What are you reading in February 2009?

Several legal mysteries by Richard North Patterson. Excellent, I don't know why I have never read his books before.

Istanbul Noir, the usual collection of grim short stories organized around a place. There is a whole series of these "(City) Noir" books. I'm really enjoying this one. Well, perhaps enjoying is the wrong word. Good short stories, good translations, pretty grim reading.

I've been reading the Edwardian mystery series by Marion Chesney. The books feature Lady Rose Summers and Captain Harry Cathcart. Besides murder, the books focus on the society norms of the Edwardian era.

All the books were good. Marion Chesney quit writing after 4 books to concentrate on her Agatha Raisin series where she writes as M.C. Beaton.

I would not have wished to be a woman during Edwardian times!

Red Madarain Dress by Qiu Xiaolong. I like Inspector Chen.

I finished Forty Words For Sorrow by Giles Blunt. It was a good solid thriller, with a nice Canadian setting.

Just started my first Anne Perry...Slaves of Obsession featuring William Monk and the British take on the American civil war. Liking it immensely so far.

#6> gmathis, if it is at all possible, you should try to read the Wiliam Monk series in order of publication. They are all pretty good.

#7 ... yes, I can tell I've missed quite a backstory.

Vintage mysteries: recently finished The Peacock Feather Murders (Carter Dickson/John Dickson Carr), and now halfway through The Tragedy of X (Ellery Queen). I'm also looking forward to two contemporary books, just arrived via BookMooch, which ought to balance it out...

Istanbul Noir sounds very interesting. An appealing series, but I haven't yet succumbed.

ETA: author names, and add: The Peacock Feather Murders was a wartime-issue paperback with such a wonderful cover, and sufficient paper flexibility, that I smiled every time I held it.

>9 Eurydice: From the work page for Peacock Feathers, it sounds great. I will start looking for a copy today. It's been years since I read one of Carr's.

Yes, I thought it was nifty, once I got past the first 20 or 30 pages, and into the story.

I am now reading Killer Heat by Linda Fairstein. Only on Chapter 6 but already the body has been found and the victim has a shady past!

I'm halfway done with Black Ice by Michael Connelly and have Exposed by Alex Kava on deck.

I finished The Glass of Time by Michael Cox, which I found to be a fantastic book, more of a historical fiction than a mystery genre but as my public library system categorizes it as a mystery, a mystery it is and a good one.

Last night I started and finished the thin volume The Book of Murder by Guillermo Martinez. Also an excellent book with an intriguing plot.

To continue this trend of reading mysteries I have started The Messenger Boy Murders by Perihan Magden.

I was reading Murder is Binding by Lorna Barrett, the first in the Booktown Mystery series.

It is set in the fictional town of Stoneham, NH, which is based on the nearby Milford, NH. It is for a RL book group.

It is a cozy mystery, and I started out not too happy. I am not a fan of Cozys, they seem too perfect and plastic, sort of like a lot of Romance books. Everything is set for the mystery (a recipe: 2 cups of character, a 1/4 cup of plot...), and you never feel these people have lives off the stage, nothing seems gritty, ragged or left over. Despite my disdain this book managed to worm its way into my heart.

I really liked the supporting characters, and the way the main character had such a problem with her sister and how their relationship developed over the course of the book.

The premise of the series is that all these small bookstores have been lured to this small NH town to revive it. In this book the owner of the Cookbook store is killed and the main character, a Mystery bookstore owner is the main suspect. She of course has to investigate to prove her innocence. I will probably continue with the series.

That sounds good. I don't mind a cozy mystery if it isn't too plastic and cookie cutter. On to the wishlist it goes.

Just finished The Private Patient by P.D. James I loved it, as I have loved all of her books. My question is -- is there really a place where people talk like that, where rooms and grounds look like that, where things work like that? It certainly isn't like that in Iowa, much as I sometimes wish it were!

