Ameise1 (Barbara)'s 50+ in 2019

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
2018: 102 books




January
# 1 Bretonische Flut by Jean-Luc Bannalec (4 stars)
# 2 Red Mist by Patricia Cornwell (4 stars)
# 3 The Strangler Vine by M. J. Carter (4 stars)
# 4 H Is for Hawk by Helen Macdonald (4 stars)
# 5 Liberation Movements by Olen Steinhauer (4½ stars)
# 6 I'll Walk Alone by Mary Higgins Clark (4 stars)

February
# 7 A Fatal Grace by Louise Penny (4 stars)
# 8 Finders Keepers by Stephen King (4½ stars)
# 9 Sworn To Silence by Linda Castillo (4 stars)
#10 A Mind To Murder by P. D. James (4½ stars)
#11 Nerve by Dick Francis (4 stars)
#12 Die Brillenmacherin by Titus Müller (3½ stars)
#13 The Black Tower by P.D. James (4 stars)
#14 Death of a Red Heroine by Qiu Xiaolong (4 stars)

March
#15 The Chessmen by Peter May (4½ stars)
#16 Young Blood by Sifiso Mzobe (4 stars)
#17 Kein Tag für Jakobsmuscheln by Catherine Simon (3½ stars)
#18 Friday on My Mind by Nicci French (4½ stars)
#19 Forfeit by Dick Francis (4 stars)
#20 Throttle by Joe Hill (3½ stars)
#21 The Strings Of Murder by Oscar de Muriel (4½ stars)
#22 Eine unbeliebte Frau by Nele Neuhaus (4½ stars)

April
#23 Innocence by David Hosp (4&frac12& stars)
#24 Innocence by Dean Koontz (4 stars)
#25 The Redeemed by M. R. Hall (4½ stars)
#26 Poppet by Mo Hayder (4 stars)
#27 The Wrong girl by David Hewson
#28 Das Ende vom Lied by Alfred Bodenheimer (4 stars)
#29 Madame le Commissaire und das geheimnisvolle Bild by Pierre Martin (4 stars)
#30 Time Heals No Wounds by Hendrik Falkenberg (4 stars)
#31 Dark Fire by C. J. Sansom (4 stars)

May
#32 Whiskey Sour by J. A. Konrath (4stars)
#33 Reflex by Dick Francis (4½ stars)
#34 Deep Background by Rick Treon (3 stars)
#35 Vollopfer by Frank Köhnlein (4 stars)
#36 Totenliste by Harald Gilbers (4½ stars)

June
#37 Fatal Crossing by Lone Theils (4½ stars)
#38 Ali and Nino by Kurban Said (5 stars)
#39 Atemnot by Carola Clasen (3½ stars)
#40 The Unknown Guest by Charlotte Link (4½ stars)
#41 The Case of the Deadly Butter Chicken by Tarquin Hall (4½ stars)
#42 Creation in Death by J. D. Robb (4&frac12 stars)
#43 Altweiberfrühling by Irène Mürner (3½ stars)

July
#44 Schussbereit by Irène Mürner (4 stars)
#45 Das Geheimnis des Bücherhüters by Corinna Gieseler (4 stars)
#46 Commissaire Mazan und der blinde Engel by Jean Bagnol (4½ stars)
#47 Helle und der tote im Tivoli by Judith Arendt (4 stars)
#48 Das Echo der Schuld by Charlotte Link (4½ stars)
#49 Wintergäste in Trouville by Catherine Simon (4 stars)
#50 A Fever of the Blood by Oscar de Muriel (4½ stars)
#51 The Ghost Fields by Elly Griffiths (4½ stars)
#52 Richter by Andrea Camilleri (4 stars)
#53 The Architect's Apprentice by Elif Shafak (5 stars)

August
#54 Rain Dogs by Adrian McKinty (4½ stars)
#55 Ein Gentleman in Arles - Gefährliche Geschäfte by Anthony Coles (4½ stars)
#56 Bei Zugabe Mord!: Eine Diva ermittelt im Salzburger Festspielhaus.… by Tatjana Kruse (3½ stars)
#57 The Bookseller of Kabul by Åsne Seierstad (4½ stars)
#58 Das blutrote Parfüm by Sina Beerwald (4½ stars)
#59 Rat Race by Dick Francis (4 stars)
#60 The Corsican Caper by Peter Mayle (4 stars)
#61 Seeking Whom He May Devour by Fred Vargas (4 stars)
#62 The Little Beach Street Bakery by Jenny Colgan (4 stars)
#63 A Man of Some Repute by Elizabeth Edmondson (4 stars)
#64 Cabo de Gata by Eugen Ruge (4½ stars)
#65 Die Gottessucherin by Peter Prange (4½ stars)
#66 Dead Horsemeat by Dominique Manotti (4 stars)

September
#67 Schüsse im Shortbread by Arthur Escroyne (3½ stars)
#68 Fake und Fiktion by Thomas Strässle (4 stars)
#69 Shinigami Games Herbst by Andreas Neuenkirchen (3 stars)
#70 A Cat, a Hat and a Piece of String by Joanne Harris (4½ stars)
#71 Death of a Cad by M. C. Beaton (4 stars)
#72 Am Abgrund aller Dinge by Gianrico Carofiglio (4½ stars)
#73 Gier by Arne Dahl (4 stars)
#74 A Dangerous Place by Jacqueline Winspear (4 stars)

October
#75 The Guest Room by Chris Bohjalian (4 stars)
#76 Close Your Eyes by Michael Robotham (4½ stars)
#77 The Expats by Chris Pavone (4 stars)
#78 Hotel Bosporus by Esmahan Aykol (4 stars)
#79 Rapture in Death by J. D. Robb (4½ stars)
#80 Single Malt Murder by Melinda Mullet (4½ stars)
#81 Auntie Poldi and the Sicilian Lions by Mario Giordano (4 stars)
#82 Breakdown by Jonathan Kellerman (4 stars)
#83 The Lake House by Kate Morton (4 stars)

November
#84 Die Kaffeerösterin by Giuseppina Torregrossa (4 stars)
#85 Fire In The Stars by Barbara Fradkin (4½ stars)
#86 The Cement Garden by Ian McEwan (4 stars)
#87 Gefährliche Côte Bleue by Cay Rademacher (4 stars)
#88 Agatha Raisin and the Love from Hell by M. C. Beaton (4 stars)
#89 Crossfire by Dick & Felix Francis (4½ stars)
#90 Killing Floor by Lee Child (4 stars)

December
#91 Lizzis letzter Tango by Anja Marschall (3½ stars)
#92 Die Betrogene by Charlotte Link (4 stars)
#93 Codex Regius by Arnaldur Indriðason (4½ stars)
#94 The Heavenly Table by Donald Ray Pollock (3 stars)
#95 Mystery In White by J. Jefferson Farjeon (4 stars)
#96 Zorn by Arne Dahl (4½ stars)

From the looks of things you won't have any problems meeting your goal. Good luck and keep us posted.

>2 Angela072015: Thanks so much. I was only able to read so many books because I had anaccident last summer and wasn't able to work for many weeks. I'll be back to work on the 7th of January.

Happy reading in 2019! I always enjoy seeing your comments. I'll have my 2019 thread up in a day or two. Cheers!

>4 rocketjk: Thanks so much, Jerry. I wish you a fabulous 2019, too.

book 1 ♫ Read in German

 Bretonische Flut

Also Commissaire Dupin's fifth case was very exciting. He investigates the offshore islands, where on the one hand he likes the landscape but on the other hand the stormy sea brings him great discomfort. The question comes up soon, does he have to deal with a serial killer? Which he doubted, even if many signs speak for it. Did the scientists have to die because they tested new fishing methods or found that the sea was poisoned or because they found a mythological cross? Once again, Dupin must recognize how closed the Breton island population is and therefore far from being helpful.

>7 frahealee: Thanks so much, Francine. Wishing you a fabulous year, too.

Sorry about the accident, but good for you to read so many books. I am retired, so should be able to read a lot of books. Unfortunately, part-time work, volunteer work, and computer wasting of time interfere with my reading! Maybe this year will be different.

