Guilty Pleasures: Reading for Fun

January 11, 2004
Coordinator: Margaret Batschelet

Booklists from the presenters at our "pop lit" service:

Henry Halff: Mysteries

• Edmund Crispin
• Martha Grimes
• Rex Stout
• Tony Hillerman
• Colin Dexter
• Kinky Friedman

The complete text of Henry's discussion.

Steve Botts: Steven King

Peter Van Dusen: Mysteries

• Tony Hillerman
• Aaron Elkins (anthropologist & art curator detectives)
• Robert Parker ("Spenser for Hire" series)
• Sue Grafton (Kinsey Millhone "A is for Alibi" series)
• Elmore Leonard ("Jackie Brown," "Get Shorty" based on him)
• Carl Hiaasen (S. Florida environmentalist whacko crime)

Mary Grace Ketner: Literary Mysteries

My list of "murder mysteries related to written and oral literature":

• Steven Saylor, A Twist at the End (O. Henry in Austin)
• Matthew Pearl, The Dante Club (Longfellow, Lowell,O. W. Holms, Sr., and T.C. Fields, their publisher while Longfellow was translating "The Inferno". Boston, Harvard--all that Unitarian stuff!)
• The Appalachian mysteries of Sharyn McCrumb, especially Songcatcher, She Walks these HIlls, and The Ballad of Frankie Silver. The murders are tied to old mountain legends.

Nancy White: Mysteries

Lindsey Davis :The Marcus Didius Falco series about First century Roman empire

• "Silverpigs (1989)
• "Shadows In Bronze" (1990)
• "Venus In Copper" (1991)
• "Iron Hand Of Mars" (1992)
• "Poseidon's Gold" (1993)
• "Last Act In Palmyra" (1994)
• "Time To Depart" (1995)
• "Dying Light In Corduba" (1996)
• "Three Hands In The Fountain" (1997)
• "Two For The Lions" (1998)
• "One Virgin Too Many" (1999)
• "Ode To A Banker" (2000)
• "Body In The Bathhouse" (2001)
• "The Jupiter Myth" (2002)
• "The Accusers" (2003)

Website:http://www.lindseydavis.co.uk/index.html

Susan Wittig Albert website:http://www.mysterypartners.com/

The China Bayles Herbal Mysteries feature herbalist China Bayles, who abandoned her career as a hot-shot Houston criminal attorney to buy an herb shop in a small town located half-way between Austin and San Antonio, Texas. China wants the things that many contemporary women seek: a quieter life, rewarding work, a close relationship, friends, and community. Each of her mysteries has a signature herb that is connected to a major theme, and each is liberally sprinkled with information on growing and using herbs. The China Bayles novels have been praised for their intelligent plots, quirky and appealing characters, interesting settings, and strong writing.

• "Thyme" (1992) --China's first adventure. A friend dies--murder or suicide?
• "Witches" (1993) --China and Ruby discover that the supernatural isn't funny.
• "Hangman" (1994) --Animal rights, academic politics, and murder--a potent mix.
• "Rosemary" (1995) --Who remembers the victims of crime?
• "Rueful" (1996) --Grace, forgiveness, and the mystery of community.
• "Love" (1997) --China learns a tough lesson in love.
• "Chile" (1998) --Hot stuff, folks! (Funny, too)
• "Lavender" (1999) --Mystery, murder, and a wet 'n' wild wedding
• "Mistletoe" (2000) --What's Christmas without mistletoe? What's life without Ruby? Join China as she faces both of these difficult questions.
• "Bloodroot" (2001) --Bloodroot takes China on a difficult journey into her past, and into the bloody roots of her family's Southern history.
• "Indigo" (2003) --Colors to Dye For, a deep-dyed mystery, and a true-blue China & Ruby collaboration!
• "Dilly" (2004) (coming in January, 2004...)
• Deadman's Bones (2005) (coming in January, 2005...)
• "Unthymely.html" (2003) --These are the China Bayles short mysteries originally written for the Country Living Gardener web site, complete with recipes, crafts, herb lore, and other herbal goodies! (coming June 3, 2003...)

Susan also writes with her husband Bill Albert. The Robin Paige Victorian Mysteries by Bill & Susan Albert, written as Robin Paige.

The Robin Paige Victorian mysteries are set in the late 1890's and feature two sleuths: Kate Ardleigh Sheridan and Sir Charles Sheridan. Kate is an Irish-American woman who writes penny-dreadfuls under the pseudonym of Beryl Bardwell. She comes to England and inherits a small fortune and the estate of Bishops Keep, located in East Anglia, near the village of Dedham, Essex. Sir Charles is a landed peer and amateur scientist with a special interest in new forensic techniques, such as fingerprinting, ballistics, toxicology, and photography. In each book of the series, Kate and Charles meet notable figures of their time.

