It was gorgeous weather here this week, 70s and 80s, sunshine. Just perfect. But, as I’m writing this late Wednesday afternoon, the winds, rain and cooler temperatures are supposed to come in tonight. Oh, well. If I had a magic wand, it would always be sunny and 80, with low humidity, and rain would come as needed at night. But, I don’t have a magic wand.
Sometimes, though, a book comes along that is magic. If you’ve read my blog the last couple days, you’ve seen I’ve fallen for Janet Dawson’s Jeri Howard series featuring a PI in Oakland, California. As Jeannette mentioned yesterday, some of these are available on Kindle Unlimited on Amazon. If Amazon isn’t a dirty word in your vocabulary, you can pick up the early books in the series.
I’m reading Till the Old Men Die, the second in the series. It was written in 2011, and it’s about the Filipino community, in California, as well as the politics, history, and business in the Philippines. Several people say nothing will change “till the old men die”. One dies. He’s a history professor, and Jeri’s father, another history professor, is the one who finds the murdered body of his friend and colleague. He also receives a package mailed by the dead man. It’s the involvement of Jeri’s father that drags her into the investigation.
I’ve actually already read and reviewed something different for Saturday, so you won’t have to read a string of reviews of the Jeri Howard mysteries, at least not right now. (smile)
What about you? What are you reading this week?
I’m enjoying your Jeri Howard reviews.
And i enjoyed some good books this week – all by favorite authors.
THE BOOK OF DELIGHTS, Essays by Ross Gay
Ross Gay decided to write a mini-essay on delight every day for a year. Though he skipped some days, this became a regular practice in which certain recurring topics emerged including his mother, gardens, racism, kindness, pop music, and more. Writing these essays made Ross more aware of delight and he learned that delight grows when it is shared.
“The first thing you should know is that the title is not a misnomer. In a climate of serious thoughts about serious subjects, Ross Gay truly does delight . . . Some of Gay’s essays are a mere paragraph, others are longer, but they are all about aspects of life worth celebrating. A worthwhile break from the monotony of worldly worries, The Book of Delights reminds its readers to treat themselves to a bit of beauty. We all deserve it.” — The Undefeated
THE SUMMER OF FALL by Laura Lippman
“In this wry and honest memoir of a truly lousy time, she gives an intimate look at her private life — perhaps less hair-raising than her award-winning crime thrillers, but no less engaging. And it’s relatable. Even the most fortunate experience heartache, loss, and physical breakdown of some kind. Lippman’s account of her own hard knocks reminds us that, eventually, adversity comes for everyone.”
THE TRUTH AGAINST THE WORLD by David Corbett
“David Corbett weaves together myth and prophecy in a way that makes THE TRUTH AGAINST THE WORLD feel both timeless and frighteningly relevant. And it carries his hallmark of elegant writing and deeply considered, compelling character work. A fantastic read you’ll struggle to put down.”
—Rob Hart, critically acclaimed author of The Warehouse and Paradox Hotel
SLEEPLESS CITY by Reed Farrel Coleman
“When you’re in trouble, you call 911.
When cops are in trouble, they call Nick Ryan.
Every cop in the city knows his name, but no one says it out loud. In fact, they don’t talk about him at all.
He doesn’t wear a uniform, but he is the most powerful cop in New York.
Nick Ryan can find a criminal who’s vanished. Or he can make a key witness disappear.
He has cars, safe houses, money, and weapons hidden all over the city.
He’s the mayor’s private cop, the fixer, the first call when the men and women who protect and serve are in trouble and need protection themselves.
With conflicted loyalties and a divided soul, he’s a veteran cop still fighting his own private war. He’s a soldier of the streets with his own personal code.”
Advance Praise
“What’s one cop gonna do against a rigged system? Sleepless City answers that question in a blaze of pace, action, suspense, and intrigue, all underpinned by thoughtful moral questions and a truly great new character in Nick Ryan. Coleman is a noir grandmaster and I hope this series runs forever.”
-Lee Child
When does the Laura Lippman book come out as I can not find it listed anywhere and I read and liked a number of her books.
Donna, here’s the info from NetGalley –
The Summer of Fall
Gravity is a bitch, but I’m still standing
by Laura Lippman
Pub Date 10 May 2023 | Archive Date Not set
Scribd, Scribd Originals
Biographies & Memoirs
Kaye, I wish I could read faster, like you!
I have always been a fast reader, Kathy. Not a speed reader, but pretty fast! Also, the older I get the less I sleep. So rather than tossing and turning in bed all night, i just give up and read.
I’m glad you liked Jeri’s new book. As an Oaklander, it’s nice to see a book set here, although I believe she actually liveds on Alaneda, which is adjacent.
I am just starting to read again and am struggling both with my memory, and with finding something that holds my attention. I’m slightly more than halfway through Dana Stabenow’s newest–name escapes me, and am very disappointed with it. Sadly, I may give up as the newest Will Thomas, and Reed Farrell Coleman books awaits me.
I’m so sorry, LJ. I hope you find something that holds your attention, soon.
Well, pafooey. I hit “submit” sooner than I meant to on my previous post.
While Ross Gay is mostly known for his poetry, all his writing is quite lovely. This book of essays, while certainly not Pollyanna-ish, is positive and refreshing. Another book of essays to keep close by on my nightstand.
I thoroughly enjoyed Laura Lippman’s book which I received from NetGalley. I admire her, I always, from her very first book, enjoy her work, although this made me a little sad.
