Back on schedule this week. I’m finishing D.M. Quincy’s Murder in Bloomsbury, the latest Atlas Catesby mystery. Murder in Mayfair, the first in the series, was one of my favorite books last year. Atlas investigates the death of a young man, only to discover he had a way with women, and it wasn’t so nice. It isn’t long before Catesby realizes there were plenty of people who might have wanted the young man dead. I know I mentioned this book earlier, but sometimes my reviews for Library Journal take precedence.
What are you reading or listening to this week? We’re waiting!
I am reading a mixture of familiar and new authors this week.
BODY IN THE CASKET by Katherine Hall Page is the newest book in the dependable Faith Fairchild mystery series.
CANNOLI TO DIE FOR by Peg Cochran is the first in a new series.
THE CAT OF THE BASKERVILLES by Vicki Delany is the latest in the Sherlock Holmes bookshop mysteries.
MURDER WITH LEMON TEA CAKES by Karen Rose Smith is a new author for me.
Happy reading everyone!
Jealous, Grace! You have a copy of The Cat of the Baskervilles. I really like this series by Vicki Delany. Enjoyed Body in the Casket.
This week I read a mix of mysteries and non-fiction.
UNBOUND by Stiart Woods. I usually take these out for my boyfriend but this book featured Teddy Fay who I like instead of Stone Barrington.
I read an ARC of WHO MOVED MY GOAT CHEESE by Lynn Cahoon which I enjoyed.
DEADLY DOG DAYS and CANAL DAYS CALAMITY, both by Sally Jean Cunningham who is a new author for me.
DRAFT ANIMALS by Phil Gaimon is the second book he’s written about his life as a pro bicycle rider. It was interesting since we watch the Tour of France every year on TV.
GREAT GARDEN COMPANIONS by Sally Jean Cunningham since it’s too cold out to actually garden
I'm currently reading 4 books (I put the fifth aside until I read these), all but one ebooks:
Rick Ollerman, HARDBOILED, NOIR AND GOLD MEDALS: Essays on Crime Fiction Writers From the '50s Through the '90s (trade pb). Unfortunately, this has made me look for several other books.
Davideo Finkel, THANK YOU FOR YOUR SERVICE. How soldiers back from Iraq are ( or are not) coping. This is a movie too.
Seth Stephens-Davidowitz, EVERYBODY LIES: Big Data, New Data, and What the Internet Can Tell Us About Who We Really Are. Very interesting.
Simon R. Green, TALES OF THE HIDDEN WORLD: Stories. Includes his various series, such as the Droods, plus non series stories.
David, obviously. I hate autocorrect.
I finished reading:
The Blackmail Flour Trail by Nancy McGovern (book 3)
The Birdwatcher by William Shaw
I am reading:
Banana Whip Safari Trip (book 4) by Nancy McGovern
Into the Water by Paula Hawkins
May you have time for reading many books this week.
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I'm reading Protocol by Kathleen Valenti, one of the Agatha nominees. I'm going to try to read all the 'new author' selections before Malice. I just finished Donis Casey's latest – Forty Dead Men – loved it. I'm listening to The Wife by Alafair Burke and really enjoying that one too.
I haven't tried Vicki's Sherlock bookstore series yet, but I really want to. And I saw another great review of The Birdwatcher a couple of days ago. I used a credit for that one on audio.
Hope everyone has great book experiences this week!
I gave up on the Katherine Hall Page series a few books ago. Perhaps it is time to revisit.
I finished The English Wife by Lauren Willig. It was disappointing. I enjoy her writing but this one felt like a big cliché.
This week I am reading Stolen Beauty by Laurie Lico Albanese. It was the book read for the Indian Trails Library system near Buffalo Grove, Illinois. My daughter read it and loved it then. So far it is interesting.
Looking forward to the warmup on the way to Central Ohio and more reading time.
Happy Thursday everyone.
Sandy – Love the title of the Lynn Cahoon mystery!
Jeff – I hate autocorrect, too. It always surprises me when I see something different from what I "know" I typed. I can see why Hardboiled Noir…is leading you to other books.
Charlotte, That Into the Water must be slow-going.
Kay, Wasn't Donis' book good?
Sharon, I've heard the same about Lauren Willig's new book.
I didn't get to comment last week (my husband was in the hospital), so my list will be a bit long.
A few years back, I really enjoyed Marisa de los Santos' The Precious One, so I got her debut, Love Walked In, at the library. It's about a young coffee shop owner who learns that her boyfriend has an estranged 11-year-old daughter whose mother has had a breakdown and left her to fend for herself. How the coffee shop owner, her brother-in-law, and the plucky little girl come together makes for a complex, deeply-felt story. There are two sequels–Belong to Me and I'll Be Your Blue Sky (March 2018) and I plan to read both.
Bel, Book and Scandal by Maggie McConnon, which I believe Lesa already reviewed, was better (I thought) than the second in the series but not quite as good as the series debut.
I expected Alan Alda's If I Understood You, Would I Have This Look on My Face"? to have more interpersonal communication pointers I could use, but it turned out to be mostly about making scientists better communicators. I guess that makes sense, since Alda, best known for acting in M.A.S.H., founded the Center for Communicating Science at Stony Brook University.
