What Are You Reading in March 2009

I couldn't see where a new thread had been started for March yet so I decided to start one.

I am reading Dead Simple by Peter James. This is the first book in the series and I'm finding it a real page turner. Can't wait to find out how this one is going to end!

I just started Behold, Here's Poison by Georgette Heyer.
So far, it is enjoyable.

Just checking in for the month. Reading a fantasy now, but will soon be with a mystery.

Just finished Made to be Broken by Kelley Armstrong, second in her series about hit woman Nadia Stafford (the first is Exit Strategy). There's nothing paranormal in these, just straight mystery.

>4 dulcibelle: dulcibelle, what did you think of Made To Be Broken; I read the 1st book Exit Strategy & was thinking about getting this one.

I just finished Promises In Death - fabulous!

I'm trying to wrap up my quest to read all of Agatha Christie's novels, including her Mary Westmacott books. I have 7 more to go and I hope to read them all by the end of this month, yay!

I'm also on an Agatha Christie-Mrs. McGinty's Dead.
Good luck, amwmsw04!

Hi Jennifer!! Good to see you here...
You mooched that one from me, right? I liked it - it was a good Poirot book - and Ariadne Oliver is in it too, isn't she?

Angela

I started March off with Ghostwalk by Rebecca Stott. The premise is intriguing, a death in modern day Cambridge that may be tied to events that occurred three hundred years previously. 92 pages in and enjoying it so far.

Just started reading Epitaph for a Spy by Eric Ambler

Almost finished Sleepy Head by Mark Billingham. Will probably read the new Peter Robinson, "Friend of the Devil" next.

I am reading The Stolen by Jason Pinter. It has an interesting premise about missing children showing up back at their homes several years after going missing, without remembering anything about the time while they were gone.

I think you're right, Angela. And yes, Mrs Oliver has joined M. Poirot in the hunt. It is a good one.

>>5 bookbeat: - bookbeat, I LOVED Made to be Broken, maybe even more than Exit Strategy. I think Armstrong has a winner here.

I'm also working my way thru the . . . In Death series. I'm about half way there. Last one I read was Imitation in Death. I really enjoy this series too, for many of the same reasons I like Armstrong's series.

Just started Benjamin Black's The Silver Swan, the sequel to Christine Falls. It's excellent so far!

Still on my Kay Scarpetta kick...reading Body of Evidence by Patricia Cornwell. I hate to put it down to get on with my regular life.

Just finished Behold, Here's Poison by Georgette Heyer. Delightful!

I like Heyer's mysteries. I wish she had written more.

I'm reading Canterbury Tales right now, plus like 4 other books. I'm feeling a little swamped.

Currently reading To Kill or Cure by Susanna Gregory, set in Cambridge during the Middle Ages.

#9 Ikernagh -- Ghostwalk sounds interesting, except it may contain too much supernatural for my taste.

I am enjoying Concrete Blonde very much.

I just read Bon Bon Voyage by Nancy Fairbanks. Cover to cover it took me about 3 hours. I am a sucker for books with reicpes and dogs.

#20 Ooooh, I loved Concrete Blonde. That was my first Connelly, and it began a years-long habit of reading everything he writes (including his true crime book). Next on my list is Brass Verdict. In fact, it's sitting on my bedside table, just waiting for me to get 'round to it.

I've just read Stieg Larsson's The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, after hearing a lot about it, and only lately finding a copy in my local library. In my opinion, he's even better than Mankell at his best. I'm eager to read his others.

Since this is also an introduction, I do like to read Nordic mystery novels, either in English or Swedish. I'm pretty slow when reading Swedish, but that just means it lasts longer. Have read most of Mankell's that way. His book Chronicler of the Winds, although not a mystery novel, is also excellent, sort of Swedish/Mozambican magic realism (I've also worked in and on Mozambique, so know of Mankell through that as well, though have never managed to meet him).

Of the other Swedish mystery novelists, I would rate Mankell as consistently the best, according to my taste (except for newly discovered (to me) Stieg Larsson. After that I think Åke Edwardson. whose novels are set in Gothenburg, is among the best.

I'm always interested in hearing about new authors, both for my own reading and for a website I have set up with a focus on novelists with a good sense of place: http://www.mysteryplaces.net You can see novelists linked to specific countries under
http://www.mysteryplaces.net/countries/countries.php

#19 CD1am - I ended up discarding Ghostwalk when I reached the halfway mark. I just lost interest in the story and couldn't motivate myself to finish it.

