What Fiction are you reading this week, January 14, 2024?

[hermetic]

Sage advice

I have just started reading Lion and Lamb by James Patterson and Duane Swierczynski. "Veena Lion and Cooper Lamb are rival PIs in Philadelphia in this fun ride…the romance between Cooper and Veena is artfully handled...endearing characters including Cooper's two preternaturally clever kids and his Rhodesian ridgeback puppy.” �"Publishers Weekly
​“Great storytelling…a spectacular murder case.” �"Kirkus, starred review
Quite enjoyable.

Listening to Slow Horses by Mick Herron. There's a character named Lamb in this one, too.
"Slough House is a dumping ground for members of the intelligence service who've screwed up: left a secret file on a train, blown a surveillance, or become drunkenly unreliable. They're the service's poor relations -- the slow horses -- and bitterest among them is River Cartwright, whose days are spent transcribing mobile phone conversations. But when a young man is abducted, and it's threatened that he'll be beheaded live on the Internet, River sees an opportunity to redeem himself. As the clock ticks on the execution, River finds that everyone involved has their own agenda."
Lots of amusing snark.

Well, it's snowmageddon here now. Haven't seen the sun for days. Temps running 20 degrees below average. My catio, which is mostly enclosed, is full of snow from the constantly changing, howling winds. My poor kitties keep scratching at the door, letting me know they want to go out. So, I open the door and give them about 5 minutes and they are more than ready to come back in. Glad I've got a lot of books. Hope you do too. Stay safe. And warm.

[brer cat]

1. I'm reading Victims by Jonathan Kellerman.

I'm trying to pick up ones I missed in the past.

[hermetic]

2. Sounds pretty creepy

".. a sinister mind at its most unimaginable -- and an evil soul at its most unspeakable." Nightmare stuff.

[ExWhoDoesntCare]

3. Mystery-Thrillapalooza!

I just realized that all of my upcoming books this week are mysteries. LOL how did that happen? I guess it doesn’t matter, as long as I’m reading *something,* rather than nothing.

Once again, I continue the Ngaio Marsh Alleyn series with #3, The Nursing Home Murder. Still making my way through the Dorothy Sayers/Wimsey series as well, and this week’s installment is also the third, Unnatural Death.

Alexandra Andrews – Who Is Maud Dixon? Ambitious small town wannabe writer becomes an assistant to famous author who writes under the pseudonym Maud Dixon. Then they’re in an accident overseas during a research trip. The writer is nowhere to be found, so the wannabe decides to step into the boss shoes as if nothing happened. Oh dear.

My other two books were popular 2023 releases. The Housekeepers by Alex Hay is the latest entry in the recent trend of maid/housekeeper mysteries that started with Nita Prose’s The Maid. I haven’t read anything from this subgenre, so Mr Hay’s debut novel will be my introduction. This one distinguishes itself from the others with a British housekeeper of a solitary house who has a con artist past that’s about to catch up to her.

The other recent bestseller will be The Spy Coast by Tess Gerritsen, famous for her Rizzoli and Isles medical thriller series. Ms Gerritsen seems keen on going in a new direction, this time with an espionage thriller. The premise? Blowback doesn’t care about a spy retiring.

I have a feeling this will be a ‘can’t put it down’ week. Good thing I’m retired!

[hermetic]

6. Sounds like a great way

to spend a week.

[yellowdogintexas]

15. I really liked Spy Coast. My first Tess Garritsen book. nt

[ExWhoDoesntCare]

17. It'll be my first one as well

It sounds good.

The only thing I know about her main series, Rizzoli and Isles is that it had a telly adaptation, and one of the actresses was a dead ringer for Ali McGraw. I was picking up my car at the dealership, and saw the ad for the series playing on the TV there. Turned to my son, pointed at the screen and said, Blimey, Ms McGraw is really aging well!

He wondered who I meant. 'The brunette--Ali McGraw--that twit in Love Story.'

'Love Story? That stupid movie Grans likes? They're not the same woman. Sheesh! You're such a prat sometimes!'

[yellowdogintexas]

18. that actress is Angie Harmon, daughter of Mark Harmon

she really looks like her dad.

[cbabe]

4. Harbor Lights/James Lee Burke

New short story collection.

I rarely read short stories. By the time I’m into the story, it’s over.

But. Burke is breathtaking. Transcendent prose. Characters are persons in one line. American landscape is sublime.

Also dark and light perfectly balanced.

Spoils me for other writers.

Reading pages over and over.

[hermetic]

7. That sounds wonderful

Thanks.

[ExWhoDoesntCare]

19. Excellent writing indeed

Burke wrote what I considered one of the greatest paragraphs ever, the final one of Lost Get-Back Boogie (don't worry, no spoilers, really):

In the early evening it turns suddenly cool, you can smell wood smoke in the air, and mauve shadows fall across the valley floor as the sun strikes its final spark against the ridge. From my front porch, I can see Buddy’s cabin faintly in the gathering dusk. Even after it has dissolved into the darkness and black trees and the laughter of his sons playing in the yard, I can still see it in my mind’s eye, lighted, the wood stove lined with fire, and sometimes in that moment I’m caught forever in the sound of a blues piano and the beating of my own heart.

