--------------- FIDO MESSAGE AREA==> TOPIC: 244 MYSTERY Ref: DBC00003 Date: 07/07/96 From: PATRICIA FERRARA Time: 08:58am \/To: DOROTHY REYNOLDS (Read 3 times) Subj: Digging for Treasure -=> Quoting DOROTHY REYNOLDS to FRED RUNK <=- DR> Well, today was a windfall day. One of the contributors to our DR> private library brought 3 large cardboard boxes full of books. DR> Yippee. There's quite a few mysteries in the bunch. FR> Ah, buried treasure! DR> Yeah. I found a Julie Smith and 3 Robert Goldsboroughs among them. It's so exciting to find those treasures! I was thrilled when I attended my first Friends of The Library sale last month. I found several books by some of my favorite authors, such as Joan Hess and Rex Stout. DR> It was chestnut, bordering on auburn, in my youth, but DR> I'm still the same ME. Once a redhead, always a redhead... at least in spirit, eh Dorothy? Mine has just started showing some silver at my temples... but I still refuse to grow up! Patsy ... Nobody knows the trouble I've been! --- Blue Wave/DOS v2.30 * Origin: Orion's Sword | Bush, LA | (504) 867-9701 | V.* (1:3828/1) --------------- FIDO MESSAGE AREA==> TOPIC: 244 MYSTERY Ref: DBC00004 Date: 07/07/96 From: PATRICIA FERRARA Time: 09:08am \/To: FRED RUNK (Read 3 times) Subj: Re: Mysteries -=> Quoting Fred Runk to Patricia Ferrara <=- PF> If you decide to expand on that trend, you could look for PF> some of Faye Kellerman's books... FR> Tell me more. I'm not familiar with her works. I've only read two of her books. Both were mysteries and both were heavily steeped in details of the Jewish faith/culture. Her books aren't for me, but many people love them. I'm just not fascinated by other cultures, but I'm sure I'm in the minority there. Anyway, the books you were describing, the names of which I've now forgotten, sounded like they were along the same lines so I thought you might like to keep an eye out for Faye Kellerman's books. I am, however, a BIG fan of her husband's (Jonathan Kellerman) books. He's a psychologist turned mystery writer. Have you read anything of his? Patsy ... You can't have everything--where would you put it?-Stephen Wright --- Blue Wave/DOS v2.30 * Origin: Orion's Sword | Bush, LA | (504) 867-9701 | V.* (1:3828/1) --------------- FIDO MESSAGE AREA==> TOPIC: 244 MYSTERY Ref: DBC00005 Date: 07/05/96 From: JAN MURPHY Time: 09:01pm \/To: HELEN FLEISCHER (Read 3 times) Subj: Re: McCrumb and other cross-over writers21:01:1607/05/96 > Hmm. You don't do used books do you? You don't have a > lead on any of > Patricia Wentworth's romances, do you? I hear she wrote > quite a few, but > so far I've only been able to find one historical one. Yes, we do used books, but Wentworth is not one of the authors we carry. I'd try Romance World in San Diego. If you can't find the phone number from directory assistance, bug me and I'll look it up -- I took my San Diego bookstore guide to work, so it's not handy. --- Opus-CBCS 1.73a * Origin: Sci-Fido II, World's Oldest SF BBS, Berkeley, CA (1:161/84.0) --------------- FIDO MESSAGE AREA==> TOPIC: 244 MYSTERY Ref: DBC00006 Date: 07/07/96 From: JAN MURPHY Time: 10:23am \/To: BETH FRIEDMAN (Read 3 times) Subj: Re: McCrumb and other cross-over writers10:23:2807/07/96 > JM> Now what do we do with the books by McCrumb which are > JM> neither mystery or SF? > > I don't have a good answer for you, but a similar situation > is why all my paperbacks are filed alphabetically by author, > regardless of genre. I expect the "best" answer to be different for everyone, thus my question. > It was Madeleine L'Engle who was the > final straw for me. > > I had the children's books in one place, the mainstream > in another, and the SF (by far the largest category) in > a third. When I realized that I had one series by her that > started out as with children's books, but continued into > adult, and SF-flavored adult at that, I gave up. Yes, I too can remember that moment when I realized almost *everything* by L'Engle is part of one big THING, in the same way that Michael Moorcock's