Tag Archives: book discussion groups

Join the discussion of Chris Bohjalian’s “The Red Lotus”

The Just Desserts mystery fiction discussion group held its third monthly in-person meeting, following over a year on Zoom, on August 26th, 2021. Thirteen attendees discussed the stand-alone thriller The Red Lotus by author Chris Bohjalian. If you read The Red Lotus, and would like to contribute your comments about it, please do so as a reply comment to this blog post, below.

For reminders about upcoming Just Desserts meetings (once they resume) and/or other announcements of interest to mystery fans, don’t forget to sign up for the Just Desserts e-mail list. Or, now that in-person meetings are possible again, if you’re logged into your account on Facebook, you can visit the Events page for the Lincoln City Libraries, and mark whether or not you plan to attend upcoming sessions of Just Desserts – this is a great way for you to help us promote this engaging discussion group!

So…What did you think of The Red Lotus? Have you read others by Chris Bohjalian?

The following handout was prepared for the members of Just Desserts: The Works of Chris Bohjalian.

Now that we’ve returned to in-person public meetings again, we hope to see you at future gatherings of the Just Desserts group. Watch the libraries’ website and social media accounts (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram) for the latest updates! In the meantime, we hope Just Desserters will join us on September 30th, 2021, for a discussion of the entire “Gaslight Mysteries” series by Victoria Thompson.

Just Desserts: Join the discussion of “Twisted Twenty-Six” by Janet Evanovich

The Just Desserts mystery fiction discussion group was unable to meet on April 30th, 2020, due to the libraries suspending all public meetings (starting March 20th) as a safety precaution during the Coronavirus/COVID-19 pandemic. Therefore, the group was unable to discuss Twisted Twenty-Six, the 26th entry in the Stephanie Plum series by Janet Evanovich. If you read this book, and would like to contribute your comments about it, please do so as a reply comment to this blog post, below.

For additional reminders about upcoming Just Desserts meetings (once they resume) and/or other announcements of interest to mystery fans, don’t forget to sign up for the Just Desserts e-mail list. Or, once meetings are possible again, if you’re logged into your account on Facebook, you can visit the Events page for the Lincoln City Libraries, and mark whether or not you plan to attend upcoming sessions of Just Desserts – this is a great way for you to help us promote this engaging discussion group!

So…What did you think of Janet Evanovich’s Stephanie Plum series, including the Twisted Twenty-Six and would you read more of these?

We hope to return to public meetings, including Just Desserts, by this Fall, although watch the libraries’ website and social media accounts (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram) for the latest updates!

Reading Recommendations in April from Just Desserts members

At the April 26th, 2018 meeting of the Just Desserts mystery fiction discussion group, following the discussion of the assigned topic of the month (the entire body of works by British mystery/suspense author Ruth Rendell), we held our monthly round robin in which all the attendees were able to share a few recommendations of what other books they’ve been reading recently.

First, here’s the list of Ruth Rendell mystery/suspense books discussed by Just Desserts members at our April 2018 meeting:

The Babes in the Woods (audiobook)
Dark Corners (2)
From Doon With Death (3, including 1 as audiobook)
The Girl Next Door (2)
Harm Done
In Sickness and in Health
A Judgment in Stone
Monster in the Box (2)
Not in the Flesh (2)
Piranha to Scurfy and Other Stories
The St. Zita Society
Secret House of Death
Simisola
13 Steps Down
The Tree of Hands
The Vault (2)
The Water’s Lovely
various in the Inspector Wexford series

This meeting was audio-recorded, for eventual release through the libraries’ podcast series. This podcast episode finally became available in April 2020 — Click here to listen to the audio podcast recording of this meeting!

