December 2015: What are you reading?

Not reading anything in the genre at the moment, but I thought I'd start the new month off.

Thank you for starting it, seitherin. I just began reading Girl Waits with Gun by Amy Stewart. I've never read this author before.

Am about 1/2 way through The Devil's Elixers which is completely mad, but in a good way.

I am reading Death Without Company by Craig Johnson. It is the second in a series, and I enjoyed the first one.

Reading Dead Cold by Louise Penny. Thought it'd be fitting this time of year, even though we don't seem to get proper winters here any more.

So annoying when books are published under different names. I've bought the same book twice in the past because of this.

My Purse book is Death of a Citizen by Donald Hamilton, my Nightstand book is Why Didn't They Ask Evans? by Agatha Christie and my main book is Nefertiti by Nick Drake.

I've just started Hank Ryan's fourth Jane-and-Jake mystery, What You See. Good so far.

I'm currently reading Downfall by Jeff Abbott.

I enjoyed The Santa Klaus Murder -- a good holiday mystery :)

I just started The Nightingale Before Christmas by Donna Andrews. It's a light, humorous mystery for the holidays.

>10 gaylebutz: I loved that book! So much fun.

Reading another holiday mystery, A Highland Christmas by M.C. Beaton, this time via audiobook.

I have a spy thriller going now, The Fourth Protocol by Frederick Forsyth. The Cold War: ah, the good old days!

Have just started on Thin Air by Ann Cleeves.

Not loving Jane and the Twelve Days of Christmas -- not only do I find it slightly offensive for someone to make Jane Austen an amateur sleuth but I am not liking the style.

I've just finished Friday on my Mind by Nicci French. I really enjoyed it, although it is slightly far fetched in the style of long running series and soap operas in which everyone the central character knows or is related to is in jeopardy.

Death of a Village by M.C. Beaton. It's been a while since I hung out with Hamish McBeth.

I'm reading The Bat by Jo Nesbo, first of the Harry Hole series.

Just started Broken Harbour, by Tana French.

Ooh, that's a good one, rabbitprincess. I've got an older Tess Monaghan going - Charm City.

I also started Missing Joseph by Elizabeth George and then set it aside. There were bits of her writing style that I liked immensely, but some of the language and storyline was a little too much for me. Is there another one of hers that you would recommend to a beginner?

Girl Waits with Gun was quite good, albeit a bit slow in the beginning.

The Coffin Trail by Martin Edwards. I quite liked this one; the first in his Lake District series. I've just requested the second one from the library.

Also finished The Stone Cutter by Camilla Lackberg last week; she's one of my favourite crime writers.

I am just beginning to read A Watery Grave by Joan Druett. The introductory Author's Note has certainly piqued my interest with its references to the first great United States South Seas Exploring Expedition and, in the first few pages of the story, to the protagonist's New Zealand Maori and U.S. Salem forebears.

I hope the book is rich in historical detail and in 19th century sea-faring lore, and that there's a tantalising mystery to be solved.

Finished Make Me by Lee Child and Career of Evil by Robert Galbraith now reading Splinter of Silence by Val McDermid

Splinter of Silence is engrossing so far, but McDermid can be quite brutal with her characters (Tony Hill & Carol Jordan) and I just hope she doesn't kill them off.

>20 Bookmarque: So you liked it? That's the one that made me quit reading Tana French.

Quite, although I knew who had done it pretty early on. I really wanted to know why. The case/situation destroyed everyone. Scorcher's sister bugged the ever-loving shit out of me though.

Reading Radiant Angel by Nelson DeMille. The John Corey books have not always been great, but I find the character engaging and the books usually worth the read. DeMille in general is very hit or miss.

Based on the enthusiastic endorsements of Bloody Jack from last months thread I purchased a copy. Haven't started it yet, but I am looking forward to it.

