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FMK #30: Contemporary Mysteries
Possibly longer review coming later, but if I did in fact own a copy, it would be a definite M at this point. Just note that there is a scene where Hans is fighting a wolf bare-handed when the wolf is suddenly also attacked by a giant polar bear, so he has to pause fighting the wolf to chase off the bear so he can come back and kill the wolf ALL BY HIMSELF. In a gloomy cave full of pagan idols.
(Also everybody except the corrupt nobles lives happily ever after! including the defeated rebel leaders!)
Now that I'm through that and also through a lot of my other library books backlog (I have read Provenance! It was good! Mercy of Kalr needs some spider mechs!) I should be able to start catching up on the FMK backlog again.
Last week's K winner was the Dr. Strangelove novelization. Should be fun! The F winner was actually Mockingjay, which I did not expect that much hate for. I think I am going to exercise my discretion and K the second-place instead, Alph, which was universally agreed to be terrible by everybody who had heard of it.
It's week #30 already! Time for MYSTERIES. I actually had enough random mystery novels lying around that there will be two, maybe three weeks of mysteries. (This is mostly the fault of work.)
How FMK works, short version: I am trying to clear out my unreads. So there is a poll, in which you get to pick F, M, or K. F means I should spend a night of wild passion with the book ASAP, and then decide whether to keep it or not. M means I should continue to commit to a long-term relationship of sharing my bedroom with it. K means it should go away immediately. Anyone can vote, you don't have to actually know anything about the books.
I pick a winner on Friday night (although won't actually close the poll, people can still vote,) and report results/post the new poll on the following Tuesday, and write a response to the F winner sometime in the next week.
Link to long version of explanation (on first poll)
Delete All Suspects by Donna Andrews (2005) (The detective is a computer)
Bone Hunter by Sarah Andrews (1999) (The detective is a paleontologist)
Death of Yesterday by M. C. Beaton (2013) (The detective is a Scotsman)
The Tin Roof Blowdown by James Lee Burke (2007) (The detective is a sheriff)
Providence Rag by Bruce DeSilva (1999) (The detective is a reporter)
The Dinosaur Feather by Sissel-Jo Gavan (2013) (The detective is a Scandinavian policeman)
Angora Alibi by Sally Goldenbaum (2013) (The detective is a knitter)
Danger In DC edited by Martin Greenberg (1993) (The detectives are cats)
Strangled Prose by Joan Hess (1986) (The detective is a bookstore owner)
Bones in High Places by Suzette Hill (2010) (The detective is a vicar)
Guy Noir and the Straight Skinny by Garrison Keillor (2012) (The detective is a... detective?)
Eat, Drink and Be Buried by Peter King (2001) (The detective is a professional 'culinary sleuth'.)
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Every time I've tried a Beaton book, I've wanted to kill the POV character within ten pages but see no prospect of the plot ever going that way.
Guy Noir is based on the Prairie Home Companion character. I'm not sure if he can be sustained at book length, and so much of the character depends on Keillor's delivery that I'd want an audiobook version.
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It would be interesting to see him collaborate with someone who could write plot, though.
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The rest of the titles aren't familiar to me, so I voted based on how entertaining the protagonists' day jobs sounded.
I have not read Alph, but I approve of killing it; I can't remember any other book getting no Fs.
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I think the only non-K vote for Alph was someone who's been voting M for everything they've never heard of. It was pretty dramatic.
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Some bits of the scene clunked a little, and the POV character seems to have utterly failed to notice them being fannish about anything else. Which might be her or might be the author.
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I liked the first several very much; I haven't kept up with the latest, but mostly because I haven't been reading mysteries for a few years.
The avalanche of loathing for Alph was very dramatic! If I'd had a copy I think I would've gotten rid of it too.
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And also the protagonist so often turns out to be a doofy idiot who really should step back and let the police do their work, which is not the feeling you want to have about an amateur detective.
That said, sometimes you can get one that transcends the genre - I read one where the detective was a record collector and that one was pretty great. (Although I haven't read book two, I must admit.)
I do want to see your thoughts about the detective cats. I read one where the detectives were sheep once, which sadly did not deliver on the premise as well as I'd hoped. But detective cats have a lot of potential!
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The bit where half the time the protagonist is a doofy idiot who couldn't detect their own ass with their hands bound behind their back is a tougher issue for me, though, it's true (Also the ones that get way too into their setting and forget they are supposed have a murder-related plot annoy me; if I wanted a story about an annoying and improbably prosperous person having boring personal issues while absolutely nothing happens I would just be reading women's fiction instead.)
The cats ones are practically their own subgenre at this point, though, with all the same range of quality; my mom likes to listen to them on road trips so I have been exposed to several. This one is specifically cats in DC, which might me interesting. The sheep one sounds amazing, though. DETECTIVE SHEEP.
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