Here is the latest installment of our new column, Top 5 Mysteries I Have Read During the Pandemic, this one from mystery author Marilyn Levinson (Allison Brook). As we continue to spend most of our time at home, we are all looking for book suggestions so we asked mystery authors and reviewers to share the top 5 mysteries they have read during this pandemic.
Finding entertainment during this “stay at home” season may be challenging, however, for me, it is as close as my iPad and the BritBox app. I am a happy Anglophile with a huge library of movies, mini series, and television shows included in my very reasonable membership (monthly or annual fee options). I can start with a couple comedy shows like Waiting for God and Scarborough or dramas like DSI Bancroft and Casualty 1900s: London Hospital, or get comfy for a long weekend of binging all of thriller MI-5 and police procedural Prime Suspect. I have also found new-to-me shows like Taggart, Blandings, and The Mallorca Files offering lots of entertainment.
Learning never ends, and libraries and bookstores are your best friend. This month I’m highlighting five mysteries set in these places, and some are haunted or bewitched. Also, check out two new series.
As we know, translation from the page to the stage is problematic. We readers are notorious for our loyalty to the ‘mise en scene’ in our heads, not to mention ideas about everything else from the characters’ appearances to following the books’ plots to the letter. Some novels are an easier go-to script because they are written with the object of production in mind and read almost like a screenplay already. However, this was not the case with the Shetland novels of Ann Cleeves.
Detective Chief Inspector Vera Stanhope is variously described as cranky, driven, overweight and middle-aged, and that’s from the people who love her. Vera is based on the books created by author, Ann Cleeves, and is brought to small screen life by actress Brenda Blethyn.
