The Horse’s Arse by Laura Gascoigne

The Horse’s Arse by Laura Gascoigne

by Carol6 Comments
I admit I love a little art thrown in with my crime. I couldn't pass up this story with its combo of art, fraud, kidnapping, and even murder. I actually enjoyed this one. It took a little while to sort everything out, but it was a fun read. I've got an excerpt to give you a taste. Read an excerpt from The Horse's Arse: The story so far: Daniel Colvin, a junior reporter on the art newspaper Marquette, has uncovered evidence of a dodgy deal between the international art dealer Bernard Orlovsky and the UK’s State Gallery, but just as his revelations are going to press he is knocked off his bike by a hit-and-run driver. Back home from hospital with a leg in plaster, he finds his flat has been raided. DC Yasmin Desai from the Met’s Art & Antiques Squad had warned him Orlovsky was dangerous, but he hadn’t listened… Daniel knew there was something wrong from the light, or the absence...
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Strangers on a Train by Patricia Highsmith

Strangers on a Train by Patricia Highsmith

by Carol17 Comments
There are some classics that I wonder why it has taken me so long to get around to. Strangers on a Train by Patricia Highsmith is one of those. It's a dark, psychological thriller that shows anyone can be capable of murder, given the right, or wrong, circumstances. As the blurb states, Guy Haines and Charles Anthony Bruno meet on a train. Guy tells Bruno the story of his problems with his wife, who he wants to divorce but who is putting up obstacles left and right, even though she's pregnant with another man's child. Bruno, meanwhile, tells Guy about his meany dad and suggests they trade murders. Guy declines, he's basically a good guy after all, but he fails to realize that Bruno is an alcoholic psychopath, who, after killing Guy's wife, expects Guy to follow through with his end of the deal. That's where the bulk of the novel, and tension lies. Bruno is manipulative and black-mailing; Guy never knows...
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Double Deck the Halls by Gretchen Archer

by Carol4 Comments
I love reading holiday short stories and novellas, sometimes stand-alones and sometimes ones that fit into series that I may or may not have read. I haven't read any of Archer's Davis Way Crime Caper series, but if "Double Deck the Halls" is a good example of her style, I definitely want to give it a try. Granny Dee is the main character in this one, at the casino for the Winter Wonderland Senior Slot Tournament. I loved her. She is tough and funny and has a lot of life stories. The baddie is dressed up like an elf and is holding Bianca, the casino owner's wife, hostage, complete with a bomb strapped around her middle. Granny stumbles into the situation, but takes control. Bianca seems like she might be an interesting character, a bit snobby, but adores her kid and the interactions between her and Granny made me smile. It was laugh-out-loud funny, and I just liked the attitude of the story,...
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Penance by Kanae Minato

by Carol2 Comments
The novel revolves around a group of friends in a small, rural town. The town is known for its fresh and clean air, which results in a company which makes precision instruments moving there. The workforce is not thrilled with the move, most come from Tokyo and don't fit in well with the locals. One of the newcomers' children, Emily, makes friends with a group of local girls – Sae, Maki, Akiko and Yuko. As the blurb states, one holiday the five schoolgirls, who were 10 at the time, are playing when they are approached by a man who chooses Emily to help him with a task. An hour or more later, Emily is found violated and murdered. At the time of this book, there was a statute of limitations during which criminals could be charged and so there is fifteen years to find the murderer. When the girls are thirteen, Emily’s mother invites them to her house and informs them that...
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The Pursuit by Janet Evanovich and Lee Goldberg

by Carol2 Comments
Is The Pursuit good? Probably not - but it's entertaining and action-packed and funny. It's got sex (off-screen) and explosions and life-threatening situations. You know the good guys, presuming you consider Nick Fox a good guy, and the bad guys are going to lose. It's a perfect quick summer read. The Pursuit is the 5th in the series and I've read them in order, which I honestly think is best. Yes, they probably work as stand-alones, but this one picks up right where #4 left off and you get to see how Nick and Kate's relationship develops. Also, most of the secondary good guy characters appear in each of them, and I do love Kate's dad. He is awesome. If you read the blurb you have a bit of an idea on the plot and it's so short I don't want to give away any spoilers. A few things I did enjoy - underground Paris, the melodramatic patriotism, and the lack of high...
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Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn

by Carol12 Comments
Gone Girl was all the rage a couple of years ago, but I didn't get around to listening to it until now. I shouldn't have put it off. It was unique, well-done, definitely attention-grabbing, maybe not quite unputdownable, but close. Nick and Amy are not nice people. Neither is really the good guy, although you do sympathize with Nick. The audio had two narrators, one for Nick and one for Amy, which I thought was a great choice. It always takes me a while to get used to anything different than one narrator of the same gender as the main character, but this format worked so well with the story it was the perfect choice. Both narrators did a great job capturing the points of view, the dark humor, the nuances in the phrasing. I think that listening to it probably made it even better than reading it in print would have. I can't say much about the plot without ruining it,...
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