Let’s celebrate Thursday! I’m in a great mood today. Actually, I was in a great mood since noon yesterday. So, let’s talk about what we’re reading this week.
I’m reading an April release for review. Caro Ramsay is a Scottish writer, and On an Outgoing Tide is the twelfth book in her police procedural series featuring Detective Inspector Colin Anderson and Detective Sergeant Freddie Costello. The books are set in Glasgow. Ramsay was nominated for the CWA New Blood Dagger with the first in the series, Absolution, and her 2018 novel, The Suffering of Strangers, was a nominee for the McIlvanney Prize for Best Novel. The novel contains my favorite elements, a solid police procedural that incorporates the personal lives of the police detectives. However, I’d definitely suggest that readers start at the beginning of the series. I’m over halfway through the book, and I’m still trying to figure out some of the background in Anderson’s personal life.
What about you? What are you reading this week?
Good morning Lesa – and yes, it’s a good one! (For us the good news began at 5pm 🙂 ) Raining here, but I don’t care – the world has taken a turn for the better at last.
I’m afraid I’m still reading the same Donna Leon Brunetti novel, which is ridiculous – but I’ve been proof reading my daughter’s dissertation on scent in art, and it’s a challenge! I hope I’ll finish the book (and the dissertation,,,,) today, then get on with something else, maybe the second Bachelor Brothers book.
We finished watching the DVD of the original adaptation of Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy. It was great, despite everything looking so dated. The ‘listening’ equipment with which they finally catch the mole is the size of a room – reminded me of the decoding machinery invented by Alan Turing, as shown in The Imitation Game. And the spies were all so gentlemanly – at one point, after he has been unmasked, the mole is left alone in an unlocked room with just one watcher. My husband kept saying ‘this would never happen in Line of Duty!’ It was a lilttle sobering to realise that almost all of the excellent actors are now no longer with us. I think the only one still alive is Michael Jayston (who played Peter Guillam) – he of course is much younger than the others. Alec Guinness, Ian Richardson, Ian Bannen, Beryl Reid, Hywel Bennett, Bernard Hepton, and so many more are such great losses.
Having now seen the TV version at least 3 times, and watched the Gary Oldman film more than once, I’m still not entirely sure I followed all the details of the plot, so I think I need to re-read the book.
I saw Caro Ramsay speak at an event once. I can’t say I took to her, but of course that doesn’t mean her books aren’t good. I think I was put out because she kept dropping the names of much more famous crime writers – Ian Rankin, Val McDermid, etc – as if they were her best friends, when at the time she was much less known. But I was probably just in a snarky mood, so ignore me! And she is doing very well these days, so good for her.
I must also mention (I probably did last week, but just in case) the book I am listening to on the radio – The Snow and the Works on the Northern Line by Ruth Thomas. It is excellent. It’s about a quiet girl called Sibyl, who works in some sort of archaeological institute in London, and lives with her pretentious chef of a boyfriend Simon. When they visit the local skating rink, Sybil has an accident and may or may not be suffering from a head injury. A bit later, Simon leaves Sibyl when Helen, one of the academics at the institute, insinuates herself into their lives and ‘steals’ him. Unable to forgive this, Sybil is now starting to realise that the ghastly Helen has stolen not only Simon but also Sybil’s own academic theories, which she had included in her dissertation – marked by none other than Helen – and is now presenting them as her own discoveries. Sibyl has also started attending poetry classes in Brixton library (which classes are portrayed with hilarious accuracy) and is meeting some enjoyably eccentric characters. It’s beautifully written, and I genuinely don’t know what’s going to happen next.
I hope everyone is having a good week.
Rosemary, your remarks reminded me of the great interview at one Bouchercon (can’t remember which) when they had Val McDermid “interviewing” Ian Rankin. They were clearly good friends and it was more of a conversation that an interview. I’ve never read Ramsay, but I might give her books a try. I don’t know Glasgow nearly as well as I do Edinburgh, but we have been there (buying books) a number of times (in the central area).
Rosemary, I only saw the more recent version of Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy. I enjoyed it, but I can agree with you that I’m still not sure what all went on there.
You hadn’t mentioned The Snow and the Works on the Northern Line. I like your description of the poetry classes.
Good luck with the dissertation! Sending hugs, and thanks for all your support.
Good morning. That series sounds interesting but unfortunately my library doesn’t have it and I’m not sure if they are doing ILL right now. I took a break from nonfiction this week and read:
DEATH AT A COUNTRY MANOR by Louise R Innes. I enjoyed the British setting but for some reason it kept feeling like I was reading a book set back a few decades. I’d read the next one when it comes out.
