November MysteryKIT--Senior Sleuths/Kid Sleuths

This month we will read selections featuring senior sleuths or kid sleuths, whichever you prefer. Short stories or anthologies also count for this challenge! This might be a good opportunity to revisit some childhood favorites or classic sleuths.



Here are some suggested sleuths to get you started, listed with their creators/authors.

Senior Sleuths

Agnes Barton (Madison Johns)
Aunt Dimity (Nancy Atherton)
Essie Cobb (Patricia Rockwell)
Gladdy Gold (Rita Lakin)
Hildegard Withers (Stuart Palmer}
Jessica Fletcher (Donald Bain)
Jules Maigret (Georges Simenon)
Miss Marple (Agatha Christie)
Miss Seeton (Heron Carvic)
Mrs. Jeffries (Emily Brightwell)
Mrs. Mallory (Hazel Holt)
Mrs. Pollifax (Dorothy Gilman)
Mystery Sisters (Karen Musser Nortman)
Peg and Rose (Laurien Berenson)
Senior Sleuthing Club (Jinty James)
Thursday Murder Club (Richard Osman)

Anthology: Senior Sleuths edited by Cynthia Manson and Constance Scarborough

Kid Sleuths

Aggie Morton (Marthe Jocelyn)
Ava and Carol Detective Agency (Thomas Lockhaven)
Encyclopedia Brown (Donald J. Sobol)
Hardy Boys (Franklin W. Dixon)
Myrtle Hardcastle (Elizabeth C. Bunce)
Nancy Drew (Carolyn Keene)
Theodore Boone (John Grisham)
Trixie Belden (Julie Campbell)
Wells and Wong (Robin Stevens)

Check out Goodreads for a senior sleuths list! https://www.goodreads.com/search?utf8=%E2%9C%93&query=senior+sleuths

Don’t forget to update the wiki. https://wiki.librarything.com/index.php/2023_MysteryKIT

I am looking forward to reading my first Mrs. Pollifax with The Unexpected Mrs. Pollifax by Dorothy Gilman.

>2 DeltaQueen50: I hope you enjoy it! I have a real soft spot for Mrs. Pollifax, which is probably why I'm planning on reading Mrs. Pollifax and the Lion Killer.

I just got a message from the library that The Last Devil to Die by Richard Osman is waiting to be picked up - so that's timely.

I have one of Miss Marple's cases on the TBR shelf: A Pocketful of Rye

These are great suggestions! I am considering another one from the Mystery Sisters series.

I have the first in the Thursday Murder Club on my shelf and this will be a good opportunity to get started on this series!

I've got Killers of a Certain Age.

>3 NinieB: Thanks, Ninie. I believe that I took the original BB from you!

I've got The Man Who Died Twice by Richard Osman waiting on the shelf. I'm also considering Death Comes to Marlow by Robert Thorogood.

>10 VivienneR: Both are excellent choices, and I have read them both.

>11 LadyoftheLodge: Glad to hear it!

Fot October KiddyCAT (siblings) I'm currently reading Nancy Springer's Mystery of the Missing Marquess and enjoying it a lot. I had no idea Mycroft and Sherlock were such grumps. Another one in the series would fit Kid Sleuth for this prompt.

>12 VivienneR: That is another good idea. I have read all that are available in that series, and I liked them all.

Don't forget Alan Bradley's Flavia de Luce, starting with The sweetness at the bottom of the pie.

I expected someone to have already mentioned Laurie R. King's Holmes/Russell series, which is wonderful!

The series starts with The Beekeeper's Apprentice, and it should be read first for the background information.

I ended up reading A Christmas Vanishing by Anne Perry in which several elderly people group together to try to solve a disappearance.

I've already finished my book for this as I need to get it back to the library, so I started a few days early. I read The Last Devil to Die by Richard Osman about a group of pensioners at a retirement community who solve mysteries together.

Voting for the 2024 CATs is now happening at https://www.librarything.com/topic/354675#8274629! Voting will take place until Thursday, November 9, at 6:30 p.m. EST, at which time the votes will be counted and the 2024 CATs officially chosen. So stop by and vote for your favorites!

(Cross-posting to a bunch of threads to reach as many people as possible.)

I'll likely read a Flavia de Luce this month. She's so much fun.

The Man Who Died Twice by Richard Osman
I'm not sure that I followed all the complexities of the plot but this second book from the Thursday Murder Club was fantastic. The characters are wonderful and I like that the fun is mixed with serious issues.

I read Mrs. Pollifax and the Second Thief by Dorothy Gilman for this month. Always fun going on an adventure with Mrs. Pollifax.

I read The Weed That Strings the Hangman's Bag by Alan Bradley, the second Flavia de Luce book. Fun!

I've just started Speaking from Among the Bones.

