Reading: Christmas mystery reads
Dec. 24th, 2021 01:08 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
stonepicnicking_okapiTwo Christmas reads from the British Library Crime Classics series. I can't say I recommend either one but the first (to me) was the better of the two.
Portrait of a Murder by Anne Meredith is an inverted mystery. So imagine Poirot's Christmas (the one where he's invited by the old rich curmudgeon to spend Christmas with his family and the old guy gets killed) but if you knew who had done it from the beginning. A fairly enjoyable read, dark, because you are inside the mind of a killer and the killer is a bit of shit.
One of my many resolutions is to be more thoughtful with my reading so here are some quotes. I read with a set of tabs by my side and mark things.
Has it ever occured to you to wonder what corners are for, except to skulked in?
he didn't suppose the fellow wanted to encompass his own ruin. [interesting phrase, I thought, 'to encompass one's own ruin.']
The Christmas Egg by Mary Kelly is not as enjoyable (in my opinion). There's a detective named Nightengale with a Sargent named Beddoes. There's a murdered Russian aristocrat hoarding priceless gems and antiques in the slums and gangs of thieves and whatnot. Meh. I didn't have any affection for either sleuth.
tiny shops bedizened... [I like the adjective 'bedizened.']
fast-cooling tea [another nice phrase]
[I liked this whole exchange about 'good morning' between the detective and the antique dealer]
“Ah, Mr. Nightingale,” said Mr. Majendie, smiling cherubically. “Good morning—you know, it seems to me that in shortening our matutinal greeting we have improved in the earlier form. ‘Give you good morning’ on a day like this, for example, would be a superfluous, meaningless wish. Glorious weather. Whereas ‘Good morning’ is an enthusiastic affirmation of fact. I suppose in the case of bad weather ‘Give you good morning’ expresses a pious hope—but it would be more practical to substitute ‘us’ for ‘you’, a sort of mutual commiseration being thereby implanted in the petition—” “In this country,” said Nightingale, keeping his patience with an effort, “it might be as well to leave out weather conditions and let the greeting mean a wish for a good morning’s work.” “Very sensible, my dear sir. Shall we to business?”
The road was lonely, unclassified. [the addition of 'unclassified' makes it interesting]
Brett could well imagine the assumed spaniel eyes of reproach in store, if that should prove the case; not that spaniels had such cerulean eyes.
[Brett is talking about Beddoes, his sargent.]
Portrait of a Murder by Anne Meredith is an inverted mystery. So imagine Poirot's Christmas (the one where he's invited by the old rich curmudgeon to spend Christmas with his family and the old guy gets killed) but if you knew who had done it from the beginning. A fairly enjoyable read, dark, because you are inside the mind of a killer and the killer is a bit of shit.
One of my many resolutions is to be more thoughtful with my reading so here are some quotes. I read with a set of tabs by my side and mark things.
Has it ever occured to you to wonder what corners are for, except to skulked in?
he didn't suppose the fellow wanted to encompass his own ruin. [interesting phrase, I thought, 'to encompass one's own ruin.']
The Christmas Egg by Mary Kelly is not as enjoyable (in my opinion). There's a detective named Nightengale with a Sargent named Beddoes. There's a murdered Russian aristocrat hoarding priceless gems and antiques in the slums and gangs of thieves and whatnot. Meh. I didn't have any affection for either sleuth.
tiny shops bedizened... [I like the adjective 'bedizened.']
fast-cooling tea [another nice phrase]
[I liked this whole exchange about 'good morning' between the detective and the antique dealer]
“Ah, Mr. Nightingale,” said Mr. Majendie, smiling cherubically. “Good morning—you know, it seems to me that in shortening our matutinal greeting we have improved in the earlier form. ‘Give you good morning’ on a day like this, for example, would be a superfluous, meaningless wish. Glorious weather. Whereas ‘Good morning’ is an enthusiastic affirmation of fact. I suppose in the case of bad weather ‘Give you good morning’ expresses a pious hope—but it would be more practical to substitute ‘us’ for ‘you’, a sort of mutual commiseration being thereby implanted in the petition—” “In this country,” said Nightingale, keeping his patience with an effort, “it might be as well to leave out weather conditions and let the greeting mean a wish for a good morning’s work.” “Very sensible, my dear sir. Shall we to business?”
The road was lonely, unclassified. [the addition of 'unclassified' makes it interesting]
Brett could well imagine the assumed spaniel eyes of reproach in store, if that should prove the case; not that spaniels had such cerulean eyes.
[Brett is talking about Beddoes, his sargent.]
no subject
Date: 2021-12-24 07:15 pm (UTC)Sadly an unclassified road simply means it's not an A or B road - one sufficiently big/going between X and Y - so this is just a minor road without a road number. (A38, B4041 etc)
no subject
Date: 2021-12-24 08:35 pm (UTC)Yes, but it's a interesting word. It sounds interesting to me (with the lonely). Like a lonely unclassified heart or a lonely unclassified voyage.
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Date: 2021-12-24 08:40 pm (UTC)I know what you mean about lonely unclassified - it does sum up the description of the area the road was in.
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Date: 2021-12-26 03:05 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2021-12-26 04:17 am (UTC)I liked Portrait. I mean, it isn't a cosy mystery but it was okay. Not a lot of sympathetic characters either, to be honest, but there are two or three.
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Date: 2021-12-26 01:43 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2021-12-26 09:22 pm (UTC)I am going to try to be more thoughtful when I read and make a point to highlight and post quotes this year. It's helpful for me, and I hope folks like you will enjoy it, too.