Ameise1 (Barbara)'s 50+ in 2018

I'm back again and I'm looking forward to a new fantastic reading year.

2011: 51 books
2012: 77 books
2013: 74 books
2014: 75 books
2015: 88 books
2016: 76 books
2017: 96 books




January
# 1 The Emperor's Tomb by Steve Berry ROOT Challenge 2018 (4½ stars)
# 2 The Miniaturist by Jessie Burton BAC January (4½ stars)
# 3 The Little Red Chairs by Edna O'Brien IAC January (4 stars)
# 4 Blue Nights by Joan Didion AAC January (4 stars)

February
# 5 The Silkworm by Robert Galbraith (4 stars)
# 6 Mercier and Camier by Samuel Beckett (4½ stars)
# 7 Der König, die Sonne, der Tod by Yuri Herrera (4 stars)
# 8 Love and Summer by William Trevor IAC February (4½ stars)
# 9 Mr. Mercedes by Stephen King AAC October (4 stars)
#10 Sag Harbor by Colson Whitehead AAC February (3 stars)

March
#11 The Modigliani Scandal by Ken Follett BAC February (3½ stars)
#12 Our Kind of Traitor by John Le Carré BAC March (4 stars)
#13 The Return of the Soldier by Rebecca West BAC November (4 stars)
#14 Still Life by Louise Penny ROOT Challenge 2018 (4 stars)
#15 The Gathering by Anne Enright IAC June (4½ stars)
#16 Turnstone by Graham Hurley BAC November (4½ stars)
#17 The Color Purple by Alice Walker AAC April (4½ stars)
#18 The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan AAC July (4½ stars)
#19 The Diamond As big As The Ritz by F. Scott Fitzgerald AAC December (3½ stars)
#20 Glasgow Kiss (DCI Lorimer) by Alex Gray BAC May (4½ stars)

April
#21 The Long Fall by Walter Mosley AAC June (4½ stars)
#22 The Deportees by Roddy Doyle IAC September (4½ stars)
#23 Opferzahl by Arne Dahl (4 stars)
#24 The Chimney Sweeper's Boy by Barbara Vine (4 stars)
#25 Sons of Dust by Arnaldur Indriðason (4½ stars)
#26 Waiting for Sunrise by William Boyd ROOT Challenge 2018 (4½ stars)

May
#27 Slammerkin by Emma Donoghue IAC November (4 stars)
#28 A Death in Summer by Benjamin Black aka John Banville IAC December (4 stars)
#29 A World Gone Mad by Astrid Lindgren (5 stars)
#30 Cat And Mouse by James Patterson ROOT Challenge 2018 (4 stars)
#31 The Keepers of the Library by Glenn Cooper ROOT Challenge 2018 (4 stars)
#32 The Danger by Dick Francis ROOT Challenge 2018 (4½ stars)
#33 Fingersmith by Sarah Waters ROOT Challenge 2018 (4½ stars)
#34 Das Dorf der Mörder by Elisabeth Herrmann (4 stars)

June
#35 Faithful Place by Tana French (4 stars)
#36 The Crow Trap by Anne Cleeves ROOT Challenge 2018 (4½ stars)
#37 Winterkartoffelknödel by Rita Falk (4 stars)
#38 Das Päckchen by Franz Hohler ROOT Challenge 2018 (4½ stars)
#39 The Seventh Sacrament by David Hewson ROOT Challenge 2018 (4 stars)
#40 Thanks for telling me, Emily by Deirdre Madden IAC March (4½ stars)
#41 You think it, I'll say it by Curtis Sittenfeld (4 stars)

July
#42 Blue Monday by Nicci French (4½ stars)
#43 The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath (4 stars)
#44 Tuesday's Gone by Nicci French (4½ stars)
#45 In Cold Blood by Truman Capote (4½ stars)
#46 Dissolution by C. J. Sansom ROOT Challenge 2018 (4 stars)
#47 Town Haunts by Cathy Spencer ROOT Challenge 2018 (4 stars)

August
#48 Der Schneegänger by Elisabeth Herrmann (4½ stars)
#49 Treasure of Saint-Lazare by John Pearce ROOT Challenge 2018 (4 stars)
#50 Mind Demons by Mike Jastrzebski ROOT Challenge 2018 (3½ stars)
#51 Dead Beat by Val Mc Dermid (4½ stars)
#52 Dark Tides by Elizabeth L. Jones ROOT Challenge 2018 (3½ stars)
#53 Lenin Lives Next Door by Jennifer Eremeeva ROOT Challenge 2018 (4½ stars)
#54 Kick Back by Val McDermid (4 stars)
#55 Waiting for Wednesday by Nicci French (4½ stars)
#56 Keyserlings Geheimnis by Klaus Modick (4½ stars)
#57 The Girl On the Train by Paula Hawkins ROOT Challenge 2018 (4 stars)

September
#58 Zu blaue Augen by Mira Magén (4 stars)
#59 Bretonischer Stolz by Jean-Luc Bannalec (4½ stars)
#60 NordNordWest by Sylvain Coher 4 stars)
#61 Pestalozzis Berg by Lukas Hartmann (4 stars)
#62 Mein Kampf in der Fremde by Sandra Riel (3 stars)
#63 Don't Let Go by Harlan Coben (4½ stars)
#64 Oxford 7 by Pablo Tusset (3½ stars)
#65 The Outcast Dead by Elly Griffiths (4½ stars)
#66 A Gentleman In Moscow by Amor Towles (4 stars)
#67 Thursday's Children by Nicci French (4½ stars)
#68 Abscheu by Esther Verhoef (4 stars)
#69 Do Android Dream of Electric Sheep by Philip K. Dick (3½ stars)
#70 Home to McCarron's Corner: Lily's Story by Sharon K. Middleton EarlyReview (2 stars)
#71 The Resistance Man by Martin Walker (4½ stars)
#72 The Zig Zag Girl by Elly Griffiths (4 stars)

October
#73 The Messenger by Daniel Silva (4½ stars)
#74 Smoke and Mirrors by Elly Griffiths (4 stars)
#75 Chess Story by Stefan Zweig (5 stars)
#76 Alles muss ans Licht: Das geheime Dossier über den Kreuzweg des Papstes by Gianluigi Nuzzi (3½ stars)
#77 Tuesday the Rabbi Saw Red by Harry Kemelman (4 stars)
#78 Resurrection by Wolf Haas (4 stars)
#79 Wednesday Rabbi Got Wet by Harry Kemelman (4 stars)
#80 The Blood Card by Elly Griffiths (4½ stars)
#81 Career of Evil by Robert Galbraith (4 stars)
#82 Children of War by Martin Walker (4½ stars)
#83 The Vanishing Box by Elly Griffiths (4 stars)
#84 The Bone Man by Wolf Haas (4 stars)
#85 Come Sweet Death! by Wolf Haas (4 stars)
#86 Broken Harbour by Tana French (4 stars)
#87 Break Down by Sara Paretsky (4½ stars)
#88 Bussestunde by Arne Dahl (4 stars)

November
#89 Der letzte Harem by Peter Prange (4½ stars)
#90 Outrage by Arnaldur Indriðason (4 stars)
#91 The Bone bed by Patricia Cronwell (4½ stars)
#92 Cause of Death by Patricia Cronwell (4½ stars)
#93 Istanbul Tango by Esmahan Aykol (4 stars)
#94 Black Skies by Arnaldur Indriðason (4 stars)
#95 The Good Daughter by Karin Slaughter (4½ stars)

December
#96 Hanging Hill by Mo Hayder (4 stars)
#97 Fallen by Karin Slaughter (4 stars)
#98 Die Anatomie des Teufels by Jordi Llobregat (4½ stars)
#99 Port Mortuary by Patricia Cornwell (4½ stars)
#100 A Talent For Murder by Andrew Wilson (3½ stars)
#101 Strandgut by Benjamin Cors (4½ stars)
#102 Küstenstrich by Benjamin cors (4½ stars)

book 1 Read in German

 The Emperor's Tomb

Again, this was a great book from the Cotton Malone series. Cotton has to free his friend Cassiopeia Vitt, who was kidnapped for stealing an old Chinese lamp. But this was just the hanger that tells the story of China. Berry managed to bring the Chinese high culture and all its inventions closer to the reader in this thriller. It not only teaches you what the Chinese invented thousands of years ago, but also about a hot topic that has to do with oil resources. Likewise, you learn a lot about the political machinations of the past and today.
The thriller is written grippingly. I highly recommend this series.

