Reading Bingo 2017

This is the first year that I have participated in the Reading Bingo meme. I saw posts at Bernadette's Reactions to Reading and Marina Sofia's findingtimetowrite and was motivated to give it a try.

The value of looking at the year's reading this way is that I notice changes in my reading more. I read less spy fiction this year, and less science fiction and fantasy. I did read more classics from my classics list. All in all, it was a great reading year.

A book with more than 500 pages

Doomsday Book (1992) is the first novel in the Oxford Time Travel Series by Connie Willis. The story begins in the 2050s when time travel has been successful in some cases, but is in the hands of historians at Oxford University. Kivrin Engel, a student of Mediaeval History, is preparing to go back to the Middle Ages, 1320 to be exact, and Professor James Dunworthy is helping her prepare. After Kivrin has been transferred back in time, the story is told in alternating sections, following Kivrin's experiences in the earlier time, and Dunworthy's efforts to recover her from the past. One of my top reads this year.

A forgotten classic

Laura (1943) by Vera Caspary. I don't know how one defines a forgotten classic, but in my book, this is one. In this novel, Laura Hunt, a successful career woman working for an advertising firm, has been murdered in her apartment. She was shot at close range with BB shot as she opened the door of her apartment to a visitor. Mark McPherson starts his investigation of the case by interviewing the two men who cared for her most, Waldo Lydecker, her friend and mentor, and Shelby J. Carpenter, her fiance. The movie based on this  book is much better known, and both are very good. 

A book that became a movie

The Rainbird Pattern (1972) by Victor Canning is the 2nd book in a loose series called the Birdcage books. They all revolve around a covert security group in the UK, a branch of the Ministry of Defense. There are two distinct plot lines. One deals with a kidnapping plot; the reader follows the agents of the Department as they investigate two previous kidnappings. The second plot involves an elderly woman's search for her sister's child, put up for adoption decades earlier. The book was made into a film, titled Family Plot, by Alfred Hitchcock. The story was changed and the film has a humorous tone. I enjoyed both versions but the book was fantastic.

A book published this year

A Patient Fury (2017) is the third DC Childs mystery, written by Sarah Ward.  The series is set in the Derbyshire Peak District where the author lives. Sarah Ward's books all concentrate to some extent on families and their bonds and relationships. The characterizations are superb and the story is riveting. I have been a fan of the series since it started and this book did not disappoint. One of my favorite reads this year.

A book with a number in the title

The Clock Strikes Twelve (1944) is the 7th book in the Miss Maud Silver series by Patricia Wentworth. James Paradine, the patriarch of the Paradine family, announces at a family dinner on New Year's Eve that one of his guests has betrayed the interests of the family. By midnight he is dead. Just about everyone in the family is considered a suspect, some more than others, and one of the heirs brings in Miss Silver to clear things up. i had not read any books from this series for a while, and I enjoyed this one a lot.

A book written by someone under 30

I have no books to fit this square.

A book with non human characters

I had a hard time categorizing The 13 Clocks (1950) by James Thurber and I haven't reviewed it yet. It is sort of a fairy tale, but not really. I don't think it was written for children specifically but I am sure that it has been read to many children. It is whimsical and fun.

A funny book

The author of Brothers Keepers (1975), Donald E. Westlake, is primarily known for his crime fiction, but this is not a crime story. It is a caper, and very humorous. Brother Benedict is a member of the Crispinite order, numbering only 16 monks, which has occupied a building in midtown Manhattan, built by the original monks on leased land. Brother Benedict discovers in the newspaper that the building that they are housed in will be demolished along with the rest of the block they live on. The rest of the book is about Brother Benedict and the rest of his order, trying to save their building. Along the way, he falls in love with the landlord's daughter.

