AN OLD FASHIONED MURDER, AUGUST 2007 – GROUP READ/DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
1)
Do you feel that Lydia’s character accurately portrays a busy 21st century Mom?
2) What
do you feel was Lydia’s true motivation for helping Julia?
3) Do you think Julia was right
to pursue something that could adversely change the perspective she had on her family?
4) With genealogical principles
and research methods being the means in which Lydia and company solved the mystery, do you think it overshadowed the story;
or gave the reader a better understanding of genealogy as a “hobby” or “past-time”?
5) Did
you feel the evidence Lydia found to support her theory to be as convincing as evidence found in a typical cozy?
6) If
you had one character in the book you could identify with either yourself, or another person, who would that character be?
7) Was
the murder plot—occurring in the past—as effective as if it had taken place in the present?
8) Do
you feel there is an underlying message in the story?
9) Did you feel any kind of sympathy for the
murderer at the end? Or was the character completely unredeemable?
10) Did you feel the town come to life as Lydia slowly
reconstructed the Bower family and their environs?
11) Did you think Julia’s final actions were believable?
12) Have you ever had a friendship
like Lydia and Faye’s?
13)
Do you think a group of women could really work together like Lydia, Faye, Muriel and Julia do;
or do you think there would be more competition?
A COMMITMENT TO MURDER, MARCH 2010 – GROUP READ/DISCUSSION
QUESTIONS
1) Do you think Lydia could have handled Jackie in a different fashion?
2) Between the first and second books do you see any progression in Lydia's personality - does she seem
to take more risks?
3) Do you feel the "Nancy Drew Crew" or the girls have a smaller roll
in this story than the first? The same? Less?
4) How would you compare this to a typical
cozy mystery - such as Agatha Christie?
5) Did you find Jackie to be a true protagonist
in this book since she is in the present, as opposed to the past?
6) Do you get a feel
for Lydia's home life which is pitted against her genealogical life? Does this help or hinder the storyline?
7) Lydia actually leaves the house in this book. Did that help in showing the other ways she collects
evidence (documentation) to support her case?
8) Do you think that the elderly are portrayed
in a true light?
9) Would you have reacted to Jackie's final confrontation the same as Lydia?
10) Do you think these books can stand alone?
