en-US Sun, 02 Mar 2025 19:12:04 -0800 60 144 41 /images/layout/goodreads_logo_144.jpg 40888082 Finalist for the Edgar "McCoy is so noir he makes most other Scottish cops seem light grey." --The Times

An up-and-coming footballer has met an untimely end--and in a spectacularly gruesome fashion, topped off with the words Bye Bye carved into his chest. Harry McCoy knows this kind of violence indicates a personal, passionate motive, and since the footballer's future father-in-law is a notorious local gangster, that's where Harry starts his investigation. The case will take him into the seamy, drug-drenched underworld of 1970s Glasgow, and into his own dark childhood memories, in this intense crime thriller from Alan Parks, considered in "the top class of Scottish noir authors" (The Times).

"Dissects a city where cops and crooks depend on one another to maintain order." --The Wall Street Journal

"Riveting . . . The macabre and morally ambivalent February's Son is not one that will be quickly or easily forgotten." --The National

"McCoy's Glasgow is a dark, brooding city, where the line between the police and the underworld is frequently blurred." --Herald]]> 336 Alan Parks 1609454952 Marie 3 3.5 <br /> 4.16 2019
author: Alan Parks
name: Marie
average rating: 4.16
book published: 2019
rating: 3
read at: 2025/03/02
date added: 2025/03/02
shelves:
review:
3.5

]]> 12358908 384 Adrian Magason 0749008393 Marie 4 4.00 2011
author: Adrian Magason
name: Marie
average rating: 4.00
book published: 2011
rating: 4
read at: 2025/02/14
date added: 2025/03/02
shelves:
review:

]]> 43726557 A vibrant, enchanting tour of the Seine from longtime New York Times foreign correspondent and best-selling author Elaine Sciolino.

In the spring of 1978, as a young journalist in Paris, Elaine Sciolino was seduced by a river. In The Seine, she tells the story of that river through its rich history and lively characters—a bargewoman, a riverbank bookseller, a houseboat-dweller, a famous cinematographer known for capturing the river’s light. She patrols with river police, rows with a restorer of antique boats, discovers a champagne vineyard, and even dares to swim in the Seine.

Sciolino’s keen eye and vivid prose bring the river to life as she discovers its origins on a remote plateau in Burgundy, where a pagan goddess healed pilgrims at an ancient temple. She follows the Seine to Le Havre, where it meets the sea. Braiding memoir, travelogue, and history through the Seine’s winding route, Sciolino offers a love letter to Paris and the river at its heart and invites readers to explore its magic.]]> 370 Elaine Sciolino 0393609359 Marie 3 3.87 2019
author: Elaine Sciolino
name: Marie
average rating: 3.87
book published: 2019
rating: 3
read at: 2025/03/02
date added: 2025/03/02
shelves:
review:
I haven’t finished this book, but am enjoying it at this early stage. (The three stars really aren’t saying anything, just a place holder.)
]]> 209456057 'Historical fiction at its finest' MAIL ON SUNDAY

From the award-winning author of MIDNIGHT AT MALABAR HOUSE and THE LOST MAN OF BOMBAY comes a brilliant new mystery featuring the inimitable Persis Wadia.

Bombay, 1950.

A political rally ends in tragedy when Persis kills a lone gunman as he attempts to assassinate India's divisive Home Minister, a man calling for war with neighbouring Pakistan.

With the Malabar House team tasked to hunt down his co-conspirators, Persis is given a second case when the burned body of an unidentified white man is found on a Bombay beach. Meanwhile, Scotland Yard criminalist Archie Blackfinch, lies in a hospital fighting for his life, as all around him the country tears itself apart as a prelude to war...]]> 368 Vaseem Khan 1399707655 Marie 4 4.19 2024
author: Vaseem Khan
name: Marie
average rating: 4.19
book published: 2024
rating: 4
read at: 2025/02/06
date added: 2025/03/02
shelves:
review:

]]> 203578881 The nineteenth mystery in the #1 New York Times bestselling Armand Gamache series

Relentless phone calls interrupt the peace of a warm August morning in Three Pines. Though the tiny Québec village is impossible to find on any map, someone has managed to track down Armand Gamache, head of homicide at the Sûreté, as he sits with his wife in their back garden. Reine-Marie watches with increasing unease as her husband refuses to pick up, though he clearly knows who is on the other end. When he finally answers, his rage shatters the calm of their quiet Sunday morning.

That's only the first in a sequence of strange events that begin The Grey Wolf, the nineteenth novel in Louise Penny's #1 New York Times bestselling series. A missing coat, an intruder alarm, a note for Gamache reading "This might interest you," a puzzling scrap of paper with a mysterious list—and then a murder. All propel Chief Inspector Gamache and his team toward a terrible realization. Something much more sinister than any one murder or any one case is fast approaching.

Armand Gamache; Jean-Guy Beauvoir, his son-in-law and second in command; and Inspector Isabelle Lacoste can only trust each other, as old friends begin to act like enemies, and long-time enemies appear to be friends. Determined to track down the threat before it becomes a reality, their pursuit takes them across Québec and across borders. Their hunt grows increasingly desperate, even frantic, as the enormity of the creature they’re chasing becomes clear. If they fail, the devastating consequences would reach into the largest of cities and the smallest of villages.]]> 421 Louise Penny 1250328136 Marie 3 3.5 3.95 2024
author: Louise Penny
name: Marie
average rating: 3.95
book published: 2024
rating: 3
read at: 2025/01/25
date added: 2025/03/02
shelves:
review:
3.5
]]> 10815624
France, 1963. It’s a time of great change, not least for Inspector Lucas Rocco. As part of a nationwide ‘initiative�� to broaden police operations, he finds himself moved from the Paris metropolis to a small village. His new patch might be rural, but it’s certainly not on his first day, he finds a murdered woman wearing a Gestapo uniform lying in a British military cemetery. When the body is removed by order of a magistrate from the police mortuary before Rocco can finish his investigation, he realizes he’s up against a formidable enemy. An enemy who will go to any lengths �� even murder �� to stop his investigation.]]> 416 Adrian Magson 0749008342 Marie 4 3.86 2011
author: Adrian Magson
name: Marie
average rating: 3.86
book published: 2011
rating: 4
read at: 2025/01/20
date added: 2025/03/02
shelves:
review:

]]> 58323801
It’s the year 2000 in Dublin and, following some traumatic events, Detective Bunny McGarry is taking a well-earned break from the force. However, just because you’re not looking for trouble doesn’t mean trouble isn’t looking for you.

Bunny’s former partner died in the line of duty under dubious circumstances but his murky background has suddenly resurfaced, threatening Bunny’s reputation as well. As if that isn’t enough, a young boy is in danger and a woman from the big fella’s past is trapped in a loveless marriage to a monster. They both need Bunny’s help, but he must get to work fast �� it seems someone is trying to frame him for murder ��

Dead Man’s Sins is a continuation of McDonnell’s critically acclaimed bestselling Dublin Trilogy and mixes high-octane thrills with a distinctly Irish wit.]]> 314 Caimh McDonnell 1912897261 Marie 4 Witty and fun, as usual. 4.62 2021
author: Caimh McDonnell
name: Marie
average rating: 4.62
book published: 2021
rating: 4
read at: 2025/01/12
date added: 2025/03/02
shelves:
review:
Witty and fun, as usual.
]]> 34355540 358 Timothy Hallinan 1616957506 Marie 4 4.05 2017
author: Timothy Hallinan
name: Marie
average rating: 4.05
book published: 2017
rating: 4
read at: 2024/12/29
date added: 2024/12/30
shelves:
review:

]]> 26228 224 Janwillem van de Wetering 1569470189 Marie 4 3.80 1975
author: Janwillem van de Wetering
name: Marie
average rating: 3.80
book published: 1975
rating: 4
read at: 2024/12/10
date added: 2024/12/18
shelves:
review:

]]> 176110 ��
This now-classic novel, first published in 1975, introduces Janwillem van de Wetering’s lovable Amsterdam cop duo of portly, worldly-wise Gripstra and handsome, contemplative de Gier. With its unvarnished depiction of the legacy of Dutch colonialism and the darker facets of Amsterdam’s free drug culture, this excellent procedural asks the question of whether a murder may ever be justly committed.]]> 290 Janwillem van de Wetering 1569470170 Marie 4 I absolutely love the oddball and very original Amsterdam police detective partners featured here. The plot and narrative are great, the atmosphere immersing.]]> 3.62 1975
author: Janwillem van de Wetering
name: Marie
average rating: 3.62
book published: 1975
rating: 4
read at: 2024/11/29
date added: 2024/12/18
shelves:
review:
Written in 1975, this is the first of Van de Wetering’s G&dG series. I had read a couple of (evidently) later books in the series long ago and always intended more, judging by the unread novels on an upstairs bookshelf. Finally doing so thanks to the convenience of ebooks and NYPL. (Thank you nypl)
I absolutely love the oddball and very original Amsterdam police detective partners featured here. The plot and narrative are great, the atmosphere immersing.
]]> 44766
While helping out an old friend, Dave is stunned when a pimp looks at him sideways and asks him if he is Mae Guillory's boy, the whore a bunch of cops murdered 30 years ago. The pimp goes on to insinuate that the cops who dumped her body in the bayou were on the take and continue to thrive in the New Orleans area.

Dave's search for his mother's killers leads him to the darker places in his past and solving this case teaches him what it means to be his mother's son. Purple Cane Road has the dimensions of a classic-passion, murder, and nearly heartbreaking poignancy-wrapped in a wonderfully executed plot that surprises from start to finish.]]> 387 James Lee Burke 0440224047 Marie 3 4.11 2000
author: James Lee Burke
name: Marie
average rating: 4.11
book published: 2000
rating: 3
read at: 2024/10/22
date added: 2024/12/18
shelves:
review:

]]> 12296546
The Thief is a seasoned pickpocket. Anonymous in his tailored suit, he weaves in and out of Tokyo crowds, stealing wallets from strangers so smoothly sometimes he doesn’t even remember the snatch. Most people are just a blur to him, nameless faces from whom he chooses his victims. He has no family, no friends, no connections.... But he does have a past, which finally catches up with him when Ishikawa, his first partner, reappears in his life, and offers him a job he can’t refuse. It’s an easy job: tie up an old rich man, steal the contents of the safe. No one gets hurt. Only the day after the job does he learn that the old man was a prominent politician, and that he was brutally killed after the robbery. And now the Thief is caught in a tangle even he might not be able to escape.]]> 211 Fuminori Nakamura 1616950218 Marie 4 3.50 2009
author: Fuminori Nakamura
name: Marie
average rating: 3.50
book published: 2009
rating: 4
read at: 2024/10/06
date added: 2024/12/18
shelves:
review:
This is so very well-written, but too unsettling of a place for my mind to inhabit at this time of my life. For this reason, only, I’ll not be reading any more of Nakamura’s work. But I do recommend this writer.
]]> 54109210 365 Tadhg Coakley 1781177783 Marie 4 4.20
author: Tadhg Coakley
name: Marie
average rating: 4.20
book published:
rating: 4
read at: 2024/08/25
date added: 2024/12/18
shelves:
review:

]]> 35011770 With gang violence escaling in Göteborg, Sweden, the Organized Crimes Unit pairs with the Violent Crimes Unit to help defuse the situation. But could there be a mole on the force?

In this final installment of the internationally bestselling Irene Huss investigations, the gang warfare that has been brewing in Göteborg is about to explode. A member of a notorious biker gang has been set on fire—alive. Even in a culture where ritual killings are common, this brutal assault attracts the attention of both Irene’s unit and the Organized Crimes Unit. Anticipating a counterattack, the two units team up to patrol the lavish party of a rival gang, but that doesn’t stop another murder from occurring just outside the event hall.

And that’s not the only thing going up in flames. Someone has planted a bomb under Irene’s husband’s car. Fearing for her family’s safety, Irene sends her husband and daughters into hiding and takes up residence at a colleague’s apartment. Still, she can’t shake the feeling that she is being stalked. Somehow, the gangs are always one step ahead of the police. Someone is leaking information. But who? Irene’s life depends on discovering the answer.]]> 289 Helene Tursten 1616958464 Marie 3 Disappointing in the end. The overall treatment by the author seemed a bit too glib for the story line. The action scenes appeared obligatory and cinematic.

Merged review:

3.5
Disappointing in the end. The overall treatment by the author seemed a bit too glib for the story line. The action scenes appeared obligatory and cinematic.]]> 4.08 2012
author: Helene Tursten
name: Marie
average rating: 4.08
book published: 2012
rating: 3
read at: 2019/02/05
date added: 2024/09/22
shelves:
review:
3.5
Disappointing in the end. The overall treatment by the author seemed a bit too glib for the story line. The action scenes appeared obligatory and cinematic.

Merged review:

3.5
Disappointing in the end. The overall treatment by the author seemed a bit too glib for the story line. The action scenes appeared obligatory and cinematic.
]]> 36275702
It’s the bitterly cold spring season in alpine Aosta, and a girl has been kidnapped. Chiara Berguet, daughter of the owners of a local construction firm, was targeted thanks to the sizeable debt her parents owe. But like many a best-laid plan, a blown tire causes the crime to go haywire as the kidnappers�� van skids off the road and crashes into a pair of larch trees. Both the driver and his accomplice die on impact, leaving the girl in the back, gagged and bound and unable to break herself free.

