November 2018 ~ What are you reading?

I'm looking forward to hearing this non-fiction OverDrive book ~

Lincoln's Last Trial: The Murder Case That Propelled Him to the Presidency by Dan Abrams

Still reading Someone Like Me by M. R. Carey and Machine City by Scott J. Holiiday.

Reading Thursday's Children - I can't believe it's been since January that I read the previous book in the Frieda Klein series. Good thing the author did a deft job of helping a reader catch up.

Planning to finish Hamlet, Revenge!, by Michael Innes, this evening.

>2 seitherin: I am finally getting around to reading The Word is Murder by Anthony Horowitz. I think you and I talked about this book and Magpie Murders a couple of months ago. I started it yesterday and I am about halfway through now. So far, so good, but I'll let you know what I thought once I have finished.

>5 Dr_Flanders: We did talk about the Horowitz. I'll be interested to hear what you think.

In my reread of the complete Nero Wolfe series, I'm up to #31, Champagne for One, from 1958. Some of the themes are dated--in this one, attitudes toward "unwed mothers"--but Archie and crew remain wonderful companions for a comfortable interlude away from, well, everything.

Finished Machine City by Scott J. Holliday. I spent most of the book confused, but the end made sense out of it all.

Started The Division Bell Mystery, by Ellen Wilkinson, one of several British Library Crime Classics I purchased on my recent trip to Scotland.

Enjoying this Kindle/Audible book combo ~

What Have You Done by Matthew Farrell

(Philly police dept/two brothers in that dept/a dead female)

I just finished a really good one, Inhuman Resources by Pierre LeMaitre. Now I've started the new James Bond book, Forever and A Day by Anthony Horowitz

Finished Someone Like Me by M. R. Carey, Enjoyed it. Interesting concept involving alternate realities.

Next up is Close to the Bone by Kendra Elliot for review.

Just finished the very silly Hope Never Dies, by Andrew Shaffer, and preparing to start Fire in the Thatch, by E.C.R. Lorac.

Finished Close to the Bone by Kendra Elliot. Too short to be satisfying.

Next up is A Bird in the Hand by Ann Cleeves.

Really enjoyed Women Crime Writers; Four Suspense Novels of the 1950s.

Mischief by Charlotte Armstrong
Peter and Ruth are in New York City to attend an important dinner where Peter is receiving an award. Peter’s sister backs out of babysitting for their daughter Bunny, but the elevator man in the hotel volunteers his niece. When Peter and Ruth meet her, the niece is quiet and listless, but a different personality emerges once they leave. Right away you can guess this is going to go badly. The suspense is wondering just how badly. Skillfully, Armstrong balances the possibility of tragedy with humor.

The Blunderer by Patricia Highsmith
Mr. Kimmel’s wife is leaving on a bus for Albany. Kimmel follows the bus to the first rest stop, lures his wife away from the stop and kills her. Walter Stackhouse is having marital difficulties with his wife. He begins an affair and plans to divorce his wife. Distraught, she attempts suicide. But on a bus out of town to visit her family, she is found dead at the first rest stop. For some reason, Walter becomes obsessed with Kimmel and goes to meet him. In so doing, he blunders into the murder investigation of Kimmel. Both are pressured by a vicious cop. The twists and turns of the dance among these three leads to a violent conclusion.

The Beast in View by Margaret Millar
A psychological suspense novel that reminded me a lot of Ruth Rendell (or, more accurately, is a forerunner of Rendell). Miss Clarvoe receives a disturbing and frightening call from a woman named Evelyn Merrick who claims to know her. Clarvoe hires Paul Blackshere, her investment manager, to find out who this woman this is. As Evelyn continues to stalk Miss Clarvoe, Blackshear discovers family dysfunction and sexual exploitation. The novel progresses to a surprising ending twist.

Fools’ Gold by Dolores Hitchens
This is a hard-boiled crime caper. Skip learns from his girlfriend that a roomer at the house where she is living with her aunt is stashing a lot of cash there. With his girlfriend’s help Skip figures it will be easy enough to get in and make off with the cash. But when his ex-con uncle Willy gets wind of the plan, he thinks Skip is too much of a punk to pull this off and sells the job to another ex-con Big Tom. Skip is not happy about having his take reduced to a small percentage. And it turns out that the stasher of the cash is a Las Vegas hotel owner. He has some juice and is unlikely to let someone take his cash. Of course, from the novel’s title, this will go badly. Who does make off with the cash and what will happen to the participants? I feverishly read the last half of the book to find out.

