Welcome to Thursday and “What Are You Reading?” Let’s jump right in today, unless you want to share what’s happening in your life.
I’m finishing John Sandford’s Ocean Prey, a novel that brings Lucas Davenport and Virgil Flowers together. I prefer the Virgil Flowers books over the Davenport ones, and Virgil wasn’t in this enough for me. Davenport takes an assignment in Florida when three Coast Guardsmen are shot as they try to stop a boat. The guess is that it’s a boat that just picked up drugs that had been dropped in the ocean. Davenport is a little too lackadaisical about the assignment, and, after everything goes wrong, Virgil comes in to portray a diver looking for work. This one is a little too technical for me when it comes to the diving. I’m not really into the Mafia and drug deals. And, as I said, there’s not enough Virgil. But, I have less than one hundred pages to read, and I’ll finish it.
So, what about you? What are you reading this week? How are you doing? We want to know both, please!
I lost interest in the Prey novels a long way back when Lucas got married. I missed the camaraderie he shared with his team, and just never tried going back once I stopped. I haven’t tried a Virgil book yet, but I will! stopped
I’ve read two books that I reaaky, really loved. Two of the best books I’ve read so far this year.
Both by Kate Quinn.
The Alice Network and The Rose Code.
The Alice Network – “In this enthralling novel from New York Times bestselling author Kate Quinn, two women—a female spy recruited to the real-life Alice Network in France during World War I and an unconventional American socialite searching for her cousin in 1947—are brought together in a mesmerizing story of courage and redemption.”
The Rose Code – “World War II story of three female code breakers at Bletchley Park and the spy they must root out after the war is over.”
Kate Quinn writes perfect historical fiction. Meticulously researched, engaging characters, and written in a voice I thoroughly enjoyed.
Both these books sent me scampering down a rabbit hole. One to read more about the real-life Alice Network and the other to learn more about Bletchley Park.
I wish I had read the author notes at the back of The Rose Code before reading the book.
Oops! Sorry about those typos! Eek.
I just haven’t had a chance to read The Rose Code yet, and I want to. There are people waiting at the library, so I may just buy a copy. I love stories of Bletchley Park. There was a short-lived series on PBS, mysteries after the war featuring women who had worked at Bletchley Circle. Terrific series. Thanks for the heads-up, Kaye about the author notes!
Yes, was going to second your recommendation of the PBS series. I, too, am fascinated with all things World War II, especially books and films that tell how much women contributed and how their efforts have gone unsung for so long.
Thank you, Sally. That was a terrific PBS series. A co-worker introduced me o it.
Happy Birthday, Lesa!!!
Thank you, Christie! I love you!
Lesa, after seeing your review about this book, I am finally getting around to reading A WILL TO KILL by RV Raman, and am loving it. It is very much like a modern Agatha Christie, or a book version of the movie, Knives Out.
And I just started A SIDE OF MURDER by Amy Pershing. I love reading most culinary cozies and this is a good one that I won from the author last year. But since the release date was. 2/23, I just got my book in the mail last week.
Grace, I am about halfway through A Side of Murder as well and enjoying it!
I’m so glad you’re enjoying A Will to Kill, Grace! I loved it, too.
After inhaling The ROSE CODE, I decided I needed something a little more light hearted so I read THE EX Talk by Rachel Lynn Solomon. Two coworkers pretend to be exes on a talk show/podcast to help save their struggling public radio station in Seattle. I wasn’t the target audience and after a while I got tired of how often Shay whined about her old age (29) and how much younger Dominic was (24). The banter was cute and it wasn’t all fluff so I thought it was good but not great.
Now I am reading THE KITCHEN Front by Jennifer Ryan. It is a WWII book about a cooking competition where the winner gets to cohost a BBC show on cooking with rations. I am enjoying it immensely.
On a personal note after 23 years in the Army and 20 years working with the Ohio Department of Public Safety, my husband is officially retired as of yesterday. We are looking forward to moving into an over 55 courtyard community in Butler County north of Cincinnati later this summer.
Happy Reading!
Sharon! Congratulations on your husband’s retirement and the upcoming move. Sounds great!
I have other friends who read and loved The Kitchen Front. It’s on my ever-growing pile!
This week I read WIN by Harlen Coben. I’m not really sure why I finished this one.
MURDER WITH A VIEW by Diane Kelly. When two house flipping cousins are renovating an old motel they find a dead body in one of the rooms. I always enjoy this series.
