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Who is your favorite mystery books character? What draws you to that character?
Last edited by Edie - Mystery Books; 04/04/09 11:40 AM.
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BellaOnline Editor Chipmunk
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To get this thread started, one of my favorite characters is Kinsey Millhone of the Sue Grafton alphabet series. I feel drawn to her because she is single, like me, and leads a very active and independent life. And who wouldn't envy having Henry as a landlord and neighbor - a retired baker who loves to cook. Sometimes I see a lot of myself in Kinsey, except that I have never been shot at (directly), but that's another story. Okay, your turn - who is your favorite character?
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Shark
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Shark
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For me, it's between Miss Marple and Hercule Poirot, two Agatha Christie sleuths. I can't decide.
cela
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Gecko
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I love Clare from the Coffeehouse Mysteries a lot. I am also a fan of Stephanie Plum. I really like Aurora Teagarden, too. I see you mentioned that you're reading that series. I love her! Chloe Carter from the Gourmet Girl Mysteries. Can you tell I love a series?
Barbara Sharpe
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BellaOnline Editor Chipmunk
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Series rock! Great way to get to know the character and the author. Who is the author of the Coffeehouse mysteries?
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Newbie
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Gecko
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The Coffeehouse series is by Cleo Coyle. They take place in a coffee shop in NYC. I've liked them all quite a bit.
Barbara Sharpe
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Gecko
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Gecko
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btw - I just ordered Thyme of Death by Susan Albert Wittig!
Barbara Sharpe
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BellaOnline Editor Chipmunk
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It is difficult to pick a favorite sometimes, even when the characters are as different and unique as Miss Marple and Hercule Poirot. Seeing both of them on TV really added to the flavor of the books - probably because the actors were so well chosen, IMO.
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BellaOnline Editor Chipmunk
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Aziza, I haven't read Mary Clark Higgins in years! Which book did you like best?
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BellaOnline Editor Chipmunk
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Barbara, a coffeehouse sounds like an interesting setting as so many people come through during the day. Gives the writer opportunity to create quite a cast of characters, especially with NYC as a backdrop.
Also, glad you started with Thyme of Death as that is the first in the series. Hope you enjoy it. I don't know how much Ruby is mentioned in that first book, but she is quite a character. I wrote a short story one time using Ruby as inspiration. It was fun!
Please let me know what you think of the book. I'm just finishing my first Aurora Teagarden, but inadvertently started with the third book. Unfortunately, the author refers back to the other two quite often. Oops.
Edit - corrected spelling error.
Last edited by Edie - Mystery Books; 01/22/09 09:59 AM.
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Gecko
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Gecko
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I read one of the coffeehouse mysteries and liked it a lot. I also like the cookie mysteries by Joanne Fluke. Hannah Swenson is an engaging character and reading one of those mysteries is like taking a trip to Lake Eden to visit all the characters.
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BellaOnline Editor Chipmunk
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I just picked up two Joanne Fluke mysteries at the library, so she is next on my list. Sometimes authors use a real location as a backdrop, but other times they make up their own. They can make them sound so real, the reader wants to visit. That's a sign of a good author, don't you think?
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Gecko
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Gecko
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I think so too. Actually, the Joanne Fluke mysteries are more about Lake Eden and its residents than mystery really. There is a mystery but it's always someone very unlikable who gets killed-lol.
She puts delicious recipes in her books too.
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Shark
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Shark
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Oh, I forgot Gordianus, The Finder, in the Steven Saylor series about a detective in ancient Rome. He's my favorite, too. Can I have 3 favorites?!
cela
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BellaOnline Editor Chipmunk
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You can have as many favorites as you like - I certainly do. I know favorite means one, but with so many great mystery characters it is difficult to choose just one. So, we'll bend the rules a little bit.
Last edited by Edie - Mystery Books; 01/16/09 11:33 AM.
