January, 2014 - What are we reading?

I thought I'd start the new thread by wishing everyone a very happy new year.

Happy New Year!

I'm starting the year with Strange Shores by Indridason. I've loved this series a lot so have great expectations. I think it is the last book in the series.

Happy New Year to all!

My 2014 mystery reading has begun with The Sleeping Doll by Jeffery Deaver.

Just finished Death is a Lonely Business by Ray Bradbury. A mystery full of atmosphere and loneliness.

Happy New Year indeed

@raidergirl3 I'll be curious to hear what you think of Strange Shores - I thought it a bit of a disappointing end to the series but wasn't in the best frame of mind when I read it so may have been a bit harsh

I'm listening to Ian Rankin's Doors Open - a heist tale that seems a bit far-fetched but is enjoyable and just about to head off for coffee to start my print copy of Invisible Murder by Lene Kaaberbol & Agnete Friis. I like being on holidays :)

Finished Corpse in Cold Storage by Milward Kennedy. I didn't think much of the plot at first, but it picked up towards the end. Characterization was great :) Have begun He Who Whispers by John Dickson Carr.

I'm reading the first of the Nero Wolfe books, Fer-de-Lance.

Just finished The Bones of Paris, by Laurie R. King. Rather dark, but I enjoyed it.

I'm working my way through Diabolic Candelabra, by E. R. Punshon. Interesting but slow-moving account of an investigation, with a body not discovered until about two thirds of the way through (disappearances noted much earlier, but really no confirmation of a serious crime until then).

I'm reading A room full of bones by Elly Griffiths

I'm on the eighth Pendergast book, The Wheel of Darkness. I came across this randomly and read it several years ago, realizing too late that it was part of a series better read in order. I thought it was okay but nothing special and put it on the donation stack.

Before it actually went out, I picked up the first of the series and eventually read my way to this point. It's a different experience now. I'm glad I gave it another chance.

There's no great literary merit to these Preston-Child novels, but they are literate enough, and I find them absorbing and entertaining.

I'm reading a Karin Slaughter Kindle Single/novella, Busted (no touchstone). It's part of her Will Trent series. I've never read her before but thought this would be a good way to see if I would enjoy her work. I think Kindle Singles are a gateway drug.

A Conspiracy of Faith, the third in the series. Very good.

Almost finished with Her Last Breath by Linda Castillo. It's the first time I've read a book by her and definitely won't be my last.

Visiting Wales with DS Glyn Capaldi in Dead People, by Ewart Hutton.

I'm reading The Absent One, the second in the Q series by Jussi Adler-Olsen.

I just finished Saints of the Shadow Bible by Ian Rankin. Both Rebus and Rankin are in fine form!

Having finished the Pendergast book and reviewed it (here), I've moved on to a dubious second chance for the Shardlake series: Dark Fire.

Finished He Who Whispers by John Dickson Carr and have just started A Share In Death by Deborah Crombie.

>5 bsquaredinoz: bsquaredinoz

I finished Strange Shores. I liked it, and thought the ending was good appropriate, but I was a little confused (as I often can be in books) It seemed there were 2 versions of Erlunder - the one solving the cold case, and the one who was having dreams. It didn't seem like they were happening at the same time?

Finished three books by Harry Dolan. Very twisty stories. Recommended.

Just finished City of Darkness by Kim Wright. Another fictionalized take of Jack the Ripper. Well told tale.

Finished Rankin's new book Saints of the Shadow Bible. Lots going on to keep your interest up and Rebus is great and mellowing. About to start Arctic Chill, back to Iceland!

>20 raidergirl3: raidergirl3

I get confused too sometimes with those kind of storylines where there are multiple stories unraveling at once...I thought the two things (Erlunder solving the cold case and him having the dreams about his brother) were happening at the same time but I could easily have been wrong, they were definitely about different time periods

I'm going to be starting Hard Eight by Janet Evanovich

>18 Meredy: Hope you enjoy Dark Fire more than the first. I thought it was good, but the third of the Shardlake series, Sovereign, was my favorite of all.

Finished a A Share In Death by Deborah Crombie. It is the first in a series and was good enough for me to buy the rest of the books and keep reading :) Will start All Shall Be Well tonight.