Happy reading in 2018!

>3 PaperbackPirate: Thanks so much PP.

book 2

 The Miniaturist
BAC January

What an exciting story. On the one hand, it's all about the prediction of the miniaturist, who keeps Nella in suspense with her life-like figures, but on the other hand, the inhabitants of the real house have many secrets that only become apparent over time. Nella a young girl who was married to a rich merchant comes from the country to the big city Amsterdam. Much is alien to her here and she struggles to find her way around the house, as it is still led by her sister-in-law. From her husband she gets a dollhouse, which resembles the house where she lives now. Over time, figures, animals and objects come along. Nella soon realizes that these things can predict the future by understanding the signs. Amsterdam is an economic metropolis and Nella's husband plays an important role. But he underestimates his power, because his secret is that he is gay, which at the time was considered a serious crime. Her sister-in-law also has a big secret. While Nella is initially considered the inexperienced 'land mouse', she develops untold powers to the end and finds her place in society.

>5 Ameise1: That sounds like a unique story that I would enjoy! I loved playing with my dollhouse growing up.

Hi! Best wishes for a great reading year!

>6 PaperbackPirate: It's a story which I can highly recommend.

>7 rocketjk: Thanks so much, Jerry.

book 3 Read in German

 The Little Red Chairs
IAC January

This is a very special story. It starts in Sarajevo, where a red chair stands for each victim. Then the story shifts to Ireland, where one day a stranger comes and turns the contemplative, quiet and boring life of the villagers on its head. At first I found this part very pleasant to read, but I kept wondering what this has to do with Sarajevo. It became clear in about half of the story. This stranger was none other than the butcher of Sarajevo, who of course was a Devil in contemplative Ireland. His victim Fidelma had to flee after a very tragic experience. She traveled to London. There she experienced what it means to be a refugee. She gets accommodation with an African woman who came to England years ago as a refugee. She gets to know the stories of the refugee women. It also topics such as the mutilation of the female genital part, rape and suppression. Fidelma takes a long time to open up to others and find her way. She is also encouraged to participate in the negotiations of her torturer at the War Tribunal in The Hague.
What I like about this book is that the devilish is called by name. What I don't like is that the second part (London) is a very own story - very valuable - but somehow too little linked to the first part.

book 4 Read in German

 Blue Nights
AAC January

That was an interesting read. Didion remembers her daughter. It begins with her wedding, because the pictures of the clothes have impressed her. In between, she tells of saying goodbye in the hospital when her daughter died. She talks about the bondage of the two women and how her daughter repeatedly claimed that she must be the strong and her mother needed her. This becomes clear in the course of reading, because Ddion slowly loses her memory and steers towards dementia.
The story is told with love and humor.

book 5 ♫ Read in German

 The Silkworm

A good solid crime thriller. For my taste a bit too bloodthirsty and morbid. I got to know Cormoran and his coworker better. I have to say, they are developing into a dreamteam.

book 6 ♫ Read in German

 Mercier and Camier
IAC April

This is a great story peppered with humor, laughter and wink. A book that I can highly recommend.
Beckett proves his high linguistic ability. Mercier and Camier are on the move, constantly pondering on trifles such as who was at a meeting point first, about the sense and nonsense of an umbrella, about friendship and what happened to the bike. There is a steady language exchange between the two at the highest level, which often made me laugh.

book 7 Read in German

 Der König, die Sonne, der Tod
BB from Lynda (Carmenere)

This is an interesting trilogy. The first part tells the story of a singer. Involuntarily / voluntarily, he is ordered to the 'court' of a cartel boss. There he tells the hero's deeds of the boss who acts like a king. On the other hand, he experiences all the intrigues, power games and killings that take place in this 'yard' and he always tries not to fall into disfavour. On the other hand, there is one person he tries to free from the clutches of the rulers. The story is exciting and shows how it goes back and forth behind the scenes of a cartel.
The second story is about a young woman crossing the border to find her brother in the United States. It shows how the human smuggling works across the border, such as tugs money is given as a hand washes the other and how those affected at the end but the poor bastards are. This part of the Mexican trilogy is written very sensitively.
The third part is written witty, even if its content is not laughable. It's almost like the legacy of Romeo and Juliet, only this time the warring Mexican cartels are the families. In one family, the daughter is found dead in the other the son. Both have not been killed by anyone but have died from tragic accidents. Nevertheless, both families accuse the other of killing their child. A mediator has his hands full to bring the truth to light, while he himself has enough own problems on his neck and runs the risk that he is killed in the whole action itself. n addition, he currently has a problem with his love life, which seems to occupy him more than his case.

book 8 Read in German

 Love and Summer
IAC February

What a beautiful emotional story. It begins with the death of a woman who was an important personage to the little town, since she cared for everyone, but somehow I feel that she was doing all the work of respecting and pleasing her family. Her son, who was always mothered by her, is nothing without her. He lives up to his obligations, but he does not care about his fellow man. Her daughter takes over the household and continues the B & B. She has a past that she recognizes by watching a young farmer's wife and a bon vivant, who by chance come to know each other and have a summer flirtation. There's an old confused man everyone appreciates, but not many take him seriously.
This story is written with great love for the protagonists. One feels their desires, fears and affections.

book 9 ♫ Read in German

 Mr. Mercedes
AAC October

It took a while for me to immerse myself in the story. I do not know why, but somehow the start did not grab me. Later, however, the course of the story was really exciting and I could hardly stop listening to the audio book. Hodges and his amateur detective grew to my heart. I hoped and suffered with them that they could solve the case.
I will definitely read the other two books of this trilogy.

book 10 Read in German

 Sag Harbor
AAC February

This story did not suit my taste. I think that's because I'm a non-American and I'm not familiar with the long summer breaks as a kid and teenager. That's why I did not know how to deal with these memories. But what I have to credit Whitehead is his language. He has a clever way of describing something, be it processes, things or feelings.

book 11 ♫ Read in German

 The Modigliani Scandal
BAC February

A pleasant but not outstanding Ken Follett. It's about forgery and obsolete art trade. Young artists show the gallerists that they can fake old masters or in whose style can invent images by selling them such fake art. On the other hand, a young woman tries to find an unknown Modigliani. This story is quick, but it does not always grab you like that.

book 12

 Our Kind of Traitor
BAC March

It took me a while to immerse myself in the story. It was probably because I've been no longer Le Carré read more and therefore have to get used to his writing style again.
A young couple spends his holidays in Antigua. There they meet Dima a Russian money launderer on a large scale, with his whole family and entourage. Dima wants to know his family protected because he can not expect much support from the Russian money mafia anymore. It's a race with time as Dima soon signs the papers that cut him off. The British secret service, on the other hand, is taking the time to acknowledge him as a defector, as senior members of the government are involved in this money laundering.
It was an exciting quick read.

book 13 Read in German

 The Return of the Soldier
BAC November (BB from MGovers)

This is a wonderfully written story that belongs to WWI, but can also be considered as a microcosmic story. Rebecca West emotionally describes the return of an officer during WWI suffering from a memory disorder he has due to the detonation of a bomb. He believes that he is still young (20 years old). Everything he does with his wife, with whom he has been married for ten years, seems to have been wiped out. He only remembers his old love of youth, which is now already married.
I highly recommend this book.

