Hey, I've noticed much the same thing, I thought most of the threads would be up and running again by now...
I'm using The Life And Crimes Of Harry Lavender by Marele Day. It's modern Australian crime fiction with a female sleuth (the opening chapter toys around with this and doesn't immediately specify her gender).
What texts did you have in mind? I was going to try have one more traditional or cosy text, a modern texts and then plenty of drop in comments on others.
Hope this helped a bit!