>30 tjm568:

Still besotted with Bloody Jack, aka Mary Faber!
Finished the 2nd one - Curse of the Blue Tattoo: Being an Account of the Misadventures of Jacky Faber, Midshipman and Fine Lady
Now awaiting the 3rd, Under The Jolly Roger: Being an Account of the Further Nautical Adventures of Jacky Faber, on hold at the library.

I am reading Murder on the Yellow Brick Road by Stuart Kaminsky.

Finished re-reading Hidden Prey (Sanford) and started Standing in Another Man's Grave (Rankin)

33 fwbl- just out of curiosity why did you re-read Hidden Prey out of all the Prey books. I love those books but rarely re-read them because new ones come out so frequently. Also, I could not tell you what happened in any given book other than the last one I read. I could describe the overall arc of the series and a bunch of the different cases Lucas, and more recently Virgil (that Fucking Flowers), have been involved in, but the individual books don't really trigger the plot of that story anymore.

Finally read my first novel by Ann Cleeves, though I've watched and enjoyed all the Vera and Shetland episodes produced in the UK. Shouldn't have waited so long to start reading her. I read the first in the Vera Stanhope series: The Crow Trap and really enjoyed it.

A Play of Knaves by Margaret Frazer I had read one from this series before, and it didn't especially click--user error/inattention, I think--because this one is turning out to be a pleasant medieval read.

I read a cozy, Death of a Couch Potato's Wife -- mystery was pretty good but there were lots of small problems with the story for me. 2½ stars.

I finished Girl Waits With Gun and it was a lot of fun. Light without being a fluff fest.

Currently I'm reading Silent Nights, an anthology of classic British mysteries with a Christmas touch, published by Poisoned Pen Press.

Just started on The Pure in Heart by Susan Hill.

I started Trust No One by Paul Cleave. I love unreliable narrators. This one has early onset Alzheimers and was a crime-writer who can no longer tell his novels from his past. It's made a bunch of end of year lists. I'm hoping it lives up to its promise.

>38 Copperskye: Me, too, Joanne, re Girl Waits With Gun. "Light without being a fluff fest" - ha! Yes.

*deleted due to oops*

Just finished a reread of And Then There Were None in preparation for the BBC broadcast starting on Boxing Day. Still fiendishly clever! Will be interested to see how they adapt it.

>35 ted74ca: One of my favourite authors - and she gets better with every book. I am working my way through the Vera series now - have recently finished Silent Voices.

I am not sure why I have waited so long to read J.A. Jance. Read her first J.P. Beaumont really enjoyed it. Also read one of her later Joanna Brady, Remains of Innocence. Liked it also.

Just finished Laidlaw by Wm McIlvanney. Pretty good stuff.

Reading the 3rd book in the King's Hound series, A Man's Word. I am enjoying these Danish historical fiction mysteries!

Back again with Nordic crime fiction by one of my favourite authors: The Stranger by Camilla Lackberg

I'm now reading Hard Evidence by John Lescroart.

I'm reading the second Last Policeman book Countdown City. If you are not familiar with these books the premise is that an asteroid is on its way to hit earth and there is a lot of breakdown of society and morals. Henry Palace was a police detective but he lost his job. In this book he is looking for a missing man, the husband of his childhood babysitter.

I am listening to the audiobook of Christmas Carol Murder by Leslie Meier - not loving it but not hating it either. In print I am reading a ROOT, #22 in the Inspector Appleby series, Death by Water (also known as "Appleby at Allingham")...

tjm568
Reread Hidden Prey for the reason you mentioned. I also can't remember one plot from another - especially years later. Found a very inexpensive copy, didn't recognize it, and went on to read it again. They are fluff reading.
Now reading Gerry Boyle. Want to like them as I live in Maine, but the main character is annoying in many ways.

Maybe not an ideal read for a woman living alone in a new neighbourhood, but I found this book riveting and I really enjoyed it. The Devil You Know by Elisabeth de Mariaffi. It helps if you're Canadian and old enough to remember the Paul Bernado/Karla Homolka murders in the early 1990s.

