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Being a mystery geek
Nov. 14th, 2009 12:05 amSo, I’m finally posting the answers to the book meme I did a few weeks back since only one title got guessed. ^_^;; I don’t know if anyone really cares since I don’t think there are many mystery lovers on my friends list. But I’ve been reading some of these series way longer than any manga so I’m going to be a mystery geek and babble about cozies and period mysteries anyway. :-P I recommend checking them out if any sound interesting to you! Most of the out-of-print stuff can be found used on Amazon.
Here’s what wasn’t guessed:
1) “The Scarlet Pimpernel” by Baroness Orczy
The one non-mystery title that wasn’t guessed. Although only the first book is considered a classic, Baroness Orczy actually wrote a whole series of Scarlet Pimpernel books.
2) “The Inspector and Mrs. Jeffries” by Emily Brightwell
First book in one of my favorite series. ^_^ It’s set in Victorian London and Mrs. Jeffries is housekeeper for Inspector Witherspoon, a policeman who inherited a fortune from a wealthy aunt. The inspector doesn’t realize it but his housekeeper and other servants help him solve murders by talking to people like shopkeepers, servants, and carriage drivers to gather information and gossip. Mrs. Jeffries discusses the cases with him, finding out what the police have learned and planting suggestions about things he should look into based on what the servants have found out. It’s up to book 26 and still going; I’ve been reading this series since the mid-1990s! Unfortunately, some of the older titles are OOP.
3) “The Strange Files of Fremont Jones” by Dianne Day
First book from another favorite of mine. Fremont Jones is an adventurous young woman who leaves her conventional life in Boston and moves to San Francisco in 1905. She starts a typewriting service there, which gets her involved in her first mystery. She eventually falls in love with a former Russian spy and starts a detective agency with him. Ended at 6 books but they’re still in print except for the last.
4) “Death at Bishop’s Keep" by Robin Paige
First book from a series set in late Victorian/Edwardian England. Kate Ardleigh is an American writer of penny dreadfuls who moves to England and eventually marries Sir Charles Sheridan. Sir Charles is an amateur scientist with an interest in photography, fingerprinting, and toxicology. The Prince of Wales (later King Edward) sometimes asks Sir Charles to investigate cases where nobles are involved so that the police and press can be kept away and scandal avoided. Each book also features 1 or 2 real people from that era; Beatrix Potter, Arthur Conan Doyle, Rudyard Kipling, and Lillie Langtry were among the characters used. Don’t like this series as much as the previous two but it’s still interesting. Ended a few years ago at 12 books but I haven’t read the last couple yet.
5) “The Last Camel Died at Noon” by Elizabeth Peters
A book from the Amelia Peabody series. Amelia is a Victorian woman with feminist views who becomes an archeologist. She marries Emerson, another archeologist. During their Egyptian excavations, they encounter murders, tomb robbers, the occasional wandering mummy, and in the case of this book, a lost city! XD It’s a rather amusing series since Amelia tends to jump to conclusions a lot. The books cover a few decades from the late 1800s to the 1920s but I haven’t read some of the later ones yet. I got a little annoyed that a certain character died and came back not once but twice. >_>; Still going and book 19 is scheduled to come out next spring. The writer has a Ph.D in Egyptology so there’s a lot of Ancient Egyptian trivia included.
6) “Decked” by Carol Higgins Clark
First book in the Regan Reilly series. Regan is a private investigator and the daughter of a famous mystery novelist. The series is very humorous and tends to involve rather ridiculous situations. XD 12 books so far plus some collaborative ones with her mother, Mary Higgins Clark.
