August MysteryKIT: Amateur Sleuths

Welcome to the August MysteryKIT! This month's theme is Amateur August.


Image is from here.

An amateur sleuth, according to Mystery & Suspense magazine, is "someone who investigates mysteries, puzzles, and crimes not as part of their professional duties but rather due to their innate curiosity, fascination, and dogged determination. They might be an unassuming librarian, a retired school teacher, or a bored aristocrat, but when the situation calls for it, they don the metaphorical deerstalker and transform into a master of deduction."

Or, to put it more simply, an amateur sleuth is anyone who's not a professional detective. Police officers, government agents, and private investigators are out, but practically anyone else is fair game. Of Agatha Christie's most famous detectives, Miss Marple would qualify as an amateur, but Hercule Poirot, as a former police officer, would not.

In addition to the aforementioned Marple, many other Golden Age sleuths would fall into the amateur category, such as Dorothy L. Sayers's Lord Peter Wimsey, John Dickson Carr's Gideon Fell, and G.K. Chesterton's Father Brown. Then there's the entire cozy mystery genre, in which the sleuths tend to be librarians, tea shop owners, dog groomers, sommeliers, and so on. Some of my favorite amateur sleuths include Richard Osman's Thursday Murder Club (though Elizabeth is dubious given her career history), Ellis Peters's Brother Cadfael, and Alan Bradley's Flavia de Luce.

In short, there's a wealth of options to choose from this month, so I hope you enjoy the topic! Please share what you're reading or planning to read below, and don't forget to update the wiki: https://wiki.librarything.com/index.php/2024_MysteryKIT#August:_Amateurs.

It occurs to me that there may be some fun overlap with the August SFFKIT, which involves paranormal investigators/space detectives! So check out that thread as well for some inspiration: https://www.librarything.com/topic/361996.

I'll likely read a Flavia de Luce.

Planning to read How Lucky by Will Leitch.

I am planning on reading The Lady Vanishes by Ethel Linna White.

I think I might go with The Cruellest Month by Hazel Holt

I will probably go with Mai Tai Murder Cruise in the Cruising through Life series by Addison Moore.

I'm going to read The Thursday Murder Club (by Richard Osman). I had it stacked for the "New-to-Me Authors" prompt but misplaced it! I just found it-- so it seems like a good time to tackle it!

I might read Agony of the Leaves by Laura Child.

Well, that went faster than I expected! I picked up The Thursday Murder Club (Thursday Murder Club #1; by Richard Osman) a couple days ago and finished last night! The chapters are short, the pace is fast, the characters interesting, and the plot original. It's about four senior citizens who reside in a retirement home in the English countryside. They meet every Thursday to solve a cold case but are interrupted when a murder takes place nearby. Their perseverance is a measure of proving their resourcefulness and utility to themselves collectively and individually as aging, real estate development, and modern life threaten their piece-of-mind. There were some lines that made me snort with laughter, a couple red herrings, and clever plot twists. And yet, something didn't quite land quite right, perhaps the number of coincidences, the made-for-film glossiness (if the character of Elizabeth wasn't written with Helen Mirren in mind, I wouldn't believe it), the unrealistic albeit entertaining character of Elizabeth, and the feeling that the mystery didn't quite play fair in giving the reader enough to solve the mystery or at least make an educated guess. OTOH, if you read it as pure entertainment, the quibbles are just that, quibbles-- and moot. This falls on the cozy side of the genre and while I usually prefer things edgier, if the sequels were to land in my stacks, I wouldn't hesitate to read them.

ETA: LOL, I just found out that this is being made into a movie... with Helen Mirren as Elizabeth! Pierce Brosnan, Ben Kingsley, Jonathan Pryce and David Tennant are also in it with others I don't recognize (but others more engaged with British TV/film than I probably would). So, while the book wasn't exactly my cup of tea, I'll definitely see the movie!

What is my cup of tea? Slightly over-brewed Mariage Freres Earl Grey Provence loose tea with lavender and vanilla sugar syrups and steamed grass-fed whole milk topping, water from a kettle. "Not exactly my cup of tea" would be Harney & Sons Earl Grey Supreme tea sachets, white sugar, whole steamed milk. "Very basically my cup of tea" would be Twinning tea bags with a lemon slice, water microwaved. Maybe instead of stars, I should rate my mysteries in terms of tea! 🤣

I have a couple of likely options:
Three bedrooms, One Corpse / Charlaine Harris
Booked for Trouble / Eve Gates

I will be reading on of my cat cozy mysteries, just not sure which one yet.