Now reading The Blackhouse by Peter May. It's the first of his Lewis trilogy, and after reading the first third of it, I hopped online and ordered the remaining two books. It's a Christmas gift to myself.

All three books take place on the Isle of Lewis in the Hebrides, and there's a strong sense of place.

>54 Maleva: Maleva: I read those books too and liked them. I love reading about islands as I'm an island girl myself. A bit further north in Shetland though. However, my ex-brother-in-law is a Lewis man. Let me know what you think of the other books please. Many thanks.

>53 ted74ca: and >54 Maleva: So glad to hear that you both liked Blackhouse, as I have that one on the shelf and was dismayed when a friend gave it only a middling grade recently. I'm encouraged that he might be an anomaly and that I will enjoy it more than he did.

I finished Death by Water which was a pretty good entry in the Inspector Appleby series but not one of the best.

I then read/listened to Rounding the Mark -- I like these Italian mysteries very much! Although Grover Gardner did an excellent narration, I missed the endnotes provided by the translator Stephen Sartarelli in the print copy.

Now onto a cozy on my Kindle, Clobbered by Camembert... I borrowed this from the library thinking it was set in Providence Rhode Island (which I need for a read-the-USA challenge) but sadly, it is Providence Ohio.

>57 leslie.98: Ooh, a mystery with endnotes by the translator? I might pick one up just to read the endnotes.

>58 rabbitprincess: Oh, the notes are wonderful - he explains references to food, historical events, contemporary politics, Sicilian expressions - I learn a lot! Plus the mysteries themselves are great :)

>57 leslie.98:,58,59 sometimes I think Sartarelli is the best part of the books. I listened to one on audio, and I missed the notes too. Such a great series.

>54 Maleva: I enjoyed The Blackhouse by Peter May and Entry Island (by the same author but not part of the trilogy).

Yes, I finished The Blackhouse last night, and I don't remember the last time when I was so thoroughly satisfied with a crime novel. I expect delivery on The Lewis Man and The Chessmen just after New Years.

Reading 22 dead little bodies and other stories by Stuart MacBride.

Finished The Long Way Home by Louise Penny. I can see why some were disappointed in this one but I thought that while not as gripping as the previous one, it was still a good one; I never liked the character of Peter Morrow so I was less interested in this than I would have been if the missing person had been someone else from the village (3½ stars from me)

I just finished The Nature of the Beast by Louise Penny and liked it better than the last couple in the series.

Craig Johnson is a good Wyoming author. Wrote the Longmire series that has been picked up and produced by one of the net works. One of my favorite mystery writers. Another good Wyoming mystery write is CJ Box.

Also finished reading today The Good Girl by Mary Kubica which I just loved. Great thriller.

Just finished reading Six Geese a Slaying by Donna Andrews. Another fun Xmas cozy.

Read while vacationing with family over Christmas: Deadline by John Sandford, The Sugar House by Laura Lippman, Crimson Joy by Robert B. Parker, and The Watchman by Robert Crais.

Working on Kaleidoscope by Dorothy Gilman. Have to say I like her Mrs. Polifax books better.

Over the Christmas weekend I enjoyed A Singular and Whimsical Problem, which was a fun quick read, and thanks to Early Reviewers I have Brooklyn On Fire on the way, and I'm looking forward to that. Also over Christmas weekend also read the crime/ time travel book In Times Like These which was fun. Nathan Van Coops' new book The Chronothon has time travelers racing through time, hitting everything from the ancient past to the distant future and everything in between. I understand it's a big book with lots of twists and turns! I'll be adding it to my TBR pile soon.

I've just started Redemption by Jussi Adler-Olsen
Looking forward to getting stuck into it over the next few days. Or maybe even read the whole novel over the next few days! Who knows! :)

JANUARY THREAD - https://www.librarything.com/topic/210834

Finished my last book of 2015 on the am of Dec 31: The Weight of Blood by Laura McHugh. Very so so.

The Chessmen by Peter May.