>9 lamplight: Ah, Nancy, that seems so familiar to me. There are often too many distractions, and reading is not enough. Incidentally, it is true that retired persons have a program that is almost stricter than how they worked.

book 2 ♫ Read in German

 Red Mist

For once I was glad that I kept the order of the series. It was important to know the history to understand this episode.
As always, it has taken me away from the beginning. Kay is lured away from Boston. For a long time she does not realize what role she really plays. For a long time, it seems that her position and reputation are misused for other benefits. There are many dead in this story, all murdered by a crippling poison. Kay takes a long time to diagnose the cause and bring the loose threads of the cases together. At the same time she herself is endangered.

book 3

 The Strangler Vine

What a great start to a new series. William Avery is young and not long in Calcutta. He works for the East India Company and is homesick for England. He is very well read and loves the books of Xavier Mountstuart. He spends the evenings in the casino, playing and drinking too much and is therefore heavily in debt. Then he gets an assignment together with Jeremiah Blake to find the lost Mountstuart. What he does not know yet is that he and Blake should be pawn victims for the Company. Blake is a weird guy and often does not talk to Avery, which irritates him a lot. Over time, however, a deep friendship grows between them and both know that they can trust each other blindly. In this story, you learn a lot about life in India in the 1830's. It also shows the inglorious role played by the East India Company for India.
Avery and Blake feel like Dr. Watson and Sherlock Holms. They are in a similar relationship to each other and react very similar.
The story grabbed me from the beginning and I will definitely continue reading this series.

book 4 ♫

 H Is For Hawk

My audio was read by the author, which makes the story even more authenic, because she herself knows best when to read the story at what speed and in which voice.
It took me a moment to immerse myself in the story. This has probably more to do with the fact that one can not just hear this story alongside. In addition to being very autobiographical, Mcdonald describes her experiences and observations as a falconer down to the smallest detail. Attentive listening is required. I'm impressed with how she trains her hawk, how she struggles with others and, as always, the memories of her father appear. Even though my knowledge of hawks used to be rather ruthless, I have the feeling that I have learned a lot of knowledge.
Even though this story is not fast paced, it grabbed me.

book 5

 Liberation Movements

Also the fourth volume of the Eastern Bloc series has been thrilling from the beginning. This part switched back and forth between the student riots in Prague (1968) and a few years later in Kiev and Istanbul. At first, I did not understand why this had to be so. Nevertheless, both parts were very important and over time, I also saw the connection behind it. Steinhauer has a main theme in every book in this series. This time it's about parapsychological experiments that were carried out on people who were in asylums by Russian scientists and their allies. Of course, the secret service has its fingers everywhere. The subject of homosexuality also gets its place, as this was of course strictly prohibited. If you were discovered you came in great danger for your life.
This story is great written and grabbed me until the end.

book 6 ♫ Read in German

 I'll Walk Alone

This was an exciting story. Two years ago, a child was kidnapped. The mother, an interior decorator, never got over the loss and still believes that her son is alive. There are photos of the abduction. The woman in the pictures looks like the child's mother. Everyone turns against her because they believe she has kidnapped her child herself. It is difficult to prove her innocence, especially as the kidnapper takes on the role of the child's mother again. Also, her bank account is looted. Purchases are made by a stranger. The situation comes to a head as the mastermind decides that the child and his kidnapper must die.

book 7 Read in German

 A Fatal Grace

Also the second volume of the Chief Inspector Armand Gamache series captivated me from the first page.
In Montreal, a homeless woman is murdered. Shortly before, Clara spoke to her. While Gamache looks at this case file with his wife, he is called to Three Pines because a newcomer was murdered. It turns out that the people of Three Pines have their own ideas of what they should or should not tell. Gamache needs all the 'gray cells' to solve the case. In addition, it is bitterly cold and many snow do not make the investigation easier.

book 8 ♫ 

 Finders Keepers

Also the second part of the Bill Hodges Trilogy, was very exciting from the beginning. King also made a link to the first part because a family was also affected in the accident.
This book is about a robbery with killing. The robber stole a reputed author not only his money but also the notebooks for two more books in a series. He buries everything and only keeps it in jail, knowing that the prey is waiting for him.
But he did not expect a teenager who finds the loot nearly 30 years after the robbery. He uses the money for his family. When there is no more money, he tries to sell the notebooks, which means a whole rat tail of dangerous situations for him and his loved ones.

book 9 ♫ Read in German

 Sworn To Silence

Although I have read other books from the Kate Burkholder series, it was good to read the first volume. Kate is a young police chief. She's good with her staff, but the council and the sheriff's office think she's an inexperienced person. In this book, Kate is dealing with a brutal serial killer who brutally tortures and abuses his victims before he kills them. The only pattern that permeates is that he numbers the victims with Roman numerals.
Kate thinks she's chasing a ghost out of her past. Someone who once raped her in her teenage years but she thought he was dead. Therefore, she also does not request reinforcements from other authorities, which temporarily costs her suspension. Kate would not be Kate, if she continues to investigate and thereby brings the greatest danger to her own life.
Great and fast, it grabbed me from the first page and I could barely stop reading.

book 10

 A Mind To Murder

Another good cozy mystery from the Adam Dalgliesh series. This time, the majority of everything takes place in one place namely the Steen Psychiatric Clinic. Miss Bolam the administrative officer is found dead in the archive. She was not very popular and therefore everyone had something to hide. Dalgliesh's job is to filter out all the negative emotions everyone has, so that he finds the essence. In this commissioner coincidence helps to put things into perspective. Dalgliesh has to hurry to prevent another murder from happening.
This story is psychologically very skillful and let me guess for a long time, who the villain is.

book 11

 Nerve

I love Dick Francis books and this was no exception. Already at the beginning a jockey shot himself. Nobody could explain why he did this. The young jockey Rob, who sees the whole thing emotionally from the outside, gets to know the highs and lows of horse racing and decides to get to the bottom of the cause of the misery of his colleagues. He discovers that the horses of these jockeys and his horses have been doped. He's out for revenge and does it in a subtle way. He's in grave danger. His will is stronger than all the pain he suffers.
A magnificently thought-out thriller that gives an insight into the world of horse racing.

>20 Ameise1: I've only read two Dick Francis books, but I've liked them both a lot.

>21 rocketjk: Jerry, it was my third one but there will be more this year due to the 'SHARED READ: Saddle up for Dick Francis' horsy adventures!' challenge.
http://www.librarything.com/topic/301134

book 12 Read in German

 Die Brillenmacherin

The story takes place in England in 1387. The point is that the outlawed Bible translator Hereford is protected by some knights who copy his translated Bible parts and hide them in other places in England. Hereford is also hunted by Archbishop Courtenay, who wants to prevent the translation at any cost. In the middle of it is the young eyewear maker, who wants to continue the profession of her murdered husband and at the same time wants to protect her daughter. She is the plaything between the knights and the archbishop and is constantly in danger.
The book has only partially convinced me. The medieval part is interesting and exciting. On the other hand, many questions remain open and the conclusion is written so that a continuation is almost necessary. Too bad, I like books that are self-contained.

book 13 ♫

 The Black Tower

It was a pleasant hearing, although I would not classify this Dalgliesh book as excellent. Dalgliesh is in a recovery phase and visits an old friend at his request. Unfortunately, he is late because his friend died a few days ago. It is striking that Dalgliesh is always a tad too late in this book. He realizes that there is something bad at work, but there are dead before he finds out anything.

book 14 Read in German

 Death of a Red Heroine

I am glad that I read the first book of this series after all. It makes much of what Inspector Chen experienced more sense.
In his first case, many protagonists, which are also encountered in later books, are presented. Likewise, one becomes more familiar with the Chinese customs, which are enormously important to know, since a determination is not necessarily designed as you are used to crime thrill. The face on the political level has to be kept constant and this makes it very difficult when the villain comes from the establishment.
A young woman is found dead. She is a model worker and represents an important part of the Chinese working class. Why did she have to die? Did she lead a hidden second life that does not fit into political China? While Chen and Yu investigate, they often come up against a wall of silence.
Very exciting written, it grabbed me from the first to the last page.

