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Tag Archives: book group

Just Desserts – January 2021 – Mysteries by African-American Authors discussion

At the January 28th, 2021 meeting of the Just Desserts mystery fiction discussion group on Zoom, the assigned reading topic was “African-American Mystery Authors”. Each participating group member was to have read ANY mystery novel or single-author mystery short story collection, which fell into that broad category, and everyone was then given an opportunity to share their thoughts and opinions on whatever they had read.


Here’s the list of mystery, thriller and suspense novels written by African-American authors, discussed by Just Desserts members in January 2021:

Do you have any favorite African-American authors of mysteries you’d like to recommend? Did you read a book in this category for our monthly theme? If so, leave a comment here to let us know what you read!

Curious to explore more African-American Mystery Authors? Check out the checklist of suggested authors, prepared as a handout for Just Desserts members!

Just Desserts — Patricia Highsmith discussion and Reading Recommendations from October 2020

Hey, mystery fans! Looking for something good to read?

At the October 29th 2020 Just Desserts meeting that took place online using Zoom meeting software, 11 members participated in a discussion of the body of works by suspense author Patricia Highsmith, after which we held our monthly round robin in which all 11 attendees were able to share recommendations of what other books they’ve been reading recently.

Here’s the list of Patricia Highsmith novels that members read and mentioned during our October 2020 discussion:

Here’s the list of mystery, thriller and suspense books recommended by Just Desserts members in October 2020:

And here were some non-mystery titles some group members also recommended in October 2020:

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

Reading Recommendations from Just Desserts members – September 2020

Hey, mystery fans! Looking for something good to read?

At the September 2020 Just Desserts meeting that took place online (postponed to October 1st) using Zoom meeting software, 10 members participated in a discussion of Liane Moriarty’s Nine Perfect Strangers suspense novel, after which we held our monthly round robin in which all 10 attendees were able to share recommendations of what other books they’ve been reading recently.

Here’s the list of mystery, thriller and suspense books recommended by Just Desserts members in September 2020:

And here were some non-mystery titles some group members also recommended in September 2020:

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

Just Desserts: Join the discussion of Liane Moriarty’s “Nine Perfect Strangers”

The Just Desserts mystery fiction discussion group met online using Zoom meeting software, on October 1st, 2020, due to the libraries suspending all public meetings (starting March 20th) as a safety precaution during the Coronavirus/COVID-19 pandemic. Attendees discussed Nine Perfect Strangers, a stand-alone suspense novel by Australian author Liane Moriarty. 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 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 Liane Moriarty’s Nine Perfect Strangers?

We hope to return to public meetings, including Just Desserts, by next Spring, although 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 Zoom on October 29th, for our final meeting of 2020 — a discussion of the body of works of classic suspense author Patricia Highsmith.

Just Desserts — Culinary Crime and Reading Recommendations from August 2020

Hey, mystery fans! Looking for something good to read?

At the August 2020 Just Desserts meeting that took place online using Zoom meeting software, 14 members participated in a discussion of “Culinary Crime” mysteries, in which attendees were encouraged to read ANY entry in a food/drink-themed mystery novel, and share their thoughts in a “round-robin” format. Here’s a list of the novels/series that were mentioned by group members. We asked all attendees to also give a “Thumbs Up” or “Thumbs Down” for whatever series they sampled – the majority of participants had a lukewarm attitude towards Culinary Crime mysteries, ranging from not enjoying them, to finding them a fun escape between more serious novels.

Culinary Crime Novels/Series:

The Hannah Swensen series by Joanne Fluke, starting with The Chocolate Chip Cookie Murder (two members read volumes in this series, including volume 10, The Carrot Cake Murder)

The Goldy Schulz series by Diane Mott Davidson (three group members reading in this series, all selecting either the first volume Catering to Nobody, or the second, Dying for Chocolate)

The Lucy Stone mystery series by Leslie Meier, starting with Mail Order Murder

The Country Store Mystery series by Maddie Day; she read volume 5, Death Over Easy

The Country Cooking School Mystery series by Paige Shelton; she read volume 3, If Bread Could Rise to the Occasion

The Nero Wolfe mystery series by Rex Stout, specifically volume 5, Too Many Cooks

The Henny Penny Farmette series by Meera Lester, specifically volume 3, A Hive of Homicides

The Biscuit Bowl Food Truck mystery series by J.J. Cook, specifically volume 3, Fat Tuesday Fricassee

The Sloan Krause brewery series by Ellie Alexander, starting with Death on Tap

The Alaskan Diner Mystery series by Elizabeth Logan, starting with Mousse and Murder

The Noodle Shop Mystery series by Vivien Chien, starting with Death by Dumpling

Following the “Series Share” portion of the meeting, we held our monthly round robin in which all 14 attendees were able to share recommendations of what other books they’ve been reading recently.

Here’s the list of mystery, thriller and suspense books recommended by Just Desserts members in August 2020:

And here were some non-mystery titles some group members also recommended in August 2020:

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