David Corbett’s newest book, also from NetGalley, blew me away but it is not a book everyone is going to enjoy. There’s a myth woven through this story that some crime fiction readers are going to question the purpose of. The story itself is timely; frighteningly so. The writing is lyrical and elegant and i was completely wrapped up in the book from page one till the end. It’s going to be interesting to read other people’s opinions.
Reed Farrel Coleman is one of, I believe, the best writers writing today. I’ve never been a fan of an author taking over another’s series, so the Jesse Stone novels were not, to me, of great interest. Actually, they weren’t even of great interest when Robt. B. Parker was writing them, although I was a huge Spenser fan. Coleman’s Moe Prager series is a series I loved and have re-read in its entirety more than once. SLEEPLESS CITY is classic Reed Farrel Coleman. I hope, like Lee Child, that the series lasts forever.
Kaye, I’m really glad you came back to finish your post. I wanted to know if you liked Sleepless City. I have a copy, and I hope to get to it soon. It looks really good! And, I agree with you about the Jesse Stone novels. I read a couple when Parker was writing them, and I quit. I didn’t really care for Stone or Sunny Randall.
Thanks Kaye
I’ve shared The Book of Delights without even reading yet, just based on your summary & review.
MM, it is a joy and quite welcome during stressful, gloomy days
Kayer, agree with you on Reed Farrel Coleman, especially the Moe Prager books. This is on hold at the library.
I will also read the Laura Lippman when it comes out.
Jeff, i look forward to hearing your thoughts on both.
Kaye, I have a book called Modern Delight (though I see it was actually published 25 years ago now!), which was inspired by JB Priestley’s 1949 book ‘Delight’. In the ‘modern’ version, lots of famous people were asked to contribute their thoughts on some little thing that made life better – their choices ranged from ‘mowing the lawn’ to ‘old restaurant guides’, ‘red toenails’ and ‘the last roast potato.’
I haven’t read Modern Delight in a long time, so thanks for reminding me about it – I think it’s time I dipped in once more.
I will check this out, Rosemary, thank you! Positivity becomes more and more important to me as time goes on. Especially in these troubling times.
Been a nice week. A little cool, but not too much pollen. Went to Wine Down Wednesday in Roseville. It was a great event. The band that they’ve had on week 1 for years, which most people abhorred, to the point we all thought someone in the band must have something on a member of the city council or somebody else important. They had a duo, and while they weren’t The Righteous Brothers or anything at least didn’t subtract from the experience. There was a nice Barbera, some good chardonnay, and a suitable Malbec.
This week I read:
A couple of books by Frank Eckblom. They aren’t listed on goodreads. I asked to have them added, as they don’t let you add them yourself anymore. Eckblom is a self publisher writing historical fiction. Fairly popular in these parts for a while, but I think he might have passed. One of the books is Theft of the County Seat, a romanticized story of how the town originally to be the seat of Stanislaus County was robbed of the honor, by a “judge” who looked like a snake. It might seem strange to elect a guy who looks like a snake to anything, but Kentuckians have been electing a guy who looks like a turtle to the Senate for years. Almost enough to make you think those folks talking about Reptilians might just have a point.
Mad artist Al Jaffe died, so I read a book by him, Witty Jokes and Funny Riddles, also not on goodreads. Maybe these books will get added, maybe not.
An Evil Eye by Jason Goodwin; In the Ottoman Empire, an admiral defects to the Egyptians, while murders are occurring in the Royal Harem. The setting is really different, and the Ottomans are already the sick man of Europe. The industrial revolution is just getting started, and the Ottomans are going to miss it.
Monstyr by Henry Scott; The Goat Man is haunting national forests, killing people at his whim. Goat Man actually frequent bridges, according to the lore.
The Chocolate Frog Frame-Up by Joanna Carl; When the town crank disappears, and his wrecked canoe is found, everybody suspects the sleuth’s boyfriend. She makes Malapropisms and investigates.
Frenzi: Florida Guns by RJ Calder; Former mafia hit man turned avenger finds himself in Florida, where he fights the swamps, the mob, and Cuban revolutionaries. Sleazier than the last book. We may get to 1975 levels of sleaze yet!
Murder on St. Mark’s Place by Victoria Thompson; In turn of century New York, party girls are being murdered, and the police don’t seem to care. Our sleuth investigates. The scenes in the old Coney Island amusement park really make this worth reading. Imagine having your first roller coaster ride when you’re 21, because they never existed before.
“It might seem strange to elect a guy who looks like a snake to anything, but Kentuckians have been electing a guy who looks like a turtle to the Senate for years. Almost enough to make you think those folks talking about Reptilians might just have a point.”
I can’t stop laughing . . .
Glen, I love the way you look at life, even the part about the band having something on one of the council members.
But, my favorite part today was this. I just cracked up. ” It might seem strange to elect a guy who looks like a snake to anything, but Kentuckians have been electing a guy who looks like a turtle to the Senate for years. Almost enough to make you think those folks talking about Reptilians might just have a point.”
I see Kaye & I have the same sense of humor. Great comment, wasn’t it, Kaye?
Oh yes, loved the McConnell comment too.
Lesa! Yes!
It was in the 70’s over the weekend, but it cooled off here this week. Supposed to warm up in time for the LA Times Festival of Books this weekend. I’m planning to go both days, although it may be a little on the warm side to be walking around all day outside on Saturday. Mid-80’s can get hot. Should be in the upper 70’s on Sunday, which will be nice.