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Shark
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Shark
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Good deal.
cela
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BellaOnline Editor Chipmunk
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Anyone else have a favorite mystery character? One of my favorites early on was Travis McGee.
Anyone have a favorite out of the 1940's or 1950's? Any Mickey Spillane fans? Mike Hammer?
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Gecko
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Gecko
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I read one of the coffeehouse mysteries and liked it a lot. I also like the cookie mysteries by Joanne Fluke. Hannah Swenson is an engaging character and reading one of those mysteries is like taking a trip to Lake Eden to visit all the characters. I've read a few of Fluke's and the rest are on my To Read List. You can imagine my To Read list is pages and pages and pages long! I may never read all those books.
Barbara Sharpe
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I just finished Key Lime Pie by Joanne Fluke, and starting Carrot Cake Murders today.
Unfortunately, I am reading four different mysteries at once, two for review purposes. Yeesh! Sometimes it takes me a moment to figure out which story I am reading.
My list, also, is getting longer as I discover new-to-me authors.
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Any other favorite characters? How about the friends or companions of the hero or heroine?
I enjoy Lula and Grandma Mazur in the Stephanie Plum series.
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BellaOnline Editor Chipmunk
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Who is your favorite mystery book character?
Last edited by Edie - Mystery Books; 03/25/09 06:52 AM.
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BellaOnline Editor Chipmunk
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I recently found a new character in Brianna (Bree) Winston-Beaufort, an attorney in the Mary Stanton paranormal cozy mysteries. I just read Angel's Advocate and am looking forward to reading the first book, Defending Angels.
Any new favorites for you?
Last edited by Edie - Mystery Books; 03/25/09 07:12 AM.
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Amoeba
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Amoeba
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Edie, Your question about a favorite mystery book character has had me thinking and thinking.... I think that my favorite character changes as time goes on. I know that many times I think that my favorite author (at the time) has my favorite character of all time in his/her books.... But then, invariably, I read one too many books by that particular author and become disenchanted with the series, and then go on to find another favorite author who comes with his/her very own character - who I take on to be my favorite character "of all time" (again!)... until the cycle starts all over again and again.
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Gosh I can't give an absolute favorite. My first love was Sherlock Holmes. I read all the stories in the casebook while I was babysitting. But I also love Nancy Drew, Miss Marple, Hercule Poirot, then later Kinsey Milhone, V.I.Warshowski, and Qwilleran, China Bayles, Jim Chee. I have purchased a series of books set in ancient Egypt by Lynda S. Robinson featuring Meren a royal investigator. I have read only one of the series, but will get to them all as soon as I finish the last China Bayles I have. I also bought at a garage sale several books set in the southwest and featuring a tribal police detective. I have not started this series yet either.
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BellaOnline Editor Chipmunk
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Danna, I agree! Sometimes I either get my fill of someone or the author seems to tire of the character and they change somehow. The characters don't always have the energy they used to, or the author decides to change the way they behave.
It's sad when the series runs out of steam - or I do.
Prairie Girl, were the tribal police detective books the Tony Hillerman series? I've read the whole series more than once. Also, China Bayles is one of my favorites. You have read quite a variety of authors!
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I love Kinsey Millhone too..I like Eve Dallas from the JD ROBB "Death" series..I Love "The Sisterhood " series by Fern Michaels..and there is a series of books about a woman that has a Catering business ...her husbund works for the Police Dept..she has 1 son and it takes place in Colorado and i can not remember the author or the main character..Isn't old age wonderful !! lol ............Barbara
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BellaOnline Editor Chipmunk
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Barbara, If you remember the author or books about the caterer in Colorado, would you let us know? And yes, I'm trying to remember what is wonderful about old age! Thanks for stopping by!
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Gecko
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Gecko
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I'm always amazed that people can narrow down favorites to one, or two, or even three .... I usually have 1-2 per author LOL. I love Alex Cross (James Patterson books), Kay Scarpetta, Eve Dallas, and I can't remember other names, I have to go back and read again LOL.