Am reading my first Elizabeth George... which is her latest Inspector Lynley - Just One Evil Act. Am finding it very heavy going. Not surprisingly perhaps... the book itself is the size of a brick.

> 28 "… Not surprisingly perhaps... the book itself is the size of a brick."

Which is a major reason that I don't care for her books... the other one being too much of the book is about the personal lives of the detectives rather than their job.

Wound up giving up on Grotesque. Just wasn't enjoying it.

I have begun as I mean to go on this year, thanks to my wonderful pile of Christmas goodies! On Jan 1, I began with The Athenian Murders by Jose Carlos Somoza. A 5 star mystery that brings Plato and his Academy to life. Try it.

31 > I'm trying not to add to my TBR pile, but you're certainly not helping ;).

>28 greydoll: greydoll thanks for suffering so I don't have to :) - I used to love Elizabeth George but gave up on Lynley and co. several books ago - Careless in Red - which was too long and boring for me. I occasionally wonder if I should re-visit her but it sounds like I don't need to.

It seems somewhere along the line lots of the big name authors forget what it means to edit properly and they intimidate those around them so no one will tell them what needs to happen. I found the same with Patricia Cornwell's stuff.

>33 bsquaredinoz: Aaah bsquaredinoz! I too gave up on Cornwell... and I don't think I will be revisiting Elizabeth George. I am British and find it a strange experience reading this book: language, slang, characters all a bit "not quite right" to me. "Rozzers" as current slang for police? More a blast from the past, I think. Sorry Ms George.

I finished the very good A Conspiracy of Faith by Jussi Adler-Olsen, and I'm reading Kindred in Death on my Kindle.

I finished The Rubber Band by Rex Stout yesterday. I really enjoyed it - I am a fan of the Golden Age mysteries :)

Starting on a much newer mystery today, Twelve Drummers Drumming…

Recently finished a very good thriller, Ice Cold Kill by Dana Haynes and am now almost finished another Rex Stout, Nero Wolfe book, The Black Mountain

Oops, posted in wrong place, sorry.

>10 flips: This series is one of my favorites. Are you enjoy it? Have you read the others?

I have to recommend the Sidney Chambers/Grantchester series by James Runcie

I hesitated buying them at first because they were short stories (all include the main character, Chambers) but they all connect and are wonderful. The first is Sidney Chambers and the Shadow of Death. Highly enjoyable!

Started and finished Home of the Braised by Julie Hyzy today. My review can be found here, but suffice to say it's another great book to add to this awesome series.

>39 cookieandpointer: Yes, it was pretty good, kept me reading long into the night. I've read the three before this as well. I've always had a thing for archaeology, so that combined with a good mystery is a winning combination for me.

Dont know if this counts or not but I am starting the Stephanie Plum series reading One for the money right now .

26: I'm finding Dark Fire to be a real slog. Someone else said it was the best one, but I'm halfway through (finally) and thinking of abandoning it. It would take a lot of bait to make me start a third.

I've started Bright Orange for the Shroud by John D. MacDonald.

I just started Speaking From Among the Bones by Alan Bradley for the Early Reviewers program. It's the fifth in the series (I think) and I've only read the first but I don't think that will matter. At least, I hope it won't. It's a cozy mystery set in England - what's not to love!

Finished All Shall be Well by Deborah Crombie over the weekend. I really enjoyed it and will certainly carry on with the rest of the series. Am now in Roman Britain with the first in a series, Shadows in the Night: An Aurelia Marcella Mystery (previously published as Get Out or Die) by Jane Finnis. It has had mixed reviews, and I can see why, but will keep reading :)

Just started reading Dan Browns The Da Vinci Code. So far so good.

I don't know if this book really fits in this category, though the reviews on the jacket indicate it should be: The Silent Wife by A.S.A. Harrison. I enjoyed the book, though I didn't find it very suspenseful at all. Excellent writing; sad to hear that the author has died.

Reading The Blackhouse by Peter May. Seems good so far, haven't read anything by him before. I like mysteries set in remote islands, maybe because I'm an islander myself.

Started The Fleet Street Murders, third in Charles Finch's Charles Lennox series.