But that’s the future. Right now, I’m reading Arbor Day Can Be Deadly, a prequel novella to Ryan River’s Bucket List Mysteries. It’s a bit slow compared to what I’ve already read in the series, but that’s because there is a lot of set up of the characters, backstory, etc. Think of it as a TV show’s pilot episode vs. the rest of season 1. Still, I’m enjoying it overall. Hoping to finish it on Thursday with plans to review it next Friday – aka Arbor Day.
I’m jealous, Mark, that you’re going to the LA Times Festival of Books. I’ve been to three book festivals, some more than once. I love the Tucson Festival of Books. You’re right. Mid-80’s can get hot, especially if there’s humidity.
I understand, and expect, set up and backstory with the first in a series, especially a cozy series.
I’m currently reading The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek by Kim Michele Richardson. I’m trying to read about ten books in the Southern Literature Reading Challenge and this is on the list. It’s about a book delivery woman in 1930’s Kentucky who also has a genetic blood disorder that makes her blue – no kidding. I admit, I didn’t believe the blue part so I looked it up and it is a real thing! The weather was in teh 50’s and 60’s here last weekend, which was just fine for me. I love that weather – wouldn’t take more than 70’s and dry!
That genetic blood disorder is real, Melissa; you’re right. My best friend loved that book. We’re right over the border from Kentucky, just north of the Ohio river.
I don’t mind the 70s and 80s when we have low humidity. Come this summer, when the humidity is high, that’s a little different.
Melissa, the Blue People of Kentucky was an interesting anomaly. It happened when Martin Fugate immigrated from France around 200 years ago and ended up in the Appalachia part of Kentucky. He married a woman there, and both of them had the recessive gene for methemoglobinemia, a blood disease that could result in their offspring having blue-tinted skin color. Both parents had to have the gene, and that was rare. Neither of the parents was blue. Around 1964 the condition was studied, and it was discovered that taking methylene blue, one pill a day, would return the skin to a normal color.
A book I just ordered entitled The Last Blue takes place in the deep recesses of Kentucky’s Appalachia region in 1937. It’s about a woman named Jubilee Buford, a Blue person who is discovered living in the depths of the wild country by a photographer who is on a WPA project for President Roosevelt. Here’s one reviewer’s description of the book. “A remarkable and informative work of historical fiction regarding the difficult and impossible infliction of superstition and the effects of racial divisions and small minded actions thru ignorance regarding the color of ones skin. Written against the backdrop of the beautiful Appalachian mountains… nature…the ability of the human spirit to survive…A beautiful love story poetically written.”
A couple of links you and others might be interested in are as follows: https://thesouthernvoice.com/the-blue-people-of-appalachia/ and https://www.specialneedsalliance.org/the-voice/recommended-books-for-the-special-needs-community-if-you-could-take-a-pill-to-become-typical-would-you/
That’s fascinating, Kathy. I knew about the Blue People of Kentucky, but I didn’t know any of the background.
Y’all, I’m loving this thread. I have an unfinished manuscript in a drawer which has a storyline featuring the blue people for which I did a huge amount of research and found it all to be fascinating.
Kaye, you should finish it! The market isn’t crowded with this subject, and I’m sure many people would like more stories with it.
The same week you discovered a love for Dawson, I also discovered the Swedish police procedural writers Sjowall and Wahloo. I read The Laughing Policeman in a few days and quickly went online to order the wholes series from Blackwells. And I’m not a procedural type of reader! I discovered this 1970s-era series through the Shedunnit book club; I am sure this book will be one of my favorites for the year. The translated prose is highly readable, the plot compelling, with whip smart social commentary and observations. It falls in this Nordic noir category and I’ve never been a fan of this type of sub genre either! I usually don’t like the dark stuff, but the humor and just easily spoken truth that has come through these pages really charmed me.
Another recent surprise: Stephen Spotswood’s Secrets Typed in Blood. A 1pov amateur PI-NYC noir novel that I loved!
We just had our “best weather day” in DC yesterday so it’s all muggy misery to come.
Oh, I read all of the Maj Sjowell/Per Wahloo books back in the 1970s, Becky. They’re excellent, aren’t they? And, I am a procedural type of reader.
I went to grad school in DC, so I know about that muggy misery. It’s hard to breathe all summer.
Yes, to the Martin Beck series. I read them all as they came out, then years later bought all 10 in paperback to reread (some day) and they are still on the shelf. I’ve read and enjoyed the three Spotswood books too.
Good morning Lesa – and it is a really beautiful one here in North East Scotland. The sun is shining, the birds are singing, and I am about to meet a friend for a walk on the Crathes Castle estate.
This week has been much taken up with trying to write a review of the Royal Scottish Academy New Contemporaries exhibition. I enjoyed the show very much, but my goodness, some of these recent graduates are hopeless when it comes to self-publicity. Trying to find out anything more about them than the mini bios provided on the RSA site is a challenge and a half. I’ve looked at websites (most of them don’t have them, and the ones that do often haven’t updated them for aeons), Instagram, Facebook…. Perhaps anonymity is artistic or something!
Madeleine has been able to give me a bit of information about the Dundee graduates, but I have no contacts at the other four Scottish art schools. Hey ho, I’ve done my best.
