August 2019 ~ What are you reading?

Still reading The Frame-Up by Meghan Scott Molin.

Hoping to find some time to start To Die But Once, resting tantalizingly by my chair!

Just started The Butcher of Smithfield by Susanna Gregory. So far it is reminiscent of the Shardlake seriesa by C. J. Sansom.

Just finished Rising Man which I enjoyed, and already started the next in the series, A Necessary Evil.

Just finished The Wanderer (A Magnus Iceland Mystery), by Michael Ridpath, featuring Icelandic-American detective Magnus Jonson.

Next up in crime reading will be The Goodbye Look, by Ross Macdonald.

Started Storm Prey by John Sandford and Field of Valor by Matthew Betley

Reading Terns of Endearment by Donna Andrews.

>6 ColinMichaelFelix: I loved Field of Valor!

Couldn't get to sleep last night so read I Know Who You Are by Alice Feeney. Didn't particularly like this one-implausible storylines, very slow paced and there wasn't a likeable character to root for!

I'm reading The Three Hostages by John Buchan, the fourth novel in Buchan's "Richard Hannay" series. This entry in this classic somewhat over the top espionage series was published in 1924. These books are fun if you can overlook the strong mostly negative ethnic stereotyping of anyone not Anglo-Saxon.

Enjoying this OverDrive audiobook ~

You Can't Hide by Karen Rose

(part of Chicago series/Tess is a psychiatrist/someone is causing her patients to commit suicide/psych thriller and romance)

I just finished reading The Sentence is Death by Anthony Horowitz. It is the second entry in the Hawthorne series, and it was a quick, clever read. I enjoyed it, but I have enjoyed everything I have read by Horowitz. I also heard that he is working on a sequel to Magpie Murders, which sounds exciting.

>11 Dr_Flanders: That does sound exciting! I really enjoyed Magpie Murders.

After a respite of reading memoirs, I am back to reading mysteries and thrillers. Just started If She Wakes by Michael Koryta. Book is off to a good start and I am looking forward to continuing. Am starting vacation so expect to finish it quickly and read a few more.

Enjoying this OverDrive Kindle eBook Alexa can read to me ~

Full Throttle by Julie Ann Walker

(Black Knights Inc., book 7/a spec-ops guy has to rescue the president's daughter/steamy and suspenseful)

I am currently reading Girls Like Us by Cristina Alger. I just finished and I loved it. Next up is The Whisper Man by Alex North.

I haven't started the Ross Macdonald yet; instead, I'm going to northeastern England to tag along with Vera Stanhope in Telling Tales, by Ann Cleeves.

Finished The Frame-Up by Meghan Scott Molin. Liked it better than I was expecting.

Finished If She Wakes by Michael Kortya. A terrific thriller with a great villain: Dax Blackwell, a teenage stone cold killer, aka "the kid". And an original premise: A college student Tara is driving a featured speaker to his lecture when an apparent traffic accident leaves the speaker dead and Tara with "locked - in" syndrome. She is completely paralyzed but still in possession of her mental faculties. Abbey a former stunt car driver now insurance investigator suspects the collision is not an accident. This sets off a chase for a devise that looks like a phone but actually contains valuable stolen industrial secrets. And only Tara can unlock the device.

Plenty of twists and turns. A plot that propels.

Added Killer Twist by C. A. Larmer to my reading rotation.

Finished Killer Twist. Better than I expected.

Next up is Still Life With Murder by P. B. Ryan.

Just finished reading and reviewing Hearts of the Missing by Carol Potenza which I recommend for anyone who has enjoyed Tony and Anne Hillerman's books. Carol won The Tony Hillerman Prize in 2018 for a piece of fiction which morphed into this book so you know I don't make that recommendation lightly.

Last night turned to Peril at End House by Agatha Christie. She mentions the Blue Train as Poirot’s most recent case early on, so this must be in order.

Finished Girl Unknown by Karen Perry. Not quite sure what I thought of it. Plot was somewhat formulaic: the life of a family is frayed by young girl claiming to be a daughter of the husband. Clearly, she is not what she seems and will be trouble. Slow moving for a while but good twists at the end. Will start Grist Mill Road by Christopher Yates.

Enjoying this OverDrive audiobook ~

Lock Every Door by Riley Sager
(thriller/Jules becomes an apartment sitter in one of Manhattan's exclusive apartment complexes/dark history behind a gleaming facade)

UPDATE: ****

Finished Still Life With Murder by P. B. Ryan. Liked it better than I expected.

Next up is Murder in Mykonos by Jeffrey Siger.

Always love to read anything by Kate Atkinson, including her crime fiction. Just finished her newest Jackson Brodie novel Big Sky and thought it was great.

Listening to this library audiobook ~

Garden of Lies by Amanda Quick

(Victorian era London/Slater is an archeologist & adventurer/Ursula is the owner of Kern Secretarial Agency/a death due to mysterious circumstances/amateur sleuthing and romance)

I couldn't put down this thriller-it lived up to all the hype I'd heard about it: My Lovely Wife by Samantha Downing

Revisiting this favorite OverDrive audiobook ~

Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn

I've just listened to book 2 & 3 of the Lady Sherlock series in the past few days - I could not stop listening. It was very good for my walks, as I often kept walking! A Conspiracy in Belgravia and The Hollow of Fear were both excellent and well plotted. I seldom read two series books back to back, but I did in this one. It helped that the books ended and started at the exact same point.