#15 I've just started Christine Falls

I'm enjoying The Brass Verdict by Michael Connelly.

#23 The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (Men who hates women) is now in the movies in Scandinavia, and it's a success so far.

About Mankell: He is a very good speaker as well as a writer - I've heard him twice. His background as an actor is ceartainly of help there.

Intressant att du läser en del av romanerna på svenska!

Just realized that I posted this in the wrong place. So here it is again.

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!

I am just about to start A Touch of Frost by R.D. Wingfield. This is the second book in the series and I am really looking forward to it as I enjoyed the first one so much. I have a two hour ferry ride tomorrow so I know I will be able to really immerse myself in this book.

right now i have breathe my name by r.a. nelson, suite scarlett by maureen johnson, and skin deep by e.m. crane but those are just the three that i checked out on thursday

DeltaQueen50: I live in the states we have watched A Touch of Frost on BBCAmerica and also have checked out DVD's from the library. Have never read any of the books but enjoyed the movies.

I just started The Moving Target

#31 - cindysprocket - I have heard that the series was really well done, I am hoping that after I finish reading the series, my library will have the DVD's to borrow. I haven't checked to see if they have them yet, but they have most of the PBS series, so fingers crossed!

Having seen it favorably mentioned many times on LT, I'm reading Mark of the Lion by Suzanne Arruda, and very much enjoying it, including its central character, Jade del Cameron.

I've just finished The Miracle at Speedy Motors by Alexander McCall Smith. As usual, a gentle read, full of charm - and why not allow yourself to believe that such good people exist (strange for a crime fan I know). I think the earlier books in the series might have been rather more intricately plotted but the whole series is enjoyable in an undemanding kind of way.

Just finished Lost Echoes by Joe Lansdale--very good!

Laura Lippman's Baltimore Blues

#32 jonesli -- Have you read anything else by Ross Macdonald? I liked The Moving Target, but The Dark Tunnel was even better. It's a standalone, not a Lew Archer mystery.

Speaking of Lew Archer, wasn't there a film of one of the Lew Archer mysteries years ago starring Paul Newman?

#38 CD1am- this is my first Ross Macdonald. I am going to put The Dark Tunnel on my list.

And yes the Lew Archer movie is Harper starring Paul Newman, which if I remember correctly was pretty good.

Actually Paul Newman also starred in "Drowning Pool" in 1976, another film based on a Lew Archer book. I have not read Ross MacDonald in many years but I remember loving The Ivory Grin and The Blue Hammer, among several others.

Just about to start A Child's Game by John Connor - anyone else read this? Am I in for a treat?!

Just finished All That Remains by Patricia Cornwell and liked it very much, as usual. I decided to take a Kay Scarpetta break and start reading the Sue Grafton mysteries in order. So, I'm reading A Is for Alibi and liking it so far.

Sue Grafton's books get better as the series goes. Her sense of humor starts to peek out.

I started Death of a Witch today. Of course I seem to be reading the series backwards, but I did the same thing with Stuart Woods Stone Barrington series.

I'm almost done with Christie's Black Coffee.

#43: That's good to know, altho I find her descriptions amusing now...very down to earth and easy to relate to.

Just in time for spring break...Agatha Christie's A Caribbean Mystery. For anybody who's read it, is it just me, or does the cantankerous old wheelchair-bound character remind you of Mr. Burns on The Simpsons?

I never thought of that, but now that you mention it...it's possible... :D

How funny! I just finished watching Nemesis - Agatha Christie. They had the Miss Marple collection at Costco for $30, so I bought it. I figure I'll get at least that much enjoyment out of it.

#49 cmbohn - Is this the Miss Marple collection with the actress Joan Hickson? She is my favorite Miss Marple and I own all the DVD's in that collection. Your post has me wanting to curl up tonight with the TV instead of a book and watch Nemesis all over again!

Yes, that's the one! I like it SOOOO much better than the newer version. The new one changed the plots, and even the identity of the murderer in one of the episodes! That's going too far, I think.

I am reading 24 hours by Greg Iles. Very good so far.

I am about to start Booked to Die by John Dunning
It is book 1 in the Cliff Janeway series about a book loving police officer in Denver. It is for a RL book group.

I just finished the latest Jessie Stone series Night and Day by Robert B. Parker. Nothing exceptional, but I have been a fan for so long that I can't resist.