On Tuesday Nancy and I had an excursion to the Duncan Rice Library at Aberdeen University. It’s a fairly new building and has really stunning architecture. The inside is built as a spiral. We went up (in a glass lift) to the top floor, from where the views were fantastic.
We then visited their current exhibition, which is about Aberdeen’s connections to the slave trade. It was very interesting and a real eye-opener. Like many people, I imagine, I had always thought that it was Glasgow that had these links, but it seems that they were rife on the East coast too. Many plantation owners lived in huge houses and country estates around Aberdeenshire.
Of course one of the problems that the university now faces is that it still has many scholarships, bursaries, etc funded by endowments set up from the proceeds of slavery. It’s a difficult one, especially when funds are so badly needed to help students. At least the university is acknowledging these things – where it goes from there is anyone’s guess.
A Sudanese doctor working in Aberdeen has written a poem about slavery, and she has been filmed reciting it beside the Powis Gate, an architectural feature of the oldest part of the university and one that was built with money from a family heavily involved in the slave trade. A glass artist from Gray’s has also created a beautiful plaque with the poem on it.
I was very glad to have seen the exhibition. Afterwards we went to the Cruikshank garden – the university’s botanic garden – which is very small but was lovely in the sunshine.
Last weekend David and I had our coffee in the café of the Gordon Highlanders Museum. I’ve never been inside the museum (still haven’t – it’s not really my thing) but the café was great, very quiet, good cakes, and access to the museum garden, which is absolutely beautiful, with lots of little arbors and seats, and the sound of the burn running through the nearby Johnston Gardens, where I used to take my children when they were little.
So this week I have at last finished PAUL TAKES THE FORM OF A MORTAL GIRL by Andrea Lawlor, which I ended up liking hugely. I was surprised by how much humour there was in this novel. It’s probably not for the fainthearted – there’s quite a lot of sex, some swearing, and all sorts of alternative behaviour – I’d definitely not recommend it to my mother! – but if you come to it with an open mind, it’s worth reading (in my opinion at least.)
Now I am about to start something entirely different, a novel by Beverley Nichols, REVUE. It’s one of Nichols’ novels – I’ve only ever read his cat and gardening books before (I used to borrow them from our local branch library when I was at school.) They’ve been recommended by a blogger I find very reliable, and I’m sure at the very least this one will be an easy read.
While I was at the DR library I couldn’t resist browsing through the stock of the tiny public library housed on its ground floor – so I came home with THE SINGLE LADIES OF JACARANDA RETIREMENT VILLAGE by Joanna Neill. I don’t know anything about this author – has anybody read this one?
On TV I have just found (at last) and started watching THE MAGPIE MURDERS. I love Lesley Manville in anything, and several people have told me this is a good one.
I’m now horribly late so I’d better stop!
Hope everyone has a good week – I think our weather is set to deteriorate, so I’m making the most of it while it lasts.
Rosemary
You’re so right, Rosemary, to take advantage of the weather while you can. Enjoy!
I didn’t know that Scotland was involved in the slave trade like England was. It is interesting to read, though, that the universities there benefited from it, as our universities did. Just one reason I always appreciate your commentaries. I learn something new. Thank you.
The cafe at the Gordon Highlanders Museum sounds wonderful.
Wasn’t Lesley Manville wonderful in Mrs. Harris Goes to Paris? I still want to say Mrs. ‘Arris Goes to Paris since that was the name of the original books. I wasn’t familiar with her.
Rosemary, speaking of Scotland… I thought of you when we watched the first episode of series one (of three) on Britbox last night of STAGED with David Tennant (Scotland) and Michael Sheen (Wales) playing slightly exaggerated versions of themselves. Seems they were supposed to do a play together (6 Characters in Search of an Author) when the pandemic hit, so ended up with this (22 minutes per episode) Zoom series of them talking to and at each other. It is very good and lots of fun. It must have been successful as they did two more series in 2021 and 2022.
Jeff, we saw the STAGED series when they were first shown here. Wonderful! I had so much empathy for David Tennant’s long-suffering wife Georgia – especially when she said ‘If we’d known this (ie home schooling) was going to happen we wouldn’t have had so many children’!
Good morning. I didn’t get much reading time in this week so I only finished one book. An ARC of Poaching is Puzzling by Daryl Wood Gerber. It’s the twelfth book in her cookbook nook mystery series. The town is holding its annual crossword puzzle contest and of course the guest of honor turns up dead. I found that the combination of all of the cookbook titles and crossword puzzle information that the author included slowed the story down too much.
Oh, I get not reading much, Sandy. I’m sorry that the one book you finished was slow.
I’m currently reading “A Fever in the Heartland” by Timothy Egan. I remember that you mentioned this as a book you were interested in reading. It’s a hard book to read, and you have to keep reminding yourself that this all happened. It’s just unbelievable and very frightening.
Linda, I finally bought a copy of A Fever in the Heartland so I could bring back the library’s copy. It’s just taking me too long with everything else I “have” to read for Library Journal.
Good morning, friends! Northern California weather forecasts show no rain for the next 10 days. Normally, that wouldn’t be a good thing, but this year . . . it’s welcome! I actually turned my sprinklers back on. Last weekend we had a late Easter celebration (and birthday party for my younger son, who is turning 40!) with my daughter-in-law’s extended family, and the weather was around 70–perfect! We’re going into a period of highs in the 70s, so that will be a nice change as well. Here’s what I read this week.
