The Haunted Season by G. M. Malliet

by Carol6 Comments
I skipped #4 in the Max Tudor series, mostly because Father Max was getting married and having a baby and I just didn't want to read about the new family, but I just couldn't pass up the cover for The Haunted Season. Apparently I didn't need to worry about the baby. He is so well-behaved and calm and peaceful that he barely causes a ripple in Max's life. And I guess I shouldn't be surprised, his mother after all is nearly perfect and a healer to boot. Hmm, that sounded meaner than I meant it to. I don't dislike Awena, and in all honestly she's not in much of this book. Lord Baaden-Boomethistle is our deceased, decapitated by a wire strung between two trees while he was out riding his horse. We've got several suspects, mostly members of his family. There are a couple clues, a few secrets, and of course Max manages to put it all together, with some help from...
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Glass Houses by Louise Penny

by Carol10 Comments
I love Louise Penny's Armand Gamache series. If you haven't read it, you should. Do start at #1 though, you'll appreciate them most that way. That being said, this was not my favorite of the series. I liked the whole concept the book is built around, the ideas of Conscience and guilt and judgement. As always, the characters are well-done and I am happiest when a large part of the book revolves around the familiar village of Three Pines, as it does here. There are some new folks in town, most of whom have secrets, but finding out who they are and what they know/have done was interesting. Our old friends are all pretty much the same as always, which is good. Things that didn't work for me: 1. The construction of the story. This story jumps back and forth in time too much and too abruptly. We are at a courtroom trial in the present, but for half of the book we...
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Midnight at the Bright Ideas Bookstore by Matthew J. Sullivan

by Carol3 Comments
I admit it - I picked up Midnight at the Bright Ideas Bookstore based mostly on the title and cover. I have trouble passing up mysteries centered in bookstores. While it was not really what I expected, I enjoyed it. I expected a lighter mystery, more cozy. While not gory or violent, this one is disturbing at times. Lydia is the only survivor of the night the Hammerman killed her friend and her friend's parents, but she hides this fact from everyone. She was a child at the time, but the Hammerman was never caught. Fast forward and now she's an adult, working at a bookstore, living with her boyfriend, who she has not told about her past. As the story opens, Lydia discovers one of the bookfrogs, Joey, has committed suicide in the book store. That would be devastating enough, but in his pocket he has a picture of Lydia as a child, with two of her friends, which is odd...
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Magpie Murders by Anthony Horowitz

Magpie Murders by Anthony Horowitz

by Carol4 Comments
I should have loved Magpie Murders. It's definitely a book for mystery readers. Not only does it have two well-plotted mysteries, it has some great quotes about the nature of mysteries and reading. “You must know that feeling when it's raining outside and the heating's on and you lose yourself, utterly, in a book. You read and you read and you feel the pages slipping through your fingers until suddenly there are fewer in your right hand than there are in your left and you want to slow down but you still hurtle on towards a conclusion you can hardly bear to discover.” “As far as I'm concerned, you can't beat a good whodunnit: the twists & turns, the clues and the red herrings and then, finally, the satisfaction of having everything explained to you in a way that makes you kick yourself because you hadn't seen it from the start.” The set up is great, a novel within a novel, both murder...
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A Voice in the Night by Andrea Camilleri

by Carol3 Comments
I've read/listened to several Montalbano mysteries. In A Voice in the Night we've got several of the series standards - corrupt politicians, police who are being pressured for certain results,  good food. Montalbano is a good cop, in that he's not in the mafia's pocket and is not afraid to go against the politicians. He doesn't always stick to the law, though. Both of the mysteries have their twists and turns. I especially liked how the young woman's murder was plotted, even though I felt bad for the boyfriend. As always, I find Salvo amusing and interesting. The title is perfect, it pulls from a pivotal part of the story, one that may not actually put Montalbano in the best light, but does highlight his need to find the real culprit, not just accept what "they" want. I'll definitely read more in the series, but they're not gripping enough to buy; I always borrow them from the library. They are consistent though -...
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The Collapsing Empire by John Scalzi

by Carol2 Comments
The Collapsing Empire is my first Scalzi book, but since it's the first in a new series in a new world that wasn't a problem.  I have to say I really enjoyed it. I wasn't sure what to expect, but it was getting good review and I needed an audio for the Sci-Fi Readathon. Now, I'm a little upset that I have to wait for the next in the series, which, at least according to Goodreads, isn't expected until 2019. :( The Flow has allowed humans to build a far-flung empire, the Interdependency. The Interdependency is set up so that all the colonies must depend on each other, hence the name. The problem is the flow is changing, moving, becoming inaccessible - outposts will be cut-off, unable to send or receive supplies or people. Eventually, it's going to be a matter of survival, but now it's a political issue, one that the brand-new Emperox has to handle. It's clearly the first in...
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