Lighter mysteries to read aloud in hospital

October 22, 2015 1:02 AM

My friend is recovering from surgery that makes it impossible for her to talk for the next few weeks. I'm looking for books I can read aloud to her while she is in recovery.

My friend enjoys lighter (easy reading, not too gruesome) mysteries and historical fiction. She might be interested in a US political setting, or historical US Southern states setting as a background theme. I'm open to other options of theme, most important is it's easy to follow with short chapters so I can end a chapter before she gets tired, and that it not be too depressing or grisly.

I'd be looking for mysteries (along the lines of Hamish Macbeth for writing quality-- light, uncomplicated, a bit silly) or lighter fiction that would suit being read aloud in short periods of time over a series of shorter visits.

Any suggestions are welcome.

Thanks!

posted by chapps to Media & Arts (26 answers total)

Perhaps a bit obvious, but Dorothy L. Sayers?
posted by Grangousier at 1:23 AM on October 22, 2015

I'm thinking she might enjoy the The No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency series by Alexander McCall Smith, featuring Mma Ramotswe. Light and cosy with a pleasant African flavour (it smells distinctly of pumpkin stew and rooibos tea).
posted by Too-Ticky at 1:33 AM on October 22, 2015 [10 favorites]

The Her Royal Spyness series by Rhys Bowen. Practically a meringue in terms of lightness. (Early/mid 1930s UK.)

Pretty much anything by Elizabeth Peters. Fun capers. Devil May Care is set in Virginia horse country. Legend in Green Velvet is in Scotland and loads of fun, but fairly hard to go wrong with her. Her Amelia Peabody series (starts with Crocodile on the Sandbank) is set in Victorian/Edwardian Egypt. She also wrote as Barbara Michaels -- while not heavy, those tend to have a more gothic or supernatural flair. Many are set around the DC/Virginia environs.
posted by HonoriaGlossop at 1:45 AM on October 22, 2015 [3 favorites]

The Corinna Chapman mysteries (contemporary Melbourne crime-solving baker), or the Phryne Fisher mysteries (1920s Melbourne crime-solving heiress), by Kerry Greenwood
posted by misfish at 2:38 AM on October 22, 2015 [1 favorite]

Two suggestions: The Westing Game is simply the most delightful puzzle-mystery ever written. So much fun.

The Daughter of Time by Josephine Tey is a fantastic mystery in which the investigating detective is laid up in a hospital bed, and solves an historical crime from there.
posted by jbickers at 2:49 AM on October 22, 2015 [2 favorites]

I also came to recommend Dorothy Sayers.
Short detective stories I've enjoyed:
GK Chesterton's Father Brown stories - these can become formulaic after a while, as can most short detective stories.
Sherlock Holmes stories.
Edgar Allan Poe stories.
posted by sciencegeek at 3:04 AM on October 22, 2015

Agnes and The Hitman.
posted by tilde at 3:05 AM on October 22, 2015 [1 favorite]

The sweetness at the bottom of the pie
posted by kitten magic at 3:44 AM on October 22, 2015 [1 favorite]

I agree with everything HonoriaGlossop said. (And speaking of that username, how about some PG Wodehouse? Leave it to Psmith is *sort of* a mystery! And it's definitely light and funny!) Dorothy Gilliam's Mrs Pollifax books might fit the bill too. Gotta love sweet little old lady turned spy.
posted by Caravantea at 4:26 AM on October 22, 2015 [1 favorite]

What about getting her audiobooks? The person in the next bed might not want to hear books read aloud.
posted by Carol Anne at 5:01 AM on October 22, 2015 [1 favorite]

Sorcery and Cecelia: The Enchanted Chocolate Pot
posted by Sassyfras at 5:09 AM on October 22, 2015 [1 favorite]

Very much seconding Daughter of Time. (The history it reveals has been proven bad, but no matter, the story is still the goods.) Ms. Tey's other works should also work.
posted by BWA at 5:32 AM on October 22, 2015

The Dorothy L. Sayers mysteries are among my favourites but they are not ideal for reading aloud. In the first three, Sayers was hung up on the vernacular of the swish young things of the time and Peter Wimsey's speech patterns are awkward enough to read, let alone speak. They are also of their time and include racist epithets dropped in completely conversationally. Lastly, for me they require a dictionary, as Sayers was highly educated and a distressing number of fabulous words she uses have fallen out of broad usage -- avoirdupois, gobony, charabanc, trug, decani and peggle are a random sampling.

