What are you reading in 2023?

I've read 2 books so far (though must admit the first one is more of a novella);
Kate Shackleton's First Case by Frances Brody and The Rising Tide by Ann Cleeves. Two of my favourite authors.

Had a good start to the year:

Seven Bridges and The Hermitage by LJ Ross, both 4.5★s
Ticket to Oblivion - Edward Marston 4★s
Kill My Darling - Cynthia Harrod-Eagles 4★
The Lantern Men - Elly Griffiths 4.5★s
Lazybones - Mark Billingham 3.5★s
Date with Death - Julia Chapman 4.5★s

I have listened to Paige Shelton on You Tube for no charge. Her mystery books are based in Scotland and a bookshop.

I think I've read too many in this series recently as I didn't particularly enjoy this one: Death at the Seaside by Frances Brody. Time to read something else for a change, I think.

An April Shroud - Reginald Hill 4.5★s

Det Supt Andy Dalziel is left on his own in this one as DI Pascoe goes off on honeymoon.

The Snuffbox Murders - Roger Silverwood 4★s

A Yorkshireman, Roger Silverwood (a new author for me), writing about a Yorkshire cop in a South Yorkshire setting.

DI Michael Angel works doggedly to find a killer and a gang of thieves - but then, he’s “…the cop who they say, like the Mounties, always gets his man…”.

Another book by Roger Silverwood, The Money Tree Murders 4★s

DI Angel gets his man again, solving a murder and the mystery of a ‘haunted’ house.

I always love a novel by Elly Griffiths. I just finished the 3rd and latest in her Harbinder Kaur series: Bleeding Heart Yard and although I found the plot to be a tad farfetched, I still really enjoyed the book.

Enjoying this series by Julia Chapman, set in the Yorkshire Dales, Date with Malice 4.5★s

Dead Heading by Catherine Aird 4★s

DI Sloan and DC Crosby investigate damage to three commercial greenhouses, while looking for a misper.

Date with Mystery by Julia Chapman 4.5★s

Agatha Raisin and the Curious Curate by M. C. Beaton 3.5★s

Agatha Raisin and the Perfect Paragon by M. C. Beaton 3.5★s

An oldie from 1943: Somebody at the Door by Raymond Postgate 3.75★s

Agatha Raisin and Love, Lies and Liquor by M. C. Beaton 4★s

I finished The Lady from Zagreb, the 10th book in Philip Kerr's Bernie Gunther noir series. I mention it here only because Kerr was from Scotland, although none of the series action takes place anywhere around Britain.

The Man Who Died Twice by Richard Osman 4.5★s

The Bullet That Missed by Richard Osman 4.5★s

Play Dead by Angela Marsons 4★s

Quite disappointed in The Long Weekend by Gilly MacMillan. I've enjoyed her novels before but this one didn't work for me on so many levels-I didn't like the pacing, the dialogue was unbelievable at times, and I couldn't stand any of the characters.

I’m continuing apace with this series: Date with Poison by Julia Chapman 5★s

I haven't been here for a while, mostly because I forget to post here.

Oxford Exit by Veronica Stallwood

Novelist and one-time librarian, Kate Ivory, has been asked to do some cataloguing at the Bodleian Library, Oxford in an undercover effort to find out how to make rare books disappear when they are in the process of being added to the computer catalogue and removed from the card index. Not only did she discover major losses and what became of the books, but someone else had the same suspicion and came to a nasty end. The book theft is referred to as the Oxford Exit. This was a lot of fun, not a cozy, but kept light with Stallwood's humour and library lore. And of course the setting is first-rate.

Most noteworthy: a particularly creepy character has the name of Vivian.

New here. Pocket bio: Retired humanities teacher, residing in Tlaxcala, Mexico, with two dogs and six indoor cats. Passionate about literature, history, philosophy, classical music and opera, jazz, cinema, and similar subjects. Nostalgic guy. Politically centrist. BA in American Studies from Yale; MAs in English and Education from Boston University. Born in northern New Jersey. Have lived and worked in San Francisco, Chicago, northern Nevada, northeast Wisconsin, South Korea.

Just finished Hugh Munro’s Who Told Clutha (1958), the first in his series about a Glasgow shipyard detective. From “Glasgow” and “shipyard”, you know it will be flavorful, and it is! I look forward to spending more time with Clutha, who is tough-savvy.