Meanwhile Rocco Schiavone wakes to find himself in Anna’s apartment. She’s the best friend of his girlfriend Nora, and memories of the night before, a heated evening with Anna, return to him. As he sneaks out, he sees the first few snowstorm clouds of the spring season move across the sky, an ominous reference that something is off.

If trouble at home and a case of kidnapping weren’t enough, Rocco will eventually have to contend with Enzo Baiocchi. Rocco was the one who sent Enzo to prison, and in the process killed Enzo’s brother. Having just escaped from prison, Enzo is heading north with a newly purchased revolver and, clearly, revenge on his mind. And when an unfortunate incident of mistaken identity makes Enzo’s act of revenge even more fiendish, it also presents a gruesome scene for Rocco to discover on his return home.]]> 352 Antonio Manzini 0062696505 Marie 3 The first few pages were so revolting I would have quit it from the start if not for the fact that I bought it! :-) The protagonist (as such) was an ah, the writing awful, ... well that’s enough to condemn it to the dnf heap.
I did continue though.

Somewhere in the course of the story, I thought ”this guy’s trying to copy Camilleri�� - copy his humor and oddball but edgy police characters. This is just a random thing here, but after finishing the ebook copy, I read an author blurb that said Manzini worked with Camilleri on some television scripts. So there is that.

Initial - and lingering - antipathy aside, somewhere around the middle of the book I stopped throwing mental brickbats and just read the book. It’s a much better story and Manzini is a much better writer than he initially appeared to be, and I may even read another of his novels. There could be a problem with continuity, though. Out of Season may be in the middle of a series (I have no idea), and there’s no real resolution to the story. I suspect this is a “to be continued�� device rather than an existential “sometimes there is no justice��. ]]> 4.00 2015
author: Antonio Manzini
name: Marie
average rating: 4.00
book published: 2015
rating: 3
read at: 2019/04/28
date added: 2024/09/11
shelves:
review:
What a strange book!
The first few pages were so revolting I would have quit it from the start if not for the fact that I bought it! :-) The protagonist (as such) was an ah, the writing awful, ... well that’s enough to condemn it to the dnf heap.
I did continue though.

Somewhere in the course of the story, I thought ”this guy’s trying to copy Camilleri�� - copy his humor and oddball but edgy police characters. This is just a random thing here, but after finishing the ebook copy, I read an author blurb that said Manzini worked with Camilleri on some television scripts. So there is that.

Initial - and lingering - antipathy aside, somewhere around the middle of the book I stopped throwing mental brickbats and just read the book. It’s a much better story and Manzini is a much better writer than he initially appeared to be, and I may even read another of his novels. There could be a problem with continuity, though. Out of Season may be in the middle of a series (I have no idea), and there’s no real resolution to the story. I suspect this is a “to be continued�� device rather than an existential “sometimes there is no justice��.
]]> 43800439 304 Andrea Camilleri 052550561X Marie 4

Merged review:

Awesome, prolific, observant, witty, sardonic, irreverent, deeply human, curious to the end, outraged at the corruption and savagery in his (our) society, deeply in love with his home, Sicily, and her many blessings �� Camilleri is all of these. Requiem in pace, beautiful man.]]> 4.08 2016
author: Andrea Camilleri
name: Marie
average rating: 4.08
book published: 2016
rating: 4
read at: 2019/11/29
date added: 2024/09/10
shelves:
review:
Awesome, prolific, observant, witty, sardonic, irreverent, deeply human, curious to the end, outraged at the corruption and savagery in his (our) society, deeply in love with his home, Sicily, and her many blessings �� Camilleri is all of these. Requiem in pace, beautiful man.


Merged review:

Awesome, prolific, observant, witty, sardonic, irreverent, deeply human, curious to the end, outraged at the corruption and savagery in his (our) society, deeply in love with his home, Sicily, and her many blessings �� Camilleri is all of these. Requiem in pace, beautiful man.
]]> 213843382
A crazed arsonist stalks the city, burning buildings seemingly at random. Inspector Kenji Aizawa is brought onto the case to assist Inspector Hino, an aging veteran of the Metropolitan Police Department. But Aizawa's troubles only mount when he's called by his old partner, the geisha Reiko Watanabe.

Reiko alerts him to the sudden appearance of a secret death squad calling itself the Jitte Squad, operating within the Metropolitan Police. Commanded by Sergeant Fujita, they target corrupt businessmen, including Aizawa's old enemy, the banker Isamu Takano. But when a naive geisha, Emigiku, holds the key to identifying the Jitte Squad, Reiko and Aizawa put aside their differences to protect her. Complicating matters further is Aizawa's plucky wife Minori, determined to make a name for herself as a reporter.

Troubling too is the international situation as American baseball star Babe Ruth tours Japan on a goodwill mission, clashing against a clique of Japanese admirals dead set on scrapping a Naval limitations treaty in order to construct a new super weapon.

Aizawa and Reiko investigate the two cases through a maze of Japanese politics, right-wing patriotic societies, bitter factionalism within the Imperial Army and Navy, and newspaper circulation wars. Each string of clues unearth secrets buried under the city - foreboding, dangerous, and shocking.

Secrets Beneath Tokyo is the fourth installment of the Reiko Watanabe/Inspector Aizawa series, showing the political upheaval and complex drama of 1930s Japan as it slides deeper into the dark valley of militarism and war.]]> 377 Matthew Legare 1957226048 Marie 4 The historical information is amazing, and I trust Legare’s research. I think he should put more care into his storytelling as well.
After finishing Secrets, I thought I wouldn’t read any more of his books (I’ve read all of this series so far) because of the month-long at times frustrating chore of reading this one. But I will read more of his work because of the ‘substantiality�� of his work (if I can just make up words here!), and hope for the best!]]> 4.35
author: Matthew Legare
name: Marie
average rating: 4.35
book published:
rating: 4
read at: 2024/08/17
date added: 2024/08/24
shelves:
review:
With so much that was good or even very good about this book, it was extremely tedious of a read for me. First, way too many typos, repeated sentences, dropped prepositions, and other editing errors that should have been addressed before publishing. I wonder if these are just in the ebook - and a result of digitizing it - or if they’re also in the original print publication. Second, Legare has included Japanese words and terms in profusion, throughout the book, in almost every sentence and/or paragraph, and in the majority of instances not including the English meaning. I love to read words in the language of the setting, but prefer to have an idea of their meaning.
The historical information is amazing, and I trust Legare’s research. I think he should put more care into his storytelling as well.
After finishing Secrets, I thought I wouldn’t read any more of his books (I’ve read all of this series so far) because of the month-long at times frustrating chore of reading this one. But I will read more of his work because of the ‘substantiality�� of his work (if I can just make up words here!), and hope for the best!
]]> 35672492
But instead he is called off to watch over a Gabonese government minister hiding out in France following a coup. Meanwhile, Rocco discovers that an Algerian gang leader has taken out a contract on his head.

Against orders, he follows leads on the original murder case, discovering as he does so that his life is in danger. The minister he is protecting is kidnapped, and Rocco finds that the murder, the threats and the minister's kidnap are all interconnected...]]> 272 Adrian Magson 0995751013 Marie 4 4.15
author: Adrian Magson
name: Marie
average rating: 4.15
book published:
rating: 4
read at: 2024/06/20
date added: 2024/08/24
shelves:
review:

]]> 17574681 288 Adrian Magson 0749040165 Marie 3 3.93 2013
author: Adrian Magson
name: Marie
average rating: 3.93
book published: 2013
rating: 3
read at: 2024/07/10
date added: 2024/08/24
shelves:
review:

]]> 1337876 State of Fear, Juris Jurjevics’s enthralling debut delivers a combustive blend of politics, military might, and environmental catastrophe. In The Trudeau Vector, three scientists die inexplicably, and their colleagues at a lavish research station in the high Arctic are terrified. Epidemiologist Dr. Jessica Hanley is summoned from Los Angeles to investigate the grisly deaths and seal off the facility if the killer is infectious, while in Moscow an admiral is assigned with rescuing a rogue Russian submarine. Seemingly unrelated, the two missions collide in this terrifyingly convincing thriller of international intrigue and desperate passions that threaten a scientific utopia with extinction.]]> 416 Juris Jurjevics 0143037404 Marie 4 3.47 2005
author: Juris Jurjevics
name: Marie
average rating: 3.47
book published: 2005
rating: 4
read at: 2024/06/22
date added: 2024/08/24
shelves:
review:
Great SF story, interesting characters, international intrigue, thrilling.
]]> 21286 295 Adrian McKinty 0688144322 Marie 3 3.25 1997
author: Adrian McKinty
name: Marie
average rating: 3.25
book published: 1997
rating: 3
read at: 2024/06/08
date added: 2024/08/24
shelves:
review:

]]> 56661003
Aki, who worshipped her sister, is stunned. Officials are ruling Rose's death a suicide. Aki cannot believe her perfect, polished, and optimistic sister would end her life. Her instinct tells her there is much more to the story, and she knows she is the only person who could ever learn the truth.

Inspired by historical events, Clark and Division infuses an atmospheric and heartbreakingly real crime fiction plot with rich period details and delicately wrought personal stories Naomi Hirahara has gleaned from thirty years of research and archival work in Japanese American history.]]> 305 Naomi Hirahara 1641292490 Marie 4 3.54 2021
author: Naomi Hirahara
name: Marie
average rating: 3.54
book published: 2021
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2024/08/24
shelves:
review:

]]> 14806312 383 Adrian Magson 0749040114 Marie 4 4.15 2012
author: Adrian Magson
name: Marie
average rating: 4.15
book published: 2012
rating: 4
read at: 2024/05/30
date added: 2024/08/24
shelves:
review:
Magson’s writing is not perhaps the most eloquent, but I’m very much enjoying this detective series.
]]> 61678536
“Enchanting…Cambridge captures Child’s distinct voice and energy so perfectly. Expect to leave this vacation hoping for a return trip.�� �� Publishers Weekly

As Paris rediscovers its joie de vivre, Tabitha Knight, recently arrived from Detroit for an extended stay with her French grandfather, is on her own journey of discovery. Paris isn’t just the City of Light; it’s the city of history, romance, stunning architecture . . . and food. Thanks to her neighbor and friend Julia Child, another ex-pat who’s fallen head over heels for Paris, Tabitha is learning how to cook for her Grandpère and Oncle Rafe.

Between tutoring Americans in French, visiting the market, and eagerly sampling the results of Julia’s studies at Le Cordon Bleu cooking school, Tabitha’s sojourn is proving thoroughly delightful. That is, until the cold December day they return to Julia’s building and learn that a body has been found in the cellar. Tabitha recognizes the victim as a woman she’d met only the night before, at a party given by Julia’s sister, Dort. The murder weapon found nearby is recognizable too—a knife from Julia’s kitchen.

Tabitha is eager to help the investigation, but is shocked when Inspector Merveille reveals that a note, in Tabitha’s handwriting, was found in the dead woman’s pocket. Is this murder a case of international intrigue, or something far more personal? From the shadows of the Tour Eiffel at midnight, to the tiny third-floor Child kitchen, to the grungy streets of Montmartre, Tabitha navigates through the city hoping to find the real killer before she or one of her friends ends up in prison . . . or worse.

“Part historical fiction, part mystery, Mastering the Art of French Murder is totally delectable entertainment.�� �� The Washington Post

“Certain to appeal to a broad readership, especially fans of Jacqueline Winspear, Rhys Bowen, and Cambridge’s own Phyllida Bright series.�� –First Clue, STARRED REVIEW]]> 304 Colleen Cambridge 1496739590 Marie 2 3.54 2023
author: Colleen Cambridge
name: Marie
average rating: 3.54
book published: 2023
rating: 2
read at: 2024/05/24
date added: 2024/08/24
shelves:
review:
It looks like another cheesy series cannibalizing a famous figure as a main character sidekick, in this case Julia Child. Julia Child - so easy to turn into a rubber stamp caricature, eliminating the work of original thought.
]]> 199928404 ��
Sitting alone beside the languorous blue waters of the lagoon, Ana Magdalena Bach contemplates the men at the hotel bar. She has been happily married for twenty-seven years and has no reason to escape the life she has made with her husband and children. And yet, every August, she travels by ferry here to the island where her mother is buried, and for one night takes a new lover.
�� �� ��Across sultry Caribbean evenings full of salsa and boleros, lotharios and conmen, Ana journeys further each year into the hinterland of her desire and the fear hidden in her heart.
�� �� ��Constantly surprising, joyously sensual, Until August is a profound meditation on freedom, regret, self-transformation, and the mysteries of love—an unexpected gift from one of the greatest writers the world has ever known.]]> 144 Gabriel García Márquez 0593801997 Marie 4 3.52 2024
author: Gabriel García Márquez
name: Marie
average rating: 3.52
book published: 2024
rating: 4
read at: 2024/05/21
date added: 2024/08/24
shelves:
review:
It felt unfair that this book was published against Marquez�� wishes, but it was there, in the library, so I had to read it. Beautiful.
]]> 6054413 320 David Downing 1905847815 Marie 2 Two stars is unfair because I didn’t finish this book, but it was a chore to read it. A slog of names, places, tedious description; all of the same elements that I enjoyed in other “station�� books, but seemed empty in this one. ]]> 4.10 2009
author: David Downing
name: Marie
average rating: 4.10
book published: 2009
rating: 2
read at: 2024/05/10
date added: 2024/08/24
shelves:
review:
dnf
Two stars is unfair because I didn’t finish this book, but it was a chore to read it. A slog of names, places, tedious description; all of the same elements that I enjoyed in other “station�� books, but seemed empty in this one.
]]> 60306551 320 James W. Ziskin 160809507X Marie 4 Well, maybe four for the 1975 plot setting.
There are a few too many implausible happenings in this story, but a pretty good story line in a seemingly well-researched historical setting.]]> 3.96 2022
author: James W. Ziskin
name: Marie
average rating: 3.96
book published: 2022
rating: 4
read at: 2024/05/06
date added: 2024/08/24
shelves:
review:
3.5
Well, maybe four for the 1975 plot setting.
There are a few too many implausible happenings in this story, but a pretty good story line in a seemingly well-researched historical setting.
]]> 34837211 From CWA Gold Dagger winner Mick Herron comes a shocking, twisted novel of psychological suspense about one woman’s attempt to be better than ordinary

Twenty-six-year-old Maggie Barnes is someone you would never look at twice. Living alone in a month-to-month sublet in the huge city of London, with no family but an estranged sister, no boyfriend or partner, and not much in the way of friends, Maggie is just the kind of person who could vanish from the face of the earth without anyone taking notice.