I recently finished Still Life by Louise Penny and the first Adam Dalgliesh, Cover Her Face by P.D. James. The former, set in Quebec, is a well-done small village mystery with a captivating central character, Inspector Gamache. It's hard to believe the latter is the first one, as it is so well-done and you feel as if you're in the middle of a series, not at the beginning.

I am reading Deadly Slipper. It was recommended on this list I believe.

I'm working on my Early Reviewer book, Alcorn's The Love Potion Murders in the Mystery of Man. I read and reviewed the prequel last month.

I agree with you, jnwelch!
Louise Penny is a fine writer. Enjoy the series!

Just finished City of Shadows by Ariana Franklin. It was so good!!I especially enjoyed the picture it painted of Berlin right after WWI and right before WWII. Highly recommended, especially if you enjoy historical mysteries/thrillers.

Just started reading EGGS IN PURGATORY by Laura Childs. The first three short chapters is introducing the characters and the lay of the land, and oh yes, we have a murder! Not finished yet so I can't tell all.

I am now reading Duplicate Effort by Kristine Kathryn Rusch. It is SF, but its a mystery series. It is about the problems humans and aliens have with the law, and their interactions with each other. It is the 7th book in the series, and one that I always read as soon as it comes out.

Forty Words for Sorrow by Blunt is an excellent book and the beginning of
a great series. I've read them all. From what I've heard, Blunt's next book moves away from the series, which makes sense when you've read them.
Just finished S.J. Rozan's SHANGHAI MOON. Rozan returns with a Lydia Chin/Bill Smith book for the first time in seven or eight years. A remarkable story in which the events in Shanghai during WW II become the source of a mystery (and murder) in the 21st century. A compelling story of a brave young Jewish woman who escapes Hitler's Holocaust with her younger brother and the various warring factors in Chinese life. It was difficult to put down.
Also Linda Fairstein's LEGAL LEGACY with Manhattan Asst. DA, Alex Cooper and her team deal with thefts and murders which revolve around the NY Public Library.
Also read Kjell Eriksson's third title to be translated from Swedish to English,
THE DEMON OF DAKAR. A great trio of novels. I've really been mesmerized by the various Scandinavian crime writers who have become available in recent years.

Just finished The Finder by Colin Harrison. Enjoyed it very much.
Now reading The Nine Tailors by Dorothy Sayers and loving her style and wit.

Finally finished The Excalibur Murders. Interesting premise, but murderer was too obvious, and writing wasn't that good. Not recommended.

Have a small pile of Jeffrey Deaver (Twisted and the Stone Monkey) and a Ken Follett (Whiteout) that a friend gave to me.

I just started The Blood Spilt, this is the second of her books that I have read, I loved the first one, but so far, this one is taking me longer to get into.

#27, Nine Tailors is the mystery I gave my wife when she said she had never read a mystery and wanted to try it. She's now a complete mystery buff.

To Dream of the Dead by Phil Rickman

I'm currently reading Kill For Me by Karen Rose - very good so far.

I am starting the second book in the Booktown mystery series. It is called Bookmarked for Death by Lorna Barrett.

I just started Shinju which I am finding really interesting, especially as it combines two of my favorite genres - mystery and historical. I have the next two in the series as well.

Most recent crime read was Georges Simenon's The Bar on the Seine.

I am ready to start Case Studies (Touchstones not working) by Kate Atkinson. I also have One Good Turn to follow. She is an author I picked up on this list.

Just read the latest Inspector O novel by James Church, Bamboo and Blood. Very well done. There are two others - I've read the first (Corpse in the Koryo), but not the second (Hidden Moon).

Church (with novels set in North Korean context) and Martin Limón (with novels set in South Korea) are the only two mystery novelists I know with novels set in Korea.

Anybody have any additions to these two? Particularly any written by Korean authors? If so, let me know. I would be glad to have more to add to my list at
http://www.mysteryplaces.net/countries/korea.php

Just finished The English Assassin by Daniel Silva. I thought it had a pretty good story line, and I learned something about the art stolen from Jews during the Holocaust, but Silva 'tells' too much and doesn't 'show' enough in his writing. Barry Eisler (John Rain series) is a much better writer.