book 14,

 Still Life
ROOT Challenge

Since I started this series last year in the middle and I liked it so much, I start to read it in turn. In the first volume of the Chief Inspector Armand Gamache series, you will learn all the protagonists who are also in the later books occur again. The small town of Three Pines outside of Montreal seems to be a dreamy, lovely little place where everyone knows each other and appreciates where to help and be there for each other. It is precisely this place where a murder happens and no one can imagine who could have something against Jane Neal.
It's a great introduction to a series that I'm sure I'll read.

book 15 ♫ Read in German

 The Gathering
IAC June

This is a great Irish family story. Through the suicide of the narrator's brother, she reflects on what she has experienced together and on her family. In doing so, she concludes that the cause of suicide can be found in childhood. She talks about her parents and how her mother, whom she no longer recognizes, was literally a birth machine. History shows the power of Catholic history, which does not allow birth control. There is also talk about child maltreatment, about unrequited love, about desires and fears.
The book is very exciting and Enright describes the people with a lot of love. I highly recommend this story.

book 16

 Turnstone
BAC December

This is the first book of the thrilling DI Joe Faraday series in Portsmouth. DI Faraday is a bird lover and in every free minute he devotes himself to bird watching, which also distracts him from his cases. He does not always have it easy with his investigative tactics, on the one hand he listens strongly to his gut feeling on the other hand he also has colleagues who conspire partly with the bad guys and thereby earn a separate salary. In this book, you get to know many protagonists, who appear in the other books over and over again. This time he wants to clarify the disappearance of a man and comes here not only the drug bosses in the way but also the rich, who have many relationships up to the top. His superiors try to believe him, but also tie him back in his investigations again and again. In addition, he has problems with his deaf son, which also need to be clarified.
It was an exciting amusing reading and I highly recommend this series.

book 17 Read in German

 The Color Purple
AAC April

A fascinating but also sad story about 'black' women in America and Africa. I was very interested in how plausibly the role of women is represented. They are being abused, beaten and worth nothing. They do not need education and have no rights in the 'black' commune. On the other hand, I was pleased that these women with their small but effective tricks somehow get their life under control and are better than the men. They are currently doing a fortune while a majority of men have become used to idleness. The women fight for their small freedoms. It was also exciting to see how the missionary in Africa feels neither African nor American. Despite black skin, she is neither fish nor bird and never really goes anywhere. But she also fights for the small freedoms that make life more enjoyable.

book 18 ♫ Read in German

 The Joy Luck Club
AAC July

This story is about four Chinese women who emigrate to the United States for various reasons during the Second World War and make friends in San Francisco. Her four daughters experience the dichotomy between the American way of life and Chinese ways of thinking that they unconsciously adopted from their mothers. This also leads to conflicts between them, which can be solved by clarifying conversations.
I was fascinated by how the American and Chinese minds are so completely different and yet the daughters and mothers find an approach to each other that works harmoniously and naturally.
Each of the eight women's fates illustrates another aspect. Unfortunately, the individual stories are told one after another and only loosely linked by the friendship of the mothers and the farewell party for June.

book 19 ♫ Read in German

 The diamond As Big As The Ritz
AAC December

When John T. Unger is sent to the country's most expensive and exclusive boys' school, his parents are proud and he is thrilled. Does it mean to come out of Hades - "Yes, it's hot down there" - a small town on the Mississippi that can be considered nothing but provincial. At St. Midas School, everything is to John's taste: Surrounded by well-dressed, well-mannered rich boys - "The richer one is, the more I like him" - he finally gets over by the somewhat unapproachable Percy over the summer vacation invited home. The world opening up to him surpasses all his expectations. Room made of ebony and gold, sapphire hair ornaments, plates of wafer-thin diamonds. An undiscovered world in the midst of Montana. A paradise or a prison?
This story is a kind of utopia and super-rich decadence. So it was not always to my taste, even though Fitzgerald's narrative style is great.

book 20

 Glasgow Kiss (DCI Lorimer)
BAC May

I love the DCI Lorimer series. I've read books four to six and should start reading the first three books in the series next.
DCI Lorimer has to find a serial killer. But he only realizes this over time that the murder of a student of his wife was only the last of a series. Of course, people are first suspected by the school. Only when he receives only a few hours to investigate, before he has to hand over the case, he finds the culprit. In addition to finding the murderer, he also has to enlighten the disappearance of a little girl.
Alex Gray writes exciting thrillers with a lot of psychological background. That is also the reason that DCI Lorimer's friend is a psychologist and whose life partner is Lorimer's pathologist. The team is successful in solving cases.

book 21 Read in German

 The Long Fall
AAC June

That was an exciting thriller. It's just a shame that my library does not have any sequels to this series.
Leonid McGill is a private investigator with a dark past. He was once a henchman and a thug in the NY Underworld. Their arm is long and they still try to pull him into their machinations, even if McGill now only wants to work on the legal side. But he needs the money to feed his family and pay for his luxurious office, so his actions are always a bailout between good and evil. During his investigations, corpses pave his way. Thugs and killers are hired to get him out of the way, but McGill still keeps up with boxing and is better than his opponents.

book 22 Read in German

 The Deportees
IAC September

This was a fun read. Roddy Doyle describes in eight stories how immigrants go in Ireland. Sometimes it was so funny that I could laugh out loud. I liked the story where an Irishman founds a band made up only of immigrants. The experiences and the enthusiasm are great. Doyle can very much challenge the Irish themselves. He can describe an Irish father whose daughter brings a 'black man' home. The father steps from one fat cup to the next. On the one hand, he is not friendly with immigrants, on the other hand, he would like to stand in front of his daughter and her companion as a cosmopolitan man. Each of the eight stories is a pearl in itself.

book 23 ♫ Read in German

 Opferzahl

This is an exciting thriller around the A team. In a subway a bomb is lit while one of the A Team just wants to get into the subway station. During the investigation, he does not say for a long time that he was somehow a witness of this plot. To the daughter of a member was injected a poisonous warhead with a syringe in the arm. First thought her family of a bee sting. Only with a letter claiming remember all that it is a race against death. Not exactly helpful is that the various service withhold important information from each other.

book 24 ♫ Read in German

 The Chimney Sweeper's Boy
BB from Meg

This was an interesting book about a woman who realized that her late father was not the one he pretended to be. She made inquiries and found that her father took on the identity of a deceased person. During her search, she not only found a new family but also the secret of her father, who had written much of it in his books without anyone noticing. She plunged into different worlds, including the homosexual scene.
I liked the book well.

book 25 ♫ Read in German

 Sons of Dust

What I appreciate about Indriðason 's books is that they are not only exciting, but always challenging one topic that deals with the world.
This is the first volume from the Kriminalpolis Erlendur Sveinsson series. As always, I do not read series in a row, so it's not the first book for me from this series. With recent murders and deaths, the Reykjavik police must deal with something that is in the past. It is about experiments on people in particular to adolescent boys who had no idea that they had to serve as experimental rabbits. Their psyche changed with a drug that they received regularly from their teacher. Many ended up suicide or went to a lunatic asylum. Through these experiments and their blood tests, a malicious scientist and entrepreneur began to clone these guys.
The book is captivating from the first to the last page.

book 26

 Waiting for Sunrise
ROOT Challenge

A fantastic spy novel that kept me tied up to the end.
Lysander Rief, a young English actor, spends some time in Vienna, to be cured by psychiatric help. He gets to know Hettie and joins in an adventure with her. Hettie is a restless person. She becomes pregnant and accuses Lysander. He has to flee Vienna, but he succeeds only with the help of the British secret service. He is now in their clutches and must, in order to pay off his 'debts', fulfill various missions for them. Not only does he put himself at risk, but he also has to discover that his mother plays no inglorious role in the network of espionage.
The story is very varied and exciting. It leads you through the turmoil of WWI.

