Once Upon a Crime - Montclair Library discussion

Are we discussing anything in March? Meeting on Goodreads? WebEx?

Hi Mary,

Officially no as the library is still closed. I'll ask Shannon to post a link to a new discussion on Goodreads in case people want to discuss "Smoke and Ashes". Fingers crossed for April and WebEx!

I might give it a try, but there are a couple of books with that title on Hoopla. who is the author?

Mary,

I will be here on Monday!

It's this one:

https://www.hoopladigital.com/title/1...

Thank you, Tim. I'm trying to get it read by Monday.

I'll be here on Monday, as well.

I did finish the book in time. It was actually a pretty fast read. My knowledge of history isn't great and there were so many groups involved that I had trouble following exactly what was happening.

Still, I have to admit that I liked it. This was the 3rd book in the series, and I'd like to go back and read the earlier ones.

Hi, Mary.

Wow, you did tear right through it. I was writing my review on it, and I enjoyed the history portions of it quite a bit. I'm of course aware of Mahatma Gandhi and his nonviolent efforts to gain India's independence, but this expanded my knowledge of such things.

I have read lot of books dealing with the end of the Raj, Gandhi, and toher events of the time after WWI. I really liked the treatment of the history, giving more understanding than many others of the Indian side of the rift.

Hi, Gwen. Yeah, I would agree, getting a "man on the streets" perspective like this was pretty good. Actually, I think the most detailed view of this I had read before was an alternate history scenario, where the Nazi's had taken control in India during WWII. Gandhi tried the same sort of nonviolent response to them.

It didn't go well.

Wyndham's opium addiction gave him more insight into the people aroundhim --not because he was addicted, but because he was forced to deal with people and places very few Englishmen would have come into contact with.

Mary is the intrepid mystery reader here. So, Mary, how did you view the book, purely as a mystery

Gwyn wrote: "Wyndham's opium addiction gave him more insight into the people aroundhim --not because he was addicted, but because he was forced to deal with people and places very few Englishmen would have come..."

I hadn't really thought of that, but it's true. It gave him a different experience and perspective.

Gwyn wrote: "Mary is the intrepid mystery reader here. So, Mary, how did you view the book, purely as a mystery"

I guess purely as a mystery comes down to whodunit and how? In that sense, I was completely surprised at the end. But there were so many people and more than just 2 sides, so I wasn't straight on who everyone was. It was a page turner (or whatever you call it when you tap the side of a screen) for sure.

Yeah, I didn't feel like there was a whole lot there for me to latch on to in order to solve it myself, so it fell down a bit on that aspect for me. I didn't feel like the detective held anything back to PREVENT me from solving the case, so it wasn't annoying.

And yes, we need a new term for the eBooks - "screen tapper" just doesn't quite cut it.

Mary wrote: "Gwyn wrote: "Mary is the intrepid mystery reader here. So, Mary, how did you view the book, purely as a mystery"

I guess purely as a mystery comes down to whodunit and how? In that sense, I was co..."

The plot certainly held my attention, too. The whole Rawalpindi business kept bothering me, but I finally decided just to give up thinking about it and to let the author let it play out.

As Gwyn mentioned, the opium addiction gave Sam more insight...and of course if he hadn't been in the opium dens that first night he never would have known about the first body. But for future books, I do hope he manages to get clean. There are many books out there, mostly women protagonists (in my reading) who keep getting drunk when they can't deal with problems, and I don't have any sympathy for them.

Gwyn wrote: "The plot certainly held my attention, too. The whole Rawalpindi business kept bothering me, but I finally decided just to give up thinking about it and to let the author let it play out."

Yeah, I think that at some point I had adopted that attitude, since when I look back on it, I know I had misgivings about the idea of the killer planning a mustard gas attack - it didn't really fit with what we had seen of him. Which SHOULD have led me to believe he had someone else working with him, and the suspects for such a thing were kinda limited. But by then I had pretty much abandoned thoughts of "solving" things.

Since Angela's not here to ask about any favorite quotes, I'll just volunteer some of mine:

Striking was in their blood, so much so that you’d be forgiven for thinking that many of them only turned up to work so that they could then go on strike.