THE SWITCH by Beth O’Leary. This is also set in England, After a death in the family, Leena is given a two month paid sabbatical from her job in London. At loose ends, and finding out that her grandmother, as a young woman, had wanted to live in London but never got the chance, and wound up in a rural Yorkshire village instead, she suggests that they switch lives for two months. Of course things don’t go smoothly.
LOST IN LAS VEGAS by Kristen Painter. A magician’s zombie wife goes missing during the final trick of their magic show.
An ARC of InK AND SHADOWS by Ellery Adams. This is the latest in her Nora Pennington booksellers series and it’s a good one. My only problem with this series is that I usually find that I wind up reading at least one of the books that Nora recommends to her customers and I don’t need a bigger TBR pile.
Good morning, Sandy. Oh, I love that comment about Ellery Adams’ books, and she probably would, too. You’re right about Death at a Country Manor. It did feel as if it was set a few decades ago.
My guess is most libraries won’t have the Caro Ramsay books.
I put a purchase request for the first book in the series since it’s available in paperback. I’ll have to wait and see if they’ll buy it. I think I’ve already used 5 of my 60 requests for the year.
Sandy, re The Switch, I think I must be the only reader in the world who didn’t like O’Leary’s The Flatshare, which was immensely popular. It sounds like this new one is along the same lines. Did you enjoy it? I heard The Flatshare read on the radio, so maybe I’d have liked it better if I’d read the physical book – the voice of the girl who read Tiffy (and I’m afraid that name set my teeth on edge from the beginning….) irritated me.
I think I become more intolerant every day. I need to address this!
I haven’t read a The Flatshare yet but I have it out from the library. The Switch was good but not what I’d call a must read. But it was a lighter read which is what I was looking for. The person reading an audiobook really makes a difference for me. There are a couple of times that I stopped listening to one because I couldn’t stand the reader.
Rosemary, I read both of O’Leary’s books and really enjoyed them. I’d recommend trying The Switch–this time in book form so the audiobook narrator doesn’t influence you.
Yes, a great day yesterday – the use of “Lovely Day” as well as “Hallelujah” was certainly justified in this household.
I did finally finish the massive Big Book of Espionage, and while it wasn’t the kind of thing that has you jumping up and down, if you like spy stories it is worth a try, even if you just read those authors you like. I’m closer to finishing <B.Jewish Noir too. Between the two I have read 74 stories in the first 20 days of the year, so that’s good.
I can’t say that most of the supposedly fact-based stories in The Subway Chronicles are very exciting – Lawrence Block’s piece is the best so far – but they are mostly short and easy to read in between other things. I’m also close to finishing Ex Libris by Michiko Kakutani. Mostly I’ve learned (which I already knew) that we don’t exactly have the same taste in books, though I am enjoying reading it. I’m also starting Love in the Blitz, a book that Rosemary might enjoy. And this week I got the latest Crippen & Landru collection in the mail. It is the complete collection of scripts by John Dickson Carr from the 1948 radio series, Cabin B-13, called The Island of Coffins and Other Mysteries from the Casebook of Cabin B-13. Don’t know when I’ll get to it.
Lastly, the new P.J. Tracy book is on the way to my local library.
I’ll be interested to see your reaction to the new P.J. Tracy book, Jeff.
I always loved John Dickson Carr. That’s interesting that it’s a collection of scripts from a radio series. I read play scripts from the time I was young. I’m sure radio scripts are just as interesting, and by Carr, of course.
Jackie is reading the new Nora Roberts and she said “I can see why Lesa liked it. It’s so Irish.”
PS – she likes it too.
Oh, good! Thanks for passing on Jackie’s opinion, Jeff. She’s right. It’s wonderfully Irish.
Based on Lesa’s favorites of 2020, I read THE MOUNTAINS WILD by Sarah Taylor Stewart and I’m happy I did. Maggie and Erin are Irish-American cousins, a year apart in age. They are friends until Erin starts acting moody, disappearing for periods of time, worrying her widower father. After Erin moves to Ireland, her family is notified that she is missing, and Maggie goes to Ireland to aid in the search, but to no avail. Twenty-three years later, a scarf that Maggie had given Erin is found in the search for a newly missing young woman, and Maggie–now a police detective–returns to Ireland to see if she can find any clues to Erin’s disappearance. I liked the main characters and the details of the investigation, and although I didn’t try to identify the criminal, I have to say I would never have guessed how it all turned out. I’m glad this is the first in a series.
