Golden Age Mysteries
A catchall focusing on mysteries written during the “Golden Age” (1920s to 1940s-ish), but including later ones either set in this period, or clearly influenced by them.
Posts for this club should be tagged: goldenagemysteries_club.
March 19
Book: The Division Bell Mystery
A financier is found shot in the House of Commons. Suspecting foul play, Robert West, a parliamentary private secretary, takes on the role of amateur sleuth. Used to turning a blind eye to covert dealings, West must now uncover the shocking secret behind the man's demise, amid distractions from the press and the dead man's enigmatic daughter. (Summary from bookshop.org) [more inside]
January 15
Book: Crossed Skis by Carol Carnac
Crossed Skis, published in 1952, tells the twin stories of an enthusiastic group departing by train to ski the Austrian Alps, while in dreary London a mysterious fire leads to the discovery of a body. As both threads of the story progress, it seems that the lighthearted travelers have someone in their group who may be hiding a terrible secret.
January 3
Book: Murder After Christmas
"A war's on and a murder has been committed―and we sit here talking nonsense about almond whirls and mince pies!" [more inside]
December 6
Book: The Murder of Roger Ackroyd
Roger Ackroyd knew too much. He knew that the woman he loved had poisoned her brutal first husband. He suspected also that someone had been blackmailing her. Then, tragically, came the news that she had taken her own life with a drug overdose. But the evening post brought Roger one last fatal scrap of information. Unfortunately, before he could finish reading the letter, he was stabbed to death.
Over ninety years after its initial publication, The Murder of Roger Ackroyd still stumps readers as a methodical, detailed, and suspenseful whodunit. When King’s Abbot resident Roger Ackroyd is found murdered in his study, the famous Belgian detective Hercule Poirot is called in to help solve the mystery. As the clues and suspects add up, Christie masterfully weaves several possible scenarios, only to surprise readers at the end. Voted by the British Crime Writers’ Association as the best crime novel ever written — and said to be Christie’s favorite of her novels — it is the third book following detective Hercule Poirot.
SPOILERS [more inside]
December 5
Organisation
I’m not sure how everyone wants to go about this - my idea was just to have a group that anyone can add the GA book they’ve just read, (or their favourite books) for discussion. Or would people prefer a more structured approach with group reads, etc.?