Quiller Solitaire by Adam Hall. The 16th outing of this “indestructible British agent.” The author, Elliston Trevor, is in peak form.

Finished Murder in Mykonos by Jeffrey Siger. Meh. Didn't appeal to my "lawful" streak.

Next up is The Last Call by George Wier.

Finished Grist Mill Road by Christopher J. Yates. Intricate, dark tale of love, sexuality and coming of age, sandwiched between two acts of horrific violence. Lagged for me a bit in some parts, but overall excellent. Will start Darktown by Thomas Mullen tonight - about two black policemen in Atlanta, facing racism and corruption by their fellow officers, who take up a murder case that no one wants them to.

Finished The Last Call by George Wier. Typical kind of Texas macho stuff tho it did have a few moments.

Another good psychological thriller read this week: The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides

I'm reading Now We are Dead by Stuart MacBride. I've laughed out loud several times, Roberta Steel in top form.

Into Second Watch by Lowen Clausen. Police procedural kinda...the main cops are beat cops and aren't investigating the murder victims that keep showing up on their patch. It's a little odd and quite focused on relationships between various characters. At least so far.

Enjoying this OverDrive audiobook ~

15th Affair (Women's Murder Club) by James Patterson

(San Francisco/Lindsay Boxer and crew/personal revelations shake things up)

Just finished The Mad Hatter Mystery, by John Dickson Carr.

Added One Deadly Sister by Rod Hoisington to my reading rotation.

Raiding my parents' bookshelves while on a visit home and read The Regatta Mystery, a short story collection by Agatha Christie.

Finished One Deadly Sister. Meh.

Final audiobook for August ~

Outfox by Sandra Brown

(a young businesswoman/a master con man/an FBI agent hunting for a ruthless con man turned serial killer/suspense and romance)

The Wench is Dead by Colin Dexter. Continuing on with Morse (#8) in a most enjoyable read. Dexter tells a good story.

Started and older book I missed in the Carlotta Carlyle series - Flashpoint. It hits the key points for the series - Carlotta's lack of clients, her Little Sister Paolina, Roz's crazy sex life and hair styles and the general chaos of Boston living. I don't like where Paolina is in her life right now - an annoying 14-year old, so I could do with less of that. So far no Sam though.

Added the new Inspector Gamache to my reading rotation: A Better Man by Louise Penny.

I have loved all of Tana French's books and this one was no exception-The Witch Elm.

I've been a fan of French for a while, but didn't love The Secret Place all that much. Teenagers are hell. Been putting off reading The Witch Elm because of the mixed reviews. Can you talk a little about why you loved it? How it compares to the DMS books?

>48 Bookmarque:. Yes, I agree that the teenagers were extremely annoying in The Secret Place and that is my least favourite of hers. The Witch Elm is not at police procedural at all-more of an retrospective story told in the first person, combining elements of coming of age, false memories, self awareness, family loyalties, and the question of who among us is capable of committing acts of great violence. It was quite slow in the beginning-too much navel gazing for my liking- and I didn't care much at all for the protagonist, but I finally got settled into it, and was really drawn into the last one third of the novel.

Driftnet by Lin Anderson. First time reading this author; I quite liked this book but of course, my library system hardly has any of the rest of the series....

I have just finished Good Bait by John Harvey and greatly enjoyed this police procedural featuring, I believe,his first female protagonist, Karen Shields. I am a big fan of Harvey's 'Resnick' novels and now see that I have been missing out by not exploring his other books.

Thanks ted74ca - is the navel-gazing French pontificating or the character would you say?

All the Flowers are Dying by Lawrence Block. Returning to the Scudder series after a very long hiatus.

Right now I'm actively reading Trap the Devil by Ben Coes and Field of Valor by Matthew Betley and it's eerie how similar they are. Not like you're reading the same book because they are definitely going in different directions but to be reading 2 books at the same time with such a similar premise is kinda weird. But fun though and both very good so far

Started Rocket to the Morgue, by Anthony Boucher.

>52 Bookmarque:.
The character, for sure.

Finished A Better Man by Louise Penny. Slow started but I enjoyed it.

Next up is Mew is for Murder by Clea Simon.

cool, thanks ted74ca. Maybe it will be my next audio.

Finished Rocket to the Morgue -- Anthony Boucher makes an appearance in his own book, which I thought amusing.

I've also started Running Blind, by Desmond Bagley.

Enjoying this OverDrive/Kindle non-fiction eBook ~

Girl Sleuth: Nancy Drew and the Women Who Created Her by Melanie Rehak

Just finished and loved The Word is Murder by Anthony Horowitz.

>60 Molly3028: That was a good one! I also liked Leslie McFarlane's memoir, Ghost of the Hardy Boys.

Finished Mew is for Murder by Clea Simon. Better than I expected.

Next up is Freaks by Tess Gerritsen.

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