book 27 Read in German

 Slammerkin
IAC November

This is the story of Mary Saunders who lived in the middle of the 18th century. She grew up in London. Her mother mended laundry, her biological father was dead and her stepfather works with coal. Mary was fed up with poverty and decided to start a new life by working as a prostitute. She did not like this life too badly. She had Doll Higgins, who took her under her wing. When Mary Doll found herself dead in the oath of London and the landlady sent her the worst pimp in London, it was time for Mary to get out of London. She went to Monmouth, where her family came from. There she found a new home with a friend of her mother, who ran a tailor shop. Mary worked as a maid as well as a seamstress. At first she felt safe and thought she had found a good home until her old life caught up with her.
This is a good story that describes life well at the time.

book 28 Read in German

 A Death in Summer by Benjamin Black aka John Banville
IAC December

This was an exciting thriller playing in the 1950s in and around Dublin. It's the fourth volume from the Quirke series, but for me it's the first book I read from this series.
Richard Jewell, a nasty contemporary, is found dead at his desk. At first everything looks like a suicide. Only the pathologist Quirke and Inspector Hackett believe in murder. To enlighten this is very difficult, because all the protagonists have something to hide. Furthermore, it turns out that even sexual abuse is a motive.

book 29 Read in German

 A World Gone Mad
BB from Charlotte

The German edition of the war diaries of Astrid Lindgren is structured as if in two parts. On the one hand, Lindgren tells how she and her family experienced the war years. She emphasizes again and again that they were well, that they had enough to eat and that they did not have to worry too much. The food always had a great significance. On the other hand, she stuck newspaper clippings in her diary, as well as other notes and copies of her work during the war. This part was very interesting for me. It showed how she perceived the war as a Swede. In particular, as happened to the Scandinavian countries during the war. It also shows how early Lindgren was aware of what happened to the Jews.
This book is a very exciting history lesson. I highly recommend it. It is a pity that the newspaper clippings are not printed in all language translations.

book 30

 Cat and Mouse
ROOTS Challenge 2018

This is a fast-paced thriller from the Alex Cross series. Cross family lives in dangerous circumstances, as a murderer from the past seeks their lives. Cross has his hands full, so that his loved ones are not in mortal danger. While he is on the heels of Gary Soneji, a person from the FBI's environment is threatening a much more deadly threat to him and many innocent people.
From a more positive side, Cross finally finds the love of his life.

book 31

 The Keepers of the Library
ROOTs Challenge 2018

This is the third part of the Will Piper trilogy. I really liked this trilogy. Also the last band was told exciting. Sometimes it was a bit too abstract, with all the Secret Services and their goal to win the books for their country, but the basic idea of what has been going on over the centuries has been Cooper's and left the end open.

book 32

 The Danger
ROOTs Challenge 2018

This was a very exciting read. It's about kidnapping in the horse scene, where these kidnappings take place in different countries and yet all are interconnected. Andrew Douglas has his hands full to reduce the ransom demands, but also to liberate the victims.
The story is fast-paced, you can hardly catch your breath.

book 33

 Fingersmith
ROOTs Challenge 2018

This is a great historical mystery. Lant Street, in the Borough, was home to Mrs. Sucksby, who was taking in babies, and Mr. Ibbs, who was a locksmith, but rather stewed stolen goods. The main characters were Susan and Maud, both of them the same age, but their childhood fate could not be further apart, could it?
While Susan helped Mrs Sucksby raise her babies, Maud helped her uncle catalog, copy, and read pornographic books. Until one day 'gentleman' the whole arrangement started to turn upside down.
The story is spellbinding, sometimes it made me mad, but I could not stop reading it.

book 34 ♫ Read in German

 Das Dorf der Mörder

Sanela Beara is a young patrolman who is called to a case in the Berlin Tierpark. Beara starts with witness interviews, even if according to the regulations she is only responsible for securing the crime scene. In doing so, she learns more about the background than the investigating criminologists, which does not suit them well. Her boss does not take her seriously. Only with time does he realize that Beara is asking the right questions and drawing the conclusions. In doing so she puts herself in danger and a race for death and life begins.
This is a captivating story.

book 35 ♫ Read in German

 Faithful Place
IAC May

Frank Mackey is caught up in his past. He has only had contact with a sister for 22 years when she quotes him in his parents' house. There the events rush. The suitcase of his ex-girlfriend has been found. Mackey has to face the past to find out what happened 22 years ago when he wanted to flee to London with her and she never arrived at the meeting point.
The story is very captivating.

book 36

 The Crow Trap
ROOTs Challenge

Exciting entry into a new series. I've seen some of this on TV. While conservationists are investigating an area, as a quarry is about to be built there, people close to the conservationist die. Every death is suspicious and it is uncertain whether it is murder, suicide or natural death. Relatives of the dead are as suspicious as members of the management of the quarry. DI Vera Stnhope investigates in an unorthodox way. It also counts on the amateur detectives that can be found among the conservationists.

book 37 Read in German

 Winterkartoffelknödel

This is the first book of the funny Franz Eberhofer series that takes place in a typical Bavarian village. Franz Eberhofer, who was once a policeman in Munich, was transferred to his home village. There he lives together with his near-deaf grandmother and his Beatles addictive joint-smoking father. Now he is an ordinary village policeman. Actually he could push a quiet ball, but that does not suit him at all. In an old villa, an attractive woman returns, allegedly the daughter of the owner, who turns the head of the men of the place. In her tow is an architect that does not seem quite kosher. Suddenly, unusual deaths occur in the sleepy little town and Frank Eberhofer wants to get to the bottom of things. In doing so, he enters various fats.
One can count this series to the cozy mystery. It's easy to read and often makes you smile. For the physical well-being provides the grandma, who brings the daily hearty food to the table. The recipes can be found at the end of the book.

book 38 Read in German

 Das Päckchen
ROOTs challenge

What a wonderful story. A librarian picks up the phone in a telephone booth because it has rung. On the phone was an unknown woman who asked him for help. He visited her and she handed him a packet of an ancient 8th-century manuscript. During the story you will learn the history of the old manuscript. On the one hand it is told how the unknown woman received it and on the other hand it is the story of the writer Haimo, who wrote the book as a monk in a monastery. But he was in love with Mary, who accompanied him on his journey through the south of Europe.
This story is written with much love for all the protagonists and also the love for old manuscripts.

book 39

 The Seventh Sacrament
ROOTs Challenge

This is the 5th volume of the Nic Costa series. It was an interesting read but did not convince me as much as the other volumes.
A seven-year-old boy disappears after being taken to an underground Mithras temple by his father, the archeologist. In these underground passages students of the father are on a discovery tour.
Over the years, one student after another dies, not a natural death, but they are brutally murdered. Nic Costa and his team are challenged. On the one hand they have to stop these murders and on the other hand they want to find the missing boy after fourteen years. In doing so they, especially Leo Falcone, are in grave danger.

book 40 Read in German

 Thanks For Telling Me, Emily
IAC March

This is a great children's book that I read to my students (2nd grade) during the past weeks.
Emily is the owner of a pet shop, an extraordinary pet shop. There live different animals together as a sworn community, which in reality are spider-foeind. Keira is Emily's niece and helps her during the summer holidays. There is also Finbarr, who delivers Emily's orders and is hopelessly in love with Emily. Everything would be calm and peaceful if Henrietta Fysshe-Pye and her son Ryan had not moved into the old castle. Henrietta is an extravagant personality and therefore needs exceptional pets. Emily does not want to sell her pets to her, so Finbarr thinks of the craziest things.
The story is very adventurous, exciting and funny written. My students immersed in this adventure. They suffered with the animals and were thirsty when Henreitta was not feeling well. I highly recommend this book as a book to read to children.

book 41

 You think It, I'll Say It

These are interesting short stories that are taken from today's life. There are stories that have to do with the election of the current president of the United States, relationship stories that have their origins during college / student time but also socially critical stories. It's all American, so as a non-American, I can look at this with a lot of smirking from a distance. The stories are exciting, written with a wink of the eye. I had a great time.

book 42 ♫ Read in German

 Blue Monday

This is the first volume of the Frieda Klein series and I was so excited that I already started to hear the sequel.
Frieda Klein is a psychologist. One day a patient told her about things that had to do with the disappearance of a little boy. Despite confidentiality Frieda decided to get in touch with the police. She unintentionally got the role of a profiler and her cooperation with the police began.
In this first book, you get to know all the protagonists who play an important role later as well, and part of the mystery is solved.
Great, captivating and exciting written.

book 43 Read in German

 The Bell Jar

This is Sylvia Plath's only novel. Shortly thereafter, she took her own life. It is said that this novel is autobiographically coloured. In this novel we accompany Esther. A young woman who can not cope with her life and all the impressions and seductions. Esther is a highly intelligent student who has won a trip to NY. Already during her stay in NY one senses that she does not get along with herself and her environment. As soon as she gets home it goes mentally downhill with her. She can not read and write anymore. She is apatic and lethargic. She tries to take her own life. Thereafter, an odyssey begins through various psychiatric institutions.
The book impressed me a lot.