I average 3-6 books a week, so you see why my brain loses info? (We're not going to talk about my age LOL)
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Amoeba
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Amoeba
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The series you're thinking about is Diane Mott Davidson's Goldy Bear Mystery Series which takes place in Aspen, Colorado. Goldy is a caterer, has one son, a best friend (Marla - who is my favorite character of the mystery series) and Tom Schultz, a homicide detective with whom Goldy gets involved.
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Diane Mott Davidson Is the author.. and Goldy is the main charactor......she has a series of books..if anyone wants to read her books i think it's better to start with the first one.. I don't know how anyone else feels but i will NEVER, NEVER read a series out of order..My best friend will buys books that say " 2nd the series "..It drives me nuts..lol
Barbara
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Sara..... I read as much as you do.. Years ago i started to write the books i read on index cards and i but them in a file box..then i made an Author box...that was 30 years ago...and now i have a lot of boxes...about 10 years ago i decorated the file boxes with little pictures of books that are in the back of magazines from Double Day Book Club...my kids ask me what they should do with them when i die..I said " don't worry, i'm taking them with me "...lol.....Barbara
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BellaOnline Editor Chipmunk
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Barbara, I laughed when I read about your lists because many years ago I started the same type of file, but over the years I let it go. After reading your post, I wonder how many file boxes I would now have if I had written all the books down.
Might as well take it with you, especially if you haven't caught up with all the books you want to read - right? Makes sense to me.
Take care and thanks for your comments.
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BellaOnline Editor Chipmunk
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Danna, Thanks for providing the information. I think someone mentioned this series under another thread. I'm thinking about gathering all the culinary authors under one article, but still haven't quite figured out how I should write it.
Culinary related mysteries seems to be the most popular of all the various themes, especially those books that contain recipes.
Take care!
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Gecko
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Gecko
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I don't have index cards -- I keep lists in notebooks, by author *sigh* Between my roomie and myself we have a TON of books and constantly buy the same book twice (this holds true for patterns also -- we're avid needleworkers). I'm still inventorying the books, we're on a book buying hiatus until I finish up. I'm also inventorying our movies .... same problem, we buy the same ones more than once LOL.
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BellaOnline Editor Chipmunk
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Sounds like a notebook for each - books, movies, projects - sounds like a great idea. That might help prevent duplicates (which I have also done). Thanks for sharing!
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Gecko
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Gecko
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The best thing about the notebooks is that I can take them with me to the store or library. I even mark which I've read or watched and either want to buy or "don't bother" LOL. The portability of the notebooks is great. I'll be computerizing the lists after I finish compilling them so I can sort by author, genre, title, etc.
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Amoeba
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Amoeba
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Edie,
There are so many culinary mystery authors now that I had to divide my Culinary Theme into five sections! Good luck writing an article with all of them in it!
Danna
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BellaOnline Editor Chipmunk
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Danna, Maybe it will be a five part article. Take care!
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Really enjoying new "favorites" Paco and Molly, who were created by Rosemary and Larry Mild. Here is a link to the review of their latest, Boston Scream Pie . They also wrote Locks and Cream Cheese and Hot Grudge Sunday, the 1st and 2nd books in this wonderful and humorous series. The funniest aspect of these stories are the "Mollyprops" - you've got to read them to fully enjoy this unique character.
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Amoeba
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Amoeba
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My favorite character is Phillip Marlowe. I grew up watching film noir and I enjoyed reading the detective fiction from that time period.
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BellaOnline Editor Chipmunk
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I really like Phillip Marlowe. I like the hard-bitten detective when they are well written. A new favorite is Darko Dawson, the detective in Wife of the Gods which is based in Ghana. He has his problems, and yet I found him likeable.
Last edited by Edie-MysteryBooks&Sitcoms; 05/25/09 05:41 AM.
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