>50 flips: hi flips. I've just read and enjoyed Peter May's Entry Island. It's a standalone murder mystery set in the present day Magdalen Islands off the Atlantic coast of Canada but it also has a historical strand set on Lewis during the nineteenth century. Two islands for the price of one!

>52 greydoll: Thanks for the tip greydoll, that looks very interesting. I'll stick it on my wishlist so I don't forget.

Started Fantasy in Death, which so far is an interesting one featuring a videogame designer.

I thought Fantasy in Death was one of the most enjoyable Eve Dallas mysteries, Joe. Enjoy!

I've just started Kitty Rocks the House, one of the Kitty Norville fantasy mysteries, on audio. These aren't deep dark mysteries/thrillers, but I enjoy them, especially between more substantial books.

>55 Storeetllr: Oh, glad to hear it, Mary, thanks. I was not as taken with its predecessor, Kindred in Death, as I have been others in the series, so that's heartening to hear.

>54 jnwelch:-55 I stopped reading the 'in Death' books at about #20 (Origin in Death I think was my last one). Should I try again?

Just finished the next three City of... books. City of Light (set in Paris); City of Silence (set in tsarist Russia) and City of Bells (in the raj in Bombay) by Kim Wright. Yes, they are like literary potato chips--you can't read just one. So far Silence is the best.

>56 jnwelch:, 57 I don't think I could read more than one (or two, at the most) of the In Death books without at least a month or so in between. Their plots are sometimes really out there, they aren't literary works, and some of them are better than others, but they are well-written for what they are and, yeah, I look forward to each new installment when it comes out!

>57 leslie.98: I enjoy the characters, and the humor, in the in Death books, and she knows how to keep you turning the pages. For me, they're a reliable good time.

I am reading Nevada Barr's Endangered Species. I find that of any series author, she's the one I can read out of sequence and it still works. No clogs of backstory, no excessive dependence on what happened before, and yet the character of Anna is fully developed and does grow in each one. I figured out whodunit a little early in this one, and the dialog isn't as strong as in some others, but the national park setting is compelling as always. About thirty pages to go. Wonder if there'll be a surprise.

Audiobooks were my Karin Slaughter gateway drug. I have listened to her books on long drives across the country and looked forward to the 13 hours in the car.

44> I suppose it was me that recommended Dark Fire...sorry you are having trouble with the read...however I am not alone in liking the book as it has an overall rating of 4+ stars

I have just starting Lee Child's Killing Floor. I really like his writing style and decided to read this series in order. I picked up the book and on my first time reading it knocked off 60 pages before putting it down a little over an hour later....grabbed me from the get-go :) It will be like reading the Cornwell Sharpe series...you cannot read two in a row...you must take a break and read something else to clear your head.

63: I saw several favorable comments and expected to like it, but I didn't. There's just enough interest in the dynamic between Shardlake and Barak that I'm curious about their future, but this book, even more than the first, was about 20% fat. I'm going to turn my attention elsewhere.

Don't feel bad, though. One thing we know for sure is that we have a lot of differences in taste around here.

64> One of the frustrations in Shardlake mysteries (both to the reader as well as characters in the book :) is that when solving one mystery Shardlake usually finds 2 or three more...as a result the conflicting clues sort of muddy the waters a bit but eventually sort themselves out in the end.

Yes...I do like the interaction of Shardlake and Barak.

My attraction to CJ Sansom is the level of detail of the setting(s) that he puts into his writing...It may feel like padding to some but I feel as though I am in the scene at times...and British law in that period actually seems viable...at least if you were rich enough to afford it :)

The setting is fine, and the time and place are clearly well researched. It's all the unnecessary dialogue, the apparent compulsion to dramatize everything in scenes when some of it would do well as summary (you don't have to show everything--you have to show what needs to be shown; it's ok to tell some things), the repetition, and the substitution of prolonged churn and frustration for suspense.

This book also irritated me because it wasn't really a mystery, never mind two of them.

>40 cookieandpointer: I agree, an excellent find for me - waiting for the next to be published now. I understand that they are going to be serialised on UK television some time in the future.

