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.

[Richard Krauss]

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.

[I. J. Parker]

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

[H. Ruhi Yaman]

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?

[Suzanne]

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.

[Suzanne]

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.

[Karen from AustCrime]

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...

[Karen from AustCrime]

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 :)

[Suzanne]

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. J. Parker]

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

[I. J. Parker]

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.

[Jed Power]

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

[Richard Krauss]

Well said!