7) “Starring Miss Seeton” by Hamilton Crane
A book from the Miss Seeton series by Heron Carvic, Hampton Charles, and Hamilton Crane. (The two latter writers continued the series after the original author’s death.) Another of my favorites, this is a rather humorous series with an elderly retired British art teacher as the protagonist. She is retained by Scotland Yard for her seemingly psychic drawing abilities and sometimes produces cryptic pictures with clues to crimes. She tends to cause muddles trying to explain things clearly and is very innocent, never thinking someone would want to harm her. In the first book, she actually poked a murderer with her umbrella, ready to give him a lecture on manners because she mistakenly thought he was just hitting the woman rather than killing her! Ended with 22 books. OOP
9) “Death on the Mississippi” by Peter J. Heck
First book in another of my favorite series. This one features Mark Twain and his fictional secretary, Wentworth Cabot, solving murder mysteries as the author travels for a lecture tour in the late 1800s. The titles are all plays on Twain’s works like “The Prince and the Prosecutor” and “A Connecticut Yankee in Criminal Court.” Ended at 6 books. OOP
10) “Houses of Stone” by Barbara Michaels
This is actually the same writer as Elizabeth Peters. She used this pen name for romantic suspense, usually with supernatural elements. This particular book involved an English professor and a lost gothic novel. It’s been 10 years since she published anything new under this name but the books are still available. These are mostly non-series. Some are period but most are contemporary. And some have fashion or crafting themes. ^_^ (I suggest “Shattered Silk” for those who like vintage clothes/fashion history.)
I kind of want to go back and reread a lot of this stuff now!
On a slightly related note, I just finished reading Count Cain/Godchild. I’d read a couple of volumes of Godchild quite a while back since it seemed like the kind of thing I’d like with the Victorian setting and mystery theme but didn’t get around to reading the rest until recently. Wow, what a messed up family. O_O; I liked the Godchild volumes better than the earlier series; the artwork didn’t seem as nice and the plot a bit muddled in the earlier stories. I still like the mystery novel series mentioned above best for Victorian stuff though. (As a side note, Kuroshitsuji seems even more derivative now that I’ve finished reading this series. >_>; That one jumped too wildly between humor and dark stuff for my taste although the outfits were much more interesting.)
Not sure yet if I like it enough to cosplay from it. The recurring characters are mostly guys and their outfits aren’t that distinctive. Unless I want to do something silly again like Cain when he was forced to crossdress as a fortuneteller. XD I wouldn’t suit Mary Weather at all since she’s only 10 and I’m not nearly cute and petite enough for something like that. Design-wise, what I found most interesting was the half-Japanese half-British girl from volume 2 of Godchild who wore a long ruffly Western dress with a kimono layered over it. I don’t know though.
Here’s what wasn’t guessed:
1) “The Scarlet Pimpernel” by Baroness Orczy
The one non-mystery title that wasn’t guessed. Although only the first book is considered a classic, Baroness Orczy actually wrote a whole series of Scarlet Pimpernel books.
2) “The Inspector and Mrs. Jeffries” by Emily Brightwell
First book in one of my favorite series. ^_^ It’s set in Victorian London and Mrs. Jeffries is housekeeper for Inspector Witherspoon, a policeman who inherited a fortune from a wealthy aunt. The inspector doesn’t realize it but his housekeeper and other servants help him solve murders by talking to people like shopkeepers, servants, and carriage drivers to gather information and gossip. Mrs. Jeffries discusses the cases with him, finding out what the police have learned and planting suggestions about things he should look into based on what the servants have found out. It’s up to book 26 and still going; I’ve been reading this series since the mid-1990s! Unfortunately, some of the older titles are OOP.
3) “The Strange Files of Fremont Jones” by Dianne Day
First book from another favorite of mine. Fremont Jones is an adventurous young woman who leaves her conventional life in Boston and moves to San Francisco in 1905. She starts a typewriting service there, which gets her involved in her first mystery. She eventually falls in love with a former Russian spy and starts a detective agency with him. Ended at 6 books but they’re still in print except for the last.
4) “Death at Bishop’s Keep" by Robin Paige
First book from a series set in late Victorian/Edwardian England. Kate Ardleigh is an American writer of penny dreadfuls who moves to England and eventually marries Sir Charles Sheridan. Sir Charles is an amateur scientist with an interest in photography, fingerprinting, and toxicology. The Prince of Wales (later King Edward) sometimes asks Sir Charles to investigate cases where nobles are involved so that the police and press can be kept away and scandal avoided. Each book also features 1 or 2 real people from that era; Beatrix Potter, Arthur Conan Doyle, Rudyard Kipling, and Lillie Langtry were among the characters used. Don’t like this series as much as the previous two but it’s still interesting. Ended a few years ago at 12 books but I haven’t read the last couple yet.
