Reading the Detectives discussion

Hello all! This is a general first post, and my second post to the thread will have a specific Gladys Mitchell reading event invitation for December 2019.

Gladys Mitchell is the author of the 66-book Mrs. Bradley mystery series, with books published from Speedy Death in 1929 to The Crozier Pharoahs in 1984, one year after her death. When I started reading her mystery stories after discovering some paperback reprints in 1999, there was little on the Internet for information beyond some title bibliography lists. So I created a tribute website at www.gladysmitchell.com , which has personal summaries and reviews of all 82 of her published books, as well as other collected articles and information about the author and her writing.

I must mention this: Gladys Mitchell is, and continues to be, an acquired taste among readers. Some really enjoy her literary writing style, her mischievous and dark sense of humor, her variety of tones and narrative structures (this is a personal endearment for me; one book might be a broad P.G. Wodehousian farce while another may channel a somber Wilkie Collins ghost story), and her memorably bold and bizarre detective, Mrs. Beatrice Adela Lestrange Bradley.

Other readers do not enjoy GM's books, and, used to a diet of Christie or Carr, are frustrated with a mystery writer who is a novelist first and a fair-play plotter second. Her titles from the 1930s and '40s are filled with vivid characters, comic action, and strange scenarios, and she uses the detective genre to explore themes such as justice, gender, society, youth, and academics. But for those who primarily want a puzzle with a clever twist at the end -- and Mitchell has pulled off a couple of those too -- more often than not her writing is burdensome instead of sublime.

So whether you become a devoted fan (and there are those of us around) or you can't make a connection with her writing, I encourage you to try a book or two (When Last I Died and The Rising of the Moon are two of my favorites) and see where you stand on the Gladys Mitchell spectrum.

And I invite you to a group reading event in the next post!

She sounds like my cup of tea! Thanks for proselytizing for her; I love to learn about new-to-me authors.

I am very happy to announce the next title selected for December 2019's MITCHELL MYSTERY READING GROUP: the Winter-into-Spring tale Dead Men's Morris, first published in 1936.

New and veteran Gladys Mitchell readers alike are welcome to provide their observations, general or specific, as we read through the chapters. This book is divided into three sections, so every 10 days I ask contributors to email their comments to me at jason@jasonhalf.com and I will curate and present a blog with everyone's thoughts included, loosely organized by topic. (You are also welcome to read along without sharing comments if you wish.)

Please visit this link for more information on December's read:
https://www.jasonhalf.com/blog/announ...

Note that Dead Men's Morris is available on the Amazon Kindle in the U.S. and that reprints from Rue Morgue Press and Michael Joseph can still be found. This season, Vintage Press reprinted the book as Death Comes at Christmas, available for purchase now. Our first call for comments on Dead Men's Morris will be due December 8, covering Chapters 1 to 6 in the section entitled FIGURE 1: Fossder's Folly.

I hope you will be able to join us in the dance!

Hello Abigail! I would certainly be happy to add another soul to the pro-Gladys Mitchell camp if you read her books and find her engaging. I think she's one of the underrated jewels of Golden Age Detection out there, although some readers find her frustrating, as I have mentioned.

I hope you might be able to join in the Dead Men's Morris group reading next month (see info above), but if not, please choose a Mrs. Bradley mystery that looks interesting to you and try her out sometime next year! Always happy to hear what people think of GM, whom poet Philip Larkin called "sui generis". Cheers -- Jason

I liked A Speedy Death. I have just started The Mystery of a Butcher's Shop. I try to read in order.

Jan C wrote: "I liked A Speedy Death. I have just started The Mystery of a Butcher's Shop. I try to read in order."

I completely understand, Jan C. Glad you enjoyed A Speedy Death. Most people (myself included) feel like the titles from the first two decades of the series, 1930s and 1940s, are the strongest, so you should have plenty of engaging stories ahead of you. Happy reading --

I read A Speedy Death recently but didn't really like it, due to the way an aspect of the plot developed - however, I do mean to try another, as I've found that often the first in a series is not the best.

Thanks for sharing your view of A Speedy Death, Judy. I find that first book of hers rather melodramatic compared with some of the stories she would tell in the following years. I also dislike the overuse of adverbs in A Speedy Death, a habit which GM left behind after her first couple mysteries.

And I heard from a reader this morning who said she had begun Dead Men's Morris, the December group read I am hosting through the tribute site, and already was looking at YouTube videos about morris dancing and learning about the Oxford countryside. And that's what I like about Gladys Mitchell too -- she was a career educator, and her books (the best ones) always encourage readers to study and discover more!

I am reading Speedy Death at the moment and am nearly half way through. I am quite l liking it but not keen on Mrs Bradley being described as reptilian. I suppose I am more imagining Diana Rigg!

Hello Jill! Mitchell had Mrs Bradley mellow a bit by the 1950s and '60s, in both description and personality, but she is definitely described as saurian, often connected with a lizard or crocodile, and many books refer to her witch-like aspect. (She is a descendant of Lecky Harries, a witch burned at the stake.)

Conversely, that's what is so jarring about the Diana Rigg series: the glamorous socialite is nothing like what Gladys Mitchell created. Hope you continue to enjoy Speedy Death ---