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Wednesday 24 April 2013

U is for Undercover

Spy fiction! Detective fiction! Mystery fiction! Conveniently all under one roof.

When I was in High school (Friendly non-US reminder that UK 'high school' runs from age 11 to 18!) I used to love the Alex Rider books by Anthony Horowitz, though I only read the first few, when I moved into other YA books, I kind of forgot all about him after a while. In my never ending list of books I have to read, I must try and remember where I'd gotten to, and what books I still have left to read because I think the series is finished now (according to the ever reliable Wikipedia!)

As I've mentioned before, I'm a great lover of radio drama and the BBC have dramatised most of Agatha Christie books, such as Miss Marple stories and Hercule Poirot stories. I adore them and despite having heard most of them numerous times, I can never get the culprit. I really admire detective and mystery writers and their ability to hide the truth from their authors until the 'final reveal', while leaving hints throughout the story.
Before they divorced, my uncle and his wife used to write Murder Mystery evenings (where you go around and ask the different characters questions, trying to piece the mystery together for yourself) and much to my annoyance I could never guess the murderer correctly!

Kathy Reichs (the author of the Temperance Brennan series that the TV show BONES is based off) has started writing a YA series called Virals based on Temperance's niece. It's a detective/mystery with a hint of paranormal series with Tory and her friends solving various mysteries around their town/city. It's very good, although it's clear that it's been sometime since Kathy was a teenager. However, the third in the series 'Code' appears to be co-authored by her son Brendan Reichs so maybe he's been drafted in to help with the young part!

Do you like sleuthing your way through detective novels too? Have you ever gotten the murder right, for the right reasons?

Sarah x

5 comments:

  1. I have never read any of Kathy's books, but I used to be a big fan of the series "Bones." I stopped watching when they killed off Vincent.

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  2. I've nominated you for the Very Inspiring Blogger Award at my blog. : ]

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  3. I like Kathy Reichs' Temperance Brennan books (and used to watch Bones, though I gave up a couple seasons ago). Didn't know she wrote any YA though.

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  4. I love mysteries. Sherlock Holmes, the original stories were all my favourite detective stories, though I never got the endings right of course. i was never clever enough for that.

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  5. I love Mysteries! Agatha Christie is one of the best. I usually get the killer right, but not at first. I'm visiting from the A-Z Road Trip.
    http://mauldinfamily1.wordpress.com/category/a-to-z/

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