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.

[Suzanne]

I found a British author, new for me, who has written a slew of police procedurals. His name is Peter Turnbull, and his books are on the brief side, around 200 pages. Tidy little mysteries featuring a likable detective inspector.

[Philip Shirley]

Just finished Creole Belle by James Lee Burke. Really good read.

[Diane Donovan]

LOVE Burke; haven't read this! *Scuttle*...

[Suzanne]

Karin Fossum's latest, The Murder of Harriet Krohn, is not so good. Perspective shifts between the murderer and third person following the police inspector. I think the problem is that there was nothing about the murderer to like.

Mari Jungstedt's latest, The Dark Angel, was a little better. Although the identity of the. Underground was fairly obvious, I like Knutas, the police detective, who certainly has a few personal flaws.

Strange Bird is by an author newly translated into English. It combines a bird flu pandemic on Gotland with a police procedural. She's good at characterization. I'll be on the lookout as more of her books are translated.

Jan Willem van de Wetering's Tumbleweed is his usual high quality. I only have one or two more of his books to read; reading the last one will be a little sad because it is the last one.

[Jed Power]

"Carlito's Way," by Judge Edwin Torres. I read this when it first came out in "75." Great book made into a very good movie starring Al Pacino. I'd love to read "After Hours," the other "Carlito" crime novel, but the only ones I can find for sale are at least $35 bucks and my libraries don't have it.

[Suzanne]

Check Amazon for used books.

[Jed Power]

Thanks, Suzanne,but I've already checked Amazon, Abe Books, Alibris, eBay, and my regional library group. Apparently no one has done a reprint for a long time. Might be something for Hard Case Crime, Stark House Press, etc. to put out.

[I. J. Parker]

I'm reading Michael Robotham, I'M WATCHING YOU. A psychological thriller featuring retired police detective Ruiz and psychologist Joe O'Loughlin. The usual good, strong writing.

[Stephen Seitz]

I'm currently reading "A Virginia Girl in the Civil War," a memoir in which a woman recounts her life experiences during that period. It's research for a novel I'm writing on the Lincoln assassination.

[Susan]

Just finished reading Third Rail, by Rory Flynn, the first book in his new mystery series. I heard him speak on a panel at the Boston Book Festival. He read a brief excerpt and it knocked me out. I got the book for Christmas.

It's set in and around Boston and the series protagonist, Eddie Harkness, is a cop who's been kicked off an elite Narco-Intel squad because he failed to prevent the death of a young woman. And now he's lost his Glock and people keep dying from a mysterious new drug. Fast moving gritty story with offbeat characters. Flynn's vivid descriptions put me right on the mean streets of Boston. My only complaint: the switch from really dark situations to lighthearted joshing between Eddie and some of the other characters was a bit jolting.

But Flynn knows how to spin a good mystery with plenty of twists. I'd happily read his next book in the series.     

 

[Craig Sisterson]

I'm just about to start FIVE MINUTES ALONE by Paul Cleave. I've really enjoyed the earlier novels of Cleave, who has a ferocious prose style and a very dark with beneath the violence. FIVE MINUTES alone sees the return of Theo Tate and Carl Schroder, two guys who've bounced between being cops and private investigations work. An accident has Schroder - usually the straight arrow - taking vengeance on criminals by providing victims' families with the often-wanted 'five minutes alone'. 

[Karen from AustCrime]

Interested to see what you think Craig - I've just finished that one :)