I will continue reading Miss Marple, with Nemesis.

>2 christina_reads: Thanks for that idea! I will go with that and read the second book of the Pebble Cove Teahouse series by Eryn Scott, Matcha Do About Murder. I read the first book earlier this month and liked it a lot. The series involves an amateur sleuth who investigates murders with the help of a ghost.

I have finished Mord im Auwald, a cosy historical mystery set in 1924 Vienna. Most of the sleuthing is done by a retired teacher who strongly reminds me of Miss Marple as played by Margaret Rutherford.

>15 MissWatson: Sounds delightful!

I finished Crumbs and Misdemeanors from the Great Witches Baking Show series by Nancy Warren. Poppy Wilkinson just got booted off the show but is now working at the village inn as a pastry chef and still solving crimes.

>16 thornton37814: In the first one, Ernestine was a bit too forceful for my taste, but she has mellowed since. And I love to read about the food.

I will be reading Why Kings Confess as part of a LT book group this month, and it's kind of borderline. Sebastian St Cyr is a nobleman's son rather than a part of London's constabulary, so he kind of falls in the "amateur" category (thinking of all the resources that his class and status bring to bear).

And if I can fit it in, I'll add a Miss Marple to my book list, just to keep the challenge truly amateur. Plus, Miss Marple.

In Schlechte Karten für den Barista we return to the Bar Lume, where the owner and his gang of old men solve an old crime committed with a very unusual method of poisoning.

>20 MissWatson: It sounds quite fun and has been translated into English, so I've wishlisted the first in the series

I read Dogcatcher in the Rye by Ellen Riggs. A fun read and I liked that it had recipes at the end.

>21 Robertgreaves: It's my impression that the translator is having lots of fun with the dialogue of the scrappy old men. I'll be interested to hear what the English translation is like.

I finished The Rose Rent by Ellis Peters, book 13 in Brother Cadfael.

Tod in Baden is another adventure for retired teacher Ernestine Kisch, this time in a health resort with mineral springs.

I read Days Without Number by Robert Goddard
Taking place in Cornwall, the first half was riveting, and held my attention completely. The second half took a different direction and was more complex with additional characters, travel in Italy, as well as historical elements, all of which cooled the suspense. And while the Byzantium link was scarcely credible, it certainly added interest.

I read The Lady Vanishes by Ethel Lina White for this Mysterykit but I am not sure that it was exactly the right fit. The main characters are amateurs but this is more a book about a lady (or two) in peril than a true mystery. On the plus side this was a 5 star read for me!

A Comedy of Murders, the first in a series of six novels by George Herman in which the detectives are Leonardo da Vinci and his apprentice, a dwarf named Niccolo. (Yes, I know, "dwarf" is not the term we'd use today, but it's the term used in this book, which was published in 1994.)

The September thread can be found here: https://www.librarything.com/topic/362633

I read Classified as Murder by Miranda James, book 2 in the Cat in the Stacks series featuring librarian Charlie and his main coon Diesel.

>30 staci426: I love Charlie and Diesel. My next one is book 4.

>31 lowelibrary: Yeah, I'm really enjoying this series. Diesel is great!

I read The Mirror Crack'd by Agatha Christie, with that excellent amateur sleuth Miss Marple.

>30 staci426: Yes! I love this series and read that book earlier this year.

>33 NinieB: I am reading that same book for this Challenge. Great mind!

>34 threadnsong: Hey, great choice!

>35 NinieB: IKR?!

I finished another mystery featuring retired teacher Ernestine Kirsch: Mord auf der Trabrennbahn.

With a quartet of amateur sleuths, The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman definitely fits this category.

I read Murder by an Aristocrat by Mignon G. Eberhart, in which the sleuth is a professional nurse who has to solve the murder of her patient.

Starting Dog's Honest Truth by Neil Plakcy, starring Steve Levitan, who runs a university conference centre, and his Golden Retriever, Rochester.

