Monthly Sub-Genre Challenge: What Type Are You? December 2018

Each month a randomly selected sub-genre of Mystery and Suspense will appear. We want you to discuss your favorite books and make recommendations. You may choose books to read in this sub-genre and post comments or reviews about the books read. Even a sentence or two will do!

The sub-genre for the month of December 2018 is...Detective with a Disability

I came across this category while preparing the sub-genre challenge for December and thought it would be a good time of the year to recognize those who may appear different, who are limited in their action or who simply may be challenged by everyday life.

There is a large number of books and series with characters that fit within this sub-genre. We have two characters with physical disabilities that we regularly read about in our Group Reads - Juan Cabrillo of The Oregon Files and Monk Kokkalis of Sigma Force. The main character in the Will Trent series by Karin Slaughter has dyslexia. The Lincoln Rhymes series by Jeffery Deaver features a quadriplegic detective.

As described at www.cuebon.com :

”Handicapped” subgenre mysteries feature an investigator who must overcome physical challenges to pursue crooks and solve cases. Ernest Bramah's 1914 novel Max Carrados and its sequels feature a blind detective of that name. (The novel inspired some obscure film and TV adaptations.) Dick Francis's recurring character Sid Halley is a more recent example. J. Kathleen Cheney's short story "Touching the Dead" (which overlaps with the 'fantasy' genre) stars a 15-year-old blind girl who solves a murder.

Raymond Burr broke onscreen barriers with his depiction of wheelchair-bound detective Robert Ironside. (Late in life, during the filming of a "Perry Mason" reunion movie, Burr really was so confined.)

The sub-genre is even better described at https://beyondrivalry.wordpress.com/2009/07/02/crime-fiction-book-list-disabled-...

{this sub-genre} includes books and series featuring a character whose physical, emotional or mental limitations figure in the plot or character development of the stories or series. The character may be disabled in some way but is still able to solve, or perhaps commit, crimes.

There aren’t a lot of websites that I can point you to in order to assist with this challenge but the first two listed below have the most information and a description of the various detectives and the disability. I've also included the listing from Goodreads.com for "blind detectives" as that was the only result I got when I searched the site for disabled, disabilities, etc.:

https://beyondrivalry.wordpress.com/2009/07/02/crime-fiction-book-list-disabled-...
http://www.thrillingdetective.com/trivia/triv107.html
https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/109321.Blind_detectives

Happy Reading ❤

Jeffrey Deaver immediately comes to mind, so I might read the next in that series.

I plan to read the new Matthew Shardlake novel, Tombland. It's not available yet in America yet, but I have a friend overseas who sent me a copy. Matthew is a hunchback lawyer in Tudor England.

Does stupidity count as a disability? :)

>4 Carol420: If it does I can think of hundreds of detectives to choose from. 😂
Begs a question, who is the stupidest detective!

>2 LibraryCin: That’s a good idea, I still haven’t got to the second one. Coffin dancer

Amazing how many detectives with disabilities there are when you look at the lists.

>7 Andrew-theQM: I know! I was a little worried when I decided to do this sub-genre since Goodreads had so little info but then I saw the lists that I posted and realized that there was quite a selection to choose from.

I would like to get back to the Sir John Fielding Series by Bruce Alexander. Really enjoyed them, although only read the first two.

I will definitely be reading Heartstone by C J Samson in December.

>8 bhabeck: I think it’s a great sub genre to choose. 👍😊

>6 Andrew-theQM: Looks like I'm only one ahead of you, book 3: The Empty Chair.

Ah, I've already put it on hold for another challenge in December, but with 2 people ahead of me and only one copy, I'm not sure it will come in time...

G'ah! Even worse... it's an abridged version, but the only copy my library has in any format! I guess I'll have to live with abridged when it comes in for me. You'd think, with abridged, people might "return" it sooner, but so many people just don't bother and let it expire after the 3 weeks. Boooooo

>12 LibraryCin: I always return books as soon as I finish them but others don’t seem to. Very annoying as are abridged books - what is the point!

>13 Andrew-theQM: Agreed and agreed!

>4 Carol420: Hilarious! LOL...

I'm going to read The Cuckoo's Calling by Robert Galbraith (aka J.K. Rowling). It features a P.I. who's a veteran and lost his leg in the war.

>16 gaylebutz: Ooooh, maybe I should pick that one up if my Deaver audio doesn't come in in time!

>16 gaylebutz: - Lethal White is also on my December reading plan. I forgot about Strike's disability and have enjoyed every one of that series. Cuckoo's Calling is one of my very favorite books.

What about Rebus? His disability, the inability to follow orders! 😂

>19 Andrew-theQM: That covers about 90% of them:)

>20 Carol420: If not more!