A book by a female author

The Renewable Virgin (1984)by Barbara Paul, set in New York City, is the first of seven books in the Marian Larch series. Rudy Benedict, a screenwriter, dies after taking poison in a headache remedy. Kelly Ingram is his friend (and almost lover) who plays a continuing role as a beautiful, dumb blonde in the TV show (described as "Harry O in the Big Apple") that Rudy sometimes wrote for. The three women affected by Rudy’s death tell the story in alternating chapters -- Kelly; Rudy's mother, Fiona; and Marian Larch, a homicide detective. The story was written and set in the early 1980's and thus reflects the experiences of women in the workplace at the time.

A book with a mystery

The Likeness (2008) was the sequel to Tana French’s debut, In the Woods. That book featured two detectives in the Murder Squad in Dublin, Ireland, Rob Ryan and Cassie Maddox. In The Likeness, Cassie is now working in Domestic Violence at police headquarters, but a unique opportunity arises for her to go undercover, taking up an identity she used previously when she worked in the Undercover division. This is not a perfect book but very close. Also a Chunkster (466 pages).

A book with a one word title

Persuasion (1818) by Jane Austen is the story of Anne Elliot, the middle child in a family of three girls; at the time of the book she is 27 years old. She lives with her father and her older sister; her mother died with she was young. Her younger sister is married with several children. The members of her family are pretty ghastly, self-centered to the extreme. Anne on the other hand is sensible, intelligent, considerate, and willing to help out where needed. She also has a long lost love that comes back into her life. This was the fifth book by Jane Austen that I read this year, and it is tied with Pride and Prejudice as my favorite novel by that author.

A book of short stories

Game Without Rules by Michael Gilbert is a book of short stories about two middle-aged spies. I loved every story. The book was published in 1967; the stories had been published in Argosy between 1962 and 1967. The protagonists only show up in two books of short stories and I am in the middle of reading the second set of stories, titled Mr Calder & Mr Behrens.

Free Square

I saved this spot for a book by my favorite author: Over My Dead Body by Rex Stout. It is the 7th book in the Nero Wolfe series, published in 1940. Nero Wolfe is a genius, a lover of orchids and fine food, who supports himself (and his household) as a private detective. Archie Goodwin, the narrator of the stories, is both his assistant and a private investigator, and he does most of the legwork. They live in a New York brownstone and share the house with Theodore, the plant expert, and Felix, Wolfe's cook. The story centers on a woman who claims to be Nero Wolfe's long-lost adopted daughter. The story was published after the war in Europe had started but the U.S. was not yet involved and it involves international intrigue. And in this book we get a peek at some of Wolfe's background and his activities in Montenegro when he was a young man.

A book set on a different continent

Cocaine Blues (1989) is the first book in Kerry Greenwood's long running series about Phryne Fisher, a rich young woman who leaves a life of leisure in London to become a lady detective in Melbourne, Australia. This book exceeded my expectations. I knew the heroine was an adventuress, and the setting was in the late 1920s, so my assumptions were that it would be cozyish and very unrealistic. The unrealistic part may be true but this book was such fun to read that I did not care. It was a very refreshing read.

A book of non-fiction

The Getaway Car (2014) is another book by Donald E. Westlake, but this time it is a collection of non-fiction pieces by him. They include appreciations of other crime fiction authors, interviews (of Westlake, by others), and letters. There is a wonderful essay by his wife, Abby Adams Westlake, about "Living with a Mystery Writer." I enjoyed reading about his experiences with having his books translated into film, and his experiences as a screenwriter. No matter what he is writing about, Westlake is entertaining. 

The first book by a favourite author

The John Putnam Thatcher series by Emma Lathen is one of my favorite series of mystery novels. Banking on Death (1961) is the first in the series, and I reread it recently because the story is set around Christmas. Thatcher, senior vice president and director of the trust department of Sloan Guaranty Trust on Wall Street, is the protagonist of this series totaling 24 books. Most of the books are focused on one type of business that is using the services of the Sloan, and the story shares many facts about the running of the specific types of businesses. But in this first book, the focus is on the business of the Sloan, the third largest bank in the world. And the issue that starts the story is a query into the status of a small trust that the Sloan has been managing for close to thirty years. I have read this book at least three times and I enjoy it every time.