I don't think I ever understood people with depression until I read this book!

>50 PaperbackPirate: Yes, I have the same feelings.

book 44 ♫ Read in German

 Tuesday's Gone

Also the second volume of the Frieda Klein series was thrilling from the first to the last moment.
After a man was found dead in the home of a mentally ill woman, DCI Karlsson decided to include Frieda as a co-worker. Frieda herself does not want to work anymore, the aftermath of the first case is still present. Even the detectives around Karlsson do not want to have Frieda with them. But as luck would have it, Frieda can not refrain from investigating and gets more and more involved in the investigations. She encounters fraud, exploitation of unstable people and greed.

book 45 Read in German

 In Cold Blood

This book is great written, even if the content takes your breath away. Truman Capote has the murder of the Clutter family meticulous, but not judgmental investigated. On the one hand he describes the life and the murder of the family, on the other hand he deals with the murderers. He points out what made them do it, the symbiosis of the two perpetrators and also that they do not regret anything in their own way.
During reading, I often came to the thought that there are people for whom a human life does not count, but only their satisfaction. The realization is frightening, but unfortunately only too true.

book 46

 Dissolution

This is a great start to the Matthew Shardlake series. The story takes place at the time of Henry VIII when the monasteries were closed and the lands and fortunes were handed over to the royalists. Matthew Shardlake is due to travel from Thomas Cromwell to Scarnsea. He takes his roommate Mark with him. In Scarnsea a monastery must be closed. A colleague of Shardlake was brutally murdered, so Shardlake's job is not only to close the monastery, but also to solve the murder of his colleague. It remains not only with this victim.
The story is told exciting and I will definitely read the continuations too.

book 47

 Town Haunts

This is the second volume of the Anna Nolan Mystery Series. Also this time Anna is with her two friends in an amateurish way a case of solving. The story is about Halloween. The cemetery gardener hears in the middle of the night from the cemetery call his dead wife. He also sees light around her grave. Scared to death, he explains himself to his friends. They decide to help him. They bring themselves in very great danger. The police not only have to solve a case, but also protect amateur detectives from themselves and other dangers.
A very amusing thriller that is easy to read.

book 48 ♫ Read in German

 Der Schneegänger

Great second volume of the Sanela Beara series. This time, Sanela is caught up in her past. A skeleton of a little boy is found. In the patology one finds that he was maltreated during his lifetime and that his death could also be murder.
Sanela, who is currently in the police school, interferes again and works undercover. The boy's parents are Croats, like her. Sanela can be employed as a maid in the mother's house. She soon realizes that something was covered up years ago.
Very exciting and captivating tells from the beginning to the end.

book 49

 Treasure of Saint-Lazare

Great entry into a new series. It plays in Paris and Sarasota, Florida. The point is that Eddie's father, together with a friend after the WWII, sometimes hijacked Nazi-theft art, but also returned it to the public. When the friend was murdered, Eddie received a letter that was very puzzling. But Eddie realized that he was not the only one who tried to solve the puzzle. After all these years, a descendant of a Nazi wants to bring into his possession a certain lost painting and gold bullions. He is not afraid to kill for it. The story is gripping and fast-paced. I will definitely read the sequels as well.

book 50

 Mind Demons

Partly I had trouble with this book. Two women disappear and Linda Morgan tries to find them. She investigates a so-called psychologist, who has no diplomas, but always makes women dependent and brings them to their fortune. Linda puts herself in danger during the investigation.

book 51 ♫ Read in German

 Dead Beat

This is the first book in the Kate Brannigan series. Kate is a private investigater who is involved with a rock music journalist. They live side by side and their houses are connected by a conservatory. Kate accompanies Richard to an event. She meets the musician Jett, who hires Kate to find his past love and muse. Already this is not so easy to accomplish, but later the search for her murderer becomes much more difficult.
The story is very exciting, with a lot of black humor and a high tempo. I will definitely read the following books of this series as well.

book 52

 Dark Tides

In this story I would have liked more depth, because the basic idea of the story is great and could possibly occur at any time.
The point is that a magnetic accident in the atmosphere stops all power supplies. This also means that everything that runs IT moderately, as well as all artificial intelligence no longer work. Cars can no longer drive, refrigerators no longer work, as well as the water pumps, etc. Only the inhabitants of a small island have taken precautions. They still have some water sources, plant food and can still catch fish. This fuels the envy of others and 'warfare' is inevitable.

book 53

 Lenin Lives Next Door

This book is great. I often had to laugh aloud while reading. Jennifer Eremeeva has the talent to describe her everyday life in Moscow in such a way that one feels in the middle of it and yet is grateful not to have to experience it one by one. She talks about marriages, life on dachas, the sheer madness on Moscow's streets, the sheer endless flow of alcohol and its effects, how to get a decent place to live, how to get in, how to get into better social circles and how the festivals are celebrated, etc. She bluntly writes what she experiences with her friends. It is written witty and you want it to never stop.

book 54 ♫ Readi in German

 Kick Back

The second story of the Kate Brannigen series was exciting as well. A conservatory builder must be sure that his newly built conservatories disappear overnight. In addition, he notices that the so-called owners of these conservatories are no longer findable and do not settle the bill. At the same time, a friend of Kate realizes that a down payment on a property dissolves in the air, as this property is already installed by a construction company. Kate over time determines that these cases are related. But to convict the bad guys is not that easy.

book 55

 Waiting For Wednesday

Frieda is still not fully recovered after her nearly death. What she needed would be a quiet home, rest, and definitely not a new case she might occupy. It all starts with Joseph redesigning her bathroom, bringing her niece in with her, and soon three children who have lost their mother in tragic circumstances. Frieda does not have a quiet home anymore. She keeps out of the investigation, but is looking for a missing teenage girl. All of these activities are too much for her. She can not sleep anymore, hardly eats anything and looks almost like a ghost. Her nemesis Dean Reeves is always close to her, which does not necessarily soothe her.
Also the third volume of this series is very exciting.

book 56 Read in German

 Keyserlings Geheimnis

This is a wonderful story about Eduard Graf von Keyserling, an aging Baltic aristocrat who spends his summer holidays with friends on Lake Starnberg and ponders his past. Together with his friends, who, as he is devoted to art, be it literary or painting, he enjoys the life of a bohemian, hiding the secret of him from others. Only the reader is revealed what he has experienced everything.
The story is funny, varied and written with a lot of humor. It shows a time around the turn of the century from 1900.

Thanks so much, Francine. So far it was a wonderful reading year.

