Killer Dolphin by Ngaio Marsh

by Carol1 Comment
Ngaio Marsh's Inspector Alleyn books are comfort reads for me. When I'm tired or grouchy or don't know what I feel like reading, I pick one up. Whenever I see one at a used bookstore I pick it up, but I'm thrilled that they've published a bunch for the Kindle. This one opens with an odd set of circumstances that ends with Peregrine Jay restoring the Dolphin Theater and the opening production is his original play, The Glove, with the Shakespearean glove itself on display. The first half of the book lets us peak backstage. We meet the various actors, witness their petty feuds and jealousies. I enjoy this part of Marsh's books in general, the characters are always fun, sometimes stereotypical, but she always pulls together great casts. And of course, you're wondering who's going to die, because someone is. The second half of the book deals with Alleyn's investigation, which consists of lots of interviews and some clue-searching. I really...
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Excerpt from A Twist of Fortune by Mike Martin

by Carol1 Comment
Excerpt: The schooners made the Banks Fishery possible and created one of the most remarkable and profitable fisheries ever seen in the world. For nearly a hundred years crews would venture out for three or four trips from May to October. Then they’d bring their fish back to Grand Bank for onshore salting and drying. People thought both the cod and the Banks Fishery would last forever but technological changes and greed would alter that projection. By the mid 1900’s, there had been a shift from the sailing schooners to more mechanized vessels and more effective methods for catching codfish. The vessels used enormous nets that hauled in large numbers of fish but devastated the cod population. Then the fish companies developed trawlers that swept up everything in their path and dragged the bottom of the ocean. By the 1980’s they were dredging the waters, scooping up everything. Soon they were joined by floating factory ships that caught and processed the fish...
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Gorky Park by Martin Cruz Smith

by Carol4 Comments
I read a lot of mysteries, and one detective whose name popped up several times in other folks lists was Arkady Renko. I had no idea who he was, but being a sucker for mysteries set in interesting places, I finally decided to pick up Gorky Park, the first in the series. I am definitely glad I did. Renko is reminiscent of other detectives I've read. the story takes place in Russia in the early 80s. The system is corrupt and while Renko is not a good Communist Party, he's also not forcibly against it. He kind of accepts it all, recognizes it exists and throws away the occasional murder file to keep the crime rate down. but the murders in Gorky Park pull him in. He needs to solve it, whether it be because of the crime itself or due to "the woman" who's attached to the case. You know here, the girl our hero irrationally falls for too quickly and...
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Shadow and Light by Jonathan Rabb

by Carol3 Comments
I thoroughly enjoyed Shadow and Light, but man, is it complicated. It starts off with an apparent suicide at a film studio, but Hoffner knows it's not that simple. Hoffner is a good character, determined and solid, but horrible at relationships, he's drinks too much, and is probably too friendly with the criminal backbone of the city. On the other hand, it seems like the criminals are more help than the system. The more he digs, the more grime and muck rises. And maybe that's how Berlin was at the time. Somehow, the crime syndicate, the sex trade, the movie studios, the rise of Nazism, all intertwine. To be honest, I'm not sure I got it all, but it didn't matter. Rabb immerses you in this world, and if you don't quite understand every bit, that's okay, because I don't think the characters do either. We meet several historical figures, but I don't know enough about the time and place...
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The Case of the Glamorous Ghost by Erle Stanley Gardner

by Carol4 Comments
Sunday evening I had a bit of a cold and when I'm not quite feeling up to par, I tend to pick up vintage mysteries. The Case of the Glamorous Ghost was the first I saw sitting on my shelf and since it's been a while since I've read a Perry Mason story, I picked it up. My daughter saw it and said something along the lines of "isn't that a tv show?" She watches that retro channel sometimes. I told her that yes, but the books actually came first. I'm not sure if I ever watched a full episode of the show. The Glamorous Ghost was what I expected - an interesting court case, some good dialogue, a slightly convoluted mystery. I think part of the reason I like mysteries from that era because they tend not to be overly violent. In general, they're also short, coming in at under 300 pages and while the characters are fun and well-drawn, they're not too depressed, they...
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Murder at the Book Group by Maggie King

by Carol6 Comments
I wanted to like this mystery. The set-up is right up my alley, a mystery reading book group whose member dies during a meeting. Books and murder, a bunch of middle-age women who are readers and writers - perfect. But it was all too much, too many (confusing) characters, too many potential motives, too much marrying/having affairs with each others exes. Maybe that was my main problem. Everybody was hooking up with everybody all the time, or so it seemed, but not in a romantic way, in a trashy way. The author also had a bit of an annoying habit of pointing out themes - like wow, Nazis keep coming up or lots of mothers and sons. Gee, I wonder if the solution has something to do with those two things. I liked the people. I liked Hazel, even though I'm not sure why people thought it was okay that she was digging so much into everyone's backgrounds, not just Carlene,...
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