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JK Rowling writing as Robert Galbraith



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amother
OP


 

Post Wed, May 13 2020, 8:10 pm
Crime fiction - anyone read it? Clean?
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Malkqueen




 
 
    
 

Post Wed, May 13 2020, 8:17 pm
I read the Cuckoos Call which I believe is the first of the series.

It was pretty clean if I recall correctly, no relationship drama, but the main (dead) character is a model so that does constitute a lot of the background.

I know you didn't ask for feedback, but I found it painfully boring and verrrrrrry dragged out.
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icedcoffee




 
 
    
 

Post Wed, May 13 2020, 8:39 pm
I've read them all and like them a lot. I agree that it drags out but I personally enjoy being able to sink into a long book, and I like the genre, so I didn't mind how excessive it felt at times. As far as being clean, there's some violence, especially in Career of Evil. Some references to zex but nothing extremely graphic or explicit. I'd say it's pg 13, not R.
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amother
Seafoam


 

Post Wed, May 13 2020, 9:54 pm
I like crime fiction generally but I read the first one, and I agree, quite boring. Never bothered with the follow ups.

My favorite crime writer, bar none, is Tana French. I recommend her books highly.
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amother
Lime


 

Post Wed, May 13 2020, 10:35 pm
I actually disagree. I have read erotica that was less disgusting than her writing as Gilbraith.

Technically, the writing was great (of course). But something about the tone/atmosphere of the books - whether the morality of her middle-class character, the gore of the murders, the evidently cultural laissez-faire approach to drinking issues in the UK (waaaay worse than in the US apparently) - not to mention the tentpole romance -- I'd never classify myself as a prude literarily, and have read plenty of fiction of all sorts, but those Gilbraith books left me feeling super squicky. I read more than one in the series just in case my perception was skewed but it did not improve. I would NOT recommend it to anyone.
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amother
OP


 

Post Wed, May 13 2020, 10:51 pm
Quote:
My favorite crime writer, bar none, is Tana French. I recommend her books highly.
When you say crime, are they mystery? Or police procedural? (I find those veeery boring).

Also are they clean?

(Big big disappointment - I've been reading Nero Blanc which are by a husband and wife and full of crosswords. The main characters, a crossword designer & a detective, don't so much as kiss until her husband who's away decides to divorce. So, pretty clean, you'd think . But the wife half of the author team, Cordelia Biddle, wrote a book that I had to throw out in the middle....)
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amother
Seafoam


 

Post Wed, May 13 2020, 11:14 pm
Tana French is hard to classify. Technically, a crime mystery, but also psychological suspense. Usually, with a twist you didn't see coming.
No, not boring in the least. It's more about the various detectives (She never repeats a narrator, but there is crossover with characters from one book to the next.) Definitely not procedural. My favorite scenes are the detective interrogation scenes. They make me catch my breath. Her writing is so intense. I love the way she writes her characters.


Clean, as in no graphic s*x, though it may refer to characters having slept together, at most. Some language, if you are sensitive about that. Her books are not romances in the slightest. Any male/female detective duo is strictly platonic in a best friends kind of way.

You don't have to strictly read in order, though I recommend you do. Begin with either "The Likeness" or "In the Woods." ( Just a word of warning there is a newish television series based on her first 2 books. It was terrible. Don't bother! If you try it first before reading the books, it will completely ruin them for you.)
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Aylat




 
 
    
 

Post Thu, May 14 2020, 1:06 am
amother [ OP ] wrote:
Crime fiction - anyone read it? Clean?


Yes. And no. I was really disappointed because I love her writing.
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amother
Copper


 

Post Thu, May 14 2020, 5:23 am
It's not nice reading. I don't think there was anything majorly explicit, unlike the casual vacancy (that was so badly written I couldn't get past the first few pages).
I didn't find it well written-there's a lot better writers out there.
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trixx




 
 
    
 

Post Thu, May 14 2020, 5:55 am
I can't recall how clean it is but it was such a painful read I couldn't finish it. If she weren't jk toweling it wouldn't have been published. Just an awful book.
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DVOM




 
 
    
 

Post Thu, May 14 2020, 9:28 am
Huh. Interesting.

I read all three, and absolutely loved them. In terms of cleanliness, I didn't find anything objectionable. The murder aspects were revolting, bloody fun. The unfolding investigations into the murders was interesting, with plenty of well fleshed out secondary characters. But most of all I loved the tension and frustration of the developing friendship/romance between the two main characters.
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Aylat




 
 
    
 

Post Thu, May 14 2020, 10:50 am
DVOM wrote:
Huh. Interesting.

