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.
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.
Thanks for the spreadsheet, megan, having your extra information is going to be super helpful. I am already going to have to add The Man in the Brown Suit to my list (it was recommended to me somewhere else, although I can't remember where (and when I say it was recommended to me I think I mean I saw some mention of it that made me think "oh, I should read that, I don't remember that at all") and the others you have marked especially will get due consideration!
Thanks for the spreadsheet, megan, having your extra information is going to be super helpful. I am already going to have to add The Man in the Brown Suit to my list (it was recommended to me somewhere else, although I can't remember where (and when I say it was recommended to me I think I mean I saw some mention of it that made me think "oh, I should read that, I don't remember that at all") and the others you have marked especially will get due consideration!
You're welcome!
The Man in the Brown Suit
has always been one of my faves. It's more like a spy novel than anything else. If you are still using Goodreads, everything that is marked as re-read on there is logged with a short review, except for last four or five. (I could have sworn I had done those but I've been bad about writing things up this past year.)
It occurred to me - if you're going through "golden age" mysteries, have you tried John Dickson Carr (who also wrote as Carter Dickson and Carr Dickson)? American, but he moved to England in the ... 1920s? 1930s? ... and set most of his stories there. He was known as "the master of the locked-room mystery" ... just thought of him because I'm re-reading one of his books now.
I read so many John Dickson Carr as a kid/teen!
