--------------- FIDO MESSAGE AREA==> TOPIC: 244 MYSTERY Ref: DCB00003 Date: 08/06/96 From: FRED RUNK Time: 02:10pm \/To: SHELLEY GINGRICH (Read 3 times) Subj: Have you read... -=>While in the White Hart, Shelley Gingrich explained to Fred Runk that<=- SG> In each case there is a disturbed or traumatized child involved. SG> Delaware is asked to consult due to his expertise with such children. SG> As he deals with the child, a bigger story unfolds and he finds SG> questions he wants answered. He is usually helped out by his friend SG> Milo, a large, unattractive, gay cop whose lover is a wealthy doctor Ah, ok. Thanks. I might add Kellerman to my list and see what one looks like. SG> By the way, Jonathan Kellerman's wife is also an author. I find her SG> books can be quite gory compared to Jonathan's, but alos very good SG> mystery novels. I think there has been some discussion of a Faye (sp) Kellerman in this conference. Is that her? ... The easiest way to solve a problem is to deny that it exists. ___ X Blue Wave/QWK v2.20 X --- Maximus 2.02 * Origin: Fred's Place (1:300/6.2) --------------- FIDO MESSAGE AREA==> TOPIC: 244 MYSTERY Ref: DCB00004 Date: 08/06/96 From: FRED RUNK Time: 05:44pm \/To: ALL (Read 3 times) Subj: Grimes' RAINBOW'S END Martha Grimes' RAINBOW'S END is part of her series about the cases of Scotland Yard Superintendent Richard Jury. This is the most recent of a series that now includes at least 13 novels. One of the unique aspects of this series is that, while the stories take place mostly in England, Martha Grimes is an American writer who lives in the US. She has, however, traveled in England and apparently has friends living there who do some "research" for her. Her last two novels, though, THE HORSE YOU CAME IN ON and RAINBOW'S END, have brought Supt. Jury to the US for part of the story anyway--once to the East Coast and in the latest, to Santa Fe, New Mexico. I find her titles to be interesting--most, if not all of them refer to a pub that one or more of the characters visit during the story. One might consider reading HORSE YOU CAME IN ON before reading this novel as there is a connection between the two. Grimes' complete cast of characters returns in this one, including my favorite--Aunt Agatha--and the various romances seem no closer to resolution then before. Overall: a good story and well worth the time spent reading it. Next: Caleb Carr's THE ALIENIST Possible Spoiler for Martha Grimes' RAINBOW'S END \/ \/ \/ \/ \/ \/ \/ \/ \/ \/ \/ \/ \/ \/ \/ \/ RAINBOW'S END is the most unusual of her stories for several reasons. One is that nostalgia appears to be a significant theme in the story. Many of the pubs from previous stories are mentioned in the tale, and some of the characters spend time thinking about past cases. Several characters also "take stock" of their lives--not quite a "mid-life crisis," but approaching it anyway. In addition, along with being the second of the "US" based tales, this story can be seen in some ways as a continuation of the previous novel THE HORSE YOU CAME IN ON. A death had occurred in HORSE that was unconnected to the mystery focused on in that work. A woman with a history of heart trouble had a favorite nephew who had been murdered. She dies shortly afterward, in London, apparently from heart disease, probably exacerbated by grief. Also, there's no conceivable connection to her nephew's death. That was the way it was left at the end of HORSE. However, two other women die in England later, and a tenuous, coincidental? connection is found among the three. Two of the women had lived in England, but were not acquainted. Both had recently traveled to the US, and both had visited Santa Fe; the third was an American who lived in Santa Fe, but was now on vacation in England. Hmmm, hope that makes sense. Grimes also pays homage to several other mystery writers in this novel. For example, Jury's hypochondriacal assistant, Sgt. Wiggins, ends up in the hospital with a never disclosed ailment and is given a copy of Josephine Tey's THE DAUGHTER OF TIME. This inspires Wiggins to attempt to solve the crime from his hospital bed and has his nurse doing research for him. ... The stupid argue; the talented talk; the wise are silent. ___ X Blue Wave/QWK v2.20 X --- Maximus 2.02 * Origin: Fred's Place (1:300/6.2) --------------- FIDO MESSAGE AREA==> TOPIC: 244 MYSTERY Ref: DCB00005 Date: 08/06/96 From: DELORES E ROWE Time: 10:13pm \/To: FRED RUNK (Read 3 times) Subj: Re: Grimes -=> On 08-03-96 15:56, Fred Runk said something about Grimes to der....... Hi there Fred.... DER> Well, I gather she is an English authoress, so she isn't likely to run DER> out of titles!! :) FR> Actually I thought that too until I read a brief bio that said she was FR> an American who has visited England and who has friends living there. FR> Since then I've noticed in a number of her books that she thanks FR> various people for background information. It's like PD James writing FR> stories that take