book 15

 The Chessmen

The third part of the Lewis trilogy is great. It is told of today and at the same time it goes back to the past. Fin Macleod's life is taking on even more form and you understand him and his actions better and better. In this part, one becomes acquainted with his best childhood friend Whistler Macaskill. We learn that Fin and Whistler were always there for each other and went through thick and thin together. Each helped the other when in distress. In the harsh world of the Northern Scottish archipelago, such a warm and friendly friendship is worth gold.

book 16 Read in German

 Young Blood

This is a very interesting book about life and violence in a Durban township. A young man who breaks off school because it does not make sense to him and he is overwhelmed with the material comes through friends in the dark criminal machinations that brings a township so with it. His father earns little money in a fair way by mending cars. Sipho has learned this craft from his father, but he wants to get quickly to much money for his reputation to increase. At the beginning, everything is going according to plan and he does not see any big danger for him. Fortunately, he has good friends who watch over him like guardian angels. Only thanks to them he survives and comes out of the criminal milieu after many adventurous actions, during which he earned a lot of money, even if he loses it in the end.
Sifiso Mzobe tells so realistically that you as a reader have the feeling of being in the middle of it. You realize that he wishes his main character only the best, so he finds out unscathed from the mess.

book 17 Read in German

 Kein Tag für Jakobsmuscheln

This is the first book of the Commissaire Leblanc series. It plays on the Norman coast in the resort of Deauville-Trouville. One could call this book a cozy mystery. It is a simple act and even if there are dead, it is not bloodthirsty. Of course, the romance must not be missing and the very good food let me run the water in my mouth.
A woman who used to live in Paris, and from that time knows Commissaire Leblanc, since he was her lover, finds a dead man on her morning walk. This is how the paths between her and Leblanc inevitably intersect. Who is the dead man? Everyone knows him as a day labourer, who on the one hand seeks employment from the fishermen and, on the other hand, is an active member of the voluntary fire brigade. It is incomprehensible to everyone that he had to die. The author also brings up the subject of overfishing in this story.
Commissaire Leblanc loves the women and the food. Through a trauma he can not sleep alone in the night and therefore always finds in his address book a woman.

book 18 ♫ Read in German

 Friday on My Mind

After Frieda's former friend was found dead, the suspicion fell on Frieda. She had to go down because the police were looking for her. Frieda would not be Frieda if she did not conduct her own investigations, which led to the death of her former lover. She was more or less on her own, only Joseph helped her.
Only with time did she get help from her nearest ally.
It was a very adventurous exciting reading.

book 19

 Forfeit

Also this Dick Francis was exciting, even if more ran next to the racecourse than on the racecourse. This time investigates a journalist unrealities in the horse betting. On a large scale, bets on horses are placed in advance, but shortly before the start these horses are deducted from the race. The bets always go to the same person, since the regulations do not provide for a return of the wagers made. Who is behind these mafia bets and how can this person be caught? With what means of pressure are the horse owners blackmailed so that they do not let their horses start? The journalist puts himself and his loved one in the greatest danger.
Exciting from the beginning to the end.

book 20 ♫ Read in German

 Throttle

It took me a while to immerse myself in the story. I probably did not like the story so much. What I have to owe to the author is that his protagonists, as combative as they may be, show feelings that you almost get the feeling that they are softies.

book 21 Read in German

 The Strings of Murder
BB from Meg (Familyhistorian)

Meg, thank you for recommending this series to me.

What a great way to get started with the A Case for Frey & McGray series. Inspector Ian Frey is no longer welcome at Scotland Yard. But since he comes from a well-known wealthy home, you can not just put him on the street. So he's relocated to Edinburgh to help his new boss, Inspector McGrey. Having arrived in Edinburgh, Frey does not fit in and he's eager to get the case down as quickly as possible so he can go back to London. This is wishful thinking. McGrey picks him up at his house. The chemistry between the two is far from good. They argue like an old couple. While Frey strives for clear policing, McGrey is the one who also uses supernatural powers to help. In this case, a string of violinists are found dead and nobody knows how this could happen.
The story is very exciting and it captivated me from the first page to the last. I will definitely continue with this series.

book 22 Read in German

 Eine unbeliebte Frau

A respected prosecutor begins suicide and a young woman is found dead. What looks like two different cases at the outset soon turns out to be a case that can not be more confused. The Commissioners Pia Kirchhoff and Oliver von Bodenstein are fully busy pursuing the many loose ends of these cases, but have long felt that many of these ends repeatedly lead to a dead end. Many victims are silent and it takes a long time until someone breaks the silence.
This is a great first work and I will certainly read more books with this commissary duo.

book 23

 Innocence

This was a captivating read. Scott Finn and Tom Kozlowski not only try to uncover why an 'innocent' has been in jail for fifteen years, no, it's also about the survival of their loved ones.
Just before Christmas, Finn is supposed to help a young lawyer convict a convicted person years ago to prove his innocence. It soon turns out that the Boston police are corrupt and also their laboratories. They were bought by Central American Mafiosi. The judge who handles this case is not necessarily on Finns side and demands multiple proofs for the innocence of his client. But this is a dangerous venture. There are many dead and seriously injured, including Kozlowski's new girlfriend and coworker from Finn.
It was exciting from the first to the last page.

book 24

 Innocence

It is an unusual reading which allowed me to guess almost until the end.
Addison Goodheart is an unusual person. The midwife wanted to kill him shortly after birth, but the mother kept it with him for eight years before putting him out the door. When he arrived in the big city, he was picked up by a man whom he called Father. He has the same extraordinary looks as Addison. Therefore, they can only leave the underground at night. Father was already six years dead when this story began. It is told in the now and in the past. Addison encounters Gwyneth, who shares a similar fate as he does, except that her father had a lot of money and she does not need to hide in the underground because she has enough flats / houses available. Addison and Gwyneth are a kind of do-gooder who think of others first, rather than themselves. They can not leave injustices and must eliminate them. A priest helps them.

book 25

 The Redeemed

Coroner Jenny Cooper gets caught up in her past. Not only through nightmares but also physically and understanding, she has to realize that there is a dark secret from her past that her brain is trying to repress. This does not make the investigation of various current deaths easy. On the contrary, she does not only have to fight against rich lords and wannabees, no, she also has to realize that the police are corrupt.
The authorities forbid her to investigate the cases connected with a free church, but she defies her power as a coroner. At the same time she is under heavy pressure and her witnesses are being murdered.
It was a captivating quick read. I love this series.

book 26 ♫ Read in German

 Poppet

Most of this story takes place in a psychiatric clinic. Patients see a kind of doll during the night, and the people they meet catch themselves or inflict extremely severe injuries. A carer thinks about where this comes from. Who could be this character? Who is behind it? He remembers an old case. Could the mind of this missing person be behind it? But it looks like the evil is real and alive. He does not realize for a long time that he goes directly into the catches of this monster.
It is extremely exciting and kept me guessing until almost the end.

book 27

 The Wrong Girl

Also the second book of the Detective Pieter Vos series was exciting. This time prostitution and terrorism are at the center. It shows wonderfully when the intelligence service and the police should work together, but everyone tries to protect their own territory, that in the end there are more deaths to report.
Vos and his team notice during a meeting that a girl has disappeared. Who is this girl and why is she and not another girl of the same age who is wearing also a pink jacket? It quickly becomes clear that the missing girl is the daughter of a Georgian prostitute who is illegally staying in Amsterdam. While Vos, his team and the mother are trying to find the girl, the secret sevice has quite different plans. It seems that a terror cell is behind the disappearance. The girl serves as a hostage to free one of their own. For the secret service, the girl is only colletal damage while for Vos and his team only the girl is important. That this does not necessarily end well, is obvious.

book 28 Read in German

 Das Ende vom Lied

The second book by Zurich's Rabbi Klein was also amusing to read. Rabbi Klein was stooped for some time by a woman from his parish. When this woman falls in front of the train in the train station Enge it only gets worse for Rabbi Klein. His wife, who returns from London to Zurich after a family reunion, is already awaited by the police and has been arrested for the time being. All the evidence points out that she could be the culprit, which Rabbi Klein does not believe for a moment. With his detective knowledge he interferes and tries to get to the bottom of the case. It soon turns out that other Jewish community members have laundered money by making a fortune with insider knowledge. It is difficult to prove their actions to these persons. In addition, his older daughter is involved in the fact that her friends are involved in the act in some way. In addition to all these turbulences, there are also changes in the Jewish community, which also can not wait.

