Planned Parenthood Book Sale 2013 (Part 2)

A final post to highlight some of our purchases at the book sale.My husband and son are much more restrained than I. Here are lists of some of their purchases.

My son is into fantasy novels, and his choices reflect that.

Dread Brass Shadows by Glen Cook
In the Garden of Iden by Kage Baker
Mortal Engines by Philip Reeve
The Callahan Chronicles by Spider Robinson
The Road to Mars: A Post-Modem Novel by Eric Idle
Deathstalker by Simon R. Green

The first two of those are of particular interest to me. The Glen Cook novel is part of a series about a human P.I. in a world of fantasy. In the Garden of Iden is a time travel novel and the first in the Company series.

My husband's tastes fall in many genres:

Fiction:

truecrime by Jake Arnott
Homer & Langley by E.L. Doctorow
Devil Said Bang by Richard Kadrey
A Weekend at Blenheim by J.P. Morrissey
The Informer by Akimitsu Takagi
The Little Stranger by Sarah Waters
Eddy Deco's Last Caper: An Illustrated Mystery by Gahan Wilson

Nonfiction:

Double Cross: The True Story of the D-Day Spies by Ben McIntyre
Operation Mincemeat by Ben McIntyre
L.A. Noir: The City as Character by Alain Silver & James Ursini

Of these books, most hold some interest, with the possible exception of The Little Stranger, which may be too creepy and tense for me. L.A. Noir, about film noir set in Los Angeles, is on my list to read soon.

And the following books, with cover images, are some of my favorites that I found at the sale:

 
Sugar Skull (2003) by Denise Hamilton

Los Angeles Times reporter Eve Diamond usually works out of the paper's San Gabriel Valley bureau, but she's taking a weekend shift downtown when a distraught Vincent Chevalier breaks through security and demands her help. His fifteen-year-old daughter, Isabel, is missing, and the cops won't go looking for her until forty-eight hours have passed.

This book fits into my collection of books with skulls or skeletons on the cover. I have the first book in the series (unread) so I didn't buy it only for the cover.

Sugar skulls are decorations used for Day of the Dead celebrations. Usually they are edible, but the skulls are generally used for decorative purposes.

Dia de los Muertos or the “Day of the Dead” is a Mexican religious holiday. The celebrations start on November 1st, the day after Halloween. See more information on Day of the Dead or Dia de los Muertas at this site.

Photo by Nathaniel C. Sheetz at Wikipedia Commons.

Capital Crimes (2011) by Laura Wilson

From the author's web site:

It is winter in London in the early 1950s: John Davies confesses to strangling his wife and baby daughter. It promises to be a depressingly straightforward case for DI Ted Stratton of West End Central. When Davies recants, blaming respectable neighbour Norman Backhouse for the crimes, nobody, including Stratton, sees any reason to believe him. Davies is convicted and hanged. But after a series of gruesome discoveries, Stratton begins to suspect that there has been a terrible miscarriage of justice. 

A Capital Crime is based on two of the most notorious cases of the 1950s.

Reaper Man (1991) by Terry Pratchett

I know very little about the Discworld series, but I collect books with skeletons or skulls on the cover. And I will give this one a try, just to see what it is all about. What I am not sure about is whether I should read any other book in the series first. This was the eleventh published, but I understand that they are grouped into sub-series.

An Uncertain Place (2008) by Fred Vargas

Another book in the Commissaire Adamsberg mystery series. The link points to a list of the books in order at EuroCrime, which also has links to reviews.

This is the 6th in the series. I have read the first two and have the 5th one. So still looking for the 3rd and 4th ones (Have Mercy on Us All and Wash this Blood Clean from My Hand).
.

Death in a Cold Climate (2012) by Barry Forshaw

From the back cover of my edition:
'Death in a Cold Climate is a comprehensive and authoritative guide to the fictional underbelly of the Nordic psyche, whose popularity has become the publishing sensation of the century. Perceptive, witty and awesomely well-researched.' - Andrew Taylor, author of The American Boy

I have this book in e-book format and have read about two-thirds of it but I wanted a paper copy for easier access when I want to look up an author.
See Sarah's Review at Crimepieces
And an interview at the Rap Sheet blog

Slip of the Knife (2007) by Denise Mina
Also published as The Last Breath in the UK

Paddy Meehan has it all: flash car, flat, job as Scotland's leading columnist, and giant packet of biscuits all to herself, but the groggy bliss of a Saturday night in front of the TV is shattered when the police knock politely on her door, smiling sadly when she answers it. Someone close to her has died, but she's staggered when they tell her who it is.

This is the third novel in the Paddy Meehan series. Denise Mina has three series: the Garnethill series, the Paddy Meehan series, and the Alex Morrow series. I have read none of her books yet but I have read a lot of praise regarding her writing.

Poor Tom is Cold by Maureen Jennings

The third book in the Detective Murdoch series. My husband found this lovely hardback edition for me.  I have read the 1st one and have a copy of the second one on order.

Per a review at Publisher's Weekly:
The plethora of historical mysteries makes it difficult for a writer to carve out a time and place uniquely her own. However, Jennings has laid strong claim to the Toronto of the late 19th-century with the Anthony award-winning Except the Dying and Under the Dragon's Tail, and she cements her hold with this deft combination of mystery and social issues.

The Midnight Choir by Gene Kerrigan

I have one other book by this author (unread). The book is The Rage, and it had been highly recommended at several blogs. So when I saw this Europa edition in good condition at the book sale, I could not pass it up.

Description at Europa Editions:
A sophisticated crime story of contemporary Ireland, The Midnight Choir teems with moral dilemmas and Dublin emerges as a city of ambiguity: a newly-scrubbed face hiding a criminal culture of terrible variety.

First Wife, Twice Removed by Clare Curzon

I actually had another copy of this book, a mass market paperback. But this one with the skeleton hand I just had to have. I have been searching for years for earlier books in this series to start with, but now have decided I will read this one -- the eighth book in a series of twenty four books -- and see what I think.

Description from Fantastic Fiction:
Two disturbing deaths have Superintendent Mike Yeading's team spread out from the Thames Valley to Amsterdam looking for answers. As the investigations of the separate incidents develop in sinister parallel, the people of the Thames Police Force will confront more untimely death before tangled skeins come together to create a diabolical tapestry of murder.