What are you reading now (Still continuing)

I am reading A Small Weeping by Alex Gray, set in Scotland.

I just finished re-reading Winter House by Carol O'Connell, and am putting off starting Find Me for the second time because I fear it may be the final book in the Mallory series. And I don't want it to be over!

I'm halfway through Behold, Here's Poison and I am really loathing some of the characters. But they are meant to be loathed so that is ok.

fleela from the previous thread - you're really moving through Christie quickly! I'm still working on her autobiography. I've just read about how she invented Poirot and wrote The Mysterious Affair at Styles. So interesting. It took her about 3 years and 3 publishers to get it published, and they requested that she change the ending! Regarding Poirot, there were many Belgian refugees after WWI in England, and that's how she invented him.

#3 Stacey42. I have mixed feelings about Georgette Heyer's mysteries - they keep reminding me of Christie but they're just a tad off. Haven't read Behold, Here's Poison yet, though.

>4 karenmarie:
Unfortunately, I have to take a break from the Christies because my Early Reviewer book came yesterday. So I have to wait to see who Mr. Curry really is and where those four clocks came from!

I made a list on WikiThing to track the Poirot stories I've read so far; I still have a ways to go!

http://www.librarything.com/wiki/index.php/User:Fleela/poirot

#4 karen - yeah I feel the same way. I like some of them. The Unfinished Clue was good & seemed to stand alone in my mind. This one though.... I keep expecting someone to call in Poirot.

Two Little Girls in Blue by Mary Higgins Clark....one of my favorite authors in this genre!

#2 amancine ~ I know what you mean, but go ahead and read Find Me anyway because it is SOOO good! Maybe the best of the series *crossing fingers* so far *and toes and eyes and ...*. Besides, this is one series that a person can reread, it's that good.

Have you read The Judas Child yet? It's also very very good.

Storeetllr - yeah, I have read everything by O'Connell at least once. She is my favorite mystery writer. I started Judas Child over the minute I finished it, and I rarely do that.

I know what you mean about Find Me. I sobbed as I read the last page.

Read All My Suspectsby Louise Shaffer over the past weekend. This is a traditional cozy that involves the murder of a television executive on the set of a daytime soap opera. It was cute and fun, a quick read.
Then I started my first Donna Leonbook and fortunately it is the first in the series that I found in the book store. Death At Le Feniceis the title and I haven't read a lot of it yet, but so far it is interesting. It isn't as gripping as another foreign mystery I read by
Barbara Nadelwhose hero lives in Istanbul, but I am liking this book so far and will probably get around to reading more of the series eventually.

Apparently working my way backward, I am reading the first DCI Lorimer book by Alex Gray Never Somewhere Else

Amancine ~ I did too! And I seldom cry when I read books, not even tearjerkers! Find Me was just so wrenching. Darn, I hope it's not the last of the series!

Yes, I agree ~ Judas Child was just brilliant. If her next standalone (I think it's going to be called "Bone by Bone") is as good, it might take the sting out of having to wait to see if she writes another Mallory mystery.

Just got the new Elizabeth George Careless in Red. So everything else gets put aside until that is finished; I suspect by the weekend.

Just read Celia Fremlin's The Hours before Dawn and am now searching for every book she ever wrote. Are any of her others as good as this?

I am reading the first book in the Maigret's series, Maigret and the enigmatic Lett, and enjoying it quite a lot.

Just finished Black Echo by Michael Connelly - didn't like it much better than I did the first time, but I did follow the developments more easily this time. I'm looking for the next Bosch book now.

You should read C.J.Sansom's Shardlake series - I have read "Dark Fire' and "Sovereign" - absolutely brilliant

Having just finished Agatha Christie An Autobiography I'm re-reading her first book, The Mysterious Affair at Styles. Goal? Re-read all her books.

While at Borders yesterday to get Jane Haddam's paperback edition of Glass Houses I picked up The Good Guy on a whim. It's the first Dean Koontz book I've ever read. I liked it, and the identification twist at the end was fine, but it wasn't so compelling as to make me want to read everything the man has ever written (thank the Spaghetti Monster, as he's as prolific as Nora Roberts, seems like).

I'd forgotten how much I liked The Mysterious Affair at Styles. Am reading #2, The Secret Adversary. Don't like Tuppence and Tommy nearly as well as her other detectives, but they're all such fast light reads that I think I can get through it quickly.

Then, I'm going to stop Agatha Christie for a while so I don't get bored and continue with my March ER book and my May bookclub readings (Shakespeare! Wish me luck.)

Strangers on a Train by Patricia Highsmith. Bruno is even creepier in the novel than in the movie, and that was pretty creepy.

Audio = In the Woods by Tana French. So far, so good.

Finished Christie's The Clocks last night, then immediately started on her Thirteen at Dinner.

Do you prefer to read an author's books all in a row or do you prefer to scatter them around with others?

Amateur Spy by Dan Fesperman on audio in the car - still on first disk, so too soon to tell how well I'll take to it.

#23 - I prefer to read an author's books in order (in the case of a series), but interspersed with other authors. Most authors tend to be a little formulaic and taking time between books keeps me from getting irritated by the repetitiveness of reading the same thing back to back.

I finished my audio book by, Greg Iles, “True Evil” and it was, truly evil. And, I finished my hard copy book about the same time, Keith Ablow’s, “Psychopath”, which could have shared the title true evil!! I enjoyed both immensely, so what does that say about my taste?

Don't worry, Jxnhole. You have a lot of company!

The latest John Harvey, Cold in Hand.

Just finished Crimson Orgy by Austin Williams and it blew me away. An outstanding debut novel blending suspense, horror, and ultra-black humor. Highly recommended!

#23--You know, I was thinking about that question the other day...I can't read multiple books of a series one right after the other. No matter how much I enjoy the author and the series, I get bored about 40 pages into the second book. I have to mix others in, to keep things interesting.

Right now I'm reading A Drink Before The War by Dennis Lehane, the first in his Kenzie-Gennaro series. I liked it right off the bat, although his dialogue gets a little too Dirty Harry at times.

#23 and #29......I agree. I like to read other books in between a series. If not it feels like I'm reading one huge novel...besides I there is just too much on my TBR list that I am chomping at the bit to read. I like to mix it up.

Started Death of an Ordinary Guy which is a pun about a Guy Fawkes 'guy' by the way. The writing seems to be pretty annoying so it I may dump it well before reaching the end if things don't improve.

I started to read The Death of a Red Heroine by Qiu Xiaolong, the first of the Inspector Chem series. Give an interesting view of life in China, with some historical perspective. The writing is very good.

Began 2 new books today: Grass Roots by Stuart Woods and on audio in the car I've got Captain Alatriste by Arturo Perez-Reverte. Both are repeats, but I don't think I ever finished Capitain Alatriste when I had it before.

#33: IMHO, that series gets better with each book. Perez-Reverte is fascinated by that period in Spanish history. But it seemed to me that he had a hard time getting off the ground with the first book, Captain Alatriste. Still, it's worth finishing. The 2nd, Purity of Blood, I thought was much better, and I really liked Sun over Breda.

#34 I didn't realize that Captain Alatriste was part of a series. I knew that Perez-Reverte had written quite a few books, but wasn't aware they were related. Now I'm excited to finish so I can hunt for the next - thanks!

#35: You're more than welcome. :-)

Joycepa, how lovely to see you again!!!!!!
:-))

#37, aluvalibri: I've been mostly lurking around, too busy to do much except note books for my never-shrinking Wish Lists! But a couple of major projects are finished, the rainy season is here, and today I'm at my computer frantically pounding out book reviews--I'm so far behind I'm not sure I'll ever get done! working on the easy ones first to boost morale. :-)

I enjoyed Winter House and Find Me is in my TBR pile

I am reading The Hours Before Dawn by Celia Fremlin which I ordered based on a recommendation in this thread (I think). Although the setting and story is quite different, it is reminding me of A Big Boy did it and Ran Away, starting out as it does with parents pushed to the brink of breakdown by sleep deprivation due to a perpetually crying baby--apparently a good set up for further mayhem

Quartzite, after being so impressed by The Hours Before Dawn I'm seeking more Celia Fremling. So far I can recommend The Spider-orchid. The domestic mayhem is caused by a woman leaving her husband to move in with her divorced lover.

Just started Killing Floor by Lee Child deciding to see what the series is all about since it is obviously popular.

quartzite, from Child's website:

"Read them in the order Lee wrote them (they were published in that order, too). We believe the prequel (The Enemy) has more emotional impact after you've gotten to know Reacher a bit better. We numbered them on the BOOKS page for your convenience. There's also a printable list of all books available for download in PDF format and Word."

I'm on #4, Running Blind right now.

#45 ~ Thanks for the link to the website, Linkmeister. Sounds interesting. Another series to add to my TBR list. :)

Only one comment: Why are UK covers so much more attractive than US covers? *rhetorical question*

I am halfway through Her Royal Spyness by Rhys Bowen, though the dead body has only now just shown up. It's a fun little book, about a down-and-out minor royal in London in 1932.
Fun fact...I discovered I actually went to high school with the author's daughter.

The Mysterious Affair at Styles - I do love me some Poirot.

#46 - I've also just added this to my list. Another comment: Why do US and UK even have different covers? Are we so different that the same art doesn't appeal to all of us? Also - which cover do they get in Australia?

#49 and others: maybe if you find out the answer to this question, it will also answer a) the incredible number of dust jacket cover for Harry Potter #7 and b) the true ugliness of the one used in the US--maybe followed (a close second) by the one released in the UK.