book 29 Read in German

 Madame le Commissaire und das geheimnisvolle Bild

Madame le Commissaire of Fragolin decides to convene company holidays for her police station. She and her sous-brigadier could both take a few days' holiday, since there's nothing going on in the tranquil Fragolin anyway. Far from it, as soon as she is at her favourite beach the phone rings and she gets work. On the one hand, she must clarify the death of a minister who has not died away from a natural death. On the other hand, it's about fake pictures. If one takes a closer look, there is a cry for help under a coat of paint.
Privately, it does not run as she imagines, both of her lovers compete for her favour. Isabelle Bonnet finally finds a good Solomonic solution for her.
As always, this was an amusing read.

book 30 Read in German

 Time Heals No Wounds

This is a great introduction to a new series for me. Hannes Niehaus is a top athlete and trains for the Olympic Games. He earns his money as a detective and can also do his intensive training. In his first case he has to do with an old WWII story. There are several deaths, all of which are linked to a drug company that tested drugs on concentration camp inmates during the war. Who is looking for vengeance against this company? Niehaus has an older colleague who supports him in the research. That this relationship to the end will be clouded, one learns only at the end.
It's very exciting and let me guess who the bad guy is until the end.

book 31 ♫

 Dark Fire

Two cases are involved in this story. On the one hand, Shardlake has to find out the formula for the Greek fire, something that is always found in stories, and in the end all that is charlatanry. He also has to defend a young woman who allegedly threw her cousin into a well and he died.
It was an exciting listening, although it took me a moment to immerse myself in the story.

book 32 Read in German

 Whiskey Sour

This is the first book in the Jacqueline "Jack" Daniels Mystery series. The story was very exciting. The dead on the way but were killed in a very bestial way. In between I suffered with Jack, since she herself became the target of the killer and her watch was not exactly excellent. It was funny how she met her ex-colleague again, who on the one hand put obstacles in her path but on the other hand was also there when things got hot. I also smiled when the FBI profiler agents came into play. They were portrayed as if they were idiots.
Various women were killed and long lacked the common background. Jack and her current colleague fight on all fronts to find out the commonality of the victims, so they can take the killer. It is very dangerous for Jack.

book 33

 Reflex

Philip Nore, who earns his living as a jockey, but incidentally with his camera many photos of racing places in places where the normal public has no access fights on different fronts. On the one hand he is harassed by a lawyer, that he should visit his dying grandmother and should fulfill her last wish. He gets to know his past, which was not always pleasant to him. On the other hand, he receives from a jockey colleague a box that his dead father has filled with various photo puzzles. Thanks to his experience as a photographer, he gets to the bottom of the various mysteries. Not only he, but also important persons are in danger.
In addition to all this, he is being pressured by a horse owner to manipulate races.
It was a very exciting read and kept me guessing until the end.

book 34

 Deep Background
Early Review

I received this book as an Early Review. I have very mixed feelings about this story. It has very exciting sections that unfortunately do not prevail. There are too many long-winded scenes that could have been shortened or omitted altogether.
The story is about the fact that the main protagonists from the school know each other and have some outstanding 'bills' with their former classmates.
It is a pity that the author has thought too little of the whole and much is therefore only superficial.

book 35 Read in German

 Vollopfer

This was an amusing read. The narrative style is very similar to Wolf Haas books.
Hepp is a youth psychiatrist in a home for the severely disabled. Each of his protégés has a different diagnosis. Although he is aware that he is often verbally abused with the juvenile vocabulary, he loves his protégés. One day, the home director is found badly injured in the basement and some of his protégés are on the curve while the others are not exactly helpful in talking to the police. Hepp is now challenged to find out what really happened. Unfortunately, one of his protégés commits suicide, with his notebook Hepp can clarify the case.
Hepp himself is also a nerd. For example, he can think best when he moves continuously around the roundabout. His love life also has interesting features.

book 36 Read in German

 Totenliste

I was deeply impressed by this story. On the one hand, it is like a thriller, because a serial killer is at work, on the other hand, many historical circumstances of life in Berlin in 1946 are accurately researched and reproduced.
It all starts with four people dying in an innermost village outside of Berlin. The doctor realizes that one winged angel has been scratched on the door of each dead person. In the late autumn of the same year, more deaths are found, all of which are labeled with tattooed names. Commissioner Oppenheim, who is currently in the search service, helps his friend Billhardt solve the cases, although Oppenheimer is already engaged by the various Allied powers at the same time.
Over time, Oppenheimer comes to the conclusion that everything has to do with the Sachsenhausen concentration camp. The processing of the deeds and their perpetrators is still ongoing. At the same time, Berlin's population is struggling with the coldest winter. Not only famine prevails, but many die from frostbite as well.
This story has captivated me from the first to the last page.

book 37 Read in German

 Fatal Crossing

This is the first book from the Nora Sand series. A great introduction to a new series. In addition to the fact that you get to know many protagonists, which will certainly also appear in the later books, it is a captivating thriller from the first to the last page.
Nora Sand is a Danish journalist living in London writing articles for a Danish weekly paper. In an antique shop, she buys an old suitcase containing photos related to an old case in Denmark, where more than twenty years ago, two young girls from a youth home disappeared without a trace on their way to England. Sand travels to Copenhagen and tries to find a trail. She encounters many inconsistencies. She can convince her editor that behind these photos is certainly an exciting story for their newspaper.
Back in England, she meets her old Danish love, who is currently training at Scotland Yard. Not only her love life gets out of control. Soon she has to fear for her own life, because she realizes that she is a serial killer on the trail. Luckily there are a few guardian angels watching over them.

book 38 Read in German

 Ali and Nino

What a beautiful sad story. It's like a chapter from the stories of 'One Thousand and One Nights'. Ali and Nino grow up in Baku. Both come from wealthy 'noble families', although the differences could not be greater. Ali is a Muslim and Nino is a Christian. Ali stands for the Asian, the desert and the traditional, while Nino stands for the European, the modern and the urban. Ali falls in love with Nino during school. They are sure that they want to marry later. But the turmoil of WWI stands in their way for a long time. Baku is conquered by the Russians, then again freed from the English and last but not least it is Russian again. Ali always hopes that the Turks rush to help Baku, which turns out to be a mistake. Nino flees to Tbilisi, where her family is safe, while Ali, later with Nino, seeks protection in Persia.
This story is not only about the love between different religions, but also about the confusion in the Middle East. A fantastic book that I can highly recommend.

book 39 Read in German

 Atemnot

Sonja Senger is the 'new' in the Crimean Commission. She gets to deal with a case of the evil sort. Good-looking athletic business men stopping for an event in Trier disappear for some inexplicable reason without leaving a trace. Senger and her team are puzzled. If there was not a good-looking red-haired woman with a terrible secret. On the one hand, perpetrator is victim to equality. Senger runs away the time so there will not be more deaths.

book 40 ♫ Read in German

 Der fremde Gast

This is for me the first story of Charlotte Link and it grabbed me from the beginning. There are two tragic fates that cross each other. One is a young man who was taken away from his parents in his childhood and placed with a caregiving family who abused him with food deprivation. On the other hand, it is about a spurned love that a man could not get over and therefore seeks revenge. In the process, he literally goes over dead bodies and is not too happy to tear the young man to destruction. The story is told very exciting and it gave me a long guess how the individual elements were linked.

book 41

The Case of the Deadly Butter Chicken

I love the Vish Puri series. Also the third band did not disappoint. This time it was about bet fraud in the millions in cricket. Puri and his family attended a cricket game where a nephew took part. At the subsequent banquet, a rich Pakistani was poisoned. Puri's mother, behaved strangely all the time. During the investigation, Puri's way not only led to the hated Pakistan, no, he also found that his mother determined on his own and he learned while knowing her past. Of course, Puri's passion for food was not forgotten. His wife monitors his weight with an eye for hope and he tried to continue to enjoy the food with pills for weight loss, which of course rather the opposite effect.
This story is about corruption, betting fraud, blood diamonds and the history of women in connection with the separation of Pakistan and India in 1947.