I’m currently reading BEGUILED by Darynda Jones. New witch Defiance Dayne has an assassin gunning for her. Can her BFF, a sentient house, her previously dead grandmother, and the sexy wolf shifter who lives in the basement protect her?
Sandy, That’s sort of how I felt about Ocean Prey. I really only finished it for Virgil. At least you enjoyed Diane Kelly’s book.
Finished two this week, Anne Cleeland’s MURDER IN HINDSIGHT and Deanna Rayburn’s A CURIOUS BEGINNING. Discovered both authors from your rebiews Lesa, thanks!
Just starting a “NY Times Instant Best Seller”. Feels like that hype is being overused of late.
I agree that the hype is overused sometimes, MM. I’m glad you enjoyed both books. Or at least you must have since you thanked me (wink).
I agree with Kaye about the Davenport books. I lost interest years ago.
Just read Stephen King’s short (for him, 250 pages is nothing!). fast-moving horror tale, Later. Jamie (our narrator) discovers at any early age that he can see dead people and talk to them, and if he asks them a question, they have to tell him the truth. Naturally, being King, things get nasty and gruesome at times. I enjoyed it.
A few years ago at the New Orleans Bouchercon, I picked up an ARC of Thomas Perry’s then new The Old Man, and after finishing a few library books I finally got back to it. It reminds me in part of the later Butcher’s Boy books – an older (here 60) man with skills has people from his past after him trying to kill him, but he isn’t that easy to kill. There are some things that don’t work as well as the series books – his relationship with the woman he gets involved with mostly as cover being the main one – but the 400 pages move quickly and, as with the King book, I was pretty confident the hero would survive in the end. There hasn’t been a sequel, but there certainly could be.
I know I mentioned Deadly Anniversaries, the Mystery Writers of America 75th Anniversary collection edited by Marcia Muller and Bill Pronzini. Considering the list of very good writers, I would have to rate it “good but not great.” There are no bad stories, but neither did anything jump out and have me saying, “Wow, that was a great story.”
Current reading: I bought a couple more of Antonya Nelson’s short story collections as the library didn’t have them, and have started her first, The Expendables. Also reading a Kindle purchase, Best of Manhunt 2, from the 1950s and 1960s noir magazine. And I’ve started Bone Canyon, second in Lee Goldberg’s Eve Ronin series. And when I can squeeze it in, I’m reading Jessica Bruder’s Nomadland, the basis for the current movie.
Other new library pickups include the new Peter Robinson book and – after months of waiting for it – John M. Barry’s The Great Influenza, about the 1918 flu pandemic.
Hmmm. I may pass my copy of Later on to a friend who mentioned it. Thank you, Jeff. Oh, I normally don’t read the Davenport books. I was reading for Virgil. I like him, and he really was the best part of this book, too.
So, everyone wanted to read The Great Influenza, plus the library being closed for a while. I’ve heard good things about the book, though.
Good morning! Here’s what I read this week.
In LOVE AT FIRST by Kate Clayborn, teenager Will hasn’t forgotten the girl whose voice he heard as he waited outside his uncle’s house, listening to his uncle reject his mother’s request to take WIll off her hands. Will’s father was dying, and his mother wanted to spend the rest of his days with him only. Will had never felt any emotion from his parents, as they were bound too tightly to each other. Ten years later, when Will’s uncle dies and unexpectedly leaves him his apartment in Chicago, Will is determined to fix it up and rent it out, but he is stunned to find that the girl who charmed him with her voice so long ago is living in the same building, occupying her recently deceased grandmother’s apartment. The rest of the building’s inhabitants, who have become family to each other, are worried that the temporary tenants of Will’s inherited apartment will ruin the quirky but close-knit life they have built together, and Nora and Will are trying hard to resist the relationship that is growing between them. I enjoyed the story and all of the characters, but I thought it didn’t quite rise to the originality of last year’s Love Lettering.
Elly Griffith’s THE POSTSCRIPT MURDERS is the second book to feature DS Harbinder Kaur, a dedicated Brighton police officer who lives with her Sikh parents, in whom she hasn’t yet confided that she is gay. She becomes involved in the investigation of the death of elderly Peggy Smith, who is mentioned in the acknowledgments section of many crime fiction novels for her assistance to the authors in coming up with ingenious ways for characters to die. In a plot that is in some ways reminiscent of The Thursday Murder Club, Peggy’s pensioner neighbor Edwin, her young Ukrainian caregiver Natalka, and the town’s coffee shack owner (a former monk) also insert themselves into the investigation, as the murders continue. I enjoyed the plot, although it seemed unnecessarily complex, but the real joy of the book (for me) came from the interesting cast of characters.
