Dance of Death – Preston & Child

Dance of Death – Douglas Preston & Lincoln Child

Book 6 of Pendergast Series Books 2 of Diogenes

So I am not sick that often so when I am I really hate it!! The last two days have been spent nursing a bad cold. Yesterday I flt like I had been run over by a Mack Truck, Today I was better and the damage was done  by a pesky little Mini-Cooper which I believe just keeps circling the block and running me over just about the time that I think that I have this thing knocked!!

The only good thing about yesterday was that I finished Book 21 of 2015 Dance of Death by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child. Dance of Death is Book # 6 of t  the Aloysius Pendergast series and the second book to feature his twisted  sibling Diogenes. Dance of Death, along with The Book of Death and Cemetery Dance. I thought were the books in the trilogy that features Diogenes Pendergrast. Aloysus’ evil sibling.. Not!! In actuality, while Dance of Death is Book 6 and The Book of Death is Book 7, Cemetery Dance is Book 9!! read more

Endangered – C. J. Box

Endangered – C.J.Box – Joe Pickett Series # 15

Stealing an idea for a friend of Goodreads, I am going to start this review with the first paragraph of Endangered the latest Joe Pickett novel from C.J. Box….

When Wyoming game warden Joe Pickett received the call every parent dreads, he was standing knee-high in thick sagebrush, counting the carcasses of sage grouse. He was up to twenty-one

That simple paragraph sets the stage for the whole book and tells the new reader a lot about Joe Pickett. For those who don’t know Joe it lets you know that he lives in Wyoming and he is a game warden, but it also tells you that he is a caring parent Throughout the fifteen plus books in the series, Joe’s wife Mary Beth and children Sheridan, Lucy and April have been there, along with Joe’s mother-in-law Missy.now Templeton and Joe’s right-hand man and the families protector Nate Romanowski..If you do know Joe you know that the presence of those dead sage grouse will not make Joe happy and he won’t quit until h discovers who killed them. Oh and also that their slaughter may be associated with the book’s title Endangered. read more

Dreamless – Jorgen Brekke

Dreamless (Book 2 – Odd Singsaker Series)

Dreamless is the second book  from Norwegian author Jorgen Brekke and it’s a good one. The setting of the book is Trondheim Norway and the main character of the series is Chief Inspector Odd Singsaker. The book follows up where book one Where Monsters Dwell left off. Odd is still recovering and ,dealing with the effects of his brain tumor. He is now married to former American police officer Felicia Stone. All of the characters are still dealing with the aftershocks of the prior murder investigation, only to be immersed in an even more bizarre investigation, The new investigation starts when a young woman is found murdered,  her larynx has been removed and a music box stuffed in its place!!  The music box is playing a beautiful lullaby that no one has ever heard! read more

The Chessmen – Peter May

The Chessmen Book # 3 in the Award-winning Lewis Trilogy from Peter May

The Chessmen is the third and final book in Peter May’s outstanding Lewis Trilogy. The trilogy follows the life of ex-Detective Inspector Fin MacCleod as a returns to his home on the Isle of Lewis in the Outer Hebrides of Scotland. Through the outstanding writing of Peter May the reader is swept away to that rugged landscape and given a glimpse of the life of the people of live there.In this final installment Fin has left his former life and is temporarily living with his childhood love Marsaili. Fin has taken a job as head of security for Red River Estates. The Estates are experiencing problems with poachers and one of Fin’s first assignments reunites him with his childhood friend John Angus Macaskill, known as Whistler, who both poaches and lives on the Red River Estates. One night while pursuing Whistler across the rugged hills of the estate, they are forced to take shelter in a cave, The next morning they awake to find a loch in the valley of the hills has drained and a small aircraft is visible within the loch. The plane is the missing plane of a former friend Roddy MacKenzie, lost seventeen years earlier. When they explore the plane they find a decomposing body of a man who did not die in a plane crash but was murdered! Discovering the who and why of the murder will turn the lives of some of Fin’s closest friends upside down!! read more

February Reads – 1995 – Bill Pronzini and more!

Novels from Bill Pronzini, Frank McConnell and Vince Kohler….

