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| May Children of Time by Adrian Tchaikovsky |
December Sherlock Holmes and the Christmas Demon by James Lovegrove |
| Suspense Central Selections for 2020 *2020 selections for Suspense Central are listed below by month. If you have difficulty seeing a title and/or author, all selections are listed on our meetup site. |
| Recaps, comments |
| Sherlock Holmes and the Christmas Demon by James Lovegrove Thursday, December 3, 2020 - 8p **no in-person meetings until further notice. Feel free to log-in to meetup and leave a review or comment on this month's selection** Full line-up of 2020 titles is listed below - please scroll down This group meets on the first Thursday of each month to discuss a specific mystery, horror, or intrigue novel. Join Moderator Aurelia Long as we discuss this month's featured selection. Sherlock Holmes and the Christmas Demon by James Lovegrove It is 1890, and in the days before Christmas Sherlock Holmes and Dr John Watson are visited at Baker Street by a new client. Eve Allerthorpe - eldest daughter of a grand but somewhat eccentric Yorkshire-based dynasty - is greatly distressed, as she believes she is being haunted by a demonic Christmas spirit. Her late mother told her terrifying tales of the sinister Black Thurrick, and Eve is sure that she has seen the creature from her bedroom window. What is more, she has begun to receive mysterious parcels of birch twigs, the Black Thurrick's calling card... Eve stands to inherit a fortune if she is sound in mind, but it seems that something - or someone - is threatening her sanity. Holmes and Watson travel to the Allerthorpe family seat at Fellscar Keep to investigate, but soon discover that there is more to the case than at first appeared. There is another spirit haunting the family, and when a member of the household is found dead, the companions realise that no one is beyond suspicion. |
| Finn Fancy Necromancy: The Familia Arcana Book 1 by Randy Henderson 1/2/20 recap Chris H We started off the new year in fine fashion. Finn Fancy Necromancy by Randy Henderson was our selection. Main character, Finn Gramaraye, in first person, relates the story of how he is framed for a crime he didn't commit and sent away at the age of 15 for twenty five years. When he is released at the age of 40, he is out of touch with the world...to say the least. He is immediately "set-up" again and must now find out who it was who originally framed him and why they are doing it again. Along with his brothers and sister - a strange family - Finn encounters some funny characters. The chapter titles are of top songs from the 1980s (i.e. Our House, Hot for Teacher, Welcome to the Jungle, Sledgehammer, Who Can It Be Now?, Burning Down the House, She Blinded Me with Science, Hungry Like the Wolf, et al. Extremely humorous and well written debut novel. There's two more books in this series and we hope to revisit his writings in the future. |
| September - 2019 |
| January Finn Fancy Necromancy by Randy Henderson |
| February Crazy Rich Asians by Kevin Kwan |
| March Black Powder War by Naomi Novik |
| April Strange Practice (A Dr. Greta Helsing Novel Book 1) by Vivian Shaw |
| Crazy Rich Asians by Kevin Kwan 2/6/20 recap Our theme of the many kingdoms and tradiitons of China continued with Crazy Rich Asians by Kevin Kwan, which inspired the movie in 2018. The book was generally well received, though those that had both read the book and seen the movie thought the film was better. I thought the film was more humorous and the changes made were for the better. After discussing the book, attendees went to browse for book titles for future meetings. Fun evening. We hope to do another browse in early summer. |
| June Reservation Blues by Sherman Alexie |
| July City of the Lost by Kelley Armstrong |
| August Break the Bodies, Haunt the Bones by Micah Dean Hicks |
| September A Night to Remember by Walter Lord |
| November The Strange Case of the Alchemist's Daughter by Theodora Goss |
| December Sherlock Holmes and the Christmas Demon by James Lovegrove |
| October Hunting Prince Dracula by Kerri Maniscalco |