Our group aims to read one book a month. One member in turn chooses a book and author, often from a series of books with the same detective. We aim to choose not only English books but foreign ones or books set in foreign settings and a mixture of older and more recent authors. After a short presentation about the chosen book, we discuss its plotline, writing style, detective/lead characters and what appeals or not about the book. If the book is dramatised on stage or screen, we also talk about how this affects our appreciation of the characters and enjoyment of the story. We may discuss related crime fiction subjects or biographies of authors later in the meeting. This year, we have selected two volumes of short stories to discuss later in the meetings. These bring a different approach by compressing the crime process into a limited length. Currently, these are Music of the Night and Miraculous Mysteries, both edited by Martin Edwards to give a choice between crimes associated with music and locked room type crimes.
Our forward programme is:',
2026
March 5 - 'Dodgers' by Bill Beverly
April 2 - 'Throne Dominions' by Dorothy L Sayers and Jill Paton Walsh
May 7 - 'Bones and Silence' by Reginald Hill
June 4 - 'Out of Bound' by Val McDermid
July 2 - 'Guilty by Definition' by Susie Dent
August 6 - 'The Blackhouse' by Peter May
September 3 - 'Sculptress' by Minack Walters