Tonight I started thinking about books that I’ve read, and decided to look at my Goodreads Bookshelf to see what books I finished in February of 1995, 20 years ago,yeah right!  On February 04, 1995, I finished Liar’s Poker:A Harry Garnish Mystery from Frank McConnell, the 21st I finished Vince Kohler’s  Banjo Boy and on the 25th, I finished Shackles a Nameless Detective Mystery by Bill Pronzini. Of the three Shackles was my probably my favorite. While I don’t remember all of the details I do remember that it was a great read! In fact the book was nominated for an Anthony Award for Best Novel (It lost to Thomas Harris; Silence of the Lambs, tough competition! read more

Mystery Series Update: Books to Read to Start Three Great Series

As I looked down the list of Nook books that were on sale yesterday at Barnes & Noble I saw three books that are on my to be read (TBR) shelves, so here are those mystery series first books!! Maybe I’ll get to them this year!!

The Monkey's Raincoat1. The Monkey’s Raincoat Elvis Cole and Joe Pike – Robert Crais – I have read many of the Elvis Cole/Joe Pike books and the stand alone Joe Pike books. Holmes had Watson, Bolitar has Win, Joe Pickett has Nate Romanowski and ELvis Cole has Joe Pike, his right-hand man who can always get that questionable job done! I really don’t know why I haven’t read this book yet. Actually, I haven’t read the last couple of Crais’ books. Maybe reading this book would be a great way to get back into this great mystery series! read more

1990 – I discovered William G. Tapply’s Brady Coyne and Elizabeth was born! A great year!

Dead WinterI started to keep track of the books that I read  in 1988. I kept record of themin   A Book Lover’s Journal  and wrote short blurbs about the books. Here is a list of the 54 books that I read in 1990. That’s the most books read of any year, since I’ve   kept records! Reviewing the list, I see that it was the year I discovered William G Tapply’s Brady Coyne. After reading  Dead Winter, the eighth book in the series, which was released in 1989, I quickly went back and read the prior seven books! Tapply wrote 20 more Brady Coyne novels of which I’ve read 16.  Books #21 Shadow of Death and #25 One-Way Ticket are on my to be read bookshelves! Maybe it’s time to rediscover this great series! In 1990 the second most read  series was the Mongo Mystery series from George C Chesbro. I read four books from this series. From Goodreads…. read more

After a Great Read – Bad Things Happen by Harry Dolan – I can’t wait to begin Very Bad Man!

bad things happenA couple of Saturday’s ago, I was browsing through the books at Barnes & Noble and I came across The Last Dead Girl, Book # 3 in the David Loogan series written by Harry Dolan. On the dust jacket of the book I read that Stephen King called Dolan’s book Bad Things Happen   “a “great f***ing book“! When I came home, I went to my local libraries website and requested the book. I was captivated by the book from the opening sentence, the pages flew by and it quickly became Book 29 of 2014, and I agree with Mr King in is  a great f***king book! read more

Karin Slaughter’s Cop Town – Atlanta – 1974 – A Wild Ride!

Cop TownThe first Karin Slaughter book that I read was Kisscut, which is book #2 in Karin’s Grant County series. After finishing the book; I immediately went out and found Book #1  Blindsighted and read it probably faster than Kisscut. Since then I have read every book she has written which includes both the Grant County and the Will Trent series, which are now intertwined! Cop Town is Karin’s first stand alone novel and for her first book she went back  40 years and recreated wonderfully the  feel of a changing Atlanta in 1974. My wife and I lived in Athens, Georgia from 1975 to 1979 and I remember Maynard Ferguson and Reginald Evans quite well! read more

Book 30 – Unseen (Will Trent # 7) – Karin Slaughter

UnseenSo there may a few of you out there who are questioning why does this site have the words mysteries included in the title?? I will admit that September was a slow reading month resulting more music than mysteries appearing on the blog last month. However, I’ve still been reading and yesterday finally finished Book 30 for the year Karin Slaughter’s latest Unseen. Unseen is the seventh book in the Will Trent series couple that with the six books in the Grant County series and that makes a total of thirteen great books by Karin Slaughter!! read more