I read all three, and absolutely loved them. In terms of cleanliness, I didn't find anything objectionable. The murder aspects were revolting, bloody fun. The unfolding investigations into the murders was interesting, with plenty of well fleshed out secondary characters. But most of all I loved the tension and frustration of the developing friendship/romance between the two main characters.


There's a s*x scene between Strike and the model, either first or second book. As far as I remember there was something on a similar level in each book.
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Aylat




 
 
    
 

Post Thu, May 14 2020, 10:55 am
BTW if you like crime fiction with character development not just clues and whodunnit - I recommend Dorothy L Sayers. Her detective, Peter Wimsey, is a posh Englishman who suffered from shell-shock after WW1, has a devoted valet who takes equal part in all his investigations, a policeman best friend, and -over a number of books - a developing relationship with a crime fiction author who stood trial for murder. They are such a good read, and totally clean except for a fade-to-black scene in Busman's Honeymoon (the last in the series).
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amother
Copper


 

Post Thu, May 14 2020, 11:05 am
Aylat wrote:
BTW if you like crime fiction with character development not just clues and whodunnit - I recommend Dorothy L Sayers. Her detective, Peter Wimsey, is a posh Englishman who suffered from shell-shock after WW1, has a devoted valet who takes equal part in all his investigations, a policeman best friend, and -over a number of books - a developing relationship with a crime fiction author who stood trial for murder. They are such a good read, and totally clean except for a fade-to-black scene in Busman's Honeymoon (the last in the series).


Oh, I loved the series as well. If we're going for classic murders, you have to include Agatha Christie-she set the tone for murder mysteries.

A light murder series I loved is Agatha Raisin by M.C. Beaton-they're humorous with a dash of murder.
Mary Higgins Clark-yes there is usually romance but it's clean.

Also you can look at the genre of cosy mysteries/murders. The genre does clean books, usually a dash of clean romance etc. I like them because they're not too long and too heavy.
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DVOM




 
 
    
 

Post Thu, May 14 2020, 11:28 am
Aylat wrote:
There's a s*x scene between Strike and the model, either first or second book. As far as I remember there was something on a similar level in each book.


Could be. I don't remember, guess it wasn't all that memorable!
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amother
Seafoam


 

Post Thu, May 14 2020, 12:11 pm
Aylat wrote:
BTW if you like crime fiction with character development not just clues and whodunnit - I recommend Dorothy L Sayers. Her detective, Peter Wimsey, is a posh Englishman who suffered from shell-shock after WW1, has a devoted valet who takes equal part in all his investigations, a policeman best friend, and -over a number of books - a developing relationship with a crime fiction author who stood trial for murder. They are such a good read, and totally clean except for a fade-to-black scene in Busman's Honeymoon (the last in the series).

These are good if you enjoy old fashioned, classic mysteries. (I do, when I'm in the mood.) Otherwise, they are very dated. Much more so than, say, Agatha Christie (which are surprisingly modern considering how long ago she wrote the majority, starting in the 20s and 30s).
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Rutabaga




 
 
    
 

Post Thu, May 14 2020, 12:39 pm
trixx wrote:
I can't recall how clean it is but it was such a painful read I couldn't finish it. If she weren't jk toweling it wouldn't have been published. Just an awful book.


I finished the first book because I have trouble stopping once I start a book, no matter how hard it is to get through. I was extremely disappointed though. Harry Potter may not be high literature but it's very imaginative and J.K. Rowling created a whole wizarding world in which children (and adults!) could imagine themselves. The Galbraith books are just dull in comparison.
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Fox




 
 
    
 

Post Thu, May 14 2020, 3:33 pm
DVOM wrote:
Huh. Interesting.

I read all three, and absolutely loved them. In terms of cleanliness, I didn't find anything objectionable. The murder aspects were revolting, bloody fun. The unfolding investigations into the murders was interesting, with plenty of well fleshed out secondary characters. But most of all I loved the tension and frustration of the developing friendship/romance between the two main characters.

Same here. I'm surprised so many people didn't enjoy them.

I do agree that there is a grittiness to them that some readers would find unpleasant, but I found those elements a very interesting view of the conflicts and reality of life in modern Britain.

That said, I totally empathize with readers who got that "icky" feeling from the books. I've had that sensation with other books -- sometimes very popular, even beloved books. It's an interesting sensation, IME, since it doesn't necessarily correlate with any one factor. In other words, I've read books with a great deal of violence or s-x that didn't produce that reaction, and I've read completely clean, mild cozy mysteries that did. An interesting topic.

Anyway, I'm with DVOM -- I enjoyed all the books and found them well-written and compelling. That said, I can understand why someone might find the grittiness left too much residue. Recommended with the caveat that this is not Harry Potter.

Though come to think of it, some of the Harry Potter books didn't leave me feeling all that great, either.
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