It’s Thursday! Even though I’m working on budget today at work, I’ll try to drop in now and then to see what you’re all reading. After all, I consider this essential. I love to talk books.
I’ve just started Kate Carlisle’s latest Bibliophile mystery. For those who are following the series, it will make sense that Brooklyn Wainwright, the bookbinder amateur sleuth, is about to marry her longtime boyfriend. The book is Buried in Books. Even on the eve of her wedding, Brooklyn can’t help getting involved in a murder. Fortunately, she has one of the most supportive partners you’ll find in a cozy mystery series.
So, I have time to read a book or two for myself before plunging back into the reviewing cycle. What are you reading this week? We’re all waiting to talk books!
I finished the Jim Butcher collection of Harry Dresden stories (SIDE JOBS) and I'm reading O. Henry again (COLLECTED WORKS), as well as THE SHERLOCK HOLMES STORIES OF EDWARD D. HOCH.
I'm close to finishing CALYPSO by David Sedaris, which I am enjoying more than his last couple of books, possibly because most of these pieces seem to have his family in them. And I'll be finishing ALL THE PIECES MATTER, the behind the scenes story of THE WIRE. The interviews with cast and crew are great and often tell you things you don't necessarily get from watching the show.
I've got several other things lined up, including a couple of downloads from the library and the next Jodi Taylor/Chronicles of St. Mary's book (A TRAIL THROUGH TIME). As soon as I finish the current books I'll decide what's next.
I'm reading an ARC of You Were Always Mine by Nicole Baart and I'm listening to Abducted by T.R. Ragan.
I finished THE PERFECT RECIPE FOR LOVE AND FRIENDSHIP by Shirley Jump. I think it covered every popular plot line in women's fiction except for infertility 🙂 I nearly gave up due to the overbearing Irish mother and heavy dose of Catholic guilt but I wanted to see what happened with the O'Bannon sisters so I stuck with it until the end. I don't think I will be reading the next one though.
Now I am reading Cynthia Rigg's latest Victoria Trumbull WIDOW'S WREATH. I enjoy my time on Martha's Vineyard with 92 year old Victoria.
Happy Reading!
Jeff, I thought of you. I started Brief Cases last night, the new Dresden Files collection by Jim Butcher. Loved the opening story from a collection about Tombstone. I think I'm going to look for that collection. I need to get back to Jodi Taylor's collection.
Lori, Thank you. I forgot to say, and what are you listening to, so I'm glad you answered.
Sharon, That book does sound a little heavy covering all those plotlines. I imagine the next one is a relief after that.
I finished:
Desert Noir by Betty Webb
Mykonos After Midnight by Jeffrey Siger
I am reading:
Murder with Lemon Tea Cakes by Karen Rose Smith
Sons of Sparta by Jeffrey Siger
Reading a book is pure pleasure.
📕📕📕📕📕📕☕️
Charlotte, my wife is a big fan of Betty Webb's Lena Jones series (I've read more than half of them), and I love Jeff Siger's Greek series. It's always fun to learn about a new island in each new book.
I just finished reading Sherlock Holmes and a Quantity of Debt, by David Marcum. It's a "pastiche", written as if it were part of the original Canon by Doyle, and supposedly written by John Watson, Holmes's trusty Boswell. It's a puzzle mystery, littered with clues and the plot is brilliant. I think most Holmes fans would enjoy it.
Jeff, I agree with you and your wife about both of these authors. I have enjoyed all of their books.
Lesa, I just got Buried in Books in the mail yesterday–I am one of "Kate's Raters" so I get her books free if I post a review two places by a certain date–sweet! I always enjoy them, as well as her other series.
I started the week with Hot Mess by Emily Belden. Benji is a talented chef whose pop-up dinners are super-popular in Chicago and his culinary creations memorable. Recently out of rehab and living with his girlfriend, Allie, he convinces her to contribute all of her savings to help him buy into his first restaurant, then falls back into addiction. It's too far in the process to recoup her loss, so Allie has to step up and try to make the restaurant a success with the help of an unknown chef and an experienced general manager. It takes a full half of this 400-page book to get into the crisis, where it really takes off. Food descriptions are fantastic, but the real focus is on Allie and her seemingly impossible task. Very entertaining.
I had never heard of Brian Freeman but suddenly read a couple of great reviews and decided to try one of his books, Goodbye to the Dead. I wasn't disappointed. This is a solid police procedural with good character development. The main character is Duluth detective Jonathan Stride, and a large portion of the book is a look back 9 years ago at a seemingly open-and-shut case where a prominent cardiologist killed her husband, who was threatening to run her career. Stride's wife, who had since died of cancer, was involved because the doctor was a close friend. In the current timeframe, Stride has a live-in girlfriend, is providing a home for a pregnant teenager (formerly a prostitute), and is pursuing a human trafficking case. Very satisfying, twisty ending. Will look for more by this author.