THE LITTLE VILLAGE OF BOOK LOVERS has the lush detail, beautiful writing, and emotional depth I’ve come to expect of Nina George. But until about the 40% mark, I wasn’t sure where it was going. There didn’t seem to be much of a plot, and I was confused when Love (yes, love is a character in the story) would randomly narrate a chapter here and there, philosophizing about its importance and unpredictability. Love tells the reader how young Marie-Jeanne is the only person who can see love in others as shapes and points of light, but she never sees it in herself. In other chapters the point of view is omniscient or, sometimes, that of an olive tree. The book seemed disjointed, and I wasn’t sure I could hold on until the end. BUT, then things started to come together. Marie-Jeanne’s father becomes enamored of books when he delivers them to a local bookshop as part of his delivery business. Suddenly he decides that what the village needs is a mobile book lending service, and he willingly takes on the assignment. Although he faces resistance at first, soon the locals see changes in their lives as a result. The story focuses specifically on couples who resist being together even though they are clearly meant for each other, couples who are together but haven’t found ways to fully express their love (including Marie-Jeanne’s foster parents) and those who haven’t yet met the person who is destined to be their life partner. The author mentioned this book in her 2015 novel, The Little Paris Bookshop, and she says she felt obligated to actually write it for the fans of that novel. I would say that she succeeded for those who are willing to read on after what might feel plotless and scattered to discover the riches of the remaining 60% of the story. (July)
In THREE HOLIDAYS AND A WEDDING by Uzma Jalaluddin and Marissa Stapley, it’s 2000, when Christmas, Hanukkah, and Ramadan/Eid all overlap. Maryam and Anna meet on a flight from Denver to Toronto, when both are on their way to their upcoming holiday events. Maryam and her Muslim family have a week of activities planned, leading up to her sister Saima’s wedding. Anna is joining her boyfriend’s family for the “perfect” Christmas celebration and has discovered an engagement ring in his luggage. But when the “snowstorm of the century” diverts their plane away from Toronto, they find themselves in tiny Snow Falls, Canada, with diminishing hopes of making their important connections. Both young women are beginning to realize that they are not happy with their lives. Maryam has sacrificed her own dreams to join her family’s pharmacy business and to be their relied-upon “fixer.” Anna also dreams of a different career, misses her family’s joint Christmas/Hanukkah festivities and her estranged stepmother, and wonders whether her boyfriend is really “the one.” The book had a slow start for me, but I was soon engaged when the unexpected wonders of Snow Falls, a movie set, a local holiday play, a would-be bride, and some new love interest (one an old friend and one a new acquaintance) turned it into a magical holiday story. Anna’s boyfriend is an unrelentingly awful person–why has she stayed with him for six months?–but the rest of the characters are nuanced and believable. I really enjoyed this unusual holiday romance (September)
In THE INGREDIENTS OF HAPPINESS, prolific author Lucy Burdette excels at making the reader feel the same torment that her protagonist, Cooper Hunzicker, is suffering. Cooper should be happy–she has a Ph.D. in psychology, a job at prestigious Yale University as an assistant professor, a book (The Happiness Connection) that will be released imminently, and a long-term relationship with her lawyer boyfriend, Daniel. Yet she struggles with her own happiness journey. Only one of the three new assistant professors will score a job at Yale at the end of the year, Cooper and Daniel are now living on opposite sides of the country, and it becomes increasingly obvious that someone is trying to sabotage Cooper’s success at every turn. Her job, her upcoming book, and even her romantic life may all be at risk, and she’s not sure she can count on anyone in her family for support. As more and more obstacles are heaped in Cooper’s path and her struggles become ever more dire, I longed for a satisfying resolution and the resulting release of my personal tension. Finally, I got the payoff I was hoping for. The author deserves kudos for successfully toying with my emotions and simultaneously creating a credible plot and insights into happiness science. Burdette, aka Roberta Isleib, is a clinical psychologist and begins each chapter with a happiness tip from Cooper’s book, backed up by references to real-life experts. Each epigraph can be related to Cooper’s life and the way she deals with roadblocks and betrayals. A couple of the players seemed a bit over the top in their nastiness, but there were enough positive, well-drawn characters, along with the exquisitely excruciating suspense, to keep me engrossed in the story. (July)
Well, this week, Margie, none of your books are for me. But, your weather sounds delightful. I’ll take that.
I’m just not willing to give time to a slow-developing story that meanders, or to nasty characters. My loss, I know.
About halfway through Montpelier Tomorrow by Marylee MacDonald. And I have to go to my Glaucoma surgeon appt! The author is extraordinary and the book is fiction about a woman is the mother-in-law of a man who has just been told that he has ALS. Wonderful writing and the disease is even worse than I knew.
Gotta go!
We lost our landlord to ALS, Caron. I only heard how awful it was. I never saw him after he was diagnosed. It’s good to hear it’s wonderful writing in the book.
I have read about ALS before. To say that is devasting is an understatement. Life can be prolonged with a respirator but I think I would not want to live that way. Your mind is there but all you can really do by yourself is stare, The muscle deteriorate, and in the end food from a tube to your body, cannot even close your eyes. Talking becomes impossible. No way to communicate. Now there are two drugs that can slow it down but you still cannot do anything. I hope there that progress can be made soon.