> I didn't realize that Captain Alatriste was part of a series.

I have read that Alatriste is the equivalent of Harry Potter in Spain - there are websites, action figures, games, a whole gamut of Alatristewares. There is also a movie starring Viggo Mortensen as Alatriste, in Spanish, that I am eagerly awaiting from Netflix.

I am currently listening to The Terror by Dan Simmons and reading The Monkey's Raincoat by Robert Crais, based on a recommendation from this group. After all, I've read all of the Spenser and Nero Wolfe novels as well as most of the Andrew Vacchs - I needed a new series!

I’ve just started Joseph Wambaugh’s latest, “Hollywood Crows”. Fun, as Wambaugh always is.

I just finished Scream For Me by Karen Rose. She just gets better and better.

#53 I'm glad to hear you liked this book - I'm not-so-patiently waiting for it from the the library.

I have finished the forthcoming Dennis Lehane novel The Given Day and I'm posting here because I know some of you are Lehane fans through his mystery series or his suspense novels, particularly Mystic River. While they might say this is a departure for Dennis, I will tell you it's not a departure, it's an evolution. Everything you have come to expect from him is in there - action, suspense, blood-letting, great characters, tight-plotting - all in there and MORE. This is an historical saga, 700 pages, which brings vividly to life Boston in 1918-19 and will culminate with the Boston policemen's strike. I never realized how much was going on in the country during that time period, and how much it resonates with today. A great read.

Am reading SPQR XI: Under Vesuvius by John Maddox Roberts now. It's a Roman mystery set in the last days of the Republic, not long before the Civil War. Good stuff.

Some of Agatha Christie's books just came out in hard cover and I got them off of the bargain book counter. I have all of her books in paperback, but only a few in hard cover. Nice to see she's as popular as ever!

#51 I listened to The Terror on audio. I'd be interested to hear what you think of it when you are done.

I think now I must stop at the bookstore on my way home and look for Scream for Me!

#55 avaland: I'm a more or less recent fan of Lehane's, and am currently reading A Drink Before the War, which is excellent. given your review and what I've read so far, I'm adding The Given Day to my wish list.

#55 avaland.... thanks for the thumbs up. I will look forward to reading The Given Day. I look forward to reading anything Dennis Lehane writes.

sjmccreary, I had to ask my little county library to order the book, which they did; guess I was first on the list. They called me on the release date of the book that they had it in.

She has been an auto buy for me since her first book, but I've had to draw the line with some authors about coming out in hardback. I just can't buy them all & I don't have room for them all, either. I will, however, buy the paperback when it's released to add to my collection.

I will say about Scream For Me that I did not figure out "who done it" until it was revealed. Really wanted to skip to the end; a real nail biter.

Let me know what you think.

>58 Joycepa:, 59 I think it's due out in September. I'm betting there will be early reviewer copies available here later on; right now HarperCollins is probably hand-feeding them to booksellers and the big reviewers, I suppose. I have not read Lehane's mystery series but came on board when I got an ARC of Mystic River ages ago. I considered that an exceptional character-driven suspense novel. btw, I call The Given Day 'brawny' because I thought describing it as 'masculine' might discourage female readers (which isn't the same thing as saying it's a 'guy book', if you know what I mean).

I have no idea what to call A Drink Before the War, which I just finished about a half hour ago. It transcends just about every subtype of the genre with which I'm familiar. It makes Michael Connelly's Harry Bosch series seem so-so.

I loved Mystic River, but had seen the movie before reading the book, so I knew what to expect, and that took some of the edge off. I had no idea what I was in for in the Kenzie/Gennaro series.

On to the next, which I jsut happen to have on my shelves, waiting: Darkness Take My Hand.

Wow!

Okay, I just took a quick peek at the book on Amazon and am putting A Drink Before the War on my TBR list. I've never read anything by Lehane before, so this will be a treat!

Storeetllr.... you are in for a BIG treat. I envy you! That is the only thing I hate about finishing all of my favorite authors books... it’s a long wait until they come out with another.

I recommend that you read the Kenzie/Gennaro series in order:

A Drink Before the War
Darkness Takes My Hand
Sacred
Gone Baby Gone
Prayers For Rain

His stand alone novels can be read whenever....

Mystic River
Shutter Island
Coronado, short stories
The Given Day ...due out Sept.8

I've already started Darkness, Take My Hand--couldn't resist--and it's already different, edgier, much darker. He doesn't seem to be formulaic, at least not at this point.

I have Shutter island sitting on my TBR shelf, as well as a few Michael Connolly books. I never thought I'd be sort of letting down by reading Michael Connolly! :-) But I am going to save Shutter Island for later in the rainy season when we're REALLY socked in here. Snug in bed, a dog on either side, one or more cats on my lap, rain pounding away outside....Coming Soon to Our Locale.

Shutter Island was one of the best books I read last year. I am so jealous that you have that to look forward to. Enjoy!

I love the Kenzie/Gennaro series, but those with a low tolerence for violence might be warned. I've heard many a critique that there is too much in the novels - some even call it gratuitous. For me, it's not a problem and I don't find it gratuitous, but I do agree they are quite violent novels. Great, but bloody.

I'm reading Laurie King's A Grave Talent. While I've read, and very much enjoyed, her Mary Russell and Sherlock Holmes books, this is the first of her Kate Martinelli books that I've read. This one is very good, too, and I'm going to have to track down the others.

>68 webgeekstress: I love the Kate Martinelli books. I might be one of the few people in the world that prefers them to the Mary Russell stories.

#66 amancine: I'm usually an "instant gratification" person about reading, but I'm relishing the thought of waiting--a very delicious anticipation, as it were!

#67 Bookmarque: Actually the first book surprised me--I thought that the violence level was rather low for a book of this type. And not graphic either--big body count during the gang war but that was it--recounting the numbers--but just one bloody incident.

Clearly, though, the 2nd one is going to step up the graphic violence.

Well, I finished Killing Floor and I am not sure if I will read more in this series or not. The author stretched suspension of disbelief waaaay past my breaking point. More than anything, within about 30 minutes of the fingerprints of a murdered body being identified as an Treasury agent, that town would have been knee deep in Feds. But there were plenty other of "no way" plot devices overwhelming the books good points.

Joycepa - I can't remember which of them are more violent than the others, but I think they are as a whole, more bloody than others of the same type. They are some of my favorites though and I've read the series through twice.

I took out of the library yesterday my first Thomas H. Cook, Red Leaves. I only first heard of him yesterday. Has anyone read his work? Apparently he's highly acclaimed.

I have read quite a bit by Thomas H. Cook, he is a very good writer and fairly hard to categorize as many of his books are rather different from each other. For me, they share a mood of being suspenseful and often claustrophobic. Many also have an historical element.

#71 I agree about "no way" aspects of the Child novels.

Just finished Dead Souls by Ian Rankin and liked it better than the first one I read - Resurrection Men. So I supposed I'm hooked on another series.

Next on my reading list is Hold Tight.

I was notified that I'll be getting an early reviewer copy of Lahane's The Given Day, so that will follow Hold Tight.

I've read all the Lehanes except Mystic River (saw the movie - that's what got me started on him) and the short stories. I read the posts above and agree he's great.

How many are into "Tartan Noir" besides me? Started with Ian Rankin and now there's Stuart McBride (Hope I got that right.) Just finished one by a woman named Denise Mina. Talk about gripping. I just loved it. It was nice to see a woman doing Tartan Noir!

Just finished Sweet Revenge by Diane Mott Davidson and The Chinese Parrot by Earl Derr Biggers. I hadn't read either one before, so that was fun.

I just started The Woods by Harlan Coben.

Just started Shutter Island by Dennis Lehane. Enjoying it very much. My first one by him. Got him from this list. So far very good. Also reading Storm Front Jim Butcher and in my car is Merle's Door . Try to keep someting in the car for while I'm waiting for whatever.

Cast a Cold Eye by Marjorie Eccles the first in series in which I have already read some of the later books. She is good.

I'm reading the new Elizabeth George, Careless in Red. Can't wait to see what happens.

Almost finished reading Decorated to Death a cozy by Dean James. This is the third in his series about a gay vampire who solves mysteries in a quaint English town. I'm tired of the series and looking forward to moving onto something with a bit more...bite may I say. Next up is my first Thomas H. Cook-The Red Leaves. I think it's a thriller, although I"m not entirely sure yet.

I've moved on to the next Eccles, Death of a Good Woman.

I am reading the Sacred Bones by Michael Byrnes - a speculative thriller.

#49 I enjoy the kate Matinelli series as well. I also enjoyed the Mary Russel series

Do you like the Stand alones?

#85 wpriest: I realize that I haven't been asked but thought I'd put my two cents in anyway.

I have all of King's books except for the last few of the Martinelli series, which more or less bored me after the third or 4th book. For me, her stand alones range from good to utterly outstanding; A Darker Place, IMHO, is superb, better than any book in either of her series, although I have to say that O Jerusalem comes a close second. Folly is also excellent, Keeping Watch very good. Touchstone, her latest book, I found good but a little hard to take as I found the protagonist to be just a shade too unbelievable. But I've only read it once and need to do so a second time.

I just finished Joseph Wambaugh’s latest novel, Hollywood Crows. What can I say? Wambaugh is excellent and this one does not disappoint.

For an audio book, I picked up Clive Barker’s, Coldheart Canyon. Hmmm... very strange, I don’t think I’ll be seeking out anymore of his stuff. I’d say it was xxx-rated Steven King on crack!