It slipped by without me even noticing. Congratulations on 50+ books!!!

book 57

 The Girl On The Train

It was an exciting read, though from time to time I got angry about 'How alcoholism can destroy whole families and lives'. The story is told from the point of view of three women. Rachel, extremely alcoholic, who has some 'film cracks', what had happened, Anna,who Rachel's ex-husband has fallen asleep, as the two other women and as a way out only the handle to the bottle and Megan, the victim, the one sex addicted and on the other hand carries a dark past. Rachel tries to expose the murder of Megan, puts herself in danger and no longer knows who she can trust.

book 58 Read in German

 Zu blaue Augen

This was an interesting book about feelings, relationships, illnesses, past and future, all told through a fictitious family (that is, the mother, her daughters, her granddaughter, and her housekeeper) and the men who played some minor role in their lives.
The matriarch raised her daughters more or less on her own since her husband died early. Now, at the age of 77, she has the feeling that she still has to catch up on life. On the one hand, she plays the forgetful, so that the social welfare office pays her a pension, on the other hand, she gets tucked into a bar at night and celebrates the whole night through. The only ones who go through with her are the housekeeper and the granddaughter. Her daughters are not so close to her. Only when she is seriously ill do her daughters show their true feelings.
The story is set in Jerusalem. She is written in a variety of funny ways.

book 59 ♫ Read in German

 Bretonischer Stolz

This is Commissaire Dupin's fourth case that pushes him to his limits. A body is discovered and the investigation leads to Scotland. Incidentally detected an underling Dupin in ilegalem sand robbery. Dupin puts all his strength in these cases, as his boss sits on his neck. It even goes so far as to suspend him. By the way, Claire his girlfriend moves near him. She starts a new job as a cardiologist. And there would also be a big celebration planned for Dupin's five-year anniversary in Brittany.
The story is as always told very exciting and also the fine food and drink is not too short.

book 60 Read in German

 NordNordWest

This is a fascinating story about three teens who are on the run on an old sailboat. The story begins in Saint-Malo when two young men meet a young woman and decide together to cross the English Channel. The two guys are on the run since Italy, why you get to know in the course of story. The only one who has any idea about sailing is the young woman. The boys have no idea and one can not swim at all. On the ship, the three not only experience the stormy sea but also their youthful feelings are just as turbulent as the crossing. It is about deprivation, young love, feeling abandoned, but with strength and weakness, loss, fear, and confidence.
The story is very exciting and one suffers with the young people.

book 61 Read in German

 Pestalozzis Berg

Lukas Hartmann describes in this novel how the great educator Heinrich Pestalozzi fared, after he did not get on with his learning method in Stans. Pestalozzi, who was convinced after the French Revolution that the simple peasants now set out to claim their rights, fails again and again, as the time did not seem right. Pestalozzi was convinced that with his learning method 'head, heart and hand' all people have a right to education. In Stans he tried to accept orphans, to show them his trust and to learn how to read and calculate. This orphanage was housed in a dilapidated monastery. However, since it was needed half a year later as a hospital, Pestalozzi had to go and all 80 children had no roof over their heads. Pestalozzi is ill from his exertions and was allowed to relax in the Kurhaus on the Gurnigel near Bern. With powerful language Hartmann writes what Pestalozzi thought of, that it is like a retrospective of his life and what he wishes for the future.

book 62 Read in German

 Mein Kampf in der Fremde

It is a short biography of a woman who came to Germany from Albania as a young woman. In Albania she was a trained nurse, but in Germany she was only allowed to do the lowest level of work in the hospital. She could hardly speak German when she arrived in Germany and had a hard time finding friends. She made various suicidal attempts. At one she was rescued by her future husband. Her mother-in-law did not like her at all and was treated for a long time in a psychiatric hospital while her son grew up with the mother-in-law. She has found a way for herself through therapy, medication and faith in God.

book 63 Read in German

 Don't Let Go

A great thriller that made me guess for a long time how it all happened. Detective Nap Dumas, as a teenager, lost his twin brother and his then girlfriend. His brother was dead and his girlfriend disappeared. Through a murder of a policeman who happened to go to school with Nap, Nap goes in search of all the answers of yesteryear. The answers he finds do not please him.

book 64 Read in German

 Oxford 7

Well, I'm not an SF fan at all, but this story was an amusing read.
At the station 'Oxford 7' the students make an uprising to the headmistress. It's actually about the power struggle between her and an old professor who once lived in Barcelona. On behalf of him, three young students are on their way to Barcelona to seek a nemesis of the rector. They receive support from an old companion of the professor.

book 65 Read in German

 The Outcast Dead

This is the sixth volume of the Ruth Galloway series that I love to read. Ruth becomes a 'movie star', that is, more, she helps with a movie about a woman who took in children to look after them, and whose bones Ruth recently unearthed. This story is about nannies and childminders who do their best and discredit as two toddlers disappear. This story plays very much with the emotions and points into the dark corners of human souls.

book 66 ♫ Read in German

 A Gentleman In Moscow

Highly amusing narrative about half a century of Russian history from the point of view of a born count, who became a normal citizen by the revolution, but did not want to accept it for a long time. He lived all the time in the Metropol, the best address in Moscow, was a friend and adviser to many dissidents, worked as a waiter, pulled the strings in the background, got unexpectedly 'father', experienced the WWII, experienced the Cold War and always kept the Count composure.

book 67

 Thrusday's Children

Also Frieda Klein's fourth case is thrilling from the first to the last page. In this story you learn a lot about Frieda's origins, because the daughter of a former schoolmate was raped. The young woman opens Frieda, while notes Frieda that she has experienced exactly the same only 23 years before. Frieda goes to the scene, from which she has fled. She not only meets former classmates and has to face what happened then, but also meets her dying mother, with whom she no longer had any contact. She is grateful that her London friends are always on her side, especially Joseph, but her nemesis Dean watches over her as well.

book 68 ♫ Read in German

 Abscheu

This is an exciting thriller. A wife is overtaken by her dark past. A past of which her environment has no idea. But her husband also hides something from her. These circumstances almost bring the couple apart. They want, each in its own way, to maintain the appearance of a carefree couple.
The story is written fast and exciting. I had to guess until just before the end and rethink my decisions again and again.

book 69 Read ind German

 Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep

For the fact that this story was written fifty years ago, it comes in these days very close in certain areas. We already have such 'robots' that should make our lives easier. What is frightening about this thing is that this 'artificial intelligence' can easily become independent and then we would soon be in the thick of Dick's story. I find it all very frightening and far from calm.

book 70

 Home to McCarron's Corner: Lily's Story
EarlyReview

This is a story about a journey back in time. The author wrote her story, as if from a textbook, as when learning in school 'how do I write a story'. The processes are correct, but it is bland - it is more like a déjà vue '. There are no new exciting ideas. Everything was predictable and dragged on forever.

book 71 Read in German

 the Resistance Man

Even the sixth case of Bruno Courrèges is hugely exciting from the first to the last page. During the WWII there was a big railway robbery in southeastern France. In the book, this is the background of Bruno's investigation. It is on the one hand, where have these millions of iron bucket gone, on the other hand, it is also about antique theft. As always, Bruno has his hands full. His private life is not spared, he worries about Pamela, but also Isabelle crosses his way again. Also the fine food and drink finds as always its prominent place. One should never read this book with an empty stomach.

book 72

 The Zig Zag Girl
BB from Juli (SuziQoregon)

Great introduction to the Stephens and Mephisto series by Elly Griffiths. She is not comparable to her Ruth Galloway series, for one it plays in Brighton and the other in the 50s. Nevertheless, here, too, the murderer is being sought through tortuous paths. Stephens and Mephisto know each other from the WWII. Both served in a secret thing. While Stephens enters the police service after the war, Mephisto travels the country as a magician. In Brighton, their paths intersect, as a member of their troupe from the WWII is murdered.
Griffiths introduces all the main protagonists in this first volume. As always, this series is exciting to read from the first moment. I will also read the remaining books in this series.

>43 Ameise1: Good morning. I was interested to see your review of the book by Rita Falk. I bought Kaiserschmarrndrama in Munich a while back simply because I love the dessert so much, but my German is nowhere near good enough to read it. Do you know if any of her books have been translated?

>84 haydninvienna: I don't think the books are translated.

>85 Ameise1: Thanks. I thought as much. I really should improve my German!

