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Currently on Eight Black Horses by EdMcbain, a re read.
Eight Black Horses
I want more books like this!

I finished another excellent short story collection by one of the writers behind many of the finest episodes of the original Twilight Zone TV series:


Night Ride And Other Journeys by Charles Beaumont
Rating: 4 stars
Review: /review/show...

and I started reading another Beaumont collection:


Yonder by Charles Beaumont

Because of the overlap of stories in Beaumont's various collections, I have already read many of the stories in this book.

I finished the crime classic:


The Friends of Eddie Coyle by George V. Higgins
Rating: 5 stars
Review: /review/show...

and I started reading another crime classic:


The Black Dahlia by James Ellroy

These are excellent books. The film of Friends of Eddie Coyle is riveting. Great acting and dierction.

Jay wrote: "These are excellent books. The film of Friends of Eddie Coyle is riveting. Great acting and dierction."

Thanks Jay, I've heard that about the film from a few people now. I'll have to try to track it down.

I finished another collection of stories by original Twilight Zone writer Charles Beaumont:


Yonder by Charles Beaumont
Rating: 3 stars
Review: /review/show...

As a result of finishing this collection, I have also read all the stories in these two Beaumont collections as was able to rate and review them as well - both are out of print but well worth picking up if you should happen to find them second-hand:


The Magic Man and Other Science-Fantasy Stories by Charles Beaumont
Rating: 4 stars
Review: /review/show...


The Edge by Charles Beaumont
Rating: 4 stars
Review: /review/show...

and I'm starting the final Beaumont collection, published posthumously and consisting of several unpublished stories:


A Touch of the Creature by Charles Beaumont

I finished:


The Black Dahlia by James Ellroy
Rating: 4 stars
Review: /review/show...

and I started reading:


Swag by Elmore Leonard

Also, as part of a group read, I started (and am already about halfway through):


The Bad Seed by William March

Simon wrote: "Also started reading Don Winslow's The Force. Only 27 pages into it, but I can already recognise Winslow's characteristic sense of humour and writing style."

I finished reading this recently. I'm interested in your thoughts. I know there was a lot of hype around it, but I thought it was pretty average.

I am currently reading Faceless Killers by Henning Mankell. Surprised at how it spends as much time on building atmosphere and the protagonist's incredibly dysfunctional private life as on the plot mechanics, though there's a couple of action scenes in here which feels too "Hollywood action movie"-ish to be believable in the context of the rest of the book.

As far as Winslow's "The Force" goes I will probably write a review for it in the near future.

I'm struggling with Jeff Strand - Graverobbers Wanted: No Experience Necessary , a sort of comedy/horror/ private investigator romp set in Florida.
It was great fun for the first couple of chapters, but the cringe comedy, the inept lead character and the crude college humor get old really fast.

Currently reading Leonardo da Vinci by Walter Isaacson and Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier.

I finished:


The Bad Seed by William March
Rating: 3 stars
Review: /review/show...


A Touch of the Creature by Charles Beaumont
Rating: 3 stars
Review: /review/show...

My two recent noir reads are those that are familiar to you.

Laura by Vera Caspary (My review)

Ride the Pink Horse by Dorothy B. Hughes (My review)

Elizabeth (Alaska) wrote: "My two recent noir reads are those that are familiar to you.

Laura by Vera Caspary (My review)

Ride the Pink Horse by Dorothy B. Hughes (..."

I really want to read both of those.

It was my first by Caspary. I look forward to others. I loved her writing style. I think it leans as more toward hard-boiled than noir, but the experts here may have something to say.

I finished the terrific and fun Detroit crime novel:


Swag by Elmore Leonard
Rating: 4 stars
Review: /review/show...

and I started reading:


Prizzi's Honor by Richard Condon

I started reading the Pulitzer-Prize winner:


The Way West by A.B. Guthrie Jr.

which is of course the follow up to The Big Sky which we read as a group last year.

I finished:


'Salem's Lot by Stephen King
Rating: 3 stars
Review: /review/show...

and I started reading:


Books of Blood: Volume One by Clive Barker

I'm about to begin Final Girls by Riley Sager.

I finished:


Prizzi's Honor by Richard Condon
Rating: 4 stars
Review: /review/show...

and I started reading:


Joe by Larry Brown

RJ from the LBC wrote: "I finished:


Prizzi's Honor by Richard Condon
Rating: 4 stars
Review: /review/show...

and I st..."

That's a really good book. I loved the movie, too. There are another couple of books, IIRC. I don't think they were as good, though. Been too long since I read them, though.

Jim wrote: "...That's a really good book. I loved the movie, too. There are another couple of books, IIRC. I don't think they were as good, though. Been too long since I read them, though."

Yeah, I liked it more than I expected to. The first three pages, which was sort of a very dry sketch of just about every character at the wedding, was really boring but the characters and the dialogue after that was interesting and amusing.

I just finished the three-book series of Thomas Kyd novels by Timothy Harris - all very good. I've been reading and planning to read mysteries from the 1980s. Some authors include Stephen Greenleaf, Jonathan Valin, Arthur Lyons, Robert B. Parker, Newton Thornburg and Charles Willeford (the Hoke Mosley books). If anyone has suggestions for other authors who were writing in the 80's, I'd like to hear from you. Thanks.

Just picked up a copy of "Women Crime Writers: Four Suspense Novels of the 1940s". "Laura" is one of them. Will start on it soon. Thanks for your review.

JF'd Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe by Fannie Flagg. CRing This House Is Haunted by John Boyne.