I distrusted any civilian organisation which felt the need to bedeck their members in quasi-military uniforms – and that included the Boy Scouts.

... an American businessman recently arrived from some place no one had ever heard of called Wisconsin

...if Surrender-not’s problems with talking to the opposite sex were anything to go by, the ladies probably wouldn’t even need to use force. Simply engaging them in conversation would likely see them turn tail and run.

You couldn’t play the game without them, and fortunately the Indians seemed to love rules as much as we did. How else could you explain both races’ love of cricket, a game so insipid and with rules so arcane that it took five full days to play it properly and which even then, more often than not, ended in a draw?

Singing [the unofficial Indian national anthem] was punishable by imprisonment – quite rightly in my opinion, if for no other reason than it sounded terrible.

Good ones, Tim.

Mary wrote: "Good ones, Tim."

Thank you. I particularly liked the cricket one. Never did understand that game.

The strike quote resonated with me bcause when my husband was traveling to, and working in, India in the late 80's' - 90's, that was still the prevailing attitude among most foreigners there.

I'd like to see Angela or others from the library add to our discussion. Since they have been on Goodreads, they can get to them anytime.

I liked the cricket quote, too. Did you know that before covid restrictions, there was a cricket league in DC? At least, that's where they played. Just in case you really want to waste some time.

Thank you. I particularly liked the cricket one. Never did understand that game."

I remember a book by Dorothy L. Sayers that spent about 5 pages giving a play-by-play of a cricket match. So boring.

Mary wrote: "I'd like to see Angela or others from the library add to our discussion. Since they have been on Goodreads, they can get to them anytime."

Yeah, I really enjoy the virtual meeting at the same time as our regular meeting, but would still like to hear from others who didn't attend at the time. I usually check into the message thread every once in a while to see if someone else has commented.

Mary wrote: "Thank you. I particularly liked the cricket one. Never did understand that game."

I remember a book by Dorothy L. Sayers that spent about 5 pages giving a play-by-play of a cricket match. So boring."

Oh, man, that sounds awful.

Is there a book chosen for April?

Mary wrote: "Is there a book chosen for April?"

HA! I was just getting ready to ask that.

Also, health and welfare wise, I hope everyone is doing well. My name managed to come to the top of the waitlist, so I had my first dose of the Pfizer vaccine yesterday. Anyone else gotten one?

How best to find out about the April book?

Delighted to report both vaccine doses. Hot cha!

Tim wrote:

Also, health and welfare wise, I hope everyone is doing well. My name managed to come to the top of the w..."

I've gotten both (Pfizer).

Well, once again the two of you have shown me up!

Gwyn wrote: "How best to find out about the April book?"

I think Angela does check this discussion. She answered my post earlier about whether there would be a discussion this month.

Time for me to check back into real (dull) life. Stay safe and well. And let's cross our fingers for face-to-face soon.....even if our faces are six feet apart.

Gwyn wrote: "Time for me to check back into real (dull) life. Stay safe and well. And let's cross our fingers for face-to-face soon.....even if our faces are six feet apart."

Absolutely. Enjoyed the discussion.

Gwyn wrote: "Time for me to check back into real (dull) life. Stay safe and well. And let's cross our fingers for face-to-face soon.....even if our faces are six feet apart."

and hidden by masks.

Okay, I'm out, too. And Tim, I hope your second dose doesn't give you any serious side effects. I just had a headache and slight fever the next day. Nothing since.

Hi I’m definitely late to the conversation wasn’t sure how it was playing out for the month of March, the book was well written, just not my type of read, I would pick it up read put it down and pick it up read I just couldn’t stay with it.

Do we have a book suggestion for April?
I get my second Covid shot April 1!

Jody wrote: "Do we have a book suggestion for April?"

Not yet.

Jody wrote: "I get my second Covid shot April 1!"

Yay! My second is April 4th.

Hi everyone,

The book for April is "Winter Counts" by David Heska Wanbli Weiden. We are planning to "meet" on WebEx instead of GoodReads. More details to follow!