Or just the kind of person MI5 needs to infiltrate the establishment and thwart an international plot that puts all of Britain at risk.

Now one young woman has the chance to be a hero—if she can think quickly enough to stay alive.]]> 263 Mick Herron 1616958618 Marie 4 3.20 2018
author: Mick Herron
name: Marie
average rating: 3.20
book published: 2018
rating: 4
read at: 2024/04/25
date added: 2024/08/24
shelves:
review:
Complex and emotionally difficult. Terrific.
]]> 6276276
Winner of the Commonwealth Writers�� Prize for Best Book, Caribbean & Canada and the Canadian Authors Association Literary Award; Finalist for the Governor General’s Literary Award for Fiction, the Thomas Head Raddall Atlantic Book Award, and the Winterset Award.

When a whale beaches itself on the shore of the remote coastal town of Paradise Deep, the last thing any of the townspeople expect to find inside it is a man, silent and reeking of fish, but remarkably alive. The discovery of this mysterious person, soon christened Judah, sets the town scrambling for answers as its most prominent citizens weigh in on whether he is man or beast, blessing or curse, miracle or demon. Though Judah is a shocking addition, the town of Paradise Deep is already full of unusual characters. King-me Sellers, self-appointed patriarch, has it in for an inscrutable woman known only as Devine’s Widow, with whom he has a decades-old feud. Her granddaughter, Mary Tryphena, is just a child when Judah washes ashore, but finds herself tied to him all her life in ways she never expects. Galore is the story of the saga that develops between these families, full of bitterness and love, spanning two centuries.

With Paradise Deep, award-winning novelist Michael Crummey imagines a realm where the line between the everyday and the otherworldly is impossible to discern. Sprawling and intimate, stark and fantastical, Galore is a novel about the power of stories to shape and sustain us.]]> 336 Michael Crummey 0385663145 Marie 4 3.74 2009
author: Michael Crummey
name: Marie
average rating: 3.74
book published: 2009
rating: 4
read at: 2024/04/20
date added: 2024/08/24
shelves:
review:

]]> 33783151
Dublin is in the middle of a heat wave and tempers are running high. The Celtic Tiger is well and truly dead, activists have taken over the headquarters of a failed bank, the trial of three unscrupulous property developers teeters on the brink of collapse, and in the midst of all this, along comes a mysterious organisation hell-bent on exacting bloody vengeance in the name of the little guy.

Paul Mulchrone doesn’t care about any of this; he has problems of his own. His newly established detective agency is about to be DOA. One of his partners won’t talk to him for very good reasons and the other has seemingly disappeared off the face of the earth for no reason at all. Can he hold it together long enough to figure out what Bunny McGarry’s colourful past has to do with his present absence?

When the law and justice no longer mean the same thing, on which side will you stand?

The Day That Never Comes is the second book in Caimh McDonnell’s Dublin trilogy, which melds fast-paced action with a distinctly Irish acerbic wit.]]> 341 Caimh McDonnell Marie 4 I laughed many times.
The characters are truly unique and well-represented by the author.
Including peripheral ones.
Witty.
Creative presentations of one situation after another.
(Just listing a few things, excuse my want of skills)
Currency of plot elements.
But too much crazy, too much injury, too many plot holes.

]]> 4.21 2017
author: Caimh McDonnell
name: Marie
average rating: 4.21
book published: 2017
rating: 4
read at: 2017/08/25
date added: 2024/08/07
shelves:
review:
I was going to give three stars to this for a few reasons, but four wins out for more.
I laughed many times.
The characters are truly unique and well-represented by the author.
Including peripheral ones.
Witty.
Creative presentations of one situation after another.
(Just listing a few things, excuse my want of skills)
Currency of plot elements.
But too much crazy, too much injury, too many plot holes.


]]> 56131434
Inspector Lucas Rocco finds himself once more working for the Interior undertaking an investigation meant to avoid a government scandal and ignoring unpalatable truths. He's soon convinced that a common denominator must be at play...

Rocco uncovers top-level fraud, theft and deception. And when he narrowly survives an attempt on his life, he realises that he has nothing to lose by bringing the truth out in to the open �� whatever the risks.

The sixth gripping instalment in the Inspector Rocco crime thrillers, perfect for fans of Stuart MacBride, Jean-Luc Bannalec and Mark Billingham.]]> 296 Adrian Magson Marie 4 This is a great police/detective procedural with an outside the box investigator who isn’t self-destructing, isn’t waking from drunken stupors, isn’t a bad boy.
(Sounds dull)
(It’s isn’t)]]> 4.48
author: Adrian Magson
name: Marie
average rating: 4.48
book published:
rating: 4
read at: 2024/03/22
date added: 2024/04/07
shelves:
review:
This is the first book I’ve read by this author.
This is a great police/detective procedural with an outside the box investigator who isn’t self-destructing, isn’t waking from drunken stupors, isn’t a bad boy.
(Sounds dull)
(It’s isn’t)
]]> 40801268 212 M.C. Beaton Marie 3 Nothing compares though to the absolute laugh out loud first book in this Agatha series, AR & the quiche of death.]]> 3.66 1997
author: M.C. Beaton
name: Marie
average rating: 3.66
book published: 1997
rating: 3
read at: 2024/03/16
date added: 2024/04/07
shelves:
review:
Enjoyable - 3.5
Nothing compares though to the absolute laugh out loud first book in this Agatha series, AR & the quiche of death.
]]> 204084137 336 Michael Pronko 1942410301 Marie 4 4.22
author: Michael Pronko
name: Marie
average rating: 4.22
book published:
rating: 4
read at: 2024/02/26
date added: 2024/04/07
shelves:
review:

]]> 58686839 313 Mick Herron 1641293039 Marie 5 The Usual Santas was an unexpected delight.]]> 4.00 2021
author: Mick Herron
name: Marie
average rating: 4.00
book published: 2021
rating: 5
read at: 2024/02/14
date added: 2024/04/07
shelves:
review:
Loved these stories from various times in the author’s career.
The Usual Santas was an unexpected delight.
]]> 65215088 Big Heart Little Stove is your new go-to inspiration for cooking thoughtful and meaningful, yet refreshingly simple meals. With more than 75 recipes and her favorite hospitality “signatures,�� Erin French―author of The Lost Kitchen cookbook and the New York Times-bestselling memoir Finding Freedom―invites readers to bring a piece of her beloved restaurant, The Lost Kitchen, home with them.

With dishes pulled from French’s family recipe box and the menu at The Lost Kitchen, ranging from irresistible nibbles like Pecorino Puffs and Gram’s Clam Dip; to luscious soups like Golden Tomato & Peach and Potato & Lentil with Bacon and Herbs; to heaping platters of family-style salads and sides like Peach & Blackberry Salad and Green Beans with Sage, Garlic, and Breadcrumbs; to show-stopping main courses like Pickle-Brined Roast Chicken and Wednesday Night Fish Fry; to French’s favorite all-purpose kitchen staples like Kitchen Sink Pesto and Floral Vinegar, this cookbook has all the tools you need for assembling a seamlessly special meal. To round things out, there are beverages to sip as dinner comes off the stove (Fresh Fruit Shrubs, Slush Puppies) and desserts to make your guests feel truly looked after (Salted Caramel Custards, Roasted Peach Pie with Almond and Fennel). And because weekend mornings deserve celebrating too, there are feel-good treats like Sunday Skillet Cakes and Little Nutmeg Diner Donuts. Regardless of whether it’s a dressed-up affair or a quick weeknight meal, French’s recommendations are the same: Start with the best ingredients you can find, keep it simple, and serve with love.

But Big Heart Little Stove is more than just a cookbook. With tips and tricks French has used in her own dining room―at home and in the restaurant―this book is your invitation to use what’s around you to create meaningful moments, from setting a table with found treasures, to adorning dishes with edible flowers, to thoughtful gestures such as offering a cold cloth on a hot day. Full of warmth and spirit, Big Heart Little Stove will show you how to create more joy and connection around your table.]]> 304 Erin French 1250832314 Marie 4 4.13 2023
author: Erin French
name: Marie
average rating: 4.13
book published: 2023
rating: 4
read at: 2024/01/29
date added: 2024/04/07
shelves:
review:
I probably won’t be making very many things from this book, but it is an inspiration and a total visual delight for sure.
]]> 18162954 An enchanting short story from Madeline Miller that boldly reimagines the myth of Galatea and Pygmalion.

In ancient Greece, a skilled marble sculptor has been blessed by a goddess who has given his masterpiece �� the most beautiful woman the town has ever seen �� the gift of life. Now his wife, he expects Galatea to please him, to be obedience and humility personified. But she has desires of her own and yearns for independence.

In a desperate bid by her obsessive husband to keep her under control, Galatea is locked away under the constant supervision of doctors and nurses. But with a daughter to rescue, she is determined to break free, whatever the cost...]]> 27 Madeline Miller 1408848147 Marie 4 3.93 2013
author: Madeline Miller
name: Marie
average rating: 3.93
book published: 2013
rating: 4
read at: 2024/03/24
date added: 2024/04/07
shelves:
review:
It’s a beautiful little gem of a book.
]]> 61251242 Armed with only hazy memories, a woman who long ago witnessed her friend's sudden, mysterious death, and has since spent her life trying to forget, sets out to track down answers. What she uncovers, deep in the woods, is hardly to be believed....

Maya was a high school senior when her best friend, Aubrey, mysteriously dropped dead in front of the enigmatic man named Frank whom they'd been spending time with all summer.

Seven years later, Maya lives in Boston with a loving boyfriend and is kicking the secret addiction that has allowed her to cope with what happened years ago, the gaps in her memories, and the lost time that she can't account for. But her past comes rushing back when she comes across a recent YouTube video in which a young woman suddenly keels over and dies in a diner while sitting across from none other than Frank. Plunged into the trauma that has defined her life, Maya heads to her Berkshires hometown to relive that fateful summer--the influence Frank once had on her and the obsessive jealousy that nearly destroyed her friendship with Aubrey.

At her mother's house, she excavates fragments of her past and notices hidden messages in her deceased Guatemalan father's book that didn't stand out to her earlier. To save herself, she must understand a story written before she was born, but time keeps running out, and soon, all roads are leading back to Frank's cabin....

Utterly unique and captivating, The House in the Pines keeps you guessing about whether we can ever fully confront the past and return home.]]> 321 Ana Reyes 0593186710 Marie 3 Holes like potholes in wny in the spring. Glimpses of an engaging story happen just before another gaping hole trips everything up. ]]> 3.05 2023
author: Ana Reyes
name: Marie
average rating: 3.05
book published: 2023
rating: 3
read at: 2024/01/29
date added: 2024/04/07
shelves:
review:
3.5
Holes like potholes in wny in the spring. Glimpses of an engaging story happen just before another gaping hole trips everything up.
]]> 3664 But he is wrong. This woman—at once mad and brilliant, generous and demanding—will be the catalyst for Vander’s reluctant journey through his past toward the truths he has hidden, and toward others even he will be shocked to discover.
In Shroud—as in all of his acclaimed previous novels—John Banville gives us an emotionally resonant tale, exceptionally rich in language and image, dazzling in its narrative invention. It is a work of uncommon power.]]> 257 John Banville 037572530X Marie 2 3.68 2002
author: John Banville
name: Marie
average rating: 3.68
book published: 2002
rating: 2
read at: 2024/01/14
date added: 2024/04/07
shelves:
review:
Like and hate in equal measures
]]> 37772647 A drop, in spook parlance, is the passing on of secret information.

It's also what happens just before you hit the ground.]]> 112 Mick Herron 1473678307 Marie 4 3.91 2018
author: Mick Herron
name: Marie
average rating: 3.91
book published: 2018
rating: 4
read at: 2024/03/28
date added: 2024/04/07
shelves:
review:

]]> 61068991
India, 1922: Perveen Mistry is the only female lawyer in Bombay, a city where child mortality is high, birth control is unavailable and very few women have ever seen a doctor.

Perveen is attending a lavish fundraiser for a new women’s hospital specializing in maternal health issues when she witnesses an accident. The grandson of an influential Gujarati businessman catches fire—but a servant, his young ayah, Sunanda, rushes to save him, selflessly putting herself in harm’s way. Later, Perveen learns that Sunanda, who’s still ailing from her burns, has been arrested on trumped-up charges made by a man who doesn’t seem to exist.

