I gave the first Tommy and Tuppence book, The Secret Adversary to my tween cousin a couple of Christmases ago, and it made its way across the whole family over time. I still like it!

I am also here to recommend Bleak House! It's a good one to take breaks from, since it's so long and was originally written as a serial anyway. But it's great!

Bleak House is definitely to be read soon! Sounds like it might be a good one to read bits of while I’m waiting for reports to run during work day, that’s always a plus. And I believe there’s an adaptation with Gillian Anderson so I’m already looking forward to that.

Adding The Secret Adversary to the list

Bleak House is definitely to be read soon!

FWIW, Lynda Barry is currently reading Bleak House and almost to the end.

I have read The Woman in White and The Moonstone and they are both pretty good!

I've been meaning to read those for ages. I need to get on that.

I know I have read most if not all of Agatha Christie but what I actually remember of the books is probably not very much. I mean, Murder on the Orient Express and And Then There Were None I remember who did it and I can recall bits and pieces of many others but I'm certain there is a lot I have forgotten. But I also know that I didn't actually like all of them and there is a LOT - I made a spreadsheet of the books I've read and am thinking of reading next for this little project and the Hercule Poirot and Miss Marple alone come to 60 titles! Of course, what I've already read comes to 83 titles so maybe I shouldn't let that number scare me.

I am blessed with the fact that I read them all as a teen but remember almost nothing, so when I reread it's pretty much all a surprise, except the two above and Roger Ackroyd. About five years ago, I planned to reread my collection: [link]

As a result, I prepared a whole spreadsheet with all 80+ books (U.S. & U.K. editions), pub dates, featured detectives, etc. If you are interested, shoot me an an email and I can send it.

My initial idea was to block each decade, like so: [link]

But I keep starting and stopping after that first batch and haven't quite finished the 30s. I need to get back to it but I don't like to read more than a few at a time.

Ooh, megan, that sounds like more detail than I need but of course I will want to see your spreadsheet! I’ll be in touch tomorrow. I also remember who killed Roger Ackroyd but not much else about that story.

When I started with Marsh I intended to read one decade’s worth of books per month. That didn’t last very long but I ended up binging them faster than that - got all interested in the historical details and what changed over time and what didn’t. I do have to take breaks in between my binges, though. Fortunately there are plenty of completely different-from-these books that I want to read and more keep coming out...

I read The Moonstone this year and really enjoyed it. Although, the Indian subplot often made me cringe. I want to watch the miniseries that was done a few years ago. I also wonder if it was the first use of quicksand as a plot device.

I was supposed to read Bleak House many years ago in a class I took and just could not get through it. I have an audiobook version downloaded to see if I can get through it that way. I love Victorian literature, but not usually Dickens.

megan, insent.

megan, insent.

Right back atcha, sj.

Either The Moonstone or The Woman in White has the first crime-solving detective in that Sherlock Holmes tradition. At least, that's what my grad school professor claimed.

Edit: I've read them both, I just don't remember. Woman in White, I think.

Insent, megan

The Moonstone is the one I've seen cited that way, Dana. I'm not sure if this is me reading too much into it, but I can see it's influence all over the place in the Golden Age stuff I've read recently, and in Holmes. I might let myself get sidetracked into researching the actual structure and function of police detectives in the 19th century, the celebrated Sergeant Cuff rather confuses me, but I'll probably stick to fiction.

I went ahead watched the 1972 adaptation of The Moonstone, also, and it is more faithful to the book but the production values are 1972 TV so it's not as pretty to look at as the more recent one. Interesting to see how 1972 versions of Victorian clothing compare to 2018 costumes.