Next I plan to read Exile by Richard North Patterson.

> 36 Grammath, how is it? Do you have favorite Simenons to recommend, or are the Maigret mysteries, unlike the 'hard novels' too much alike to choose, as I have heard?

> 37 This is because it's Case Histories. :) But an excellent novel, which I hope you'll enjoy. I quickly managed to get copies of both One Good Turn and When Will There Be Good News? (remaindered, lucky for me!).

> 38 wminter, Church sounds intriguing. Nice mention. And I ought to check out your blog...

I've only read three Maigret novels, and that's the only Simenon I have read, so I'm not really in a position to give you an assessment, Eurydice.

I enjoyed all three novels, but on the other hand they don't linger long in the memory.

Simenon does evoke Paris brilliantly, doing much the same as Ian Rankin has done for Edinburgh in the Rebus novels. Also, Maigret seems a very real policeman to me; he's a plod, not a genius. For these qualities, if nothing else, I'd say he was worthy of investigation.

Yes. :) I've also read perhaps three, and I agree.

I think I read one Rankin and didn't like it, though I cannot remember why not. Noir novels get through ok, generally, and I appreciate a sense of place.

Reading Service of All the Dead Colin Dexter.One of my favorite mystery authors.

>38 wminter:: wminter-I read Corpse in the Koryo a couple years ago and remember really enjoying it. Maybe, I should pick up the 2nd.

I Finished Bookmarked for Death by Lorna Barrett. I enjoyed it as much as the first one. Very enjoyable romp with characters I like and lots of RL local setting.

I'm reading Real Life CSI by Connie Fletcher.

Let's try this again - touchstones are giving me fits this morning!

I'm reading Kill Two Birds and Get Stoned by Kinky Friedman. This one's a little different from his usual in that he is NOT the main character.

Just starting House of Smoke by J. F. Freedman.

I am reading HeartSick by Chelsea Cain.

I just Finished Kill for Me by Karen Rose

>51 nsg0223: How did you like Kill for Me? I have the 1st two in my tbr pile.

#52 - I enjoyed all three of the books in this group.

I just fininshed Kill For Me - really, really good.

I am just about finished with The Likeness by Tana French. I think it's amazing. I really think she is fast becoming one of my favorite mystery authors.

I am reading Another Life by Andrew Vachss. This is going to end the Burke series. I'll miss them.

#55
I have The Likeness on hold at the library. I liked her first book, but was somewhat disappointed. How do the two compare?

I read The Case of the Stuttering Bishop and The Wailing Wind. Now I'm reading a sci-fi, then on to one of my favorite authors of historical mysteries, Susanna Gregory's To Kill or Cure, the 13th of the Chronicles of Mathew Bartholomew.

I'm almost finished with The Red Leather Diary by Lily Koppel and really enjoying it. It's nonfiction about the diary of a 1930's era New York girl that is found in a dumpster by the author in 2003. With diary entries and lots of info about 1930's life, it makes for an interesting read. I'm also reading some young adult/juvenile fiction as part of a project at work.

I've just started Mark Of The Lion which is the first of an on-going series, and I am so pleased. This book caught my attention from page one which started in the last days of WWI with a female ambulance driver, and now has shifted to British East Africa and a thrilling mystery for our adventuress to solve. I am sure I am going to love this series!

I just finished A Pigeon Among the Cats and really enjoyed it. It's too bad more of Josephine Bell's books are not in print - they read more like today's books than you would expect. This one features a retired schoolteacher on a trip through Italy where she gets caught up in some illegal scheme, but can't quite figure out what. No one in the book is who you think they are.

#60 DeltaQueen, I read Mark of the Lion last year and really enjoyed it, despite some supernatural elements that fit with the beliefs of the locals, but are written of as if they were real, which normally I would find distracting, but it seemed to work in this book.