• "Bishop" (1994) --Kate and Charles meet and solve their first mystery together.
• "Gallow" (1995) --Beatrix Potter joins the sleuthing team, and Jemima Puddleduck finds a missing girl. (Meet Mrs. Tiggywinkle too.)
• "Daisy" (1997) --Royal mischief with the Prince of Wales and the Countess of Warwick.
• "Devil" (1998) --Featuring Rolls & Royce (of automotive fame).
• "Rottingdean" (1999) --Rudyard Kipling helps solve an espionage mystery.
• "Whitechapel" (2000) --Kate and Charles help Jennie Churchill and her son Winston confront some ugly accusations about Randolph Churchill's role in the Ripper murders.
• "Epsomdowns" (2001) --Lillie Langtry plays a dangerous game of Secrets with Kate, while Charles tries to get to the bottom of a horse-doping scandal that threatens the entire racing community.
• "Dartmoor" (2002) --Charles and Kate have come to Dartmoor so Charles can carry out a fingerprinting project at the prison and Kate can research her new Gothic novel. Someone else is visiting Dartmoor as well: Arthur Conan Doyle, who is there to write his most famous Holmes-and-Watson thriller, "The Hound of the Baskervilles." The Sheridans team up with Doyle to solve a prison escape and a murder of supernatural proportions.
• "Glamis"n(2003) --Kate and Charles journey to Scotland to rescue a Royal who has been dead for nearly ten years, and find themselves in the middle of a German plot to topple the Crown.
• "HydePark" --A bomb meant for England's new King Edward and Queen Alexandra reveals a terrorist plot and raises the urgent question: in a world of spies and counter-spies, who are the real terrorists? When Jack London, American author and known Socialist, is drawn into this multi-layered plot, Kate and Charles have plenty of untangling to do.
• Death at Blenheim Palace (March, 2005)

Joan Hess: Winner of the Agatha in 1991 and Macavitys 1991 Awards for Short Fiction

Characters: Maggody, Arly Hanks, Claire Malloy, Theo Bloomer

Maggody (Arly Hanks) series:

• Malice in Maggody, Onyx, New York, 199x. ISBN: 0-451-40236-7
• Mischief in Maggody, Onyx, New York, 199x. ISBN: 0-451-40253-7
• Much Ado in Magoody, Onyx, New York, 199x. ISBN: 0-451-40268-5
• Madness in Maggody, Onyx, New York, 199x. ISBN: 0-451-40299-5
• Mortal Remains in Maggody, Onyx, New York, 199x. ISBN: 0-451-40326-6
• Maggody in Manhattan, Onyx, New York, 199x.
• O Little Town of Maggody, Onyx, New York, 199x.
• Martians in Maggody, Onyx, New York, 199x.
• Miracles in Maggody, Onyx, New York, 1996. ISBN: 0-451-40656-7
• The Maggody Militia,
• Misery Loves Maggody, Simon & Schuster, New York, 1998. ISBN: 0-684-84562-8
• Maggody and the Moonbeams, Simon & Schuster, New York, 2001. ISBN: 0-7432-0229-5

Theo Bloomer series:

• The Night-Blooming Cereus, (as Joan Hadley)
• The Deadly Ackee, (as Joan Hadley)

Claire Malloy series:

• Strangled Prose Ballantine, New York, 199x.
• The Murder at the Mimosa Inn, Ballantine, New York, 199x.
• Dear Miss Demenaor, Ballantine, New York, 199x.
• A Really Cute Corpse, Ballantine, New York, 199x.
• A Diet to Die For, Ballantine, New York, 199x.
• Roll Over and Play Dead, Ballantine, New York, 1991. ISBN: 0-345-37586-6
• Death by the Light of the Moon,
• Poisoned Pins,
• Tickled to Death,
• Busy Bodies,
• Closely Akin to Murder,
• A Holly, Jolly Murder,
• A Conventional Corpse,

Janet Evanovich. Main character: Stephanie Plum

• One For The Money
• Two For The Dough
• Three To Get Deadly
• Four To Score
• High Five
• Hot Six
• Seven Up
• Hard Eight

Margaret Batschelet: Romances

Romantic mysteries and thrillers:

Elizabeth Lowell

The "Donovan Family" series (which teaches you more than you perhaps want to know about various gems).

• Amber Beach
• Jade Island
• Pearl Cove
• Midnight in Ruby Bayou

Linda Howard

• Mr. Perfect
• Kill and Tell
• Open Season (a personal favorite about a librarian who wants to spice up her life, never realizing that her small Alabama town could put Twin Peaks to shame)

Comic romances

Susan Elizabeth Phillips

Particularly her two novels about the Bonner family:

• Nobody's Baby But Mine
• Dream a Little Dream

Jennifer Crusie

I've yet to read a Jennifer Crusie novel I didn't like, but three personal favorites:

• Manhunting
• Getting Rid of Bradley
• Welcome to Temptation

Historical Romances

Julia Quinn

Her Bridgerton family series:

• The Duke and I
• The Viscount Who Loved Me
• An Offer From a Gengleman
• Entertaining Mr. Bridgerton
• To Sir Phillip, With Love

Amanda Quick

The historical nom de plume of Jayne Ann Krentz, she has a long list of primarily regency romances. A couple of favorites:

• Ravished
• Scandal

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