book 42 Read in German

 Creation in Death

As always an exciting thing. This time, Dallas and her team not only have to save women, but Dallas herself is also the target of the murderer. A young woman is found dead. She was brutally tortured and burned on her body for how long it took her to die. This first dead recalls an old case nine years ago. At that time, the killer was not caught. Dalls and her team know it's a race against time. Additionally, they have to realize that this time the young women are employees of Roarke and that the real target must be Dallas.
Exciting written.

book 43 Read in German

 Altweiberfrühling

This is the second volume of the detective Andrea Bernardi of the city police Zurich. Although the places are fictional, I know this neighborhood of Zurich well and can imagine very well where the people move.
Bernardi is called to a retirement home because valuables were stolen from various people. He gets to know the lively retiree Hanna Bürger. She helps him to convict the culprit. Bernardi is very surprised that on each of his visits the hearse stops at the door. Do so many old people really die in such a short time or is there more to it?
Hanna tells about her life in Africa the civil service employee Jonas. He dreams of discovering the world himself once.
It is well told, but did not tie me up so much.

book 44 Read in German

 Schussbereit

This story is about a high school student whose mother has passed away and now lives with her father, to whom she has little relationship. She barely endures it at home and spends nights in different parks in Zurich. At school she has no friends, quite the contrary she is bullied. Now she has enough of her life and wants to end it by going on a rampage at her school and finally wants to kill herself. She announces this with a graffiti in the toilet. The police are working at full speed. Who is this young woman? How can she be stopped? During a week, the student keeps everyone on their toes. During this time she reads the mails between her mother and her godmother. She is quite clear.
This is a very good story. It shows the feelings of a teenage girl who thinks she is alone in the world, despised by the others and how little it takes to stray from the right path or to find the right path again.

book 45 Read in German

 Das Geheimnis des Bücherhüters

I have now read a second time a class this story and the kids love it. In this story, the library of an old book collector is packed and passed on to various libraries and antique dealers. There is a 'bookkeeper' in a box. It's a creature of a mix of a rat and a little demon. Three children find him and try to help him. Momme, who likes to read himself, can speak with books and understand what they say. His most faithful companions a comic, a pirate's book and a lexicon help him and the children solve the case of the bookkeeper. In doing so, they are sometimes in great danger and discover that there is a second bookkeeper.
This is an adventurous story a good child detective story.

book 46 Read in German

 Commissaire Mazan und der blinde Engel

Commissaire Mazan is a tomcat who helps his owner, the homicide detective Zadira Matéo, to clear up cases, along with all the other cats in the small Proveçal village. In this village a blind painter has settled down with his housekeeper. He has painted pictures that raise questions in connection with various murders. The dead are always draped as it is painted in the pictures. Who is behind it? The painter has a blind cat and Mazan takes a liking to her. But he does not know for a long time that he himself has become a daddy. Zadira's love life is also turbulent.
I have read this story with great pleasure and will certainly read the other books in this series.

book 47 Read in German

 Helle und der Tote im tivoli

This Danish thriller is about sexual abuse of a boy. A former director of a high school is brutally murdered found in amusement park Tivoli in Copenhagen. The investigating officers inform Helle, who works as a police officer in Skagen, so that she should inform the wife of the killed. Helle has to fight to be constantly updated on the latest state of the investigation, since the Copenhageners want to do everything themselves and Helle 'only' serves as a stoop. Of course, she does not want that and starts to work with her team. At the same time she is in great danger. But she reveals that an abuse of a boy was covered up years ago.

book 48 ♫ Read in German

 Das Echo der Schuld

This is my second Charlotte Link and I love her stories. Also this book is so complex that it lasted until the last moment until I recognized the true culprit.
Virginia Quentin spends her holidays together with her husband and her seven-year-old daughter Kim in the Hebrides. As a boat accident Nathan and Livia Moor lost their sailing ship and all their belongings, Virginia receives the two. She leaves their holiday home with them and travels back to England with her family. Her husband has political ambitions, but she never accompanies him at events. Virginia carries a big secret that makes her sick. Nathan and Livia follow Virginia and her family. He recognizes Virginia's lability and takes advantage of it. She falls in love with him and wants to start a new life with him. This is the one main plot of the book, the other plot revolves around young girls who are kidnapped, sexually abused and killed. This is also getting closer to Virginia's daughter. Will the police be able to rescue Kim and who is the culprit? Maybe Nathan? Virginia begins to doubt everything and everyone.

book 49 Read in German

 Wintergäste in Trouville

The second volume of the Commissioner Leblanc series was exciting to read.
It's just before Christmas when Marie's dog finds a corpse in the cellar of the Roches Noires apartment house. Marie knows the dead. It is a journalist from Paris who owns a small apartment in Roches Noires. As it turns out she was also the girlfriend of an old Jew who was able to flee to France shortly before the WWII. His two sons also have apartments in Roches Noires, where his father lives. One son is an architect and the other manages a beauty clinic together with a friend. There you can not just lift the wrinkles or make a withdrawal cure, no, it is also very well known for efficient diet programs. What did the dead find out that she had to be killed? Leblanc detects in all directions. It's snowing, but fortunately it is culinary well supplied.

book 50 Read in German

 A Fever of the Blood

I suppose I love this series so much because it plays a) at the end of the 19th century, b) in Scotland (mostly) c) and the supernatural and the cult of the witch occupy a great place.
On New Year's Eve, Frey and McGray are called to the psychiatric hospital where McGray's sister is a patient. A nurse was poisoned by Strichnin and it looks like another inmate might be the killer. Another nurse has noticed that the fugitive and McGray's sister have spoken to each other, but she has not spoken a single word in five years. McGray has to find the fugitive because he wants to know what she said. Frey and McGray have to quickly realize that a big witch ring is behind this whole conspiracy. Can they stop them?
This was a very exciting read.

book 51

 The Ghost Fields

This is another good Ruth Galloway thriller. While Ruth is at a Bronze Age excavation site, a WWII plane is found buried in the neighborhood. In the cockpit sits a corpse from the same time, only Ruth has to realize that this body was recently placed in the cockpit. With the help of modern technology, it quickly becomes clear that he is dead. The question that needs to be clarified is how did he get to this place?
It was a fun read from the first to the last page.

book 52 Read in German

 Richter

Three short stories by three authors (Andrea Camilleri, Giancarlo De Cataldo and Carlo Lucarelli), where each writes about a judge who takes up the fight with the mafia on a small scale.
What these judges from different eras have in common is that everyone beats the current mafia boss of the community with his own weapons. The judges are not intimidated by the mafia methods. Each one of them can finally achieve a small victory, even if other mafia guys leap right into the breach.
I can only recommend this book.

book 53 Read in German

 The Architect's Apprentice

What a great epic, full of historical facts and yet fictional. It's about love, unrequited, unconditional but also about architecture and how it was built in the 16th century. It is about dreams that are fulfilled or unfulfilled but also about friendships that you can count on or that can lead you to ruin.
It was varied and exciting to read. I suffered with the protagonists, looked forward to them and kept asking myself, how can things go well?

book 54 Read in German

 Rain Dogs

Also the fifth case of Detective Sean Duffy was very exciting. While in the preceding cases the Northern Irish conflict was all-important, this time it is only marginal. The key point this time is pedophilia, which took some time to arrive at this point. A British journalist is found dead. Who killed her and why? The focus is on a Finnish delegation. Duffy and his team need a lot of patience and nerves to get to the bottom of things. The evildoers are covered from the top for a long time.

book 55 Read in German

 Ein Gentleman in Arles - Gefährliche Geschäfte

A great new Provence series for me, even though I still have to read the first volume.
This series plays in Arles and the Camargue and of course the culprits have something to do with Marseille. Just right for a lot of excitement, good food and the special people from Provence.
The Gentelman is Peter Smith a former intelligence agent who wants to live his retirement with his dog Arthur in Arles. Of course, he can not leave uncovering and detecting now and puts himself and his loved ones in danger. Luckily, he has recourse to other secret service providers, but also to a 'mafia boss', who support him with words and deeds.
On Beauduc beach, three young policemen are murdered. Soon it turns out that the culprit comes from very high up in the French military circles, who in turn must satisfy very rich patrons. With the help of his old friend Gentry Smith begins the investigation on his own initiative. Not only does he endanger himself but also his sweetheart and her father, who are long-time residents of Camargue.
This thriller grabbed me from the first moment. I'm sure I'll read the first volume and I hope that Anthony Coles will continue with this series.