I've just finished The Cuckoo's Calling by Robert Galbraith which I really enjoyed. Now I'm reading the third in Nicci French's Frieda Klein novels Waiting for Wednesday which looks promising.

Happy New Year to all! I just finished Dream with Little Angels and A Cold Day in Paradise for my library's mystery group. Neither was fabulous. I'm starting, and will read in infrequent spurts, Julie Smith's 82 Desire, my fourth of her Skip Langdon series. She promises relentless scalawaggery, so that's a good start.

Just finished The Panther by Nelson DeMille. Since it had been a while I went back and reread Wild Fire and The Lion before starting Panther. Thought it was funny he brought together John Corey and Paul Brenner since they are basically the same character. DeMille sort of acknowledges that in the book. Considering starting The Quest but overall haven't been too crazy about any of his books that didn't feature one of the two aforementioned characters.

Sorry Wrong touchstone. Here's right one The Quest

Finished a Jo Nesbo novel the other day-not one of the Harry Hole series--called Headhunters. Though pretty unbelievable in parts (almost farcical sometimes) and I hated all the characters, I quite enjoyed it.

I'm reading The League of Frightened Men. I do enjoy Rex Stout.

Started Lisa Gardner's latest, Fear Nothing.

>73 majkia: I am about to start a Rex Stout myself! The Red Box in my case...

Finished Shadows in the Night: An Aurelia Marcella Mystery (aka Get Out or Die) by Jane Finnis. Tonight I will go back to the Golden Age with the 1939 Catt out of the Bag by Clifford Witting - it will be my first book by this author.

>75 leslie.98: I read The Red Box earlier this year. I hope you like it, I did.

I've come late to the Colin Cotterill/Dr. Siri series, but I am thoroughly enjoying The Coroner's Lunch right now.

Just finishing Lee Child's Killing Floor...I have decided to read the series now in order so have a lot of books ahead of me....but will mix in other authors in the process. I learned my lesson reading the Bernard Cornwell "Sharpe" series...great books but reading them in a row was a mistake and I stopped it after a few....you have to clear your "mind" palette every now and then to appreciate them more :)

I'm back with my favorite psychopathic anti-hero, reading The Outfit, the third installment in the "Parker" series by Richard Stark (a.k.a. Donald E. Westlake).

Critical Mass by Sara Paretsky. Quite enjoyed this one.

Just started reading Died in the Wool by Elizabeth Ludwig. It's a Massachusetts Mayhem Mystery and has been good so far.

>41 Samantha_kathy: Glad to hear Samantha that the new Julie Hyzy is enjoyable - I don't read a lot of cozy mysteries these days but I do keep up with Ollie and her goings on. Waiting for my copy to make its way down under

I've just finished The Second Deadly Sin by Asa Larsson - brilliant stuff - author keeps getting better and not at all predictable even though it's her 5th book in the series.

Reading a review copy of Parker Bilal's third in his (PI) Makana series - The Ghost Runner. Sudanese policeman/refugee living in Egypt, Makana, is a clearly established character and I am enjoying this series.

I finished up The Outfit, the third installment in the "Parker" series by Richard Stark (a.k.a. Donald E. Westlake). I thought this was the weakest of the series so far, but I'll definitely be back for more.

Today I've started the historical fiction mystery, The Meaning of Night by Michael Cox, set in 1850s England.

Room No.10 by Ake Edwardson. Originally published in Sweden in 2005. Chief Inspector Erik Winter is called to an apparent suicide.... or is it? Likely not. We'll see.

82: Please check both of your touchstones.

On to Black wind in my Clive Cussler sequence. They are becoming rather repetitive.

The Body in the Fjord, a cozy by Katherine Hall Page. Mid-series; I haven't read them all but the author has a nice, light touch. This one actually uses the main sleuth's best friend as the protagonist and leaves the sleuth at home--interesting strategy for a successful series. Not bad so far.

I've started In the Bleak Midwinter by Julia Spencer-Fleming, and so far I'm liking it.

I'm now reading Flashfire by Donald Westlake writing as Richard Stark; this one was adapted into the movie "Parker" with Jason Statham last year.

#90 one of my favorite series. Read #8 in the fall. Hope you enjoy.