#62 - CD1am - I recently read The Flame Trees of Thika which is a true story set in British East Africa at about the same time. The Mark Of The Lion seems to hit all the right notes of what the colony was like then, even down to the lights of Nairobi being cut off by a hippo in the water flume. I too, am not put off by the supernatural elements. I am definitely going to order the next book Stalking Ivory right away.

I have just started reading Scarpetta by Patricia Cornwell. It is quite a chunk of a book and a 14 day library loan to boot. Never read her before.

I am reading Second Sunrise by David & Aimee Thurlo
It is the start of the Lee Nez mystery series.

The main character is a Navajo and in the New Mexico State police. The book opens in 1945, but then switches to the modern day. Lee becomes a Vampire, called a Nightwalker by the Navajo. There are also Skinwalkers, werewolf like beings who can change shape. It is a supernatural mystery set in the Southwest with American Indians and Vampires. Whoo-hoo !

Unlike some of the series I have read earlier this year, it is not campy, but serious, like any other reality based mystery.

Enjoying Lawrence Block. Tanner's Twelve Swingers is a peculiar one, but I really like Matthew Scudder.

I got a couple of short story collections from the library last visit. I finished Death Dines In, not so crazy about it. It did have a funny story by Donna Andrews, but I didn't think the rest were very good. And I got a weird collection called Sherlock Holmes Through Time and Space, with a sci-fi twist to Holmes. It's been fun.

FicusFan - that new Thurlo book sounds GREAT! Please let us know how it goes.

I finally got around to reading In the Woods by Tana French and I'm loving it. About half-way through and I have The Likeness to read in the near future.

Dulcibelle,

I will. But its not new (other than my reading it now). It was published in 2002 (HC) I think. There are 4 books out in the series. I have 3 because those are in paper, the last one is still in Hardcover and has been since 2006, I think. :(

I will let you know what I think when I finish.

ETA:

I realize I said 'New' in my initial post. I should have said different. I just wanted to note it was not one of their other series. I think they have several. Sorry for the confusion.

I just finished a YA mystery, Shakespeare's Secret, that was pretty good. I'm reading the YA stuff as part of a project for work and it's been kind of fun--there's lots more to choose from now than when I was younger. I'm now reading Scarpetta and so far, so good.

#44, the second Korean Inspector O mystery by James Church, called Hidden Moon also is really good. A third one came out last November, Bamboo and Blood, which I haven't read yet.

Based on the many comments on LT, I just read the first in Ian Rankin's Inspector Rebus series, Knots and Crosses, and liked it very much. I'm looking forward to seeing how the series develops.

I started The Blonde by Duane Swierczynski. It's a fun, fast-paced crime thriller. I've been looking for a writer, with similarities to Charlie Huston, and this guy seems to be the ticket. Anyone else here, read him?

I finished Second Sunrise by David and Aimee Thurlo
It is a mystery set in the modern day in NM and involves a main character, Lee Nez who is a Navajo and becomes a vampire. Unlike some of the other recent books that I have read with a fantasy/reality mix, this one was not campy, but done seriously.

The book is unlike a lot of more recent books that makes vampires known to humans. In this book he has to keep what he is a secret. There are also what the Navajos call Skinwalkers, who are shape shifters. They are witches after vampire blood for their immortality. The book started in 1945, and had Nazi spies trying to steal plutonium. It then moves to the modern day, and the return of the spy who is also a vampire, and his attempt to find the hidden plutonium. Lee is a state police officer and is trying to catch the spy, protect the plutonium, dodge the skinwalkers after them, and keep his police superiors in the dark as to what he and the spy really are - vampires.

I enjoyed it. It was well written if a bit thin, and repetitive on the action scenes. I liked the characters, but wished there was a bit more of the Navajo part of the setting. Lee doesn't live on the reservation, and other than the witches and a couple of medicine men there isn't s lot.