A book you heard about online

Back in 2015 Moira at Clothes in Books alerted me to this book -- Their Finest (2009) by Lissa Evans, set in the the UK in 1940 and 1941. The story is about a young female copywriter who gets an assignment to the Ministry of Information, writing parts of scripts for a WWII propaganda film. That alone would be an interesting subject, but the story follows several other people associated with the filming. Each one provides a different view of the UK during the war. It is a lovely story, very humorous and moving. A film adaptation of the book came out in 2016, starring Bill Nighy, Gemma Arterton, and Sam Ciaflin. The original title of the book was Their Finest Hour and a Half.

A best selling book

I usually don't read books that are best sellers but I ended up reading The Cuckoo's Calling by Robert Galbraith (pseudonym of J.K. Rowling) based on good reviews by trusted bloggers. Unfortunately this book did not become a best seller until people realized that the author was Rowling. That seems very sad to me. I did enjoy this book quite a bit; I liked the characters and the story was told very well. It could have been shorter though.

A book based on a true story 

I have read no books in this category.

A book from the bottom of your TBR pile

The Bourne Identity (1980) by Robert Ludlum. As this book starts, a man has been fished out of the Mediterranean Sea, barely alive. He has amnesia from head trauma. The story is about his search for who he is. I had owned this book for at least 15 years. Espionage fiction is one of my favorite sub-genres and I don't know why I put off reading such a well-known book in the genre. (Maybe because it is so long: 535 pages.) It falls more in the action thriller area than most spy fiction I enjoy, and it did require me to suspend disbelief quite a bit. Yet, for the most part, the journey Bourne takes to learn his real identity makes sense.

A book your friend loves

This category gives me a chance to highlight two related books: Red Bones (2009) and Blue Lightning (2010), two books in the Shetland series by Ann Cleeves. In 2017 I loaned Red Bones to a friend at work and she loved it so much she convinced me to read it too. It had been sitting on the TBR pile too long. What do I like about this series? Although I find this to be a slowly paced series, with the main detective, Jimmy Perez, indulging in a lot of musing about his relationships and his future, it does have a combination of good storytelling, good characters, and the wonderful setting of the Shetland Islands. And another big plus is that there is variety in each book.

A book that scares you

Patricia Highsmith is known for her dark, suspense-filled novels. This year I read my first book by her: Strangers on a Train (1950). The basic story is that two men meet on a train, and one of them suggests a murder pact. If they each murder a person that the other wants to get rid of, then they can get away with the perfect crime. A very good novel, but a disturbing read. I read the first 100 pages enjoying Highsmith's wonderful way with telling a story, but beyond that point I had to slow down and only read a bit of it a day. It was too intense. There is also a well-known movie adaptation, directed by Alfred Hitchcock. Also very good, but the book has more depth.

A book that is more than 10 years old

Most of the books I read were written before 2000, and probably half of those were written before 1960. So it is not hard to pick a book for this category. Farewell, my Lovely (1940) is the 2nd book by Raymond Chandler featuring Philip Marlowe. The plot was convoluted and circuitous and I was lost at times, but I did not care. The style of writing was so well done, so beautiful that I was mesmerized. The picture of Los Angeles in 1940 was interesting, the characters were well defined, and the descriptions of the area and the characters were breath-taking.

The second book in a series

A Fountain Filled with Blood (2003) is the second mystery in the Reverend Clare Fergusson/Russ Van Alstyne series by Julia Spencer-Fleming. Clare Fergusson has left her job in the military as a helicopter pilot to become an Episcopal priest in the small town of Miller's Kill, New York. Russ Van Alstyne is the police chief and they seem to run into each other a lot. As the citizens of Miller's Kill, New York head into the July 4th weekend, two gay men are severely beaten in separate incidents. When another man, also homosexual, is killed, Russ must figure out if the crimes are connected. Mixed in with this are conflicts within the town over development of a luxury spa and environmental issues. I don't know why I like this series so much but I do. 