>86 haydninvienna: You're welcome.

book 73 ♫ Read in German

 The Messenger

Even though I do not read the series Gabriel Allon in a row, I really like this exciting spy series. This time Gabriel has to prevent an assassination attempt in the Vatican. At first there was some damage in St. Peter's Square and St. Peter's Basilica, but the Pope survived. Gabriel was convinced that this was not the actual goal of the terrorist attack. The journey of his investigations led to a rich Arab, who has a very dark group around him. An American spy was smuggled in and nearly died. The actual goal of the attacks was surprising.
It was exciting from the beginning.

book 74

 Smoke and Mirrors

Also the second volume from the Stephens and Mephisto series was very exciting. Two children have disappeared. Stephens and his team know that the first few hours are the most important ones to find the missing children. Unfortunately, it started to snow, so the police had trouble getting motorized to move forward. Mephisto is nearing the perms of Alladin. He is worried about his friend, but does not have much time to help him. Stephen and his team soon realize that the disappearance of the children has something to do with a play that they wrote themselves. There are many suspects, but the real culprit was a big surprise.
Also this book is written again very gripping.

book 75 Read in German

 Chess Story

The psychological game between the inhuman chess automaton Czentovic and the fragile Dr. B., who was imprisoned by the Gestapo for months in solitary confinement and still feels the psychological effects of torture and suffers from it, makes it clear how important human consciousness is for our lives and what dangers it poses is. The main themes of the chess novella are: "Chess as a war", "Hitler and the Nazi period", "Dr. B.'s fate "," Dr. B. against Czentovic "," The Psychological Game "and" Isolation and Chess Poisoning ".
Even though the book does not have many pages, there is a linguistic variety of sentence structure and vocabulary in which one can not find his own again so quickly. Stefan Zweig was a virtuoso in terms of language.
This is a must-read for me.

book 76 Read in German

 Alles muss ans Licht: Das geheime Dossier über den Kreuzweg des Papstes

This is a very interesting non-fiction book, which aufzwigt the power struggles behind the Vatican walls. Nuzzio is a journalist who chronicles the period after Pope Francis's election until 2015. Specifically, it shows how shortly after the election the pope orders insight into finances and states that the Vatican financial system is corrupt, dilapidated and over-indebted. There are werder budgets nopch settlements.The donated money, which should come to the needy, disappears in the pockets of the curia and their proteges. It shows how difficult it is for the Pope to reform the Curia, which is definitely his goal.
Nuzzi has many original documents and sound recordings available. This book reads like a thriller, even if it sadly corresponds to the facts.

book 77 Read in German

 Tuesday the Rabbi Saw Red

I love Rabbi Small's little world. This time he represents a colleague at the college. As always, he feels offended that students are not interested in Fridays for his seminar, but rather already goes to the weekend. But Rabbi Small would not be himself, if he could interest the students in the longer term for his seminar with tricks. Of course, this time is also an investigation, because a teacher was found dead in college.
As always, it was an amusing read.

book 78 Read in German

 Resurrection
BB from SirThomas

This is the first volume of the Simon Brenner series. Brenner is a former police officer who now works as a detective. The story takes place in Zell (Austria), where over Christmas two Americans were found dead in the morning on the chairlift. At that time, Brenner was still investigating the case as a police officer from Vienna. It could not be cleared up, another reason why Brenner left the police and now continues to investigate for insurance as a detective on this case. He lives in a hotel in Zell and makes contact with all persons. He is not the fastest investigator, but he has the talent to record everything important as unimportant.
What I particularly like about this book is that as a reader you have the feeling that you are directly listening to a narrator. It's kind of like a regulars' table talk, which keeps wandering from the main story and continues on secondary squares, before returning to the actual reason. And yet these digressions are important to the whole.
Brenner is an amiable quirky person, I will definitely read his other cases as well.

book 79 Read in German

 Wednesday Rabbi Got Wet

Even in the sixth case, Rabbi Small disagrees with his community. The new president of the synagogue wants to introduce more meditation - back to the original. He is convinced that this requires a place outside the synagogue - a so-called cloister. To buy land, the community would have to sell land elsewhere. That's just right for a speculator. He 'goes over dead bodies' and is not ready to let a pharmacist extend the contract for its business by the community. But fortunately, there is Rabbi Small, who with the help of the Talmud and his friend the police chief, convicted of the culprit.

book 80

 The Blood Card

This is the third volume of the Stephens and Mephisto series and it was once again a great reading experience.
Stephens and Mephisto are once again caught up in their past (WWII). Their senior officer from this period is found dead. But it is not Scottland Yard, who ask the two for clarification, but a former friend from the time. While solving the case, more people are killed. Until almost the end of the book, it was not clear that all the victims had something in common.
I like all the characters that appear in this series. With each volume, they become more important to me.

book 81 ♫

 Career of Evil

Also the third book of the Cormoran Strike series was convincing. While Robin doubts whether she should marry Matthew, Cormoran is still not sure of his feelings towards her.
Robin receives a package with a woman's leg. Too many people are suspected of being behind it. As Comoran investigates, Robin makes her own research, nearly killing her. During the investigation, there are more and more dead women and the police believe Cormoran not a word.
It was exciting to last.

book 82 Read in German

 Children of War

I'm impressed how Walker can pack different religions, wars, their victims, and current religious wars into a book so that it is coherent and a whole emerges.
The whole thing begins with a dead investigator infiltrated into a mosque to reveal how young men are sent to jihad. At the same time, a lost young man comes back from Afghanistan. Bruno has his hands full. But that's not all, a Jewish old lady is looking for the place where she was hidden as a child in WWII.
Of course, Bruno's love life is thoroughly shaken and his friend Fabiola also fights old demons.

book 83

 The Vanishing Box

In this book, the danger comes closer and closer to Stephen and Mephisto. A young woman is found dead in her rented room. It looks like she was draped like a famous painting. At the same time, in the theater 'living tableaux' is performed, where also Mephisto and his daughter Rubi perform their magical powers. Does the death of the young woman have something to do with the performance? Soon there will be more deaths from the production 'living tableaux' and Emma will be in mortal danger.
I like this series. I hope it will continue.

book 84 Read in German

 The Bone Man

The second volume with the quirky detective Simon Brenner was a pleasurable read. This time, Brenner has to investigate in a restaurant where roast chicken are served. The junior boss called him, but she was not there when he arrived. Brenner learns many protagonists know and knows quickly that in the bone machine in the basement not only chicken bones, but also human bones were processed.
Brenner is required to find the culprit, which is not so easy.

book 85 Read in German

 Come Sweet Death!

Also the third volume of the Simon Brenner series was thrilling. Brenner is currently working in Vienna as a paramedic driver. When there are murders within the troop, the boss requested that Brenner try to uncover this. Brenner discovers that colleagues are trading drugs. It will be difficult for Brenner who he still can trust.

book 86 ♫ Read in German

 Broken Harbour

It seems to me that the fourth volume of the Dublin Murder Squad series is more of a quiet psychological tune, though the murders are very brutal. This book shows how strong love can be, not only with the sacrificial family but also with Kennedy and his sister. Uncovering the case is very subtle with a lot of psychology.

book 87

 Breakdown

An exciting story that fits the American Midturn election. Two candidates fight with different machinations for the election. While some use the media to defile the other party, the patriarch of the other party tries to protect the family. It turns out that everyone has something to hide from their past. V. I. Warshawski has her hands full discovering the ghosts of the past.

book 88 ♫ Read in German

 Bussestunde

This is the last episode of the A-group. Unfortunately, I have not read this series from the beginning and at the moment I am not getting the first volumes in my library. Nevertheless, every episode was exciting and somehow I am sad that this series is over.
In this book, the A team has to find the killer of women looking for weight loss drugs in the darkroom. Time is short, because it does not look like all the victims will survive. On the contrary, the case turns out to be a serial killer crime. Paul Hjelm, on the other hand, is for the most part involved in another adventure. He follows the trail of an old friend and together they try to kill their worst enemy.

