September 2017-What are you reading?

Getting new thread started.

I think I will start the month with A Woman's Place by Linda Grant.

Death Message by Kate London

I'm really liking Blind Justice by Bruce Alexander, with Henry Fielding's half-brother, a brilliant blind magistrate, as the central character.

I'm reading Fox Hunter by Zoe Sharp. Really like the characters and setting. Very fast-paced.

Started Abducted by T. R. Ragan.

>4 jnwelch: That whole series is great! It is one that benefits from being read in order as the development of Jeremy & Sir John's relationships is a part of each book.

I just finished On Her Majesty's Frightfully Secret Service and am starting Oblivion by Arnaldur Indridason.

I am just starting Amanda Cross's Poetic Justice.

Just completed Power Down by Ben Coes. This is my second novel by him, I read his second novel first this was actually his first novel. If anything by Vince Flynn or Brad Thor interests you, Ben Coes must be added to your reading list. His right wing views are front and center so that may distract some. Personally I don't care as long as his prose moves me and it does at break neck speed. The body count is high like a 80s action movie but the story is not so dumbed down as to be totally ridiculous. Suspension of disbelief is always in play but you find the situation not without relevance in the real world. All in all a solid 4 stars.

>7 leslie.98: Reading them in order makes sense. Glad to hear you've liked the rest of the series so much. Jeremy and Sir John's relationship is a big part of the appeal, isn't it. I'm looking forward to reading the second one.

I just finished the latest Montalbano mystery, A Nest of Vipers. Another entertaining one with the usual great dialogue.

>11 jnwelch: I love that series, too, Joe. I'm a couple books behind.

I finished the latest Penny, Glass Houses, and started the 7th book in the Bosch series, A Darkness More Than Night.

I want to read Glass Houses but will have to wait awhile as I am #522 on the hold list at the library!

And thanks >11 jnwelch: for the reminder that I should get back to the Montalbano series - next one for me is Angelica's Smile…

Meanwhile, I am rereading via audiobook a Miss Marple, At Bertram's Hotel.

>13 leslie.98: Wow, 522nd on the list! I am waiting for the paperback, unless I somehow get a copy at Bouchercon...

This morning I finished A Foreign Country, by Charles Cumming, and at lunch I started What Bloody Man is That?, by Simon Brett.

>14 rabbitprincess: Yeah, a long wait list! Luckily it isn't just for one copy (maybe 20 copies). I haven't read any Simon Brett in a long time - I think I might have a few on my shelves; I should go look for them.

Final Girls was an excellent first novel by Riley Sager. I put her on my " authors to watch' list.

Finished Abducted by T. R. Ragan. Enjoyed it. Next up is Full Dark House by Christopher Fowler.

I need something light and easy to read and The Woman in Cabin 10 by Ruth Ware seems to be just right this weekend.

I enjoyed another one of Nicola Upson's novels with Josephine Tey as the lead character. This one was The Death of Lucy Kyte and is my favourite in this series so far.

I have finished Private which was OK. I got the audiobook as a freebie but I wouldn't have paid for it.

I just started Live Bait, the second PJ Tracy mystery, largely because I liked Monkeewrench a lot but was puzzled about how it could be a series.

I'm about 2/3 through Mortal Fall which is the second in a series set in Glacier National Park. Not bad. The main character is a bit angst-y for my taste, but overall not bad. I think the next one takes the focus off that guy and puts it onto a forensic-type person who is in this one as well, but in a secondary role.

I have finished the penultimate McGee book, Cinnamon Skin. A solid entry in the series which could be read as a stand-alone but benefits from the reader being familiar with what happened in the previous book.

I'm listening to A Promise to Kill by Erik Storey. Another good Clive Barr story. I'm liking this series.

>21 Jim53: I too am reading the Monkeewrench series. Just started on Live Bait yesterday. Enjoying the books so far.

I'm making my way back to the scenic town of 3 Pines in A Fatal Grace, which, for a small town, has a surprising proclivity for murder!

Finished Full Dark House by Christopher Fowler. It was an OK read. Next up is The Play of Death by Oliver Pötzsch.

I have finally remembered to read September Fair while it is September! OK so far...

>25 ScoLgo: I ended up liking Live Bait a lot and am looking for the next one.

I have finally finished the Martin Beck series - the last book, The Terrorists, was very satisfying but I wish there were a few more!

I just finished Under the Harrow a debut psychological thriller that was compared to Gone Girl but I didn't find it nearly as gripping as that book, nor was the ending as much of a surprise.

I am reading the new Longmire mystery, The Western Star. I love this series and nothing I've read so far in this one has changed my mind.

>29 Jim53: I finished Live Bait yesterday. Liked it a bit better than the opening volume. I felt it was more tightly plotted and with less of a twisty ending, (sometimes twisty is there only for the sake of being twisty, if you know what I mean and I thought that was what the authors were doing at the end of Monkeewrench).

Anyway, despite the lack of focus on the Monkeewrench crew, I thoroughly enjoyed Live Bait. I immediately placed an Overdrive hold on Dead Run so will be reading that soon(ish).

Thanks for winging me with this series!

Glass Houses is great so far.

Plane trip to China and back (13 hours each way) gave me plenty of time to read. Finished...
two Donna Leon's: Death in a Strange Country and Dressed for Death - looking forward to the rest of the series, The Delicate Storm by Giles Blunt - not terrible but disappointing after reading Forty Words for Sorrow, and Red Knife by William Kent Krueger - #8 the Cork O'Conner series.

Just started #9, Heaven's Keep.