Hugh Munro is not to be confused with Hector Hugh Munro (Saki) or Neil Munro (author of the Para Handy tales). More info here:

https://bearalley.blogspot.com/2010/10/hugh-munro.html

The Relentless Tide - Denzil Meyrick 4.5★s
The Woodcutter - Reginald Hill 5★s

Date with Danger by Julia Chapman 5★s. Thoroughly enjoying this series.

>23 PatrickMurtha: Welcome, Patrick :)

Two from one of my favourite series: Longstone 4★s and The Infirmary 4.5★s, by LJ Ross.

Agatha Raisin and the Potted Gardener - M. C. Beaton 3.5★s

Sidney Chambers and The Dangers of Temptation - James Runcie 3.75★s

The Wanton Angel by Edward Marston 4★s

I finished The Other Side of Silence, the 11th entry in Philip Kerr's wonderful Bernie Gunther historical noir series. Gunther started out the series as a homicide detective in Nazi-era (but pre-war) Berlin. Being a Nazi-hater in 1935 Berlin was bound to bring our pal Bernie some problems, and of course it did by the fistful. The Other Side of Silence finds Gunther out the other end of the war with even more cynicism to go along with his battered conscience. Now it is the mid-50s and he is working as a concierge in a decent but not great hotel on the French Riviera. Kerr was never shy about mixing well-known real life figures into Gunther's adventures and travails. This time we meet Somerset Maugham, who is living in the same town and is being blackmailed. It's not long before the British Secret Service are in town, too, and what we have is a Cold War conundrum. This isn't among the very best books in this series, but even good-not-great Bernie Gunther is still a lot of fun in the reading. Sadly, Kerr died a few years back, but I still have three Bernie Gunther books to go. I include the book here because Kerr was from Scotland.

I've just read Call for the Dead, John le Carré's first published novel and the first book of his famous George Smiley series. Although the story is about spies and espionage, it's essentially a murder mystery. It's a good first novel, I think, though nowhere near the quality of le Carré's (and Smiley's) subsequent novels, though already the writing style, I thought, was quite enjoyable. Foreign Office employee Samuel Fennan, whom Smiley has recently interviewed about a letter the office has received questioning Fennan's loyalty. And although Smiley assures Fennan at the end of the interview that he hasn't anything to worry about, Fennan commits suicide the next day. And when Smiley goes to Fennan's house the next day to talk to his widow, he feels that things are not adding up. Well, they wouldn't, would they? I thought it was good fun and a nice brisk read. I'm now interested in continuing on in the series.

I wasn’t too keen on this one:

Wolf to the Slaughter - Ruth Rendell 3.5★s

A Killing Frost - the final book in the DI Jack Frost series by R. D. Wingfield 4★s.
Will now have to try out the prequel series…

Another author new to me: Faith Martin (aka Joyce Cato; Maxine Barry; Jessie Daniels)

By a Narrow Majority 4★s

Widowed DI Hillary Greene lives on a narrow boat in Oxford; she’s an honest cop, coping with the legacy of once being married to a dirty cop.

I have the next book in the series, and look forward to reading it. I’ll also be trying some of the other mystery series penned by this author.

This is a short story, but I will be seeking out the series:

The Fallen by Michael Wood 4★s

The protagonist is DCI Matilda Darke, leader of the newly installed Murder Investigation Team (MIT) in Sheffield, South Yorkshire Police.

>34 Sergeirocks: I'm currently re-reading the Frost series... have all six on my shelf... including a signed hardcover copy of Winter Frost

>36 Sergeirocks: Thanks - looks like my sort of series and my library has most of them!

>37 rhinemaiden: I’m interested in reading the Frost prequels by James Henry, and continued by Danny Miller, but I’m not finding them easy to source on ebooks…

>38 mvo62: You’ll have to let us know what you think of them, Monica.
They’re definitely not a ‘blood-and-guts’ series, as far as I can tell.

Agatha Raisin and Kissing Christmas Goodbye, M. C. Beaton 4.25★s

Not totally Christmassy, but it’s where I’m up to in the series…

The Greek Who Stole Christmas by Anthony Horowitz 4.5★s

I think this series is wasted on kids, 🤭.

14 year old Nick comes to the rescue, as usual, when his incompetence private detective brother, Tim Diamond, is hired as bodyguard to a superstar who’s received a death threat.

I really enjoyed the wit and humour in The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman

>39 Sergeirocks: I hate to admit, but I gave up on my Frost re-read half way thru book 3 Night Frost -- too formulaic. Wingfield's writing is a delight, but the plotting was so-so for me... been there, read that in his earlier books. Onto something else...

good luck in your quest for the prequels...