I read EILZA STARTS A RUMOR by Jane L. Rosen because I loved the author’s previous book, Nine Women, One Dress , back in 2016. It’s about four women in the Hudson Valley who are dealing with difficult issues in their lives and how they come to support each other. Eliza created and moderates a local online bulletin board and women’s discussion platform but hasn’t been able to leave her house after her twins went off to college (it’s not her first bout of agoraphobia). Alison is a high-powered lawyer who moved to the suburbs after having a child with a colleague who is not interested in being a father. Olivia recently had her first child and is beginning to wonder if the philandering spouse described on the bulletin board could be her husband. And Amanda, a former aspiring actress with a few bit parts learns that her big-time producer husband is accused of sexual harassment and rape. If it sounds like a soap opera, it is so much more. It is smart and hip, with some welcome humor, and so engrossing I finished it in almost one sitting. And I was overcome with emotion unexpectedly at the amazing ending. Highly recommended.
Sandy, I also read DEATH AT A COUNTRY MANSION. I enjoyed the sleuth in this short, breezy British cozy. Daisy is a hairstylist who just happens to be taking some forensic psychology classes. When her best friend Floria’s mother, previously a world-famous opera singer, falls over a balustrade to to her death in her stately home and a priceless painting disappears, Daisy wants to assist in the investigation. As it seems that the locals are much more likely to talk to her than to the police detective, the latter grudgingly agrees to work with her on an unofficial basis. The fact that the diva secretly had an additional three (illegitimate) daughters, as well as four husbands, complicates things. I’m looking forward to the next installment. I agree that it seems like somewhat of a throwback!
In DODGING AND BURNING by John Copenhaver, during WWII, his parents force Robbie to enlist in the military, and he is later reported missing in action. His adoring young sister, Ceola, starts spending time with Robbie’s best friend Jay and his beautiful friend Bunny. Jay was a photographer in the military who was injured and sent home, and Bunny had always had eyes for Jay. When Jay tells them he has found a dead young woman and shows them the photos he has taken, it plunges them all into a crusade to find out who the woman was and why she was killed, as her body had disappeared. I don’t really view this book as a mystery, more of an interesting story of coming of age, intolerance, mistaken identity, and misguided parenthood. There’s quite a twist at the end, but it didn’t quite redeem the story for me, as I couldn’t relate to most of the characters. But it did garner the author a Macavity for best debut mystery.
It’s ELIZA STARTS A RUMOR, not “Eilza.” Sorry for the typo..
Margie, I’m afraid I just didn’t appreciate Dodging and Burning the way a number of others did. In fact, I never even reviewed it on my blog, although I did review it for LJ. I just couldn’t like it enough to share it here.
But, I’m so happy you liked The Mountains Wild. It’s one of the best books I read last year, and, like you, I’m looking forward to the next one in the series. Your summary of Death at a Country Mansion is spot on. Thank you.
So, this is a series I had never heard of and once I saw the words “police procedural” I scurried to the library website and realized that they had only about a half of a dozen of the series. ILL is not happening here. The good news is they have the first book so I can get that one and then go from there. As if I need MORE from the library. lol
Anyway, I finally managed to finish THE ORPHAN’S GUILT: A JOE GUNTHER NOVEL by Archer Mayor. A really good book. The issue was on my end was a lack of focus. I had a hard time concentrating on the book. The news of the country and locally as well as some personal stuff made it damn near impossible.
I can understand not being able to focus on a book, Kevin. I had that problem last March, and I do bump into days now and then when nothing works for me.
I’ll be interested to see if Ramsay’s early books catch your interest.
I do not have the first one so, I picked another from the library pile this afternoon even though I really should have started working on reviews. Current read is EL CAMINO DEL RIO: A MYSTERY by Jim Sanderson. Set in the border country of Southwest Texas around Persidio and Marfa, it features a Border Agent who is sure they have a murder case and his coworkers just don’t care because of the nature of the victims. I probably am going to have t write in the review a warning that the book, which came out in the late 90s, uses non PC language that would upset some readers today. Even then, some of the terms I heard all my life growing up and used to be used by everyone were falling out of favor–rightfully so–and to see them now is a bit jarring in an otherwise good read..
Only one book this week but it was a good one. THE LOST GIRLS OF DEVON by Barbara O’Neal.
Sandy-I am number 3 on the list for INK AND SHADOWS. I can’t wait.
Happy reading!
The Lost Girls of Devon was good, wasn’t it, Sharon? Not quite as good as I had hoped from O’Neal, but I liked it.
I agree Lesa. Her descriptions of the English countryside were pretty wonderful though.