#91> Hey, Mark, Are you reading your way through the whole Parker series, or did you just drop in on this one? I don't know if you've noticed, but I'm reading the Parker series, too, little by little. I've just finished the third in the series. Eventually I'll probably get to them all. Lots of fun.

#93: I have read the first two Parker novels and plan to keep working my way through the series; I jumped ahead to this one since I saw the movie adaptation last year. Also, this seems to be a series that does not necessarily need to be read in order (I've found the same thing about the Travis McGee series, which I've read most of).

#94> Well, the first three defiitely have a bit of narrative thread running through them regarding Parker's troubles with The Outfit (or more precisely, I guess, their troubles with him). But that might well fade out later on in the series, of course. I'm sure you're aware that both the 1966 Lee Marvin movie Point Blank and the 1999 Mel Gibson movie Payback are based on the first book. Here's a wikipedia list I just found of the movies that are based on Parker books: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parker_%28fictional_criminal%29#Films

Paragon Walk; one of the earlier ones in the Charlotte & Thomas Pitt series.

I'm reading Dead man's grip by Peter James. A bit of a comedown after The Blackhouse which I thought was brilliant.

Back in Bishop's Lacey with the inimitable Flavia De Luce in The Dead In Their Vaulted Arches.

Most of the way through The Woodcutter by Reginald Hill. First I have read by this author and I am enjoying it quite a bit.

starting to read Dexter by Design by Jeff Lindsay

Only a few hours left to listen to How the Light Gets In by Louise Penny, the lastest in the Inspector Gamauche series in Three Pines. I only wish the narrator would pause for a second when the action/story changes. Penny switches back and forth a lot, and it can be jarring.

87: I think it's the system--I just checked both of my touchstones and Ngaio Marsh's Died in the Wool came up for the one I read while another book came up for Elizabeth Ludwig. I don't know why that's happening. Perhaps the system hasn't heard of the book I read.

Just started reading the mystery Catering to Nobody. It's the first in Diane Mott Davidson's Goldy the Caterer series. Goldy caters a wake, her ex-father-in-law croaks, and Goldy is accused of having added poison to the menu. So far it's been an entertaining read.

Todays' read was just so-so: Wrong Girl by Hank Phillippi Ryan. Not really a fan, I guess.

#102: are you remembering to double-bracket author's names--e.g., Elizabeth Ludwig?

103-I've always enjoyed that series-a little silly at times but still fun to read

Just beginning A Trace of Smoke by Rebecca Cantrell, which takes place in Berlin in 1931. So far, so good.

#95: Yes, I've seen both Point Blank and Payback as well as the 2013 adaptation of Flashfire that I mentioned. Thanks for pointing that list out; one or two of those films look worth checking out.

I've now moved on to The Vig, the second of the Dismas Hardy books by John Lescroart.

100 pages in The Last Dead Girl by Harry Dolan. This is a prequel to his other 2 books Very Bad Men and Bad things Happen. It introduces his character David Loogan. His books are fast paced and satisfying.

Enjoyed this one- very suspenseful. Hurting Distance by Sophie Hannah

Finished Catt out of the Bag by Clifford Witting and started Dying Fall: A Ruth Galloway Investigation by Elly Griffiths last night. I seem to have alternated between golden age mysteries and current times this month.

Started The Counterfeit Agent by Alex Berenson. I love these books and I'm already wrapped up in this one.

I read Hot Chocolate by Dawn Greenfield Ireland today - a cozy mystery but far too long. It would have been a decent mystery if it had been pared down to about half its current length!

Finished and enjoyed review copy of Parker Bilal's "The Ghost Runner" (2002, Cairo, a possible honour killing and Makana's investigation takes him to a remote oasis town in the Western desert). Just started... and gripped by... Belinda Bauer's Rubbernecker.

Now I'm reading The Bourne Sanction by Eric Van Lustbader.. It's an excellent spy novel--very entertaining.

#105--I didn't know about double-bracketing author's names but will do it in the future if I remember to.

Started Beautiful Lies by Lisa Unger. Off to a good start.

Moon Over Soho is a supernatural mystery. So far, so good.

Love the Rivers of London series, Joe!