It’s funny. When these first came out in the ’80s, I was reading almost exclusively PI novels, it seems. I read dozens by different authors and, while sometimes I found someone I loved and would read in order, I was mostly jumping from one to the next. I do remember reading the first in this series, but never read another. Don’t ask me why, because I have no memory of it.
Jackie read WRAITH’S REVENGE by Keri Arthur and is now reading the Margaret Mizushima, which she definitely likes more than I did,
I read Mizushima’s STANDING DEAD, the eighth in her Mattie Wray series. It’s not that I didn’t like it, I did, especially as it went along and gained momentum. It’s just that I wish they would get back to real life (so to speak) rather than the 30 year old death of her father story. I’m hoping the finale here ended that and they can move on, perhaps even to the wedding.
I started to read Colin Cotterill’s new stand alone book, THE MOTION PICTURE TELLER, but was having a tough time getting interested, when I discovered that I had somehow (the pandemic, I believe) missed his 15th and final book about former National Coroner of Laos (early 1970s), Dr. Siri Paiboun. I love Dr. Siri and really enjoyed most of this very eccentric series. The final book, THE DELIGHTFUL LIFE OF A SUICIDE PILOT, is as crazy as ever. Someone delivers a book, partly in Japanese, partly in Lao, to Dr. Siri, apparently the diary of a Japanese kamikaze pilot from World War II, and Siri, with nothing to do other thna help out at his wife’s noodle stand, decides to read it and follow the clues…but where? I’ll let you know next week.
Of course I am reading short stories as usual, and this week I finally got two books I am enjoying. The first is HIGH CONCEPTS by Bill Pronzini, a man whose books I’ve been reading and enjoying for over 40 years. This is a collection of his early science fiction and fantasy stories. Even though he is known (rightfully) as a mystery author (and Grandmaster), he wrote quite a few SF stories too. The second is A QUESTIONABLE DEATH and Other Historical Quaker Midwife Mysteries (which certainly lets you know what is in store!) by Edith Maxwell, set in late 1`880s Massachusetts. Good so far and I might even read one of her seven novels about midwife Rose Carroll afterwards.
The weather here has turned colder after two record-setting days of over 90 degrees each, and we can really use some rain.
I don’t know, Jeff. Perhaps I’m liking these Jeri Howard mysteries because I started with the 14th and went back. The character is well-established by the fourteenth book, as a PI and mature adult. She was much younger in the first book.
I’m with you though about Standing Dead. I don’t care at all about the plot about her dead father. If we don’t move on in the next book, I may be finished with the series.
It’s not easy to go through a drought of good reading.
Spring! Took a beautiful drive west into the CA foothills Sunday (I think near where Glen & Margie are enjoying such beautiful spring weather). Mid-seventies with lots of wildflowers & blossoming trees. But back home, 3500 felt higher, fresh snow once again.
Started the week with one of the most widely published authors of all time, Agatha Christie’s THE MURDER AT THE VICARAGE. 1930 copyright, but a brand new paperback edition from William Morrow. I do enjoy a nice tidy mystery, even as a reread.
Next a new book by Hank Phillippi Ryan, THE HOUSE GUEST. Around 20% in, I’m thinking “please don’t be the same old thing, beautiful woman marries rich man, gets dumped”. Fortunately, the author manages to take this plot in a different direction, creating an interesting new twist on the theme.
GRATITUDE by the famous neurologist, Oliver Sacks, a quartet of essays written from a place of inspirational peace nearing the end of life. A lovely, gentle book from a doctor that viewed life as an enormous privilege and adventure. (2015)
And because of Tuesday’s entry featuring Janet Dawson, I downloaded an e-version of the anthology SF NOIR 2 – THE CLASSICS edited by Peter Maravelis. I thought just to sample her dark entry, but the whole collection looks fascinating.
Oh, I agree, MM. I like a nice tidy mystery, and Agatha Christie wrote some good ones.
I’m glad to hear that Hank Phillippi Ryan created an interesting new twist in her book.
Ah, snow. Definitely not for me.
I am reading Murder in Chianti by Camilla Trinchieri and enjoying it. I believe you recommended it, Lesa. It is set in Tuscan, Italy and a character driven mystery. I can hear and see the characters in my mind and taste the food too. Highly recommend.
Yes, it will be on the warm side this weekend for the LA Festival of Books, but welcome after all the rain and below average temperatures. Bring on the SoCal weather.
Doreen, I didn’t recommend Murder in Chianti, but now you enticed me. The food! The Tuscan food does always attract me. And, it’s always nice to be thought of in conjunction with a book someone enjoyed. Thank you!
Yes! SoCal weather! And, it’s better to have warm weather this weekend than rainy for walking around at the LA Festival of Books.
Now thinking it might have been Poisoned Pen who recommended a later book in the series and I started with the first.
It sounds like something The Poisoned Pen would recommend, Doreen.
Good afternoon from sunny Cincinnati.
My reading week wasn’t the best. I finished A Sinister Revenge by Deanna Raybourn. I know Margie loved it but I was disappointed. I think Veronica and Stoker work best when they are together and they spent the majority of the book apart. I also thought the mystery itself was only so-so.
Next I read Quilt City: Panic in Paducah by Bruce Leonard. This was a case of wrong book wrong time. The plot had a mass shooting and racism involving the burning of quilts from the National Quilt Museum. With the current events of the Louisville shooting and Ralph Yarl, it was just too overwhelming for me.
My last book was The Mostly True Story of Tanner & Louise by Colleen Oakley. I didn’t think it was a good as the reviews but I really liked the twist at the end.