book 56 Read in German

 Bei Zugabe Mord!: Eine Diva ermittelt im Salzburger Festspielhaus.…

I have mixed feelings about this cozy mystery. On the one hand, it has some funny scenes and statements that make me laugh. On the other hand, the plot is rather 'thin' and it was always predictable, what comes next. That's why the tension did not last.
Mozart's 'Abduction from the Seraglio' was to be played at the Salzburg Festival. But in the end it did not happen because the tenors were killed in a row and no substitutes could be made. The soprano counted for a long time to the suspects, as she already knew in advance how the next victim was murdered and she happened to be always on site. "First beheaded, then hanged, then spit on hot sticks, then burned, then bound and dipped, finally hurt."

book 57 ♫

 The Bookseller of Kabul

Åsne Seierstad had the opportunity to live with a bookseller in Kabul for five months. In this book she describes how life in general and in the bookseller's home is for people. It becomes clear that even if the female persons of the household are allowed to read and learn, they are dependent on the goodwill of the head of the family, who can cut the school off for his daughters at any time, so that they can tackle it at home. But even for the sons it is not easy, because the father not only determines their family future but also about their everyday life.

book 58 ♫ Read in German

 Das blutrote Parfüm

1776: Amélie has to flee Paris with her daughter Linnea after her husband is dead in his perfumery. She takes the most important Essenze and travels to Mont St. Michel in her parents' house. Her father is dead and her mother is in the prison of the monastery, imprisoned by Amélie's brother, who is the abbot of the monastery. Her sister is married to a host of the place. He is violent and abuses his wife.
Amélie tries to build her own perfumery, unaware that her daughter is already better at making the perfumes. Furthermore, Amélie is also unaware that danger is lurking everywhere and her life, as well as that of her daughter and sister are in danger.
This is a fantastic historical mystery that is exciting from the beginning to the end.

book 59 Read in German

 Rat Race

In this book, the horseracing plays only a marginal role, rather it is about flying.
Matt Shore is a pilot and flies trainers, racehorse owners and jockeys to the horse races. Already on the return flight of his first working day, his plane is blown up by a bomb. Luckily, no one hurt. Of course he has the commission of inquiry on the neck. Nobody can explain how the bomb came on the plane. At a later date, the plane of Colin Ross' sister is manipulated. She can land safely with a spectacular rescue operation.
Who is behind all this? Matt finds all the pieces of the puzzle with time, can he convict the villain before the next assassination?
Very exciting written.

book 60 Read in German

 The Corsican Caper

I love this series. While Sam and Elena spend their vacations in Marseille with their friend Francis Reboul, Francis finds himself under the pressure of a dubious Russian, who lies in front of Marseille with his luxury yacht and has decided to buy Reboul's property. Francis does not want to sell, so the Russian is always brazen and ready to let Francis get killed. Of course, far from him and therefore he has chosen Corsica, unaware that Francis and Sam have very good friends there in the underground.
Great and exciting written with a lot of good food that made my mouth water.

book 61 Read in German

 Seeking Whom He May Devour

Also the second volume of the Adamsberg series was exciting.
It plays in the French Alps. Adamsberg's muse Camille lives there and has built a new life with new friends. A Canadian bear researcher has been particularly impressed. Here in France he watches the wolves. Suddenly, the contemplative community gets into turmoil, because not only sheep are torn but also people fall victim to a 'giant wolf'. Camille sets out with Sol and the watchman in search of the malefactor. He is always a step ahead of them.
Adamsberg does not come into play for a long time, which initially irritated me a little. In the end, it is he who came to the culprit on the track.
It was an exciting read.

book 62 Read in German

 The Little Beach Street Bakery

This was a cozy read with lots of romance and humor.
Polly's advertising agency, which she leads with her estranged husband in Plymouth is bankrupt.
Therefore, she decides to start a new life on a small island by indulging in her favorite hobby, bread making. The resident old baker, who has not baked bread for a long time, is not thrilled, but all the inhabitants of the small island and the fishermen secretly buy Pollys bread. She quickly makes friends with the fishermen and a wounded puffin, whom she nursed back to health, is her faithful companion.
Polly quickly dives into island life, falls in love, but has to realize that she is only exploited. But an American dropout has also kept an eye on her. Until their love is something, still pass various adventures.

book 63 Read in German

 A Man of Some Repute

This is the first volume of a new series for me. It was a very exciting read and I will continue to read the other books.
The secret agent Hugo Hawksworth is assigned to Selchester in 1953. He takes his younger sister with him. The two are housed in Selchester Castle. Shortly after their arrival, the body of the lost Earl of Selchester is found. For the past seven years he was considered lost. Who is the murderer? Why does the police and some government officials want to sweep the case under the carpet?
Together with the Earl's niece, Hugo sets out to find answers. They find even more bodies.

book 64 Read in German

 Cabo De Gata

This is a great essay about a dropout who is in a major life crisis. The narrator thus writes what he remembers. First you are in Berlin, where he dissolves his household, logs out everywhere (including all insurance) and said goodbye to his father and his 'daughter'. He tells how he travels to Andalusia by train shortly after the New Year and gets stranded in Cabo de Gata. Even when the sun is shining every day, it is bitterly cold at night and he heats his room with candles. With the rent of his accommodation, he has lunch, which consists daily of fish, soup and a hated vanilla pudding. Every day he goes to the bakery, buys his bread and some cheese in the supermarket. He always drinks his afternoon coffee in the same bar at the same time.
Actually, he fled from Berlin, so he can finally write his book, but even in this place, he is not possible. There are new routines for him, which he pursues meticulously, because he feels that if he does something different, then something bad will happen.
He encounters locals, but can only talk rudimentary, since he does not speak Spanish and every now and then another foreigner gets lost in this small place, with which he can then exchange better.
The story is great. Ruge tells the individual episodes to the smallest detail, so that one has the feeling to be there yourself.

book 65 ♫ Read in German

 Die Gottessucherin

The story takes place during the Inquisition in the 16th century. It begins in Portugal, where a young Jewish woman Gracia is married to a rich Jewish merchant. He and his brother bring converted Jews out of the country to Antwerp. But even there, the Jews are not sure, because the Dominican Inquisitor is out for revenge. While the husband of Gracia dies and she promises him on the deathbed that she will bring his mortal remains to the Promised Land (Thebes), the whole family is on the run again, taking the intermediate stops in Venice and Tuscany until they finally get protection find at the Ottoman sultan. In all these years, hundreds of Jews are being rescued, but many are losing their lives too, but the love happiness of female family members has long been lost on the track.
It's great told and very exciting. The historical accuracy of the facts from that time are stunning.

book 66 Read in German

 Dead Horsemeat

This is a very exciting thriller that moves in different social milieus. On the one hand money laundering and on the other the drug cartel. It's also about nasty politicians, obedient chief officials and prostitution.
The drug trade is about horse owners who are not afraid to kill live animals. The weaknesses of individuals are deliberately made use of in order to be able to blackmail them at the same time so that the powerful can not be brought down.
The only one who can not be blackmailed, even if it is tried again and again, is Commissaire Daquin, who is open to his homosexuality. But the evildoers are not aware of that.

book 67 Read in German

 Schüsse im Shortbread

Already the short biography of the author is interesting. He is the 36th Earl of Sutherly and his wife is a chief commissioner. He writes the books about the cases his wife has to solve.
Arthur and Rosy are newly married. The honeymoon was supposed to have gone to the Côte d'Azur, but instead they are in the Scottish Highlands to help Rosy's protégé on her first fall. In the Tackergill Tower Castel, they move into the Honeymoon Suite because four people were shot in the restaurant Shortbread. What do these people have in common? Rosy first investigates undercover and Arthur tries to support her as well. The whole thing seems to be very tricky. In addition, Rosy is five months pregnant and gets bleeding during the investigation. This means to determine from the hospital bed.
The story is amusing, but did not overly bother me.