IT’S A PLASURE, NONIE BLAKE, is Claire Christian’s debut book about a young woman with a failed long-term relationship and body image issues who goes on an odyssey to find happiness. Although it sounded like it might be fun, I found it unpleasantly raunchy in some places and I didn’t really like the main character, so I stopped reading after 100 pages or so.
Well, It’s a Pleasure, Nonie Blake goes on my “Don’t bother” pile, Margie. Thank you. And, while I liked Love Lettering, I wasn’t in love with it, so I won’t bother with the second one.
I’ve really just given up on Elly Griffith, despite my friend Kathy Boone Reel who loves her books. I’ve read different books in three different series, and they just don’t do anything for me.
Based on recommendations that I read here, I read Hide Away by Jason Pinter. I enjoyed it very much. I am now reading Surviving Savannh by Patti Callahan and just started The Lost Apothecary on audio.
Oh, good, Kathleen! I’m glad you enjoyed Hide Away. I have Surviving Savannah at home, and I read and liked The Lost Apothecary. Enjoy those books!
Still reading and enjoying both Flowers and Davenport. Both series have moved from mysteries into action thrillers and I have stayed with them.
Current read is GLORY IN DEATH by J. D. Robb.
Oh, you’re continuing on with J.D. Robb, Kevin! Good for you! I really like Virgil.
Over the past couple of weeks I read:
Under a Dark Sky by Lori Rader-Day – A recently widowed woman keeps a reservation her husband made before he died. The reservation is a the Dark Sky Park. When she arrives, she finds things are not what she expected and must share the guest house with strangers. During her first night there, someone is murdered. This is the first book I have read by this author. I thoroughly enjoyed it.
Boo by Rene Gutteridge – The town of Skary, Indiana has made a name for itself by taking advantage of the fact that horror novelist Wolfe Boone lives there. When Wolfe suddenly becomes a Christian and decides to stop writing horror, the town busy body takes matters into her own hands. This book was laugh out loud funny in places.
My Family and Other Animals by Gerald Durrell – The author and his family move to the island of Corfu where they meet interesting people and collect quite a zoo of animals. Entertaining and hilarious.
I am currently reading A Royal Affair by Allison Montclair. I am enjoying it so far.
Happy Easter!
Sounds like a terrific week of reading, Gretchen. Well, that horror novelist didn’t know what he was doing to the town. That one sounds funny.
Happy Easter to you as well!
I just started reading Finding Alex by Helen Starbuck (one of our fine Colorado authors). This is a read for the Sisters-in-Crime-Colorado book club I belong to. It started out great!
Oh, I hope Finding Alex is as good all he way through, Patricia.
We are in the middle of close, and I am stressed out of my mind. I need people to take me seriously when I say I am stressed and can’t handle all they are giving me to do. But that’s another rant.
I’m just over half way through Cozy Up to Murder by Colin Conway. It’s a book that is an acquired taste, I have a feeling. A cozy with an edge and a self-published book that could have used a bit more editing. But there is something about it I find compelling. It’s the second in the series, and if I hadn’t enjoyed the first, I wouldn’t have continued on.
They really need to hire a second person to work with you, Mark, but then you’d have to train them, which wouldn’t help. Take care of yourself.
They brought in some more people, but two of them are now leaving to go to other departments. One has already left, and just trying to do his stuff and my stuff is drowning me. I’ve got the other one helping me out (and he’s being a HUGE help), but he’s going to transfer to another department in two weeks.
I’m sorry, Mark.
I’m doing pretty well. Allergy season has definitely started, but I haven’t had any attacks yet.
I read:
Crooked River by Preston and Child; Shoes with feet in them are washing up on the beach of a Florida island. Pendergast gets tapped to find out where the feet are coming from. Every so often these guys feel they have to be trendy, and it always negatively affects their work.
Plum Island by Nelson DeMille; A pair of scientists working on an island where they study diseases are murdered, and a convalescing NYPD detective decides to help solve the crime. Not bad, but I wouldn’t have minded for the detective to stop a couple of more bullets. What a jerk.
Ridgeline by Michael Punke; The story of a well known battle between the Sioux nation (and allies) against the US Calvary. Not bad, but fits so neatly into what is politically correct, it makes me doubt everything.
