May MysteryKIT: Novel to screen

Whenever I go channel hopping on the TV in the evening, fifty per cent of programming offers mysteries: cop shows or detectives. And more than half of those (at least that’s what it feels like) are based on books, mostly series. There are innumerable incarnations of Sherlock Holmes, Maigret, Poirot and Miss Marple. The Wallander series has been filmed twice, and the Swedes have also given us a series based on the Martin Beck books. Here in Germany we have or had shows featuring Guido Brunetti, Commissario Montalbano, Aurelio Zen, Mike Hammer, Spenser, Cormoran Strike, …the list is endless.
And this is not a recent phenomenon: from the earliest days of moviedom, cops and robbers have been a staple of the silver screen. Some of the most iconic noir films are based on books: The big sleep, The Maltese falcon, Double Indemnity, The postman always rings twice and so on.
Whatever you choose, enjoy your book and please remember the wiki.

And here's the link to the wiki page: https://wiki.librarything.com/index.php/MysteryKIT_2020#2020_MysteryKIT

I highly, highly recommend Laura!

>1 MissWatson: would the small screen qualify? I'd like to reread The Unpleasantness at the Bellona Club by Dorothy L. Sayers, which was made into a television movie/series in the 1970s by the BBC.

>2 fuzzi: Ooh, yes, Laura is great! I actually prefer the movie, but the book is also quite good.

Another thumbs up for Laura!

I am going to read No Orchids for Miss Blandish by James Hadley Chase. This hard-boiled book was made into a film in 1948.

I’m planning on reading Crooked House by Agatha Christie. My book club recently read The Big Sleep so I think a viewing of the movie is in order.

>4 DeltaQueen50: Oooh - I have that book on my Kindle!

Another thumbs up for Laura! Though I think all the books/movies listed in >1 MissWatson: are excellent.

>2 fuzzi: I too will be rereading The Unpleasantness at the Bellona Club. I also have Before the Fact which is the book Hitchcock based his movie "Suspicion" on.

I have Jamaica Inn by Daphne du Maurier on the shelf, I think I'll read it.

My most likely contender for this one is Instinct by James Patterson as I've enjoyed the TV series based on the main character. Another possibility is a Poirot book Appointment with Death.

>2 fuzzi: >3 christina_reads: >4 DeltaQueen50: >6 leslie.98: Yep - Laura, both the movie and the book, are fabulous! I never can get over Vincent Price with a Southern accent, though.....

My lack of library access may hurt me for this one. I'll see what I can come up with.

>9 Dejah_Thoris: Amazon has it as a Kindle edition for about $10, but there are a lot of copies for cheap on bookfinder.com:
https://www.bookfinder.com/search/?ac=sl&st=sl&ref=bf_s2_a1_t1_1&qi=...

>10 fuzzi: Laura I've got - an old copy, but still holding up pretty well - and I may well reread it next month. I actually meant that I'd have to think about what I had in the house, ideally that I haven't read, that would work.

I really appreciate you looking for Laura for me, though - it was very kind! Hopefully another reader on the thread will take advantage of the info.

Mysteries are not my genre so I have none on my shelves. Luckily, I had picked up The Mysterious Affair at Styles just before the library closed for a different category. I will slot it in here instead as I see there was a movie made in 1989.
Phew! So far I am still managing to find something for most categories!

>2 fuzzi: Yes, of course the small screen qualifies! It offers such a wide selection of new and old series to get lost in.

>13 MissWatson: yippee!

I did a tagmash of 'mystery, movie' and came up with two possibilites on Planet TBR:

The Woman in White - Wilkie Collins
Get Shorty - Elmore Leonard

Both are on the 1001, which I have been sadly neglecting this year. Right now I'm leaning towards reading The Woman in White.

I will probably read Murder on the Orient Express which is one of my fave films, both the old and the new versions. I saw an excellent stage version of it just before we all were put on "stay at home" status. That was the last fun thing I did before this all started.

>15 streamsong: I highly recommend The Woman in White if you have a taste for Victorian fiction.

>16 LadyoftheLodge: If you read Murder on the Orient Express, you can also use it for May's TravelKIT: modes of transportation!

>8 Robertgreaves: I highly recommend Instinct. I love the series and the book holds true to the main characters, but has a whole different supporting cast.

I'm using tags to try to find something from my tbr, but not coming up with much. Will keep looking.

I was going to ask if the Ann Cleeves series was turned into a tv show? Or series? Or something?

But, it looks like my library has a 23 week wait on the (next in the series for me) ebook.

I believe I have a copy of Dashiell Hammett's The Thin Man somewhere in the house, which I haven't reread for years, so that's a distinct possibility. I also think I may break down and acquire a copy of The Lady in the Lake by Raymond Chandler.

If for some reason those options don't work, there's a reread of Laura or a Phryne Fisher mystery. The recent movie, of course, had nothing to do with any of the books, but the Australian TV series worked from the books for the first season or two.

>20 LibraryCin: I think Ann Cleeves has several series on the go. The Vera and Shetland series have both been adapted for TV.

>22 Robertgreaves: Thank you! It is the Shetland series I was thinking of. I think I'll put it on hold and add my review here when it finally comes in for me.

Score! I was planning to finally read Louise Penny's Still Life, and apparently it was made into a TV movie in 2013! Based on the IMDB user reviews, it wasn't very good...but I have faith that the book will be a lot better! :)

I'm going to decide this one later. So many options, but I will find something that is perfect.

