For those of you who enjoy a mystery set in the very English Cotswolds, check out Rebecca Tope’s trio set in that golden area. Her unusual heroine has an interesting mindset and empathy with the people she meets, and of course, she has an adorable dog…what more could you ask for in entertainment?
T is for Trespass Monday, Jan 14 2008
Uncategorized books, mystery, reading 9:56 pm
is Sue Grafton’s latest entry in her Kinsey Milhone series. This one alternates between Kinsey’s first person POV and the third person POV of a nurse taking care of Kinsey’s neighbor. This approach made for a slow beginning, but the book settled down and is packed with sly humor in Kinsey’s voice. What will Grafton do when she hits Z–any guesses?
Aunt Dimity (no relation) strikes again! Thursday, Jan 10 2008
Uncategorized books, England, series 5:53 am
For those of you who love Nancy Atherton’s series, watch soon for her newest, Aunt Dimity: Vampire Hunter. Lori and her family are back in England and the twins are starting school. Sounds cozy, right? But Atherton’s readers know better…the author will be touring in February and signing books, so check out her website aunt-dimity.com for her schedule.
New (to me) Brit series to check out Tuesday, Jan 8 2008
Uncategorized 4:10 am
My Silver Fox, not to be confused with Green Girl from Wisconsin’s own, brought me a sack of books from a sale. The jewel in the bag was Margaret Duffy’s Murder of Crows, which conveniently happened to be the first of her series about a divorced couple who must remarry to aid Merry Ol’ England at the start of MI-5. Now spy novels are not usually my cup of tea, but the spy bit almost stays in the background, if you discount a few murders here and there, as Duffy brings us up to speed with this unusual couple (he’s missing a limb but you’ll have to read the book to find out which one). There were a few brief sex scenes I had to read twice to see if they were, indeed, sex scenes–they were. I quickly ordered the rest of the series in used books with a Christmas GC from my MN family, and look forward to catching up with this unlikely but highly like-able duo.
New Year’s Reads Thursday, Jan 3 2008
Uncategorized books, reading 2:55 am
Happy 2008 to all, as I pass on my first book recommendation of the New Year. For a different voice, filled with wry wit and cutting observations, try Field of Darkness by Cornelia Read. Her debut novel was nominated for an Edgar, and although it must fall into the mystery-suspense category, it is filled with social commentary as she contrasts Long Island society with the upstate New York farming community. “And never the twain shall meet” is something protagonist reporter Madeline Dare hardly seems fixed to dispel as her two worlds clash. Maddie soon finds herself enmeshed in tracking down the twenty+ year old murder of two sisters whose rose-garlanded bodies were found in a farm field. Watch out for the Reader’s note at the book’s end, where author Read describes the real-life events that inspired the novel, plus questions for book club discussions. Her next, The Crazy School, follows Maddie’s next pursuit.
Auntiemwrites Crime-Mystery Author M K Graff 