Triple Chocolate Cheesecake Murder by Joanne Fluke; The mayor of the town, suddenly a bully, is killed, and Hannah’s sister is the primary suspect, even though nobody believes she did it. Maybe 20 pages of actual investigation here, with the rest being pages about cooking and eating, talking about cooking and eating, and of course, the obligatory fawning over Hannah. I’ve become convinced that the fawning is a major reason for the continuing success of the series long after it went off the rails.
Project Moonbase; Neo-pulp anthology about, well, life on a moonbase. All the stories consist of different sub-genres, and are very different. Makes this collection a lot better than I expected.
Little Lost Secrets; A lady finds a dead body in the walls of her house while remodeling. A female detective starts poking around and finds a link to her father’s death. All this while initiating a romance with a mafioso. I found it abrasive.
I find your final lines so amusing, Glen. Thank you for your summaries. And, I admire you for continuing to read some of those series even after they’ve gone “off the rails”. Your summary lines just make my day.
Groggy from this morning’s medial branch block. I am reading Delicates by Brenna Thummier, a beautiful graphic novel. I did not read Book I, so I am still figuring out in Book I. The illustrations are beautiful, and I wish I had not missed the first book.
Also starting another GoodReads win, Life On The Line by Emma Goldberg. The subtitle is Young Doctors Coming Of Age In A Pandemic. The author interviewed 14 medical students who would be working through Co-vid 19 and graduating early. The Bad : It is in tiny print. The Good: Learning a lot about the new diversity in the medical students, the change over the years in medical philosophy. I have read so many medically books over the years and it is refreshing to read about those two topics. Enjoying it very much except for the small print.
I hope you’re doing okay, Carolee. I’m with you; I hate tiny print. And, I hate when I have to enlarge things online in order to read them.
Take care of yourself!
Hi Lesa
I’m very late in here today – don’t know where the time has gone. It’s been a beautiful sunny day, and I spent time by the river, reading. Despite our schools now being on Easter holidays, it was pleasantly quiet down there most of the time.
Today I started reading Agatha Christie’s Murder in Mesopotamia – I’m reading it primarily because it was published in 1936 and I need that for the group read that my blogger friend Simon will be leading in 2 weeks’ time, the ~1936Club.. I thought I had a copy of Ballet Shoes (Noel Streatfeild) which would have done, but I can’t find it anywhere. I did find my copy of South Riding (Winifred Holtby) and, having seen two TV adaptations of this over the years, I’m sure I’d enjoy it, but it’s long, and so I thought I’d get Agatha under my belt first, then see how I get on with Winifred. She was a great friend of Vera Brittain. Sadly she died very young.
So far – having not read any Agatha for some time – I’m finding the racism and sexism quite jarring, but I will persevere as with her it’s the plot that matters, right?
Earlier this week I finished Business As Usual by Jane Oliver, originally published in 1933 and now republished by Handheld Press. I enjoyed it, it’s quite light and fun, though i did get a bit irritated by the heroine, Hilary, essentially ‘playing’ at being poor and getting a job in a London department store (she works in its library and bookshop – in those days many stores had lending libraries, and posted books out to customers across the country. In this story customers can have an A, B or C subscription, depending on how much they can afford – the cheapest one provides you with rather dog-eared books. The letters of complaint from outraged duchesses and crusty colonels when they receive books that don’t suit them are very funny.)
I’m also about to start a group read of Virginia Woolf’s A Room of One’s Own. I do recall reading it many years ago and even then being annoyed by her snobby attitudes. I know she is a god to many, but I’ve not heard a whole lot of good about her as a person.. She was horrible to her servants. I’ll be interested to see how I find the book this time. I do at least have a very nice Bloomsbury Classics hardback edition to enjoy.
Sharon – is that the same Jennifer Ryan who wrote The Chilbury Ladies’ Choir? I enjoyed that one. (And congratulations on your husband’s retirement – I wish mine would retire!)
Lesa – the Elly Griffiths book I gave to my mother was not a hit! I’d read so many good reviews. but she was unimpressed (not unusual…) So I was interested to hear that she didn’t gel for you either. She’s now reading a (non-fiction) book by Anne Glenconner about her life as a lady-in-waiting at court, and so far this seems to be a bit more successful.
On TV I am watching The Crown (belatedly I know) and Line of Duty. LOD is onto a new series and so far it’s excellent as usual. Kelly MacDonald is the ‘guest’ actor and she is outstanding. Jed Mercurio is so clever at withholding information by leaving it in plain sight, so that after being confused all the way through, you suddenly say ‘oh!’ as the penny drops.