Three Bedrooms, One Corpse / Charlaine Harris
3 stars

Aurora (Roe) has left her library job and is trying out real estate with her mother. As she fills in while her mom is running late, she shows a brother (Martin) and sister from out of town a large house… and they find the dead body of another realtor in one of the bedrooms! Meanwhile, Roe is very attracted to this older man Martin, and they start dating while the real estate agents in town are a bit nervous.

This was ok. I listened to the audio, and it started off well, but my mind did tend to wander, as it sometimes (often?) does with audios, so I definitely missed more than I would have liked to. I do think Roe did a really stupid thing at the end (but they often do in cozy mysteries – rather than going to the police with what they’ve discovered, they do something dangerous instead). I’m undecided if I should continue the series or not. I might try one more.

COMPLETED Dog's Honest Truth and All Dog's Children by Neil S. Plakcy

I read one from a favourite series: Cast, in Order of Appearance by Simon Brett

This was the first in the Charles Paris series and according to my notes I read it pre-LT, although it had faded in memory. I love the character, a jobbing actor who changes somewhat over the course of the series and I was interested in how he started out. I really enjoyed it, but suspect I like the later Charles Paris better. I love how he adds a blurb from a review - usually tongue-in-cheek - when plays he has appeared in are mentioned, adding some humour. Same goes for the disguises he adopts from characters he has played. Sergeant McWhirter was my favourite, deceiving no one I’m sure.

The setting is 1973 with headlines featuring PM Edward Heath’s unpopular policies, the oil crisis, the miners’ strike, the resulting power cutbacks leaving everything, including television, in darkness from 10:30pm.

I’m looking forward to filling in all the Charles Paris books I’ve missed over the years. He is a lot of fun.

Finished The Mirror Crack'd and loved it. I appreciated how Agatha Christie took a look at an older Miss Marple and how she adapts to a world with housekeepers (instead of parlour maids), a new housing Development, and the many magazines about films and film stars.

I read The Dead in Their Vaulted Arches, sixth in the Flavia de Luce series. She's growing up in this one and showing empathy, though she still makes a plan to revive her dead mother.

I decided to read another Cat in the Stacks book with File M for Murder. Another fun read, but I think I will take a break from this series for a bit before moving on to book 4.

Booked for Trouble / Eva Gates
4 stars

This is book two of a series. Librarian Lucy lives in a small town where the library is in a lighthouse and Lucy’s apartment is above the library. When Lucy’s mom (Suzanne) is visiting, Suzanne has a bad (very public) interaction with some people she knew back in high school. Later, Suzanne comes to Lucy’s book club, where both of those people also attend. Suzanne makes up with one of those people she’d earlier had a run-in with (Karen), but the next morning, Karen is found dead outside the library.

I really liked this. I love the library/lighthouse setting and I like many of the characters (though there were a number of unlikable characters, as well). Lucy does seem a bit innocent in her relationships, but even so, I like the two men who seem interested, though I might like one just a little more than the other.

>46 staci426: I think I read that one. I have several of those Cat in the Stacks novels. I like them but need to take breaks between them.

>46 staci426: We are now caught up together. My next read is book 4, although it will be next year before I get to it.

I read The Poison Oracle by Peter Dickinson, in which a psycholinguist finds himself solving the mystery.

I read Getaway With Murder for this month's challenge.

>47 LibraryCin: The Lighthouse Library series is a favorite of mine. Of course, there is no way a library would ever fit in the Bodie Island lighthouse, but I forgive them because the characters are so likeable.

I hope everyone had fun with their amateur sleuthing in August! Here's the September MysteryKIT thread: https://www.librarything.com/topic/362633

>52 thornton37814: Ha! That is true. I think the author even mentions that in a note, that a library wouldn't actually fit.

>54 LibraryCin: Much less an apartment above it!

I did not manage to read my choice in August but I did so now and want to add it here. I read Matcha Do About Murder by Eryn Scott, the second in the Pebble Cove Teahouse series. Rosemary, the owner of a seaside teashop, investigates a poison case when she feels like the police are not doing enough. I really like this cosy mystery series! It also has a paranormal element because Rosemary is friends with a ghost who lives in the teashop.