Happy Reading!
Hi Sharon, It sounds as if your weather is better than your books were. I’m sorry. I haven’t read The Mostly True Story of Tanner & Louise yet. I’ll get around to it! I’m backed up with Library Journal books right now.
I can see why Quilt City was the wrong book right now. I’m sorry.
Hi everyone! I am continuing my efforts to stay focused on catching up and finishing the multitude of series I have started over the years. Am starting to forget which book I left off on….anyway, I am still reading the delightful Bill Slider mystery series. I am currently reading Killl My Darling. I noticed that according to Goodreads, I have read this before, but have no memory of doing so. Yikes! I also got a bit side tracked with the young adult fantasy book Shadow and Bone. I really liked the book, so may try to finish the trilogy up while continuing on with Bill Slider.
Jeff, I still haven’t read the last Dr. Siri book. Don’t want to see the series end. I hope Cotterril decides to come back to it.
Was supposed to be 80 here in Michigan, but the forecast has now changed to low 60’s. Bummer. Good news is that the kids are working at their offices today and my husband is playing golf. Peace and quiet!!
Isn’t it nice just to have one peaceful day to yourself, Jennifer? I was supposed to have that tomorrow – a day off to read. Now, I’m taking the car in for service and going to Social Security. Not quite the day I planned.
Enjoy those Bill Slider books. I find them delightful, too!
Good morning, Lesa. We’re experiencing a very windy day in Northern Colorado and have high hopes of a little rain later on. The wind was annoying enough to cut our (Sassy and my) walk short this morning. I’ve just started Abandoned, the second book in W. Michael Gear’s science fiction Donovan series. Next up is another Linda Castillo book. I’m trying to pace myself on those because I’m close to getting caught up to the 2023 release in her Kate Burkholder series.
If you’re hoping for rain, Patricia, I hope you get it. I know what it’s like to have to pace yourself reading a mystery series. If I wasn’t backed up on Library Journal books, I’d be tearing through this Jeri Howard series by Janet Dawson. And, the Linda Castillo books are worth waiting to read.
I decided to check out the “Forever Young” young adult book club at the local library and really didn’t like the book, Monsters Born and Made. To entertain myself I kept a running list of ways it was too much like The Hunger Games. Luckily no one else liked it, too! This week I also read the new Veronica Speedwell, A Sinister Inheritance. I liked seeing the characters grow emotionally and always enjoy the narrator’s voice (I seem to have lost my annoyance at how modern Veronica’s attitudes are). I also finished Real Self Care and A Tempest at Sea, which I mentioned last week.
I have read about ALS before. To say that is devasting is an understatement. Life can be prolonged with a respirator but I think I would not want to live that way. Your mind is there but all you can really do by yourself is stare, The muscle deteriorate, and in the end food from a tube to your body, cannot even close your eyes. Talking becomes impossible. Now there are two drugs that can slow it down but you still cannot do anything. I hope there that progress can be made soon.
Well, that’s sad, Trisha, that no one liked the book for this month in the YA book club.
I think I’d be more annoyed with Veronica if I hadn’t watched Deanna Raybourn several times talk about the female adventurers during Victorian times. I think some of those women had more freedom than we suspect.
Reading Beaver Land, How One Weird Rodent Made America by Leila Philip. Once extraordinarily abundantly, beavers were hunted to near-extinction and the beaver pelt trade played a profound role on North America’s early economy. Beaver pelts were a currency welcomed everywhere in the early west. These fascinating, intelligent, ingenious animals have survived and even live near humans in many places now (I could show you a secluded stream under a busy overpass in Arlington, VA, where a small beaver colony thrives — but wildlife officials have done everything they can to prevent humans from knowing they’re there). They helped build this nation, and now they deserve to live in peace and freedom. This is a sad but very informative book about an aspect of early America that many people are only vaguely aware of.
Oh, it sounds like a sad book, Sandra. I find it so tragic how we’ve just pushed animals out of their native environment, or killed them to get the land. Of course, we did that to people, too.
Oh Sandra, I bought Beaver Land for myself as part of my Christmas bag of books I get myself every year. What prompted me to buy it was watching author Karen Dionne’s videos of the beavers living near her and working on their dam. I haven’t read it yet, but I plan to sometime this year. I know I will find it sad, too, reading about yet another displaced animal in our world.
I know how tall our TBR piles are, Kathy. There are quite a few nonfiction books on my stacks.
Reading Unusual History. Good start. I love Dr Delaware and Detective Sturgeous. Can always count on them for a good story. Finished Ozark Dogs. It was a great book as well and kept me interested all throughout.
I wondered about Ozark Dogs, Carol Jeanne. Thanks for letting us know. Enjoy Unusual History!
This week has been too busy. We had a friend from Stockton, CA come to visit overnight. We have been friends with her and her husband for forty years plus. They are retired librarians and still do adjunct work as librarians at a community college. We always talk books but this time also discussed board games, a passion of hers. Rick Robinson got me into board games by introducing me to Wingspan, a beautiful game about birds and their habitats.
And I am still doing a group read of a Gladys Mitchell book, THE ECHOING STRANGERS (1952). That means writing up my notes every week on a few chapters, which is challenging. Only one more section to go, so I will finish the book by next week. This is one of the best Gladys Mitchell books I have read, but I have not read that many of them.