book 68 Read in German

 Fake und Fiktion

This is an exciting essay on the concepts of fake and fiction. What is soon clear is the fact that, depending on the language, fake has a different meaning and development of a fake. The Anglicist language differs from the German language. This also shows me that the cultural understanding of both languages is greater than assumed for me and therefore the mutual understanding of certain statements clearly differs.
Fiction, too, is very complex and can sometimes be difficult for readers to distinguish what may be considered fiction or factuality. Likewise, any translation of a text changes the original, and it is difficult to determine in retrospect what the original author really meant.

book 69 Read in German

 Shinigami Games Herbst

Somehow I was not really warm with this Japan thriller. Maybe it's because I do not really understand the Japanese mentality or the plot did not suit me.
A female inspector gets emails at dawn. These are a mysteries. If she can solve them, she can save one or more lives that would otherwise brutally kill her adversary. She works with former male colleagues. In addition, her boss finds that women do not belong in this position. It's a race against the time.

book 70

 A Cat, a Hat and a Piece of String

These were great short stories, just as you would expect from Joanne Harris.
The stories are set in different environments, but after half of the book they are taken up again and give the reader a familiarity of déjà vue, and one is therefore delighted once again to experience something with the characters.

book 71 Read in German

Death of a Cad

This was the first book from the Hamish Macbeth series for me and I will definitely read more books from this series.
Hamish Macbeth is a policeman in Lochdubh and in love with Pricilla Halburton-Smythe. Unfortunately, she came back from London to her parents' house to celebrate her engagement. It goes without saying that everything does not go smoothly. One of the guests, rather an unpleasant contemporary, is found dead. Macbeth is sure that it was murder and not an accident. However, his superiors want to be good with the notables of the region and therefore declare death as suicide. Macbeth can not resist and investigates on his own. Only when a second murder happens, he is taken seriously.
This is a funny cozy mystery.

book 72 Read in German

 Am Abgrund aller Dinge

This again is a great Carofiglio novel. What I appreciate about his books are the profundities of his main characters, who you get to know in all their facets and feel you've known them all their lives. This also leads to being happy with them or suffering with them.
In this book, the writer Enrico Vallesi returns to his hometown of Bari, after reading in the newspaper that Salvatore, a comrade of his childhood, was shot dead.
In Bari, he reflects on his time as a teenager by refreshing old contacts, visiting places where pleasing and unpleasant things happened and in daydreams recalling the days of his youth. He finds out that he was not always the nice adapted youth and with good luck (a brief moment of a ray of hope) was not on the wrong track.

book 73 ♫ Read in German

 Gier

The A group is not new to the Opcop group. All members of the A-group are now distributed to both groups, which is good because they can support each other. In this first case of the Opcop group, various cases are pending, this is probably meant to get to know better the new groups that are now internationally active.
It's about eco-crime, mafia activities between East and West, child pornography and kidnapping. The narrative is leaping between the different scenes and as a reader one is sometimes overstrained.
Nevertheless, I give the Opcop group another chance, because exciting is this thriller.

book 74

 A Dangerous Place

When Maisie is on her way home from India to England in 1937, she makes a stop in Gibraltar. She is not yet ready to meet her family and friends after the tragic death of her husband and the loss of her unborn child. As it can not be otherwise, she stumbles upon a dead photographer shortly after her arrival. After telling the police everything she knew, she would have let the story rest. But knowing Maisie is exactly the last thing she does. She soon realizes that the police are not making much of an effort to find the killer, much worse, Maisie soon realizes that she is being shadowed. While she gets the help of the dead sister, she also takes advantage of her shadow. Soon Maisie has to realize during her investigations that the whole thing is very complex, that many political actors are involved and that the Spanish Civil War also plays a big role. She travels to Spain and has the privilege of having two nurses in a monastery in the mountains. Then she realizes that she has to postpone her journey home for a little longer, as she is needed there.

book 75

 The Guest Room

Richard gives a bachelor party for his brother, which he could not have imagined that this evening ends tragically and the following days is tragic for him and his family.
During the event, two Russian girls were engaged in dance and sex by Richards Brother's friend. The two 'watchdogs' are murdered by the girls, who were then able to flee. Not only is the house wasted, Richard's social life is also in trouble.
The story is told from two sides. On the one hand the view of Richard, his wife and their daughter. On the other hand, Alexandra, one of the 'dancers', tells how she became a sex slave.
I was impressed how her story is told. It is infinitely sad, but unfortunately corresponds to the truth.

book 76 Read in German

 Close Your Eyes

This thriller is very exciting, as one is always routed on wrong tracks. No sooner you recognize the villain, you have to realize that it is not this person.
Women are attacked and strangled. Only a few get away with it. The victims are scratched with an A on their foreheads. Joseph O'Loughlin is called in, but he has much more to do, as his separated wife is diagnosed with cancer and he should be there for his daughters. Once again he brings his family in danger with this case.

book 77

 The Expats

This is a confusion par excellence. An American family decides to emigrate to Europe. The reasons are manifold. For the wife begins a new life, as she has always worked as a mother for the CIA, but her husband knew nothing about it. He is the driving force behind emigrating, because as a computer security expert he has figured out how to steal money from others during the transfer. His wife knew nothing about that. When they live in Luxembourg, two FBI agents are tracking him down. Since no one else has knowledge of what the other is doing, the whole thing is very tricky.

book 78 Read in German

 Hotel Bosporus

Kati Hirschel, a German-Turkish thriller bookseller, loves to solve a real criminal case rather than standing in her bookstore all day long. Since she just right that an old school friend from Germany, whom has become an actress, comes to Istabul to make a film. The fact that the German director was murdered in the hotel the first night is a stroke of luck for Kati, so she is involved in the investigation from the beginning, thanks to her friend, and she learns everything first-hand from the love-stoned Commissioner. The fact that she also gets caught up in mafia Turkish bosses, makes the whole thing even more explosive.

book 79 Read in German

 Rapture in Death

This was another exciting Eve Dallas thriller. Now that I have a Tolino, I can finally read the earlier books in this series.
Eve and Roarke are on honeymoon, they should actually enjoy, if not suddenly a dead person appears. Even if it looks like an ordinary suicide, Dalls does not believe in it and soon realizes that there are four such deaths. Who is behind it? Soon she and Roarke are in danger.
It is written grippingly. I could hardly stop reading.

book 80 Read in German

 Single Malt Murder

What a great introduction to a cozy mystery series. Abi Logan, who is actually a photographer, inherits from her uncle and foster father a whiskey distillery in Scotland. While she tries to take over the heritage locally, not only is the distillery sabotaged, but a young man is murdered. Abi faces many hurdles, as it is also unusual for a woman to run a whiskey distillery. The distiller is very fond of her, but Abi takes a long time to accept it. Furthermore, she must first work up the history of the company so that she can dissolve the murder. At the same time, she herself is in grave danger.
A great exciting book and I will definitely read the rest of the books in this series.

book 81 Read in German

 Auntie Poldi and the Sicilian Lions

I think I rarely laughed as much as I did while reading this book. What makes it special is the language. Auntie Poldi is a Bavarian who was married to a Sicilian. After his death, everything is too dull in Munich, so she emigrates to Sicily to her sisters-in-law and their families. She buys a house with sea views from the roof terrace. Since she is no longer the youngest, she gets help from the young Valentino when renovating the house, who one day does not show up and Autie Poldi finds him murdered on the beach three days later. Auntie Poldi has a strong commitment to amateur detective and decides she has to solve the murder herself, against the will of the police, especially the handsome chief commissioner Montana.
She tells the story to her nephew Giordano, who actually wants to write a family epic and is still in his infancy with his great-grandfather.
The Bavarian language is the charm of this cozy reading. I will certainly read the other books too.

book 82

 Breakdown

This is once again an exciting book from the Alex Delaware series.
A woman is picked up by the police because she has invaded a foreign property and scared the owner. Soon it turns out that she has mental problems. Alex looks after her son Ovid while his friend Lou looks after the mentally disturbed woman. Years later, this woman is found dead. Alex remembers her son Ovid. But he is nowhere to be found. The investigations also show that the dead had long been homeless.
Where is Ovid and why did the woman have to die? The autopsy shows that she was poisoned. Soon, other dead appear, who were also poisoned with vegetable substances.
It's a race with time to stop the culprit.