I envy you, Sharon. I keep checking my local library, but Ink and Shadows is not in the catalog yet.
I was glued to the TV yesterday, Biden must an endless amount of energy for all the activities . the glue came loose when the entertainment started. I left and deleted many e-mails and raced through other computer things. I finished Dark Horses, it was a very written book, a page turner but will not for everyone it made me think of a woman that I counseled in couples therapy many years ago.
s
Now beginning My Brilliant Life by Ae-ran Kim. It is a book of sorrow and humor. A child is born with a cruel disease, rapid aging. I was a little afraid to read it because often works get lost in the meaning when they are translated. No, the humor is cracking me up in the first chapter. Happy to find a book that makes me laugh!
Can you imagine if he’d had to go to all the balls, Carol? I think I liked the virtual entertainment better.
I’m currently working on THE SHARPEST NEEDLE by the husband/wife duo who write as Renee Patrick. It’s the fourth in their Edith Head and LIllian Frost Mysteries since in 1930’s Hollywood. I’m enjoying it as always, but I find it reads slower than I expect it to. Since I’m reading an eARC, I’m not completely sure why. Longer book? (It doesn’t appear to be.) Anyway, I am definitely enjoying it. Should finish it up tomorrow since I am taking a comp day.
It sounds, though, as if you enjoy this series, Mark. I haven’t tried it, yet.
Yes, I very much enjoy the series. I’ve read the previous ones, and I wouldn’t have stuck around if I didn’t.
Now reading a wildly funny book, My Brilliant Life by Ae-ran Kim. It is translated from Korean. I want to tell my husband about parts of the book. I am hoping that he gets why they are funny.
How did it get to be Thursday again? I am still suffering from not being sure what day it is. I am usually off by a day. Actually, this week should have been easier to keep track of. Tuesday was my 41st wedding anniversary, which of course we celebrated quietly, and Wednesday was a wonderful day, knowing that we have a new president.
I am now reading In a Lonely Place by Dorothy B. Hughes, so that we can watch the film adaptation with Humphrey Bogart. I have wanted to read it for years but kept putting it off. It is very noirish, not an uplifting read, but well-written.
I am continuing my slow read of Master and Commander and looking up a few unfamiliar terms as I go along. This week I read an Isaac Asimov short story (Black Widowers mystery) and plan to look for more of his short stories.
Happy Anniversary, Tracy! Congratulations on 41 years.
I liked Asimov’s Black Widowers mysteries. I wish he had written more.
Happy Anniversary!!!
And, we can all use some humor, Carolee. It’s wonderful to find a book to love.
As unbelievable as this seems, I have not picked up a single novel this past week. Until today. And today I have been able to read. To focus. I’m ecstatic! I’ve only read a few pages of Elizabeth deVeer’s “The Ocean in Winter,” but so far, I’m enjoying it.
I did finish Barack Obama’s “A Promised Land,” which I read slowly in snippets as I continued reading essays and poetry.
Speaking of poetry! Oh my goodness! Amanda Gorman’s reading at The Inauguration yesterday. A glorious part of a glorious wonderful uplifting day in history.
I agree, Kaye. And, Amanda Gorman was just as uplifting in her interview with Anderson Cooper last night. What a fantastic young woman.
I read a couple of books I got in a trade: Rabbits to Riches and More Than Gold. They’re by Frank R. Eckblom, a guy that used to sell his books at craft shows and street fairs and the like. I haven’t seen him since covid. He wasn’t driving a ferrari, but the fees for craft shows ain’t cheap. More power to him.
E-books:
Hidden and Some Day; Books containing 10 poems. One of the books is about love, the other about family.
Big John and the Island of Bones; A faith healer who’s lost the power goes to Key West, where he trucks with ghosts and voodoo. It’s tough to tell who is alive or dead.
Ten Swedes Must Die; Somebody in Sweden is killing government officials during the submarine Kurtsk crisis. It all goes back to Sweden’s shameful WWII history, like all of these sorts of books seem to do. I remember when people used to call Sweden a Nordic paradise.
False Horizon; An air marshal is called in to investigate the strange crash of a plane. there’s a good story here amongst the cliches.
Morocco Jones and the Syndicate Hoods; Morocco is searching for a spy master who struck a deal with the mafia. Strange bedfellows indeed.
High Stakes; A lawyer tries to retrieve a Stradivarius, only to find 3 criminal syndicates want it, too. A poor man’s Stone Barrington, without the glamour.
As always, an interesting, eclectic selection, Glen, with some interesting taglines. Thank you.