Just about finished listening to Don't Eat Me by Colin Cotterill which is the first full-length novel I've read in this Dr. Siri series. I read a short story of his and wanted to read more. Really fascinating and unlike any other mystery I've read. A 75-year-old coroner in late 1970's/early 1980's Laos who helps solve crimes. In this story, he's trying to make a movie with an American movie camera that fell off a truck when a pesky murder gets in the way of his plans. Really offbeat and great characters!

Reading Hurt Machine, #7 in Reed Farrel Coleman's Moe Prager series.

I found a new (to me) mystery/crime fiction series, to add to the TBR list. I just finished The Dead Season by Christobel Kent and thought it was pretty good.

>18 ted74ca: I recently read her The Day She Disappeared and enjoyed it.

>6 seitherin: I finished The Word is Murder by Anthony Horowitz about a week ago. I really enjoyed it. Maybe not quite as much as Magpie Murders, but it was still one of the better crime or mystery reads I have had this year. It reads a bit more briskly compared to Magpie Murders, and the tone felt kind of similar to the part of Magpie that was set in present day England.

The book is a relatively quick read, but the mystery itself is kind of a slow burn, which I tend to enjoy. It is less thriller, and more like a classic mystery in structure. I found the mystery to be solid and satisfying. Horowitz dropped some real clues throughout, but I hadn't guessed the solution until near the end, probably just about when I was supposed to.

The other thing I would note that might be an issue for some readers...Horowitz wrote himself as the narrator of this book. Basically, a fictional Anthony Horowitz is approached by a brilliant but disgraced former police detective who now consults with the police on particularly difficult investigations. The detective wants Horowitz to write a book about his investigation, and though the two don't get along, fictional Horowitz decides to go along. What this amounts to is that this is also another novel about books and writers, sort of like how Magpie Murders was also partly about the publishing industry. The fictional Horowitz spends time discussing his time at book festivals, working with literary agents, and working with famous Hollywood types to adapt fiction for the screen. This whole trip could have come off as self-serving or boring, but I felt like he pulled it off, for the most part.

Overall, I really enjoyed it. I gave it four out of five stars. I understand that this novel is the beginning of a series as well, so I think I'll be along for the second installment.

>20 Dr_Flanders: I enjoyed The Word is Murder and like the idea of another book in the series!

>20 Dr_Flanders: Based on your say so, I just bought the book. I'm not sure when I'll get to it since I've half a dozen or so in the queue ahead of it.

>22 seitherin: Well, I'll feel partly responsible if you don't like it, haha! I hope you enjoy it as much as I did. I'd love to hear what you think of it, once you are able to get to it.

I'm in the same boat on the reading queue. I've pretty much always got the next month or two of reading stacked up and waiting. I am hoping to read Ursula K. Le Guin's The Books of Earthsea before the end of the year, along with a stack of other things.

Finished A Bird in the Hand by Ann Cleeves. It was OK, but I enjoyed her Shetland Islands books much more.

Next into the mix is The Moving Finger by Agatha Christie.

Just finished Hurt Machine, #7 in Reed Farrel Coleman's Moe Prager Series. On to #8 Onion Street. I have enjoyed this series, but I have only one more left.

Giles Blunt is a Canadian mystery author who sets his books in a fictional No rthern Ontario town that is clearly based on North Bay where Blunt grew up. His main detective is John Cardinal a detective with the local police force. I have just finished #5 in the series Crime Machine which involves a cult a la the Manson family who comes to town to take revenge on some people who slighted the family head in the past. Lots of great detail about the town and countryside and nearby reservation.

CTV has aired two seasons of the show Cardinal based on Blunt's books and Season 3 will be starting in January 2019. It is excellently done and I'm looking forward to catching up with Cardinal and his sidekick Lise Delorme.

I just finished the latest in old friend Ellen Crosby's Virginia wine mysteries, Harvest of Secrets. Great fun. Now I've started Land of Careful Shadows.

>26 gypsysmom: I enjoyed two of Blunt's earlier books Forty Words for Sorrow and The Delicate Storm. Your post reminded me that I need to get back to the series and see if I can catch the CTV show somehow.