After our Rendell discussion, we had a few minutes for a general round robin. Here are the mystery and non-mystery titles recommended by Just Desserts members in April 2018:

Amelia Peabody’s Egypt: A Companion by Elizabeth Peters
Instinct on TV, tied loosely into Murder Games by James Patterson – past author selection for Just Desserts
Bobby Kennedy: A Raging Spirit by Chris Matthews
The Mrs. Pollifax series by Dorothy Gilman
How to Wash a Cat by Rebecca Hale
Lincoln in the Bardo by George Sanders
News note: one group member announced that Margaret Coel is done with writing the Wind River series but will still be writing other things
Orson Scott Card’s “Women of Genesis” series
News note: One member mentioned coming across a promo for a “real person” mystery novel, due out in July, by Andrew Shaffer — Hope Never Dies, featuring Barack Obama and Joe Biden as no-long-in-the-oval-office mystery solvers (not yet on order for the libraries)

Because we didn’t have as much time for our general “round robins” discussion, please feel free to respond here on the blog to the following question: What mysteries have you been reading lately that you’d recommend?

Reading List from Just Desserts “Anthology” meeting – January 2017

At the January 26^th, 2017 meeting of the Just Desserts mystery fiction discussion group, the theme of the monthly meeting was “Mystery Anthologies and Short Story Collections”. First, we had a round robin in which each attendee shared comments about whichever Anthology or Collection they had read for the month, then we had a second round robin in which all 15 attendees were able to share recommendations of other books they’ve been reading recently.

Here were the Anthologies/Collections read by group members specifically for the January 2017 meeting:

FaceOff, edited by David Baldacci
In Sunlight and in Shadow, edited by Lawrence Block
The Big Book of Christmas Mysteries, edited by Otto Penzler
Killer Year, edited by Lee Child
Big Foot Stole My Wife, by Joan Hess writing as Joan Hadley
Books to Die For, edited by John Connolly
The Mistletoe Murder, posthumous collection by P.D. James
A Treasury of Great Mysteries, edited by Howard Haycraft and John Beecroft
Manhattan Mayhem, edited by Mary Higgins Clark
BookShots
The Best American Mystery Stories – 2015 edition, edited by James Patterson
The Nine Mile Walk, collection by Harry Kemelman
Ellery Queen’s Anthology, Spring/Summer 1976 Vol. 31
Into the Mummy’s Tomb, edited by John Richard Stephens
Creature Cozies, edited by Jill M. Morgan

Here’s the list of mystery books recommended by Just Desserts members in January 2017:

The Associates of Sherlock Holmes, edited by George Mann
Echoes of Sherlock Holmes, edited by Laurie R. King and Leslie S. Klinger
The Whistler by John Grisham
The Innocent by Taylor Stevens
Memory Man by David Baldacci – a past title/author selection for Just Desserts
Night School by Lee Child – past author selection for Just Desserts [multiple readers this month!]
Escape Clause by John Sandford – a past title/author selection for Just Desserts
A Free Man of Color by Barbara Hambly – a past title/author selection for Just Desserts
Double Shot by Diane Mott Davidson – a past title/author selection for Just Desserts
Insidious and Nemesis, both by Catherine Coulter
The Velvet Claw, Erle Stanely Gardner’s very first mystery
The Wrong Side of Goodbye by Michael Connelly – a past title/author selection for Just Desserts
Chaos, and others by Patricia Cornwell – a past title/author selection for Just Desserts
Written Off by E.J. Copperman
A Rule Against Murder and A Great Reckoning (both on audio) by Louise Penny
The Agatha Christie Book Club by C.A. Larmer
The Xibalba Murders and others by Lyn Hamilton
Killer Smile by Lisa Scottoline – a past author selection for Just Desserts
My Italian Bulldozer (on audio) by Alexander McCall-Smith – a past author selection for Just Desserts

And here were some non-mystery titles some group members recommended in January 2017:

I’ll Take You There by Wally Lamb
The Sleepwalker by Chris Bohjalian
The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead
The Sword of Shannara and The Elfstones of Shannara by Terry Brooks
The Princess Diarist (on audio) by Carrie Fisher

What mysteries have you been reading lately that you’d recommend?