Reading

[whirligigwitch]

The Dark is Rising by Susan Cooper (reread)
School Days by Robert B Parker
Back Story by Robert B Parker
No Good Deed by Manda Scott (reread)
Shadows and Lies by Marjorie Eccles
Little Women by Louisa May Alcott (reread)
The Godwulf Manuscript - Robert B Parker
Vanish - Tess Gerritsen
Lazy Ways to Make a Living - Abigail Bosanko
Early Autumn - Robert B Parker
Empress Orchid - Anchee Min
Catch Me When I Fall - Nicci French
Good Harbour by Anita Diamant
__________________________________________________________________________________________

Hugger Mugger by Robert B Parker
Trace Evidence by Elizabeth Becka
Labyrinth - Kate Mosse
Gone - Lisa Gardner
The Grave Tattoo by Val McDermid
Malicious Intent by Kathryn Fox
Cold Granite Stewart MacBride
__________________________________________________________________________________________

Chance Robert B Parker
Dark Harbour - David Hosp
Crosscut by Meg Gardiner
China Lake Meg Gardiner. Reread
A Wedding in December - Anita Shreve
Night Work Laurie R King. Reread
The Queen of Subtleties Suzannah Dunn. Two parallel stories, one of Anne Boleyn and one of Lucy Cornwallis, confectioner to the court and friend and confidante of Mark Smeaton. Historical novel with some turns of phrase that seemed anachronistically modern.
Body Double Tess Gerritsen
Idioglossia Eleanor Bailey. Loved the first two-thirds, wasn't as keen on the ending. Thought it slowed down and was a bit drawn out. Lyrical writing, though.
__________________________________________________________________________________________
Blacklist Sara Paretsky

I was trying to remember when I first read a Paretsky book, and I am still unsure of when it was. It was definitely before I went to university. At least 12 years ago, and more likely 14. She is one of my favouriet writers, and Blacklist is excellent. V.I. Warshawski invesigates mysterious lights in a supposedly vacant house, the former home of a regular client. Discovering the body of a journalist in an ornamental pond, she is drawn into a mystery that has its roots back in the 50s and 60s.

The Chemistry of Death by Simon Beckett.

Reading the back of this one day while I was hanging around at the Readers' Advisory Desk inspired me to put in a request for it. It's a first novel, featuring a former forensic anthropologist turned counry GP after a personal tragedy. The discovery of the mutilated body of a local woman results in the police asking him to bring his expertise to the case. When another woman is abducted and it's obvious that there is a serial killer at work, it becomes clear that his quiet exile is under threat. Very, very good thriller, with a wonderfully menacing atmosphere throughout.

The Girl in the Red Tunic Alys Clare. Further mediaeval crime novel featuring the Abbess Helewise and Josse D'Acquin, in which the Abbess's past holds the secret to explain the murder of a man found hanged near the Abbey. Entertaining and quick.

O Jerusalem Laurie R King. Reread of a book in the Sherlock Holmes/Mary Russell series. This is one of my favourite series of books. Holmes and Russell make a strategic withdrawal from an English enemy and go to Palestine, where they begin to uncover threats to the peace keeping process underway.

Justice Hall Another reread of a Laurie King Holmes/Russell series. Returning home after a case on Dartmoor has ended, Russell and Holmes are visited unexpectedly by an old friend looking for help - Ali Hazr, last encountered in O Jerusalem. I really love these books, but JH is IMO one of the best.

Looking For Rachel Wallace by Robert B Parker
Eve Green - Susan Fletcher
Serpent's Tooth - Faye Kellerman (Reread)
The Tenko Club - Elizabeth Noble
Red Tide G M Ford
Folly Susan Minot
Jupiter's Bones Faye Kellerman. Reread
One Shot Lee Child. Fairly mindless but entertaining book, literary equivalent of James Bond or Die Hard films
__________________________________________________________________________________________