book 83 ♫ Read in German

 The Lake House

The story takes place for over 70 years. It is explained from the present day, but always goes back to circumstances that had happened earlier.
Four old sisters always meet on the birthday of their mother in the museum, where also the art collection of her parents is exhibited. Alice, one of the sisters, can not stop researching what must have happened decades ago when her little brother Theo disappeared without a trace. Then it comes to her that Sadie Sparrow is working on an old unresolved case that could be related to Theo's disappearance.
During the investigation Alice gets to know a lot of unknown things about her parents, especially about her mother.
It is a very exciting mystery.

book 84 Read in German

 Die Kaffeerösterin

This was an exciting read from the interwar years to the late 50's in Sicily. On the one hand, the life of the roaster family is told, with Genziana, as a woman, taking over the roasting business after the WWII and on the other hand, the political system is explained in Sicily, which turns out that the women have a great power, even if not on the front line.
I found it interesting how the author cleverly combined the two themes a) rising power (domestic) and b) politics.

book 85 Read in German

 Fire In The Stars

This is a gripping thriller playing in the vastness of Newfoundland. It points out that post-traumatic needs can lead to great misfortune. On the one hand it affects two development workers who have experienced very bad things in Nigeria under the Boko Haram, on the other hand it shows the fate of the refugees who are being misused by human trafficker.
Amanda has agreed with Phil to take a tour of Newfoundland's vast expanse to work through their accomplishments in Nigeria. When she arrives in Newfoundland, Phil disappeared without a trace with his son Tyler. Amanda goes with the help of Chris Tymko in search. They experience nasty surprises.
The story is told exciting and makes you very thoughtful.

book 86 Read in German

 The Cement Garden

What a disturbing book. It's about four children / teenagers who lost their parents one after the other. The father died first, not before he bought tons of bagged cement and processed it with his son for a walk in the garden. The mother suffered for some time from a disease that led to death. While the father received a proper burial, the two eldest children cemented the mother in a box in the basement. Since the summer vacation was just beginning and the family had no other relatives and friends, nobody noticed for a long time what was happening in the lonely house.
The siblings had a special bond to each other. What began in childhood as a doctor's play ends in incest. The youngest decided after the mother's death that he would rather be a girl. His big brother resisted for a long time while the sisters dressed him with love, and sometimes even treated like a baby.
It's a story that really gets under your skin.

book 87 Read in German

 Gefährliche Côte Bleue

This is a cozy mystery that plays in Provence.
While Blanc and Marius accompany a state ship with divers who mount a grate in front of a cave entrance in the Calanque, they see a dead diver near a sailing ship. Blanc takes the investigation, but soon realizes that he steps in his investigation into a wasp nest and the authorities in Paris try to stop him. During his investigation, he encounters an environmental sin that needs to be hushed up. Soon after, there will be another dead.
Blanc is constantly over-tired, since in this case he usually has to investigate on his own, as a colleague is on a honeymoon trip and his colleague finally gets up to tackling a therapy regarding his alcohol addiction.
It's a quick amusing read.

book 88 Read in German

 Agatha Raisin and the Love from Hell

This is a nice cozy mystery. Agatha, back from her honeymoon, quickly realizes that this marriage is not under a good star. She feels that her husband has a relationship with a local woman. When he disappears injured and the alleged lover is found dead, Agathe and Charles go in search of what really happened. Soon they have to realize that they are dealing with psychopaths and James, Agatha's husband has other life plans.

book 89 Read in German

 Crossfire

Tom, the son of a horse trainer and a stable owner, returns home after 15 years of military service and lost his foot following a bombing in Afghanistan. He is not received with open arms and soon realizes that his mother is being blackmailed, that the racing team's finances are catastrophic and that his mother is making her good racehorses sick with food so they will not win. Tom decides to get to the bottom of everything and catch the culprit without the police being involved.
Very exciting written and it was a great reading pleasure.

Looks like a happy year of reading so far! Do you think you'll make it to 100?

Hi Nicole, no I won't do the 100 this year. Nevertheless, I had a wonderful reading year.

book 90 Read in German

 Killing Floor

This was my second book from the Jack Reacher series, even though this is actually volume one.
In this book you get to know Jack Reacher. His brother plays an important role here, as does his military past. You also know why Jack is a restless nature and doesn't want to settle down. It doesn't matter, it's exciting. It's about drugs, money laundering and mafia methods. When Jack arrives in this sleepy place and is immediately arrested, he soon realizes that the police are also corrupt. He is suspected of murder and has to realize that the dead man is his brother and was under investigation on behalf of the government. He soon realizes that this authority is also corrupt. Who else can he trust?

book 91 Read in German

 Lizzis letzter Tango

This thriller takes place in Hamburg. Lizzi is an older 'lady' who lives with the stolen money from her late husband in an exclusive old people's home on the Elbe. Actually, she would have wanted to enjoy the end of her life if nothing else happened.
The home manager would like to get rid of Lizzi and only accept high-society clients. Furthermore, she has a quack with the senior doctor. However, the latter is also targeting a nurse who will promptly receive notice of termination from the home manager. Lizzi receives a visit from her daughter and her dubious lover, who steals Lizzi's money. In addition, a bank director is brought to the home and shot shortly thereafter. Lizzi and the nurse begin to investigate. On the one hand, how they will get Lizzi's money back, and on the other hand, it seems that the dead bank director is not what you think. They receive support from Lizzi's daughter's dubious lover, of all people, and the crime chief retired, who at the time tried to prove that Lizzi's husband had been the robber.
On the one hand, this thriller is funny, on the other hand, sometimes a little too lengthy.

book 92 ♫ Read in German

 Die Betrogene

This is a very addicting thriller. First, it appears that they are different, independent plots. In each case I started guessing a) where does this plot lead and b) how and why is it linked to the others. This made me pretty jittery. Over time I felt that I had found the connection, only to later find that I was completely wrong.
On the one hand, there is a young family with an adoptive son who is badly molested by his birth mother and her lover. On the other hand, a policewoman from Scotland Yard is looking for her father's murderer, who was also a policeman. In doing so, she comes across a dark chapter in her father's past.
It was a very exciting listening.

book 93 ♫ Read in German

 Codex Regius

This was a very exciting reading. A young Icelandic student is studying old Icelandic literature in Copenhagen. His professor has long been chasing the original 'Edda' manuscript, which was written on parchment.
Their search leads them to East Germany, whereby they are not afraid to open a grave and also in Berlin shortly after WWII they look for booksellers who are found murdered after their visit. Soon they are the hunted. On the one hand by the police and on the other hand by the malefactor who goes over dead bodies.
Can they find the missing pages again?
This captivating thriller is exciting from the first to the last page.

book 94

 The Heavenly Table

To be honest, I had a struggle with the book. Somehow, I didn't really like the time, the environment and the content, even if I have to hold the author to the advantage that it is well written.
On the one hand, there are three brothers who have lost their parents and now want to go to Canada, robbing people along the way to get money, food, weapons and horses. On the other hand, there is a couple whose son suddenly no longer comes home. First, they think that he joined the military to take part in WWI in Europe. The father soon realizes that he just ran away.
The following topics are also addressed: homosexuality, mental illness and racism.

book 95 Read in German

 Mystery In White

It's an amusing, cozy mystery.
On Christmas Eve, a train gets stuck in a snowdrift near Hemmersby. Six different people sharing the compartment leave the train to walk to Hemmersby. Since a snowstorm is raging and they cannot see anything, they get lost and thus come to an 'empty' house. The fireplace is heated, the tea water boils and there is enough to eat. But where is the owner? In search of him, the stranded people notice that something is wrong with this house. Someone died, there is a big secret in this house. The intruders try to uncover the secret.

book 96 ♫ Read in German

 Zorn

This thriller by the Opcop team was also very gripping, although the basic idea is very frightening.
Various scientists are found murdered one after the other. The dead always occurs on a former prison island, with a message from the book of the Count of Monte Christo. It soon turns out that it is an act of revenge. But who is behind it and why? All scientists have in common that they were working on a research experiment in the former Soviet Union with the aim of artificially producing a tailor-made person.
When looking for the culprit, the members of the Opcop team are also at great risk.

So close, but impressive regardless!

>111 frahealee: Thanks so much.