Perveen cannot stand by while Sunanda languishes in jail with no hope of justice. She takes Sunanda as a client, even inviting her to live at the Mistry home in Bombay’s Dadar Parsi colony. But the joint family household is already full of tension. Perveen’s father worries about their law firm taking so much personal responsibility for a client, and her brother and sister-in-law are struggling to cope with their new baby. Perveen herself is going through personal turmoil as she navigates a taboo relationship with a handsome former civil service officer.

When the hospital’s chief donor dies suddenly, Miriam Penkar, a Jewish-Indian obstetrician, and Sunanda become suspects. Perveen’s original case spirals into a complex investigation taking her into the Gujarati strongholds of Kalbadevi and Ghatkopar, and up the coast to Juhu Beach, where a decadent nawab lives with his Australian trophy wife. Then a second fire erupts, and Perveen realizes how much is at stake. Has someone powerful framed Sunanda to cover up another crime? Will Perveen be able to prove Sunanda’s innocence without endangering her own family?]]> 432 Sujata Massey 1641293292 Marie 3 3.89 2023
author: Sujata Massey
name: Marie
average rating: 3.89
book published: 2023
rating: 3
read at: 2023/12/20
date added: 2023/12/30
shelves:
review:

]]> 50202953
There is one other person in the house—a man called The Other, who visits Piranesi twice a week and asks for help with research into A Great and Secret Knowledge. But as Piranesi explores, evidence emerges of another person, and a terrible truth begins to unravel, revealing a world beyond the one Piranesi has always known.]]> 272 Susanna Clarke 163557563X Marie 5 I did try to shut off my inner meta-critic and let it flow over me, “in keeping with the spirit of the day�� as Scrooge’s housekeeper said. But of course ended up thinking intensely throughout, and more and more happily so.
It’s a perfect work, though I must admit that I stopped reading the long repetitive blurbs at the beginnings of Piranesi’s journal entries.

A few random associations, familiar places, that came to me in different parts of the book:
*Labyrinths, by Jorge Luis Borges
*The Library of Babel, by Borges
*and of course, Giovanni Battista Piranesi’s Le Carceri d’Invenzione]]> 4.22 2020
author: Susanna Clarke
name: Marie
average rating: 4.22
book published: 2020
rating: 5
read at: 2021/12/20
date added: 2023/12/30
shelves:
review:
I am in awe of the mind of this author having created such a work.
I did try to shut off my inner meta-critic and let it flow over me, “in keeping with the spirit of the day�� as Scrooge’s housekeeper said. But of course ended up thinking intensely throughout, and more and more happily so.
It’s a perfect work, though I must admit that I stopped reading the long repetitive blurbs at the beginnings of Piranesi’s journal entries.

A few random associations, familiar places, that came to me in different parts of the book:
*Labyrinths, by Jorge Luis Borges
*The Library of Babel, by Borges
*and of course, Giovanni Battista Piranesi’s Le Carceri d’Invenzione
]]> 25168596
More isolated with each frozen mile they cover, they travel deeper into an endless night. And Ruby, deaf since birth, must brave the darkness where sight cannot guide her.

She won't abandon her father. But winter has tightened its grip, and there is somebody out there who wants to stop them.

Somebody tracking them through the dark.]]> 384 Rosamund Lupton 1101903678 Marie 3 Lipton is a talented writer, but this just seems to be a plugging in of plot elements to produce a bestseller - with some good writing fleshing things out.
There is nothing about Jasmine that I found plausible, sympathetic, or even interesting. Her continual “concern�� about Ruby’s safety is ridiculous; it’s always after the fact, after she has (really, actually) selfishly plowed ahead with what she herself wanted to do. Her monomania to find her husband - even if alive, even if out in the devastatingly frigid Alaskan wilderness - is monumentally selfish, narcissistic. Ruby, on the other hand, is quite an original and interesting character.
All of this said, some of the the descriptions during the truck ride were gripping and even beautiful.
The last part of the book (without going into spoiler details) was without any grace at all. The writing became sophomoric, the plot even more implausible.]]> 3.46 2015
author: Rosamund Lupton
name: Marie
average rating: 3.46
book published: 2015
rating: 3
read at: 2023/12/27
date added: 2023/12/30
shelves:
review:
I feel manipulated.
Lipton is a talented writer, but this just seems to be a plugging in of plot elements to produce a bestseller - with some good writing fleshing things out.
There is nothing about Jasmine that I found plausible, sympathetic, or even interesting. Her continual “concern�� about Ruby’s safety is ridiculous; it’s always after the fact, after she has (really, actually) selfishly plowed ahead with what she herself wanted to do. Her monomania to find her husband - even if alive, even if out in the devastatingly frigid Alaskan wilderness - is monumentally selfish, narcissistic. Ruby, on the other hand, is quite an original and interesting character.
All of this said, some of the the descriptions during the truck ride were gripping and even beautiful.
The last part of the book (without going into spoiler details) was without any grace at all. The writing became sophomoric, the plot even more implausible.
]]> 123727738
But MI5’s formidable First Desk did not become Britain’s top spy by accident, and she has successfully thwarted the inquiry at every turn. Now the administration that created Monochrome has been ousted, the investigation is a total bust—and Griselda and Malcolm are stuck watching as their career prospects are washed away by the pounding London rain.

Until the eve of Monochrome’s shuttering, when an MI5 case file appears without explanation. It is the buried history of a classified operation in 1994 Berlin—an operation that ended in tragedy and scandal, whose cover-up has rewritten thirty years of Service history.

The��Secret��Hours is a dazzling entry point into Mick Herron’s body of work, a standalone spy thriller that is at once unnerving, poignant, and laugh-out-loud funny. It is also the breathtaking��secret��history that Slough House fans have been waiting for.]]> 384 Mick Herron 164129521X Marie 5 to-read 4.08 2023
author: Mick Herron
name: Marie
average rating: 4.08
book published: 2023
rating: 5
read at: 2023/12/12
date added: 2023/12/26
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 56898262 From the #1 bestselling authors Hillary Clinton and Louise Penny comes a novel of unsurpassed thrills and incomparable insider expertise��State of Terror.

State of Terror follows a novice Secretary of State who has joined the administration of her rival, a president inaugurated after four years of American leadership that shrank from the world stage. A series of terrorist attacks throws the global order into disarray, and the secretary is tasked with assembling a team to unravel the deadly conspiracy, a scheme carefully designed to take advantage of an American government dangerously out of touch and out of power in the places where it counts the most.

This high-stakes thriller of international intrigue features behind-the-scenes global drama informed by details only an insider could know.]]> 495 Hillary Rodham Clinton 198217367X Marie 4 There are too many superhero aspects to the main characters and their exploits, but there is also interesting insight into interactions among people in government. Because, you know, one of the authors.]]> 3.97 2021
author: Hillary Rodham Clinton
name: Marie
average rating: 3.97
book published: 2021
rating: 4
read at: 2023/11/28
date added: 2023/12/26
shelves:
review:
Unexpectedly good!
There are too many superhero aspects to the main characters and their exploits, but there is also interesting insight into interactions among people in government. Because, you know, one of the authors.
]]> 61812308 The acclaimed New York Times bestselling writer returns with a masterpiece to rival Mystic River —an all-consuming tale of revenge, family love, festering hate, and insidious power, set against one of the most tumultuous episodes in Boston’s history.

In the summer of 1974 a heatwave blankets Boston and Mary Pat Fennessy is trying to stay one step ahead of the bill collectors. Mary Pat has lived her entire life in the housing projects of “Southie,�� the Irish American enclave that stubbornly adheres to old tradition and stands proudly apart.

One night Mary Pat’s teenage daughter Jules stays out late and doesn’t come home. That same evening, a young Black man is found dead, struck by a subway train under mysterious circumstances. The two events seem unconnected. But Mary Pat, propelled by a desperate search for her missing daughter, begins turning over stones best left untouched—asking questions that bother Marty Butler, chieftain of the Irish mob, and the men who work for him, men who don’t take kindly to any threat to their business.

Set against the hot, tumultuous months when the city’s desegregation of its public schools exploded in violence, Small Mercies is a superb thriller, a brutal depiction of criminality and power, and an unflinching portrait of the dark heart of American racism. It is a mesmerizing and wrenching work that only Dennis Lehane could write.]]> 303 Dennis Lehane 0062129481 Marie 5 Mary Pat, still mourning her son and now facing the disappearance and possible death of her teenage daughter, travels around her closed world, angry, bewildered, determined to know the truth, bringing to mind (to my mind) Leopold Bloom’s travels through Dublin over the course of a day, but to tragic and despairing ends rather than of hope.
There is an element of dark magical realism in Mary Pat’s uncovering of truths and wielding of vengeance; she is an absolutely amazing character, Lehane’s genius to me is embodied in this very flawed, very narrow-minded, grieving, angry woman searching for the truth even where it upends everything her life stood upon until then.]]> 4.22 2023
author: Dennis Lehane
name: Marie
average rating: 4.22
book published: 2023
rating: 5
read at: 2023/11/15
date added: 2023/12/26
shelves:
review:
Set during the explosive events around the Boston schools desegregation ruling in 1974, the events cover about a week of time in the life of Mary Pat Fennessey, a tough, combative, bigoted Southie, of her mainly poor, mainly scrappy Boston neighborhood. The desegregation order is hypocrisy at its finest for it is only for two schools at this time - one white, one black - in two poor Boston neighborhoods, inflaming racism and hostilities even more, rather than assuaging any of it.
Mary Pat, still mourning her son and now facing the disappearance and possible death of her teenage daughter, travels around her closed world, angry, bewildered, determined to know the truth, bringing to mind (to my mind) Leopold Bloom’s travels through Dublin over the course of a day, but to tragic and despairing ends rather than of hope.
There is an element of dark magical realism in Mary Pat’s uncovering of truths and wielding of vengeance; she is an absolutely amazing character, Lehane’s genius to me is embodied in this very flawed, very narrow-minded, grieving, angry woman searching for the truth even where it upends everything her life stood upon until then.
]]> 12862985 296 Donna Leon 0802120237 Marie 4 The last time I rated it three stars, but I thought better of it this time. It’s a more compelling story, better written than I felt in 2016.
Mellowing maybe?]]> 3.86 2012
author: Donna Leon
name: Marie
average rating: 3.86
book published: 2012
rating: 4
read at: 2023/11/05
date added: 2023/12/20
shelves:
review:
Second time reading this.
The last time I rated it three stars, but I thought better of it this time. It’s a more compelling story, better written than I felt in 2016.
Mellowing maybe?
]]> 9693927 260 Donna Leon 0802119794 Marie 3 Same rating as in 2018.]]> 3.84 2011
author: Donna Leon
name: Marie
average rating: 3.84
book published: 2011
rating: 3
read at: 2023/10/27
date added: 2023/12/20
shelves:
review:
Second time reading this.
Same rating as in 2018.
]]> 23636636 112 Mick Herron 1616956410 Marie 4 3.83 2015
author: Mick Herron
name: Marie
average rating: 3.83
book published: 2015
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2023/12/20
shelves:
review:

]]> 49033683 ��
Viet Nam, 1963. A female Viet Cong assassin is trawling the boulevards of Saigon, catching US Army officers off-guard with a single pistol shot, then riding off on the back of a scooter. Although the US military is not officially in combat, sixteen thousand American servicemen are stationed in Viet Nam “advising�� the military and government. Among them are Ellsworth Miser and Clovis Robeson, two army investigators who have been tasked with tracking down the daring killer.

Set in the besieged capital of a new nation on the eve of the coup that would bring down the Diem regime and launch the Americans into the Viet Nam War, Play the Red Queen is Juris Jurjevics’s capstone contribution to a lifelong literary a tour-de-force mystery-cum-social history, breathtakingly atmospheric and heartbreakingly alive with the laws and lawlessness of war.]]> 360 Juris Jurjevics 1641291370 Marie 5 This one is set in 1963-4 in Vietnam. Through the fictional plot, so much historical truth is revealed. So much cynical maneuvering costing so many lives so heedlessly.]]> 3.77
author: Juris Jurjevics
name: Marie
average rating: 3.77
book published:
rating: 5
read at: 2023/10/12
date added: 2023/12/20
shelves:
review:
Apparently Jurjevics only wrote two (maybe three?) novels.
This one is set in 1963-4 in Vietnam. Through the fictional plot, so much historical truth is revealed. So much cynical maneuvering costing so many lives so heedlessly.
]]> 130313551 0 Juris Jurjevics Marie 5 -I first picked up the book because the author was a co-founder of Soho Books, a publisher I’ve been reading (and I don’t generally look for certain publishers) for ~30 years (ahem). My hero. I’ve read works by many international authors, such a cornucopia of wonderful mystery/detective writing!
-This is not masterful writing, though it’s a masterpiece to me for giving me more of an understanding of some of the historical, political, ethical, and tragic underpinnings of the Vietnam war. And more insight into what some loved ones experienced there.
-The narrative is set mainly during 1964-5, before officially a “war��; Americans were there as “advisors��.
-The corruption rampant, the callous disregard for human lives, the back room machinations all leading up to all out war and so many thousands of young lives lost and ruined.
]]> 4.50 2011
author: Juris Jurjevics
name: Marie
average rating: 4.50
book published: 2011
rating: 5
read at: 2023/09/22
date added: 2023/12/20
shelves:
review:
There are a few well written reviews on ŷ������ about this novel; I won’t compete! But a few observations:
-I first picked up the book because the author was a co-founder of Soho Books, a publisher I’ve been reading (and I don’t generally look for certain publishers) for ~30 years (ahem). My hero. I’ve read works by many international authors, such a cornucopia of wonderful mystery/detective writing!
-This is not masterful writing, though it’s a masterpiece to me for giving me more of an understanding of some of the historical, political, ethical, and tragic underpinnings of the Vietnam war. And more insight into what some loved ones experienced there.
-The narrative is set mainly during 1964-5, before officially a “war��; Americans were there as “advisors��.
-The corruption rampant, the callous disregard for human lives, the back room machinations all leading up to all out war and so many thousands of young lives lost and ruined.