2024 MysteryKit planning thread is up in the 2024 Challenge page. Drop by if you’re interested!

I have finished The Thursday Murder Club which was very enjoyable and a welcome change from my previous and very grim book. I'm looking forward to the next instalments!

Currently reading The Marlow Murder Club by Robert Thorogood. The main sleuth is in her 70s

COMPLETED The Marlow Murder Club by Robert Thorogood, a cozy with a 77-year-old lead sleuth. Starting the next in the series, Death Comes To Marlow.

One I liked a lot was Exit by Belinda Bauer.

I read Mrs. Pollifax and the Lion Killer, in which the grandmotherly spy is not working for the CIA but nonetheless is off on an adventure in Africa.

For this challenge, I read The Unexpected Inheritance of Inspector Chopra by Vaseem Khan. The book begins the day Inspector Chopra retires.

Since I am celebrating Thanksgiving with my grandchildren this weekend. I have posted the December thread early.
https://www.librarything.com/topic/355191#n8282450

>31 lowelibrary: thank you. Have a wonderful time.

An Afternoon to Kill by Shelley Smith
When a plane has trouble and lands in a desert, the lone passenger walks to a nearby house where the elderly woman there tells him a story of murder. It's an engrossing story with a surprising finish.

Offered at Kindle Unlimited if you are interested.

I finished Killers of a Certain Age which was delightful. Funny and surprising. Little old ladies are all too often undersestimated. And, they appreciate the opportunities that affords...

I just finished The Last Devil to Die and I loved it! Newest of the Thursday Murder Club series.

I read the first book in the Mrs. Pollifax series, The Unexpected Mrs. Pollifax by Dorothy Gilman and fully enjoyed this rousing adventure. Great fun and Mrs. Pollifax is the spy we all wish we could be!

I'm currently reading 4:50 From Paddington featuring Miss Marple.

I also want to share a story about a recent conversation I had with one of my daughter's friends, who is in his mid 20's. He was enthusiastically recommending Richard Osman's Thursday Murder Club series to me. I remarked that I was surprised a young person like him would love so much a series about septuagenarians. He thought about it for a moment and then replied, "It makes me feel good to think that, when I'm that old, I might be as clever and interesting as those characters." I had probably felt the same way reading about Miss Marple in my 20's!

>37 mathgirl40: I love this story! I probably felt that way when I read the Mrs. Pollifax books as a teenager.

>37 mathgirl40: What a lovely story.

>37 mathgirl40: I'm glad your young friend enjoyed Osman's books. It's good to hear the young don't write off elderly protagonists.

I liked Robert Thorogood's first book in the Marlow Murder Club series but just finished Death Comes to Marlow and found it hard going. The premise seemed good but somehow the story fell a bit flat, possibly because it had too many scenes that were just plain meddling. As I came near the end I didn’t care much who did it. I enjoyed Thorogood’s TV series Death in Paradise, but this novel, not so much. I wonder if it was because I listened to the audiobook: a narrator can make or break the book for me. On the other hand, I don't remember Miss Marple or Mrs. Pollifax being so annoying.

>40 VivienneR: I thought Death Comes to Marlow seemed too farfetched and the ending was too complicated.

>41 LadyoftheLodge: Yes, I agree. The solution was so complex that it was farcical. Maybe in a humorous TV series (like Death in Paradise it could be made to work, but on the printed page, no.

Starting A Pocket Full of Rye by Agatha Christie, a Miss Marple novel.

COMPLETED A Pocket Full of Rye by Agatha Christie

Kids on a Case: Hunting Black Dragon / Tony Peters
3 stars

This is book 2 in the “Kids on a Case” series. When Daniel comes to Tyler, the “ringleader” of the group of kids (around 13 years old?) who once solved a kidnapping case, looking for help, Tyler can’t say no to his friend. Daniel’s dad has been kidnapped and Daniel is scared to go to the police because he and his mom were threatened not to. However, Tyler was warned last time that he should bring anything to the police that he knows about, so he and his group of kid sleuths do just that. The police, after getting permission from the kids’ parents (supposedly), have Tyler and his friends help them with this case. They know it’s the dangerous gang, the Black Dragons, behind the kidnapping.

It was ok. Although Tyler is the “I” in the story, much of it follows other characters, as well. I might have enjoyed it a bit more if I had had it in a better format (pdf can be read on a Kobo, but it’s awkward). Obviously not even close to realistic, though.

Currently reading Death At The Chase by Michael Innes. Since Sir John Appleby has retired and has adult children, I think he can count as a Senior Sleuth.

The senior sleuth in Mord in Hangzhou is a retired secret agent sent to China where he combines visiting old friends with a mission. There has been a spate of food scandals and the Chinese suspect a foreign power is trying to discredit them.
The plot wasn't very convincing, and the part that involved the family of his old friend was way too obvious.

I read Aunt Bessie Decides by Diana Xarissa. Aunt Bessie is an elderly lady who helps the police to solve crimes on the Isle of Man.