I wasn't crazy about Ruth Ware's The Woman in Cabin 10 but gave her another chance with The Death of Mrs. Westaway. I did like it better–it moved fast and kept me interested. But it was less than completely satisfying because the protagonist isn't drawn well enough to make her someone I wanted to root for, and the other characters were not particularly interesting to me. The fact that she is tarot card reader seems random and doesn't figure prominently in the story.
Lesa has already reviewed Beyond the Pale by Clare O'Donohue so I won't say much except that I had some issues with the female protagonist and would have liked more character development.
I was happy to see there were several museum mysteries I hadn't read. This morning I finished "Fire Engine Dead". The other day I read "Antique Blues", the latest in a different series.
I also started the second Reverend Mother mystery, "A Shameful Assassination", a couple of times but the book just did not grab me in the same way as the first book in that series did.
For fun and fitness I skimmed "Dinner: Changing the Game" by Melissa Clark and a book about running.
I'm getting into the mood for the 4th of July next week with One Fete in the Grave by Vickie Fee. It opens with a body found after the 4th of July fireworks.
Thanks, everyone! Quick break on lunch hour, so I had time to read all the comments. Then, I'll go back to budget. I do agree with you, Trisha. I still love the series because I've already read the most recent Reverend Mother book, but that second one was weaker. Elizabeth, that one sounds good! So many Sherlock Holmes stories, so little time!
Thank you everyone! Just a couple minutes for a short break here.
I read The Aikido Widow by Daniel Linden; gott all caught up with the series. It's the old Black Widow deal. I felt like Parker should call up Marital Arts sleuth Randall Lee. This seems more like Randall's bailiwick.
The Strange Harvest of Dr. Aquarius by Jeff Deischer; Jeff tries to reproduce Jack Kirby's 70's comics into prose. It almost works.
The Quotable Nagan.
Hell's Bay by James M. Hall; A novel in the Thorn series. He inherits a bunch of land, and goes on a fishing trip while someone tries to kill him. I like the Doc Ford series better.
Sharpe's Eagle; Sharpe fights the Napoleonic Wars on the Iberian peninsula.
Mirror, Mirror by Patrick Emmet; Marshal Dillon sleeps around and solves an armored car robbery.
California Bound by Frank Kelso; A pair of former Confederates make their way back to texas, and have to kill a bandito to get back their niece.
Date Night on Union Station by EM Foster; a light hearted sci fi romance.
A Dubious Secret by Gerald Kubicki; Colt Banyon tries to fight neo nazis by finding the owner of a first edition of Mein Kampf.
McGrave by Lee Goldberg; Basically an episode of Sledge Hammer in prose. It's tough to be funny in print, but Goldberg manages.
I just finished Widow’s Wreath by Cynthia Riggs which I enjoyed even though her main character, Victoria Trumbull never seems to age past 92.
I also read My Patients and Other Animals by Suzy Fincham-Grey. It’s about her experiences as a veterinarian. And I re$read The Clairvoyant Countess by Dorothy Gilman which I hadn’t read in years.
I love The Clairvoyant Coountess and the next one – Kaleidoscope. I never tire of the Mrs. Pollifax stories either. I'm finishing Shelter in Place by Nora Roberts, When All the Girls Have Gone by Jaybe Ann Krentz and starting The Woman Left Behind by Linda Howard.
I'm starting this book today! I'm on Kate's review team or a rater as she calls it. 🙂 I love this series and will curl up and slowly devour this book.
Still Reading Close Enough to Touch by Colleen Oakley, They had a Halloween party at the library. Finished Drag Teen (loved) and Birds of A Feather.
Started Gun Love by Colleen Oakley. It is about a girl who lived in a '94 Mercury with her mother. Also beginning In My Hands by Steven A. Curley, MD, Stories about his cancer patients.
In print I am working on THE DARK ANGEL by Elly Griffiths by way of the Dallas Public Library and in ebook I am working on the second issue of Down & Out: The Magazine. Been working on them awhile.
This past week as been really hard emotionally wise for me here so focusing on reading has been damn near impossible. The reads are good ones. It is all on me as my head is a mess. Grief is a vert strange beast and I am trying very hard to cope as best as I can and not just withdraw from everyone and everything. Last week I was fairly productive and a couple of times I almost felt like myself again even though I miss her so much. Got stuff done for the blog, worked a little bit on my own fiction, etc.
This week…..it is like I am drowning. Crying in the shower again, getting upset when I hear something she liked to sing along to or that we danced to at our wedding, one of her shows comes on and I start losing it ….just going to the store and trying to function through that has been brutal as has going to the library to pick up things. So, I am a mess and, of course, oversharing.
By the way, my son, Scott, who lives here with me, thinks the Butcher books rock. I have never read them.