never intentionally solved a crime, but the bad guys tend to think she's a great detective, when in actuality she had no idea what she was donig. Pity they don't write any more stories about her adventures, but then, the original author of her stories (Heron Carvic) died some time ago, and they had two ghost writers (Hampton Charles and Hamilton Crane, which were not the actual names of the authors, but were used to keep the stories in the same general location on the shelves in bookstores) afterwards which continued her adventures unitl the late '90s... Another series I like (though I haven't read much of this series lately) is Rett MacPherson's Torie O'Shea mysteries. Her "detective" is a genealogist who uses records on families and historical events to figure out the mystery. Family Skeletons was the first book in this series. |
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| Chris | 18 May 2008, 14:28 Post #2 |
Loyal Tuckerite and Scaper
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I love mysteries. The Steven Saylor series sounds really interesting. I like Victoria Thompson who writes about a mid-wife during the turn of the century in New York, who always ends up somehow in the middle of a murder investigation. Also, Charles Todd who writes about a detective in England in the early 1900's. I've really gotten into historical fiction. |
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| vero3110 | 18 May 2008, 17:44 Post #3 |
Andorian Lieutenant
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I love historical fiction! I just finished reading "Silent in the grave" it's a mystery set in London 1886. The author is Deanna Raybourne it's her first book, quite entertaining. And I just ordered her second book, "Silent in the Sanctuary". Vero |
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| Reanok | 18 May 2008, 18:42 Post #4 |
Vice Admiral
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I read Historical Mysteries I really Like Conrad Allen's novel I just read Murder on the Lusitania and Max Allen Collins has written some really good books as well.I also like a series of Jag books and Csi book series too. |
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| Rigil Kent | 18 May 2008, 19:20 Post #5 |
Cote de Pablo (& Jolene, of course) worshipper
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I've never really been a mystery fan ... for the most part (and this probably won't surprise anyone) I'm an action-adventure fan. To be honest, I can't really remember the last mystery I've read ... it may very well have been a Sherlock Holmes story back in high school for a book report... |
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| Jedikatie | 18 May 2008, 21:18 Post #6 |
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Moderate you, I will...
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I enjoy Steven Saylor's books quite a bit, Chris. I find it interesting, in part, because he takes the historical events and weaves this ordinary guy into the midst of all these powerful people who could crush him with a single word if they really wanted to. And it's kind of neat, seeing things like the investigation in Sextus Roscius's murder, which launched Cicero's career in the political arena (seeing how I had to translate his speech for that case back in college)... and Gordianus grows old, his kids grow up and get married, he becomes a grandfather, etc. The earlier stories focus primarily on the mystery itself, with bits and pieces dealing with his family, but in the later ones the mystery is almost secondary to the characters themselves. I forgot to mention the Brother Cadfael series by Ellis Peters. Derek Jacobi played him in the TV adaptions of the various books. There's something like 18 or 20 books in the series. Cadfael is a monk in Shrewsbury, England, during the 14th century who solves mysteries, much to the consternation of his abbot... |
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| Jedikatie | 26 Jul 2008, 15:54 Post #7 |
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Moderate you, I will...
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Anyway, since Amazon finally delivered my book and DVD yesterday, I read The Triumph of Caesar by Steven Saylor last night and today, finishing a little bit go (while doing other things as well). The story takes place in September 46 B.C., during the four triumphs that Caesar celebrated for his victories in Gaul, Egypt, Asia, and Africa. It's also shortly after Gordianus and his wife Bethesda have returned from Egypt themselves (after the events of the previous book where Gordianus was stuck in Alexandria when Caesar was under siege by Ptolemy's forces). It seems that Caesar's wife, Calpurnia, fears for her husband's life and wanted Gordianus to find out who it is that threatens him. Gordianus, who is in his mid-60s by this time, has retired from the "Finding" business and only wants to be at home with his wife and grandchildren, but Calpurnia has something to draw him back into working: the previous person whom she'd hired to look into the threats, Hieronymus, the Scapegoat of Massilia (basically that meant he was supposed to have been sacrified to the gods, but fortune was on his side and he didn't end up dead--that adventure was also in another, earlier book), who was a friend of Gordianus's, had turned up dead at her alleyside door, murdered. Gordianus, telling her that he was only doing it to find his friend's killer, accepts her case. There is a lot of description of the various triumphial parades, and a lot of familiar faces--most of whom had just cause for wanting Caesar dead or out of the way--are woven throughout the book. It's enough that if you don't know exactly when the triumphs took place, that you could think that it was indeed the conspiracy, but the reference to it being September within the story should dispel that notion quickly in the minds of the reader--at least if they know the origin of the phrase 'beware the Ides of March'. There's also the introduction of the Julian calendar (which was done at the end of the last triumph) to realign the calendar with the seasons. The mystery itself--well, I had figured out a rather important part of it about 2/3 of the way through, so by the time Gordianus figured it out, I was like, "what took so long?" Though I don't hold it against Gordianus for taking longer to see it: after all, he's older and retired, and the one thing that Steven Saylor does in this series is age Gordianus--he doesn't act like a 30-year-old when he's nearly 65, he acts like a 65-year-old. It's part of the reason why I like this series so much. |
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