Now I’m looking forward to Play Dead by David Rosenfelt. I’ve enjoyed all of his previous books and love his main character Andy Carpenter, so I’m sure this one will be a good adventure.

#87 XXX-rated SK on crack? Now that has to be really whacked out stuff!

#88.... trust me, it was!

I agree, it was pretty off-putting.

Coldheart Canyon was definetly unique. I read it several years ago and wasn't sure exactly how I felt about it. All Clive Barker's are distinctly different. I loved Weave World, which was the first of his I read. But Canyon was very bizzare.
I read Scream For Me over the weekend. I thought it was very good. I don't think it should have been displayed in the Romance section though!

#91 Sounds like maybe it ended up in the romance section because of the title!?! lol

Almost finished reading Red Leavesby Thomas H. Cook and I"m loving it. The book just gets better as it moves along. Everything is falling apart around the
main character's head. If you aren't familiar with the
story, it is about a 'normal' family who awaken one morning to discover that their son is accused of being complicit in the disappearance of a little girl he was babysitting. It turns out the family wasn't as they originally appeared. I'm definitly looking forward to reading more work by Cook.
But this book had me thinking, there seems to be a tremendous amount of fiction now that deals with missing children.

Reading the third Marjorie Eccles Requiem for a Dove

#92 I guess that could be why! lol.

Just started William Bayer's 'Dream of the Broken Horses'. Have read his Frank Janek series think this will be good.

Nearly finished Revelation by C J Sansom, the first of his historical crime books that I've tried and will certainly read the other three he's written.

David Rosenfelt’s book, “Play Dead” is a very very enjoyable read, as are all of his books. Treat yourself and read them, but start at the beginning, because they’re a series that you cannot just pop into in the middle. Well, you can, but it’s more fun to start with the characters as they build.
`02 Open & Shut
`03 First Degree
`04 Bury the Lead
`05 Sudden Death
‘06 Dead Center
`07 Play Dead

I am reading What I Tell You Three Times is False. It is doing a pretty good job of making an implausible scenario believable, but I think the body count is getting a bit high....

Just finished Dry Ice - Stephen White. Whoops, touchstones for White are not entirely enlightening!

Edited for Stephen, not Steven!

#97..I just started Dissolution, the first in the C.J. Sansom series about Matthew Shardlake. So far I'm thoroughly enjoying it. I love when I discover a new series that I really like, because I know I have all these great books ahead of me to read.

I'm listening to the audio version of Dead Time by Stephen White. It's pretty good, not great, but I love this author's wit and humor. That, in itself, is part of why I can't put this one down. The story line is fairly good but it seems a bit tedious. Maybe it's the audio version versus reading it the old fashioned way....? I'm about halfway through it, it's holding my interest, so I'll finish. He really is one gifted writer, one of my faves.

#101....glad that's good, too, (Dissolution)as I've just put it on the shelf as my next read. These Sansom books are certainly a change from the classic English type like P D James or the Americans like Connelly or Lee Child. Never tried historical crime before.

#101...If the Shardlake series encourages you to try more historical mysteries, you're in for a treat, because there are so many wonderful books out there. It's one of my favorite genres, because I love being so thoroughly taken away from my daily life. I like contemporary mysteries too, but sometimes I want something really different.

Started Lush Life last night on the many raves of LTers; not sure yet what I think of it.

The Dead Sit around in a Ring by David Lawrence a British police procedural set in a gritty London.

I'm just starting The Chatham School Affair by Thomas H. Cook. This is the first of his work I've read. I'm only about 50 pages in and at first I was a little put off by his writing style, but now that I'm getting into it I'm beginning to enjoy it. I'll let you know in another 250 pages!

I am reading Darkness at Pemberley by T.H.White. Classical English mystery, in a university town easily recognizable as Cambridge.
Good so far.

I've picked up The Sittaford Mystery by Agatha Christie.

I like the Sittaford Mystery - really good.

I got The Mummy Case by Elizabeth Peters as an audiobook from the library. I was hoping it would be good, as they had several other in this series. Peters is a prolific writer with at least three series, the Amelia Peabody books, the Jacqueline Kirby books, and the Vicky Bliss books, plus several books that are not part of a series. I really like the Vicky Bliss books. Vicky is a tall, blonde, kick-butt art historian always looking for stolen art treasures. Borrower of the Night is the first one in that series. I hate the Jacqueline Kirby books. But I couldn't remember whether I liked the Amelia Peabody books. Amelia is a Victorian Egyptologist. I remember reading the first one in the series, Crocodile on the Sandbank, but it was so long ago that I couldn't remember what I thought. And my sister is a big fan of the series, so I thought maybe I would like it too.

But I hated it! The book is told as if it's taken from her diary, so it's all in first person. That's OK, but it means if you don't like the main character, you'll be spending a lot of time with someone who bugs you. And I didn't like her at all. Amelia talks way too much, she's annoying coy about her love life with her fabulous husband, Emerson, and she complains all the time about her son. That was when I really just decided it wasn't worth listening. All she says about her son, named Ramses for mysterious reasons I didn't catch, is that he's too loud, too dirty, and always causing trouble. Well, I have a son like that, but I am pretty happy with him. So really, give it a rest already! I didn't even finish the first tape.

Then I thought maybe it was the narrator that was so irritating, and I could give the book another chance. So I found a copy at the library and thumbed through it. Nope. It was just as bad. I flipped through to the end, but it was the same style all the way through and I just didn't care what happened to any of the characters.

It's funny that one writer can have such a wide range of voices in writing. I also found 2 Vicky Bliss books at the library sale and picked them up. I already finished Silhouette in Scarlet, which is set in Sweden. It was a lot of fun, and now I'm looking forward to Night Train to Memphis.

Murder at the Pageant by Victor Whitechurch, an early (1929) golden age British mystery.

I've just finished reading Martina Cole's The Graft - I think she sums up the London underground scene really well. I was not expecting the twist at the end either!

Just started Poirot Investigates while I was making dinner. Audio book, no juggling a paperback and hoagy buns for me!

Finished Red Leavesby Thomas H. Cook last weekend and really loved it. Looking forward to reading his other work, although I hear it's a mixed bunch quality-wise. Now I'm almost finished reading my first Erle Stanley Gardner,Perry Mason book,The Curse
of the Howling Dog. Perry is a bit too perfect for my liking, but I find the mystery interesting enough. I just wish there were more of an edge to the guy. Still I love the period details like the smoking and the way woman are called girls. I plan to pick up a Michael Connellyin the next few days. What do people think of him? I think he's a hugely popular writer isn't he?
And for a poster up above, I read my first David
Lawrencethis past summer, can't remember the name but it was horribly gritty and too violent for my liking.

Michael Connelly is very good and not graphic. I just picked up The Reapers by John Connolly last night but have not started it yet.

Michael Connelly is excellent. I didn't like his first The Black Echo but loved the next 4.

#114 ...alans....You are so going to enjoy Michael Connelly. He’s one of my favorites and I’ve read everything he’s written. I’m anxiously awaiting his next novel, The Brass Verdict, due out in October.

I’m glad for the good report on Red Leaves by Thomas H. Cook. I have a copy sitting on my night stand. It won the Edgar, Dagger and Anthony awards in 2006. I’m about half way through one of his previous book, The Chatham School Affair (Edgar Award winner in 1997) and it’s not too bad.

I polished off The Sittaford Mystery yesterday and I'm working on The Secret of Chimneys today. Both are by Agatha Christie.

I've just started Black Ice by Michael Connelly on audio in the car. I had started this series a few years ago, but quickly lost interest. I started it again after joining LT on the basis of the rave reviews Connelly seems to get here. This book is familiar - but I don't remember anything that happens before I get there.

I'm also reading Diary of a Serial Killer by Ed Gaffney - I liked the first 2 books pretty well, but I'm having trouble getting into this one.

Next up will be Night Work by Steve Hamilton. I'm excited about this one - I loved all his Alex McKnight books.

#98 Yes, this series is good. I have only read the first three,but the next 2 are in my TBR stack.

The Chatam School Affair left me with a big "so what" at the end. That was it? That was the big mystery? It was transparent (obvious red herrings anyone?) and not that compelling. Eh. I've read better. I couldn't figure out why it won the Edgar. Must have been a really thin year.

Just started The Case of the Gilded Fly by Edmund Crispin, the first in the Gervaise Fen series.

Done with The Secret of Chimneys and started They Came to Baghdad, both by Agatha Christie.

The Savage Garden by Mark Mills

I am reading LT inspired books, as though I didn't have enough on my own !

I just finished Barbara Nadel's Belshazzar's Daughter the first in the Inspector Ikmen series. It was not great and not terrible, just sort of average.

The writing is what made it OK, because it flows and is well done. The setting (Istanbul) wasn't really presented well, except for the waterways and twisty alleys, the characters were flat and unlikeable, and the book was too long and the story drawn out and repetitive. The characters also used a lot of British-isms so they didn't really seem to be all that Turkish.

The real problem was the main character, a police detective who wanders around drinking from an open bottle of booze: in his office, at crime scenes, when visiting witnesses/suspects to question them. So the police force has no standards just because they are foreign ? Not so good. The characters are assigned a script (dominated by mother, randy, complaining wife) and it is repeated each time they appear with only the details changed.

I will read the second book, to see if it gets any better. I usually give a new series 3 books before I ditch it (unless I hate it at the start).

I have also just started another LT inspired book. It was from the new recommendations list.

