TBR pile decisions are hard...

[ratcreature]

There are a bunch of mysteries that I've started to read but then abandoned without any strong reason I'm aware of, besides that my reading appetite for mysteries seems to wax and wane. Recently I've had fairly good luck sticking with mysteries, and I've wondered whether I should revisit these and give them another try, but decisions are hard. So maybe my DW circle has enjoyed some of these and would nudge me to give them a second try. Hence a poll:

Poll #24504 mysteries I abandoned

Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 6

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Which of these should I give a second try?

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Her Royal Spyness (Royal Spyness #1) by Rhys Bowen
1 (20.0%)

Legacy of the Dead (Inspector Ian Rutledge, #4) by Charles Todd
0 (0.0%)

Resurrection Row (Charlotte & Thomas Pitt #4) by Anne Perry
2 (40.0%)

Sworn to Silence (Kate Burkholder #1) by Linda Castillo
1 (20.0%)

A Useful Woman (Rosalind Thorne Mysteries #1) by Darcie Wilde
1 (20.0%)

What Angels Fear (Sebastian St. Cyr #1) by C.S. Harris
0 (0.0%)

none of these but I want to rec a different mystery below
1 (20.0%)

You should read this mystery instead:

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Comments

[mllesatine]

Because I'm reading Child's Play at the moment (recommended to me by kindkit) and its humour is very dry and it's the classic English mystery with lots of interesting characters and there hasn't been a gruesome murder yet so it doesn't feel like torture porn.

[ratcreature]

I see that this is the ninth in a series? Are these fairly independent so you aren't missing much character development when jumping in like that?

[mllesatine]

I was told it's a good story to find out if I might like the style of Hill. It certainly throws you into cold water with the characters but so far I don't feel like I missed important information.

[mellowtigger]

I'm not even sure that other people count it as a mystery, but it holds that categorization in my mind anyway. "Childhood's End" by Arthur C Clarke. There's a murder. Okay, genocide... eco-cide... okay, planet-cide. And the story is the unfolding explanation of how it happens and why. I've long considered it an underrated sci-fi story. There's plenty of metaphor available there, like supposedly Clarke himself interpreting the Overlord aliens as being the galactic equivalent of homosexual relatives (who assist in the raising of children without generating any themselves, within this strict metaphor). And do you even get to hold the perpetrator of murder accountable if the murderer is actually God?

[ratcreature]

Currently my reading mood seems to go for the traditional mystery with an investigation set in an interesting setting. Though if it swings more to SF again I'll keep this rec in mind.