Agatha Christie's books are hard to keep straight. The titles of many of her books have changed over the years.

I read At Bertram's Hotel in high school and last year for a challenge. Really liked it.

Just finishing The Plague Tales by Ann Benson. It's actually two stories, one told in the fourteenth century and the other in the present. The former involves a Jewish physician in Spain who is caught with a dead body on which he performed an autopsy. The MC of the latter is a former surgeon who has come to London to work on her thesis in forensic archaeology. The book was published in 1998, and Benson set her present-day tale in 2005. That was a mistake; she should have left the year open because there's discussion of an "Outbreak" of some sort in the U.S. and some highly futuristic technology in England. Each of the tales, in their respective ways, strained my credulity. I was much more impressed with her later book, Thief of Souls.

I have started an older historical mystery Satan  in St. Mary's by P.C. Doherty. Set in 1285 England. This is Mr. Doherty's longest series and much loved. Finally getting to it!!

http://www.paperbackswap.com/Great-Stories-Suspense-Ross-Macdonald/book/0394492927/

this book is a big collection of 4 novels and a bunch of stories. edited by Ross MacDonald, but only one of the novels is by MacDonald. I have requested a copy for myself but it hasn't arrived yet. Someone may be interested in the book.

I'm about 60 pages into Nick of Time by Tim Downs. It features a forensic entomologist, aka Bug Man, and lots of snappy dialog. In this 6th installment, Nick is getting married in a week to a woman who trains dogs. They met when Nick needed a cadaver dog for another investigation. When one of Nick's colleagues learns he's getting married, she inquires why she wasn't invited. Nick is a bit of an odd fellow truly didn't think anyone would want to attend. The colleague replies, "Bug Man and Dog Woman. I love the circus." Anyhow, Nick specifically went to the conference because one of a colleague asked to meet him there to discuss a case he was working on. When the colleague doesn't show, Nick goes to the guy's house and finds a bunch of blow flies congregating around a closed window trying to get in. Nick's friend is dead, but the Philadelphia detective doesn't want Nick butting his nose into the case. Wanna bet that won't stop Nick? The book is a fast, easy and fun read.

I'm so glad I picked such a fun book for the 1776 category of the challenge. That's one of my absolute favorite musicals; I can sing along with every song. One of the stars of the movie was William Daniels who plays John Adams and sings Piddle, Twiddle and Resolve about his frustration with the Continental Congress to accomplish anything. Daniels also played an egotistcal surgeon on the old TV show St Elsewhere. In one episode he and his wife go to a conference in Philadelphia. As they're walking outside he quotes the line "Nothing's ever solved in Foul, fetid, fuming, foggy, filthy Philadephia!" It was truly a LOL moment for me.

I have finished Anna Lee Hubard's new series This Side of Murder.  Truthfully I didn't like it that much. I thought the characters were flat and uninteresting. The plot was similar to Agatha Christie's And Then there None.  I have enjoyed her other books, this one just didn't do it for me.

Alice

I finished listening to Death Below Stairs by Jennifer Ashley and thought it was good.  I really liked the person reading it.

Today I finished listening to Assaulted Caramel (Amish Candy Shop, Bk 1) by Amanda Flower. I actually have the book but not doing a lot of actual reading lately. The books I listen to at work, while either doing work or filling time with coloring when work is done for the day.

Have picked up "A Late Frost" by Sheila Connolly, the latest in her 'Orchard Mysteries.'  For some reason it's not as interesting as some of the other (okay, most of the other) novels in the series.  I'm 42 pages into it and it isn't bad enough to pitch at 50, but I hope it picks up soon.  Like Alice described, it is a flat book so far. 

Just finished another in my quest to read all my Perry Mason books with "The Case of the Demure Defendant."  Really liked it.  It has been so long since I have read these that I don't remember who done it at all and why, so it's like reading a new book. 

Last night I started reading The Transcendental Murder by Jane Langton. It qualifies for the Hairspray category of the Mystery/Thriller challenge because it's set during a pageant commemorating the opening battle of the Revolutionary War at Lexington and Concord. The copyright date is 1964 so the story is set in a simpler, less cynical time period. It's actually a cozy mystery, with lots of quirky characters; the author provides a list of the "cast" prior to the first chapter, with a short, witty description of each. They live in Concord and most of them belong to the local Alcott Society, which discusses the lives and works of Thoreau, Emerson et al. There are tensions within the society, as well as a family squabble involving father and sons. The book is listed as the first in the Homer Kelly series, but much of it so far seems to be from the point of view of Mary Morgan, who is being romantically pursued by two brothers who take turns dating her, but it looks like Homer Kelly may also be interested in her.

I am glad to say that  'A Late Frost,'  by Sheila Connolly did pick up.  Very intriguing mystery, I did not see who-done-it until the very end and it was quite a surprise to me.  I'm now starting  'The Case of the Horrified Heirs'  by Erle Stanley Gardner.  I'm not reading these in chronological order at all, which as anyone who has read the series can tell you, it's not necessary to at all. 

I cannot believe it is the end of January already! 

I haven't been doing quite as much reading the past day or so because I enrolled in an online course entitled Religion, Conflict and Peace. It's free and this particular course is offered by Harvard. Participants are international. I have to respond to questions along the way as we as respond to other participants' responses. The course began January 8 and I came in two weeks late so I'm trying to do a bit of catch-up, although technically it is self-paced. If anyone else is interested in learning, there is a very wide variety of courses available here: https://www.edx.org/course

Still working my way through The Transcendental Murder. I recognize that the author has done a fine job of creating her characters, and she writes well. However, it is a cozy and I generally prefer mysteries that are a bit edgier.

The corpse in the Gilded Cage by Robert Barnard. a very British setting.

boring.

Am finishing  'Patterned After Death'  by Elizabeth Lynn Casey.  The latest  'Southern Sewing Circle mysteries.  This is one of the best I've read in the series.  So many suspects, red herrings, etc.  If you haven't read it yet you are in for a treat.  Once this is read it will be back to a Perry Mason then on to 'Final Vow' by Amanda Flower.

By the way, I wish all of you a very 'Super Sunday!'   

I started the February thread yesterday: http://www.paperbackswap.com/February-2018-Month-Hearts-Love/topic/314859/?#p7145354

Thanks Joy, wish you a "Super Sunday" too. :)