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Posting so I'll remember to get the book. I'd be interested in Hopeford's thoughts on Crooked House, since I remember he had some but then the thread was closed. 
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Aug 13, 2014 21:21
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Yay for my 3-month Scribd free trial. The first chapter makes it pretty clear we're dealing with either a serial killer or copy-cat murderers. I'm inclined towards the latter because of the title of the book and the sort of odd references to cats scattered throughout that really aren't necessary unless you're trying to draw attention to it. Or perhaps both, the first five were by a serial killer and the rest, after the cartoon was published, were by copy-cats, since the first five were in Manhattan. I've never read an Ellery Queen novel before, but he seems all right. I don't think there is a motive for these murderers besides the thrill of it, unless there's some really convoluted way to connect a loner, a well-off prostitute, a working man at the end of his rope, a rich girl who liked to live life, a disabled woman being taken care of by her sister, and a woman taking care of her father. Mecca-Benghazi fucked around with this message at 22:25 on Sep 6, 2014 |
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Aug 14, 2014 23:39
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I'm on vacation right now, so feel free to continue without me, I'll catch up when I get back in a week.
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Aug 22, 2014 18:15
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Okay, back and all caught up. So we know 1) the victims have been descending in age 2) all the women have been unmarried (although not virgins, because of the prostitute) 3) the men got blue scarves, the women salmon ones 4) they all had their own entries in the phone book. There's no other connection between them besides living in Manhattan. We're nearly half-way through the book and the only characters besides our detectives that have been really introduced have been McKell, Celeste, the psychiatrist, the mayor, and that one sergeant with his map but I think he's out. Multiple serial killers is looking like an extremely entertaining possibility right now. A doctor would definitely have all of the information so far to find the victims but why victims descending in age? Seems really arbitrary. As an aside, I really like the way this story is written and how the city itself is a character. Mecca-Benghazi fucked around with this message at 22:26 on Sep 6, 2014 |
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Sep 2, 2014 03:54
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Jimmy was just amazing in this last chapter, holy poo poo  I was really attached to my copy-cat serial killer theory too.  Aside from Mrs. Cazalis, there's also Mrs. Richardson, her sister and mother of one of the victims that might have access to that information. The doctor might have killed some, and the wife the others, I suppose it's not inconceivable they're working together, at least if we're just tossing out motive at the moment. One thing that is confusing me, and Ellery too so I must be onto something  , is how the doctor (let's say it's him, for convenience's sake) managed to make contact with everyone. No letters have been connected to him, phone calls seem impractical in the case of Celeste's sister (because Celeste would have noticed her sister being called) and probably expensive judging by the married man that was killed early on. I guess in most of the cases you wouldn't need to make contact, just follow them around enough to figure out their schedule. But there's the issue of the shut-in guy that was the first victim. Then again, if you know he's a bit of a loner, it's easy to catch him at a time when he's alone.
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Sep 6, 2014 22:25
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We actually read And Then There Were None in the previous thread. Good book. I bet it's the time frame. I don't remember when the first dude was murdered, but the paper being read past 2am being emphasized over and over definitely means something and I'm pretty sure Cazalis can't teleport. I'm gonna have to go with Mrs. Cazalis too for the bulk of the murders. I can imagine the doctor trying to kill Marilyn in exactly the way the real Cat would have done in order to cover for his wife, who he seems to really love.
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Sep 12, 2014 03:46
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I liked Celeste, I can't believe she puts up with those idiots. Thus Was Adonis Murdered is fine with me.
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Sep 23, 2014 22:29
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These characters are gonna be great.  Is the big secret you alluded to that Professor Tamar is a woman? Because the narration is really good about hiding the speaker's gender and that always sends flags to me; although, I guess depending on what time period this is taking place in (I legitimately can't tell), that might be the point? Women detectives are cool as hell, women lawyer detectives in comedies are amazing. Can't say we have any evidence to begin suspecting anyone, although I'm going to go out on a limb here and say Julia is being framed. Mecca-Benghazi fucked around with this message at 19:55 on Oct 4, 2014 |
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Sep 25, 2014 22:48
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The penniless husband scheme sounds like a good one, don't be so down on it Tamar.  Some thoughts: The weapon used was almost certainly Marylou's pair of tailor's scissors Kenneth, Ned's friend and a sculptor, didn't go on the excursion to the glassblowing factory, staying behind Eleanor knows that Julia doesn't like income tax and all things associated with it, and she was there when Julia found out that Ned worked in that department. Ms. Priscilla Tiverton is Timothy's client's deceased great-aunt, his client being the proud Cypriot that would come into a lot of money through said estate. Stanford went to stay with a business associate over the weekend and Marylou is kind of mad about that; she's bitter about marrying him and how he doesn't care about her Julia sends mixed signals about her sexuality to pretty much everyone Eleanor and Kenneth had a suspicious conversation! (there's something Kenneth needs keeping from someone, maybe this Bruce guy who had already stolen an armchair and a late Baroque mirror) Ned mentions "plans to make both of our fortunes" with regard to Kenneth Cantrip thinks Stanford did it out of jealousy and mistaken identity Ragwort thinks that Marylou did it, out of jealousy for Julia Selena thinks that Eleanor and Kenneth might be married?? and that Eleanor killed Ned to keep a marginal tax advantage Timothy thinks that Kenneth killed him but Tamar doubts it since the Venetian police didn't pick him up the Major, Eleanor, Kenneth, and the Brendons all came back to Heathrow. Marylou is dressed really finely Kenneth's suitcase is really heavy; it might have the mystery object inside? the Major left with Ned's holdall; Ned lives with Kenneth Lots of theories. I think motive-wise for the Major, it could also be jealousy if he saw Ned with Julia. But that might be too obvious. The only other character is Graziella, who we know nothing about. I do like skuto's theory about Julia having won some cases against someone and then just killing Ned to frame her (which narrows it down to just Eleanor and Marylou who know about her thing against the revenue service I think). Mecca-Benghazi fucked around with this message at 00:03 on Oct 8, 2014 |
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Oct 4, 2014 19:54
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Oh my god this is a series, we should read the other books in the series. Is it too obvious that there's something in the holdall that's valuable that the Major wants? Which means that if he's the guy Kenneth was talking about, Eleanor is in the mix too. And Eleanor and the Major were both absent from the lunch that Ned was really worked up about (was the thing in question stolen maybe? or perhaps it wasn't stolen but Ned noticed something was up). So now we know the time. Ned was still alive a bit past 6, before dinner. Both Eleanor and the Major were back by then, relatively recently. I don't think Marylou, Kenneth, and Stanford were back yet, they may have been though and Ned could have been killed during the night. We are only half-way through! I will also say that the way that women and sexuality in this book are treated is a nice change of pace from the older books we've read so far.
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Oct 8, 2014 00:14
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It just seems too easy that we've narrowed down to just two people who obviously know way too much. One thing that's confusing me: how does Tamar know the Major didn't steal the holdall? I guess like Skuto said Kenneth might have let him have it, but Tamar's figured something out. 
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Oct 18, 2014 23:13
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Sorry for skipping out on the conclusion to Adonis, I got busy. Great book though, hope we do the others in the series later. I've got the next book now, but don't wait on me since I'm tied up for the next few weeks.
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Nov 3, 2014 06:42
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