It is a historical mystery set in Japan in 1603 just after the first Shogun has taken over. It is Death at the Crossroads by Dale Furutani and is first in the Samurai mystery series. So far it seems be good if a bit on the light side.

#121 Bookmarque ... I’ve got to agree. I just finished The Chatham School Affair and had pretty much the same opinion. I found myself skimming through a lot and only stuck with it because it was an Edgar Award winner. Red Leaves gets rave reviews, so I will try it but if it drags like this one I’ll know to give it up. Too many books, too little time!

I'm reading a classic at the moment; War and Peace.

I’m into the first 50 pages of “The Altar Boys” by John Poswall. I enjoyed his first novel, "The Lawyers, Class of `69", and a lot of the same characters are in this one. So far, it’s pretty good.

Finished Death at the Crossroads. It was a light, quick historical mystery. Setting and characters are good, lots of interesting Japanese myths and lore included. Mystery is a bit on the minor side.

Also started and finished the second book in the series Jade Palace Vendetta. Another good light read.

The last book in the series Kill the Shogun just arrived in the mail today, so I will start it tomorrow.

Just finished The Secret Ingredient Murders. I found it so-so. Too predictable. I just didn't really care that much about who did it.

But maybe that's because I got Reaper Man from the library today and I can't wait to start it!

Started Crossroad Blues by Ace Atkins but got bored and gave up on it.

Am about half way through The Final Murder by Anne Holt - a Norwegian writer. It is intriguing but needs to pick up a bit to stand out from the crowd. I don't speak Norwegian so am reading this in a translation by Kari Dickson which is very smooth. Shall definitely finish this book.

Currently reading Gone For Good by Harlan Coben. First one of his I've tried. Fast-paced, good character development. A fun read so far.

Next up:

Rain Fall by Barry Eisler
and
Purgatory Ridge by William Kent Krueger

Currently reading something by Elizabeth Gunn called Seventh Inning---. It's alright so far, nothing special, I find the book a little unfocused. I don't have much more to read though. I like it because it has more bite then the last cozy I read by Gail Bowen who is a writer I really enjoy, but I needed some more guts and gore for a change.

I have only recently found Harlan Coben and I'm currently reading: Drop Shot. (Myron Bolitar Mysteries)

Attack of the Unsinkable Rubber Ducks by one of my favorites Christopher Brookmyre.

EXCELLENT!!!! I finished “The Altar Boys” by John M. Poswall and it was one of the best legal thrillers I’ve ever read, and I’ve read quite a few. Legal thrillers are one of my favorite genres. John Lescroart wrote that “.... he sets the new gold standard for courtroom drama”. Even comparing “The Altar Boys” to Scott Turow’s “Presumed Innocent”. It’s real courtroom drama. No Perry Mason kind of stuff. I can’t wait for his next novel.

I finished Cold Granite by Stuart MacBride today. It's the first in his Logan McRae series. I'll be seeking out more.

I've just discovered William Lashner and am reading the first book in his Victor Carl series, Hostile Witness. Victor is a somewhat morally challenged lawyer (okay, no lawyer jokes here) but an original character. I'm looking forward to reading more in the series.

#138...Oooh, I loved Cold Granite! The rest of his series is on my TBR list.
The only thing that bugged me was the constant references to the weather. At a certain point, I was thinking, "Okay, I get it, the weather is terrible!"

>140 AlaMich: I really liked it too. However, I found that I knew exactly where the author was heading with the plot a great deal ahead of time. I didn't think it "predictable" in the standard sense, though--it just felt like I knew what the author was thinking / planning (i.e., he took it exactly where I would have).

The weather began to annoy me too.

AlaMich, I love Victor Carl, his wit and sarcasm is really entertaining. I think my favorite by Lashner so far has been Fatal Flaw. I have'nt read his last two books yet.

AlaMich.... Me too!I've read them all and they just get better and better.

Reading Executive Decision by Vince Flynn and Hard Truth by Barr.
Always have two books going; one for night and one for day

dragonsign

Elephants in the Distance by Daniel Stashower. Well paced, with a nice tone and good characters and good color about the magic world, but the plot had more holes than Swiss cheese.

I'm onto my third straight Barbara Nadel Inspector Ikmen mystery, 'Deep Waters' after just finishing 'Arabesk' and 'Ottoman Cage'

I'm attached to the characters, and I love the backdrop.

Rich

Am in the middle of the riveting non-fiction The Suspicions of Mr Whicher: A Shocking Murder and the Undoing of a Great Detective by Kate Summerscale. The murder took place in Victorian times in Wiltshire. The author's research in the archives is amazing and the case had an obvious impact on the fiction of the time, including Dickens' Bleak House amongst others.

I am reading A Killing Frost, the last Jack Frost by R.D. Wingfield.

I finished reading Seventh Inning Stretchlast night by Elizabeth Gunn. This is part of a series, I believe the third one, but I don't think I will continue with it. I enjoyed some of the details around an autopsy but there were too many detectives and I had a hard time keeping track of who was who. The last time this happened to me was last summer when
I read James Ellroy The Black Dahlia. The number of characters drove me crazy.

I have recently finished reading John Harvey's latest in the Charlie Resnick series, Cold in Hand. Beautifully written as always, but the story left me absolutely devastated! Gotta go away and listen to Bessie Smith recordings. I'll say no more - don't want to spoil it for anyone.
Now I'm well into Janette Turner Hospital's Orpheus Lost, another wonderful writer, another devastating story -- about terrorist bombings, music and mathematics!
Does anyone have a suggestion for a well-written, light-hearted mystery as a bit of an antidote to all this?

I just finished Voodoo River by Robert Crais. I remarked in the review on my blog about the similarities between Elivis Cole and Joe Pike, Spenser and Hawk, and Nero Wolfe and Archie Goodwin. Obviously, it's a formula that works for me.

I've got an ARC copy of The Suspicions of Mr Whicher coming and I am really looking forward to it. Right now, I'm catching up on some other ARCs for review and reading The Aviary Gate - terrific historical fiction mixed with a modern storyline.

I'm reading an Early Review copy of The 19th Wife by David Ebershoff which also is both a currently-set mystery and a work of historical fiction. I am really enjoying it.

#150: The Yellowthread Street series by William Marshall. Oldie but goodie set in Hong Kong--it is hilarious at times.

#150...Infoslueth.... Try anything by Christopher Brookmyer. He’s deliciously funny and very entertaining.

I just finished Nightshade by Susan Wittig Albert. I "discovered" the China Bayles mystery series when perusing the shelves at my main library branch. I grabbed some of the China Bayles' books, one of Albert's Victorian mysteries (written, I believe, in collaboration with her husband, under the nom de plume Robin Paige), and one of her Beatrix Potter mysteries. I'll admit that I couldn't get through the Victorian mystery -- I felt it was poorly written and researched. At first I enjoyed the Beatrix Potter book, but it just became too cloyingly sweet. I felt myself going into sugar shock; and I couldn't really get into the mystical mystery in the book.
I am not a huge fan of the China Bayles' herbal mysteries, but there was just enough of a spark in China and her relationship with her significant other, Mike McQuaid, to hold my interest. The plots were not particularly engaging, and all too often the characters seemed overly saccharine and one-dimensional -- and they rarely just "said" something, but were instead constantly "chortling" or "giggling "or "laughing" -- I've never met such determinedly cheerful folks in my life. But I liked the herbal lore and the recipes, and frankly, sometimes there was just not that much else around to read.
So it was with some reservation that I picked up Nightshade, still on the "New Books" shelf of my library. I was shocked -- I really liked this book, much more than any of the other works in the series. Being of an analytical turn of mind, I've given some thought about what made this book so different from the others in the series.
The answer is fairly simple -- it is written in a very different style from all the others. Albert herself notes this in her forward -- mentioning that parts of this book are written from McQuaid's point of view, rather than solely from China's perspective. I felt this added depth and interest to the story.
And there's no denying that this narrative device greatly improved Albert's writing. There's a good deal less simpering in this book than in her previous works -- perhaps because she concentrates less on China's satellites (Ruby, "Smart Cookie" Chief of Police Sheila Dawson, etc.) and more on plot and China's conflicted feelings about her late father and her half-brother. For most of this book Albert's writing is tauter, focused more on showing rather than simply telling, and thus far more engaging to the avid mystery fan.
Albert's skill in drafting interesting and truly individual characters seems to be growing. She does suffer a dreadful relapse in the last chapter, when the mystery is solved and China is once again surrounded by her sycophants, but up till then I found the book eminently readable and even enjoyable.
Like all the China Bayles books, this is not one I want to own, but it served to while away a few summer hours.

infosleuth

I recently also read Cold in Hand and I agree-great writing but the story was brutal.

#153: I just had a look at my local library's catalogue, Joycepa, and unfortunately there was nothing by William Marshall. I'm going on annual leave in a few weeks, however, so that will give me an opportunity to do some secondhand bookshop sleuthing!

#154: The library did have a number of Christopher Brookmyre's books. Love the titles! Thanks for the suggestion, jnxhole, I'll look into it.

#156: quartzite, I'm hoping John Harvey will write another book in a similar vein to Rough Treatment which has one of crime fiction's most endearing burglers. The balance between serious and funny in that one was first rate.

I just finished The Forgery of Venus by Michael Gruber. It was pretty good, and moved quickly. I'm listening to The Dante Club by Matthew Pearl which I'm also enjoying. I just realized now, both of these books use real people as main characters in the books. I kinda like that.

