Kingdom of Knuffel

No, not really.
There are some which have a more obvious reason, such as the assistant she treated so poorly, but it would be such an obvious culprit that you can't expect it to be her.
Or the guy who claims openly he disliked her (everybody did) and that there a number of reasons to kill her. You don't want him to be the assassin.
There is the young guy on a wheelchair, who was given this physical alibi and acts so nicely. That's the kind I'd like to be behind it all, but on the other hand it would not be too surprising either.

I suppose in this kind of books I never cared much about who did it, but how it's deliverered.
We'll see how it turns out.

So does it start after the schooner comes back to land and the investigator can board the ship?

Or is the investigator someone who was on the ship already?

The book begins on the schooner; characters are being introduced because they don't know each other - it's a fancy party.
Next chapter, we are told about the lieutenant as she begins the investigation.
Then we see her interviewing each of the suspects; and after the interview we read something more about them - we do know more than the investigator.

So it's not written in Christie's fashion, although it's a closed room case as was popular in that time.

Well I hope you come update me as you continue and tell me how it goes!
I'm curious now. :)


Currently I've got seven reference books spread out over my table and I'm trying to create the background setting for a story; it's taking place in the equivalent of early medieval period so fortunately the scale is very small.
Populations were SO much smaller then! Our "small city" populations these days is the size of a regular country's population back then, so in that sense it is much simpler!
But it's harder too, because every choice has a bigger impact.
I need one small village that's mostly just a couple of families who happen to live close together and maybe one shop or other non-farming building, and one slightly larger "market town" which isn't much of a market town because it's still a week out from any sort of a city, but which needs to act as the waypoint between real out-in-the-country-side rural and the larger population centers.
It has to be small enough still that everyone knows everyone and gossips about newcomers and strangers stand out.... it's a "market town" but mostly people arrive knowing who will buy their wares.
I'm trying to calculate out how it would all work, and how much it could sustainably support, and how many smaller tiny villages would be using the same market town, and how often the roads would get washed out, etc.

So the book(s) I'm currently "reading" are all history books or economics books (especially economic history) and a couple of biographies about people from the right era.

Boring to read.
Frustrating to try and turn into useful references.

But fun to watch as it all comes together.

@Akili Li:
I finished it a few days ago.
The end was a bit too hurried, and the cases resolution was not the most amusing one, but I suppose it was ok after all.

Now I've started reading The Dispossessed, by Ursula K. Le Guin.
She writes very well, and I haven't read so many of her novels, so she's definetely and author I should look more into.

PastelWitch wrote:I'm trying to read Good Omens at the moment!

It's hard to find time, but I am really excited as I heard it's really good (and the show was good too).

I love Terry Pratchett.
I have a love/hate relationship with Neil Gaiman - I either think his works are superb or dull, but hardly ever something in between.
And although Good Omens is considered a masterpiece, this one I did not like nearly as much as other books by those authors...
I guess I'm a bit odd xD

Good Omens was my first introduction to Terry Pratchett. I picked it up back in... I think '95? It was during a birthday trip to a used bookstore and the owner recommended it. I was pretty amused, particularly by the occasional footnote.

Then a few years later, in 1999, I was travelling in the middle east with a small group of people, on a long camping trip over an old Beduin trade route, and my partner for night watch turns out to have also read Good Omens. We spent the whole watch talking about that book, and which concepts translated well and which ones didn't, and we ended up staying pen-pals and friends ever since then.

So at this point, I don't even know any longer if I like the book because it's a good book, or if I like the book because it's how I first met an old friend.

I won't say the book is not good - most people say it is so they are likely to be right.
But for me it's far from being my Pratchett's favourite work, and also far from being my Gaiman's favourite book.
The premise is brilliant, but I did not love how it turned out.

I'm a weirdo even between the geeks xD

Everyone's got their own taste, it's all good. :)

So out of curiosity, what is your favorite Gaiman book?

I loved Neverwhere and The Ocean at the End of the Lane.
Also Smoke and Mirrors, which is a collection short stories. I think his style is perfect for short stories.

He also wrote a book on Norse Mythology which is among my favourite mythology books ever.
He manages to be faithful to the original myths (or at least to one of the versions) while creating a whole cohesive story. You can almost read it as a novel.