Here’s a brief update of my trip up north (to Colorado)… I drove the first five hundred miles the first day, leaving the easier (four hundred miles) to the next. It’s not a particularly scenic drive until you get on I-25 from Raton (New Mexico) to Pueblo, Colorado. But, all of that sagebrush and dry, flat land gets a great pay-off when you go on the Raton Pass – through some of the most beautiful mountains. Truly gorgeous.
I don’t mind the drive (though it is a little long) because I always have my audible.com books with me. This time, I had both Patricia Wentworth’s Miss Silver and Ellis Peters’ Brother Cadfael in the car with me as “passengers”. Perhaps this is why the trip doesn’t seem so unappealingly long. I am “kept company” with the words of two of my favorite mystery book authors. Following along as two of my favorite sleuths put together the pieces of their mysteries is a great road-trip companion.
Of course, as usual, some of the scenes I saw along the way would make me stop my audible book for a few minutes so that I could enjoy the sights and think. I revert to one particular car game from my past, when my children were young. I find myself seeing old brick farm houses and wondering about the lives of the people inside, I see them all sitting around a dinner table – passing the mashed potatoes and thick, creamy gravy. I wonder if they enjoy reading books on cold winter nights, if they preserve their own jams and jellies, in short, I think about all of the generations of families who lived in some of these old farm houses.
Of course, I am busy with my family while I’m here in the Springs. But once I head to my room for the night, I am joined by more of my fictional friends… right now, Nancy Atherton’s Aunt Dimity and Lori are keeping me company…
Regina says
Danna, I am glad that you had 2 such great companions for your trip. When I was very young, I thought I was very daring to read a mystery story. That was one of Patricia Wentworth’s Miss Silver’s. In those days, mysteries were blood and guts. Nice school girls did not read them. Now I can enjoy Cozies withouy feeling guilty. I hope all is well with your folks.
Lynn T. says
I felt like I was riding along with you and your passengers Miss Silver and Brother Cadfael. Thanks for the nice visual.
Smiled at the thought of Miss Silver in the front passenger seat and Brother Cadfael in the back seat.
It sent me on a search of Patricia Wentworth and Ellis Peters. I know I haven’t read any Ellis Peters’ books and I don’t think I have read any of Patricia Wentworths unless it was many years ago when I read Agatha Christie’s books. Now I have some more new (to me) authors to try. Looks like one can still purchase most of Ellis Peters but a lot of Patricia Wentworths are out of print. I wish out of print books would be made available in Kindle form. Thanks for taking us cozy mystery readers along on your trip.
Danna - cozy mystery list says
Lynn T, thank you for your comment. >>> I wish I had read it before I just changed (permanently) my entry. When I talked to my husband last night, he told me the Miss Silver in the front passenger seat and Brother Cadfael in the back was a little confusing… So I just changed that in my entry! (Grrrrrr……)
I would liken Patricia Wentworth to Agatha Christie. As for Cadfael, the PBS Brother Cadfael mystery series was based on these books by Ellis Peters. I happen to have seen the PBS shows, which led me to the mystery novels.
(Now that I have my Kindle, I know what you mean about the out-of-print books not being available. I hope they hurry up and get them. I wanted to get all of Cyril Hare’s (Inspector Mallet and Francis Pettigrew) and Stuart Palmer’s (Hildegarde Withers) mystery series for my Kindle, but found that they are not available… (hopefully)YET!
Maria (BearMountainBooks) says
Audio really does help those long, dry flat Texas places…
I do the same thing with the houses and barns! Only sometimes I wonder what ghosts linger there, if there was ever a murder or what secrets hide out in that barn…I wonder if the family kept a horse or a donkey and where the kids waited for the school bus.
Sometimes on the flats, I wonder about the people who first tried to cross it in a covered wagon. Lord, that would have been a long and impossible trip waiting to find water and waiting to find a place that looked habitable.
Glad you are safely at your destination. Enjoy yourself!
Danna - cozy mystery list says
Oh my gosh, Maria! Does anyone remember the Gordon Lightfoot song “If you could read my mind…”?