3157 infosleuth: Hope you find it. It's the first in a series. You never dreamed that an ax murder could be so funny! :-)

Joyce, I just picked up a copy of Back to Bologna by Michael Dibdin, in the Aurelio Zen's series. Have you read any of them? How do you like it compared to Montalbano?

I'm reading The Coast Road by Australian writer Peter Corris

Hi,Paola,

I read the first one in the series, Ratking, and liked it.

The two series are kind of difficult to compare. One of the reasons, I think, is that Camilleri IS Sicilian, comes from that very area and writes the way he does because he has an authenticity that no foreigner can really match in quite that way. Dibdin, on the other hand, was English and only spent 5 years in Italy. He makes Zen a Roman, a very different species from a Sicilian, working in Perugia, which is where Dibdin spent his time in Italy. The language of the book is also more emotionally distant, less immediate than is Camilleri's writing. I think, however that the writing is "true" to both regions--no Roman would be caught dead acting like a Sicilian and I know perfectly well what the rest of Italy thinks of Rome! :-)

However, I think Dibdin does a really good job of getting the rhythm of the dialogue down--it feels authentic to me. I also think that Camilleri struck gold with his translator.

Zen is not as sympathetic a figure as is Montalbano.

But the plotting and writing are very good. I did like Ratking and I will buy more of the series. The one you have is something like 6th or 7th in the series, I think.

But it's not Camilleri.

Just started Holmes on the Range. In spite of the hokey name, it's a pretty good Holmes pastiche set on a ranch in Montana circa 1890.

159... Joycepa.... a "funny ax murderer"? That sounds like my kind of book. I'll have to check it out!

#164 jxnhole: the whole book, almost to the very end, is that way! The writing is a little dated, but it doesn't detract from the book as a whole.

Drneutron, I just finished the second one in the Holmes on the Range series, and I think I enjoyed it even a little more than the first. They're just fun books, with original characters. I look forward to reading the third, The Black Dove.

Yeah, my library has all three of the Holmes onthe Range series, so I've got 'em on my list. I'm about 100 pages into the first one and really enjoying it!

I finished Red Leaves, by Thomas H. Cook. Soooo much better than The Chatham School Affair.

155- Thanks for the tip. I like the China Bayles series, intermittently, so I'll look for this one. It sounds like a good one.

I just finished Miss Seeton by Moonlight and The Murder of Bindy Mackenzie, a teen book my daughter recommended. Enjoyed both.

Finished Captain Alatriste yesterday and today (arrrggh!) I'm out of books!

and today (arrrggh!) I'm out of books!

What??? I have nightmares about that.

I went out to Borders at lunch time today and picked up a couple to hold me until I can get to the used book store and find what I really want.

OUT OF BOOKS??!!! I have a panic attack if my TBR stack gets below three or four.

I am reading Janeology by Karen Harrington. I just picked up today.

Just starting Darkness, Take My Hand, the second in Dennis Lehane's Kenzie and Gennaro series. The first was really good and I've heard good things about the rest, so I have high expectations!

OMG! This is like my worse nightmare! I just had to check my stack and make sure this isn't contagious! (Fortunately, my stack is still there.)

I hope this condition is temporary for you!

Just got back from vacation, where I managed to finish Black Ice by Michael Connelly. A re-read from several years ago when I gave up on the Harry Bosch series. I'm giving them a second chance, and will begin looking for the third book - which I don't think I read before.

I also read Ed Gaffney's two latest books - Diary of a Serial Killer and Enemy Combatant. I was surprised, and then pleased to discover that EC has a different main character - still a defense attorney, but a nice change of pace from Zach and Terry.

I also finished Night Work by Steve Hamilton, again enjoying a new character from a familiar author.

I'm not sure what is next - I think maybe the new Myron Bolitar by Harlan Coben (can't remember the title off hand).

Ha! I'm OK now. I picked up a couple of new ones. I can make it to the weekend!

178 etrainer: I am so glad. I felt quite unwell for you.

Your appalling situation made me resolve to purchase a couple of volumes of short stories... Just to have them there to tide me over should I ever find myself similarly stressed.

#175 drneutron: Darkness, Take My Hand is every bit as good as the first book--if you liked that, you'll like this one. I haven't read the other three--they're sitting on my shelf, waiting for the REALLY rainy nights! :-)

I'm now about 1/3 of the way in, and yep, it's as good as the first one!

Reading The Thirty-Nine Steps by John Buchan
and really enjoying it so far. Has anyone read any of
his other works? I'm wondering if all of his books are
thrillers.

#181 drneutron...Well you're in for an even bigger treat with his next two, Gone Baby Gone and Prayers for Rain. They just keep getting better. Then you'll have to read his two stand alone novels, Mystic River and Shutter Island. Both are five star excellent.

I received my Early Reviewers copy of the latest Lehane yesterday. I suppose I'll start it as soon as I finish the Stephen White I'm currently reading.

Edited to correct mistakes!

I have a four day weekend coming up and I plan on
spending it reading my first Michael Connelly Chasing the Dime. Has anyone read it? I'm really looking forward to the adventure.

#184 etrainer....I AM SOOOOO JEALOUS! The very minute you finish The Given Day, tell us what you think.

#185 alans...It’s a psychological thriller and quite different from his Harry Bosch series. I enjoyed it very much, but then, I’m yet to read anything by Michael Connelly that I haven’t enjoyed.

Hey... Karen Slaughter fans. Her new book, Fractured is due out July 29th.

182. John Buchan - all the ones of his I've read are thrillers - go on to Greenmantle next, it's a WW1 thriller which doesn't half move.

I'm re-reading Golden Ages at the moment, got John Dickson Carr The Mad Hatter Mystery up next and then I'm going to hunt me down some Allingham - most of mine went missing during a house move, I blame a literary-minded removal men, and I suspect they'll be a devil to replace.

Just finished I Shall Not Want by Julia Spencer-Fleming and loved it, as usual for her books.

I'm also still in progress on Gold Coast by Nelson DeMille and Darkest Fear by Harlan Coben.

#189 For info about where to find at least some Allingham mysteries, check out the group at Felony & Mystery Press at http://www.librarything.com/groups/felonymayhempress#forums

Edited to correct #.

#186 I don't know how I got so lucky. I joined Early Reviewers just so I could request that book. My first request - one book only, and I got it!!

Congrats, etrainer!

ditto

I love Allingham. I think my favorite for sheer creepy factor is Sweet Danger, but I love The Tiger in the Smoke - such an intense ending!

I just finished Thugs and Kisses - new series and new author for me. I thought it was fun. Starting Cold Comfort Farm next and still working on The Voyage of the Dawn Treader for the 888 challenge.

I am in the middle of The Blackheath Poisonings by Julian Symons. Excellent!

Read a few thrillers recently:
levkas man, slay-ride, and killing floor all very different and all good, and although set around the globe all by british authors.

Got another E.X. Ferrars Thinner than Water

Finally just finished a book by Brian Freeman called Immoral is was okay. It was his first novel and I picked it up based on the cover reviews. I didn't think it was as good as it was praised to be, but okay.
I am just now starting the Elvis Cole series, Monkey's Raincoat by Robert Crais. I am so excited to start this series!! It feels like Christmas! lol

I didn't realize that the Monkey's Raincoat was the beginning of the series. I recently read the Watchman which has ellis cole in it, and loved it.

My daughter and I prowled through our branch library's shelves a few days ago, and as usual came home with about 20 books. I had heard some rave reviews from threads in this group about Stuart MacBride so I got out his Cold Granite and Dying Light. I'm about 1/3 of the way through Cold Granite -- though I'm a dyed in the wool Anglophile, some of the Scottishicisms are slowing me down a bit. Can anyone describe a "butty"? An "Aberdeen roll"? I know they're snack/breakfast foods, but I want to know what's in them!

I just finished reading Jonathan Kellerman's Compulsion yesterday -- it was a very quick read, and I thought much better than some of his earlier books -- more tautly written, less straining to include inappropriate metaphorical descriptions. I really enjoyed it and finished it in one day.

I also got out TK Kenyon's Rabid this week -- and was very disappointed in it. The author is undeniably brilliant, with a PhD in molecular virology, but the plot was derailed by some very stilted writing. And the characters jumped right onto the stage, their oddities jumping out all over the place, without any expository build-up. I just found the beginning of the book very hard to wade through -- and I was very disappointed in how pedestrian the ending turned out to be. Oh well, they say that practice makes perfect, and I hope her writing gets better with her second book.

I just finished Cold Granite by Stuart MacBride and I must take issue with the fan who described it as a "tartan noir". Though it is definitely tartan, there's little of the noir about the book. MacBride gives all his characters, including his villains, a generous dose of humanity. Despite the horrendous nature of the crimes portrayed in the book, MacBride's strength as a writer, I think, comes from his great skill at characterization. Almost every character is clearly drawn, beautifully vivid, and understandably human.

The book is better described, I think, as a Scottish police procedural. For those who like a dose of realism in their reading, you may want to give this debut work a try.

For more on the book, see the review I posted.

I am reading The Three Evangelists by Fred Vargas. this is not one of her Adamsberg books, though I am pretty sure that the characters in this book did feature in Have mercy on us all. Good book so far.

>199 lindasbooks:
I've read Immoral recently too and quite agree that even though it's a good read- I didn't feel it was as good as I was expecting.

I am now reading Panic by Jeff Abbott - which so far has the feel of a Simon Kernick book about it.

