September 2020 ~ What are you reading?

Getting the new thread started. Have fun reading.

Recent reads:
A Taste for Vengeance (The Dordogne Mysteries Book 11), by Martin Walker
The Body in the Castle Well (The Dordogne Mysteries 12), by Martin Walker
A Bed of Scorpions (Sam Clair Book 2), by Judith Flanders
Lockdown, by Peter May (Didn't enjoy this one)
Human Face (DI Kelso Strang Book 1), by Aline Templeton

Next is the latest Vera Stanhope novel - The Darkest Evening, by Ann Cleeves.

Added All the Devils Are Here by Louise Penny to my reading rotation.

Am about 1/2 way through A Suspension of Mercy by Patricia Highsmith and I wonder if it was the inspiration for Gone Girl - it's very similar only decades older.

Pulp Friction by Julie Anne Lindsey
c. 2019
#2 A Cider Shop Mystery series
3 1/2 *

This was a pleasant to read cozy mystery. I enjoyed the cast of characters, all slightly quirky, but none of them are outrageously unbelievable as in so many cozies. The west Virginia Blue Mountains are a lovely setting with a National Forest, apple orchards, and a lovely believable small town setting where gossip/news flies faster than it actually happens. Winnie and her Granny own a struggling apple orchard and cider shop. They are finally seeing a light at the end of a tunnel with the opening of the cider shop. Winnie has converted an old Mail Pouch barn into the shop. The barn is large enough that Winnie can rent it out for weddings and other large gatherings. Winnie is hosting a wedding for a local wealthy family. All was going well until right after the ceremony the groom was found pinned under an old farm truck and Winnie's ex boyfriend was seen running from that direction. The Sheriff's office is called in. The bride is of no help as she went into catatonic shock. Winnie does not intend to get involved, as a previous investigation almost got her killed. However, her ex boyfriend's sister begs Winnie to help save her brother. Winnie can't refuse. Fainting goats, a cider competition, dead loan sharks, deep wood's cabins, financial calamities, needlework clubs, run away bridesmaids, funerals, and home break-ins,keep Winnie and the Sheriff looking for answers to a myriad of questions.

Just started A Spectacle of Corruption by David Liss. It's the second one I've enjoyed by this author.

Finished All the Devils Are Here by Louise Penny. Another excellent Inspector Gamache book.

Next up in crime for me is Julian Symons's non-fiction exploration of the genre, Bloody Murder.

The Lost Order by Steve Berry
c. 2017
3 1/2 *

Former DOJ operative Cotton Malone has been asked by the Smithsonian to check out the possibility of a treasure from the Civil War. Cotton's great great grandfather had been a Confederate spy, as well as a guardian of a fabled hoard of Confederate gold held by the Knights of the Golden Circle. The problem is that the Knights are still looking for the treasure. The map to the treasure is a series of carved stones, each guarded by a sentinel of the Knights. Along the way, former President Daniels becomes involved upon the death of the senior Senator from Tennessee. Daniels can feel that something is stirring in the House of Representatives; a something that could forever change the balance of power in America's government. Knights, members of Congress, the Supreme Court, the Smithsonian, old mines in Arkansas, vengeance, murder, a lust for power, and tangled love triangles muddy the waters. It was a pleasant read, but slower than most books in this series. I had to keep putting it down every half hour or so.

Completed You Can Go Home Now by Michael Elias. What a book! For such a small book it packs quite wallop and leaves a mark. I enjoyed it yet it left me with dubious feelings regarding the ending. It's ostensibly an already strange mix of an undercover prose and a revenge piece. The author's style is definitely engaging but I was left wondering exactly what he was trying to say. It's definitely not a forgettable book and leaves a lot to discuss even or maybe especially within yourself. For me it fulfilled what I look for in a book even though I may take some issue with its morality.
My rating 3.8/5 *

Indeed! Excited to read some new ones!

Still enjoying this series: Sanctuary by Ken Bruen

>12 ted74ca: Waiting on Galway Girl to be delivered and I can return to Jack Taylor's misadventures too.

I requested the newest, almost released, Cormoran Strike book Troubled Blood by Robert Galbraith in audio from my library. I got early in the line, but it is 32 hours long! How crazy is that?

Just finished and was blown away by The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle, by Stuart Turton.

Next up in crime will be something a bit shorter: Gideon's Night, by J. J. Marric.

Added The Secret of Chimneys by Agatha Christie to my reading rotation.

