Monday, November 25, 2013


Thanksgiving Mysteries:


Fall into a great book
“Turkey Day Murder” by Leslie Meier. Lucy Stone is an amateur detective in a small town in Maine where she is busy with her family and helping solve crimes. This is a great series of 20 books and lots revolve around holidays.
“Death of a Turkey” by Kate Borden. This is the third book in the Peggy Jean Turner series. Ms. Turner is the Mayor of Cobb’s Landing, a small town in New England that is in need of tourist dollars to keep it going. When tourists arrive for an authentic Colonial-style Thanksgiving, Turner has the added pressure of trying to find her neighbor’s killer.

“A Catered Thanksgiving” by Isis Crawford. In the seventh book in the Mystery with Recipes series, Sisters Bernie and Libby Simmons cater a Thanksgiving dinner where the turkey blows up killing the head of a large fireworks manufacturing firm.            

On hold right now:

“Lending a Paw” by Laurie Cass. This is a new author and the first of a new series (called the Bookmobile Cat Mystery series). This series should be perfect: librarian hero who drives a bookmobile in Chilson, Michigan, with a cat. Love it already.

Sunday, November 17, 2013



Reading right now:

Duck the Halls (Meg Langslow Series #16)            “Duck the Halls” by Donna Andrews. A little fluff, a little fun, a little murder, a few crazy animals running around where they shouldn’t be, with Meg Langslow there to save the day. Donna Andrews’ books are great fun and this one is a wonderful read to start the holiday season.          
On hold right now:

“King and Maxwell” by David Baldacci. Once a lawyer, now a great mystery author, Baldacci’s new book brings back Sean King and Michelle Maxwell. Ex-Secret Service agents King and Maxwell are back in the sixth book of this great series. I can’t wait until this comes out Nov. 19, 2013.

Other Mysterious things available soon:

Here are some big November releases to grab (or put a hold on) right away:

Cover art“Takedown Twenty” (the 20th Stephanie Plum mystery) by Janet Evanovich

“Cross My Heart” (the 21st Alex Cross book) by James Patterson

“White Fire” by Lincoln Child and Douglas Preston

“Dust” by Patricia Cornwell (the 21st Kay Scarpetta novel)

“Hostage” by Kay Hooper (the 2nd Bishop: Special Crimes Unit book)

“Tatiana” by Martin Cruz Smith (8th book in the Arkady Renko series)

A List to Treasure:

            There seem to be a great many legal mystery/thriller authors (many writing a whole series and others just stand-alone novels). When I started putting together a list, I was shocked to find the following (and I'm planning a second list):

Vince Aiello

Jeffrey Ashford

Sydney Bauer

James Scott Bell

William Bernhardt

Dudley W. Buffa

Alafair Burke

Teresa Burrell

Gordon Campbell

Diane Capri

Michael Connelly

Rose Connors

Natasha Cooper

John F. Dobbyn

David Ellis

Linda A. Fairstein

Rebecca Forster

Frances Fyfield

Mark Gimenez

Marti Green

James Grippando

John Grisham

John Hart

Ellen Horan

Stephen Horn

David Hosp

Greg Iles

Jonnie Jacobs

Sue Ann Jaffarian

Todd M Johnson

William Landay

William Lashner

John T Lescroart

Paul Levine

Phillip Margolin

Margaret Maron

Steve Martini

Brad Meltzer

Melissa F Miller

Adam Mitzner (new)

John Mortimer (classic)

Perri O’Shaughnessy

Richard North Patterson

Jeanine Pirro (new)

Scott Pratt

Charles Rosenberg (new)

David Rosenfelt

Lisa Scottoline

James Sheehan (new)

Sheldon Siegel

Randy Singer

Lachlan Smith (new)

Mary Stanton

Robert Tanenbaum

William G Tapply

J D Trafford

Scott Turow

Walter Walker

Lis Wiehl

William P Wood

Stuart Woods

Friday, November 8, 2013



Read to me!
Reading right now:

            Jeri Westerson’s “Shadow of the Alchemist.” This is the sixth Crispin Guest novel. (If you haven’t read any of them yet, start with “Veil of Lies.”) The latest in this suspenseful, historical series finds Guest and his young apprentice helping alchemist Nicholas Flamel who seems to have lost his wife and his own apprentice. Nicholas Flamel plays a part in the Harry Potter series as does his Philosopher’s Stone. It seems likely that someone evil might just be after the Stone and that Guest will have to save the day. I love this series and can’t wait to dig into the latest.

On hold right now:

“The Good Boy” by Theresa Schwegel. This latest from Edgar Award winning Schwegel is a standalone novel centering on an 11-year old-boy who runs away with his dad’s police dog after witnessing a shooting.

Other Mysterious things available soon:

The third in Wallace Stroby’s unusual series is coming out in December. “Shoot the Woman First” centers around career criminal Crissa Stone. Award winning journalist and author, Stroby lives in New Jersey.

“A Killing Winter” by Wayne Arthurson. This is the second in his Leo Desroches series (with “Fall From Grace” being the first). There are many mystery writers coming out of Canada and Wayne Arthurson is one of those writers. Leo Desroches is the Aboriginal issues reporter for the Edmonton newspaper. While he likes to gamble and drink way too much, he still gets himself into lots of trouble when he delves a little too deeply into the stories he covers.

“Chinese Beverly Hills” by John Shannon. This is the 14th novel in Shannon’s Jack Liffey mystery series. Liffey’s special gift is finding missing children which he does with gusto throughout the series.

 
Great Books into Movies:

There are certain books that everyone should just read and “Ender’s Game” by Orson Scott Card is one of them. It’s a great book, not just a great Science Fiction book. A second great book coming out as a movie right now is “The Book Thief” by Markus Zusak. It’s fine to see the movies and I’m sure they are probably both good, but read the books first.

Asa Butterfield: New 'Ender's Game' Poster!