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.

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SHOW YOUR WORK by Austin Kleon, an excellent follow-on to STEAL LIKE AN ARTIST. After you've done your work, how do you go about making it discoverable by people who'd be interested? Forget self-promotion, share your process.

Ruth Downie, RUSO AND THE DEMENTED DOCTOR. Mystery set in Roman Britain. I rarely read historicals, but Downie is excellent.  Highly recommended.

I am going through Duane Swierczynski's Charlie Hardie trilogy. I have finished Fun and Games in one night and the next day I am halfway into Hell and Gone with Point and Shoot already borrowed and waiting. Page turner though they are, I don't really know what to think. The plots are preposterous and the protagonist is both a cliche and an impossibility. Yet, I cannot put it down. It is pulp in the truest sense and maybe that is the attraction. Until last week I didn't know that the man existed. Has anyone else read these? Any opinions?

Quentin Bates' WINTERLUDE. Really like this series set in Iceland with a middle-aged female police detective. Author has empathy for all of the characters, even the "bad" guys.

Archer Mayor also has a basic love of humanity which shines through in his books. I just finished SECOND MOUSE. I love the title: "The early bird gets the worm, but the second mouse gets the cheese."

Just started Conor Fitzgerald's THE MEMORY KEY.
I agree that reading too many Robicheaux books gives you a feeling of terminal déjà vous. Also, I never became comfortable with his western series.

Burke's daughter writes pretty well.

Somewhere in the middle of the Cliff Hardy series by Peter Corris I found them a little less appealing for some reason - perhaps not quite as edgy, perhaps a slight sense of same old same old. But recent outings, particularly since Hardy and Mr Corris had their respective heart attacks, seem to give the series a second wind. It's obviously not the most realistic characterisation (Hardy's amazing agile for a man who has got to be in his 70s by now :) ) but I'm back as a welded on fan.

McKinty's Troubles Trilogy (although I heard a rumour he's going to expand the series) is terrific - great sense of place and time. But again a welded on fan of all his books - would read his shopping list if he let me...

Michael Duffy's got 2 out since The Tower - Simple Death features Nicholas Troy again but Drive By (the most recent) is unconnected.

I must admit I've tried and tried the Anna Travis series but they don't agree with me - the last one had me grinding my teeth so much I'm under dentist's orders to avoid all future outings :)

Just finished John Harvey's TROUBLE IN MIND, not a Resnick series book, but rather a cautionary tale of a returning vet with PTSD. Sad. As usual, well written.

Now in Jussi Adler-Olsen's CONSPIRACY OF FAITH, the second book in the Department Q series about an over-the-hill police detective working cold cases in A Scandinavian country (don't know which). So far, so good.

All of my favorite Scandinavian writers publish about a book a year, so I'll be reading them as they come off the presses.

I've just discovered The Open Library, a non- profit organization with the objective of having one web page for every book published! The page has a decent search function and identifies which books are available, either through the Daisy system (for the visually impaired) or generally available to all online. A good way to sample a new author before making a purchase. Additionally, a writer can submit to this system a page for each of his/her books.

I love John Harvey's books.  They are indeed well written.

Finished Peter Robinson's ALL THE COLORS OF DARKNESS. I'd read it before a long time ago. It was satisfactory.

Tried THE END OF THE WASP SEASON by Denise Mina, found it wordy, badly overwitten, wallowing in gore, and having an unconvincing abundance of f-words. Trying too hard for hard-boiled, I think. Anyway, I tossed it after 20 pages.

 

Started David Dickinson, DEATH AT THE JESUS HOSPITAL.  So far so good. The writing is fine.

Just read again, "The Vengeful Virgin," by Gil Brewer.  Hardboiled crime fiction doesn't get much better than that.

Well said!

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