work is largely bound together (though Moorcock is not as bad -- silly as that sounds....). Actually, it was several moments, the first being when I first figured out the Murray books linked into the Austin books, but you know what I mean. Then there was the Sandy- and-Denys book (I've forgotten the title) which printed all the geneologies on the endpapers and confirmed what I had mostly figured out by then. > It leads to some interesting juxtapositions, but mostly > it works. I can't really recommend it for a bookstore, > though. We used to do that in the used section -- have everything together, even kids' books, with only anthologies and TV books broken out, because there isn't enough mass in the kids' and non-fic and so on to have a separate section. People who are looking for only kids' books don't like it, though. > Maybe just put all the McCrumb together in mystery, > since she mostly appeals to mystery readers, the same way > Borders files books about or related to an author's > fiction writing with the author's titles? That's pretty much the solution we've come to now, with BIMBOS and ZOMBIES cross-filed in SF as well. And we cross-file books-about- authors under the authors and in the writers-and-writing section too. Thanks for your comments. --- Opus-CBCS 1.73a * Origin: Sci-Fido II, World's Oldest SF BBS, Berkeley, CA (1:161/84.0) --------------- FIDO MESSAGE AREA==> TOPIC: 244 MYSTERY Ref: DBC00007 Date: 07/07/96 From: MAUREEN GOLDMAN Time: 10:43am \/To: PATRICIA FERRARA (Read 3 times) Subj: Criteria for a Mystery On (06 Jul 96) Patricia Ferrara wrote to Delores E Rowe... PF> Yes, suspense is necessary to a mystery, but I don't think that a PF> suspenseful book is necessarily considered a mystery. I used to PF> read romance novels (can no longer stand them) and I found them PF> quite suspenseful. I'll still pick them up now and then, especially Regencies. Sometimes I wonder whether Jane Austen would have just been considered one of many R-writers if she were working today. Except really, really old, of course. I'm trying to envision her like Barbara Cartland, composing in a negligee, surrounded by secretaries and lap dogs. Nah, she'd never. ... "I've enjoyed as much of this as I can stand." --- PPoint 1.88 * Origin: Point of No Deposit, No Return (1:153/404.11) --------------- FIDO MESSAGE AREA==> TOPIC: 244 MYSTERY Ref: DBC00008 Date: 07/07/96 From: PHIL POCOCK Time: 07:23pm \/To: DENNIS MENARD (Read 3 times) Subj: Re: Late Reading -=> Quoting Dennis Menard to Phil Pocock <=- DM> -[ Quoting Phil Pocock <07-03-96 22:00>, to Debbie Shanker ]- PP> Actually, I'm trying to find time to get into my favorite authors, PP> although there are those among "YOU" who would descry my PP> selection as a *mystery* authors. I love Leslie Charteris and Sir PP> Arthur Conan Doyle. I've read a little bit of the current stuff, PP> and still return to the OLD stuff. DM> :) I confess that I am a fan of Leslie Charteris and The Saint. I DM> spent in the neighbourhood of 20 years attempting to complete my DM> collection of all the paperback novels of "The Saint." I claimed DM> success with Charter's first publication of "The Saint Meets the Tiger" DM> (a.k.a. "Meet the Tiger") in '80. This was the first publication of DM> Book 1 of the series which had been out of print since 1929 when it was DM> first published, 1 printing. :) I believe I enjoyed the short stories DM> best; they were not only entertaining, I actually learned a great deal DM> from them. There are 37 books in the series, (although I do not DM> include the few pastiches which I consider most UN-Saintly.) :) DM> How about "Max Carrados," by Ernest Bramah? I'm still trying to find DM> some information on how to acquire novels of this first famous blind DM> detective. I am amazed, simply amazed! I had absolutely no idea that there were any Saint fans still extant. I expected a bunch of "Huh? Who is he?" [g] I envy you your collection. I've never been very "smart" as a bibliophile. All of the "Saint" books that I read seem