Dulcibelle, I liked it, but didn't love it. Since its the first book I expect the next ones will get better.

I am now reading book 2 in the Kurt Wallander series, The Dogs of Riga by Henning Mankell.

Just what I need - something else to put on Mt. TBR. :-) Seriously, FicusFan, thanks for the review. Second Sunrise sounds just intriguing enough that I'll have to find a copy. I'm always willing to give a new (to me) series a couple of chances to find its "legs".

#67 cmbohn,
Your mention of Death Dines In made me think of another culinary short story collection, (I don't recall the title), but it included one of the most memorable short stories I've ever read, Walter Satterthwait's "Cassoulet". Have you ever read it? You can find it online at http://www.overbooked.org/satterthwait/stories/cassoulet.html

Just finished Victorian murders by roy hartley lewis. Very enjoyable.

Next, I`m planning to read Walter Thompson `s(Winston Churchill`s bodyguard)autobiography, which has been re-issued under the title Beside the Bulldog.

I'm reading Killer Heat by Linda Fairstein. I've read much of her other work, and really enjoy her writing.

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,22205093-5001986,00.html (revue)

I am reading John Ajvide Lindqvist, Let the Right One In,
about vampires, murder and about tough life in a suburb of Stockhom.
Usually I'm not too fond of vampire stories, but this one has quality in its language, description of caracters, and sets questions about evilness in people.

>Ficus- The Dogs of Riga will also be the next one in this series, that I'll read. Let me know what you think!
>80 EAEowyn:: Anna-Marie- I did not know Let the Right One In was a book. I actually have the film to watch and I've heard great things about it. It looks pretty creepy. Make sure you post your thoughts!

#77 - What a story! I had never read that one before, and I've read several culinary themed mystery collections. Thanks for the link!

I confess I'm not as hungry now. ;)

msf59 - I am enjoying it so far. Really like the writing, the story is interesting, and the characters are good. Will keep you posted.

Just finished Postmortem by Patricia Cornwell. I read Scarpetta, loved it, and decided to go back to the beginning of the Kay Scarpetta series. My sister told me I'd like these and I was not disapointed...intricate mystery, great and very realistic characters...had trouble putting it down.

I finished The Blondeby Duane Swierczynski. It was a fun, crazy, off the wall read and this edition came with a novella called "The Redhead", which is a sequel. Outrageous but entertaining!

# 81 msf59

I finished The Dogs of Riga and I would say it was OK, but not great. I have a review up, but it may have spoilers.

The problem is the book starts out like a mystery and is very interesting, but when Wallander goes to Latvia, the story goes south. It becomes a low rent cold war (even though it is set in 1991) spy thriller, that makes no sense. Exactly what can Swedish police officer Wallander do in a foreign land, its never really clear. There is a reason they want him there, but no reason for him to think it is worthwhile. I think Mankell wanted to say something about the East shaking off the Soviet Union, but the story just didn't work for me.

The writing was good, and the characters were updated and developed more. I will keep reading the series, but this one was a bit of a disappointment for me. YMMV.

#76: dulcibelle

I agree about new series needing time to find their legs. I usually try 3 books before giving up.

# 81: I finished "Let the Right one in" a while ago. I have mixed feelings about this book, as it's certainly not one to leave ones mind for a while after reading it. The author has successed to bring out a gloomy and dull feeling, and all the caracters are well described as failed persons. I think Lindqvist has the intention to show what mobbing, loneliness and longing for love can do to persons.

But in this genre its a narrow line between horror and ridicule. At some points the horror show goes to far, so it gets more silly than scaring.

I just bought - but haven't read yet - Julian Symons book, A Three Pipe Problem, Nor Live so Long by Sara Woods (which I just realized I already have! Sigh.) and Murder Every Monday by Pamela Branch, a new author I just discovered this year. We went to a huge used book store where they have one whole corner upstairs devoted to Sherlockiana. That's where I found the Symons book. So much great stuff there. I'm so proud of myself that I only came away with 3 books!