My first book of the month was the lurid and gritty No Orchids for Miss Blandish by James Hadley Chase. This has been adapted to film twice, once in 1948 and then again in 1971.

I'm reading The Silent World of Nicholas Quinn by Colin Dexter, part of the Morse television series starring John Thaw.

On a whim, I decided to reread John Buchan's The 39 Steps. Despite the fact that I had read it before, I was again surprised by how very different it is from Hitchcock's movie version. I love both the book and the movie!

Oh, and since we are including the small screen, I have finished my reread of The Unpleasantness at the Bellona Club by Dorothy L. Sayers which was adapted for television in the 1970s.

I'm still working on Colin Dexter (>27 VivienneR:) but meanwhile read Death of Yesterday by M.C. Beaton. The television series was better than the books, but a Hamish MacBeth book is always fun.

>29 VivienneR: That's what I thought about Agatha Raisin and the Quiche of Death as well. I enjoyed the TV adaptation much more than the book.

For this, I am reading One Shot by Lee Child. I loved the Jack Reacher movie, but haven't read any of the books yet.

>30 Robertgreaves: They are all much the same, written to formula. Same lines, same people delivering them. And yet I keep reading. :)

>29 VivienneR: >30 Robertgreaves: Yes, I still read the M.C. Beaton books too. Agatha Raisin annoys me greatly.

>33 LadyoftheLodge: That's my reaction also to Agatha Raisin! I wondered if she would improve on the small screen as Hamish Macbeth did, but didn't make it to the end of the first episode.

>29 VivienneR: >30 Robertgreaves: >33 LadyoftheLodge: I enjoy Hamish, But Agatha? No, just no!

I finished The unpleasantness at the Bellona Club, made into a TV series ages ago.

>36 MissWatson: I'll be starting that one soon too. I didn't know it fit this category, but I'm glad to learn it does.

>37 thornton37814: As far as I know, the series has been filmed twice for TV, once with Ian Carmichael and once with Edward Petherbridge as Wimsey.

I read Crooked House by Agatha Christie. Not sure if I'll actually get around to watching the movie version.

>38 MissWatson: Not that it matters but I don't think that the Edward Petherbridge adaptations included The Unpleasantness at the Bellona Club. But I could easily be mistaken...

>40 leslie.98: It's possible, as I have only seen the Carmichael version.

I don't remember where I have seen the name, but Viveca Sten's series Sandhamn series has also been filmed for TV in Sweden.

I finished Murder on the Orient Express which I have read several times and also seen on the stage and screen. Still a fun read!

>42 MissWatson: - Oh, I didn't realize that. I just read Still Waters by her. I'll have to see if I can find the show somewhere.

Just posted the June thread:
http://www.librarything.com/topic/320312

I read The Silent world of Nicholas Quinn by Colin Dexter. A couple of years ago the public broadcaster here in BC ran the Morse series again from the beginning. It was surprising how dated they had become but my DIL and I watched and enjoyed them all anyway.

COMPLETED Last Bus to Woodstock by Colin Dexter

I found the TV adaptation for Last Bus to Woodstock on the internet and watched it this evening. The plot had been simplified and made less gritty and they also changed some of the names for no readily apparent reason.

I've finished Jamaica Inn by Daphne du Maurier. The book was the basis for the Alfred Hitchcock movie starring Charles Laughlin and Maureen O'Hara in her first major screen role. I've read that it is available on Netflix and will watch it soon if it is, I don't think I've seen it.

I finished reading (rereading?) The Unpleasantness at the Bellona Club, which I read back in the mid-1970s but I'd forgotten everything so it was like a new read for me.

>49 clue: - I have not seen the original movie but BBC did a more recent adaptation (2014) of Jamaica Inn as a three-part TV miniseries that was really good!

>51 lkernagh: Thanks, I'll look for it.

It's actually been a pretty good month for me for this KIT - better than I thought it would be without library access.

So far I've read:

The Unpleasantness at the Bellona Club - Dorothy L. Sayers (hooray for the Lord Peter group read!)
The Lady in the Lake - Raymond Chandler (There's something about Philip Marlowe...)
No Orchids for Miss Blandish by James Hadley Chase (thanks Judy (@DeltaQueen50))
Live and Let Die by Ian Fleming
Moonraker by Ian Fleming
Diamonds Are Forever by Ian Fleming

I always enjoy this KIT - I'm so glad we've kept it going.

>53 Dejah_Thoris: I am also glad we kept it going. this KIT is one of my faves.

I know. Ridiculously late! I put this on hold in mid-April at the library (ebook, so not a physical item). Anyway, it finally came and I'm done!

Red Bones / Ann Cleeves
3 stars

When this small Shetland Island sees two deaths in a very short time, one apparently accidental, and one a suicide, the police begin to wonder. Mima, an older lady who owns the land an archaeological dig is happening on, is accidentally shot and killed. And not long after, one of the people working on the dig appears to have committed suicide.

There are a lot of characters and I had a hard time keeping some of them straight, especially as to how they related to each other. I did think the book picked up in the second half when the second body was found. Or, really, when it appeared the person was missing. For the first half of the book, I thought it was time to give up on the series, but with the second half, I think I’ll do one more. Just not on audio. This one wasn’t, but I’ve read one of the others on audio, and that is definitely not the way to go for me for this series.