Lucky #13
This month, the Half Moon Bay Library celebrated its first year of its new Senior Mystery Book Club with our 13th book: Death of the Mantis: A Detective Kubu Mystery, a gritty, atmospheric novel tracking a string of unsolved murders in Botswana. Despite its ominous description, we all agreed that the book still managed to be funny at times -- mostly due to Detective Kubu, who is a nice, humble guy who really loves food (we could all relate to that!).
Wednesday Mornings
The Half Moon Bay Mystery Book Club meets monthly at Senior Coastsiders, opens a new window (535 Kelly Avenue). It's usually the first Wednesday of the month at 11am. However: be sure to check the Half Moon Bay Library events page because sometimes it occurs the second Wednesday of the month. Our next meeting is on January 9th at 11am.
Geography, Funny Titles, Classics, and Current Events
We're a fun group of readers who are open to a variety of mysteries, sometimes set in international places of intrigue. Often, our attendees have visited or lived in countries we've been reading about, like Italy (Donna Leon's Through a Glass Darkly), Canada (Still Life by Louise Penny), and Scotland (Death of a Gentle Lady by M.C. Beaton and Standing in Another Man's Grave by Ian Rankin).
Though, we did stay close to home when we read James Patterson's 4th of July, which is set in Half Moon Bay. How unsettling to imagine danger on our own small town shore! And oddly, not a pumpkin sighted in the book.
Sometimes we take random risks -- we liked the sound of this title: The Coroner's Lunch. Was a an important clue devoured in this mystery? What do coroners like to eat, anyway? (Like, I mentioned, we do like books about food). This turned out to be a cool mystery set in Laos.
Sometimes our books tackle topics that can be discussed in relation to current news stories, such as No Witness But the Moon, about a controversial shooting told from the police officer's point of view. We recently read the classic, Rebecca, by Daphne Du Maurier, because of the recent film version of Du Maurier's My Cousin Rachel.
More to Come
After a successful first year, we look forward to 2018's line-up of meetings and book titles. If you've always wanted to try a book group and happen to be around Half Moon Bay, please join us! If you have favorite mystery titles or authors you think we should consider exploring, please comment below.
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