Lullaby Road by James Anderson is the sequel to The Never-Open Desert Diner, which I liked better. The lonely Utah road which Ben Jones traverses daily as a delivery driver is beautifully portrayed as dangerous, bleak and desolate, along with its roadside inhabitants, but that's how I felt after reading it–bleak and desolate.
In The Afterlives by Thomas Pierce, Jim Byrd has technically died for a few minutes after cardiac arrest but comes back to consciousness with no memory of heavenly lights or tunnels. So he becomes obsessed with finding out whether there really is an afterlife. His avenues of investigation include: The Church of Search, where holographic guest speakers fill the podium weekly; the former owners of a Mexican restaurant, whose ghosts and their emotions can be strongly felt on a staircase; a woman who has invented a "reunion machine" where departed loved ones can be contacted by their living relatives. Set in the near future (?), this book is quirky, fun, and food for thought.
I didn't like Amy E. Reichert's The Simplicity of Cider nearly as much as her The Coincidence of Coconut Cake because I I found her protagonist too low-key and uninteresting, although I liked the details of cider making.
I've read all of Jeanne Dams' charming Dorothy Martin books, and I think the latest, The Missing Masterpiece, was not one of the better ones–too much convoluted dialogue among several characters and an anticlimactic ending.
In Harry Dolan's thriller, The Man in the Crooked Hat, Jim Pellum is obsessed with finding his wife's killer. No longer a detective, he has to work it out alone by investigating other murders that might have been done by the same person, spotted wearing a hat. The reader knows from chapter one who the killer is, however. The suspense is palpable and the killer's motivation is puzzling, so the plot kept me intrigued.
After I sang the praises of the Seven Sisters series by Lucinda Riley in my "favorite reads of 2017" post, I was disappointed with the fourth, The Pearl Sister. For some reason, the writing seemed less polished, especially in the chapters about Cece, the fourth sister, trying to find her birth family. Chapters about her great-grandmother, who took over her husband's pearling empire in Australia and tried to resist her attraction to his twin brother, were better and details about aborigine life were interesting but not fleshed out enough, in my opinion.
I'm currently reading an autobiography of Curtis Armstrong, best known for playing Booger in the Revenge of the Nerds movies. How's that for a change of pace?!
Well, Margie, except for Marisa de los Santos' book, you had a very downer of a week, in my opinion. I think you did need a change of pace! Hugs to both you and Mike.
Lesa, I am truly not into this book.
I must finish it because I had mentioned that I wanted to read it when my son said he was reading it. He gave me my copy for mother’s day.
I just read some reviews and I am finding others who are not as pleased as they thought they would be also.
To many characters.
If anyone wants to read it, check it out from the library and save the money. That is my suggestion.
My library offered Overdrive for ebooks. It was good.
They dropped them and now offer RBdigital.
So far I am not impressed at all.
They do not have a lot of the authors that I like or some of the popular books.
Does anyone else have RBdigital?
Read a mess of book this week:
The President's Henchman by Joseph Flynn. The first female POTUS has a husband who is a PI. Intriguing concept, but disappointing book.
The Gatekeeper by Charles Todd, and in-between-the-wars British mystery.
Collusion by Nomi Prins, Non-fiction about the banking collapses in 2008.
The Cutting Season by Arthur Rosenfeld, best described as "Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays The Rabbi Took Karate Lessons"
The Shadow by Kimberly Rae, unbeknownst to me when I received it, is an Inspirational Romantic Suspense.
Black Widow's Wardrobe by Lucha Corpi, part of the Gloria Damasco PI series. Weds Magical realism with the PI novel. Unfortunately, I don't care for Magical Realism.
Penance by David Housewright, first in his Holland Taylor PI series. Is it just me, or do all Minnesota hard-boiled writers sound exactly the same? I think they all went to John Sanford's creative writing workshops.
Savannah Sleuth by Alan Chaput, a book that is an uneasy cross between a cozy and vigilante novel, and doesn't know what it wants to be.
A Deadly Stitch by Susan Sleeman, described as an Inspirational Cozy, that seems to have left most of the Inspirational stuff out.
Finally catching up with Dept Q and reading the Scarred Woman by Jussi Adler-Olsen.
Charlotte, I hope you tell your library you liked OverDrive better than RBDigital. We have both, but OverDrive has a lot more of the popular ebooks while RBDigital does a decent job with backlist. We have a lot more people use OverDrive. That doesn't mean your library will change, but if customers don't tell them, they won't know you preferred OverDrive. It may also be a matter of money, but you should still let them know.
Glen, Right there with you. I'm not a big fan of magical realism either. I do have to say, though, that your book reviews make me smile. I enjoy reading them.
That's funny, Holdenj. Someone just mentioned Dept Q today on a librarians' Facebook page. I'll have to try one sometime.
I've been reading a couple things this week. The main book I'm reading is The Martian by Andy Weir, and I am absolutely loving it. The second book I'm reading is Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck for school, and I'm enjoying more than I thought I would be. Hope you have a wonderful week.
Thanks, Abby! I didn't read The Martian, but I really liked the movie. I have read Of Mice and Men. I'm glad you're enjoying it. Sometimes those school assignment titles aren't the easies ones to read.