Death on the Shelf discussion

Because the library is currently closed, we've changed the book to this title, which is more available to library members. Unlimited copies of the eBook or the downloadable audio are available through our Hoopla subscription, if you have a Floyd County Public Library (Indiana) account. If you've never used Hoopla, contact me or any of the moderators of this group and we can walk you through the process of signing up and downloading either or both of them.

"This is the story of how a middle-aged spinster lost her mind, deserted her domestic gods in the city, took a furnished house for the summer out of town, and found herself involved in one of those mysterious crimes that keep our newspapers and detective agencies happy and prosperous."

Melinda will be moderator for this book, but it sounds so fascinating, I'll probably read it myself! Mary Roberts Rinehart is an older author, but she's been compared favorably to Agatha Christie. It should be very good.

I've read about the first eight chapters now. I'm not quite sure what's going on, which for me is a good thing. I'm enjoying it, and I want to get to the end so I know how everything turns out.

Too bad I read the "Crocodile" book. I'll see what I can do to get up to speed on this one.

I learned about this group when I signed on to the afternoon group. Did I miss the email alerting group members to its existence?

Has anyone tried to contact Linda Wolfe? If she's interested, and if it's available, I'll be glad to try to get/download the audiobook for her. But I don't see how she can contribute to the discussion.

We felt like we needed to switch to something more available. I’ve read Crocodile on the Sandbank maybe 4 or 5 times, though, so I’m happy to talk about it too.

As for email, I’m not sure I have everyone’s. I also don’t know how this will work for Linda. It’s kind of an unexpected change, but it’s our best option right now. When things are getting back to normal, this group will probably be in addition to the “live” group. Any suggestions, please let one of us know. Thanks!

I spoke to Linda just now by phone. I recently lent her an old smartphone -- no SIM card -- onto which I put the Audible app and downloaded some books. We're still working out the kinks in this system -- from a safe distance. Still, she'll be unable to participate in the discussion, but maybe she can tell me her impressions over the phone and I can relate them. We'll see!

To get the email addresses of the group, I'd suggest looking at the library's record to see who checked out that March's Mycroft Holmes book. Does the library attach email addresses to the library card info? If so, that might be a way to find the addresses of members of the group.

Email addresses are on the account. Unfortunately, I can’t access the system unless I’m on the library’s network. It’s a security thing, and I understand the reason, it just makes it a little difficult right now. I may have that network on my phone. I’ll go by this afternoon and see. Thanks.

I'm about a quarter of the way through The Circular Staircase and I like how domestic it is-- it reminds me a lot of The Turn of the Screw.

I enjoyed it. I could see the comparisons to Christie, but definitely with an American flavor. I've never read The Turn of the Screw, but maybe I should.

It's difficult for me to get too involved in the plights of the characters; I don't find that much depth to anyone but Liddy. She's a pretty entertaining character, but the others remain cloaked in lack of detail. I could blame Rachel, since she is the narrator, but I tend to fault the author.

I'm far enough along in the book to figure out the "why." Still waiting to learn the "who," although, of course, I have my suspicions.

"The Turn of the Screw" was written and published about the same time as "Staircase," back when women fainted a lot. It's not my favorite era in literature.

"Staircase" reminds me of Wilkie Collins' "The Woman in White," which I also found difficult to adore. It was written about half a century before, but they seem very much cut from the same cloth. I don't remember so much fainting, though.

Ben wrote: "It's difficult for me to get too involved in the plights of the characters; I don't find that much depth to anyone but Liddy. She's a pretty entertaining character, but the others remain cloaked in..."

Awkward! The Woman in White is the book we had kind of chosen for May. I'll be leading the discussion that month, and I'm not married to that choice by any means (I've done enough historical mysteries for a while). So I've set up a poll on the groups main page. Four other options, check them out and vote for the one that sounds most interesting to you. I made sure that they're all available through our Hoopla account, and in both eBook and downloadable audio. I know a lot of other groups use polls in this way, so it might be a good way to select books going forward.

You're right, though. There was an awful of a lot of fainting in this book, and it did get a little tiresome.

Greg wrote: "I enjoyed it. I could see the comparisons to Christie, but definitely with an American flavor. I've never read The Turn of the Screw, but maybe I should."

It's more a ghost story than a mystery, so I want to be clear that the similarities for me are more situational than plot.

I finished the book recently and the ending was much better than the rest of the book led me to believe it would be. There was no genius detective who gathered the group of suspects together to name the suspect or suspects, but I found the ending in keeping with the book's tone and texture, and the mystery or mysteries were displayed in a manner that I found harmonious with the rest of the book.

Will we "meet" Tuesday at 6:30 to carry on this discussion? Or is this just a running discussion? You'll note I haven't spoiled the ending for anyone who might not have finished the book.

Ben wrote: "I finished the book recently and the ending was much better than the rest of the book led me to believe it would be. There was no genius detective who gathered the group of suspects together to nam..."

That's a typically insightful comment, Ben, and I tend to agree with you.

My plan is to make a new topic with discussion questions Tuesday morning and hold the discussion there-- but one need not feel obliged to comment at a particular hour, which we may find difficult to enforce under the circumstances.

We're kind of kicking around the idea of having both virtual and physical meetings once things start getting back to "normal" (whatever and whenever that is). It broadens our reach and makes discussions available to more than those who can attend live meetings at a specific place and time. Thoughts?

Here are some comments from Linda Wolfe:

Reminded me of the old Agatha Christie cozy. Since most of the action occurred in the manor house. It took me a while to get interested but when it grabbed me, I stuck with it.
I think it was probably once the murder got going. All the descriptive stuff didn’t grab me.
I was frustrated with Halsey, Gertrude and the detective because they kept hinting that they knew certain facts but failed to reveal them. Information baiters annoy me.
I did appreciate that Rinehart revealed how all the facts fit together at the end. She did not leave us hanging.
Overall, I would rate this book as 3.5 stars out of a possible 5.

I told her I would share any discussion questions with her by phone on Tuesday, and would relay her answers.

As for having both virtual and physical meetings, I'll be interested to see how that might work. I'm not opposed. Are we talking about this sort of virtual meeting or are we including a live video/audio feed into the actual meeting?