January, 2022 ~ What are you reading?

Happy New Year !!

Starting off the new year and the new month.

Still reading The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman.

I thought I was finishing off the year, but I guess I’m starting the year with Ashes to Ashes by Mel Starr (a 14th century British mystery) and The Apollo Murders by Chris Hadfield.

>2 raidergirl3: I have The Apollo Murders on my shelf. Hope you like it!

>3 rabbitprincess: oh, I flew through it and listened to the last 35% today. A lot of fun! Enjoy when you get to it.

First crime novel of the year for me will be DreadfulWater, by Thomas King.

Wasn't aware that Alexander McCall Smith had started on a new path: getting acquainted with The Department of Sensitive Crimes.

Starting my year off with The Man Who Died Twice by Richard Osman

I've got two going, the ebook is The Night Market by Jonathan Moore which is a futuristic noir sort of police procedural and the physical book is The Firemaker by Peter May which is sort of similar, but set in the late 90s in China. Both feature cops and possibly the May book will bear out a conspiracy like the Moore book has, but it hasn't yet.

I'm getting close to the end of a chronological read of Patricia Wentworth's Miss Silver series, now reading The Fingerprint, which is #30 out of 32.

Happy New Year to all. No crime fiction/mysteries in progress right now-have to get a novel finished for my book club meeting first.

I have just finished The Man in the Queue and hope to read a lot more Josephine Tey soon. Considering it was her first novel, it is very good; also a good insight into life between the wars.

>11 sarahemmm: I read The Daughter of Time a couple of years ago, and enjoyed it enough to want to seek out the rest of the series, but haven't yet. You've prompted me to make a better effort.

I posted this on 1/1/2022 at the end of the December thread, but thought I should re-post it here in case anyone wants to take some suggestions.

I have been off LT for a while, but read a number of good mysteries, crime, thrillers in 2021.

Lady Chevy by John Woods. Very good.

Please See Us by Caitlin Mullen. Excellent

The Forger's Daughter by Bradford Morrow. Not to my taste.

Don't Turn Around by Michelle Gagnon. Very good.

Perfect Little Children by Sophie Hannah. Strange and fantastical.

The Evil That Men Do by John Brunner. Very good.

The Push by Ashley Audrain. Excellent. Psychological thriller.

Shattered Justice by Susan Furlong. Very good. Latest entry in a very good series.

The Rabbit Hunter by Lars Kepler. Very good thriller.

Rat City by Curt Colbert. Ok.

Gorky Park by Martin Cruz Smith. Very good. Re-read after seeing the movie, which was not very good.

Razorblade Tears by S. S. Cosby. Excellent. Fast paced, hardnosed and violent.

Blacktop Wasteland by S. S. Cosby. Also excellent.

Walking Through Needles by Heather Levy. Very good.

Thick as Thieves by Neil Low. Fair. Decent plot but very clunky writing.

Harlem Shuffle by Colson Whitehead. Excellent. Good crime novel with an excellent description of Harlem in the 60's.

Happy reading in 2022. Hope to be a more regular contributor this year.

>1 seitherin: I had to return it to the library before I finished it, but I have to say, until I read your post, I'd totally forgotten about it. I had really high expectations and I thought it was just, blah. You'll have to tell me if the end gets good!

I am reading a James Patterson Bookshot called the House Husband-really short intense read. At home, I am reading agnes and the hitman
by Jennifer Crusie and Bob Mayer

>14 cindieusevich: I'm only a bit over a quarter of the way thru the book, but it really isn't very captivating so far. I'll probably keep plugging away at it. I need a mindless read mixed in my rotation.

I finished Darker Than Amber by John D. McDonald, seventh book in MacDonald's famous Travis McGee series of crime novels, first published in the 1960s. These books are fun, fast-paced and well plotted. Good, snappy, cynical dialogue but without the noir cliche patter that quickly becomes tiresome. There is sexism galore, however, and that definitely diminishes the series' luster.

>17 rocketjk: I'm a big fan of the Travis McGee series. I read the whole thing in chronological order a few years ago and really enjoyed it. Bar the sexism of the day, as you mentioned.

I finished The Fingerprint by Patricia Wentworth. I have really enjoyed this series, and this was another solid entry.

Felt like devouring a book in a morning, and Nine Coaches Waiting, by Mary Stewart, fit the bill. I had fun trying to guess what would come next.

Next up in crime is The Journeying Boy, by Michael Innes.

