sqbr: pretty purple pi (femininity)
Sean ([personal profile] sqbr) wrote2009-02-25 12:56 pm
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Various Whodunnits

I've been on a bit of a murder mystery bender recently.

Books:
"Grave Sight" and "Dead Until Dark" by Charlaine Harris: Good character study and drama, painfully predictable cliched mystery. Both centre on a young woman with a psychic gift which causes more trouble than good and are nicely understated and realistic given their fantastical elements. "Dead Until Dark" is also a vampire romance and this aspect was done pretty well, I liked that the fact that he's older and more old fashioned was dealt with sensibly rather than being totally fetishised (he gives a talk at the Civil War society meeting. How awesome is that?) The basis for the "True Blood" tv show.

Sex, Murder, and a Double Latte by Kyra Davis: Fairly straight forward but not entirely shallow chick lit mystery. Engaging, funny, and a good mystery. Much less interesting characters and premise than the Charlaine Harris books though.

TV

Psych: A good natured layabout has fantastic Holmes-esque observational abilities, but any time he tries to solve a mystery he gets suspected for "knowing too much". So he starts a psychic detective agency with his (much more sensible) best friend. Very silly, and the mysteries are pretty crap, but light and fluffy and funny.

Bones: More police procedural than mystery, but I love it anyway.
alias_sqbr: the symbol pi on a pretty background (Default)

Re: Glad you (sort of) enjoyed it ; )

[personal profile] alias_sqbr 2009-02-25 11:03 pm (UTC)(link)
I'm hard pressed to think of many other authors who manage to create a good mystery without turning their characters into total plot-robots so am definitely planning on checking out the rest of the series. Also I want to know what happens next!

Oh yes: and great choice of protagonist name :D