to have disappeared from my library. All I have left is an anthology, and I'm guarding it with my life! As for Mr. Bramah, I can't report that I've ever heard of the man or his writings. He's probably not as "obscure" as that might sound, but I've also not been very eclectic in my readings. Thanks for your reply. DM> ! Origin: * Pacific Salt BBS * Whitehorse, YT * Canada * (1:3409/3) Now here's a first! My friends in Calgary and Edmonton would probably say that I'm still "stereotyping" Canadians, but your message was the first I've ever received from the Yukon Territory, and I was tempted to say, "Gee, I didn't know y'all had computers!" [g] << Phil from San Antonio, TX at 19:31:35 on Sun 07-07-96>> ... (((((This message in Stereo where available))))) ___ Blue Wave/QWK v2.20 --- Maximus/2 3.01 * Origin: The Rock BBS--Religion, Debate, Literature. (1:387/31) --------------- FIDO MESSAGE AREA==> TOPIC: 244 MYSTERY Ref: DBC00009 Date: 07/06/96 From: JEAN BRASSEUR Time: 07:23am \/To: JAN MURPHY (Read 3 times) Subj: MCCRUMB AND OTHER CRO -=> Quoting Jan Murphy to Helen Fleischer <=- JM> Well, here's the bookseller's dilemma. JM> We started out as a specialty shop with mostly science fiction, JM> Then we started carrying more mysteries JM> Now what do we do with the books which are neither mystery or SF? JM> We face a similar problem with the romances -- JM> readers want to read EVERYTHING their favorite writer does no matter JM> what category this is. JM> Ideally, we'd like the fans of writer X to be able to find these books JM> and buy them if they tickle their fancy. If they don't know that JM> writer X has written in other categories, they won't go looking in the JM> other section. If we put up signs (shelf-talkers, as they are called JM> in the trade) directing readers to the other sections, we will have so JM> many shelf-talkers, they'll just become a big blur and customers won't JM> read them. JM> JM> So what's a bookseller to do? Greetings, Jan. Yours is an interesting dilema and one I sympathize with wholly. As a customer, I often dispair at the seemingly chaotic shelving of books where authors' works are scattered over several genres or mistakenly placed in the wrong category. It seems that books are arranged at the whimsy of some ill-trained clerk and that every store is perversely different. What to do? Sorting by category works for a while but, as you found out, the lines between genres is blurring as publishers milk authors for profits. This creates the current confusion that plagues both bookseller and customer. When I am browsing the Mystery section of a store, I may pick up a favorite author or I may be looking for Sherlock Holmes tales by various authors. How do I find out the favored author has other work in the bookstore, perhaps in other categories? How do I find out if an author, unknown to me, has written a Sherlock Holmes tale that may be on your shelf? In the olde days, I would ask the knowledgeable staff. Today, I would just sigh and walk out the store. What would really be useful, for me anyway, would be a computer where the customer can search for the kind of information exampled above. This computer would be similar to the ones set up in public libraries but would list books stocked by the store as well as those which can be ordered by the store. The book database should allow searches by author, title, category, book series or even key words. I know that bookstores have computerized inventories so staff can look up certain requests. What I am proposing is more comprehensive. Bookstores need to make it easier for customers to find the books they are looking for. Impulse buying from shelf scanning is not enough in these days of shrinking market share. Classification of books still remains the bane of booksellers, libraries and book collectors. Still, make the searching easier and they will come and buy. Regards, Jean ... When is human nature so weak as in the bookstore? -- H.W. Beecher ___ Blue Wave/QWK v2.20 [NR] --- FLAME v1.1 * Origin: Certa Cito. Lanark County, Ontario. 