]]> 332808
Dismas knows his wife, Frannie, is the most reliable of mothers. When she fails to pick up their children from school one afternoon, he's convinced something terrible has happened. It has: Frannie Hardy is in jail. Called before the grand jury in a murder investigation, she refused to reveal a secret entrusted to her by a man whose children attend the same school as hers, a friend who is accused of killing his wife. But now he has disappeared. Hardy knows there's only one way to get Frannie out of jail: clear her friend of murder. That is, if he can be found.

As he moves through a labyrinthine world of big business and San Francisco politics, looking for a man he half hopes never to find, a furious and frustrated Hardy is struggling to understand why his impeccably faithful wife is being so loyal to another man. What kind of truth could keep a wife from her husband, a mother from her children--could hold Hardy so powerless before the wrath of the law?

With an unparalleled ability to illuminate the complexities of relationships while weaving a story of breathtaking suspense, Lescroart has never been in finer form. And�� Nothing But the Truth ��is his finest hour.]]> 656 John Lescroart 0451202856 Marie 3 I like Lescroart’s writing, but some works are more compelling than others (of course!)
The reticence of Hardy’s wife here as a major plot element carried too heavy a load in the story, imo.
It got a little tedious.]]> 3.87 2000
author: John Lescroart
name: Marie
average rating: 3.87
book published: 2000
rating: 3
read at: 2023/09/12
date added: 2023/12/20
shelves:
review:
3.5
I like Lescroart’s writing, but some works are more compelling than others (of course!)
The reticence of Hardy’s wife here as a major plot element carried too heavy a load in the story, imo.
It got a little tedious.
]]> 385078
At forty-odd, Chester MacFarland has been waiting much longer, expecting his life of stock manipu­lation and fraud to catch up with him. And Colette, Chester's wife, is waiting for something altogether different.

After a nasty little incident in the hotel, they all wait together. As the stakes, and the tension, in their three-cornered waiting game mount, they learn that while passports and silence can be bought, other things can cost as much as your life.]]> 288 Patricia Highsmith 0871132095 Marie 4 The film made from this in the 2000s was quite good.]]> 3.56 1964
author: Patricia Highsmith
name: Marie
average rating: 3.56
book published: 1964
rating: 4
read at: 2023/09/09
date added: 2023/12/20
shelves:
review:
Another good Highsmith, though perhaps not really a four.
The film made from this in the 2000s was quite good.
]]> 122859501 299 Adrian McKinty Marie 4 Great read.]]> 4.25 2018
author: Adrian McKinty
name: Marie
average rating: 4.25
book published: 2018
rating: 4
read at: 2023/09/04
date added: 2023/12/19
shelves:
review:
I have a feeling Sean Duffy will be leaving the McKinty canon. If so, goodnight sweet prince. But whether or not, I loved and savored this book. Duffy is one of the best in the detective noir genre; a rounded, human character (or am I deluded?! Ha!)
Great read.
]]> 21283 400 Adrian McKinty 0743499484 Marie 4 Though almost unbearably violent, it was a satisfying second book in the Michael Forsythe trilogy.]]> 4.10 2006
author: Adrian McKinty
name: Marie
average rating: 4.10
book published: 2006
rating: 4
read at: 2023/08/30
date added: 2023/12/19
shelves:
review:
I will read just about any book by McKinty (except The Chain; can’t bring myself to read it), and I don’t know why this one eluded me for so long.
Though almost unbearably violent, it was a satisfying second book in the Michael Forsythe trilogy.
]]> 44321491 2021 Macavity Award Winner for Best Historical Mystery
2021 Sue Grafton Memorial Award Finalist
2021 Lefty Award finalist for Best Historical Mystery

This 1960s-era locked-room mystery takes Ellie Stone to Florence, Italy--a seemingly idyllic setting, which in this case has sinister undertones.

Florence, Italy, August 1963. In Italy to accept a posthumous award for her late father's academic work, "girl reporter" Ellie Stone is invited to spend a weekend outside Florence with some of the scholars attending the symposium. A suspected rubella outbreak leaves the ten friends quarantined in the bucolic setting with little to do but tell stories to entertain themselves. Deciding to make the best of their confinement, the men and women spin tales, gorge themselves on fine Tuscan food and wine, and enjoy the delicious fruit of transient love. But the summer bacchanalia takes a menacing turn when the man who organized the symposium is fished out of the Arno. "Morto." As long-buried secrets rise to the surface, Ellie must figure out if one or more of her newfound friends is capable of murder.]]> 344 James W. Ziskin 1633885526 Marie 4 3.67 2020
author: James W. Ziskin
name: Marie
average rating: 3.67
book published: 2020
rating: 4
read at: 2023/08/25
date added: 2023/12/19
shelves:
review:
Four is more for the location and settings than anything else.
]]> 63197811
In the fourth rip-roaring thriller in the award-winning Malabar House series, Persis and Archie travel to the old colonial capital of Calcutta, where they collide head-on with the prejudices and bloody politics of an era engulfed in flame.

'Beautifully written and a fascinating insight into the turbulence of post independence India' PETER MAY

'A sumptuous, brutal, heart-stopping thriller. Vaseem Khan writes with charm and wit, and an eye for detail that transports the reader entirely. I couldn't love this series more' CHRIS WHITAKER

Can a white man receive justice in post-colonial India?
Bombay, 1950

James Whitby, sentenced to death for the murder of prominent lawyer and former Quit India activist Fareed Mazumdar, is less than two weeks from a date with the gallows. In a last-ditch attempt to save his son, Whitby's father, arch-colonialist, Charles Whitby, forces a new investigation into the killing.

The investigation leads Inspector Persis Wadia of the Bombay Police to the old colonial capital of Calcutta, where, with the help of Scotland Yard criminalist Archie Blackfinch, she uncovers a possible link to a second case, the brutal murder of an African-American G.I. during the Calcutta Killings of 1946.

How are the cases connected? If Whitby didn't murder Mazumdar, then who did? And why?

'Post-partition India is subtle, intriguing and dynamic; the hero, Persis, is brave, intelligent and charming; the plot is complex and rewarding. I loved Death of a Lesser God' GREG MOSSE

'Blends a grippingly modern plot with gritty and unvarnished history. A vibrant thriller about belonging - and who gets to decide who belongs. A superb book and his best yet' WILLIAM SHAW

Breathless and brilliant, Death of a Lesser God propels Persis Wadia into dangerous and deadly new territory. Highly recommended!' D.V. BISHOP

'Crime fiction is a brilliant way of tackling social issues and, in Death of a Lesser God, Vaseem Khan delivers a masterclass in how it's done. Full of tension and political conflict, Khan brilliantly weaves in history and a deft portrait of post-Raj life in Bombay and Calcutta. The result is an immensely rich book' ALIS HAWKINS

'Tense, gripping and impressively plotted; Death of a Lesser God is historical fiction at its finest' WILLIAM RYAN]]> 376 Vaseem Khan 1399707620 Marie 3 4.17 2023
author: Vaseem Khan
name: Marie
average rating: 4.17
book published: 2023
rating: 3
read at: 2023/08/22
date added: 2023/12/19
shelves:
review:

]]> 1566056 Laidlaw]]> 0 William McIlvanney 0394734866 Marie 4 Excellent! 3.88 1983
author: William McIlvanney
name: Marie
average rating: 3.88
book published: 1983
rating: 4
read at: 2023/08/16
date added: 2023/12/19
shelves:
review:
Excellent!
]]> 36648331 2019 LEFTY AWARD FINALIST for Best Mystery

Ellie Stone, a young newspaper reporter in 1960s�� upstate New York, investigates a double murder at an abandoned stud farm near glamorous Saratoga Springs.

August 1962. A suspicious fire claims a tumbledown foaling barn on the grounds of the once-proud Tempesta Stud Farm, halfway between New Holland and Saratoga Springs, NY. The blaze, one of several in recent years at the abandoned farm, barely prompts a shrug from the local sheriff. That is until “girl reporter�� Ellie Stone, first on the scene, uncovers a singed length of racing silk in the rubble of the barn. And it’s wrapped around the neck of one of two charred bodies buried in the ashes. A bullet between the eyes of one of the victims confirms it’s murder, and the police suspect gamblers. Ellie digs deeper.

The double murder, committed on a ghostly stud farm in the dead of night, leads Ellie down a haunted path, just a stone’s throw from the glamour of Saratoga Springs, to a place where dangerous men don’t like to lose. Unraveling secrets from the past–crushing failure and heartless betrayal–she’s learning that arson can be cold revenge.]]> 299 James W. Ziskin 1633884198 Marie 3 Entertaining.
Creative.
Humorous at times.
It’s just hard to get beyond the extreme unlikeliness of Ellie Stone, young small city newspaper reporter, being in the thick of all these intense investigations. The credibility factor interferes too much for me.
Ah well, will probably read another in the series, if there are any more.]]> 4.02 2018
author: James W. Ziskin
name: Marie
average rating: 4.02
book published: 2018
rating: 3
read at: 2023/08/08
date added: 2023/12/19
shelves:
review:
3.5
Entertaining.
Creative.
Humorous at times.
It’s just hard to get beyond the extreme unlikeliness of Ellie Stone, young small city newspaper reporter, being in the thick of all these intense investigations. The credibility factor interferes too much for me.
Ah well, will probably read another in the series, if there are any more.
]]> 952162 224 William McIlvanney Marie 4 Laidlaw is, I think, considered to be the original in a line of Tartan Noir police detective series, so it would be churlish to fault him for the by now tiresome (to me) troubled, alcoholic, soulful, outcast-ish, self-destructive bleakness of the guy. I mean, I loved, loved Jo Nesbo’s Harry Hole for several books of his darkness, but finally reached the end of my affair.
So I read Laidlaw; more or less liked it. But won’t be reading any more in this series.]]> 3.84 1977
author: William McIlvanney
name: Marie
average rating: 3.84
book published: 1977
rating: 4
read at: 2023/07/30
date added: 2023/12/19
shelves:
review:
So I had to read this after seeing that the protagonist keeps Camus and Kierkegaard in his desk drawer, but of course. Too funny!
Laidlaw is, I think, considered to be the original in a line of Tartan Noir police detective series, so it would be churlish to fault him for the by now tiresome (to me) troubled, alcoholic, soulful, outcast-ish, self-destructive bleakness of the guy. I mean, I loved, loved Jo Nesbo’s Harry Hole for several books of his darkness, but finally reached the end of my affair.
So I read Laidlaw; more or less liked it. But won’t be reading any more in this series.
]]> 58690671 Brunetti is forced to confront the price of loyalty, to his past and in his work, as a seemingly innocent request leads him into troubling waters.

What role can or should loyalty play in the life of a police inspector? It's a question Commissario Guido Brunetti must face and ultimately answer in Give Unto Others, Donna Leon's splendid 31st installment of her acclaimed Venetian crime series.

Brunetti is approached for a favor by Elisabetta Foscarini, a woman he knows casually, but her mother was good to Brunetti's mother, so he feels obliged to at least look into the matter privately, and not as official police business. Foscarini's son-in-law, Enrico Fenzo, has alarmed his wife (her daughter) by confessing their family might be in danger because of something he's involved with. Since Fenzo is an accountant, Brunetti logically suspects the cause of danger is related to the finances of a client. Yet his clients seem benign: an optician, a restaurateur, a charity established by his father-in-law. However, when his friend's daughter's place of work is vandalized, Brunetti asks his own favors--that his colleagues Claudia Griffoni, Lorenzo Vianello, and Signorina Elettra Zorzi assist his private investigation, which soon enough turns official as they uncover the dark and Janus-faced nature of a venerable Italian institution.

Exploring the wobbly line between the criminal and non-criminal, revealing previously untold elements of Brunetti's past, Give Unto Others shows that the price of reciprocity can be steep.]]> 295 Donna Leon 0802159400 Marie 3 3.85 2022
author: Donna Leon
name: Marie
average rating: 3.85
book published: 2022
rating: 3
read at: 2023/07/05
date added: 2023/12/19
shelves:
review:

]]> 59660464
________________________

PI Varg Veum has returned to duty following a stint in rehab, but his new composure and resolution are soon threatened when a challenging assignment arrives on his desk.

A man is found dead in an elite swimming pool and a young woman has gone missing. Most chillingly, Varg Veum is asked to investigate the 'Camilla Case': an eight-year-old cold case involving the disappearance of a little girl, who was never found.

