A Scourge of Vipers – Bruce DeSilva September’s First Read

A Scourge of Vipers - Bruce DeSilva cover
So I’ve recently been recapping the six books that I read in August. So far I’ve only written about two of the books. Well, today I finished my first book  I have read in September and the 40th book I’ve read in 2020. Now, rather than not writing anything about books until I’m caught up writing about the books I read in August, I thought I’d write about book 40 while it’s still fresh in my memory!

The 40th book I’ve finished this year is A Scourge of Vipers by Bruce DeSilva. It is book four in DSilva’s series featuring newspaper reporter Liam Mulligan. read more

Dead Famous and Revolver Road Start July Right!

Revolver Road by Christi Daugherty and Carol O’ Connell’s Dead Famous are the 29th and 30th books I have read in 2020. I have previously read books written by both authors. Revolver Road is the third book in Daugherty’s Harper McClain series, which is to date is three books long. While Dead Famous is book 7 of the Kathleen Mallory series from O’ Connell.

Revolver Road – Christi Daugherty  (Harper McClain #3)

Revolver Road is the third book from Daugherty to feature newspaper reporter Harper McClain. And while it was a good read, I didn’t think it was as good as the first two books, The Echo Killing and Beautiful Corpse, books one and two respectively. read more

Torpedo Juice from Tim Dorsey is one Wild Rumpus!

Torpedo Juice (Serge A. Storms #7) 

Tonight, I finished Torpedo Juice by Tim Dorsey it is the fifty-second (52) book I have read in 2019. And while I will finish well below the goal of 72 books read I set at the beginning of the year, I will have at the least read one book a week for 2019. Which I think is always a great accomplishment.

Book 52 was Torpedo Juice book seven (7) in the Serge Storms series from Tim Dorsey. I reality wasn’t planning to read Torpedo Juice  at this time. In fact, I am in the process of reading three other books. Two of the books are mysteries The Chestnut Man by Soren Sveistrup and Only to Sleep from Lawrence Osborne.  The third is a thriller Games of Snipers from Stephen Hunter. However, the other night I decided with all this impeachment stuff and the abhorrent behavior of Trump, I needed to laugh more! I felt all this murder and mayhem was adding to my unhappiness. read more

November Reads – Part One – Providence Rag

After reading five books in October I only read three books in December. Reading fewer books over the last three months of the year has typical for most years since I began keeping track of what I read in the late 1980s.

I think it’s a result of all four sports being played during those months. So I’m watching more sports instead of reading. Over the last few weeks my wife and I have been babysitting our grandchildren Zoe and Logan more often. Consequently, that cuts down on the free time I have to read. Anyway, the three books that I did manage to finish this month, brought the total number of books I’ve read this year to 50! While that total is way below the number I challenged myself to read, I think it’s still a respectable total. read more

Desperate Creed Another Winner from Alex Kava

Desperate Creed  ( Book #5 Ryder Creed) by Alex Kava

So today in addition to running this morning, I also finished the 40th book I’ve read this year. The book was Desperate Creed by Alex Kava. Desperate Creed is the fifth book in Kava’s Ryder Creed series.

I became a fan of Alex Kava’s books after reading her debut novel  A Perfect Evil in June of 2003. By September of 2003 I had read the first of Alex Kava’s book. All of those  books featured FBI agent Maggie O’Dell. Since then I have read all but one of the twelve books that are included in the Maggie O’Dell series. read more

A Beautiful Corpse – Christi Daugherty

A Beautiful Corpse – Christi Daugherty (Book #2 – Harper McClain)

A Beautiful Corpse is the second book in Christi Daugherty’s series featuring newspaper crime reporter Harper McClain. I read the first book in the series The Echo Killing earlier this year. Both were really, really good. In both books the murders that form the core of the book have a connection to Harper. In The Echo Killing the murder eerily resembles her mother’s unsolved murder. While in A Beautiful Corpse the victim Naomi Scott a law student tends bar in an establishment that Harper frequents and where her best friend works. read more

Eighteen Below – Stefan Ahnhem – A Cut Above!

Well I didn’t do badly in writing in January,  it over the last week I have been slipping behind. Here’s a short post to try to catch up a little.

Eighteen Below – Stefan Ahnhem (Fabian Risk #3)

Yesterday, I finished my second read for February. It was Eighteen Below by Stefan Ahnhem. It is the third book in the Fabian Risk series. I read books one and two Victim without a Face and The Ninth Grave In 2018. The series has quickly become one of my favorites.

In this install Fabian a member of the Helsingborg crime squad……..

A Pause for some Geography – Where is Helsingborg?

Time out. It, time to learn a little geography’ read more

Steve Hamilton’s Alex McKnight is Back!! Yeah!

Books From Two Favorite Authors – Steve Hamilton and William Kent Krueger Arrive!

Back in July, I wrote a post to both remind myself and to let readers know that books from three of my favorite authors were being releasedt in August. The three authors,whose books were being released on August 21st, were Karin Slaughter, William Kent Krueger and Steve Hamilton.

Thanks to the post I remembered to go to my library’s website and request the books. At the end of last week, the books from William Kent Krueger and Steve Hamilton became available. My hold position for the Karin Slaughter release is 47 of 57. I guess we see who the favorite is! Folks don’t know what they’re missing out on, by not reading Krueger and Hamilton. Of course it works out well for me because I get to read the books! read more

Don’t Look For Me – Mason Cross (Carter Blake #4)

Carter Blake finds people who don’t want anyone to find them. For the last six years he  has  been one of those people. The reason why, revolves around Blake’s last days in the secret organization  known as Winterlong. During those last days an American Senator was assassinated and Blake became the prime suspect. In those final days the  Blake contacted his girlfriend Carol Langford and told her that for her safety she needed to go into hiding, too. When she finally decided on that course of action, she sent Blake a four-word note – “ Don’t Look for Me” and for six years he hasn’t! read more

Victim Without a Face – Stefan Ahnhem is a Winner!

Victim Without a Face – Stefan Ahnhem

Victim Without a Face is the first book in the Fabian Risk series from Swedish writer Stefan Ahnhem. I stumbled across this series when I was in the library last week.I found it was, when I was looking through the new releases, and the book , The 9th Grave caught my eye.

Once I saw the book was a Swedish mystery novel I figured it would be something I would like. However,  I saw  it was the second book in the series. Since there are only book two in the series, I figured I should go back and start with book one. Checking  the library catalog I discovered book one , Victim Without a Face was checked  in at the branch of the library I was in. So I checked it out! read more