I then started the newest Maisie Dobbs Among the Mad by Jacqueline Winspear. I really love her.

I hadn't heard about the new Maisie Dobbs! I'll be looking for it.

I finally decided to try the Southern Vampire series by Charlaine Harris. I started Dead Until Dark a few days ago. So far, it's okay. I've heard that the HBO series based on it ("True Blood") is so-so.

I love the Southern Vampire series! I am looking forward to True Blood as well (even though I have a feeling I will be disappointed).

I just finished The Cove by Catherine Coulter -- not my favorite, I like her historicals better.

I think I will start Lee Child's Die Trying tonight.

Don't forget to check out my blog:http://barneysbookblog.blogspot.com/

I started a nifty crime thriller called Severance Package by Duane Swierczynski, that a couple fellow LTers highly recommended. It's a lot of fun, so far!

I am in the middle of The Unfinished Clue by Georgette Heyer. Very very good!

I am in the middle of jeffery deaver's location scout mystery series.

Well, I was reading Vanish by Tess Gerritsen last night, and one scene was in a kitchen with citrus yellow walls, glossy green cabinets and white worktops.

"Hmmmm", I mused to my husband, "maybe when we do the kitchen yellow we should have dark green worktops rather than grey." "Sounds good", he replied.

A small pause. "Hang on. Are you getting decorating tips from a serial killer novel?!"

Guilty!

Just read Bodies by Robert Barnard and really enjoyed it. Some very amusing insights into human nature. Loved the cop and the peek into the body building culture related to the murders. Reminded me of the unintended humor in Schwartzeneger's bodybuilding film/documentary from way back.

Just began Effigies by Mary Anna Evans. I love archaeological mysteries, but I hadn't tried this author yet.

I started the thriller Severed by Simon Kernick this morning, it starts off at a fast pace, and if this book is like his others, the pace will stay fast. Most of his books are like taking a roller coaster ride - Hang on tight and go enjoy the ride!

Funny, sophie!

I finished Severance Package. It was very entertaining. Anyone looking for a fast-paced, super-violent joyride ,this is the ticket! Another crime writer to keep an eye on.
Started another crime novel, from a special LT friend, Good People by Marcus Sakey. It's also fast paced and engrossing, with a vivid Chicago setting.

I just finished reading Judge and Jury by James Patterson. I couldn't put it down! :D

I haven't read any mysteries in a while! I've been trying some other genres. Right now I'm stuck with The Canterbury Tales. I'm about 100 pages from the end, but it's just not fun any more.

I am reading Trouble is My Business featuring four Phillip Marlowe stories.

Just started Monster of Florence

dragonsign

I just picked up Scarpetta by Patricia Cornwell at the library today. Already I think she is dealing with a crazy person. Hope I can sleep tonight.

I am reading Devil's Feathers by David Chacko (no touchstone). It is set in modern day Turkey. It is book 2 of the Onur Levent series, about an Istanbul police officer. This book seems to be set in Bodrum, as resort city on the Asian side on the Aegean coast.

#71 Hi Ficus Fan, I noticed that you recently picked up Mark of the Lion I hope you enjoy it - I am just about to start the second book in the series, Stalking Ivory which I brought home from the library today.

I'm reading a cozy called Carrot Cake Murder by Joanne Fluke.

I'm reading a collection of Means of Evil Fallen Curtain and The Fever Tree.

From Stephen King I've heard about two great British mystery writers: Ruth Rendell and Robert Goddard. I recommend them both. For Rendell, she has a series with a detective which I haven't read, but her stand-alones are great! Try A Sight for Sore Eyes. The reader knows what is happening, but the characters do not, and you feel like shouting "STOP!" as they head towards catastrophe. I'm not sure I like Goddard quite as much, but he writes long involved complicated stories, frequently with characters delving into things that happened decades ago. Try Sight Unseen, or Dying to Tell.

#23 I recently read The Girl Who Played With Fire by Stieg Larrson and was completely absorbed, unable to put it down. Can't wait until the end of the year when the third/final comes out. Started a Janet Evanovich last night, a between the numbers Stephanie Plum called Plum Spooky and will shortly finish it. A good contrast to the last book I read, Middlemarch by George Eliot but not as hilarious as the last couple of numbers (13 and 14).

I just finished Six Geese A-Slaying. I really enjoyed it. I wasn't as crazy about Donna Andrew's last book, but this one was a fun read. I did guess the murderer right away, but the story was so much fun that I didn't really mind.