Finished The Moving Finger by Agatha Christie. Enjoyed my re-read.

Added I Am Half-Sick of Shadows by Alan Bradley to my reading rotation.

>28 jwrudn: So far my favourite is By the Time You Read This, #4 in the series. Blackfly Season is also very good. Seasons 1 and 2 of the CTV series should be available somewhere. If I am not mistaken Season 1 was based on Forty Words for Sorrow and Season 2 was based on Blackfly Season so they missed doing The Delicate Storm.

Finished Christmas Mourning by Margaret Maron. This is one of the few series by a prolific author that I've read in the correct sequence--glad I've done so. The next one, which I shall have to hunt down, is Three Day Town, where we crossover characters from the author's New York Sigrid Harald series.

>26 gypsysmom:. I really enjoy the John Cardinal series too, and have read them all except the latest, and liked the TV series as well. Didn't know there was going to be a Season 3 so I'll have to watch the TV listings for that.

Gearing up to start Designs on Life, a collection of short stories by Elizabeth Ferrars.

Also on deck is Blue Lightning, by Ann Cleeves.

I'm part way through Nothing Stays Buried, a Monkeewrench novel. It's not pulling me in as well as the last couple did. I think this is the first one written by the daughter alone.

Inspector Morse. I am late to this series, but fortunately our library is complete. Starting with Last Bus to Woodstock by Colin Dexter.

I just finished reading The Feral Detective by Jonathan Lethem. It was kind of a quick read, and though it was billed as Lethem's first detective novel since Motherless Brooklyn, it wasn't in the same league. I did enjoy it, but it wasn't anything particularly memorable.

Started this OverDrive audiobook ~

Lies She Told by Cate Holahan

(psych thriller/reality vs. fiction/Liza is an author/Beth is the main character in the novel Liza is writing)

Just finished Onion Street 8th in Reed Farrel Coleman's Moe Prager series. Up next is #9 and last, Hollow Girl. This is a terrific series that I have liked even more the further I get.

>30 gypsysmom: Thanks for the info.

A couple of days ago I finished The Hangman's Whip by Mignon G. Eberhart. This is absorbing, well-plotted and well-written murder mystery from one of the superstars of mid-20th century American mystery writing. A love triangle, convoluted family dynamics, ambition and money all play a role in this absorbing tale. This was first of Eberhart's many books for me, but I'm sure I'll read more of her works sooner rather than later. The book was originally published in 1940.

Finished I Am Half-Sick of Shadows by Alan Bradley. Enjoyed it.

Next up is The Dying Detective by Leif GW Persson.

Preparing to start a Helen MacInnes thriller: While Still We Live.

I gave The Witch Elm a couple of tries and couldn't get into it. This was a surprise since I liked her previous mysteries. I might try it again later, but for now I'll return it for the next person in the lengthy hold list.

I finished the second in a series I just discovered recently. This one was Perfect Prey by Helen Fields. Not outstanding and sometimes a bit too graphic for me, but good for a lazy morning's read.

I'm reading 48 Hours by William R. Forstchen. Another impending disaster, this time from a giant solar flare. I really love the way he spins a story!

Enjoying a little fluff: A Royal Pain by Rhys Bowen.

Starting this library audiobook ~

Raspberry Danish Murder by Joanne Fluke

(a Hannah Swensen cozy mystery/Thanksgiving/Hannah's husband disappears)

Finished The Dying Detective by Leif GW Persson. Enjoyed it.

Next up is Kingdom of the Blind by Louise Penny.

I have almost finished The Malice of Waves by Mark Douglas-Home. Another good one in this series.

I’m happily settling into the latest Three Pines book, The Kingdom of the Blind.

Yesterday I started a novel from the 1950s by Charlotte Armstrong - The Better to Eat You - involves vaudevillians, induced mental illness and inheritance fraud. Good characterizations.

Finished Kingdom of the Blind by Louise Penny. Loved it.

>23 Dr_Flanders: I've decided I don't want to wait any longer so . . .

Next up is The Word is Murder by Anthony Horowitz.

>51 seitherin: I hope you enjoy it as much as I did. As I said before, I might’ve enjoyed it a little less than Magpie Murders, but it was still an awfully good read. I’ll be interested to hear how you like it.

>52 Dr_Flanders: So far so good but I haven't read all that much yet.

DECEMBER THREAD: http://www.librarything.com/topic/299596