It staggers me, every time I read it.

[cbabe]

20. Rereading 'Robicheaux' . About a third of the

way through. Might stop and start at the beginning to bathe and breath in in his prose.

Side note on perseverance: took ten plus years for Burke to be published. Now recognized as America’s best.

[Bayard]

5. Almost finished with, "Don't Fear the Reaper,"

By Stephen Graham Jones. I don't like it as much as the last one with these characters. It drags in places, but picking up in the final third. It says its second in the Indian Lake trilogy, so I'm guessing we'll be seeing one more.

"Jade returns to the rural lake town of Proofrock the same day as convicted Indigenous serial killer Dark Mill South escapes into town to complete his revenge killings, in this riveting sequel to My Heart Is a Chainsaw"

I have a big collection of James Patterson's books, but kind of veered off when it seemed he had other authors writing most of them. I was bored quickly with his collaboration with Bill Clinton in a political thriller. I'll be interested in your final opinion.

[hermetic]

8. This story is related

through memos from detectives working the case and transcripts of interviews. It's different but makes for fast reading.

[japple]

9. Finishing up the book I recommended last week: Jeff Fields's

1974 classic A Cry of Angels.

[Number9Dream]

10. Re-reading "The Judas Strain" by James Rollins

Thanks for the thread hermetic.

Haven't read this earlier Rollins novel in years. A great action, page-turner. From Marco Polo, to a killer virus, to large, lethal crabs.

Hermetic, glad your kitties are OK. The other day, when we were done feeding the barn cats, we were pleasantly surprised to discover that someone had left us a 30 lb. bag of Kit & Kaboodle in one of the stalls. We think it was one of our township road workers who we have spoken with in the past. There are still some nice people out there.

[hermetic]

12. Wonderful!

What a great gesture. Thanks for sharing.

Nice to see you. That book, written in 2007, seems quite prophetic. "a bizarre affliction aboard a cruise liner" brings a horrific plague has arisen to devastate humankind. Hmmm. Sounds like a good read.

[bahboo]

11. Less by Andrew Sean Greer...

won the Pulitzer I think in 2017. Good read thus far....a lot of lively observations about life. Arthur Less is a gay author dealing with his lover of 7 years getting married to someone else. Kind of a travelogue, as he travels to different literary festivals where he is slated to give presentations or receive awards. A lot of pitfalls along the way. On the light side, very enjoyable.

[hermetic]

13. That sounds really great.

There is a follow up titled Less is Lost, in case you didn't know. ".. an unforgettable road trip across America."

[mentalsolstice]

14. Just finished "Notes on an Execution" by Danya Kukafka

I would’ve given it 10 stars out of five if I could’ve. It was a hard, thought provoking read, and won the Edgar award for best novel in 2023.

Today I started The Midwife of Berlin by Anna Stuart. It’s about Berlin in the early 60s.

Reading weather for us here on the Gulf Coast is rain and wind. Just watching the weather in the north on TV right now is enough to make me get out wool socks and blankets. Stay safe my reading friends!

[yellowdogintexas]

16. I just started "White Crime A Kat Makris Greek Mafia Mystery

I love this series; it's full of funny characters, crazy plots and several rather hunky guys.

Kat started the day as the proud owner of a Ferrari and a lockbox filled with cassettes straight out of the 1980s. Now she’s on a slow cargo ship to Russia with Hera, gunshot victim, intelligence agent, and Kat’s least favorite person, and the cassettes are in the custody of one Viktor Sokolov, the delicious Russian mountain and gun-happy KGB agent Grandma would love her to date.

It’s not all bad. The desserts are out of this world and she’s not technically a prisoner, according to Viktor. If she can keep Hera alive and escape without getting them both killed, everything will be peachy.

The cruise takes a dark turn when Viktor’s flunkies start dropping like flies. Someone else wants the 1980s' greatest hits, and they don’t want to have to pay retail. Someone Kat knows well.

With a sexy yak herder on her side, Kat might just make it—if she can dodge the minefield of bears, Russians, and wedding dresses.

Last night I finished One Christmas Eve by Shari Lowe. It is a Prime read so you can borrow it from Amazon. Funny thing, I didn't remember choosing this book but I am very glad I did. It was a most enjoyable read.

On Christmas Eve, 1968, Cathy McLean receives a surprise visit from the lost love of her life and is forced to choose between the one that got away and the one that stayed.

On Christmas Eve, 1993, Cathy’s daughter Helena is overjoyed to hear that her boyfriend is about to propose, until a devastating encounter threatens to bring her heartbreak instead of diamonds.

On Christmas Eve 2023, a shocking discovery rocks Eve Quinn’s world. The only gift Eve wants this year is the truth. But will it take a Christmas miracle to unravel generations of secrets?

Unwrap this festive tale of complicated families, impossible choices, and an unforgettable love that lasts three lifetimes.

Earlier in the week I finished The Testaments, which picks up 15 years after the end of Handmaid's Tale. The first half I spent figuring out which character was narrating. In the second half, the story becomes more intense and I did not care who was narrating, I just wanted to find out what happened. There is a great twist at the end.