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Tag Archives: book group
Jacqueline Winspear’s “Maisie Dobbs”
During our March 2010 meeting, we discussed Jacqueline Winspear’s historical mystery Maisie Dobbs; the first in her series featuring a young woman from a working-class British family who, after serving as a nurse during World War I trains to be a private investigator in London.
This book was discussed at the Just Desserts meeting on March 25, 2010. Whether or not you attended the actual meeting, you are welcome to share your own thoughts and opinions about this book in a reply comment to this blog post, below.
Join us next on April 29th at South Branch Library (6:45 p.m.), as we discuss Shirley Rousseau Murphy’s, Cat Fear No Evil. Additional titles for upcoming months’ discussions can be found on the Just Desserts section of the Book Groups page of BookGuide.
And, for reminders about upcoming Just Desserts meetings, don’t forget to sign up for the Just Desserts e-mail list.
Sean Doolittle’s “The Cleanup”
During our February 2010 meeting, we discussed Nebraska author Sean Doolittle’s 2006 Omaha-set mystery/thriller The Cleanup; a stand-alone novel, featuring down-on-his-luck Omaha cop Matthew Worth, sentenced to providing security at a local grocery store. When Matt steps up to be the knight in shining armor to a young sales clerk who’s been badly beaten by her boyfriend, he doesn’t realize what a mess he’s gotten himself into. Combine the Polish mafia, corrupt cops, a dead money runner and one of the worst snowstorms to hit the Omaha area in years, and you’ve got a contemporary noirish/hard-boiled thriller.
This book was discussed at the Just Desserts meeting on February 25, 2010. Whether or not you attended the actual meeting, you are welcome to share your own thoughts and opinions about this book in a reply comment to this blog post, below.
Join us next on March 25th at South Branch Library (6:45 p.m.), as we discuss Jacqueline Winspear’s, Maisie Dobbs. Additional titles for upcoming months’ discussions can be found on the Just Desserts section of the Book Groups page of BookGuide.
And, for reminders about upcoming Just Desserts meetings, don’t forget to sign up for the Just Desserts e-mail list.
Dana Stabenow’s “A Deeper Sleep”
During our January 2010 meeting, we discussed Dana Stabenow’s 2007 Alaska-set mystery/thriller A Deeper Sleep; part of her Kate Shugak series. This particular volume featured Kate and her State Trooper boyfriend Jim Chopin investigating the death of a misogynistic, wife-abusing bully, who may or may not have been the killer of the local barkeep’s wife and son — all while Kate tries to avoid being forced into a position of authority in the local Native association by her “aunties”.
This book was discussed at the Just Desserts meeting on January 28, 2010. Whether or not you attended the actual meeting, you are welcome to share your own thoughts and opinions about this book in a reply comment to this blog post, below.
Join us next on February 25th at South Branch Library (6:45 p.m.), as we discuss Nebraska author Sean Doolittle’s mystery/thriller, The Cleanup. Additional titles for upcoming months’ discussions can be found on the Just Desserts section of the Book Groups page of BookGuide.
And, for reminders about upcoming Just Desserts meetings, don’t forget to sign up for the Just Desserts e-mail list.
The Works of Leslie Charteris
During the Nov/Dec 2009 hiatus between meetings of the Just Desserts mystery fiction discussion group, we encourage regular attendees to participate as a group in a virtual way. While we may not have an actual meeting scheduled during these two months, we want to use this blog to keep everyone active with their mystery reading and discussions.
We encourage Just Desserts participants to read a book by Leslie Charteris (the creator of Simon Templar, “The Saint”, as well as many other novels) at some point in November or December 2009, then come back here and leave a comment about whichever Charteris book they read, as a comment post in response to this message.
As a bit of background, here are some links to Leslie Charteris information:
- The Official Leslie Charteris homepage
- Leslie Charteris entry at Wikipedia
- The Saintly Bible: A Guide to the Immortal Works of Leslie Charteris and the Saint Saga
We look forward to seeing your comments here over the course of the next two months!
Scott C. – Just Desserts coordinator
Donald Westlake’s “Get Real”
We finished off our year of mystery fiction discussions in October 2009 by discussing the late Donald Westlake’s 2009 Dortmunder novel Get Real; not true “mystery” novels, the Dortmunder books are more amusing thrillers or “caper” novels, featuring a bumbling group of master thieves whose grand schemes for the next big score inevitably collide with Murphy’s Law.
This book was discussed at the Just Desserts meeting on October 29, 2009. Whether or not you attended the actual meeting, you are welcome to share your own thoughts and opinions about this book in a reply comment to this blog post, below.
This was the final Just Desserts meeting for 2009 — we’ll take our traditional November/December hiatus before (hopefully) returning in January with all new authors and titles. Watch for a posting in November encouraging mystery fans to discuss the works of Leslie Charteris here on the blog during our “off” months!
Dortmunder fans — check out The Dortmunder series booklist on BookGuide!