A book with a blue cover

The Butcher's Boy was Thomas Perry's debut novel; it won the Edgar for Best First Novel of 1982. The two main characters are a professional killer with no name and Elizabeth Waring, an analyst for the Department of Justice. They are both very good at what they do. I liked the way the story develops, with two main story lines, one following the killer and one following Elizabeth Waring. Although the killer is not likable, and has little personality, it is interesting to watch him work and follow his thought processes when he runs into problems. Elizabeth is highly intelligent and a talented analyst, but she has to watch how she behaves with her superiors, because she is a woman.

Reading in November 2017

In November I read nine books; only six of them were crime fiction. In the non-crime related group, we have:

The 13 Clocks (1950) by James Thurber

This book is sort of a fairy tale, but not really. I don't think it was written for children specifically but I am sure that it has been read to many children. I am also sure I will be reading this again a couple of times before I try to write about it.

The best way to introduce this book is with a quote from the beginning paragraph:

Once upon a time, in a gloomy castle on a lonely hill, where there were thirteen clocks that wouldn't go, there lived a cold, aggressive Duke, and his niece, the Princess Saralinda. She was warm in every wind and weather, but he was always cold. His hands were as cold as his smile and almost as cold as his heart.

I am grateful to Joan at Planet Joan for sending me her copy of this book after she read it.

Northanger Abbey (1818) by Jane Austen

This was my fourth book by Jane Austen this year, which I read as a part of the Jane Austen Read All A-Long at James Reads Books. My thoughts on the book are HERE.


Doomsday Book (1992)  by Connie Willis

The first novel in the Oxford Time Travel series. I have been wanting to read this book for a while and was determined to read it before I get to Black Out and All Clear by the same author. Now that I have read this book, I will read To Say Nothing of the Dog before the other two books.

The events are set at Christmas; thus I read it in preparation for the Christmas season. I loved it.




And these are the crime fiction books I read in November, which spanned the years from 1944 to 2017.

A Patient Fury (2017) by Sarah Ward

This is the third DC Childs mystery, written by Sarah Ward.  The series is set in the Derbyshire Peak District where the author lives. I have been a fan of the series since it started and this book did not disappoint. One of my favorite reads this year. My thoughts are HERE.

Death Wears Pink Shoes (1952) by Robert James

This book is difficult to describe and I hope to do better in a later post. The events center around a motley group of tenants at No. 17 Crane Street in New York. The story and the way it is told reminds me of the Inspector Schmidt books by George Bagby. It was a very fun read.

Moira at Clothes in Books generously sent this book to me, since she knows my love for books with skeletons on the cover.

Banking on Death (1961) by Emma Lathen

This is the first in a series starring John Putnam Thatcher, senior vice president of Sloan Guaranty Trust. I have been rereading books from this series of 24 books and have enjoyed each one. This one is covered in my most recent post.

Feast of Murder (1992) by Jane Haddam

The cover of this book says this is a Gregor Demarkian Holiday Mystery. The story is set around Thanksgiving and involves a holiday cruise on a replica of the Mayflower. Later the series (now 29 books long) moves away from the holiday themes and takes on darker topics. I enjoyed this book, another reread. My thoughts on this book and the series are HERE.

The Clock Strikes Twelve (1944) by Patricia Wentworth

The 7th book in the Miss Maud Silver series. James Paradine, the patriarch of the Paradine family, announces at a family dinner on New Year's Eve that he knows that one of his guests has betrayed the interests of the family. He also states that he will wait in his office until midnight to meet with the guilty person and discuss terms for handling the betrayal. Of course, by 12 o'clock he is dead. Just about everyone in the family is considered a suspect, some more than others, and one of the heirs brings in Miss Silver to clear things up.

