Litsy

pan

I did not enjoy this book, possibly because it was so different from what I was expecting. I thought it would be a fictional, but fairly accurate, account of the Pendle Witch Trials, which took place in Lancashire, England in 1612. Instead, although it was based on facts, the author included some really wild speculative aspects to the story. ⬇️

julieclair The narrative was disjointed and hard to follow, and there were so many different characters it was hard to keep them straight (including a completely bizarre cameo appearance by William Shakespeare). The scenes of daily life in Lancashire were depressing, the treatment of the imprisoned accused witches was horrific, and the depictions of the witches' actions were gruesome and macabre. Triggers all over the place. ⬇️ 2mo

julieclair I don't know if this technically counts as a horror book, as I rarely read that genre, but it sure felt like one to me.
Most months, my #BookedInTime selection is among my favorite reads. Not this month! @Cuilin #Pantone2024 @BarbaraBB 2mo

Cuilin Yeah I‘m not particularly good with horror. This sounds gruesome. Hopefully November‘s #BookedInTime Time of the Pharaohs will be more pleasant. 2mo

See All 6 Comments

BarbaraBB Real winter colors! Nice 🤩 2mo

julieclair @BarbaraBB Getting to match 3 colors was the best thing about this book! 😂 2mo

julieclair @Cuilin I can‘t get to Egypt fast enough! 😂 2mo

22 likes6 comments

Ruthiella

Fell Murder | E.C.R. Lorac

#Ihavequestions

1. Fell Murder by E. C. R. Lorac was among many excellent mysteries read this year for the #GoldenAgeCrimeClub ,because it introduced me to a new author.
2. I‘m going to switch out one of my #cloakanddaggerchristmas books for Truly Devious by M. Johnson b/c I‘ve heard great things and it came up in my library holds.
3. I really love it when we learn about all the suspects‘ dirty laundry. P. D. James was especially good at this.

Ruthiella Thank you @RaeLovesToRead for tagging me. 😊 13mo

RaeLovesToRead Ooh, I will have to check out these!!! 😁 13mo

batsy Fell Murder was good! 13mo

See All 6 Comments

Ruthiella @batsy It was! And Hoopla appears to have all of Lorac‘s catalog as ebooks, which makes it so much easier for me to read more. 👍 13mo

CaramelLunacy I really liked Truly Devious! 13mo

Ruthiella @CaramelLunacy Excellent! I really looking forward to it. 😃 13mo

40 likes6 comments

rabbitprincess

Fell Murder | E.C.R. Lorac

so-so

I might have started this in a bad mood, because I ended up losing patience with it. It took a long time to get to the murder, and by the time it happened I didn‘t particularly care who murdered him because his death was nothing but positive. The detective protagonist, Macdonald, is fine, and the view of homefront WW2 in England is good, but this wasn‘t my favourite Lorac novel.
July 2023 #GoldenAgeCrimeClub selection

Aims42 I‘ve run into moods ruining a perfectly good book before too, it‘s a bummer 🫠 I had to laugh at your remark about not caring who murdered the character because it was a positive thing 🤭😆 1y

rabbitprincess @Aims42 Especially because there was a war on; I felt they had better things to worry about! 1y

Aims42 @rabbitprincess for sure!! 1y

18 likes3 comments

Larkken

Fell Murder | E.C.R. Lorac

It‘s sooo hot! We‘ll see how far I get through this list… a number (including tagged) are carry-overs from previous months 👀 #bookspin #doublespin

TheAromaofBooks

TheAromaofBooks Woohoo!!!! 1y

16 likes1 comment

kwmg40

Fell Murder | E.C.R. Lorac

pick

I really enjoyed the setting and characters of this Golden Age mystery set in Lancashire county in England. I'm definitely planning to read more of Lorac's Robert Macdonald mysteries!

#GoldenAgeCrimeClub @Mitch
#BookSpinBingo @TheAromaofBooks
#20in4 @Andrew65
#192025 #1944 @Librarybelle

TheAromaofBooks Woohoo!!! 1y

Librarybelle Hooray!! 1y

Ruthiella I really liked this too! And there are a handful of them in ebook available on Hoopla. 1y

See All 7 Comments

batsy Me too! It was a good introduction to Lorac. 1y

Andrew65 Looks good. Well done 👏👏👏 1y

kwmg40 @TheAromaofBooks @Librarybelle @Andrew65 Thanks for stopping by! 1y

kwmg40 @Ruthiella @batsy I hadn't realized that Lorac (Edith Caroline Rivett) was so prolific. I'm glad to know that there is so much more of her work to read! 1y

37 likes7 comments

batsy

Fell Murder | E.C.R. Lorac

pick

This is my first ECR Lorac mystery & it won't be my last! It's set towards the end of WW2 in a Lancashire farming community, & I delighted in all of the lovely details of the countryside as well as the farm routines. This is like if Succession was a murder mystery set in 1940s rural England. There is an irascible patriarch, and an assortment of troubled children. Clever, well-written & with sound pace & structure; I enjoyed it. #GoldenAgeCrimeClub

charl08 Sounds good! 1y

jlhammar Succession - great comparison! 😂 1y

batsy @charl08 It is! 👍🏾 1y

batsy @jlhammar 😁 1y

86 likes3 stack adds4 comments

Mitch

Fell Murder | E.C.R. Lorac

Anything we‘ve missed, not mentioned…???
Would you read another by Lorac?
#goldenagecrimeclub