Working my way slowly through this series-I find it a bit too gruesome at times. Just finished Perfect Kill by Helen Fields

I've enjoyed every book in this series: A Bitter Feast by Deborah Crombie

Time to cheer up with some fictional murder. I have the audio of And Then There Were None, by Agatha Christie, read by Dan Stevens.

Finished The Secret of Chimneys. Comfort read.

Recently finished:

A Cast of Vultures (Sam Clair Book 3), by Judith Flanders, and
Oranges and Lemons, by Christopher Fowler - both 4-star reads.

Will start Troubled Blood (A Cormoran Strike Novel Book 5) by Robert Galbraith tonight.

Just finished Cuba Libre by Elmore Leonard. Diverting now to A Trembling Upon Rome by Richard Condon.

Giving a provisionary go to No Word from Winifred by Amanda Cross. Picked up for a quarter on the used bookstore "please just make it go away" rack, so I'm considering it almost disposable if it doesn't catch my interest.

A Geek Girl's Guide to Murder by Julie Anne Lindsey
c. 2015
4 *s

This was a great new author for me to read. The main character, Mia Conners, is a wealthy computer IT geek, with a family that is very into Renaissance Faires. Mia is not very socially adept and tends to be as brash and outspoken as she is sarcastically funny. A perfect character in my book! She works as the computer guru for Horseshoe Falls, a wealthy gated community in Ohio near Akron. She, however, lives in an unpretentious small condo in the downtown of a city ( unspecified). Things were not well at work. When she arrives one morning, a huge pickup is parked in her parking space, there's a new temporary head of security, and someone has hacked into the community's computer network. The hack has creating a big headache as it sent out all sorts of free coupons for the clubhouse businesses, as well as automatically setting up bogus appointments at various other businesses. The community members were having a fit. Then, worst of all, that very evening Mia finds one of her best friends slumped dead over her computer. It was a very fun light read.

Finished Woods - Desperate Measures; started (reread) Haig - Private Sector.

Just started the eighth sister by Robert Dugoni. spies/international intrigue/thriller.

I'm liking it and will look for more of his books.

Added Frozen by Ann Cleeves to my rotation.

>27 seitherin: I'm reading Ann Cleeves too! Visiting Shetland though, with Dead Water.

Shadows in Death by J D Robb
c. 2020
#51 In Death series
4 1/2 *s

It could have been a five star read, but I deducted 1/2 point for unnecessary animal torture/death. I cannot abide even fictional cruelty to animals. It almost ruined the book for me. I skipped the pages. The rest of the book was a great police procedural. While working a homicide in Central Park, Eve and her husband Roarke get pulled into Roarke's past, by a professional assassin named Cobbe, who claim's to be Roarke's older half brother as well as the true heir of the long dead Patrick Roarke. Cobbe is on a mission to kill Roarke and everyone whom Roarke hold's dear. Eve and Roarke with the NYPSD and Interpol are intent upon bringing Cobbe to justice in a story which stretches from the streets of New York City to the fields of rural Ireland.

Crunch Time by Diane Mott Davidson
c. 2011
1 *

I've one book left to read in this series, and hope it's better. This was unreadable. After 117 pages, I gave up an skimmed through to the end. The constant regurgitation of the facts, ad nauseum, drove me nuts. At least one time per chapter Goldy Schultz would hash over the facts of the story. The book could have been half as long without this constant repetition, and would have been much better for it. The gist of the story is that Goldy is searching for a killer who burned down the home of her catering friend Yolanda and Yolanda's obnoxious old aunt, who were totally unlikeable.

>28 rabbitprincess: I've read the entire Shetland series. I liked them.

Finished Frozen by Ann Cleeves. Meh.

Added Dead Man in a Ditch by Luke Arnold to my rotation.

I've finished The Family Upstairs (3.5 stars) and my next book is The Poacher's Son by Paul Doiron.

Finished Dead Water, by Ann Cleeves, and immediately requested the next book in the series. While I wait for it to arrive, time to dig in to Denise Mina's latest, The Less Dead.

Just started an inconvenient woman by Stephanie Buelens.

A re-read of The Amazing Mrs. Pollifax, by Dorothy Gilman, jumped the queue. I read most of these as a teenager (because I was a weird teenager), so lots of good memories for me, even though I didn't read this particular Mrs. Pollifax novel as much as some others.

Finished Troubled Blood (A Cormoran Strike Novel Book 5) by Robert Galbraith, followed by The Darkest Evening A Vera Stanhope Novel, by Ann Cleeves. Really enjoyed both.

Have just started Carrion Comfort (DI Kelso Strang Book 2), by Aline Templeton.

October thread: https://www.librarything.com/topic/325034