This was the first Miss Silver book I had read in years and I think it was a very good book to get back into the series with. I found it very entertaining.

These Bones Were Made for Dancin' (1995) by Annette Meyers

This was the second book by Annette Meyers I read this year, and I like this one much more than the first one. Previously I read The Big Killing, the 1st book in the Smith and Wetzon series  This month I skipped ahead to the 6th book in the series. Leslie Smith and Xenia Wetzon are headhunters on Wall Street. Smith was a dancer on Broadway many years back, and she and a friend are producing a revival of a show for charity. The skeleton of a woman is discovered in the basement of a brownstone, and it may be the remains of one of the dancers from the original show.

A Patient Fury: Sarah Ward

Detective Inspector Francis Sadler gets a call to come to the site of a burning house, which indicates that there is a suspicious death related to the fire. He calls Detective Constable Connie Childs, recently back from extended sick leave, to join him. Later it is determined that there are three dead bodies, a father, mother, and young son; the evidence indicates that the mother killed her husband and son, and then herself.

This is the third DC Childs mystery, written by Sarah Ward.  The series is set in the Derbyshire Peak District where the author lives. I have been a fan of the series since it started and this book did not disappoint.

Connie has a history of disagreeing with the general consensus of how a crime investigation should be handled, and she doesn't mind striking out on her own to investigate. This has put her at odds with her boss and coworkers before (and, as a reader, irritates me a bit).

In this case, Connie really breaks with the group. She doesn't follow orders, she doesn't follow up on leads she has been assigned, and she does investigate areas that she has been told are off limits. It was hard to understand why she went to these lengths, but also hard to understand why others in the group were not interested in following up all avenues. This book explores the psychological burdens that police officers of all ranks bear and how it affects their work.

Other members of the police and support staff are present again in this book: Superintendent Llewellyn, pathologist Bill Shields and his assistant Scott. Detective Sergeant Damian Palmer has a lesser role in this book, and DS Carole Mathews is added to the team.

Sarah Ward's books all concentrate to some extent on families and their bonds and relationships. This book delves into the secrets and pains of Julia and George Winson, the adult children of the man who was murdered in the fire. Complicating the situation is a past incident in their family; their mother disappeared 40 years earlier. There are brief flashbacks to events in the family's past throughout the book.

The characterization is superb and the story is riveting; I stayed up way later than I should have to finish the book. The book was a bit darker than I expected, and I was very unprepared for the ending. Yet I think this could be the best book in the series so far.

Can this be read as a standalone? I would say yes. Having read the previous books, In Bitter Chill and A Deadly Thaw, I was familiar with the continuing characters up to a point, but having to wait a year to read the next book, a lot has been forgotten. The author provides enough background to keep the reader informed without reading the earlier books and there is definitely nothing spoiled in previous books if you read this one first. However, this is a great series to read in order to see the development and the motivations of the characters.


 -----------------------------

Publisher:   Faber & Faber, 2017
Length:       392 pages
Series:        DC Childs #3
Format:       Hardcover
Setting:       Derbyshire, UK
Genre:        Police procedural
Source:      I purchased my copy.

Favorite Reads of 2016

Goodreads says that I have read 83 books in 2016, which means I will probably end with a total of 85 books read. I tried to cut my list of favorite books for 2016 down to less than ten, but that did not work, and for the third year I ended up with 11 books on the list.

Four of the books fall in the spy fiction sub-genre. Five of the books were published between 1939 and 1986. Six of the books were published between 2001 and 2016 and three of those were published in 2016.

The links go to my reviews / overviews.

Some Buried Caesar by Rex Stout (1939)
As usual, the Nero Wolfe mysteries I read this year were among my top reads (and all were rereads). I chose just one book to represent this author.

