The Just Desserts mystery fiction discussion group held its April 2023 meeting on Thursday the 27th. Eighteen attendees discussed the classic 1930 novel The Mystery of Hunting’s End by Nebraska author Mignon Good Eberhart, which was the selected title for the One Book One Nebraska statewide reading project in 2023. If you have read this novel, and would like to contribute your comments about it, please do so as a reply comment to this blog post, below.
Of those in attendance, all but one had managed to get a hold of a copy of The Mystery of Hunting’s End and read it — and of those readers, all but one enjoyed the book!
For reminders about upcoming Just Desserts meetings and/or other announcements of interest to mystery fans, don’t forget to sign up for the Just Desserts e-mail list. Or, 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 Mystery of Hunting’s End? Will you read additional works by Mignon Eberhart?
On May 25th, the members of Just Desserts will be having our annual “Series Share” discussion at the downtown library — participants are encouraged to read the first or second volume of any new mystery/thriller/suspense series that has started in the past two years, and share their impressions of it with the entire group. We hope to see you there!
Check out the Nebraska Author Mignon Eberhart booklist page on BookGuide for a full list of Eberhart’s 59 novels!
To finish off the 2007 season, we read a classic mystery by Nebraska’s own Mignon Eberhart — often called America’s Agatha Christie. The title we’ve selected is The Mystery of Hunting’s End, a traditional “locked room mystery.”
The Sand Hills of Nebraska, where Mignon G. Eberhart lived as a newlywed, inspired the setting of this 1930 chiller. Smack in the middle of the rolling desolation is Hunting’s End, a weekend lodge owned by the rich Kingery family. To that place socialite Matil Kingery invites a strange collection of guests — the same people who were at the lodge when her father died of “heart failure” exactly five years ago. She intends to find out which one of them murdered him. Posing as another guest is the dapper young detective, Lance O’Leary. At his recommendation, Matil has engaged Nurse Sarah Keate to care for Aunt Lucy Kingery at Hunting’s End — not a pleasant assignment as it turns out. Gathered at the lodge, Matil’s guests are shut off from the outside by a November snowstorm. Nurse Keate is the same sharp-eyed, stiletto-tongued, strong-stomached Nightingale and sleuth who established Mignon Eberhart as a mainstay of the golden age of detective fiction.
This title was discussed at the Just Desserts meeting on October 25, 2007. We encourage you to share your own thoughts and opinions about this book in a reply comment to this blog post, below!