As the threads of these apparently unrelated crimes come together, against the backdrop of a series of shocking environmental crimes, Varg Veum faces the most challenging, traumatic investigation of his career.]]> 373 Gunnar Staalesen 1913193098 Marie 3 And will not read another.
My note on this was “writing: relentlessly florid��.]]> 3.91 1991
author: Gunnar Staalesen
name: Marie
average rating: 3.91
book published: 1991
rating: 3
read at: 2023/06/24
date added: 2023/12/19
shelves:
review:
I haven’t read anything else by this author.
And will not read another.
My note on this was “writing: relentlessly florid��.
]]> 40642338 Unto Us A Son Is Given. "The world we live in makes that necessary," Brunetti presciently replies. Count Falier was urging his Venetian son-in-law to investigate, and preferably intervene in, the seemingly innocent plan of the Count's best friend, the elderly Gonzalo Rodríguez de Tejada, to adopt a much younger man as his son. Under Italian inheritance laws this man would then be heir to Gonzalo's entire fortune, a prospect Gonzalo's friends find appalling. For his part, Brunetti wonders why the old man, a close family friend, can't be allowed his pleasure in peace. And yet, what seems innocent on the Venetian surface can cause tsunamis beneath. Gonzalo unexpectedly, and literally, drops dead on the street, and one of his friends just arrived in Venice for the memorial service, is strangled in her hotel room--having earlier sent Gonzalo an email saying "We are the only ones who know you cannot do this," referring to the adoption. Now with an urgent case to solve, Brunetti reluctantly untangles the long-hidden mystery in Gonzalo's life that ultimately led to murder--a resolution that brings him way more pain than satisfaction.

Once again, Donna Leon brilliantly plumbs the twists and turns of the human condition, reuniting us with some of crime fiction's most memorable and enduring characters.]]> 259 Donna Leon 0802129110 Marie 3 3.93 2019
author: Donna Leon
name: Marie
average rating: 3.93
book published: 2019
rating: 3
read at: 2023/06/19
date added: 2023/12/19
shelves:
review:

]]> 61416299
After the murder of a high-flying executive in one of Tokyo's wealth management firms, Detective Hiroshi finds himself investigating the financial schemes that secure the money of Tokyo's elite investors. His forensic accounting gets sidetracked, though, by a second murder and the abduction of two girls from the home of a hotshot wealth manager.

The abducted girls are the daughters of an international couple who seemed to have it all—a large apartment in the high-end Azabu district, top schools for the children, and a life of happy affluence. Their life falls apart and they are swept up in threats and pursuits for reasons they cannot fathom.

Tracking the money and tracking the two daughters leads Hiroshi into Tokyo's murky financial past and outside Japan's borders as he discovers how overseas investments and tax shelters are really managed.

Hiroshi works with Sakaguchi and Takamatsu and others on the homicide team, including an assertive new detective, as they confront greed and violence in one of the wealthiest cities in the world.

Azabu Getaway is the fifth novel in the award-winning Detective Hiroshi series.]]> 330 Michael Pronko 1942410263 Marie 4 4.32
author: Michael Pronko
name: Marie
average rating: 4.32
book published:
rating: 4
read at: 2023/06/10
date added: 2023/12/19
shelves:
review:
Totally enjoyed this. Yes, it’s a little bit Superman/Clark Kent, but fun in its exuberant chases, violence, escapes. Pronko’s writing is so much better here than the previous book in the series.
]]> 56775755 Transient Desires, the thirtieth novel in Donna Leon's masterful series, he faces a heinous crime committed outside his jurisdiction. He is drawn in innocently two young American women have been badly injured in a boating accident, joy riding in the Laguna with two young Italians. However, Brunetti's curiosity is aroused by the behavior of the young men, who abandoned the victims after taking them to the hospital. If the injuries were the result of an accident, why did they want to avoid association with it?As Brunetti and his colleague, Claudia Griffoni, investigate the incident, they discover that one of the young men works for a man rumored to be involved in more sinister nighttime activities in the Laguna. To get to the bottom of what proves to be a gut-wrenching case, Brunetti needs to enlist the help of both the Carabinieri and the Guardia di Costiera. Determining how much trust he and Griffoni can put in these unfamiliar colleagues adds to the difficulty of solving a peculiarly horrible crime whose perpetrators are technologically brilliant and ruthlessly organized.

Donna Leon's Transient Desires is as powerful as any novel she has written, testing Brunetti to his limits and forcing him to listen very carefully for the truth.]]> 288 Donna Leon 0802158196 Marie 3 4.23 2021
author: Donna Leon
name: Marie
average rating: 4.23
book published: 2021
rating: 3
read at: 2023/05/30
date added: 2023/12/19
shelves:
review:

]]> 15809704
My Venice and Other Essays will be a treat for Leon's many fans, as well as for lovers of Italy and La Serenissima. For many years, Leon, who is a perennial #1 bestseller in Germany, has written essays for European publications. Collected here are the best of these: over fifty funny, charming, passionate, and insightful essays that range from battles over garbage in the canals to the troubles with rehabbing Venetian real estate. She shares episodes from her life in Venice, explores her love of opera, and recounts tales from in and around her country house in the mountains. With pointed observations and humor, she also explores her family history and former life in New Jersey, and the idea of the Italian man.]]> 240 Donna Leon 0802120369 Marie 3 It’s a mix of lovely and nasty - but always well-written - observations, explanations, ruminations , on �� as she says, Venice and other �� things.
I love that Léon speaks her mind, unconcerned whether anyone may be offended! Along with her humor and political and cultural insights, even her prejudices are entertaining and well-presented.]]> 3.46 2007
author: Donna Leon
name: Marie
average rating: 3.46
book published: 2007
rating: 3
read at: 2023/05/20
date added: 2023/12/19
shelves:
review:
3.5
It’s a mix of lovely and nasty - but always well-written - observations, explanations, ruminations , on �� as she says, Venice and other �� things.
I love that Léon speaks her mind, unconcerned whether anyone may be offended! Along with her humor and political and cultural insights, even her prejudices are entertaining and well-presented.
]]> 13266636
In so doing, she finds herself reigniting a bitter family feud, discovering a heartbreaking story of a young mother caught up in the political tides of the Greek Civil War and forced to make a terrible decision that would blight not only her life but that of future generations.

The House on Paradise Street is an epic tale of love and loss, which takes readers from the war-torn streets of Nazi-occupied Athens through the military junta years and on into the troubled city of recent times - and shows what happens when ideology threatens to subsume our sense of humanity.]]> 340 Sofka Zinovieff 1907595694 Marie 5 There are basically three time periods in this novel, involving: communist resistance fighters in WWII, activists and collaborators during the generals�� regime in the late 1960s to early 1970s, and present day, 2008 (the book was published in 2012).
The narrative is elaborate, haunting, melancholic.
I ended up buying the print book after first reading a borrowed ebook; it’s a keeper.]]> 3.86 2012
author: Sofka Zinovieff
name: Marie
average rating: 3.86
book published: 2012
rating: 5
read at: 2023/05/03
date added: 2023/12/19
shelves:
review:
This is a very different kind of narrative of an expat (of any flavor) living in Greece. In this case the expat is an English woman, widow of an older, “larger than life��, politically active Greek man. She and her never-met mother-in-law, who returns to Greece for her son’s funeral after 60 years in the former USSR, are the main characters.
There are basically three time periods in this novel, involving: communist resistance fighters in WWII, activists and collaborators during the generals�� regime in the late 1960s to early 1970s, and present day, 2008 (the book was published in 2012).
The narrative is elaborate, haunting, melancholic.
I ended up buying the print book after first reading a borrowed ebook; it’s a keeper.
]]> 63235728
Following the destruction of his nightclub, Chinese American ex-pat Tom Lai now runs an import-export company for the Green Gang - Shanghai's ruthless crime syndicate. Tensions are again escalating between Japan and China and to make matters worse, Tom's debts to the Gang are suddenly called in to fund the war effort.

A glimmer of hope appears when a mysterious Russian émigré, Yuri Razinkov, shows up on Tom's doorstep. As a secret agent in the anti-Communist White Guard, Razinkov offers Tom a job in his private war against the Soviet Union. Smuggle a certain Russian out of Shanghai and Tom will earn enough money to square his debts with the Green Gang and start a new nightclub. Suspicious, but without any other options, he accepts.

The Russian in question is a Red Army officer - Colonel Andrei Borisenko - who's desperate to escape Stalin's brutal purge and flee to America. But other parties are interested in Borisenko too, namely Zoya Chaikina, a ruthless agent of the Soviet Security Service. There's also Tom's old nemesis, Jiro Fukuzaki, chief of Japanese Naval Intelligence, who now commands a small army of black-shirted Russian Fascists.

As Shanghai swelters under the summer sun, Tom finds himself trapped in a dangerous web of international espionage. Aided by his on-again/off-again girlfriend - the American Consulate officer, Liz Swanson - Tom peels back the layers of a conspiracy that's far bigger than himself or even Shanghai.

Book 2 of the Tom Lai series, Reds and Whites is a historical thriller, recreating the bygone world of 1930s Shanghai, from its glittering nightclubs to its smoky opium dens, in vivid detail.]]> 291 Matthew Legare 1957226021 Marie 4 4.14
author: Matthew Legare
name: Marie
average rating: 4.14
book published:
rating: 4
read at: 2023/04/22
date added: 2023/12/19
shelves:
review:
The setting is terrific, characters improving.
]]> 6065915 297 Brian McGilloway 0230701361 Marie 3 3.72 2009
author: Brian McGilloway
name: Marie
average rating: 3.72
book published: 2009
rating: 3
read at: 2023/04/15
date added: 2023/12/19
shelves:
review:

]]> 26860861
This book realistically reflects the "gray" situations that in which cross-cultural characters find themselves, habitant a world irrevocably altered by almost 400 years of colonialism.]]> 316 Sujata Massey Marie 4 4.12 2015
author: Sujata Massey
name: Marie
average rating: 4.12
book published: 2015
rating: 4
read at: 2023/04/02
date added: 2023/12/19
shelves:
review:

]]> 160969
Highsmith has once again, as Graham Greene wrote "created a world of her own, a world claustrophobic and irrational which we enter each time with a sense of personal danger". And that sense of danger grows from the first page to the sinister and chilling conclusion.]]> 270 Patricia Highsmith 0099282976 Marie 4 3.79 1962
author: Patricia Highsmith
name: Marie
average rating: 3.79
book published: 1962
rating: 4
read at: 2023/03/27
date added: 2023/12/19
shelves:
review:

]]> 427281 Deep Water, set in the quiet, small town of Little Wesley, Patricia Highsmith has created a vicious and suspenseful tale of love gone sour. Vic and Melinda Van Allen's loveless marriage is held together only by a precarious arrangement whereby, in order to avoid the messiness of divorce, Melinda is allowed to take any number of lovers as long as she does not desert her family. Eventually, Vic can no longer suppress his jealousy and tries to win back his wife by asserting himself through a tall tale of murder �� one that soon comes true. In this complex portrayal of a dangerous psychosis emerging in the most unlikely of places, Highsmith examines the chilling reality behind the idyllic facade of American suburban life.]]> 271 Patricia Highsmith 0393324559 Marie 4 What a dark and amazing (and creative) mind.]]> 3.64 1957
author: Patricia Highsmith
name: Marie
average rating: 3.64
book published: 1957
rating: 4
read at: 2023/03/17
date added: 2023/12/19
shelves:
review:
Highsmith’s books may not all be absolutely brilliant, but I have to say, each and every one of them kind of kills me a little.
What a dark and amazing (and creative) mind.
]]> 106807
In Izzo's novels, Marseilles is explosive, tragic, breathtakingly beautiful and deadly. Asked to explain the astounding success of his now legendary Marseilles triology, Izzo credits his beloved native city: "Essentially, I think I have been rewarded for having depicted the real beauty of Marseilles, its gusto, its passion for life, and the ability of its inhabitants to drink life down to the last drop." Fabio Montale is the perfect protagonist in this city of melancholy beauty. A disenchanted cop with an inimitable talent for living who turns his back on a police force marred by corruption and racism and, in the name of friendship, takes the fight against the mafia into his own hands.]]> 256 Jean-Claude Izzo 1933372044 Marie 5 Though gruesome at times, there’s a deep humanity in Izzo’s writing.
This is book two of a trilogy; I look forward to reading the third.]]> 3.87 1995
author: Jean-Claude Izzo
name: Marie
average rating: 3.87
book published: 1995
rating: 5
read at: 2023/03/13
date added: 2023/12/19
shelves:
review:
I loved this.
Though gruesome at times, there’s a deep humanity in Izzo’s writing.
This is book two of a trilogy; I look forward to reading the third.
]]> 59732782
In the depths of the Great Depression, Max Dietrich is a private investigator with few scruples and even fewer convictions, making a living digging up dirt on corrupt politicians. But times are tough, even for sleazy private detectives. When an old war buddy, Richard Osborn, offers a less-than-legal job, Max has little choice but to accept.

Max is hired to track down a cache of guns, stolen from the notorious arms dealer - Elias Haskell. As one of the hated Merchants of Death, Haskell is illegally profiting off a brutal war in South America, pitting him against the Roosevelt administration. Max soon learns that Richard Osborn is married to Haskell's icy socialite daughter Cornelia, and now commands the National Crusaders, an American Fascist Party.