Hi, I'm new to this, but thought I'd join in.
Currently reading Death of a Nationalist by Rebecca Pawel. It takes place near the end of the Spanish civil war, and it opens with the protagonist incorrectly blaming an innocent woman for a murder and shooting her, so I'm not sure I'm going to like it. I had started it a month ago, but put it down because it seemed too close in tone and era to the book I had just finished at that time, Mayhem by J Robert Janes. That series, which takes place in occupied France during WWII, is excellent. Has anyone else read Janes?

#129 Ficusfan, I've read the first two Furutani samurai mysteries and really enjoyed them.

I am reading The Wrong Kind of Blood by Declan Hughes which is set in Ireland.

I just finished Dying Light, the 2nd in the Logan MacRae Scots detective series by Stuart MacBride. I liked this book much more than Cold Granite, the first book in the series. Maybe it was just because I got used to the Scots atmosphere.

I am now starting on Laurie King's Touchstone. Oh, and I also just finished a book of short crime stories that were based on fairy tales -- Once Upon a Crime edited by Ed Gorman and the ubiquitous Martin R. Greenberg. Too many of the stories were a waste of time, but a few others were great -- particularly the wonderful, if grim, story of the real Cinderella, "After Happily Ever After" by Gillian Roberts. Other enjoyable and well-written ones were Ed Gorman's "Of the Fog", John Helfer's "The Better to Eat You With", and Les Roberts' "The Brave Little Costume Designer". This particular crime collection really hammered home the point that the short story might be one of the hardest genres for a writer to excel in.

Finished over the weekend my first Michael Connelly Chasing the Dimeand really loved it. Then moved on to my first Hard Case Crimenovel, this one called The Confession by Dominic Stansberry. Had mixed feelings about this one. Well written but I really didn't like the narrator and it took almost a hundred pages for the crime to take place. Now i'm reading my second David Lawrence, this one is called The Dead Sit Round in a Circle. Lawrence is a very tough
read, his style is very graphic in the violence and it gets hard to take sometimes. This is the first in a series of four books that he's written. I've already read the third in the series so I wanted to return to the beginning.

Found a copy of Death Match in the kitchen at work so am reading it. It's kind of stupid, but I haven't anything else to do today.

#208.... alans... David Lawrence sounds like my kind of author. I'll have to check him out.

Three for Midnight by Philip MacDonald. So far 50 pages into The Rasp is at best "cute."

I'm listening to a Dorothy Simpson book on tape right now, but I don't remember which one. It's the one with a body in a snowdrift. Just started it yesterday.

I just finished Bones to Ashes by Kathy Reichs and I'm about to start The Princess of Burundi by Kjell Eriksson.

To all Philip MacDonald fans out there -- have any of you read my absolute favorite book by him -- Guest in the House? My hardbound copy is falling apart, I've read it so often through the years.

The Quiet Road to Death by Sheila Radley

Invisible Prey by John Sandford. I'm at the point where Lucas is piecing together his theories and evidence is coming to light to support them. Mercifully the wife and brats are in the background to a large extent. Still, I miss the old Davenport.

In the middle of The Ice House by Minette Walters and so far loving it. It's the first book I've read by her and I plan to read more. I'm sure many of you have read this already as it seems to be a crime classic.

I just finished The Secret Servant by Daniel Silva. Very good.

Am just beginning Death on the Family Tree by Patricia Sprinkle, which I think is a cozy Southern mystery. So far, I'm enjoying it, but whether it will keep my interest all the way through is another question.

The Long Divorce by Edmund Crispin. Quite amusing.

I just finished The Monkey's Raincoat by Robert Crais and really enjoyed it. I am just starting The Innocent by Harlan Coben.

Watch out lindasbooks, the Elvis Cole series is addicting.

Finished The Yiddish Policeman's Union and Invisible Prey in the last few days and started The Anatomy Deception last night. So far it's quite good and I'm very intrigued. Lunctime read is Death Match by Lincoln Child. Stupid and predictable, but I'm reading it anyway. I might substitute The Anatomy Deception instead though.

Harlan Coben!!! His books are great! He lets you know just enough info to keep you turning each page and not let you put the book down. The end always has a huge unexpected twist. So far I have enjoyed his stand alone books, but I've only read the first one in his Myron Bolitar series so I need to read more to be fair. I've read The Woods, Gone for Good, No Second Chance, and Just One Look. All of which were incredible stories. Give them a try -- you won't be disappointed.

LAWriter is a spammer who spammed across threads some months ago. He's doing it again. I just flagged him on another group and here as well.

If you try to go to his profile page, you'll see that he has been removed. This guy is a real pain in the buns.

the book must be a real dog, because it's the same one he was spamming back around the first of the year. I think he has another userpage and name (I did a search), which must be the way he's getting by with having had his LAWriter page removed.

Thanks Joycepa.... I was just getting excited about his review. Good to know.

Hi Everyone--I'm a huge mystery fan and thought I might drop in if it's all right...

Alans--I read 39 Steps and really liked it. www.gutenberg.org has a lot of his novels. You can load them onto a portable reading device, but if you lack one (like me), it somehow takes away the pleasure of reading to sit and do so at a computer monitor. Another great contemporary read is Ashenden by, of all people, Somerset Maugham. He based it on his real experiences as a secret agent during WWI. This book was so influential it can be found in John le Carre, Ian Fleming, and Eric Ambler (mmm...A Coffin for Dimitrios...). For one thing, the head of the service in Ashenden is known only by a letter (cough cough M cough cough).

Then there are Buchan's British contemporaries, E. Philips (Phillips?) Oppenheim and William LeQueux. LeQueux wrote around 1890-1910 and focused on the threat of German invasion of England. His publisher would pull stunts like getting men dressed in German uniform to march around Picadilly...Oppenheim does thrillers, straight mystery, and a great series of short stories about an American, a French aristocrat, and his sister, who are all con artists living on the Riviera. He has a LOT of books on gutenberg, but I think his most famous stories are The Great Impersonation and The Lost Ambassador. He's not in print, I don't think, but his works are published in massive, inexpensive omnibuses...The Secret Service Omnibus I think is the title of them.

Incidentally, I love C.J. Sansom's Dissolution-Sovereign series. I can't find Revelation though--is it not available in the States? Supposedly Dissolution was the "closed environment mystery--like a country house or ocean liner--while Dark Fire was his "questing" novel. Sovereign is a political thriller, and Revelation is his take on a serial killer and how that would work in Tudor England.

I'm also reading Will Thomas' Barker and Llewellyn series. Cyrus Barker is an "inquiry" agent with a mysterious Chinese past and Llewellyn is a ex-con Oxonian...it's great, very well-researched, not just a modern mystery that happens to have gaslights and carriages. A lot of it takes place in great skeezy settings like Limehouse and the East side of the city. There've been volumes about Irish revolutionaries, Anarchists, and even mysteries deaths in the Jewish quarter.

I'm also reading Red Harvest by Dashiell Hammett, but I have so much stuff I'm reading I keep putting it down and switching around...I think I like Raymond Chandler better, but then again, Hammett did write The Thin Man, which is just such a brilliant, wonderful concept--a well-to-do couple who drink martinis and live out of hotel suites and solve mysteries...when they're not chatting with gangsters in speakeasies. In fact I wouldn't mind LIVING the concept...

#226 jxnhole: I'm going to contact Tim or Abby to see if they can do something about this guy. I have no doubt he's working other threads as well. It's a slap in the face to every LT author and any other author who doesn't pull this dishonest and slimy stuff.

#223 Marcierr...I agree Coben does keep one turning the pages. I just started The Innocent and it has pulled me in. I've read Tell No One which was pretty good and I have Promise Me and Gone For Good on standby! lol I haven't read any of his Bolitar series...yet. ;)

Promise Me is the last in the Bolitar series, but I think you'll be ok.

I just finished In The Woods by Tana French. Many people are diviided on this book, but I enjoyed it...right until the last 30 pages. Still, a solid read.

#190 I just started I Shall not Want last night; so far, so good. Am enjoying the new character. All of that series have been excellent, so I have high expectations.

Thanks Bookmarque, I picked it up at a sale. I didn't realize that it was part of the series. I'll have to put it aside until I pick up the rest of them. Yes, I'm one of "those" who don't like jumping into the middle of a series! :}
#231 writergirl, thanks for your input on the Tana French book. It is on my tbr list.

I finished Death of a Nationalist and despite my early reservations (message #205) I ended up liking it, so plan to read more in the series.

The book I'm currently reading is Father Martin and the Hermitage Mystery by David Bland. The author was previously in charge of education for an insurance institute and the book reads like he is still writing for that audience! Although I have to say he does an excellent job of giving you history of the early days of Henry II's reign in Britain.

#231 writergirl....I thoroughly enjoyed Into the Woods by Tana French. I didn’t find the ending the least bit off putting. She has the sequel, The Likeness, coming out next week, which I'm will looking forward to reading.

Milk of Human Kindness by Elizabeth Ferrars

The Case of the Gilded Fly by Edmund Crispin.

#235 jxnhole...Yes, I've heard French has a new book coming out that will follow the character of Cassie this time. I will probably read it too because I really liked her writing style. Cheers.

I just finished Gold Coast by Nelson DeMille. I've read several DeMille's, and have liked all of them. This one had been recommended by several here as his best, but I have to say, I didn't care much for it. I love his John Corey character from several of the other books, but John Sutter, in this book, doesn't really compare. After I posted my review for this book, I read all the other reviews and was surprised to find that only a couple loved the book - most of the reviewers seemed to have opinions similar to mine. I just noticed that DeMille's latest book, The Gate House, is a sequel to Gold Coast and takes place 10 years later. I'll read it - I haven't given up on DeMille, just disappointed this time.