place in the US. Be kinda fun to do the research for her books, huh? FR> Civil service--you know how that goes. DER> Hear the bennies are good though! FR> Retirement's not bad either, if one lives long enough to retire from FR> the Civil Service. You mean die of boredom? ttyl der ... I'm waiting for my luxury liner to come in. ___ Blue Wave/QWK v2.12 --- TriToss (tm) Professional 10.0 - #189 * Origin: TMK BBS - 509.886.7607 - mystique@nwinternet.com (1:344/115.0) --------------- FIDO MESSAGE AREA==> TOPIC: 244 MYSTERY Ref: DCB00006 Date: 08/06/96 From: DELORES E ROWE Time: 10:16pm \/To: RUSS JERNIGAN (Read 3 times) Subj: Re: Grimes -=> On 08-03-96 20:37, Russ Jernigan said something about Grimes to der....... RJ> Hi, Delores! Hi Russ....how are you? DER>Well, I gather she is an English authoress, so she isn't likely to run out DER>of titles!! :) RJ> Actually, she's American. Just writes New Scotland yard mysteries. Yes, that's what Fred told me. I think it would be kinda fun to do the research for her books! Considering that even the smallest village has at least one pub, it could be a life long project!! der ... You can't kill time without injuring eternity. ___ Blue Wave/QWK v2.12 --- TriToss (tm) Professional 10.0 - #189 * Origin: TMK BBS - 509.886.7607 - mystique@nwinternet.com (1:344/115.0) --------------- FIDO MESSAGE AREA==> TOPIC: 244 MYSTERY Ref: DCC00000 Date: 08/07/96 From: PATRICIA FERRARA Time: 05:39pm \/To: HELEN FLEISCHER (Read 3 times) Subj: Time -=> Quoting HELEN FLEISCHER to Patricia Ferrara <=- HF> That's an elusive commodity! I know a moderate amount of my reading HF> time has gone to email reading. Where the rest goes, I have to HF> wonder. I do try not to stay up too late reading at bedtime. ;) Yes, some of my time is spent here reading these messages. But not THAT much time! I used to devote a ridiculous amount of time to bbsing... several hours every night. Now I probably devote 30 minutes a night, at the most. I think that I've figured out where at least SOME of the missing time went. I started thinking about my reading choices back then. I read mysteries, but only when I could afford to buy them (hardcover). My choices were limited to what was described, and offered in, The Mystery Guild catalog. So I was probably only attempting to read 3 to 4 books a month. For financial reasons, I finally quit the Mystery Guild and started borrowing books from the library, AND started reading this echo. That's where my trouble came in! Suddenly, I'm talking to lots of people who like the same things I do, and my list is overwhelming. Then I discover the FoTL and my resources have doubled! I'm trying to read twice as many books as I used to! Since I'm not successful in that endeavor, it doesn't fully account for all of the missing time. But have no fear! Inspector Ferrara will prevail, and the missing shall not be missed! (Or something like that.) Patsy --- 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: DCD00000 Date: 08/07/96 From: DENNIS MCCUNNEY Time: 04:53am \/To: DELORES E ROWE (Read 3 times) Subj: Child abuse.... ** From Delores E Rowe to Dennis Mccunney on 02 Aug 96 15:04:00 ** Child abuse.... DM> The issue is simply one of being deluged in bad news. Many local DM> newspapers take the sensationalist approach, and give prominence to DM> stories featuring gruesome events, such as children being brutalized. DM> The overt reason for the choice is public service, of course, warning DM> folks of things to beware of. The true reason is maintaining or DM> boosting circulation, in the face of competition from TV. It leads DM> to a skewed approach to news presentation, and to a level of fear that DM> may not really be justified in the readership. DER> As someone who suffered physical, sexual and emotional abuse as a DER> child, I guess I have the mentality that the more people are made aware DER> of it, the more it is publicized in all it gruesome, horrendous detail, DER> the more educated people become, the more the general public is likely DER> to intervene, rather than turn a blind eye. Unfortunately, this does DER> not seem to be true. Child abuse is more prevalent now than it has DER> ever been, and yet there is no increase in those that are being charged DER> with the abuses. Is child abuse *really* more prevalent, or is it simply more likely to be *reported*? That emphasis by papers looking to build circulation, or TV shows looking for ratings must be looked at carefully. Sensationalist coverage will give you the idea that child abusers lurk behind every tree and bush. Whether that level of paranoia is justified is quite another matter. It's a very thorny issue, since: 1) Just what consitutes "abuse"is hazily defined, and the definitions change over time and between cultures. You will find folks today who consider spanking to be child abuse. 30 years ago, such an attitude might have been viewed as lunacy. 