And I started listening to a podcast in which two American women discuss books. It’s not bad, though they do have a tendency to say ‘It’s just so freakin’ good’ about almost every single book, and they do bang on about trigger warnings rather too often for my middle-aged tastes. But what made me laugh was their discussion about star ratings for books. Apparently another blogger, I think she was called Liz, had recently written a post explaining what her personal star system means. In her world, one star = ‘this book has added to my reading experience.’ I’m afraid in rather more cynical Scotland, most of us would see that as meaningless twaddle, but one of these two podcasters remarked ‘Liz is just so full of grace.’ What on earth is that supposed to mean? That she can’t call a spade a spade? If I gave one star to a book I’m afraid it would not have added to my reading experience one jot – in fact it would have stolen time that i could have used for reading something better.
And on that note I had better scuttle off and cook some dinner.
We have snow forecast for the weekend. Happy Easter all!
Yes Rosemary, Jennifer Ryan wrote The Chilbury Ladies’ Choir as well as The Spies of Shilling Lane. I liked her first book a lot too but the second so not so much.
I think retirement will be an adjustment but we are looking forward to it.
Snow flurries at my house this afternoon.
Oh, Rosemary. I loved your comments about the blogger and the star system. I agree with you. One star means I finished it because for some reason I had to, but it really wasn’t worth my time. And, I’ve read a few of those. And, those books certainly did not add to my reading experience. I have no idea what that means when they say Liz is full of grace. Had they said, “Bless her heart”, in the south that would have meant, oh, we all know the poor dear is nuts. But, I never heard full of grace.
I’m jealous that you were out enjoying the weather. No snow here, but probably a record-breaking low temperature tonight.
I’m still listening to the Cork O’Connor series by Kent Krueger on audio. Trying to get them all in before the new book comes out this fall. I know the new one is a prequel, but there are pieces in prior books that may be important to know about Cork’s childhood. I don’t really know, but I love this series, so it’s no trouble to listen to it all the way through. I’m caught up in #11, Northwest Angle. I lose my favored narrator in #12, so I hope I still enjoy them as much. Seems Kent wanted the same narrator for the entire series, so they’ve been re-publishing new versions. Plus the first guy only went up thru #11. I’m keeping those versions over the new ones.
Sandie – I enjoy that series also, but have only read through #7. I made the mistake of reading “The World of Cork O’Connor” too early, so had to let the series rest until I forget the spoilers.
I love that series too, Sandie.
And, unlike everyone else, I haven’t read this series, but I’m going to read the prequel.
Sandie, I am a huge fan of the Cork O’Connor series. I did not realize the new book is a prequel.
That is too bad that they changed the narrator after 11 books.
Since I have been reading vintage mysteries lately, I have gotten in more books than usual. Last night I finished reading The Case for Three Detectives by Leo Bruce. First time reading that author. Prior to that I read two by Agatha Christie: Three Act Tragedy, which is from 1934, and Dead Man’s Folly from 1956.
And this week we watched two adaptations of Three Act Tragedy, one with Peter Ustinov and the other with David Suchet.
I have problems with David Suchet as Poirot, but that’s my own personal hang-up, Tracy.
I like Suchet as Poirot, but I have problems with the changes that series makes in the stories. But the adaptations are still fun and my husband and son love them. They haven’t read the books.
My biggest problem was with Suchet’s version of Murder on the Orient Express. They made Poirot too Catholic.
Good point, Lesa, and I agree with you. After watching both the Finney version and the Suchet version, I went back and reread Murder on the Orient Express because in both of the adaptations Poirot was so serious and shouty. And I was surprised that in the book, which was only the third Poirot novel, he was much more serious than in the later books. But he was not focused on the religious aspect. Also in one of the other Suchet adaptions, I think it was Appointment with Death, there was a lot of religious emphasis that wasn’t in the book (if I am remembering correctly).
I had reread Murder on the Orient Express, Tracy, before seeing the movie. We did it for a book club. And, I wondered where the heck all the religious parts came from. It turns out Suchet had converted to Catholicism. So, I believe you when you said another one of his adaptions did the same.
Lesa, that is very interesting. I plan to read Suchet’s book about his role as Poirot; he must have been very involved in the productions.
I finished The Harbinger by Jonathan Cann. Will start either The Oracle or The Harbinger II by him tomorrow.
You must have enjoyed it, Cheryl, to want to start Harbinger II so soon.