book 89 ♫ 

 Der letzte Harem

Although this story is a historical fiction, I am very impressed by how Peter Prange has processed the historical facts in this novel. The story begins in the harem of the last sultan. The author shows how the intrusions and power games were going on and how courtiers are beginning to confront the sultan. The focus is on two harem ladies. One is Armenian and the other is Muslim. Both grew up in the same village before being taken to the harem.
After the overthrow of the sultan, the situation of the harem changed. While Fatima became the mistress of a brutal general, Elisa had to find her way in her unknown freedom. When the WWI broke out, the general turned into a butcher. Prange describes the genocide of the Armenians, while Elisa had to fight for her survival.
This story got under my skin. I can highly recommend it.

book 90 ♫ Read in German

 Outrage

The theme of this story is interesting. The killer makes with the party drug Rohypnol women docile, rapes them and kills them. Commissioner Elinborg goes into every little detail, as it is difficult to find out how the killer gets the drugs, how does he choose his victims and have there been unexplained cases that can also be attributed to him? Likewise, she encounters one of his victims and realizes that the number of unreported dead/victimes could be even greater than assumed, since the victims remember nothing and are ashamed to go to the police.
This thriller is written very exciting.

book 91 Read in German

 The Bone Bed

Exciting from the beginning, I realize that I have neglected Patricia Cornwell 's books.
First, Scarpetta realizes that she has a message on her mobile phone from someone with dangerous thoughts. Shortly thereafter, she is sent to a crime scene in the harbor bay. She is filmed by unknown. Too late, she comes to a court hearing and the footage is shown there. Identifying the dead from the bay is difficult. Scarpetta discovers that there are even more deaths. It turns out that this must be a serial killer. Who is behind it? Scarpetta puts herself in danger.

book 92 ♫ Read in German

 Cause of Death

Also this Scarpetta case was again very captivating. On New Year's Eve, Scarpetta is called to an unusual case. A reporter dove on a 'ship cemetery' and drowned. It soon becomes clear that nothing is as it seems. Scarpetta is prevented from clarifying the case in several ways. Even a police officer threatens her and tries to interfere with the investigation. Then her employee is murdered.
Who has something to cover up? Who threatens Scarpetta and her friends? Why does the FBI have so much interest in this case? A race begins with time.

book 93 Read in German

 Istanbul Tango

Kati Hirschel owns a bookshop in Istanbul specializing in thrillers. After reading, I felt like you could compare them to Miss Marple just in our time. Kati has two employees. Pelin does not appear to work because she went to hospital because her friend Nile is in mortal danger. As it turns out, Nile was poisoned. Kati can not let it and identified as a hobby detector in this case. At the same time, she strains the patience of all her friends, because they are automatically involved and have to pursue further tracks. By the way, the bookshop keeps going and there is even an extension of it.
This story is amusing, varied and exciting. I will certainly read more of it.

book 94 ♫ Read in German

 Black Skies

What fascinates me again and again in Arnaldur Indriðason is that he can pack an Icelandic topicality into an exciting thriller. Also this time he succeeded. It's about dubious money laundering. but you realize this only over time, since everything begins with a blackmail attempt that ends in a murder. Sigurdur Óli tries to help a friend and unfortunately has to realize that he does not tell him the whole truth.
The story is fast paced and told exciting. It also shows the problem of the Icelandic financial market, which was in trouble for a long time.

book 95 ♫ Read in German

 The Good Daughter

I have not read any books by Karin Slaughter for a long time, completely forgetting how excited I am of her books. Also this book has grabbed me from the beginning.
It is about a family of lawyers whose daughters had to watch in childhood, how their mother was brutally murdered, how one daughter was seriously injured during the incident while the other was raped. After all these years, everything comes up again. Who was the culprit? What must revenge look like? Are familiar persons the perpetrators?

book 96 ♫ Read in German

 Hanging Hill

This is a story that captivated me from the beginning. A teenage girl is found dead. On the one hand, the police are detecting on the other hand, a mother interferes, which, as luck would have it, is the sister of a policewoman. The fact that the two get in each other's way does not always help solve the case. Each tries to protect the other and they become entangled more and more and no one has the overview.
Mo Hayder can always expose her thrillers so that you can see all traces, but is still caught in the interpersonal relationships of the protagonists and therefore advises at the end, who is now the villain.

book 97 ♫ Read in German

 Fallen

A very exciting case from the Will Trent series. Faith, Will's former partner, tries to free her kidnapped mother. She gets support from the whole team as they are all somehow transacted with Evelyn Mitchell. The search goes in all directions (bribery, drugs etc.) but no one suspects the true background of the kidnapping and the bloody carnage.

book 98 Read in German

 Die Anatomie des Teufels

This book has captivated me from the beginning. It is set to take place in Barcelona shortly before the opening of the World's Fair in 1888. Daniel Amat, a Barcelona native who graduated from Oxford and has a promising future there, receives a letter that his father died in Barcelona. He returns to his hometown for the funeral, unaware that he will soon find himself in a turmoil that completely overhauls his knowledge of his past.
Jordi LLobregat takes up various themes of the time. He describes the everyday worries of the different social classes. I think that I did not like to live in the Barcelona of 1888. Much is happening in the Hospital de la Santa Creu i Sant Pau, as it is in the history of various medical issues. It also becomes clear that women could not be trained as doctors at the time. The latest innovation in electricity is also given high priority.
Daniel Amat and his 'friends' face many, almost impossible, problems. The end is indeed a big surprise.

book 99 ♫ Read in German

 Port Mortuary

Another Scarpetta case that grabs you from the beginning. Kay is brought back to her institute in Boston earlier than planned. Her deputy seems to have vanished and suspicious cases multiply. Kay, who gave her deputy a chance, has to realize that she is shamelessly deceiving her and her institute.
The medical and technical topics are complex, which gives the whole thing a certain spice.

book 100 Read in German

 A Talent For Murder

This story is about Agatha Christie and her mysterious disappearance in 1926, but somehow this story did not grab me right. The villain tries to create a Christie-style murder, but misses the lightness that comes with crimes. The story seems to me to be incongruous and in fact the handwriting of the great mystery writer is missing.

100!!!! Congratulations!

Thanks so much, PP. It's the first time I got this number. Can't belive it.

100 books in a year is amazing. Even on LibraryThing, which is bookworm central, there can't be that many people who read as much.

>118 frahealee: With all the different challenges, I have greatly expanded my reading habits and discovered great authors for me.

>119 glwebb: I have to disappoint you, there are actually many LT-ers who read several times by reading what I have read. I also do not know how they do that. It does not matter, the main thing is that you enjoy reading.

book 101 Read in German

 Strandgut

This is a great debut of a new series that takes place in Normandy. Nicolas Guerlain is a bodyguard and this primarily for an ambitious French minister. But Nicolas also fights against a personal loss from the past. This makes him vulnerable and he is no longer acceptable as a bodyguard for the group. He is sent to Deauville to check the security measures for a summit meeting and to assist the local police. The police are not at all enthusiastic about him, especially since there are several murders in the area of Deauville and Nicolas gets back in the mix.
The story is very exciting from the beginning and let me guess who the villain is until the end. I look forward to the following books from the series.

book 102 Read in German

 Küstenstrich

Also the second volume of the Nicolas Guerlain series is thrilling from the first to the last page. This time, Nicolas has to protect an aristocrat who has received death threats. Soon it turns out that it is about child prostitution, but also about the refugee problem. Two years earlier, the minister cleared the 'jungle' near Calais, but child prostitution only gained momentum. Nicolas and his comrades are in a quarrel. On the one hand, they have to protect the bad guys, and on the other hand, they want to put them under lock and key. A difficult undertaking, which brings dead on the way with it.



So, this was the last book for this calendar year. I'm glad to see you all again in the New Year.
Happy New Year.