Category: Books

I chose to read The Monet Murders by Jean Harrington for two simple reasons - art and murder. It's a combination that I have a weakness for and this time around made for a good story. This is the second in the series, but I had no problem reading it as a stand-alone. Our sleuth is Deva Dunne, a recently widowed interior designer with a habit of being at the wrong place at the wrong time. She arrives at a client's house expecting to work, only to find one of the beautiful Monet paintings missing and the cook dead, murdered. As is so often the case, Deva can't just leave the investigation to the cops, not even the gorgeous Lieutenant Rossi, after all she's got her business to save and she doesn't like feeling like a suspect herself. There is a nice, long list of suspects, including the owners of the Monet, their guests and business partners, even the cook's husband, at least until...

I don't think I've ever read a Michael Connelly book in print, just listened to the audio versions. It's funny, I tend to stick with audio once I've started a series in audio, not sure why. Is it just me, or do other folks find themselves doing the same thing? And I expect the same narrator for each book in the series, the voice I've come to associate with it. The Concrete Blonde by Michael Connelly was just what I expected, a tightly plotted mystery with our detective,  Harry Bosch, being his usual judgemental self, tough guy with a soft side. Four years ago, Bosch had his fifteen minutes of fame when he killed the Doll Maker, a serial killer preying on prostitutes. Now he is being sued by the dead man's widow who claims that Harry's actions at the time were unacceptable and that he killed the wrong man. The accusations ring true when a new victim is discovered. There are...

I don't remember who first recommended Andrea Camilleri's Inspector Montalbano series, but I have to say thanks to whoever it was. Camilleri brings Sicily alive, the sounds, the food, the politics, and Montalbano is an arresting character, a noncomformist who nevertheless solves the case, without seeming really to have much drive to do so. With some mysteries, I feel like for the detective their job is their life. I didn't feel that way with Montalbano. He does the job well, but I didn't feel like it consumed him. The Shape of Water is the first in the series, a good introduction to Montalbano and his world. When a local politician is found dead in his car, half naked, in "The Pasture" an area known for prostitution, it's assumed that he died of natural causes in the middle of a sexual encounter. Montalbano gets the call, but his superiors expect him to close the case quickly to avoid any potential embarrassment. Montalbano senses that not all is...

I guess I've been in a bit of a mystery mood lately, but I love that I'm reading such a variety with unique characters or settings or plotlines that each feels different. Artists and Thieves by Linda Schroeder is another fun mystery, a nice week off work read. Mai Ling is both an artist and a thief. As an artist, she does beautiful Chinese ink paintings and has an exhibit opening. As a thief, she recovers stolen art for Interpol, until her grandfather asks her to steal something to fulfill a family destiny. He is duty-bound to return to China an especially precious bowl which belonged to his ancestor, a bowl that has turned up and is now in a private collection. Of course, Mai is not the only one after the bowl, and it exchanges hands several times throughout this caper. The first bit that grabbed my attention about this book is that it's an art mystery, a sub-genre I gravitate...

I thoroughly enjoyed Whiplash River by Lou Berney. It made me gasp and smile. It's a romp, a caper, a slightly mad-cap thriller. Opening line: The view from the veranda was a killer. A sugar-sand beach, palm trees, the Caribbean glittering beneath a full moon. A wooden pier curved out over the water, with a thatch-covered palapa perched at the end. Straight off a postcard. Shake had bought the Sunset Breeze more than two years ago. You'd think he wouldn't even notice the view any more, but he did. Every single time he stepped onto the veranda of the restatuant, his restaurrant, that was still his first though: Straight off a postcard. Shake's an ex-con who is trying to go straight. Unfortunatley, Shake's one of those loveable guys that fate just seems to want to screw with, of course, his own decisions don't help. Shake's Bad Ideas: Going in debt to the local drug lord, Baby Jesus, to open his restaurant. Baby Jesus wants paid, and he wants...

I don't reread books often, but I made an exception for The Uncommon Reader by Alan Bennett, actually I relistened to it. It's a novella I enjoy, one that reminds me of what makes reading special, of the joy of discovering books, new worlds, new outlooks, of the potential subversive powers of reading, about how books can impact our lives. When her corgis stray into a mobile library parked near Buckingham Palace, the Queen feels duty-bound to borrow a book. And the Queen always does her duty. Far from just glancing at the one book and leaving it at however, she slowly discover the joys of reading. She begins reading widely and and slowly finds herself reading more and more, to the alarm of her staff. Her views change, and the Queen comes to question the prescribed order of the world and loses patience with the routines of her role as monarch. Her new passion for reading leads to surprising and very funny consequences for the...