I'm reading Spider Woman's Daughter, a new novel in the Leaphorn and Chee mystery series by Tony Hillerman's daughter Anne Hillerman. Pretty good, so far. I think her dad would be pleased.

I've just finished Ordinary Thunderstorms, by William Boyd, and immediately placed another of his titles on my library request list.

Started The First Rumpole Omnibus this morning. Delightful! I waited too long to read Rumpole. Though I shall have to look up details of the British justice system, as I'm sure I don't understand a few things.

If that's your first Boyd, Meredy, you're in for a treat, they get better. I felt OT was patchy compared to Restless or Any Human Heart. Waiting for Sunrise is good, too, but it's similar to Any Human Heart in places and not as perfect as that book.

Finished The Bourne Sanction. It was superb. Now I'm reading Judge & Jury by James Patterson and Andrew Gross. I've found it gripping so far.

I just won Love Story, With Murders by Harry Bingham from LT's Early Reviewer program. Has anyone read the first one in the series, Talking to the Dead by chance? I'm getting it from the library and hope to finish it before Love Story arrives.

Interrupted The First Rumpole Omnibus with Restless by William Boyd.

My first Mary Higgins Clark ever (late bloomer): Daddy's Gone A Hunting. Not really impressed the first two or three chapters in. Should I hang in there?

122: It was. My review is here:
http://www.librarything.com/work/8146124/reviews/105446086
Should I take them chronologically? Does it matter?

#20> I read Strange Shores last year. I had the feeling that the book was set in the dreamy stages, with the cold case being recounted in flashback, leading up to Erlendur dreaming of his brother. I still think that some of the clues laid regarding people coming back from hypothermia have left Indridason some wriggle room for Erlendur's possible return. It certainly didn't feel as final as the last Wallander novel.

No crime/mystery for me yet this year, unless Joseph Conrad's The Secret Agent counts. I just finished that and loved it.

I think all of Boyd's work is stand-alone, Meredy, so I think you can read them in any order you like. My only caution would be not to read Any Human Heart and Waiting for Sunrise too close together. Heart is better IMO, but they are similar in theme and approach. I liked them though. Will probably read another Boyd, soon. He's always fun.

I've just started Eggs in a Casket by Laura Childs

I'm reading High Heat, a Jack Reacher Kindle book.

I've got some Reacher going, too - Worth Dying For. It's starting to wind up to the big ass-kicking and I can hardly wait. This is gonna be good.

129: After reading that one book (and writing my review of it--I like to respond before I've seen other comments), I looked up some online articles and reviews. There was a very interesting interview with Boyd here
http://www.thewhitereview.org/interviews/interview-with-william-boyd/
in which he mentions Nabokov, and I also found a good deal of information about the hoax he perpetrated on the art world. All the more reason to think my guesses about Pale Fire, the significance of the main character's name, and the allegorical quality had some substance. So I'll watch the next one carefully.

Not right away, though; as you suggest, it may be wise to space them.

I am reading Outrage by Arnaldur Indriðason… so far, it is very good!

You could probably dive right into another one, Meredy, but with favorite authors (Boyd is one) I tend to space them out as well. I think my next may be Brazzaville Beach. My Teetering TBR Tower is huge though, so it might not be right away.

Hadn't read any of this series for a long time: The Winds of Change by Martha Grimes

I've been enjoying Kristina Ohlsson's The Disappeared, but with about 150 pages to go am thinking that the plot might have been brought to a satisfactory conclusion by now.

Finished off A Rule Against Murder - Louise Penny and have started A Cafe on the Nile by Bartle Bull.

2 thrillers back to back that are basically one long story. First book is Beautiful Lies and the second, which I'm going to try to finish today, is Sliver of Truth. Both by Lisa Unger. Not perfect, but enjoyable.

Had a great time with A Fountain Filled with Blood, and immediately got the next Clare and Russ, Out of the Deep.

I am just finishing my fourth Jack Reacher book (third in the order of publication) TripWire by Lee Child. I am really enjoying the books now that I am reading them in order. Always better to see the development of a character. This book has more mystery and a little bit less violence on Reacher's part (though I still have 30 pages and the climax to come :) ). This is a 5 star crime and mystery book in my opinion.