Tried to fix touchstones - just ignore them.

The Fault Tree by Louise Ure.

I just started reading Family Honor a Sunny Randall mystery by Robert B. Parker. I love recurring characters so a friend recommended this book. It's my first to read in the Sunny Randall series.

Caroline123: I would be interested in knowing if The Fault Tree is any good. I have it on my TBR list.

I just finished two true crime books Cruel Deception by Gregg Olsen about Muchousen Syndrome by Proxy. I then realized the perpetrator was in prison when I was teaching at the prison.

The other book was Internal Combustion by Joyce Maynard. If you are a fan of 48 Hour Mystery this case was featured on that TV program.

#239...sjmccreary. I liked The Gold Coast but it was definitely not my favorite. I’ve enjoyed every one of Nelson DeMilles books and I’m looking forward to The Gate House. He never disappoints. But.. like you, I think John Cory is the best.

I just finished Will Thomas' new book The Black Hand, #5 in the Cyrus Barker/Thomas Llewelyn series.

It's a little different. It's a fantasy/crime/mystery.

The Hollow Chocolate Bunnies of the Apocalypse by Robert Rankin.

I'm not sure how I feel about it just yet, but I do need to find out who killed Humpty Dumpty and Little Boy Blue!

Am just starting my first Sister Fidelma mystery, The Subtle Serpent, by Peter Tremayne. I've read one short story featuring Sister Fidelma and was not impressed. But people rave about this series, so hopefully I'll enjoy the book more than I did the short story.

#246 CD1am: I'm not one of the fans of the Sister Fidelma series. Just about at The subtle Serpent, Tremayne figured out how to write or had attended classes, got a new editor, something. But his characters are still less than 1 dimensional, and Fidelma herself is one of the most boring protagonists in the genre. After The Monk Who Vanished, which I think is #7, I gave up. The setting, 7th century Ireland and its laws and customs, is very good, but that alone can't carry the series over its handicaps.

I just finished Sherlock Holmes and the Voice from the Crypt. It's Holmes on some real life cases, including Crippen and Neil Cream the poisoner. It was a pretty good read, but as always for me, a little Holmes goes a long way. I just can't buy the way he takes a single look at a person and can 'deduce' his profession, how he travelled, and in this book, what music the man's wife had been practicing on the piano earlier in the day. Please.

Started Killer Heat the latest Alexandra Cooper novel by Linda Fairstein. These are hit or miss for me, but overall I enjoy them.

And as far as the Myron Bolitar thing goes, Coben does a lousy job catering to the loyal reader in this series. He gives the same bg info on the characters, relationships and events over and over and over, treating the book like a stand alone and not like part of a series. It's VERY annoying. Reading the last in the series before the others won't be a problem because of this.

I'm reading The Templar, the Queen and Her Lover by Michael Jecks.

I finished Tremayne's The Subtle Serpent and it was better than I expected. Perhaps it helped to have low expectations! I may consider reading another book in his series, but not right away.

I just began Cork of the Colonies by S. S. Rafferty.

I decided that I should read Georges Simenon's Maigret mysteries, and picked up The Murderer. It is not a Maigret mystery, but was very good. It is a psychological study of a doctor who murders his wife and her lover. The unwinding of his sanity is compelling. I couldn't put it down.

I am reading Naked in Death by J.D. Robb (aka. Nora Roberts). It is a fast moving murder mystery. I'm having a hard time not skipping to the back. It's good, I can usually figure out the killer well before the middle and 2/3's into it I still can't figure it out.

sadiekaycarver, how fun you're just beginning this series! The in death series is great & just gets better & better.

Finished up Dennis Lehane's The Given Day, which was excellent. One of the best books I've read so far this year.

Starting on The Wheel of Darkness by Douglas Preston & Lincoln Child. I'm also giving away five copies of it here.

Funny, I just finished The Given Day, finished The Case of the Gilded Fly, and am now reading The Wheel of Darkness!

Edited to ask why The Given Day is underlined in touchstones?

Edited again to ask why the touchstone for The Given Day went away? And then came back!!

I didn’t think The Given Day was going to be out until September!! I’m going to have to hunt it down. Lehane is one of my favorite authors. The kind that I anxiously await his books. And it’s been years since he’s written one. I’m glad to hear everyone enjoyed it. But then it’s Dennis Lehane! What is not to enjoy?

I read Raymond Chandler's The Big Sleep and
I just hated it. I'm sure lots of people here love it,
but I really couldn't get into it. It was very complicated and I couldn't figure out who was killing whom and why.
Now I'm reading something light and frothy called On the Slam. It's a bridge game mystery about a woman
who gets murdered at her house while playing bridge. She eats a chip dip and it kills her. It is very light and comical and sweet. I go both ways with my taste for mysteries, I like edgey and sweet sometimes, but theChandlerjust didn't do it for me.

jxnhole, my copy of The Given Day was an Early Reviewer. I'm trying to figure out how to write a review of it. I'm sure you know it is not a mystery, but a historical novel. It's a good story, but really not the type of thing I would normally read. Eventually I'll write about it - my only hope is that it won't sound like a high school book report!!

#258 alans,

Don't feel bad about The Big Sleep. It was not written as a novel, but in fact was originally a bunch of short stories that were tweaked and strung together, which is why it is so incoherent and confusing. Once you know that you can tell. It was infamously difficult to make into a screenplay, and even the movie version is highly confused if you try to follow the plot. Fortunately, Bogart and Bacall were so mesmerising that the plot was kind of beside the point.

Just started Rules of Prey this morning due to recommendations here on LT (probably somewhere on this thread). My first Sandford and I'm enjoying it thus far.

261 > I enjoyed all the prey novels. they got a little 'out there' around #13 (I'd have to look at my reviews to remember which one) but then seemed to get back to what made them good. I still need to get Broken Prey and am waiting for the last one to hit paper back.

#260 thanks for that information on the Chandler
I feel a lot better about being so confused with it now.

I am also reading Naked in Death...I agree, it is really good...

Just finished Harlan Coben's The Innocent and am starting Shutter Island by Lehane. The Innocent was okay, but I am still left unsatisfied. I am pretty excited about Shutter Island. I picked it up based on reviews from other LTers.

I just started "No Dominion" by Charlie Huston. It's about a vampire private eye. It's the 2nd book in the series and the 1st one was outstanding. Also, I have a question. Does anyone remember a private eye from Cincinnati, a very good series, from the 80's.

# 265... lindasbooks,,, You are SOOOO in for a big treat.

I'm reading Hell Hole by Chris Grabenstein. I love his Ceepak mysteries. I'm also reading The Last Embrace by Denise Hamilton. The books are so different that I can read them at the same time.

#267....Thanks for the encouragement jxnhole, I need a GOOD read! ;}

Quartzite/Alans--

I didn't know that about The Big Sleep...that explains why one of Chandler's short stories (I think it's in that new Big Book of Pulps that came out recently--BUY IT IT IS SOOO GOOD...ahem...) has echoes of that novel.

I read a funny anecdote about the movie version of The Big Sleep in Roger Ebert's book of essays The Great Movies...Apparently Bogart came to the set one day and said, "So who killed the chaffeur?"--if you've seen the film you know that the car/body washes up off Lido pier fairly early on in the book, that the movie keeps going without much comment on the whole affair. And so when he asked, everyone sort of froze and looked around at each other (must've been rather amusing) and they eventually sent a telegram to Chandler. His response was something to the effect of "How the hell should I know?" But in the book it makes at least a little more sense. Also the book has a lot more from the nympho sister (Chandler's term), and in the movie, she was so good that Bacall's agent actually had to fight to get Bacall more screen time...The DVD has two versions of the movie, one with more Plot and the other with more Bacall and the one with Plot makes quite a bit more sense...but then you miss some great chemistry scenes.

#270 uncultured; You're right, it is a fun anecdote--thanks!

I am reading Not in the Flesh, Ruth Rendell's latest and it's my first book by her and I love it. I can't wait to read some more and find out what happens. It's a wonderful book. Any other Rendell fans that want to add something about her work?

I have read and own quite a few Rendell/Vine novels. I don't read the police procedural series, just the one-offs. The difference between the Rendell novels and the Vines is pretty marked for me and I enjoy each for different reasons. She's not always consistently great, but even her bad novels are ususally better than much of what's out there. She has good insight into deviant behavior and knows how to weave several threads together. Not all of her endings are pat and that's why I like her so much.

Have just finished The Portofino Deception by Jeffrey Stephens - a pretty good read. Good character development - hope to see more of this character from this author.

#270 "I didn't know that about The Big Sleep"

It's true of several of his novels; The posthumous collection Killer in the Rain contains eight short stories that were incorporated into three of his novels--The Big Sleep, Farewell, My Lovely and The Lady in the Lake.

From the introduction:

"When Raymond Chandler published The Big Sleep in 1939...he did what multitudes of writers had done before him: he re-used some of his earlier material. Unlike most writers, however, re-using previously published stories left him with an uneasy feeling. Once a story was used in a novel it became--to use his word--'cannibalized'. Therefore he could justify this writing method only by leaving such stories buried, virtually unknown in the pages of the rapidly disappearing pulp magazines. The stories in this volume, then, were not collected during the author's lifetime."

The introduction also states that some smaller short-story bits were incorporated into The High Window and The Long Goodbye.

