5 From the Library

Some of the books I'd been looking forward to reading this Fall are in at the local library no more. They're at home, in my clutches. Finally!

(I have a few more on hold and am waiting patiently for my turn.)

1) The Dog Who Knew Too Much by Spencer Quinn

I wouldn't miss this for the world. The next entry in the saga of Chet and Bernie. Faded private eye and his caring dog. No cutesy-poo, just terrific writing.

2) I'm Half-Sick of Shadows by Alan Bradley

The next book in the Flavia de Luce series featuring a 12 year old prodigy/crime-solver turned loose in the 1950's English countryside. A mystery genre breath of fresh air.

3) A Paradise For Fools by Nicholas Kilmer

Fred Taylor is back, and I've got him. He and Boston Brahmin art collector Clayton Reed get involved in another art related murder.

4) Misery Bay by Steve Hamilton

The melancholy private detective Alex McKnight returns. Hunting for a ruthless killer in the upper reaches of the ice cold Michigan Peninsula.

5) Ghost Hero by S.J. Rozan

The very latest in the Bill Smith and Lydia Chin private eye mysteries based in Manhattan. If this one is anything like Rozan's last few books, it will be fabulous.

Library Loot: A Bonanza!!

I admit I might have gone a little overboard this time out. You know how it is - you begin clicking the handy little 'hold' button on the library's website and before you know it, the site itself is telling you: Hey, lady, we're cutting you off! You've had enough.

In two words: Em Barrassing. Ha!

Anyway, here are the books I brought home from the library. I'm not going to show all the dust jackets because if I do, this post would run on forever...!

First off, I brought home 10 Perry Mason novels by Earl Stanley Gardner. Well, 3 in one anthology and 7 in another. Thankfully they're compacted together into two volumes so I physically only have two books to deal with, rather than an actual 10. I blame my fellow blogging friend Ryan for this. It's ALL his fault. He began posting some terrific Perry Mason reviews on his blog and they reminded me that I hadn't read any Mason books in years and years and....well, I checked to see what my library had and this was it. Two anthologies or omnibuses or whatever. 10 mysteries in all. The only thing I don't like about reading 7 books in one is this: the print is wearisome and the book is a bit thick. But, I'll manage. (THE CASE OF THE TERRIFIED TYPIST, THE CASE OF THE SCREAMING WOMAN and THE CASE OF THE RELUCTANT MODEL  are 3 of the books included.)

A friend gave me one of the  Commissario Brunetti books by Donna Leon for a birthday present a few years ago and I immediately read it and loved it. I've been meaning to read more in the series for awhile but you know how easy it is to get sidetracked. Lately, my blogging friend Kathy has been touting Commissario Brunetti to me every chance she gets. So these books have been flashing on my radar and I've decided that this summer would be the perfect time to visit Venice from my armchair.

Just to get me started. In the pile are:
THROUGH A GLASS DARKLY
DEATH AT LA FENICE
DEATH IN A STRANGE COUNTRY
BLOOD FROM A STONE
A NOBLE RADIANCE
DRESSED FOR DEATH
DOCTORED EVIDENCE

Also added two of Andrea Camilleri's Inspector Montalbano mysteries set, I believe, in Sicily:
THE SHAPE OF WATER
THE TERRA-COTTA DOG

Yep, this will definitely be an Italian summer. I can almost smell the sea air and taste the campari and soda, not to mention the plates of pasta, the sauce, the cheese, the basil pesto, the gelato.....sigh! Maybe I'll decorate the house to look like an Italian cafe. (Am I getting carried away? Nah!)

But it's not all about travelling and pasta consuming, I also brought home:

The new book by Ace Atkins, THE RANGER. The first in a brand new series about which I am very excited. Ace hasn't begun a series in years (he's been concentrating on several hard-hitting stand-alone books), so this promises to be the start of something big. Ace is one of the best crime fiction writers in the business. I've read almost all his books and recommend them highly. He is an author whose books I automatically pick up without even reading the synopsis. Whatever he's writing, I'm reading. He's that good.

NEPTUNE AVENUE A Jack Leightner crime novel (set in and around Brooklyn) by Gabriel Cohen. This is a new writer and a new series for me. Recommended highly on one the book blogs (can't remember which one), it sounded interesting so I thought I'd take a look.

THE AMAZING ADVENTURES OF KAVALIER AND CLAY by Michael Chabon.
Well, you may know what happened with this one. I got about half way through and had to return it to the library 'cause I'd kept it too long (the library's patience ran out) - what with reading the vast pile of other books I'd brought home a few weeks ago. I did a partial review, but now I'm ready to finish the book and do a complete review - give it the accolades it deserves. What I've read so far in this Pulitzer Prize winning gem is nothing short of brilliant. This is one of those stories you get lost in. Yeah.