Max descends into the strange labyrinth of 1930s New York City politics, filled with feuding Communist factions, Fascist paramilitaries, international intrigue, the munitions industry, crooked congressmen, and the wealthy elite of American society. At the center is a disfigured war veteran turned left-wing revolutionary -- Mike Rafferty -- who has his own plans for the stockpile of stolen guns. But a gun-crazy Communist is the least of Max's troubles.

Powerful forces are weaving a dark plot, and Max has precious little time to stop it before he, and the entire country, are devoured by it.

An American Putsch combines the tradition of pulp fiction with a forgotten episode of history, buried long ago in a turbulent era.]]> 317 Matthew Legare 1732309051 Marie 4 4.26
author: Matthew Legare
name: Marie
average rating: 4.26
book published:
rating: 4
read at: 2023/02/27
date added: 2023/12/19
shelves:
review:
There is some very sloppy writing at times in the book, but overall quite a good story.
]]> 11505253 Detective Inspector Huss.

One nurse lies dead and another vanishes after their hospital is hit by a blackout. The only witness claims to have seen Nurse Tekla doing her rounds, but Nurse Tekla died sixty years ago. Detective Inspector Irene Huss of the Violent Crimes Unit has the challenge of disentangling wandering ghosts and complex human relationships to get to the bottom of this intriguing case.

A cult hit in its first three installments, the Irene Huss series is available once again for English-language fans.]]> 336 Helene Tursten 1616950064 Marie 3 3.76 1999
author: Helene Tursten
name: Marie
average rating: 3.76
book published: 1999
rating: 3
read at: 2015/08/05
date added: 2023/10/30
shelves:
review:

]]> 17846913 256 Liam McIlvahney 0571239854 Marie 0 3.73 2013
author: Liam McIlvahney
name: Marie
average rating: 3.73
book published: 2013
rating: 0
read at: 2023/02/20
date added: 2023/07/19
shelves:
review:
DNF - abandoned early as I just couldn’t get into it
]]> 11036 148 Anaïs Nin 0156029049 Marie 2 3.74 1979
author: Anaïs Nin
name: Marie
average rating: 3.74
book published: 1979
rating: 2
read at: 2023/02/18
date added: 2023/07/19
shelves:
review:
Pathetic. Not erotic. Not remotely well written. Nin - self-absorbed narcissist- evidently felt her undeveloped notebook jottings were worth publishing. I adored this author in my early twenties. Somewhere into her several diaries, her incessant navel gazing chilled my ardor. Yawn.
]]> 507992
Detective Inspector John Rebus is buried under a pile of paperwork generated by his investigations into a suspected war criminal, and his immediate supervisors are more than happy to have him tucked away in a quiet backwater for several months. However, the escalating dispute between upstart Tommy Telford and Big Ger Cafferty's gang soon gives Rebus an escape clause. Telford is known to have close ties to a man nicknamed Mr. Pink Eyes, a brutal gangster running a lucrative business bringing Chechen refugees into Britain to work as prostitutes. And when Rebus takes under his wing a distraught Bosnian call girl, it gives him a personal reason to make sure Telford takes the high road out of town. Within days, Rebus's daughter is the victim of an all-too-professional hit-and-run, and Rebus knows that there's nothing he won't do to bring down prime suspect Tommy Telford--even if it means cutting a deal with the devil.

A chilling glimpse into the darkest extremes of human cruelty, a page-turning literary thriller, The Hanging Garden, the ninth entry in Ian Rankin's award-winning series confirms his reputation as a writer of rare and lasting gifts.]]> 349 Ian Rankin 0312969139 Marie 4 3 1/2 4.07 1998
author: Ian Rankin
name: Marie
average rating: 4.07
book published: 1998
rating: 4
read at: 2023/02/16
date added: 2023/07/19
shelves:
review:
3 1/2
]]> 49715 BUtterfield 8 was inspired by a news account of the discovery of the body of a beautiful young woman washed up on a Long Island beach. Was it an accident, a murder, a suicide? The circumstances of her death were never resolved, but O’Hara seized upon the tragedy to imagine the woman’s down-and-out life in New York City in the early 1930s.

“O’Hara understood better than any other American writer how class can both reveal and shape character,�� Fran Lebowitz writes in her Introduction. With brash honesty and a flair for the unconventional, BUtterfield 8 lays bare the unspoken and often shocking truths that lurked beneath the surface of a society still reeling from the effects of the Great Depression. The result is a masterpiece of American fiction.]]> 228 John O'Hara 0812966988 Marie 5 3.58 1935
author: John O'Hara
name: Marie
average rating: 3.58
book published: 1935
rating: 5
read at: 2023/02/10
date added: 2023/07/19
shelves:
review:
Like Appointment in Samarra, I first read this book eons ago. I really shouldn’t give this one a five rating, but I’m a gonna do it just because it’s as brutally existential as anything by Sartre or Camus, but with an American alcoholic deeply romantic pall over it that touched me sadly, deeply. O’Hara wrote and wrote, felt unappreciated, and regarding some of his work, justifiably. But when he was good, he was very, very good.
]]> 68768 Bible John killed three women, and took three souvenirs. Johnny Bible killed to steal his namesake's glory. Oilman Allan Mitchelson died for his principles. And convict Lenny Spaven died just to prove a point. "Bible John" terrorized Glasgow in the sixties and seventies, murdering three women he met in a local ballroom--and he was never caught. Now a copycat is at work. Nicknamed "Bible Johnny" by the media, he is a new menace with violent ambitions.

The Bible Johnny case would be perfect for Inspector John Rebus, but after a run-in with a crooked senior officer, he's been shunted aside to one of Edinburgh's toughest suburbs, where he investigates the murder of an off-duty oilman. His investigation takes him north to the oil rigs of Aberdeen, where he meets the Bible Johnny media circus head-on. Suddenly caught in the glare of the television cameras and in the middle of more than one investigation, Rebus must proceed wiht caution: One mistake could mean an unpleasant and not particularly speedy death, or, worse still, losing his job.

Written with Ian Rankin's signature wit, style and intricacy, Black and Blue is a novel of uncommon and unforgettable intrigue.
]]> 352 Ian Rankin 0312966776 Marie 3 4.08 1997
author: Ian Rankin
name: Marie
average rating: 4.08
book published: 1997
rating: 3
read at: 2023/02/05
date added: 2023/07/19
shelves:
review:

]]> 55663163 India’s only female lawyer, Perveen Mistry, is compelled to bring justice to the family of a murdered female Parsi student just as Bombay’s streets erupt in riots to protest British colonial rule. Sujata Massey is back with this third installment to the Agatha and Mary Higgins Clark Award-winning series set in 1920s Bombay.

November, 1921. Edward VIII, Prince of Wales and future ruler of India, is arriving in Bombay to begin a four-month tour. The Indian subcontinent is chafing under British rule, and Bombay solicitor Perveen Mistry isn’t surprised when local unrest over the royal arrival spirals into riots. But she’s horrified by the death of Freny Cuttingmaster, an eighteen-year-old female Parsi student, who falls from a second-floor gallery just as the prince’s grand procession is passing by her college.

Freny had come for a legal consultation just days before her death, and what she confided makes Perveen suspicious that her death was not an accident. Perveen, who strongly identified with Freny—another young Parsi woman fighting hard against the confines of society’s rules and expectations—feels terribly guilty for failing to help her. Perveen steps forward to assist Freny’s family in the fraught dealings of the coroner’s inquest, and when Freny’s death is ruled a murder, Perveen knows she can’t rest until she sees justice done. But Bombay is erupting: as armed British secret service march the streets, rioters attack anyone with perceived British connections and desperate shopkeepers destroy their own wares so they will not be targets of racial violence. Can Perveen help a suffering family when her own is in danger?]]> 360 Sujata Massey 1641291052 Marie 4 3 1/2 stars 3.85 2021
author: Sujata Massey
name: Marie
average rating: 3.85
book published: 2021
rating: 4
read at: 2023/01/28
date added: 2023/07/19
shelves:
review:
3 1/2 stars
]]> 40545212 ��
The royal ladies are in dispute over the education of the young crown prince, and a lawyer’s council is required—but the maharanis live in purdah and do not speak to men. Just one person can help Perveen Mistry, India’s only female lawyer.�� Perveen is determined to bring peace to the royal house and make a sound recommendation for the young prince’s future, but knows she is breaking a rule by traveling alone as a woman into the remote countryside. And she arrives to find that the Satapur palace is full of cold-blooded power plays and ancient vendettas. Too late, she realizes she has walked into a trap. But whose? And how can she protect the royal children from the palace’s deadly curse?]]> 360 Sujata Massey 161695910X Marie 4 I will read more Perveen Mistry books, though.]]> 3.98 2019
author: Sujata Massey
name: Marie
average rating: 3.98
book published: 2019
rating: 4
read at: 2023/01/25
date added: 2023/07/19
shelves:
review:
I did enjoy this book, but can’t help getting whiffs of riding a trend here. So many parallels with the Vaseem Khan series featuring the first female detective in 1950s Bombay: quirky personality, British love interest (probably not acceptable to family), indulgent father, etc.
I will read more Perveen Mistry books, though.
]]> 35133064
Mistry Law is handling the will of Mr. Omar Farid, a wealthy Muslim mill owner who has left three widows behind. But as Perveen goes through the papers, she notices something strange: all three have signed over their inheritance to a charity. What will they live on if they forefeit what their husband left them? Perveen is suspicious.

The Farid widows live in purdah: strict seclusion, never leaving the women's quarters or speaking to any men. Are they being taken advantage of by an unscrupulous guardian? Perveen tries to investigate and realizes her instincts about the will were correct when tensions escalate to murder. It's her responsibility to figure out what really happened on Malabar Hill, and to ensure that nobody is in further danger.]]> 385 Sujata Massey 1616957786 Marie 4 Great story 3.88 2018
author: Sujata Massey
name: Marie
average rating: 3.88
book published: 2018
rating: 4
read at: 2023/01/20
date added: 2023/07/19
shelves:
review:
Great story
]]> 58667529 An engrossing literary novel about a family mystery, revenge, and forgiveness by the bestselling author of Norwegian Wood and The Bell in the Lake

The Sixteen Trees of the Somme is an intricately plotted and enthralling novel by the award-winning author of Norwegian Wood and The Bell in the Lake. An international bestseller and longlisted for the Dublin Literary Prize, it tells the story of Edvard and starts at his family’s tree farm in Norway, where he was raised by his grandfather.

The death of Edvard’s parents when he was three has always been a mystery but he knows that the fate of his grandfather’s brother, Einar, is somehow connected. One day a coffin is delivered to the farm for his grandfather, long before the grandfather’s death –�� a meticulous, beautiful, and unique piece of craftsmanship with the hallmarks of a certain master craftsman –�� raising the thought that Einar isn’t dead after all. Edvard is now driven to unravel the mystery of his parents�� death. Following a trail of clues from Norway to the Shetland Islands to the battlefields of France and sixteen ancient walnut trees colored by poison gas in World War I, Edvard ultimately discovers a very unusual inheritance.

Spanning a century and masterfully navigating themes of revenge and forgiveness, love and loneliness, The Sixteen Trees of the Somme displays the rich talents of Lars Mytting –�� whose novels have sold over a million copies worldwide –�� in a story that is utterly compelling and unforgettable.]]> 416 Lars Mytting 1419762273 Marie 5 4.11 2014
author: Lars Mytting
name: Marie
average rating: 4.11
book published: 2014
rating: 5
read at: 2023/01/15
date added: 2023/07/19
shelves:
review:

]]> 492865 288 Timothy Hallinan 0380713721 Marie 4 3.86 1995
author: Timothy Hallinan
name: Marie
average rating: 3.86
book published: 1995
rating: 4
read at: 2023/01/10
date added: 2023/07/19
shelves:
review:
We’ll written and creative narrative
]]> 60310743 The second novel in the internationally bestselling Sister Bells trilogy, an epic, moving, and gloriously told historical novel following The Bell in the Lake, an Indie Next pick

The second novel in Lars Mytting’s powerful and compelling Sister Bells trilogy, The Reindeer Hunters is both a sequel to The Bell in the Lake and a stand-alone novel. Set again in fictional Butangen, Norway, where the story of the conjoined twin sisters Halfrid and Gunhild Hekne provides the mythical and mystical undergirding, The Reindeer Hunters unfolds around the extraordinary tapestry that portrays the sisters�� vision of Doomsday. After their death in 1613, the tapestry was��given to the village church and��lost at some point over the centuries.
�� �� ����
The year is 1903. Twenty-two years after the events of The Bell in The Lake, Astrid Hekne’s son, Jehans, is now a young man. Driven out by his family, he lives on a homestead in the mountains near the village of Butangen, where he relishes the freedom of his life apart, fishing and hunting for his livelihood. One August morning, Jehans kills a massive reindeer and at the same moment encounters an enigmatic hunter . . .
�� �� ����
At the new church in Butangen, Pastor Kai Schweigaard is living with the consequences of his past betrayal––arranging the dismantling and sale of the stave church––including deaths and the loss of the church’s mystical sister bells. Kai becomes obsessed with finding the ancient tapestry woven by the conjoined sisters in whose memory the bells were cast, with the hope that the tapestry will bring him redemption.
�� �� �� ��
Despite the unraveling legends from the past that continue to haunt these people, they must figure out how to look to the future. A magnificent story about love, sorrow, and courage, as well as taming waterfalls and the first flash of electric light in the village night, The Reindeer Hunters��is a grand and thrilling novel about what it takes to live in and embrace a new era.
�� �� �� ��]]> 448 Lars Mytting 1419759779 Marie 5 4.50 2020
author: Lars Mytting
name: Marie
average rating: 4.50
book published: 2020
rating: 5
read at: 2023/01/04
date added: 2023/07/19
shelves:
review:

]]> 7951334 A masterful, moving novel about age, memory, and family from one of the true literary icons of our time.

