Reading right now:

            “Midnight Crossroad” by Charlaine Harris. I am trying to start this book, but I already miss the Sookie Stackhouse series so it isn’t easy. I’m hoping to love the first book in this three part series which is once more supposed to combine the idiosyncrasies of a small town with magical elements. The new series revolves around the secrets the residents of Midnight, Texas are keeping. The residents of Midnight include: Fiji (a witch and New Age shop owner), Bobo (a pawnshop owner who loves books), Lemuel (Vampire who runs the pawnshop at night), and Manfred (psychic who solves murders on the side). Manfred is a crossover character from the Harper Connelly series. I have my fingers crossed as I open this book.

On hold right now:

            “Wild People” by Ewart Hutton. Hutton was born in Glasgow and now lives on the Welsh Marches which gives you a hint that this is one of those mystery writers who is going to give Americans an exotic locale. He has also written award winning radio plays and his first book in this series (“Good People”) got a lot of positive attention. In this third book in the Glyn Capaldi series, Capaldi finds himself in a hospital recovering from a car crash in which his passenger died. The question finally becomes was the accident actually a murder?

Other Mysterious Things:

On May 3, 2014, the 2013 Agatha Award winners were announced.  The Agatha Awards are given to works first published in the United States by a living author.  Nominated mysteries must be traditional mysteries that contain no explicit sex or gratuitous violence.

Agatha Award Nominees:

Best Contemporary Novel:
Through the Evil Days by Julia Spencer-Fleming
Pagan Spring by G.M. Malliet
How the Light Gets In by Louise Penny
Clammed Up by Barbara Ross
Winner: The Wrong Girl by Hank Phillippi Ryan

Best Historical Novel:
Heirs and Graces by Rhys Bowen
Death in the Time of Ice by Kaye George
A Friendly Game of Murder by JJ Murphy
Murder in Chelsea by Victoria Thompson
Winner:  A Question of Honor by Charles Todd

Best First Novel:
Winner:  Death Al Dente by Leslie Budewitz
You Cannoli Die Once by Shelley Costa
Board Stiff  by Kendel Lynn
Kneading to Die by Liz Mugavero
Front Page Fatality by LynDee Walker