Two Georgette Heyer novels recommended on several blogs. (I have to do better writing down who recommends what. It's just that sometimes I'm in a hurry so I just jot down the book title and quickly forget who did the recommending. I promise to try and do better.) THE CORINTHIAN and THE TALISMAN RING. I'm thinking I'm going to spend some time this year and next making myself familiar with more and more of Heyer's books. I've read most of her mysteries, but only a couple of the Regencies. I'm impressed though, by how many people recommend her books and I do like Regencies. A lot.

I'm waiting on reserve for Steve Hamilton's new Alex McKnight book, MISERY BAY and a couple of other things, but I think my current library haul is probably enough to tide me over for the next few weeks.

Note: The beautiful illustration at the very top of the post is by the Lithuanian illustrator and author of more than 50 children's books, Kestutis Kasparavicius. To read more about the artist and his wonderful work, please use this link.

Library Loot

Came back from the library staggering under the weight of nine books. Just lugging them into the house was enough. I get carried away sometimes, reserving on line. It's just so damn easy.

I always reserve extra just in case the primary books I'm wanting don't measure up. Sometimes Ill bring a whole stack home and then realize my heart just isn't in it, and back they go, mostly unread. I'm quirky that way.

Okay, books home from the library this time out: (These are all books I've heard good things about on blogs or elsewhere or titles I know about from having read previous work by the author.)

1) ROGUE ISLAND by Bruce DeSilva

2)SERPENT IN THE THORNS by Jeri Westerson

3)SUSPICIOUS MINDS by Martin Edwards

4) THE ARSENIC LABYRINTH by Martin Edwards

5)THE REMBRANDT AFFAIR by Daniel Silva

6)ONE WAS A SOLDIER by Julia Spencer Fleming

7)DEVIL'S TRILL by Gerald Elias

8)FEVER DREAM by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child

9) CEMETERY DANCE by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child

Sunday Salon: More LIBRARY LOOT!

What, am I nuts? I must be. Went to the library AGAIN on Friday and added more must-read titles to my Library Loot pile. This pile, of course, is separate from the must-read titles that I already own. But new books come out every month and every now and then I must pay attention or I risk getting too far behind with my favorite authors! (That's my excuse and I'm sticking to it.)

So now I'm doing some shuffling around because I am, first and foremost, a 'mood' reader. No matter what the rest of the world is up to or celebrating or recommending - I read only according to my mood. It's always been this way. It will continue to be this way. I am currently not in a non-fiction mood, so those books will have to wait their turn.

I am loving my vintage books but I am also trying to squeeze in newer titles, especially since at some point the books I borrowed from the library will, after all, have to be returned.

So, while the laundry gets done, I'm trying to organize what's what, reading-wise. I finished another Mary Roberts Rinehart last night which I am not going to review. It was damn good, though. Title? THE WALL. (1938) Why no review? I can't review everything I read. It's as simple as that. I am, however, going to review another of her titles which I finished a day earlier. Stay tuned for that one.

THE WALL takes place at the usual M.R.R. summer house and I love the matter-of-fact way she describes the arrival of the summer people and their entourages, while the search is on for a woman who's disappeared: Day after day trucks laden with trunks rumbled along the highway, station wagons passed loaded with servants, and there was the usual procession of cars with liveried chauffeurs.

Murder with manners. Murder in a rarified atmosphere, that's for sure. I do like all these summery mysteries set among the 'moneyed' set, either pre or apres-war. I am re-reading Mary Roberts Rinehart and having a fun time doing it.

A couple of the books I brought home on my last Library Loot adventure have already been returned - mostly because I couldn't finish them. (I do make an attempt to read what has been recommended, but, well, sometimes either the writing and I can't get along or I've fallen out of a mood.) But I still have the main bunch of books I brought home. I've just added more:

A RED HERRING WITHOUT MUSTARD by Alan Bradley. Well, I had no choice, I was on a waiting queue for this one and who knows when I'd have the chance again. The list is long.

Flavia de Luce is very popular. This is a great series and you have to strike while the iron is hot.

ONE OF OUR THURSDAYS IS MISSING by Jasper Fforde. Another one on which my queue turn came up. Another great series. Thursday Next, literary detective's adventures continue. Wait until you see the wonderful map J.F. has devised.

BODY LINE by Cynthia Harrod-Eagles. Well, this is the absolute latest in an English police procedural series that I love. It features the introspective Inspector Bill Slider and his crew. (I have a sneaking suspicion I missed the last one, so I'm probably going to be reading out of order here till I can make up the difference.)

TO LOVE AND BE WISE by Josephine Tey. After Les at CLASSIC MYSTERIES told me I must read this, well, I had no choice - did I? The truth is I'd never heard of this one. AND it's an Allan Grant mystery! Gasp! And since the library conveniently had a copy...

MISS PYM DISPOSES by Josephine Tey. Okay, another Tey. Can't remember having read this, though I think I probably did. Carol from her blog CAROL K. CARR, recommended this.

When all this will get read, your guess is as good as mine. But, eventually it will all sort itself out.

I don't like reading under pressure and occasionally I've been known to stop completely if I'm feeling too overwhelmed. A reading-break. But I don't feel one coming up anytime soon. HA!