Ptolemy Grey is ninety-one years old and has been all but forgotten-by his family, his friends, even himself-as he sinks into a lonely dementia. His grand-nephew, Ptolemy's only connection to the outside world, was recently killed in a drive-by shooting, and Ptolemy is too suspicious of anyone else to allow them into his life. until he meets Robyn, his niece's seventeen-year-old lodger and the only one willing to take care of an old man at his grandnephew's funeral.

But Robyn will not tolerate Ptolemy's hermitlike existence. She challenges him to interact more with the world around him, and he grasps more firmly onto his disappearing consciousness. However, this new activity pushes Ptolemy into the fold of a doctor touting an experimental drug that guarantees Ptolemy won't live to see age ninety- two but that he'll spend his last days in feverish vigor and clarity. With his mind clear, what Ptolemy finds-in his own past, in his own apartment, and in the circumstances surrounding his grand-nephew's death-is shocking enough to spur an old man to action, and to ensure a legacy that no one will forget.

In The Last Days of Ptolemy Grey, Mosley captures the compromised state of his protagonist's mind with profound sensitivity and insight, and creates an unforgettable pair of characters at the center of a novel that is sure to become a true contemporary classic.]]> 277 Walter Mosley 1594487723 Marie 4 I loved this beautiful book. 4.08 2010
author: Walter Mosley
name: Marie
average rating: 4.08
book published: 2010
rating: 4
read at: 2023/07/15
date added: 2023/07/19
shelves:
review:
I loved this beautiful book.
]]> 31545269 2018 LEFTY AWARD FINALIST for Best Mystery
2018 MACAVITY AWARD FINALIST for Sue Federer Memorial (Best Historical)



February 1962: Tony Eberle has just scored his first role in a Hollywood movie, and the publisher of his hometown newspaper in upstate New York wants a profile of the local boy who’s made good. Reporter Ellie Stone is dispatched to Los Angeles for the story. But when she arrives on set to meet her subject, Tony has vanished. His agent is stumped, the director is apoplectic, and the producer is dead.

Ellie is on the story, diving headfirst into a treacherous demimonde of Hollywood wannabes, beautiful young men, desperately ambitious ingénues, panderers, and pornography hobbyists. Then there are some real movie stars with reputations to protect. To find the killer, Ellie must separate the lies from the truth, unearthing secrets no one wants revealed along the way. But before she can solve Bertram Wallis’s murder, she must locate Tony Eberle.]]> 303 James W. Ziskin 1633882810 Marie 3 3.79 2017
author: James W. Ziskin
name: Marie
average rating: 3.79
book published: 2017
rating: 3
read at: 2023/07/19
date added: 2023/07/19
shelves:
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]]> 27246061 Macavity Award Winner 2016
Edgar Award Finalist 2016
Lefty Award Finalist 2016

In the waning days of a lazy August holiday, Ellie Stone is enjoying a bright Adirondack-lake morning. Nearby, two men plummet to their deaths on the rocks below, just a few feet short of the water of a dangerous diving pool. A tragic accident, it seems. But the state police quickly establish that the two victims--one, a stranger to the lake and, the other, a teenaged boy from a nearby music camp--surely didn't know each other. That anomaly is strange enough, but what really perplexes Ellie is the out-of-place station wagon parked twenty yards from the edge of the cliff.

Wading into a slippery morass of fellow travelers, free-love intellectuals, rabid John Birchers, and charismatic evangelicals, Ellie must navigate old grudges and Cold War passions, lost ideals and betrayed loves. She sticks her nose where it's unwanted, rattling nerves and putting herself in jeopardy. But this time, it's her heart that's at risk.]]> 290 James W. Ziskin 1633881830 Marie 3 3.85 2016
author: James W. Ziskin
name: Marie
average rating: 3.85
book published: 2016
rating: 3
read at: 2023/07/09
date added: 2023/07/09
shelves:
review:

]]> 22926710 2016 BARRY AWARD FINALIST for Best Paperback Original
2016 LEFTY AWARD FINALIST for Best Mystery

December 21, 1960, the shortest day of the year: Fifteen-year-old Darleen Hicks slips away from her school bus as it idles in the junior-high parking lot, waiting to depart. Moments later the bus rumbles away without her, and she is never seen again.

New Year’s Eve, 1960: The small upstate town of New Holland, New York, is in the grips of a severe cold snap, when Ellie Stone receives a late-night caller—Irene Metzger, the grieving mother of Darleen Hicks. She tells Ellie that the local police won’t help her, that they believe Darleen has run off with some older boy and will return when she is ready. Irene has read Ellie’s stories in the paper on an earlier murder case and believes Ellie is her last hope.��

Ellie Stone is on a chilling journey to a place of uncertainty, loss, teenage passion, and vulnerability—where Ellie’s questions are unwanted and her life is in danger.]]> 317 James W. Ziskin 1633880486 Marie 3 3.92 2015
author: James W. Ziskin
name: Marie
average rating: 3.92
book published: 2015
rating: 3
read at:
date added: 2023/07/09
shelves:
review:

]]> 172366 36 Jorge Luis Borges 156792123X Marie 5 4.37 1941
author: Jorge Luis Borges
name: Marie
average rating: 4.37
book published: 1941
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2023/02/21
shelves:
review:

]]> 290680 160 Hilliard T. Goldfarb 0300063415 Marie 5 4.15 1995
author: Hilliard T. Goldfarb
name: Marie
average rating: 4.15
book published: 1995
rating: 5
read at: 2022/08/26
date added: 2023/01/11
shelves:
review:
Beautiful guide to a wonderful museum.
]]> 25430773
Varney wants two things: money Poke doesn’t have and a person Poke is unwilling to hand over. It becomes apparent quite quickly that there’s nothing Varney won’t do to secure his goals. As his actions threaten the foundation of Poke’s life in Thailand, the aging men of the Expat Bar discover that they might still be a force to reckon with.]]> 321 Timothy Hallinan 1616954469 Marie 4 Wistful, contemplative, philosophical, sad: a good ending, I thought, to the Poke Rafferty series. But it looks like there are actually more Poke books following this one? Not for me.]]> 4.08 2015
author: Timothy Hallinan
name: Marie
average rating: 4.08
book published: 2015
rating: 4
read at: 2022/12/18
date added: 2023/01/11
shelves:
review:
3.5
Wistful, contemplative, philosophical, sad: a good ending, I thought, to the Poke Rafferty series. But it looks like there are actually more Poke books following this one? Not for me.
]]> 12403191
Shchepkin admits that his own survival now depends on his ability to utilize Russell. The only way out for the two of them is to make a deal with the Americans. If they can come up with something the Americans want or need badly enough, then perhaps Russell will be forgiven for handing German atomic secrets over to Moscow and Shchepkin might be offered the sort of sanctuary that also safeguards the lives of his wife and daughter in Moscow. Every decision Russell makes now is a dangerous one.


From the Hardcover edition.]]> 443 David Downing Marie 3 4.02 2012
author: David Downing
name: Marie
average rating: 4.02
book published: 2012
rating: 3
read at: 2022/12/11
date added: 2023/01/11
shelves:
review:
This felt like drudgery; I dragged my feet through this book.
]]> 3016973 CWA Gold Dagger winner Mick Herron's debut novel introduces Sarah Tucker, whose search for a missing child unravels a murderous conspiracy.

When a house explodes in a quiet Oxford suburb and a young girl disappears in the aftermath, Sarah Tucker—a young married woman, bored and unhappy with domestic life—becomes obsessed with finding her. Accustomed to dull chores in a childless household and hosting her husband’s wearisome business clients for dinner, Sarah suddenly finds herself questioning everything she thought she knew, as her investigation reveals that people long believed dead are still among the living, while the living are fast joining the dead. What begins in a peaceful neighborhood reaches its climax on a remote, unwelcoming Scottish island as the search puts Sarah in league with a man who finds himself being hunted down by murderous official forces.]]> 288 Mick Herron 1841199346 Marie 4 3.65 2003
author: Mick Herron
name: Marie
average rating: 3.65
book published: 2003
rating: 4
read at: 2022/11/30
date added: 2023/01/11
shelves:
review:

]]> 126583 251 John O'Hara 0375719202 Marie 5 3.82 1934
author: John O'Hara
name: Marie
average rating: 3.82
book published: 1934
rating: 5
read at: 2022/11/17
date added: 2023/01/11
shelves:
review:
I read this book before, a few decades ago. Liked it at the time. I found it masterly this time around, especially for a work so early in O'Hara's writing career.
]]> 59808600
Tom Gauld returns with his wittiest and most trenchant collection of literary cartoons to date. Perfectly composed drawings are punctuated with the artist’s signature brand of humour, hitting high and low. After all, Gauld is just as comfortable taking jabs at Jane Eyre and Game of Thrones .

Some particularly favoured targets include the pretentious procrastinating novelist, the commercial mercenary of the dispassionate editor, the willful obscurantism of the vainglorious poet. Quake in the presence of the stack of bedside books as it grows taller! Gnash your teeth at the ever-moving deadline that the writer never meets! Quail before the critic’s incisive dissection of the manuscript! And most importantly, seethe with envy at the paragon of creative productivity!

Revenge of the Librarians contains even more murders, drubbings, and castigations than The Department of Mind-Blowing Theories, Baking For Kafka, or any other collections of mordant scribblings by the inimitably excellent Gauld.]]> 180 Tom Gauld 1770466169 Marie 4 Amusing
Some did make me laugh out loud
I was disappointed, though, at the dearth (paucity would be more like it, I suppose) of actual "librarians" in this collection of comic strips
My bad]]> 3.96 2022
author: Tom Gauld
name: Marie
average rating: 3.96
book published: 2022
rating: 4
read at: 2022/11/07
date added: 2023/01/11
shelves:
review:
Cartoons
Amusing
Some did make me laugh out loud
I was disappointed, though, at the dearth (paucity would be more like it, I suppose) of actual "librarians" in this collection of comic strips
My bad
]]> 48203 288 Willa Cather 1844083764 Marie 5 3.75 1925
author: Willa Cather
name: Marie
average rating: 3.75
book published: 1925
rating: 5
read at: 2022/11/05
date added: 2023/01/11
shelves:
review:
Cather was an astounding writer and quite the amazing person as well. Timeless, profound, existential -- these words all sound just a tad bit trite, but they are honestly descriptive of this book (IMO). I will be reading it again.
]]> 50157931 The engrossing epic novel—a #1 bestseller in Norway-of a young woman whose fate plays out against her village’s mystical church bells
��
As long as people could remember, the stave church’s bells had rung over the isolated village of Butangen, Norway. Cast in memory of conjoined twins, the bells are said to ring on their own in times of danger. In 1879, young pastor Kai Schweigaard moves to the village, where young Astrid Hekne yearns for a modern life. She sees a way out on the arm of the new pastor, who needs a tie to the community to cull favor for his plan for the old stave church, with its pagan deity effigies and supernatural bells. When the pastor makes a deal that brings an outsider, a sophisticated German architect, into their world, the village and Astrid are caught between past and future, as dark forces come into play.
��
Lars Mytting, bestselling author of Norwegian Wood, brings his deep knowledge of history, carpentry, fishing, and stave churches to this compelling historical novel, an international bestseller sold in 12 countries. With its broad-canvas narrative about the intersection of religion, superstition, and duty, The Bell in the Lake is an irresistible story of ancient times and modern challenges, by a powerful international voice.
��]]> 400 Lars Mytting 141974318X Marie 5 4.17 2018
author: Lars Mytting
name: Marie
average rating: 4.17
book published: 2018
rating: 5
read at: 2022/10/28
date added: 2023/01/11
shelves:
review:

]]> 61145829
MCM Investigations are back! Although Brigit isn’t sure for how long. Money is tight, business is slow and her partner, Paul, has been temporarily crippled due to her attempts to be in two places at once; one place being at the bottom of a ladder. It’s therefore manna from heaven when an old friend comes to them in need of help.

Deccie Fadden is that rarest of things �� someone who experienced a brilliant lockdown. He stumbled into his perfect job, where his ability to have an opinion on absolutely everything is, for once, an advantage. Now he is wildly popular and unpopular. Anyone who thinks you can’t be both at the same time has never experienced the joys of social media. It’s all fun and games until someone decides to kill him, which is when things get really interesting.

Deccie Must Die is book two in the MCM Investigations series, a spinoff from the Amazon bestselling, critically acclaimed and numerically infuriating Dublin Trilogy.]]> 310 Caimh McDonnell 1912897385 Marie 4 4.46 2022
author: Caimh McDonnell
name: Marie
average rating: 4.46
book published: 2022
rating: 4
read at: 2022/10/24
date added: 2023/01/11
shelves:
review:

]]> 46452 219 Eric Ambler 0375726764 Marie 4 3.66 1953
author: Eric Ambler
name: Marie
average rating: 3.66
book published: 1953
rating: 4
read at: 2022/10/16
date added: 2023/01/11
shelves:
review:

]]>