AmyG I liked reading about the dynamics of the family members. While they were all from the same family, they were all quite different people. I found this part very interesting. 1y

batsy @AmyG I agree! I would have liked a bit more of that, though I also think the book was paced just right and not too long. 1y

batsy Yes! I'd love to read more Lorac. There's a thoughtful aspect to her style that I appreciate. 1y

See All 11 Comments

Ruthiella I definitely liked Macdonald‘s style and would enjoy reading another book to see how he is in a different setting. Thanks so much for the great questions! 1y

kspenmoll Definitely would read more of her work! 1y

kwmg40 I definitely want to read more by Lorac. Thank you @Mitch, for introducing me to another excellent mystery author through the #goldenagecrimeclub! 1y

Mitch I‘m definitely up for another ( I love she uses her pet name - Carol backwards for her pseudonym! ) 1y

Mitch @batsy that‘s exactly what it is! Well said! 1y

Mitch This one is set in roughly the same place and has the same police officer!

Crook O Lune: A Lancashire Mystery

quietjenn I like Lorac a lot - I think this was my fourth or fifth - and plan to make my way through some of the others that are available with Macdonald. 1y

jlhammar I'd for sure read more Lorac. Glad to be introduced to her work - great pick! 1y

35 likes11 comments

Mitch

Fell Murder | E.C.R. Lorac

And the mystery! Perhaps not the strongest element of this book! What did you think?
#goldenagecrimeclub

AmyG While I was not sory to see the father “go”…I did at first thinkit was Richard. But then, nobody really liked him. 1y

lauraisntwilder I suspected all of them. 😂 I liked how it ended, but I didn't particularly feel invested in how that part turned out, which is odd for a mystery. 1y

batsy It wasn't a particularly thrilling mystery, but I thought it was solid and didn't insult the reader's intelligence and sometimes that's enough 🙂 And like @AmyG said I was not sad to see the father go as well, lol, and a part of me was just curious about how they'd carry on without that imposing authority figure in their lives. 1y

See All 10 Comments

Ruthiella It definitely was a more slow paced whodunnit than I expected. I thought she did a good job at keeping everyone looking not guilty so I was nicely surprised. 1y

kspenmoll I really enjoyed the books pace, atmosphere, & the fact that I just could not pinpoint”whodunit” at all! I would like to read another book by this author. 1y

kwmg40 The mystery was a little more slow-paced than some, but it kept me guessing and had a satisfying conclusion. 1y

Mitch @lauraisntwilder I agree. Oddly for a mystery that element for me was slow, and took a back burner. But I still loved the book! 1y

quietjenn I agree that it was solid, if not exactly thrilling and fast-paced. I was not expecting the second corpse that turned up! 1y

jlhammar Not overly clever or surprising perhaps, but I enjoyed considering all of the suspects and thought it worked well/felt satisfying. 1y

lauraisntwilder @Mitch I thought it was great, but I was content to just see what happened without feeling like I was in suspense. 1y

33 likes10 comments

Mitch

Fell Murder | E.C.R. Lorac

I really liked Marion - her work ethic, morality and of course her dress sense! Any strong feelings, either way, for any of the characters ?

#goldenagecrimeclub

AmyG Arion was my favorite. She had a good work ethic, was a smart and rational woman. The farm ran well because of her and the other woman hire. I didn‘t like any of the Garth men. (edited) 1y

batsy Yes, Marion stood out from the start! And I grew to like Elizabeth too. I could Lorac took pleasure in portraying these women. But yes, the Garth men on the whole don't come off too well (mostly)! 1y

Ruthiella Definitely team Marion! 😅 As one of the characters stated, she‘s a better man than any of her brothers! I also really liked Elizabeth and Staple. 1y

See All 9 Comments

kspenmoll Team Marion! 1y

kwmg40 My favourite characters were Marion and Macdonald. 1y

Mitch The Garth men did not fair well! 🤣 1y

quietjenn Marion for the win! But I did really like Staple as well. 1y

jlhammar Yes, Marion! Great character. I agree with others - also enjoyed Macdonald, Staple and Elizabeth. 1y

Cuilin Definitely team Marion. I felt bad for Malcom, the bee keeping, would be poet. 1y

30 likes9 comments

Mitch

Fell Murder | E.C.R. Lorac

War loomed in the background again in this novel. What do you think this added to the story / plot?
#goldenagecrimeclub

AmyG You got a feel for the time period. 1y

lauraisntwilder Farming was a protected profession, so maybe Malcolm wouldn't have gone to fight even if he'd been in good health, but it emphasized his situation. 1y

batsy It didn't quite affect it, I felt. Or in my reading of it. In a sense it felt like they sequestered in a little slice of pastoral bliss, of a sort! 1y

See All 9 Comments

Ruthiella War was important in placing the characters where they were - particularly Charles and it emphasized the lack of young men. I‘ve read other books which had land girls like Elizabeth. It was in the background but still an important aspect in shaping the story. 1y

kspenmoll It did provide an important backdrop to the story. Elizabeth wanted to continue to work & contribute, Charles a sad reminder of war vet. It just placed the story within a historical context of the time & for me, made their lives more real. 1y

kwmg40 The war did explain how certain characters ended up in their current circumstances, so it seemed important to the story to me. 1y

Mitch I liked how the war was seen through the impact of individual lives. It felt very lived and personal. 1y

quietjenn It s handy for placing a few of the characters in place, but it didn't feel as super significant and central as it does in many of the books I read. 1y

jlhammar I really liked getting a look at wartime from this side of things (country/farm). 1y

28 likes9 comments

Welcome to Litsy!

Trending Hashtags

Trending Books