You and I must have the same brain waves while driving the Texas flatlands!
Ditto, ditto, ditto!
Regina says
I just checked BN and most of Patricia Wentworth’s books are available for the NOOK. Amazon has some of them for the Kindle. Amazon is cheaper by $.20 than BN.
Lynn T. says
Regina,
I took a second look after your response about Patricia’s Wentworth’s out of print books on e-books. I received a new Kindle Fire for Christmas. When I looked yesterday only saw 3 Miss Silver books on Amazon Kindle. Today went to B&N and saw they had most of Miss Silver’s books on the Nook. Sputtering I went back to Amazon and looked again. Instead of three e-book titles, there were now quite a few. Don’t know what I did yesterday.
I hadn’t used my Kindle Fire to download ebooks yet.
So I downloaded Grey Mask. Worked slick. So thanks to you I used my Kindle Fire for the first time. Thanks!
Regina says
I too just down loaded “Grey Mask”. I began to read it, but I obtained a number of library books, so I will put it aside for a time. Such memories reading it evoked.
Julia says
Not sure why you’re only seeing 3 of the Miss Silvers available for Kindle – they started releasing them last summer and I think they have most or all of the 34 books for download now (I admit I already have 16 of them…just my favorites)
I just wish they would make more of her non-Miss Silver books available in e-book format. I started out reading her stand alones, which are more romantic suspense, and I loved them – they are why I was willing to try the Miss Silvers in the first place. So far I’ve only seen one non-Miss Silver Patricia Wentworth in e-books and it was obviously a very early effort of the author.
Deb says
Lynn, you have a real treat coming if you haven’t read Ellis Peters. The Brother Cadfaels are wonderful. She also wrote some historical novels under her real name, Edith Pargeter.
If you can’t find the Miss Silver books to purchase, try interlibrary loan; a lot of large libraries do keep older books.
I also like the Sister Fidelma mysteries by Peter Tremayne. She is a nun and dalagh (lawyer) in ancient Ireland.
Lynn T. says
Deb,
I am going to read a Brother Cadfael after Danna and you have written about the series. When I saw the first name Ellis, I thought it was a male author.
Will look up more information on Peter Tremayne. Sound like another good series. It sounds intriguing about a series in ancient Ireland.
I read a lot like everyone on here. Am surprised how many new authors I am learning about.
Andie says
Danna your description of your trip takes me back to the days when I was showing dogs and would make the long drive to CO. for the Rocky Mountain circuit. Piloting a 40-ft motorhome over Wolf Creek pass (only in summer) could be interesting but was a much shorter drive than the long way ’round to Durango and then to Farmington NM. There were taped audio books at the time but the pickings were slim, particularly in the mystery category.
I’ve also been a big fan of Brother Cadfael since the first book appeared just as I was finishing the last of the Inspector Felse mysteries (although I didn’t know it was the final one at the time).
I also enjoyed her historical novels – the first brought from the UK by my dad after he had spent several months tracing ancestors in Wales, as well as England, Scotland and Orkney.
Her writing style truly draws one into the story and the word pictures she paints of the locales are far better than most writers. In some of the descriptions I can actually feel myself in the places.
linda says
Speaking about dog shows, I think the Westminster Dog championship is on TV on the 13th and 14th of this month
Ann says
Yep, not much scenery through Texas. Hope your trip is wonderful.
Ann
Peggy @ Peggy Ann's Post says
you do make the trip sound so wonderful! I love Miss Silver and have found a couple of authors that are new to me here today!
Julia says
Just wanted to add how much I love the audible.com releases of the Patricia Wentworth mysteries. Every month when I get my new credits I eagerly check for any new releases; not only are the books perfect for audiobooks (so descriptive), but the performer they have doing the readings is just wonderful.
As for the Brother Cadfael’s, I only wish they had Derek Jacobi doing the performance – he has such a beautiful voice and after seeing the BBC/PBS versions of several of the books he IS Brother Cadfael to me.