Happy Fall: The Sanitorium and The Thursday Murder Club

 

I am back after a long hiatus. It was a busy, long hot, unmotivating summer with the extreme heat we had. It really sapped my energy and ambition but the weather is tolerable now and hoping to get back to more bookish things.

I will just start with catching up with the last two months of the  Mystery Book Club selections and PBS.

The MBC met this week. We have been back in person since January and doing pretty good. We seemed to have lost a few members through the pandemic event but holding strong at around 10 attending each time but about 15 total. Even added a few new people this summer.

For October, we read: 

The Sanatorium (Detective Elin Warner #1) by Sarah Pearse

About: 

You won't want to leave...until you can't.

"Half hidden by forest and overshadowed by threatening peaks, Le Sommet has always been a sinister place. Long plagued by troubling rumors, the former abandoned sanatorium has since been renovated into a five-star minimalist hotel.

An imposing, isolated getaway spot high up in the Swiss Alps is the last place Elin Warner wants to be. But Elin's taken time off from her job as a detective, so when her estranged brother, Isaac, and his fiancée, Laure, invite her to celebrate their engagement at the hotel, Elin really has no reason not to accept.

Arriving in the midst of a threatening storm, Elin immediately feels on edge--there's something about the hotel that makes her nervous. And when they wake the following morning to discover Laure is missing, Elin must trust her instincts if they hope to find her. With the storm closing off all access to the hotel, the longer Laure stays missing, the more the remaining guests start to panic.

Elin is under pressure to find Laure, but no one has realized yet that another woman has gone missing. And she's the only one who could have warned them just how much danger they are all in..."

So, what did the MBC members think. Some really like it. The story kept your attention, it was a thriller and kept you guessing. Some did not like it. They felt there were too many characters and that Elin, the detective, wasn't that bright. But I felt that it was a first book in a series and the back story has to be set. Elin had some personal things she was dealing with. The ending has a great hook into the second book - The Retreat. Those that liked it want to read the second book. A couple of people that didn't like it, said they may read the second book, after hearing the dicussion. :)

For September we read:

The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman (Book 1 of 4)

About: "In a peaceful retirement village, four unlikely friends meet up once a week to investigate unsolved murders.

But when a brutal killing takes place on their very doorstep, the Thursday Murder Club find themselves in the middle of their first live case. Elizabeth, Joyce, Ibrahim and Ron might be pushing eighty but they still have a few tricks up their sleeves.

Can our unorthodox but brilliant gang catch the killer before it's too late?"

Everyone in the MBC liked this book a lot. Several want to go live in the same retirement center (Cooper's Chase) with Elizabeth, Joyce, Ron and Ibrahim. :) The four friends meet every Thursday in the Jigsaw Room under a name other than The Thursday Murder Club - or they wouldn't get the ok to meet. They discuss unsolved murders like Aurora Teagarden and gang. 

But when a murder takes place at Cooper's Chase, they take on the case inserting themselves in the middle of it. They invite the investigators on the case to tea to discuss it. Lots of discussions about cake and does everyone like it and what about tea, or some wine. Elizabeth takes Joyce out investigating on her own. Joyce documents all their investigating in her journal and is enjoying it thoroughly. They meet some unsavory characters and have an old fashioned sit in at the gate when a developer wants to dig up the cemetery and expand the property. 

A really good murder mystery with quirky characters and humor. 

There are four books in the series, three that are out.

Book 2: The Man Who Died Twice: I have listened to this and it has some very funny parts. The four friends are mixed up with MI5, the mafia and diamonds. We learn more about the character's pasts.

Book 3: The Bullet That Missed

Book 4: TBA

I would recommend both of these series. The Sanitorium is a suspenseful thriller then lighten up a bit with The Thursday Murder Club.

Enjoy!