The Silent Shore Ruth Elwin Harris. This is what David calls 'pubescent fiction'. This series of books about four sisters set in the Quantocks and France during the early part of the 20th century was a huge favourite with me as a teenager. There are four books in the series but I only had three of them. i think the 4th is available now and might try and track it down to complete my reading. They weren't quite as
The Dividing Sea Ruth Elwin Harris
The Thirteen Problems Agatha Christie. Short stories I'd never read before. I like Christie, as much for the cleaness, so to speak, of the crimes and the resolutions of the mysteries as anything else. Helen had bought a boxed set of Miss Marple mysteries so I read a couple I hadn't previously. It's very reassuring the way you can tell a Christie book from the first page.
The Moving Finger Agatha Christie
The Beckoning Hills Ruth Elwin Harris
The Mirror Crack'd From Side to Side Agatha Christie
Sea Change Robert B Parker. This was very, very depressing and left me feeling dirty and in need of a long, hot shower. The mystery itself was fairly well plotted, but the subject matter and eventual resolution just left me with a bad taste.
Jericho Point Meg Gardiner
Dangerous Hour Marcia Muller
In the Company of the Courtesan Sarah Dunant. Excellent. This is by far the best book I've read so far this year. It opens in Rome in the early 16th century, where we are introduced to Bucino, a dwarf, an his mistress, the successful courtesan Fiametta. Forced to flee Rome, they head to Venice where they succeed in building up their business again, coming across treachery and betrayal along the way. Although I loved it, this book was let down by the ending. Wonderful descriptions abound, and the atmosphere of Venice is superbly created but the ending felt rushed.
Bloody Mary J A Konrath. Witty and wise-cracking detective novel. First bookI've read by this author, it's the second in a series featuring Lieutenant Jack Daniels, whose carcrash life becomes even more hectic when some of her possessions start showing up at crime scenes and a serial killer is on the loose.
Tomb of the Golden Bird Elizabeth Peters. Allegedly the last book in the Amelia Peabody series, which I'm quite sad about. Despite the fact that I think the last three books have been weaker than the middle books of the series, I still love these. I find them highly amusing and wonderful entertainment. Certainly ended May's reading on a good note.
__________________________________________________________________________________________

The Forest of Souls Carla Banks. Carla Banks is Danuta Reah, author of some excellent crime novels. I don't know if I would have come across this book if I hadn't been looking to see if Reah had written anything recently and found this, but it is a very good book. Very bleak in places, as is only to be expected in a novel which has wartime in nazi-occupied Minsk as part of its plot.
Still Life Louise Penny. Debut novel, with a small town Canadian setting.
The Deep Blue Goodbye John D MacDonald. When I bought this I was sure I'd read it but upon starting it I realised that I hadn't. I do like the Travis McGee books (the three or four that I've read) and there are some great one-liners contained within.
A Grave Denied Dana Stabenow. Thriller in the Kate Shugak series, set in Alaska. I've read one of the books in the series, the one prior to this, A Fine and Bitter Snow, but this one really grabbed me. The body of a local handyman who seems to have worked for everyone is found by a glacier, and Kate is asked by trooper Jim Chopin to help investigate his death.
Cards on the Table Agatha Christie. Always entertaining, great fun trying to spot the murderer (half got it right) but this book had far too much about bridge and cards for my liking, even if Poirot did think they were the key to the crime. :)
Cross Bones Kathy Reichs. Gave up on this. Just too slow for me and I couldn't get into it, even after 200 odd pages.
That Way Murder Lies Ann Granger. Mitchell amd Markby series - when an old friend of Meredith comes to her asking for some help for a friend who is receiving anonymous letters, Meredith and thus fiance Markby get dragged into a case that rapidly becomes more than just poisonous letters.
Hardware Linda Barnes. Entertaining thriller, reread. Interesting to read back in the Carlotta Carlyle series as it's been a while since i read any of the older books.
Oxford Blue Veronica Stallwood. Light, quick read, English village setting.
The Lincoln Lawyer Michael Connelly. Ending was good, but I didn't like this half as much as I've liked the Connelly books before it. It's not that I prefer the Bosch books as I have liked his other standalones, this just didn't grip me. The characterisation struck me as weak and quite one dimensional.

__________________________________________________________________________________________
The Art of Dying - Vena Cork (Started in June, finished Saturday 1st July)
Keeping Faith - Jodi Picoult
Under the Knife - Tess Gerritsen. Far more romantic suspense than a 'real' thriller, but a fast, easy and enjoyable read.
Case of Lies Perri O'Shaughnessy. Crime thriller featuring lawyer Nina Reilly, with a subplot featuring a mathematics genius and lots of discussion about prime numbers. I remember now how maths always felt like a foreign language to me. Good book, though.
Cutting Blades Victoria Blake
Rage Jonathan Kellerman
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince J K Rowling (Reread)
Murder Must Advertise Dorothy L Sayers (Reread)
Anne of Green Gables L M Montgomery
Various stories and two full length novel Harry Potter fanfics

__________________________________________________________________________________________
The Tenth Circle Jodi Picoult
Play with Fire Dana Stabenow
Brother Grimm Craig Russell
The Abortionist's Daughter Elisabeth Hyde
Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
Murder on the Orient Express Agatha Christie
Hercule Poirot's Christmas Agatha Christie
Locked Rooms Laurie R King

Quite a few re-reads in here this month; I seemed to lose my ability to concentrate after Brother Grimm.