Maybe The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, which I remember as having very short chapters.
posted by DarlingBri at 5:40 AM on October 22, 2015 [2 favorites]

I agree with everything Caravantea and HonoriaGlossop said, and recommend "golden age" mysteries by Simon Brett.
posted by plokent at 5:45 AM on October 22, 2015

The Long Secret by Louise Fitzhugh. A sequel to Harriet the Spy and you'll find it in the kids section but it's a wonderful little mystery. I sell it to adults all summer long.
posted by BibiRose at 5:50 AM on October 22, 2015

"The Cat Who..." series of mysteries.
posted by postel's law at 6:12 AM on October 22, 2015

I am so on board with reading The Westing Game aloud--I just did that with my wife.

Also, they're not mysteries, but Charms for the Easy Life by Kaye Gibbons and Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Café by Fannie Flagg sprung quickly to mind when you mentioned that she likes the American South as a setting. The latter, in particular, has very short chapters and would probably read well episodically. That, and you get to do a good southern accent when you read parts of it. You can't NOT.
posted by dlugoczaj at 6:48 AM on October 22, 2015

Rex Stout's Nero Wolfe mysteries are delightful and generally very light. They have a charming first-person narrative voice that I think would be a pleasure to read aloud.

Too Many Cooks is often considered one of the best in the series, and it is set in the south. However, note that this is the south of the late 1930s, and there are a few racist characters who (if I recall) sometimes use racist epithets. The book is very clearly anti-racist, but if you are reading it out loud, you may find yourself speaking some words and phrases that you would not be comfortable using in your own speech.

If you're not comfortable with that, you might try Some Buried Caesar and The Golden Spiders, both of which I remember enjoying very much.
posted by yankeefog at 7:12 AM on October 22, 2015

Response by poster: Thanks everyone, this us really helpful.

Re concerns about next patient, she has her own room, so no problem... The read aloud is her request...she does have audio books, but I think sharing a book is just an easier was to be together than a one- way conversation.
posted by chapps at 7:39 AM on October 22, 2015

Sorry, just wanted to add one clarification to my previous post. It kind of reads like I'm saying the whole series is set in the 1930s south. Just to be clear, most books in the Nero Wolfe series are set in New York City, and do not feature any racists or objectionable language. Too Many Cooks is, as far as I can remember, the only book in the series to be set in the south, and along with A Right To Die, is one of the only two books in the series to deal with racism.
posted by yankeefog at 9:20 AM on October 22, 2015

Nthing Too-Ticky. When I was super sick, unable to do anything at all after leaving hospital, my husband read the Mma Ramotswe series to me and it made everything better. Soothing, interesting, short. He still reads them to me occasionally if I'm having a bad time, and the cadence of the prose blisses me out somehow.

Other top recs : Jennifer Crusie (any and all) , Jana de Leon (Miss Fortune series) , Jessica Beck (Donut shop mysteries).
posted by thetarium at 11:40 AM on October 22, 2015

Carl Hiaasen. Mystery thrillers with an environmental bent, and most of his novels also have political elements. Bonus: hilarious.
posted by goo at 3:17 AM on October 23, 2015

I had one more thought: Donald Westlake. Technically his books are probably capers rather than mysteries, but his stock in trade is lighthearted books about likeable (and often inept) criminals. The Hot Rock is about a bunch of crooks who have to keep stealing the same gem over and over again because they keep somehow losing it, for example.
posted by yankeefog at 9:08 AM on October 23, 2015

Response by poster: Thanks everyone, so many great recommendations --I'll grab a few and let her pick.

Hopefully this will make a long silent stay in hospital a bit more pleasant.
posted by chapps at 10:03 AM on October 23, 2015

Response by poster: Report back: in the end i found Her Royal Spyness at the bookstore... It's a hit!
Thanks for all the suggestions!
posted by chapps at 6:50 AM on October 26, 2015

Response by poster: (I'm going to share the suggestions with her for post-hospital recovery reading!)
posted by chapps at 11:16 AM on October 26, 2015