Tonight we had our Christmas celebration and book exchange at the Mystery on Mondays book group. Apart from sampling lots of goodies throughout the evening, we also discussed Agatha Christie’s Hercule Poirot’s Christmas. While I don’t think it was as big a hit as some other Christie novels we’ve read we were all super happy the book had no recipes.
That’s a bit of an inside joke with our group as every December we try to select a Christmas theme book but the books we’ve chose have always had cooking recipes and not much mystery. I liked the Christie book a lot and it’s making me want to read more of her novels.
As far as the book exchange goes I got Avenger by Frederick Forsyth. This book really doesn’t sound like my typical read. Hmm, maybe I’ll exchange that with a friend later. Speaking of exchanging books one of my best friends recently gave me Velocity by Dean Koontz to check out. She said it was a good, intense novel. You know, I think the last Koontz novel I read must have been when I was just out of high school! This should be fun.
And, in more mystery news, I did finish Raven Black by Ann Cleeves (click on the title for more of my thoughts). It was a great read and I definitely recommend it. Now I’m starting another mystery Deadly Advice by Roberta Isleib. This is the first in the Advice Column mystery series. So far it’s got a great beginning so I’m looking forward to see what this amateur sleuth gets up to.
What a relaxed way to see friends: talking about books and eating yummy treats!
Isabel – I agree! I’m going to another book group meeting tonight so I’m looking forward to it.
I was just getting back into Koontz when I tried to read Velocity. It was SO intense, I had to put it down and never picked it back up again! I hope you enjoy it. I may have to give it another chance. I loved The Good Guy and Odd Thomas, but most of his other more recent releases (The Darkest Evening of the Year, Brother Odd, Forever Odd) were disappointing.
Ha ha, I’ve actually made recipes from novels. I used to read this series about a caterer who solved mysteries. I think the author was Diana Mott Davidson? Maybe. Anyway, I got sick of the books after about three, but I loved the foodie-ness of the series.
Just finished your review of Raven Black and like the sound of it. I love mysteries and always need new ones!
I’ve never heard of that book but I love Hercule , he’s a great character. I made the oatmeal cookies from Aunt Dimity’s Death, but they didnt turn out well lol
Sounds like the perfect way to spend an evening – treats and books! I was sorry to have missed the book group last night but I hope it was a lot of fun – what did everyone think of the book?
Hope we can catch up soon!
Les in NE – Ooh good to hear it is intense! I think it could be fun to revisit this author. See if he can still scare me 🙂
Dew – You have?! See that’s pretty cool. I don’t cook though so they are of no use to me 🙂
Jenclair – I hope you like it. It probably goes up there with one of my favorite mysteries of the year.
Erin – It could be because I think it was originally published with a different title? I haven’t read any Aunt Dimity books – do you like those?
Christine – It was fun although it was hard to hear what was going on. We had some tarot card readings going on behind us – ha,ha… Hope to see you soon girl.
I have sadly never read an Agatha Christie novel, an oversite that every year I swear I’ll correct since I’ve loved so many of the productions made from her works, Poirot being one of my favorites, followed very closely by Geraldine McEwon’s (I think that is her name) portrayal of Ms. Marple.
Carl V. – I’ve only read a few which I picked up since last year. They really are great so hope you pick one up. I’ve seen a couple of the Ms. Marple episodes just not sure who the actress is – I’ll have to check but I did find them charming.