Maximum Rossi: A Las Vegas Crime Noir

Just started The Death Wish: Net Of Cobwebs by Elisabeth Sanxay Holding. She is a new author to me. I'm not far enough in to say she is either noir or hard-boiled, but definitely pulp.

I finished:


Joe by Larry Brown
Rating: 4 stars (but I could be talked into 5)
Review: /review/show...

and I started reading:


Tourist Season by Carl Hiaasen

I loved Tourist Season.
Right now I'm considering Hiaasen latest, the one where he mocks Trump

I finished:


Books of Blood, Volume Two by Clive Barker
Rating: 4 stars
Review: /review/show...

and I started reading:


Books of Blood: Volume Three by Clive Barker

Algernon (Darth Anyan) wrote: "I loved Tourist Season.
Right now I'm considering Hiaasen latest, the one where he mocks Trump"

That would be SQUEEZE ME by Carl Hiaasen (?)

ALLEN wrote: "Algernon (Darth Anyan) wrote: "I loved Tourist Season.
Right now I'm considering Hiaasen latest, the one where he mocks Trump"

That would be SQUEEZE ME by Carl Hiaasen (?)"

yes, I ordered it, but I have a busy schedule for the year end, so I'm not sure when I can start on it

I finished:


Tourist Season by Carl Hiaasen
Rating: 3 stars
Review: /review/show...

and I started reading:


Every Dead Thing by John Connolly

I finished the excellent Pulitzer-Prize winner:


The Way West by A.B. Guthrie Jr.
Rating: 4 stars
Review: /review/show...

which I mention because we previously read The Big Sky, the previous book in the "series."

RJ from the LBC wrote: "I finished the excellent Pulitzer-Prize winner:


The Way West by A.B. Guthrie Jr.
Rating: 4 stars
Review: /re..."

I struggled to get engaged with 'Big Sky', but intend to give it another try sometime in the near future.

The contrast between Boone Caudill and Dick Summers is, IMO, one of the most interesting I have read. It says so much about the American character as it was being formed by the western expansion. Redemption--what it is and who achieves it, or doesn't.

Currently reading: The Charleston Knife is Back in Town . Enjoyed the first in the series.
Good to see this 70's classic series by Ralph Dennis reissued.
I'm a third of the way through and am enjoying it so far.

I read Atlanta Deathwatch and liked it. I'll read more once the prices come down, though. Used cheap copies are rare. It's not like I don't have enough to read and haven't spent enough on books already this year. . . .

Paul wrote: "I struggled to get engaged with 'Big Sky', but intend to give it another try sometime in the near future...."

I did too. The early going was really hard for me and I almost gave up. It was I think about a third of the way through when I realized I was enjoying it and by the end it was a 5 star rating for me, and I don't give many of those out. The Way West is much more polished, but The Big Sky has these long, semi-rambling passages where the characters express their love of the wilderness and the Mountain Man lifestyle that are just amazing, which is why I enjoyed it the more of the two.

Jay wrote: "The contrast between Boone Caudill and Dick Summers is, IMO, one of the most interesting I have read. It says so much about the American character as it was being formed by the western expansion. R..."

I agree. I understand they meet again in one of Guthrie's later books but I haven't gotten that far in the series yet.

Girard wrote: "I read Atlanta Deathwatch and liked it. I'll read more once the prices come down, though. Used cheap copies are rare. It's not like I don't have enough to read and haven't spent eno..."

I have the entire series as ebooks. Nice to have hard copies, but there are few books i'm likely to read twice, so why bother with paperbacks.
When i had a library and had to relocate, it meant boxing up what seemed like tons of books. Eventually i left them in their boxes, then in storage and finally a charity shop.
I have over a thousand books on my Kindle Fire and 12,000 on my laptop. Easier to find that elusive book you know you have somewhere, but just can't recall where you put it:-)

I finished reading a book that lots of people love, but I didn't:


Every Dead Thing by John Connolly
Rating: 2 stars
Review: /review/show...

and I started reading:


Dark Places by Gillian Flynn

I finished:


Books of Blood: Volume Three by Clive Barker
Rating: 4 stars
Review: /review/show...

which is part of the larger collection:


Books of Blood: Volumes One to Three by Clive Barker
Rating: 5 stars
Review: /review/show...

and I started reading:


Books of Blood: Volume IV AKA The Inhuman Condition by Clive Barker

which is part of the larger collection:


Books of Blood, Volumes 4-6 by Clive Barker

Highly recommended for fans of horror or dark fiction. NOTE: graphically violent in just about every way you can imagine, and many ways that you probably can't.

Solomons Seal : a pulpy thriller about a perilous voyage to the Western Pacific Islands, with some vague echoes of Joseph Conrad

Jay wrote: "These are excellent books. The film of Friends of Eddie Coyle is riveting. Great acting and dierction."

Great movie and book. Possibly Robert Mitchum's greatest, albeit understated, role of his career.

Have started Beast In View by Margaret Millar. Only about 20% in, but I can flatly say that I joined this group to learn about such authors. The opening page is fabulous. I can visualize an old black and white movie, maybe with Joan Crawford.

Elizabeth (Alaska) wrote: "Have started Beast In View by Margaret Millar. Only about 20% in, but I can flatly say that I joined this group to learn about such authors. The opening page is fabulous..."

We read Beast In View as a group in March of 2019. What a great book.

Lawrence wrote: "...We read Beast In View as a group in March of 2019. What a great book."

Amen to that.

It is superb psychological fiction. She is in the same league as Patricia Highsmith, Vera Caspary and Dorothy B. Hughes for women writing such in approximately the same period. A GR friend also likes Celia Fremlin of a similar period in time.