April 2024 - What are you reading?

April already - looking forward to hear about your latest reads!

Recent reads:
Stay Buried by Kate Webb
and
Death Under a Little Sky (Jake Jackson, Book 1) by Stig Abell

Enjoyed both of them.

Currently reading: The Verifiers by Jane Pek. It is a little above so-so at the moment (1/4 of the way in) but I will persevere :)

Finished Mother-daughter murder night, a first novel that takes place in and around a slough on the California coast. Includes a range of ages across the characters, which I find a nice change: teenager, their parent and grandparent, plus some older folks who live in the care home where the parent works as a nurse. Good, especially for a first novel.

I finished the latest Tana French, The Hunter, very good.
Just started another Linda Castillo Outsider, about the ex-Amish police chief

I think The Water Keeper by Charles Martin qualifies as a thriller...former priest, kinda, (who is a bit of a mystery guy himself) with an alternate career pursuing human traffickers off the Florida coast. Expertly researched and written.

I recently finished The colombian mule by Massimo Carlotto. This Italian writer of whats been dubbed 'Mediterranean noir' has quickly become one of my favorites. Fans of Hammett, Chandler, Ross MacDonald or Lawrence Block will likely fall in love as well.

I am just getting around to reading The Running Grave by Robert Galbraith. At 961 pages, I may be awhile.

Also nicking away at Plum Tea Crazy, a later installment in the Tea Shop Mysteries by Laura Childs. Easy lunchtime read.

I'm reading Dossier 64 by Jussi Alder-Olsen, a pretty terrifying thriller where a eugenicist forces abortions on "unworthy" women. Luckily a good dose of humour alleviates the tone.

Finished None of This Is True by Lisa Jewell. Abrupt ending; not totally resolved.
Now reading Wrong Place, Wrong Time, G McAllister.

Ian reading Kitchen by a Japanese writer called Banana Yoshimoto. Don't know why she changed her name to a fruit but I'm giving it ago. Her real name is Mahoko Yohimoto.

Just picked up another Owen Archer mystery by Candace Robb, A Spy for the Redeemer.

Finished The Rockpool Murder by Emylia Hall Enjoyed, but perhaps not as much as the first two.
Having read all the Dr Ruth Galloway novels, starting on Harbinder Kaur with The Stranger Diaries. Really enjoy Elly Griffiths writing. Great start, rather gothic.

I've finished Coule la Seine by one of my favourite mystery writers, Fred Vargas. I'm not sure how well-known Vargas is in Anglophone circles, but she's worth reading.

This was a collection of 3 stories. I'm not usually a big fan of the short form for mysteries, but this time it worked well. What are your thoughts on short stories for the genre?

Just finished The pyramid of mud. Another Italian crime novel, this one taking place in Sicily. A fun quick read.

Just finished Tremor of Forgery by the talented Patricia Highsmith

Just finished The Hunter by Tara French, and really liked it, just as I have her other novels.

If I see a mystery set in Montreal, I am extremely likely to pick it up. Hence why I'm reading The Freelancer: A Denny Durant Novel, by C.J. Fournier.

I've recently discovered the Sean Duffy series by Adrian McKinty, set in Northern Ireland in the 1980s. I'm now on book #3, In the Morning I'll Be Gone

Finished The Stranger Diaries which I did enjoy. The book is told with 3 different characters voices so interesting to see how characters see each other and their thoughts on the crime. Did keep me guessing too.
Now back with John Sandford for Judgement Prey. Pretty much always enjoy his, but we shall see.

Started The Three Dahlias the other day. Enjoyable so far.

Catching up on the handful of Deborah Knott mysteries I haven't read: Three Day Town is a crossover with Margaret Maron's Sigrid Harald character set in New York. This may help me decide whether to invest in the Sigrid series.