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Jul. 10th, 2009 10:06 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
skygiantsAfter my last read, I felt desperately in need of some escapism.
- which is what I am reading now! (I am in fact making my first foray into a non-Heyer Real Romance Novel, guys. It's . . . interesting. But MORE ON THAT LATER.) But first, I took a detour in the complete opposite direction from escapism and read the third one in Walter Mosley's Easy Rawlin series, White Butterfly. I really get more and more impressed by these books as I read further in the series. I feel like a lot of ongoing mysteries tend to return to a status quo with every book in order to keep the comfort level of the reader - and I have no objection to that, mind; many of my favorite mystery series do this! - but every book in the Easy Rawlins series actually affects Easy's life in significant ways, and Mosley is really not afraid to shake things up. This book actually starts with Easy married, with kids, to a woman we've never even heard of in previous books, which is a way bold move and allows for a ton of interesting character development. The actual mystery plot, as usual, was a bit hard to keep track of (there's a serial killer on the loose, but nobody cared until he killed his Nice White Girl. OR MAYBE HE DIDN'T!) but this series isn't about that, really. It's about Easy Rawlins, trying and often failing to be a decent man, and the society he lives in, and the noir-detective role he'd much rather not be trapped in. (I was also surprised and somewhat impressed that Mosley brought up the issue of spousal rape, although I wish he'd gone further with it than he did.)
Anyway. Like I said, the Easy Rawlins books are really not characteristic of most mystery series I have read. (Also, it feels like almost all mysteries are long series - I wonder why that is?) But some of you read lots more mysteries than me, and between that and the official launch of the WEST IS DEAD MURDER MYSTERY PLOT, I am getting curious about what you like to see! Therefore: POLL TIME.
[Poll #1427811]
- which is what I am reading now! (I am in fact making my first foray into a non-Heyer Real Romance Novel, guys. It's . . . interesting. But MORE ON THAT LATER.) But first, I took a detour in the complete opposite direction from escapism and read the third one in Walter Mosley's Easy Rawlin series, White Butterfly. I really get more and more impressed by these books as I read further in the series. I feel like a lot of ongoing mysteries tend to return to a status quo with every book in order to keep the comfort level of the reader - and I have no objection to that, mind; many of my favorite mystery series do this! - but every book in the Easy Rawlins series actually affects Easy's life in significant ways, and Mosley is really not afraid to shake things up. This book actually starts with Easy married, with kids, to a woman we've never even heard of in previous books, which is a way bold move and allows for a ton of interesting character development. The actual mystery plot, as usual, was a bit hard to keep track of (there's a serial killer on the loose, but nobody cared until he killed his Nice White Girl. OR MAYBE HE DIDN'T!) but this series isn't about that, really. It's about Easy Rawlins, trying and often failing to be a decent man, and the society he lives in, and the noir-detective role he'd much rather not be trapped in. (I was also surprised and somewhat impressed that Mosley brought up the issue of spousal rape, although I wish he'd gone further with it than he did.)
Anyway. Like I said, the Easy Rawlins books are really not characteristic of most mystery series I have read. (Also, it feels like almost all mysteries are long series - I wonder why that is?) But some of you read lots more mysteries than me, and between that and the official launch of the WEST IS DEAD MURDER MYSTERY PLOT, I am getting curious about what you like to see! Therefore: POLL TIME.
[Poll #1427811]
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no subject
Date: 2009-07-10 02:49 pm (UTC)-The Inspector Lynley books (Elizabeth George) - I lost track of that one, though
-Jonathan Kellerman's books (mostly series)
-Janet Evanovich's series (but NOT her romances. ew.) - those are my fluffy beach books, and hilarious.
Once upon a time when I was young and naive
and one of the authors wasn't omg crazy bananas insane, I read a lot of Sue Grafton and Patricia Cornwell.no subject
Date: 2009-07-10 02:51 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-07-10 02:53 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-07-10 02:54 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-07-10 02:56 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-07-10 02:56 pm (UTC)Dennis Lehane (who wrote a bunch of mysteries that got turned into movies, such as Mystic River and Gone Baby Gone) is interesting dark, but I tend to prefer happier endings.
The Dresden Files are urban fantasy neo-noir mysteries. Pretty fun.
The classics, of course--Doyle and Stout spring to mind.
Recently, SF author Michael Stackpole (http://stormwolf.com/) has been branching into mystery. He's got two different ones, "Merlin Bloodstone" (Great Detective in the Doyle/Stout mold) and "Trick Molloy" (urban fantasy neo-noir).
As to series, I don't follow series of mysteries the same way I do SF, but I still try not to read out of order or jump around. If I like a first book (or, as in Dresden, only think it's OK but know it gets better) I'll keep reading.
no subject
Date: 2009-07-10 03:00 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-07-10 03:05 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-07-10 03:09 pm (UTC)Heh, I am trying an experiment this year in Reading Mystery Series In Dedicated Order, All The Way Through, which is something I have never been successful at before . . . so we will see how it goes!
(ALSO, apropos of nothing, but I feel you should know I am wearing your skirt today! And my roommate was all, "Becca, that skirt is great, I think I like it best of ANY YOU OWN" so clearly your taste is better than mine. :D)
no subject
Date: 2009-07-10 03:19 pm (UTC)Basically most of what gets aired on PBS, is what I'm saying. :-D But I have an incredible soft spot for mysteries -- my mom always listens to them on car trips or while she's doing housework, and they just feel like home that way.
no subject
Date: 2009-07-10 03:21 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-07-10 03:22 pm (UTC)- hah, mystery series is what my family usually ends up listening to on family car trips (well, after we exhausted Harry Potter) which is how our last big road trip ended up in the discovery that my mom ships Poirot/Hastings. "COME ON, THEY'RE TOTALLY IN LOVE!"
no subject
Date: 2009-07-10 03:22 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-07-10 03:38 pm (UTC)On that note, I suppose I'll also watch Rosemary and Thyme and Murder She Wrote. Is it just me, or are the heroines of these shows the bringers of death?? Always a murder to be had when they toddle in.)
no subject
Date: 2009-07-10 03:41 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-07-10 03:42 pm (UTC)Really, you're not missing anything. ^^;; I stopped reading at A Traitor to Memory, and haven't looked back since. The unnecessary angst started annoying me.
no subject
Date: 2009-07-10 03:47 pm (UTC)Haaa, I'm a sucker for british people from olden timey times breaking in and showing up the legit detectives. (Except for Holmes of course. I'm rather giddy for the new movie coming out this winter~)
no subject
Date: 2009-07-10 03:49 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-07-10 03:50 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-07-10 03:51 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-07-10 04:14 pm (UTC)I keep meaning to start reading some mystery series, especially Elizabeth George, but for now I mostly watch them.
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Date: 2009-07-10 04:16 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-07-10 04:21 pm (UTC)Saying that, I used to read "The Cat Who" books, but I stopped some time ago. I'm not exactly sure why I stopped, but I did hear the more recent ones aren't as good as the earlier ones.
no subject
Date: 2009-07-10 04:29 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-07-10 04:33 pm (UTC). . . and wow, that was a tangent.)