The Other Wife by Michael Robotham
4★

Childhood sweethearts William and Mary have been married for sixty years. William is a celebrated surgeon, Mary a devoted wife. Both have a strong sense of right and wrong. This is what their son, Joe O'Loughlin, has always believed. But when Joe is summoned to the hospital with news that his father has been brutally attacked, his world is turned upside down. Who is the strange woman crying at William's bedside, covered in his blood - a friend, a mistress, a fantasist or a killer? Against the advice of the police, Joe launches his own investigation. As he learns more, he discovers sides to his father he never knew - and is forcibly reminded that the truth comes at a price.

Michael Robotham is a writer with a great deal of talent for telling a story. His books have such inventive plots and memorable characters. His character of Joe O’Laughlin, is a clinical psychologist who struggles with Parkinson’s and the death of his wife. He reminds me a great deal of Michael Connelly's Harry Bosch. Joe learns some unpleasant truths about his parents when a woman he knows nothing about enters the picture claiming to have been married to his father. The only problem I had with the story was the ending seemed to have little to do with the way the story began. Still a very good, 4 star worthy, read.

>22 Carol420: I like Robotham too and was going to read one for this challenge. But I wanted one on audio and my libraries didn't have any. I would like to read more by him some time and I liked your review.

>23 gaylebutz: Thank you. I believe I've read almost everything he's written.

Tombland - C. J. Sansom - 5 Stars and a Favorite

Spring, 1549. Two years after the death of Henry VIII, England is sliding into chaos.

The nominal king, Edward VI, is eleven years old. His uncle, Edward Seymour, Lord Hertford, rules as Edward's regent and Protector. In the kingdom, radical Protestants are driving the old religion into extinction, while the Protector's prolonged war with Scotland has led to hyperinflation and economic collapse. Rebellion is stirring among the peasantry.

Matthew Shardlake has been working as a lawyer in the service of Henry's younger daughter, the lady Elizabeth. The gruesome murder of one of Elizabeth's distant relations, rumored to be politically murdered, draws Shardlake and his companion Nicholas to the lady's summer estate, where a second murder is committed. As the kingdom explodes into rebellion, Nicholas is imprisoned for his loyalty, and Shardlake must decide where his loyalties lie--with his kingdom, or with his lady?

This is absolutely my favorite historical fiction/mystery series. Hunchback lawyer Matthew Shardlake is one of the most fascinating characters I've ever encountered. C. J. Sansom is brilliant in the way he's continued to develop Shardlake over seven books.

Tombland deals with the Ketts Rebellion, a time in history where peasants rebelled against the enclosure of land by the upper class. It seems particularly timely today with continued claims of wealth inequality. Matthew is caught up in a situation where he has to adapt his philosophical differences, and we witness how he changes over a three month period.

This is a gigantic book.......880 pages, but I never wanted it to end. It's riveting, historically accurate and brings history to life. There's a lot of history here and it might not be everyone's forte but this is definitely one of my Top 5 Reads of 2018. This could definitely be read as a standalone book but I absolutely recommend reading the entire series.

The Empty Chair / Jeffrey Deaver
3 stars

Two teenage girls have been kidnapped just after a boy was murdered in a small town. It’s not long before they know who they are looking for.

Sorry, not much of a summary. I listened to the audio, the abridged audio. Only because it was the only option for this book from the library. I often have a harder time listening to a male narrator, even if they are good. The narrator was Joe Mantegna (from Criminal Minds), but it was easy to lose focus. Of course, abridged doesn’t help, either. I paid attention to enough to get the gist of what was happening, so the plot was fine. Overall, I’m rating it ok, but it likely would have been better to read it myself and if it was unabridged.

The Night Market by Jonathan Moore
3★

It’s late Thursday and Inspector Ross Carver is at a crime scene: a dead man covered in an unknown substance that’s eating through his skin. Suddenly, six FBI agents burst in and haul Carver outside and into a disinfectant trailer, where he’s shocked unconscious. On Sunday he wakes up in his own bed, his neighbor Mia—who he’s barely spoken to—by his side. He can’t remember the past three days. Mia says police officers brought him home and told her he’d been poisoned. Carver can’t disprove her, but his gut says to keep her close.

It is partially mystery, partially science fiction, with a futuristic conspiracy theme that produces horrifying implications. The best I can say is that it was an entertaining read with likable characters that you can really care about, but the plot was very weird. I'm still not entirely sure what happened.

The Cuckoo's Calling by Robert Galbraith
4 ★

Working as a private investigator after losing his leg in Afghanistan, Cormoran Strike takes the case of a legendary supermodel's suspicious suicide and finds himself in a world of multi-millionaire beauties, rock-star boyfriends, desperate designers and hedonist pursuits.

This was a well-written story that went into a lot of detail investigating the many people and relationships that surrounded the supermodel. Strike is an interesting character with an unstable childhood, a stint in the military and a tumultuous relationship with a long-time girlfriend. It was an interesting story with a large variety of characters and situations and a satisfying ending.