__________________________________________________________________________________________
Snow Blind PJ Tracy
The Boleyn Inheritance Philippa Gregory. Far far better than The Constant Princess, historical novel based around Anne of Cleves and Katherine Howard and their respective fates in the court of Henry VIII. This book saw the re-emergence of Jane Boleyn, previously encountered in The Other Boleyn Girl.
Cold in the Earth Aline Templeton. Scottish murder predominantly set in a small farming community durign the foot and mouth epidemic. The plot was a bit contrived, but I thought the farming element was well done, and the horror of the foot and mouth sensitively described.
A Prayer For The Damned Peter Tremayne. Passable enough but not very good murder mystery set in mediaeval Ireland.
Promise Me Harlan Coben
Ghostheart Roger Jon Ellroy. I really liked the ending on this; excellent. Very well written though I found this slower than I expected initially. Contains a story within a story and the two comine very successfully.
Stranded V.L. McDermid. I only read a few short stories from this collection by Val McDermid. I have to be in the mood for short stories, and when I picked this up I wasn't.
Piece of My Heart Peter Robinson. Inspector Banks mystery.
Two Little Girls in Blue Mary Higgins Clark
The Queen's Fool Philippa Gregory. I reread this for the reading group at work, but we ended up having a staffing crisis that day so i couldn't attend anyway. Shame. I was looking forward to it as I almost always used to do it until I moved branches last year.
Why Didn't they ask Evans? Agatha Christie. One of the first Christies I ever read and thus one of my favourites.
Turning Angel Greg Iles. Missed this one when it came out in hardback. Gripping, engrossing thriller. A lawyer-turned-novelist is asked by his friend to defend him when the young girl with whom he had been having an affair is found dead. Interesting musings on the nature of desire and attraction, and the politics of sex with a large age difference/difference in power.
24 Hours Greg Iles. I enjoyed the previous Iles book so much that I went straight for another - the story of a kidnapping. It's the second kidnapping story I read this month - the Mary Higgins Clark shared the theme.

__________________________________________________________________________________________
Enquiry Dick Francis
Reflex Dick Francis. Both of these were in an omnibus edition I picked up one lunchtime when out on relief at another library. As I'd left my book back at base, I looked for something light, easy and entertaining, and Dick Francis fits that bill for me. i think I've read most, if not all of his books now bar the latest published last month, but I enjoy them anyway. Formulaic, but for me very readable.
Final Destination Agatha Christie. One of her post-WW2 standalone crime novels, this was interesting reading. It has a plot that fits in with the recurring theme in her later works of the dangers of fascism and the Nietzscgean idea of the superman.
The Fields of Grief Giles Blunt. Despite the fact that you found out what was going on quite early into the book, I found this compelling. There are two threads running through the book - a search for a young girl, the victim of a paedophile, and detective John Cardinal's investigation into the apparent suicide of his wife.
Kill Chain Meg Gardiner. Enjoyable, but way, way over the top. Some of the scenes were a cross between James Bond/Indiana Jones/Bourne Supremacy sort of action - in a way it was like they were written specifically to be made into an action film.

__________________________________________________________________________________________
Totally lost the plot as far as recording books went. let's see what I can remember:
Hard Way Lee Child
The Girl in Times Square Paulllina Simons
Second Wind Dick Francis
Echo Park Michael Connelly
Mister Candid Jules Hardy
The Cold Moon Jeffery Deaver
Debts of Dishonour Jill Paton Walsh
Part read and gave up on Sunstroke by Jesse Kellerman. Didn't like or rate it at all.
Wish Upon A Star Rina O'Reilly. Light but very entertaining and just what I needed when I went off reading.
Gone With the Wind Margaret Mitchell
Fire Sale Sara Paretsky. V.I. Warshawski novel, most recent in the series. Highly enjoyable. I've been readng Paretsky since I bought a 3 in 1 collection of her early novels back in about '92 for helen one Christmas, and I think we've both read them all since. Intelligent thrilers, great characterisation, incisive but not preachy social commentary, I really like Paretsky's work.
Dying Light Stuart MacBride. I had been on the waitng list for this book since this summer. Oddly, we only got one copy of it in the entire library service area when it came out. My turn on the list came up back in October, but instead of leaving the book for me, some bright spark that I work with decided a customer further down on the list needed it so I ended up on the bottom of the list again. Huh. Got it in time for Christmas. Second in a series featuring DS Logan McRae, this book is set in Aberdeen in the height of summer, where prostitutes are being beaten to death and an arsonist is trapping people in buildings before setting them alight. Fast moving thriller, gripping.
The Servant's Tale Margaret Frazer. Mediaeval murder mystery. The first of Frazer's books I've read but it won't be the last. I quite liked this tale.
Can't Wait to Get to Heaven Fannie Flagg. Flagg is one of my favourite authors and I love to immerse myself in the word of her books. This one features Elner Shimfissle who falls out of the tree she is gathering fruit from after being stung by wasps...It was as enjoyable and heart warming (I don't like that phrase, but it does fit this book accurately) as any of her other books, though I found the end too sappy and neat for me.