I am reading Lucifer's Shadow by David Hewson. It is set in Venice and has a past thread (1700s) and a modern day thread. It is not part of his Nic Costa series.

So far so good.

I've been busy, so am not quite done with Cork of the Colonies. It's easy to read just a chapter at a time since each chapter is set in a different colony. However, I have a mystery group that meets Wednesday, so I'm switching to the book we'll be discussing, Jane Langton's The Transcendental Murder.

#246 and 247...I am also not a fan of Tremayne. I read The Subtle Serpent and found myself cringing at the way he describes characters and their facial expressions. I also felt that he goes overboard to show off his knowledge of ancient Ireland, to the point of going off on tangents that don't move the story forward. I was disappointed because I loved the idea of a series set in ancient Ireland, but this one doesn't work for me.

I am currently reading the first Michael McGarrity Kevin Kerney novel, Tularosa. I just came back from my first trip to New Mexico, where the series is set, and wanted something to get me in the mood. So far, so good. It was nice to know what the scenery he describes actually looks like.

278 > the little asides on ancient Ireland is one of my favorite parts of the Sister Fidelma mysteries...

I'm getting ready to read The Last Patriot by Brad Thor for the Go Review That Book group. I've read several of the Scot Harvath books - in order, which is always my preference when reading a series. However, the last book I read in this series was Blowback, and it looks like there are a couple more after that one in the series before Last Patriot. Has anyone read these? Do I need to read Takedown and First Commandment in order to fully understand/enjoy Last Patriot? I seem to recall that Blowback didn't rely very much on the earlier books, and I really don't want to read 3 Thor books in short order - I'm susceptible to "author fatigue" whenever I try that.

Just started Killing Floor by Lee Child. First in the Jack Reacher series. The narrator is good, but Richard Ferrone would have been even better.

Just finished James Sallis's The Long-Legged Fly and was very impressed. Getting started on Maigret's Revolver for my library book club.

#279...I just got frustrated with them sometimes when they went on too long, for my taste anyway, and interfered with the story.

I'm starting The Suspicions of Mr. Whicher: A Shocking Murder and the Undoing of a Great Victorian Detective by Kate Summerscale.

I'm picking The Suspicions of Mr. Whicher from the library tomorrow. I'm looking forward to it!

Well, I finished Jane Langton's The Transcendental Murder, and the word that best describes that book is: charming. I've never thought of a murder mystery as being charming before. This was definitely an unusual style of writing. What I didn't like about the book was that the person who ended up being the murderer came out of nowhere near the end of the book.

I just began reading Downriver by Loren D. Estleman. It's one of his Amos Walker, P.I mysteries.

#284, 285 I got Mr. Whicher from the library last week - anxious to get started, but it's at the bottom of the pile, so I may not get to it for a little while yet. Be sure to share your reactions.

I just finished Shutter Island and WOW what a ride that was! :-O
If you like psychological suspense then you will love this book. It IS the kinda book that once you finish it, you have the urge to reread it immediately! Loved it!

I read Maigret's Revolver for my library group. It was OK, I guess. Just started A Drink Before the War after seeing numerous recommendations for Lehane. Off to a good start, although I'm getting a little tired of wise-guy narrators.

I'm about halfway through Mr. Whicher and enjoying it. It's a fascinating story for me, and is encouraging me to go off and read some Wilkie Collins Victorian detective stories...

Umm, Mr Whicher sounds like a really interesting book. I'm putting it on my list.

I finally finished Cork of the Colonies. Will be starting Lipstick and Lies by Margit Liesche. It's set in Detroit during WWII.

High marks for Mistress of Death on audio, which I am about 3/4 of the way through. It's an historical mysery set in 12th century Cambridge, featuring a female coroner.

#290 drneutron--Do read Wilkie Collins' The Moonstone; you'll love it. Mr. Whicher... made me want to read Dicken's Bleak House.

About halfway through The Forgotten Man by Robert Crais. It's the first one of his that I've read, and I'm really enjoying it so far.

I saw Mr. Whicher in the bookstore the other day and nearly bought it, but the thought of the piles of books around my nightstand held me back. DOES look really good though, especially since I had a high school teacher named Whicher. It reminds me of a book I started reading a couple years back...for some reason, probably an excess amount of schoolwork, I put it aside and now it's stacked in my parents' garage in some cardboard crevasse. It's called Death at the Priory, and, despite the fact that it sounds like the sort of mystery that people read in PG Wodehouse books, I recall it being very well-written. Like the Whicher book, it's a True Story, and probably the sort of thing that made all the headlines back in the days of hansom cabs and yellow fog. It takes place in a mansion near London and among the suspects are a wife with a sexual scandal in her past, a ever-present doctor, a surly servant, etc etc--the amazon review mentions that Agatha Christie was fascinated by the case, which says something. I'm not sure what, but still...

I really liked Mistress of the Art of Death, and I'm looking forward to reading the sequel, The Serpent's Tale. It's been checked out of my library for so long I finally spent a dollar and asked them to hold the next copy that comes in for me. Damn summer readers with their need for beach books and rainy afternoon entertainments...grumblemumblegrumble...I've been really interested in that time in British history ever since I read Alison Weir's Eleanor of Aquitaine bio...Her husband, Henry II plays a part in "Mistress", and I think I read Eleanor of Aquitaine is in "Serpent".

Reading a book that has just knocked the socks off of me. It's The Vengeful Virgin by Gil Brewer part of the excellent Hard Case Crime series. This is a 1958 hard-boiled mystery, wonderful noir story about a regular Joe (a tv repairman) who meets a young, voluptous broad who has a scheme to kill off her rich, evil, old step-father. Of course everything goes wrong along the way. I started the short book yesterday and couldn't put it down. The best read I"ve had in a long while!

I'm starting to read On Edge by Barbra Fister. My mom works with her at the OSU Libraries. It is a good old fashioned mystery.

I'm half way through The Last Patriot by Brad Thor. I haven't read the 2 books immediately preceeding this one in the Scot Harvath series, so I've missed some of the character development, but the meat of the story is as intense as the others I've read. Thanks to Scot, the USA will be safe from fundamentalist muslim terrorists for another month (at least I'm assuming he'll triumph eventually).

Finished Dissolution last week and sometime this week I will begin Dark Fire

Just finished Legal Limit by Martin Clark. I highly recommend it. Set in rural Virginia, it explores the extent of loyalty to one's brother vs dedication to the law of an attorney. Great writing and characters. You get a real feel for the family devastation caused by alcohol and drug abuse.

Now reading Hold Tight by Harlan Coben.

Started The Maltese Falcon as an audio for my commute home last night. So far, so good. Can't get Bogie out of my head even though he doesn't look anything like Hammett's description.

I just finished The Hollow Chocolate Bunnies of the Apocalypse which is a hybrid mystery/fantasy.

(EARTHQUAKE! It's been awhile since we had one of those! But it's over now)

As I was saying...If you're interested you can find my review at:

http://nobsbookreviews.blogspot.com

(I have to go find my cats now)

Remote Control by Stephen White. Stuck on his series right now.

I saw the French movie based on Hold Tight over the weekend. Good, but a little hard to follow with the subtitles. Seemed somehow different than the book, but I didn't look back at my copy to see what the differences were. It's been a while since I read it.

The EARTHQUAKE was pretty intense where I was (second floor, at work), retropelocin. But no damage.

Just finished a historical romance Countess Below Stairs by Eva Ibbotson. I like to mix it up a bit...but now back into my favorite genre. I am starting Judas Child by Carol O'Connell.

Has anyone read Lisa Unger's Beautiful Lies ?
It's over four hundred pages and I don't feel like starting it if it isn't worth the ride.

I'm just starting "In the Woods" by Tana French. It's quite amazing so far. I think this has the potential to be another (or maybe even surpass) "Mystic River", which is one of my all time favorites!

#306 msf59....ooh, that is on my wish list. Let us know how it goes!

#304 Oh, I loved Judas Child, which is unusual for me because it usually takes me awhile to warm to a standalone of an author who writes a series I love. I hope you enjoy it too!

I just finished listening to Sense of Evil by Kay Hooper and Broken Dishes by Earlene Fowler.
Currently reading The Last Oracle by James Rollins.

> 295 If you liked Mistress of the Art of Death then you will be interested to know that Ariana Franklin is coming out with a new books in March 2009 called Grave Goods.

#308 Thanks for the encouragement. I'm just in the beginning but it has grabbed me right away.
I also plan on reading the Mallory series.

#310 Thanks for the info. I just checked it out on amazon.com and see that it's labeled for Young Adults, as I wouldn't have pegged Mistress of the Art of Death as YA. I wonder if it's part of the series featuring Dr. Vesuvia Adelia Rachel Ortese Aguilar.

Have you read the second of the series, The Serpent's Tale, yet?

I going crazy with love for Lisa Unger'sfirst novel Beautiful Lies. This is an incredibly exciting thriller. I am half-way through the book and I can't wait to find out what happens next. I have never met anyone who
has read Unger before and I just picked this one off of the library book shelf, but it's been an incredibly joyous ride so far. The only problem is that the narrator sometimes talks in chick-lit speak and it doesn't go very well with the suspenseful aspects of the novel. Otherwise this is a very exciting read for me.

I highly recommend Celia Fremlin's short stories, such as A Lovely Day to Die'. Really memorable, witty and well written.

Are the Fremlin story's crime tales?

Patricia Wenthworth: The Case is Closed. I read her books several times, and I still like them very much.

See monthly topics in this group.