Q&A with Josh Lanyon discussion

Our current read is The Spectre of Monkton, a short Christmas Mystery Josh has had scanned and turned into eBooks for us! See her note below.

Happy Holidays, My dears!

I've set up the giveaway for The Spectre of Monkton on Prolific Works. Discussion participants can download the file in mobi, epub or PDF.


https://claims.prolificworks.com/free...

password: yeoldechristmastide (case and space sensitive)

Now that I've had a quick glance at the story, it looks like it might be a bit problematical, as so many stories of the era are. Obviously, if I did turn this into a mashup, I'd correct the more egregious stuff (I believe there may be an evil "Hindoo," for example!?!). I won't know if it's worth doing till I actually sit down and really read the thing with everyone else.

On the plus side, it's short--only about 14,000 words! And at least, it's something different for this year!

-Josh Lanyon

The usual notes apply: start reading and commenting as soon as you'd like and be aware of spoilers in this thread!

Thank you

Thank you, and thanks to Josh.

If you click on the author you get the wrong Max Pemberton though.
The right one would be this: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show...?

I don't know how to correct the mistake.

Antonella wrote: "Thank you, and thanks to Josh.

If you click on the author you get the wrong Max Pemberton though.
The right one would be this: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show...?

I don'..."

I just created that page for the book myself this morning, having likely only done this once before in my life. lol. I'm learning. I figured out how to fix it and it now links to the correct author. I had no idea there was another author with that name! Thanks for letting me know!

Jordan wrote: "Antonella wrote: "I figured out how to fix it and it now links to the correct author. I had no idea there was another author with that name! Thanks for letting me know!"

Thank you for fixing the mistake!

We are a good team! ;-)

Got it -- thanks!

Antonella wrote: "Jordan wrote: "Antonella wrote: "I figured out how to fix it and it now links to the correct author. I had no idea there was another author with that name! Thanks for letting me know!"

Thank you f..."

we do!

SamSpayedPI wrote: "Got it -- thanks!"

yay!

I'm planning to read this tomorrow!

Well, I said I was going to read this today... at least I did manage to get it downloaded to my Kindle. lol. Maybe tomorrow...

I had hoped I would get a chance to sit down and read the whole story in one go, but alas, that's not the case. I started it last night and am continuing it today. It's a rough start, but I think it's becoming a bit smoother the further into it I get.

The names Dick comes up with for the sister here are so weird/terrible. “Little bundle of mischief “ had me thinking she was 5 or something at first, but she’s an adult. He also calls her “Little good-for-nothing”. Wow. I’m not sure what her actual name is. I don’t understand these nicknames and how they relate to her. She’s been rarely on the page and isn’t causing trouble that I can see.

He doesn’t have an interest in women, though his aunt means to marry him off so he can be “under a woman’s thumb”. Sounds terrible. But I wonder if he has a thing for the sister.

Anyway, 40 minutes to go so we’ll see what happens.

Oof. Got to the Hindoo part. The number of times Dick calls him ugly or a brute is a bit much. And he continues to call the sister things other than her name.

I’m curious how this could be rewritten. I felt like the ending/mystery answer was too easy in the end and the MC isn’t the best.

Has anyone else had a chance to read this one yet?

Not yet. Just as soon as I finish Home the Hard Way and Winter's Orbit (I know, I know; I got mixed up!) I'll get it started. Except I really want to read Body at Buccaneer's Bay first!

Understandable you’d want to read Josh’s latest first. :-)

Jordan wrote: "Has anyone else had a chance to read this one yet?"

I read it this weekend. It's a fast enough read, although the "vintage" language can be slow-going. I can see why Josh would consider this a problematical mashup, especially regarding the "evil Hindoo," and the various nicknames for the sister/love interest, and how she would transform that character into a male MC. Another issue is that the love interest is mostly seen through Dick's eyes, with few on-scene interactions and very little shared dialogue.

The story is told through the eyes/voice of "Old Dick," who I think is all of 32 and appears to be the country doctor. At times his voice is crochety enough for a man more than twice his age. :)

When it comes down to it, there's very little Christmas in this Christmas story. I also think that today's readers could miss the humor written into Dick's relationship with his aunt and also not understand why a 30-something man would be living with his aunt.

Of course I'm always interested in seeing Josh work her magic, but in this case there would so many major transformations required that I'm not sure it would be worth her time.

Her previous mashup was a treat.

I think you’re probably right. I’d be interested in seeing what ideas she’s thinking of though. Maybe it won’t turn out to be a mashup, but if this story is inspiration, it will be a good read.

Jordan wrote: "The names Dick comes up with for the sister here are so weird/terrible. “Little bundle of mischief “ had me thinking she was 5 or something at first, but she’s an adult. He also calls her “Little g..."

LOL.

Interestingly, a lot of "cozy" or "comical" mysteries of the 1930s and 40s were still doing that kind of crazy nicknaming of female relations (and love interests). I assume it was a book fashion and not a real life fashion. One hopes!

I finally started this last night, and it's pretty slow going. In fact, I fell asleep almost immediately. :-D

I haven't yet reached the problematical bits (or much of anything else) except that Dick is pretty darned dull and we've had about two chapters of why this is going to make a terrific story without any evidence as to the terrific story.

I do think I would turn Dick into...not a villain, exactly, but a little bit more of an anti-hero. I would make him much funnier and acid-tongued (or acid-minded). Perhaps a disappointed idealist, so he's a little bitter and a lot cynical. Someone who is resigned to not finding love.

I would change his name for sure. ;-)

I haven't got to the Alice character yet, but I'm wondering about the possibilities of the younger squire.

I can see that a LOT of work would be required to turn this into something amusing, so this had better have one rip-roaring heck of a spectral mystery. It's going to be so disappointing if the best thing about it turns out to be the cover illustration.

One rip-roaring spectral mystery... I’d like to see that!

I completely agree about the cover illustration...!

Oh my gosh. I read this last week, and I forgot how it ended! Oh! Now I remember. Very climatic. The story flowed along, but all the typos kept drawing me out of the story. I've been listening to a few Agatha Christie novels lately. The casual racism is kind of jarring. Maybe we have progressed farther than I thought.

Loretta wrote: "Oh my gosh. I read this last week, and I forgot how it ended! Oh! Now I remember. Very climatic. The story flowed along, but all the typos kept drawing me out of the story. I've been listening to a..."

There's nothing like a dip into the commercial entertainments of the past, to reassure you that progress does happen, even if it's not as fast as we'd like. :-D

Very true!