I'm a third of the way into (and enjoying) The Black Thumb, an early forties mystery featuring an ax murderer loose in a hosptal isolation ward.

#72 DeltaQueen50,

Yes I saw the book/series mentioned and since I like historical mysteries, thought I would give it a try. Not sure when I will get to it.

I finished Devil's Feathers by David Chacko. About Istanbul police inspector Onur Levent . I enjoyed it very much. It was fast and lightweight, but I still loved it. The character of Levent is great, and Chcako does Turkey really, really well. This time it was set in the vacation area of Bodrum on the Aegean coast. I hope he writes more in the series.

I am now reading a SF/Mystery called Wyrmhole by Jay Caselberg. It is the first book in the Jack Stein psychic investigator series. It is set in the future in an organic city called the Locality, very class divided by money, and with a grasping corporation controlling everything. On a small planet a group of miners have mysteriously disappeared and the company hires Jack to find them, or maybe not ....

Oh, Ficus ~ Every time you post about a book, I have another one (or two) to add to my TBR list! Both Devil's Feather and Wyrmhole sound great!

Yep - I agree with Storeetlir, now I have David Chacko on my list and #78's The Black Thumb intrigues me as well!

I just started The Charlemagne Pursuit by Steve Berry and picked up In the Shadow of the Master edited by Michael Connelly at the library yesterday.

I just finished I spit on your graves, by Boris Vian.

I just finished 1st to Die by James Patterson. I decided to read the Women's Murder Club mysteries in order and could not put it down. This is the first James Patterson I've read. He is organized, clever, intricate, and a pleasure to read.

DeltaQueen50 and Storeetlr - GLad to be of help :)

I finished Wyrmhole by Jay Caselberg. SF book first in the Jack Stein, Psychic Investigator series. It was good.

The author has created an organic city, based on gated communities. Everything is self-contained, like the cities in Chung Kuo , but smaller and mobile. The city moves across the landscape. It is separated into New, Mid, Old. Old is the part that is the oldest, with everything breaking down, and about to be re-absorbed and recycled.

The book is a mystery about miners who have disappeared but there is a bunch of mysticism and higher-level math and geometry - though it doesn't overwhelm.

I am now reading The Lost Books of the Odyssey by Zachary Mason. Very cool, imaginary historical fiction. Purports to be the lost parts of Homer's Odyssey. A series of short stories, all so far have a twist/zinger, and the writing is enchanting.

See, what I said. Two more titles to add to the list. (Chung Kuo and Lost Books of the Odessey)

Argh!

# 86 Storeetllr,

Sorry but Chung Kuo is really 8 books. Its a series, and its Out of Print.

The Middle Kingdom
The Broken Wheel
The White Mountain
The Stone Within
Beneath the Tree of Heaven
White Moon, Red Dragon
Days of Bitter Strength
The Marriage of the Living Dark

Many people hated the last 2 books, they are very different than the rest of the series.. The last book was so reviled it wasn't published in the US. I got mine from Canada.

Hello wminter,

I concur with you completely regarding Henning Mankell. I like to read him in German since I find the German translations capture some of Sweden's "Schwermut" much better, than the English translations.

I also was riveted by Girl with A Dragon Tatoo. It is sad that Stieg Larsson passed away so young, all that potential.

Cheers,
Gabriele

It has been a while since I have picked up a mystery to read. I am about to start Where Serpents Sleep by C.S. Harris, a good old 1800's London mystery.

Humm... touchstone says the book is by Candice Proctor but it links to the correct book. Strange, I have two mysteries on my hands!

#87 Eight books! Imagine that. *whimper*

#78 Harry, I love the mysteries by Constance & Gwenyth Little. My favorite is The Black Goatee.

I finished Effigies and, after a slow start, I really enjoyed it. Then I read the third of S.J. Rozan's Lydia Chin/Bill Smith mysteries, Mandarin Plaid. It's definitely a can't put down book--I'm still suffering from lack of sleep due to reading too late. The series is told in first person with the books alternating between Lydia and Bill: China Trade was Lydia's case with Bill helping out, Concourse was Bill's case with Lydia doing background work. The series is mostly set in NYC, with Lydia's office being in Chinatown. Great characters and intriguing mysteries.

Conviction by Richard North Patterson. Not really a 'mystery', but excellent.

About a third of the way through The Manual of Detection by Jedediah Berry, very strange...