613-264-8114 (1:256/105) --------------- FIDO MESSAGE AREA==> TOPIC: 244 MYSTERY Ref: DBD00000 Date: 07/08/96 From: HELEN FLEISCHER Time: 11:58am \/To: BERT QUILLIN (Read 3 times) Subj: Arthur Upfield BQ> Thank you Helen. My goodness, he wrote many more books than I was BQ> aware of. It is a pity so many are out of print and probably BQ> unavailable. The more I read books by Upfield, the more they are BQ> enjoyed. They've reissued all but some of his very early books in paperback, several times in the last 10 years. The library won't still have them, no doubt, but try your local used book stores. Those early ones you won't find except in fancy editions from Dennis McMillan, if at all. Those two I mentioned, I haven't been able to find at all, despite having book searches done, so I don't hold out much hope. ... Madness takes its toll: please have exact change. * Q-Blue 1.0 * Helen Fleischer is helen@mbbs.com in Fairland, MD --- GEcho/2-PCB/2 * Origin: * MetroNet * Columbia, MD * (410) 720-5506 * (1:261/1137) --------------- FIDO MESSAGE AREA==> TOPIC: 244 MYSTERY Ref: DBD00001 Date: 07/08/96 From: HELEN FLEISCHER Time: 11:58am \/To: DEBBIE SHANKER (Read 3 times) Subj: Nessen DS> I started the Kat Colorado books in the middle of the series and it DS> didn't make much of a difference. In fact just recently I found one DS> of the earlier ones in the series, didn't like it and I don't think DS> I even finished it. Honky Tonk was excellent though. I loved the DS> idea of her interacting with someone from her childhood. This one DS> was one of the DS> best. Thanks. There are so many series where it does make a difference that I've been pretty shy about starting in the middle lately. DS> Now the Goodnight Irene books should definitely be started at the DS> beginning of the series. Goodnight Irene sets the whole pace and DS> premise of all the following books. Thanks. I'll remeber that. DS> I guess I really do gobble up books. Since I'm not much of a TV DS> watcher, I can spend most of my evenings reading. I just need to find a better way to knit and read at the same time. Until I can do that, TV will still have me in the evenings. ;) Current bedtime read is _Slow Dancing With the Angel_ of Death by Helen Chappell. It has what must be the worst first chapter I've ever read in my life. Somehow I made it through and it did get better. It still has a few too many cliche'd expressions, but the prose has settled down from deep purple to lavender. Now it doesn't obscure the plot so much. It galls me to find split inifinitives cropping up, though. I expected better from Baltimore Sun reporter with such a distinctive first name! ;) ... "But how does the yarn get around the big wheel?" * Q-Blue 1.0 * Helen Fleischer is helen@mbbs.com in Fairland, MD --- GEcho/2-PCB/2 * Origin: * MetroNet * Columbia, MD * (410) 720-5506 * (1:261/1137) --------------- FIDO MESSAGE AREA==> TOPIC: 244 MYSTERY Ref: DBD00002 Date: 07/08/96 From: HELEN FLEISCHER Time: 11:58am \/To: JAN MURPHY (Read 3 times) Subj: McCrumb and other cross-over writers JM> Yes, we do used books, but Wentworth is not one of the authors we JM> carry. I'd try Romance World in San Diego. If you can't find the JM> phone number from directory assistance, bug me and I'll look it up JM> -- I took my San Diego bookstore guide to work, so it's not handy. Not with your SF bent, I'm sure. Thing is, I don't think her romances have been reprinted in many years. The one I read, and loved, was written in 1898 and is thoroughly tame by modern romance reader's standards. It was set in the time and place of the Indian Mutiny and is as fast-paced and involving as any of her early "ripping yarn" mysteries. Imagine MM Kaye's books distilled to under 200 pages of perfect prose and exciting plot and you have some idea why I want to find more! ... A garden is a thing of beauty and a job forever. * Q-Blue 1.0 * Helen Fleischer is helen@mbbs.com in Fairland, MD --- GEcho/2-PCB/2 * Origin: * MetroNet * Columbia, MD * (410) 720-5506 * (1:261/1137)