It took me over a week to read THE BLIND MAN OF SEVILLE by Robert Wilson. I had decided earlier to stop reading the author’s books because so many of them had had too much graphic violence and sex for me. I am glad I decided to read it, because I am liking the setting, the characters are interesting, and it has a dual timeline which I did not expect (journals from the main character’s father). But after I finished it last night, I am still not sure what I think about it. The protagonist is a policeman whose father was a famous artist, yet no one knew a lot about his past. So it is partly a police procedural, partly a story about the police inspector learning more about his father.
Robert Wilson’s first series was set in West Africa, this one in Seville, Spain, and the third one starts out in the UK. Plus two very good standalone books set in Portugal. THE COMPANY OF STRANGERS, set in Portugal, was a my favorite.
It may feel too busy for books, Tracy, but it’s great to have friends or family visit. Sounds like it was a fun time with them.
I think I only read one or two Gladys Mitchell books way back when.
Hi Lesa, It’s hot and mid to upper 80s in North Carolina, but storms are forecast for Saturday. I am currently reading, in audio and print, Where are the Children Now by Mary Higgins Clark (RIP) and Alafair Burke. I have also been listening to No Two Person by Erica Bauermeister.
Oh, I have a copy of No Two Persons as well, Katherine. I hope we both enjoy it!
Hot and humid is not my kind of weather. I like hot and dry.
Ooooh, i love this book!
I hope you enjoy No Two Persons–it was one of my favorite reads of 2022!
Lesa, today has been beautiful over here in Kentucky, as we have the same weather you do. However, I’m not pleased that once again there is talk of storming and rain tonight maybe, but most certainly tomorrow. How many Thursday/Friday end of week rains have we had? A lot. I keep trying to get to Evansville on a Friday to see you, and the weather is not cooperative. I don’t mind a little rain, but too often it’s heavy rain.
I have been busy. Last Friday night and Saturday afternoon, I was in Mt. Vernon (Indiana) to see my granddaughter and her cousin in The Addams Family Musical that the school put on. Isabella, granddaughter, was Morticia, and Jocelyn, like a granddaughter, was Pugsley. Yes, a girl Pugsley, but she was great. Isabella was perfect for Morticia, as she is tall and thin, and adding a black wig and Morticia-black dress sealed the deal. She was great in the role and in her singing. All the kids did such a wonderful job. I love watching student performances. Then, on Sunday night, it was the last show of the Broadway series here in Owensboro, and my friend Jan and I went to see Jesus Christ Super Star. It was so powerful, so amazing. This week I’ve had a stomach scan and a hair cut and gone out to eat. And, a kitchen designer came by to talk about gutting our kitchen and redoing it. I think I need a rest. Hahaha!
Reading, of course, hasn’t been plentiful, but I hope to get some good reading in this weekend. I’m also two episodes behind in Ted Laso. I did manage to read Lori Duffy Foster’s new Lisa Jamison book, No Room to Breathe. I missed #2 in this series, having read and reviewed #1, but I caught up quickly in #3. I really enjoyed it. I did get a bit confused at the end about who had been killed and who hadn’t, but I think that was due to reading as I was falling asleep. This book and series features a news reporter named Lisa Jamison who seems to get involved in murders, both from her paper and her personal life. Her live-in boyfriend is an ex-F.B.I. agent who is within a few weeks of finishing law school. She finds her kick-boxing instructor with his throat slashed when she goes to his gym early one morning, and someone is trying to frame her for it. It eventually connects with a story she’s working on. There are a couple of interesting twists and some information about gambling I wasn’t aware of.
I started Martin Edward’s At Blackstone Fell last night, the third in his Rachel Savernake series. I should have gotten to this book last fall, and now his next one in the series will be out very soon (May 11th). Some of you may know or be aware of Martin through his connection and expertise in Golden Age mysteries. He also is one of the people responsible for the British Library Classics that have and are being reprinted. He is usually doing the introductions in those
I am trying like mad to get catch up on some other books. I hope to soon be reading Booth by Karen Joy Fowler (if you haven’t read We Are All Beside Ourselves by her, please check it out), Horse by Geraldine Brooks, and Bombay Monsoon by James Ziskin.
Oh, Kathy. I’ve just given up on ever been caught up with past books. Here I am reading Janet Dawson’s books that came out 30 years ago. Loving them. This weekend, though, and next week, I need to read for Library Journal. Two books for review, and five for LJ Day of Dialog. I’ll make it, somehow!
You’re right about our lousy weekend weather. Last Saturday was nice, but I think that’s the only weekend day we’ve had that has been nice all year. And, yes. Facing another cool weekend with rain. Blah.
I love Martin Edwards’ introductions to the British Library Crime Classics. He always provides just the background I need to enjoy the books.
I enjoy school productions, too, even when I don’t know any of the students. I’ve seen some excellent high school productions here. And, there’s lots of theater in Columbus, Ohio!
If you decide you’re going to gut your kitchen, you’ll need a rest afterwards. My sister is going through that right now. They’re about halfway through the ten week project. Good luck!
Sending hugs. We will get together before I move. There’s time.
Good Friday evening from NE DALLAS…..
I have three reviews to write. I have to get motivated to do them.
My current read is SLEEPLESS CITY by Reed Farrel Coleman. Big fan of his.
I’m looking forward to reading Sleepless City, Kevin, but it’s going to be a while. Tomorrow, you’ll see what I’m reading this week.