November, 2022 ~ What are you reading?

New month, new thread.

Still reading Opium and Absinthe by Lydia Kang.

Catching up with Sunny Randall in the latest in that series: Robert B. Parker's Revenge Tour. Mike Lupica had not been one of my favorite authors in the Parker continuations but the books are at least readable so I am sticking with the series... for now.

Yesterday I finally finished Les scrupules de Maigret, which I've had on the go for a long time. A good book despite my taking so long to read it.

>3 rabbitprincess: Years ago, a dear friend of mine once gave me a copy of her "little black book," which was a notebook carefully arranged by author and series, which I've been using as a mystery bucket list ever since. Maigret was one of her favorites, and I have yet to give the series a go. I'm thinking maybe I should.

>4 gmathis: If you do, start with one of the middle ones or one of the more popular ones :) I did some jumping around the series for a bit but now I am reading the ones I did not pick up in order - the first ones are not the best representation of the series (still good but in a different way).

Penguin just finished publishing all 75 of them in new translations a couple of years ago.

>5 AnnieMod: Appreciate the tip!

This may fit the "steampunk thriller" description very loosely: I picked up The Technologists by Matthew Pearl last night. I set it aside the first time around after a few chapters; can't remember why (probably because something better came along); but having hit the mental "reset" button, it's off to a decent second start.

Finished Opium and Absinthe by Lydia Kang. Liked it. Next up is The Crow Trap by Ann Cleeves.

Just finished Pay dirt road, which won the Tony Hillerman Prize.

Oh, and The spare man, which is a cruise ship mystery that takes place on the way from Earth to Mars.

Hi

>9 STCKYDAGOAT: Hi!

I finished A Man Without Breath, the 9th book in Philip Kerr's excellent Bernie Gunther noir crime series. The beginning of this series found Bernie Gunther as a Berlin homicide detective in 1935, as the Nazi's were quickly taking over all aspects of life in Germany, much to Gunther's dismay and disgust. Gunther has both a solid moral compass and a backbone, and was not loath to let his strong anti-Nazi sentiment be known. It is 1943. Gunther, due to his long career as an investigator, finds himself, to his own disgust, officially a member of the SD, the intelligence wing of the SS. He is sent to Smolensk in German occupied Russia. The war's great turning point, the German defeat at Stalingrad, has just occurred. But just outside Smolensk, a giant unmarked graveyard has just been discovered in a place called Katyn Woods. Gunther sets about doing this job, surrounded by a cast of German officers and Russian locals who motives vary. And then murders begin occurring, as murders will in murder mysteries. Gunther has his mission, and yet, of course, his homicide detective instincts come to the fore. As always, Gunther is swimming in a stream of shifting motives, violence, compromise and downright evil. He manages to keep his own sense of right and wrong afloat, but his soul becomes more battered and scarred with each book.

Have just finished Japanese tales of mystery and imagination by Edogawa Rampo. Some weird/classic noir murder mysteries, some surreal/weird dark prsychosexual tales. Definitely recommended!

edited for touchstones

The new Thursday Murder Club mystery, The Bullet That Missed, is entertaining me very much. I've laughed out loud several times.

>13 rabbitprincess: Love those!

I just finished The Marlow Murder Club by Robert Thorogood.
Reminded me of Thursday Murder Club, British, eccentric characters, civilians 'helping' police, funny.

Finished The Bullet That Missed and getting up to date with another series. Deep House: A DreadfulWater Mystery is the sixth book in Thomas King's series featuring ex-cop-turned-photographer Thumps DreadfulWater.

Really enjoying Thieves’ Dozen, a collection of short stories by Donald E. Westlake. Subtitled “The Dortmunder Stories,” it is my preamble to the unread novels.

Finished The Crow Trap by Ann Cleeves and started Telling Tales.

I've finished Hiss and Hers by MC Beaton, my first in the Agatha Raisin series. It was a light, fun, cozy mystery.

In the middle of Patrol by Philip MacDonald, a WWI war thriller written in 1927. One of my favorite authors.

Re-read an old favourite yesterday: Death at Windsor Castle, by C.C. Benison.

True crime-The Castleton Massacre by Sharon Anne Cook and Margaret Carson, about a family massacre in rural Ontario, Canada in the 1960s (an event I'd never heard of before)

Snagged Ink Black Heart the latest in the Cormoran Strike/Robin Ellacot detective series. Quite complex and a bit slow-moving, but I'm used to that and don't mind because the payoffs have been good. This one has a lot of chat and texting and so really has to be read with the eyes and not the ears, something I'm happy to have learned since I usually do these as audios. Poor Robert Glenister had to read so much weirdness that doesn't make that much sense aurally.

I'm reading The Naming of the Dead by Ian Rankin. It's been a while since I've read an Inspector Rebus and I'm really enjoying it with its mix of traditional who-dunnit and political backdrop (it's set during the G8 in Edinburgh in 2005)

Reading my second Vera book, Silent Voices by Ann Cleeves.

Currently in crime: The Eight of Swords, a Dr. Gideon Fell mystery by John Dickson Carr.

I have just finished Blue Lightning by Ann Cleeves , fourth in her 'Shetland' series. I loved the Fair Isle setting.

Finished Telling Tales by Ann Cleeves. Liked it.

A fast start into The Perfect Alibi by Phillip Margolin. Short chapters, a real page-turner, it’s the perfect “airport book.”

I've neglected to report my November reading, so I'll put them all here:

Mr Jelly's Business by Arthur Upfield is the fourth in a Golden-Age mystery series about a half-caste police inspector named Napoleon Bonaparte in Australia. It was a good story and a twist ending that was very satisfying.

The Burglar Who Met Fredric Brown by Lawrence Block is newly published, a surprise new book in Block's Bernie Rhodenbarr series (whose touchstone is being stubborn). Science fiction fans may recognize the name Fredric Brown and surmise that this book involves parallel universes, and they'd be spot on. It was great to spend a little more time with some of my favorite characters.

The Mystery of the Talking Skull by Robert Arthur sees the Three Investigators (another wonky series touchstone) trying to solve the mystery of a missing magician and his talking skull prop. Perfectly fine for what it is, a juvenile mystery series.

Bleeding Heart Yard by Elly Griffiths is the brand-new book in Griffiths' Harbinder Kaur series. I like this series better than Griffiths' Brighton Mysteries (wonky touchstone) but not as much as the beloved Ruth Galloway series. This was an enjoyable read.

>2 AnnieMod: I'm reading this. A friend wrote it! I'm thinking its a bit more psychological thriller and mystery combined.
https://www.amazon.ca/Death-figured-Seasoned-Serial-Killer-ebook/dp/B0BN9DS7JC/r...

Just started A Christmas Garland by Anne Perry.

>30 LMiron: Welcome to LibraryThing! Please do not link to Amazon here: such a link is considered commercial spam. Instead, add the book to LibraryThing and then use square brackets around the title to create a link/touchstone here in LibraryThing.

(Also sent as private message.)

Added A World of Curiosities by Louise Penny to my rotation.

New monthly thread: https://www.librarything.com/topic/346183