Read my first John D. MacDonald mystery, A Tan and Sandy Silence. Had a mixed reaction to it. It had a slow start, and the ending wasn't satisfying. I also didn't really like Travis McGee, tho his friend and confidante was an interesting character, even tho now I can't think of his name.

Currently reading the second Ian Rutledge mystery, Wings of Fire by Charles Todd set in Cornwall a few years after WWI. Rutledge is a victim of shell shock and is haunted by the the voice of a man he executed on the battlefield. Very good series.

I love Stuart Woods and have read all his books. Can you tell me of any other authors you know of like him I can read?

I've read all his books.

Just heard that Matthew McConaughey is supposed to play Mickey Haller in a film version of The Lincoln Lawyer by Michael Connelly. Somehow I pictured Haller differently, though McConaughey might work. One thing, he sure isn't hard on the eyes! Here's the Variety article that talks about it: http://www.variety.com/index.asp?layout=print_story&articleid=VR1410001191&a....

Revenge of the Spellmans by Lisa Lutz, another comedic private eye novel featuring Izzy Spellman and her family, Shakespeare's Secret by Elise Broach, a young adult mystery involving the claim that Edward de Vere was the true author of Shakespeare's plays, and The Mystery of the Blue Train, an Agatha Christie Hercules Poirot mystery.

Tripwire and One Shot both by Lee Child. They are Jack Reacher stories - gotta love that guy. These aren't mystery, but crime novels.

I just devoured Heartsick and hopefully will begin Sweetheart later this evening.

#91 - Jonesli - it sounds as if you really enjoyed Heartsick which is good to know as it is on my TBR pile.

Currently I am reading The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo by Steig Larsson and it's very, very good!

I am reading The Art Thief by Noah Charney.
I had such hopes. Not sure if I will finish it. The writing is horrendous. He uses way too many adjectives together, and the characters are not like real people. The writing is very florid (male version of bodice-ripper type language use), and its like every character is on an important blind date, trying to be larger than life, and holding their tummies in, and not being real.

The author is more interested in showing off, and being cool and trying to be erudite than in telling a story. Of course he fails horribly. Not sure if he is some relative and thats why the book was published, or they hate him so much they wanted him to fall flat on his face. He really could have used an editor.

He also has info dumps about art and a profile on who the likely thief would be. I however love that, but others who don't like meaty fact in their fiction, might be bored.

10 books Read & Recommended - March 2009

posted here even if it's already April - just slow to write them up for LT

An early March trip to the Netherlands and South Africa gave ample time to read on the long flights and waiting in airports and also the opportunity to find some new authors in bookstore browsing. It added up to a good set of seven books read in March that I rate very highly (5 stars on Library Thing), and three more that I enjoyed but were a bit too predictable to give the highest marks to (4 stars).

At the top of the list, for me, is The Quiet Flame, Philip Kerr's latest Bernie Gunther novel, set in 1930s Berlin and 1950s Argentina, with his customary blend of good writing and historical interest. Just as good is Swedish writer Stieg Larsson's The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, the first of his Millennium trilogy to make its way across the Atlantic. I was tempted to buy the other two while in Europe, but their weight and price dissuaded me, in favor of waiting until they show up at my local library or at a cheaper price.

I also read two excellent books by Michael Robotham, an Australian writer, new to me, who sets his psychological thrillers in England and environs. Shatter and The Night Ferry (England and the Netherlands) are the ones I began with, and I'm looking forward to finding his others. Finally, three by familiar authors who are consistently good: City of Fire, by Robert Ellis, set in Los Angeles and featuring LAPD cop Lena Gamble; Thin Walls, by Kris Nelscott, set in Chicago and featuring black private inestigator Smokey Dalton; and Spade & Archer, by Joe Gores, his prequel to Dashiell Hammett's The Maltese Falton, set in San Francisco.

Paul Eddy's Flint's Law (a thriller set in multiple places), Robert Ellis's Access to Power (set in Washington, DC), and Norman Green's The Last Gig (set in Brooklyn) were also good reads.

For more on these books, see links on my Library Thing catalog
http://www.librarything.com/catalog/wminter

And for more books by these authors, see
http://www.mysteryplaces.net/authors/authors.php

I'm also working on a LT widget for this to go on mysteryplaces.net, but haven't got the new widget code working right yet.

#102 wminter -- I'd never heard of Gores' book. I'm so glad you mentioned it. It's going to the top of my list of books to get.