2) There is the question of reportage. Child abuse is the current hot button in our society. It is more widely reported and discussed, so it *appears* more prevalent. But I suspect this may not be the case, and that actual abuse may not be all that much greater than it used to be. It is simply more likely to be discovered. 3) And last but not least, there is the question of what sort of intervention is possible. Child abuse is a result of an assortment of factors, and I think you'll find that most abusers were abused themselves as children. It's a viscious circle that is quite difficult to break. There are large numbers of folks out thre who are really unfit to be parents, but how do you identify them and prevent problems? DER> Earlier this week, a man was arrested in a neighboring town. He was DER> charged with 3 counts of child molestation, 3 counts of child rape and DER> failure to register as a convicted sex-offender. He had been to DER> prison twice for the same offenses. However, the County Prosecutor DER> pointed out that he could not be tried under the "three strikes" ruling DER> as those crimes were not included in the ruling!!!! He could, however, be tried, convicted, and sentenced to the maximum term allowable under the law with no possibility of parole. DER> We claim to be a civilized society, with concern for our children. DER> Sadly, nothing could be further from the truth. Crimes against property are taken more seriously than crimes against people. --- Blue Wave/DOS v2.30 * Origin: * BlueDog BBS * (212) 594-4425 * NYC FileBone Hub (1:278/304) --------------- FIDO MESSAGE AREA==> TOPIC: 244 MYSTERY Ref: DCD00001 Date: 08/07/96 From: SHELLEY GINGRICH Time: 09:21pm \/To: FRED RUNK (Read 3 times) Subj: Have you read... FR> I think there has been some discussion of a Faye (sp) Kellerman in t FR> conference. Is that her? Yes, it is. --- TriToss (tm) Professional 10.0 - #189 * Origin: TMK BBS - 509.886.7607 - mystique@nwinternet.com (1:344/115.0) --------------- FIDO MESSAGE AREA==> TOPIC: 244 MYSTERY Ref: DCD00002 Date: 08/06/96 From: JAN MURPHY Time: 08:47pm \/To: PATRICIA FERRARA (Read 3 times) Subj: Re: A question > You've got me curious, so I have to ask. Look her > up on the computer? Where? Is there a reference guide > of some kind that's available to the public? Or even a > "book review"? Many public libraries now make their catalogs available on the internet or on a dial-in basis. You can call up and do searches the same way you would do it on the terminal if you were actually at the library. Sure is nice for those late-night questions.... --- 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: DCD00003 Date: 08/06/96 From: JAN MURPHY Time: 08:53pm \/To: SAM WARING (Read 3 times) Subj: Re: Preferred Authors > On 30 Jul 96 Jan Murphy said this about that to Helen Fleischer: > > HF>> Ran out of Tey for sure, not to mention Crispin and > Allingham. > > JM> For some reason, I still haven't gotten into Crispin > and Allingham. > > Jan did you just not care for Crispin, or are you having > trouble > finding them? AFAIK, just about everything of his is O/P > (AGAIN!). No, Crispin is on the 'just haven't gotten around to looking for them' list. Thanks for the information -- I'll be on the lookout now. Speaking of stuff being out of print, this is probably a good opportunity to remind people that books, at least in the US, have a shorter and shorter 'shelf life' these days. Publishing decisions are being made more and more on the basis of what-sells-quickly rather than what is good. Of course you know this already, Sam, but maybe others don't realize that some paperbacks can go out of print in as little as 90 days, and the publisher isn't always ready to reprint them when they do. So I encourage anyone who has a 'favorite' author to 1) buy their books NEW whenever possible -- at least in the US, it doesn't benefit the author one bit if you just read their book at the library and 2) don't wait around when you see a new paperback come out, since there is no guarantee it will be around tomorrow. Buy it before it disappears, and buy it early so the bookstore will have a chance to reorder it before it goes out of print. --- 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: DCD00004 Date: 08/08/96 From: FRED RUNK Time: 03:26pm \/To: DELORES E ROWE (Read 3 times) Subj: Grimes -=>While in the White Hart, Delores E Rowe explained to Fred Runk that<=- DER> Be kinda fun to do the research for her books, huh? Yeah, would be interesting to do some of that legwork, especially checking out the local pubs and sampling what they have to offer. She usually includes an interesting dinner or two in her works also. FR> Retirement's not bad either, if one lives long enough to retire from FR> the Civil Service. DER> DER> You mean die of boredom? Frustration, more than boredom--at least that was my experience before I quit being a bureaucrat. What are you reading now? ... Hug: A roundabout way of expressing affection. ___ X Blue Wave/QWK v2.20 X --- Maximus 2.02 * Origin: Fred's Place (1:300/6.2)