What are you currently reading?

[QualityBookReviews]

An open discussion on what everyone is currently reading. Make recommendations to others, discuss what is new, hot, bestsellers, anything and everything related to books and the authors.

[H. Ruhi Yaman]

Finished Gar Anthony Haywood's Cemetery Road. It was carefully plotted and well-written in an unexceptional way. Apart from obvious Walter Mosley influences, there was an oddly old-fashioned, 'haven't I been here before', feel about it.

Reading David J. Schow's Intercine. Fun, so far. I was led to this one after finishing Duane Swierczynski's crazy, racy Charlie Hardie trilogy. I enjoy tracing influences.

[Karen from AustCrime]

Happily reading a heap of local books - No Witness, No Case by ex Vic-POL AC Bill Robertson, How I Became the Mr Big of People Smuggling by Martin Chambers, and last night finished St Kilda Blues by Geoffrey McGeachin - the third in the Charlie Berlin series (the first two books having won the Ned Kelly Best Crime).

Next up is Thornydevils by TW Lawless that starts off talking about the Truth newspaper which I'm old enough to get a laugh over...

[Suzanne]

Mark Billingham - THE DYING HOURS - usual quality

Brian Pinkerton - KILLING THE BOSS - novel consists of documents, as in a police file, a little contrived, but a good writing exercise

Geraldine Evans - DEAD BEFORE MORNING - breezy and chatty, way too many adverbs and adjectives, just awful

Peter Turnbull - FEAR OF DROWNING - very traditional British police procedural, okay, but not terrific

And now for the ultimate in awfulness - Jussi Adler-Olsen - A CONSPIRACY OF FAITH.  This is the second in a series of an old police detective working cold cases in the basement.  This book is 505 pages, and the police detection part of the prose probably doesn't reach 25%.  This is all personal back story and VERY boring.  These characters belong in the basement.

Finally, a good one:  Stuart MacBride - COLD GRANITE - I think I avoided this author because I read somewhere that his stuff was gritty and graphic.  This one isn't.  Likable police detective in Aberdeen, Scotland.  His descriptive narrative is terrific. 

[I. J. Parker]

I like police procedurals, especially with human stories attached. May have a look at Turnbull and Adler-Olsen.

 

MacBride is very good!

[I. J. Parker]

After being impressed initally by Ruth Downie, I have just returned 3 of her books to the library unread. It got to be too much the same thing.

Also returned, with a certain amount of Irritation, Peter Robinson. The man writes anything to death. An enormous number of unnecessary words!

Got rid of after the start, a Finder novel in audio. Big bestseller, it appears, and utterly boring stuff.

Still listening to Fowler, who writes about two elderly detectives who solve cases in a humorous way. Will probably discard this. Apparently they work with mediums and other hokus-pokus.

Sigh!  There's nothing to read. Am rereading the old Dick Francis novels.

[Suzanne]

THE HYPNOTIST by Lars Kepler. Good at building suspense.

[Richard Krauss]

Currently half way through Crimewave #12 themed "hurts," code for grief and loss. Quite a nice collection of short stories. 

[Karen from AustCrime]

Been very lucky recently to read a number of this years entries in the Ngaio Marsh Awards (NZ) - so Joe Victim by Paul Cleave, The Luminaries by Eleanor Catton, The Beckoning Ice by Joan Druett, Frederick's Coat by Allan Duff, My Brother's Keeper by Donna Malane, Cross Fingers by Paddy Richardson and Where the Dead Men Go by Liam McIllvaney. Next up is another NZer Only the Dead by Ben Sanders and Marble Bar by Australian author Robert Schofield.

[Karen from AustCrime]

Be interested to hear what you think about A Madras Miasma Colman - read that one last month

[Sue Coletta]

Fractured by Karin Slaughter. Just finished TripTych by her and loved it!

[Suzanne]

Quentin Bates' COLD STEAL - good, but not as good as earlier books in the series

Grace Brophy's LAST ENEMY - a strange, little book.  It was a police procedural, but read like a cozy.  I stopped reading at the midpoint, but checked on the last page to see the results. 

Mari Jungsted's THE DEAD OF SUMMER - I have liked all of the books in this series.  Based on the described scene, I would like to visit Gotland.  There is a PBS tv series on the books.  I'm in the middle of this book and just realized that I had seen the tv version.  I didn't notice at first because, the tv version started  with the second murder.   I will finish the book because author writes so well.

[Karen from AustCrime]

Having just finished Claustrophobia by Tracy Ryan, I'm currently reading a non-fiction book to be followed by Challenge by Paul Dalley or the latest Sulari Gentill book A Murder Unmentioned, or ....