5) “The Last Camel Died at Noon” by Elizabeth Peters
A book from the Amelia Peabody series. Amelia is a Victorian woman with feminist views who becomes an archeologist. She marries Emerson, another archeologist. During their Egyptian excavations, they encounter murders, tomb robbers, the occasional wandering mummy, and in the case of this book, a lost city! XD It’s a rather amusing series since Amelia tends to jump to conclusions a lot. The books cover a few decades from the late 1800s to the 1920s but I haven’t read some of the later ones yet. I got a little annoyed that a certain character died and came back not once but twice. >_>; Still going and book 19 is scheduled to come out next spring. The writer has a Ph.D in Egyptology so there’s a lot of Ancient Egyptian trivia included.
6) “Decked” by Carol Higgins Clark
First book in the Regan Reilly series. Regan is a private investigator and the daughter of a famous mystery novelist. The series is very humorous and tends to involve rather ridiculous situations. XD 12 books so far plus some collaborative ones with her mother, Mary Higgins Clark.
7) “Starring Miss Seeton” by Hamilton Crane
A book from the Miss Seeton series by Heron Carvic, Hampton Charles, and Hamilton Crane. (The two latter writers continued the series after the original author’s death.) Another of my favorites, this is a rather humorous series with an elderly retired British art teacher as the protagonist. She is retained by Scotland Yard for her seemingly psychic drawing abilities and sometimes produces cryptic pictures with clues to crimes. She tends to cause muddles trying to explain things clearly and is very innocent, never thinking someone would want to harm her. In the first book, she actually poked a murderer with her umbrella, ready to give him a lecture on manners because she mistakenly thought he was just hitting the woman rather than killing her! Ended with 22 books. OOP
9) “Death on the Mississippi” by Peter J. Heck
First book in another of my favorite series. This one features Mark Twain and his fictional secretary, Wentworth Cabot, solving murder mysteries as the author travels for a lecture tour in the late 1800s. The titles are all plays on Twain’s works like “The Prince and the Prosecutor” and “A Connecticut Yankee in Criminal Court.” Ended at 6 books. OOP
10) “Houses of Stone” by Barbara Michaels
This is actually the same writer as Elizabeth Peters. She used this pen name for romantic suspense, usually with supernatural elements. This particular book involved an English professor and a lost gothic novel. It’s been 10 years since she published anything new under this name but the books are still available. These are mostly non-series. Some are period but most are contemporary. And some have fashion or crafting themes. ^_^ (I suggest “Shattered Silk” for those who like vintage clothes/fashion history.)
I kind of want to go back and reread a lot of this stuff now!
On a slightly related note, I just finished reading Count Cain/Godchild. I’d read a couple of volumes of Godchild quite a while back since it seemed like the kind of thing I’d like with the Victorian setting and mystery theme but didn’t get around to reading the rest until recently. Wow, what a messed up family. O_O; I liked the Godchild volumes better than the earlier series; the artwork didn’t seem as nice and the plot a bit muddled in the earlier stories. I still like the mystery novel series mentioned above best for Victorian stuff though. (As a side note, Kuroshitsuji seems even more derivative now that I’ve finished reading this series. >_>; That one jumped too wildly between humor and dark stuff for my taste although the outfits were much more interesting.)
Not sure yet if I like it enough to cosplay from it. The recurring characters are mostly guys and their outfits aren’t that distinctive. Unless I want to do something silly again like Cain when he was forced to crossdress as a fortuneteller. XD I wouldn’t suit Mary Weather at all since she’s only 10 and I’m not nearly cute and petite enough for something like that. Design-wise, what I found most interesting was the half-Japanese half-British girl from volume 2 of Godchild who wore a long ruffly Western dress with a kimono layered over it. I don’t know though.
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