>33 ScoLgo: I picked up Dead Run today ;-) But I also picked up The Unquiet Dead and started it first. So far it's very good, with a theme that reminds me of Live Bait.

Like you, >4 jnwelch:, I discovered Bruce Alexander's Sir John Fielding series and am already fond of hizzoner and young Jeremy Proctor. About to find out whodunnit! Being enjoyed as a read aloud with Lime Spouse.

I read the first in the forensic handwriting series, Poison Pen. Pretty good cozy for these days... but nowhere near as good as those Bruce Alexander books! Seeing them being mentioned has started me thinking about rereading them!

Camino Island was rather disappointing. I haven't read a John Grisham book for a long time and kind of expected better... After that read The Silkworm, by Robert Galbraith (very good) and The Marriage Pact, by Michelle Richmond (so-so).

Just started Double Doom, by Josephine Bell - good so far :)

I finished The Galton Case, a very good entry in the Lew Archer PI series. This one doesn't depend on the reader knowing any of the other books so would be a good one to try if you are curious about Ross MacDonald's books.

I love Louise Penney's 3 Pines series. I haven't been able to find the movie, starring Nathaniel Parker (Inspector Lynley).

I just finished Sara Paretsky's FallOut, the latest in the VI Warshawski series. It was one of her best. I read it in 3 days, couldn't put it down.

I am working on The Late Show by Michael Connelly. I'm only about 50 pages in and I don't really have an opinion on the book or the new protagonist yet.

Loving Dreaming Spies by Laurie King. After a sag in the middle of the Holmes/Russell series, the latter ones are much, much better!

I just started Security by Gina Wohlsdorf. It's cartoon-ey, but has some nice hooks. I'll stick with it a bit longer.

Finished The Play of Death by Oliver Pötzsch. Enjoyed it.

>45 Bookmarque: I had that one as an ER book. She did some interesting (for a while) things with the narration. I'll be interested to hear your thoughts.

Since I posted last I've finished The Unquiet Dead (very good), Due or Die (way too cozy for my taste), Out of Time (a fun re-read) and Dead Run (Monkeewrench(3), more focus on the women, nice addition to the series).

Oh, >46 seitherin: that reminds me I have the third book of that series on my Kindle - The Beggar King. I'll read that next!

I finished another Inspector Appleby (though he is no longer an inspector in this one) - Picture of Guilt (which is the American title of A Family Affair). Again art theft in involved; that seems to be a favorite crime for Innes.

I'm sticking with it for now, Jim53. She is doing some different things, but one is a bit jarringly different. She jams totally different perspectives/action/threads together sentence after sentence. Literally buried inside a paragraph about XYZ she throws in one about ABC. It's nearly a non-sequitur it's so strange. Of course it deals with action in another part of the hotel, so it's relevant, but included or imparted in such a way that you sometimes have to read things again to make sure you know what's happening. I don't love it.

I also think she does a lot of telling about people and situations that probably won't matter to anything. Irritating. If something isn't important enough to show me, it almost always isn't important enough just to flat out tell me.

I'm about to start The Girl Who Takes An Eye for an Eye. Fingers crossed that it's good.

Well, Jim. Security is another DNF. Here's my review -

Too stupid to finish. My notes from the time I suffered with this book -
Destin already a cartoon villain
If Sid's "moderate to serious class rage" isn't important enough to show us (and it wasn't), it isn't important enough to merely tell us. If it is important enough, if it has bearing on anything else, show don't tell.
Sigh. A bad boy on a motorcycle. A foul-tempered French chef. Cliche store calling - it wants its caricatures back.
Again telling us about how secret room 1802 is?
Again telling us how no one sees Tessa cry?
Ugh. Awful. I'm done.

>52 Bookmarque: As I recall, there were no characters that I cared about. There seemed to be a strong element of voyeurism, but no sense of its meaning. Total sympathy with its being a DNF.

The thing about unlikable characters is that they have to be interesting. I'm fine with that combination, but everyone was dull and that's a big NO.

Oh and I didn't mention that thing about Sid and his "moderate to serious class rage" - I bet it's something she or a friend had bantered around for a while and thought clever so she had to shoehorn it in there somewhere. Ugh.

Got started on the new John le Carré, A Legacy of Spies.

>55 rabbitprincess: Envy you!

>56 Limelite: Thanks to my excellent library system, which ordered lots of copies and processed them quickly so that they could reach us sooner :) Finished it today. It's great. It also makes me want to reread The Spy Who Came in from the Cold.

>57 rabbitprincess: Absolutely! Have you read all the other Smiley books by le Carre?

>58 Limelite: Most. Haven't read The Looking Glass War or The Secret Pilgrim.

I have started The Red Thumb Mark, the first Thorndyke mystery...

I just finished the first Monkeewrench series book. It took me awhile to get into it, but then I ended up enjoying it. It is always fun to read a book set in the area where I live. Now, onto #2...

>57 rabbitprincess: I'm turning green too. I didn't think to put a hold on it until I just read your post. My library has 30 copies but there are 157 people ahead of me. I guess I'll just have to hope that all of them are as quick to read it as you were.

>62 gypsysmom: It helps that my library catalogue maintains a list of items they've ordered, and that I go through it pretty much every business day. Makes it easier to get a better spot in the holds queue. Hoping your library holds queue moves quickly!

>59 rabbitprincess: Somehow, I missed reading an early Le Carre, A Small Town in Germany. I don't believe it's a Smiley novel, but it's an OLD one. So many literary holes to be filled, so little time!

>64 Limelite: Oh yeah, I read that one too, but so long ago that I might as well not have read it!

OCTOBER THREAD: http://www.librarything.com/topic/270455