tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8787364257168822822.post4454276790210668742..comments2024-03-18T11:01:42.459-05:00Comments on Pretty Sinister Books: FFB: A Country Kind of Death - Mary McMullenJ F Norrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06473487417479127354noreply@blogger.comBlogger12125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8787364257168822822.post-6406413948112609202016-11-27T15:43:09.690-06:002016-11-27T15:43:09.690-06:00Well I really enjoyed your critique, while natural...Well I really enjoyed your critique, while naturally not wanting to read the book. I know I read something by her in the past, but no recollection either of what it was or what I thought of it. Must go and look it up.Clothes In Bookshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14680610242823846662noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8787364257168822822.post-8284432241606892422016-11-25T02:23:26.960-06:002016-11-25T02:23:26.960-06:00Message received, I am staying well away - thanks ...Message received, I am staying well away - thanks John :)Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8787364257168822822.post-38739844354787861272016-11-20T00:17:48.265-06:002016-11-20T00:17:48.265-06:00Even in the first one a lot of the appeal is in th...Even in the first one a lot of the appeal is in the workplace aspect, no question.The Passing Tramphttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09830680639601570152noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8787364257168822822.post-62579859749432682392016-11-18T14:59:09.982-06:002016-11-18T14:59:09.982-06:00I started out liking it, too! But Fay entered the ...I started out liking it, too! But Fay entered the story and the whole thing went to Hell in a portable typewriter case.<br /><br />You should have seen the first draft before I hit the "Publish" button. I toned it down considerably. HA!J F Norrishttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06473487417479127354noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8787364257168822822.post-35681527450275090752016-11-18T14:52:56.429-06:002016-11-18T14:52:56.429-06:00I really hate that design. All her books reprinted...I really hate that design. All her books reprinted in the 80s by this publisher have a similar look with the weird paper cutouts making up the illustration, a photographed collage of sorts it looks like. If anything that little letter O ought to be inserted into the word OF and not COUNTRY. Just poor design overall.J F Norrishttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06473487417479127354noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8787364257168822822.post-51735675293458354162016-11-18T14:47:43.067-06:002016-11-18T14:47:43.067-06:00Her first book, the award winner, is a legitimate ...Her first book, the award winner, is a legitimate detective novel well plotted and written according to pretty much anyone who's raed it. Curt Evans says so and I trust him. Not my bag, though. The story is based on her life as a graphic designer in an advertising firm, a business she worked in for over twenty years. As I said above, just not a fan of mysteries set in the business world.<br /><br />There was no one in charge that I can remember, not even police. I only read it three days ago. Not a good sign when nothing lingered in my mind. Best forgotten, this one.J F Norrishttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06473487417479127354noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8787364257168822822.post-53031150016292755762016-11-18T13:55:44.425-06:002016-11-18T13:55:44.425-06:00Ha ha! Now I'm laughing even harder...oops.Ha ha! Now I'm laughing even harder...oops.Mathew Pausthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06157135006791553019noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8787364257168822822.post-5573739538614890102016-11-18T13:54:15.013-06:002016-11-18T13:54:15.013-06:00You have me laughing here, John. I started your re...You have me laughing here, John. I started your review liking the premise and thinking I might want to track down a copy. Now all I can do is laugh. Thanks for an entertaining pan! Mathew Pausthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06157135006791553019noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8787364257168822822.post-2219022703679818342016-11-18T12:53:49.522-06:002016-11-18T12:53:49.522-06:00This almost sounds like a Tom Sharpe novel -- by w...This almost sounds like a Tom Sharpe novel -- by which I mean offensive, nowehre near as funnny as it thinks, and probaly the kind of thing that should never have seen the light of day in the first place. I mean, this was back in the day when they actually killed trees to put this stuff out...and pre-vanity publishing, too! What the hell happened?!<br /><br />Also, am I the only one who finds the shrinking of the "o" on the cover presented above somewhat...unfortunate?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8787364257168822822.post-16565270046305731822016-11-18T12:11:17.287-06:002016-11-18T12:11:17.287-06:00Not for me, John. You know how I feel about things...Not for me, John. You know how I feel about things - life's too short to read a bad book, except if it's by an author you revere (as I do Rex Stout - check my entry for today). I always wonder about Edgar Award winners - so many authors have won for books which I would never even bother to pick up at the library, much less read. I once wrote to the Edgars to inquire why this should be so. I think I was being facetious. But I got a very nice letter back. I think it's that they like to be as esoteric and enigmatic as possible about their choices. <br /><br />Don't you hate it when there's nobody to like in a book? Well, except for the two little girls, in this instance. In a mystery, there has to be someone likable, most hopefully someone in charge.Yvettehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08919246184376538331noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8787364257168822822.post-17533903407521495362016-11-18T11:08:06.413-06:002016-11-18T11:08:06.413-06:00I didn't bother to look at her chronological b...I didn't bother to look at her chronological bibliography. This is her third work of fiction, and her second crime novel published in the 1970s. I guess she was raising her family between 1952 and 1974. I read your review of STRANGLE HOLD when you first posted it, but the book didn't interest me because I'm not a fan of murder mysteries set in the business world.<br /><br />This is probably meant to be some sort of "exposé" of life in suburban Connecticut where I think she was living at the time. Compare her work with her sister Ursula Curtiss and Ursula wins the prize for being a better plotter and better storyteller. McMullen should've stuck to mainstream fiction. Based on this book which succeeds as a minor satire of the 1970s sexual free-for-all, if she had delved deeper into that side of her adult characters --who she clearly preferred over the little girls-- she might've turned into someone like Judith Rossner.J F Norrishttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06473487417479127354noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8787364257168822822.post-13713137366680795712016-11-18T09:20:43.147-06:002016-11-18T09:20:43.147-06:00She had a tremendous time lag between first and se...She had a tremendous time lag between first and second novels, so something happened in the interim. The first one definitely had a stronger focus on the actual crime element and I recommend it. (see blog) The Passing Tramphttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09830680639601570152noreply@blogger.com