Spirits and Sourdough by Bailey Cates
#10 Magical Bakery Mystery
c. 2022
3 *s

Katie Lightfoot, co-owner of Honeybee Bakery in Savannah, GA, is preparing for Halloween. She and some friends decide to go on a Ghost Tour. Unfortunately, their guide sees a ghost of a recently dead woman and has trouble dealing with it. The guide tells Katie that the ghost demands that Katie find its murderer. Katie is used to the paranormal, as she is a hereditary hedgewitch. But, Katie's thoughts are on more important things. Her new husband recently lost his spirit guide, a leprechaun named Connor. Katue has plans to try to find Connor on Halloween when the veil between worlds is the thinnest. It was an ok read. I have been waiting a year for this novel to be published, but I am disappointed. It doesn't have the action or energy of previous entries. It just seems to plod along, not making much use of the interesting characters which have developed along with the series. I hope the next book is better, as this was simply "meh..".

Just finished The Mystery of Three Quarters by Sophie Hannah. Not great but not bad either. This is one of her Hercule Poirot ongoing series.

I read the fourth book in the Three Investigators mystery series, The Mystery of the Green Ghost, and found it just as much fun as it was when I first read these books 40-odd years ago.

Just started the 6th John Madden book by Rennie Airth - The Decent Inn of Death. So far, so good.

Finished The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman. It was OK.

I have just finished smallbone deceased by Michael Gilbert. It is set in a law firm in London shortly after the end of World War One. I thought it a beautifully written, intricate mystery although some of the legal points escaped me. Gilbert was a lawyer and knew this world well.

Added The Troubadour's Tale by Ann Swinfen to my rotation.

Today I started the audio of The Mysterious Affair at Styles, by Agatha Christie, read by Hugh Fraser.

I’m reading State Of Terror, the Clinton/Penny collaboration and enjoying it.

>30 Copperskye: I enjoyed that one a lot.

I've just finished the latest in SJ Rozan's series featuring Lydia Chin and Bill Smith, Family Business. A very good addition to one of my favorite series.

I'm continuing a project that I began last year: I read Donna Andrews's most recent, and decided to go back and read all the books in her Meg Langslow series. I'm currently in the middle of Die Like an Eagle. For the uninitiated, this is a long series of humorous mysteries, each of which has a bird pun in the title. We see Meg's life progress as she acquires a husband and two twins. I've been reading these at bedtime and more serious books during the day.

Finished The Troubadour's Tale by Ann Swinfen. Liked it. Reading the last book in the series--The Stonemason's Tale.

Finished The Stonemason's Tale by Ann Swinfen. Liked it. Added The Hollow by Agatha Christie to my rotation.

I've picked up The Man in the Brown Suit as part of the reading challenge hosted by the Agatha Christie website.

Just started The Counterfeit Heiress by Tasha Alexander. Didn't realize until I was a couple chapters in that it's one of a series, but I didn't feel too disoriented picking up in the middle.

Just finished Maigret Enjoys Himself by Georges Simenon and so far, it’s my favorite in the series.

Am reading a book I picked up at a library sales - A Body to Die For which features a high-end spa in Western Massachusetts a la Canyon Ranch and of course, a body or two. Dead. A little frothy, but fun.

Finished The Hollow by Agatha Christie. Knew who done it even before it got done. Added Chrisitie's Taken at the Flood to my rotation.

Just watched the David Suchet version of Taken at the Flood. CREE. PEE. Creepy. Wow. Just wow.

Finished Taken at the Flood by Agatha Christie. Liked it. Added Claws for Alarm by Rita Mae Brown and Sneaky Pie Brown to my rotation.

Just finished Pickard County Atlas, a first novel by Chris Harding Thornton. Described by reviewers as "rural noir", I found it just too depressing and dismal a story for my frame of mind this week. I did think it was well written and the characters well developed.

Service for Two was a find on the "please just give me a quarter so I can clear out inventory" shelf. Cozy fluff circa 1907 at the Pennyfoot Inn somewhere on the southeast coast of England.

Finished The Man in the Brown Suit for the Agatha Christie Reading Challenge. It was ... fine. The main problem is that one of the suspects, Colonel Race, appears in later books in the Poirot series that I have already read, so clearly he wasn't the killer, or the guy who gets the girl. That really narrowed the field.

Next up in crime for me is The Heron's Cry, by Ann Cleeves.

Finished Claws for Alarm by Rita Mae Brown and Sneaky Pie Brown. Meh. Added In the Heat of the Moment by Viveca Sten to my rotation.

Just started Murder at Wedgefield Manor by Erica Ruth Neubauer. Really enjoyed her first one, hoping this one is just as good

Finished In the Heat of the Moment by Viveca Sten. Enjoyed it. Added Y is for Yesterday by Sue Grafton to my rotation.

FEBRUARY THREAD IS UP: https://www.librarything.com/topic/339249