FMK #30: Contemporary Mysteries

[melannen]

I finished Han of Iceland! Just in time to get it back to the library! It turned out to not be as long as I thought, because despite the fact that the cover, front matter, and library catalog entries all said just Hans of Iceland, it was actually part of a Complete Victor Hugo and also contained Bug-Jargal.

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)

Poll #19049 FMK #30: Contemporary Mysteries

Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 23

View Respondents

Delete All Suspects by Donna Andrews (2005) (The detective is a computer)

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F
12 (75.0%)

M
2 (12.5%)

K
2 (12.5%)

Bone Hunter by Sarah Andrews (1999) (The detective is a paleontologist)

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F
12 (80.0%)

M
2 (13.3%)

K
1 (6.7%)

Death of Yesterday by M. C. Beaton (2013) (The detective is a Scotsman)

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F
5 (38.5%)

M
3 (23.1%)

K
5 (38.5%)

The Tin Roof Blowdown by James Lee Burke (2007) (The detective is a sheriff)

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F
3 (27.3%)

M
1 (9.1%)

K
7 (63.6%)

Providence Rag by Bruce DeSilva (1999) (The detective is a reporter)

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F
5 (50.0%)

M
1 (10.0%)

K
4 (40.0%)

The Dinosaur Feather by Sissel-Jo Gavan (2013) (The detective is a Scandinavian policeman)

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F
10 (76.9%)

M
1 (7.7%)

K
2 (15.4%)

Angora Alibi by Sally Goldenbaum (2013) (The detective is a knitter)

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F
11 (73.3%)

M
2 (13.3%)

K
2 (13.3%)

Danger In DC edited by Martin Greenberg (1993) (The detectives are cats)

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F
14 (82.4%)

M
1 (5.9%)

K
2 (11.8%)

Strangled Prose by Joan Hess (1986) (The detective is a bookstore owner)

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F
8 (66.7%)

M
4 (33.3%)

K
0 (0.0%)

Bones in High Places by Suzette Hill (2010) (The detective is a vicar)

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F
4 (40.0%)

M
4 (40.0%)

K
2 (20.0%)

Guy Noir and the Straight Skinny by Garrison Keillor (2012) (The detective is a... detective?)

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F
8 (47.1%)

M
0 (0.0%)

K
9 (52.9%)

Eat, Drink and Be Buried by Peter King (2001) (The detective is a professional 'culinary sleuth'.)

View Answers

F
7 (63.6%)

M
1 (9.1%)

K
3 (27.3%)

Comments

[sheliak]

I enjoyed Delete All Suspects and its (first?) sequel, although not as much as Andrews' other series. (In that one, the detective is a blacksmith! There's not enough blacksmithing in it—I'm not sure the protagonist ever smiths on page, although she does talk about her work and sell her pieces—but I like the main character and the weirdness of the rest of the cast. (IIRC I liked Turing herself, and the other prominent AI character, but the human characters made precisely no impression on me.)

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.

[melannen]

The blacksmith one is the bird puns one, right? It's been really popular lately and my mom likes it but I have sworn never to read it because of how awful the bird puns are EVEN for cozy mystery titles.

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.

[the_rck]

The blacksmith one is the bird puns series. I really like the series, but I don't think they're very good as mysteries/puzzles. I enjoy the characters and the setting and just kind of ignore the mystery part of things. Andrews isn't generally unkind to normal-ish human ridiculousness, and I appreciate that.

[rushthatspeaks]

Yes, it's the bird puns one, but the one set at a con is one of the best books ever written about a con. At one point the heroine's boyfriend, who starred in a minor SF TV show, winds up doing a dramatic reading of some of the show's slash fic. It is amazing. The one set in a re-enactment village is almost as good. The others are okay, but you're really missing something with those two. Mind you, I can't tell you which ones they are, because I have blocked out the titles for not being reasonable.

[sheliak]

The historical reenactment one is Revenge of the Wrought-Iron Flamingos, and the con one is We'll Always have Parrots. I agree that those two are the best in the series.

[the_rck]

The most recent book in the series, How the Finch Stole Christmas, has a minor fandom thing at the end that I thought was kind of sweet with about a dozen women in their sixties who met in fandom decades before and bonded over a now very obscure show getting together for a little mini convention. It's no longer entirely about the show for any of them (or even much about it for some of them); it's about the chance to get together with old friends.

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.

[sheliak]

The bird puns start with about book four, but yes. (If she'd kept the pattern of the first two books, they would all be "Murder with [bird species]"; not sure if that's better or worse.)

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.