Nero Wolfe is well known for his extreme distaste for leaving his home. Some Buried Caesar is one of two novels that I can remember where Wolfe and Archie are away from the brownstone from the beginning to the end of the book. Archie drives Wolfe to an exposition where he will display some of his prize orchids, so the story places Archie and Nero into an environment that they know little about. But my favorite thing about this book is that it introduces Lily Rowan.



She Shall Have Murder by Delano Ames (1948)
A Golden Age mystery, set in post-war London, with rationing, feeding the gasmeters, etc. At the beginning of this book, Jane Hamish is writing a mystery story and Dagobert, her lover, is giving her ideas for the plot. Dagobert is unemployed; Jane works in a lawyer's office. Although at first I found Dagobert very annoying, he grew on me as the book moved along and Jane Hamish and Dagobert Brown quickly became my favorite detecting couple in Golden Age fiction.

From Russia with Love by Ian Fleming (1957)

This is the fifth novel in the James Bond series, the fourth that I read this year, and it is by far my favorite so far. I have always loved the movie, and luckily in this case the movie and the book are very close.

The three previous Bond books I read were more like adventure stories. From Russia with Love sticks closer to the conventional type of spy story I prefer. Early chapters focus on SMERSH agents setting up a plot to assassinate James Bond and our hero doesn't show up until later in the story. The plot is complicated, there is a train trip on the Orient Express with a beautiful enemy agent, and plenty of exotic settings.

The Labyrinth Makers by Anthony Price (1970)
David Audley works for England's Ministry of Defence, but as a researcher, doing behind the scenes work. For his latest assignment he goes out in the field and he is not thrilled with this change. A WWII-era British cargo plane has been discovered at the bottom of a drained lake, complete with the dead pilot and not much else. His job is to figure out why the Soviets are so interested in the empty plane. The beginning of a spy series with eighteen more books, this is just the type of spy fiction I like: a quiet book, a lot of talking and thinking and not a lot of action.

A Perfect Spy by John le Carré (1986)
This is one of seven books I read this year by John le Carré and they were all excellent books. I picked just one of them to represent this author.

Magnus Pym, a British spy assigned to an important post in Vienna, has disappeared. After he gets a call that his father has died, he leaves for the funeral in London, but he doesn't return when expected. British intelligence agents mount a search for him. Being the gifted spy that he is, Pym easily eludes them for the majority of the book. A Perfect Spy revolves around Magnus Pym's relationship with his father, Rick, a con man who uses everyone in his life to achieve his own goals. The story is mostly autobiographical.

Pashazade by John Courtenay Grimwood (2001)
The first book in the Arabesk Trilogy. The story starts with the investigation of a murder, but the chapters skip back and forth in time, sometimes a few days, sometimes going back years in flashbacks. The setting in the present time is El Iskandryia, a North African metropolis in a world where "the United States brokered a deal that ended World War I and the Ottoman Empire never collapsed," as described on the back of the book. So this is an alternate history, sci-fi, coming of age thriller, and just my cup of tea. Pashazade has elements of a police procedural; the crime is investigated by Chief of Detectives Felix Abrinsky, formerly a policeman in Los Angeles, California, and high tech forensics are used .

Sleeping Dogs by Ed Gorman (2008)
The first in a series of five novels about Dev Conrad, a political consultant. In this novel he is working for an Illinois Senator who is running for reelection. The attitude towards politics in this novel is very cynical. Conrad truly wants his candidate to win because he believes he is the better choice of those available, but he does not see one side as bad and the other as good. No political party or ideology is demonized.

Dev Conrad is a great character. Human, not perfect, he cares about people and about his work. The people working on the campaign appear to be a close-knit group but not everyone is what they seem. The story's ending worked very well. It was logical and made sense but was a surprise to me.

An American Spy by Olen Steinhauer (2012)
Steinhauer is close to the top of my list of favorite spy fiction authors. An American Spy was the third book in his Tourist trilogy,  featuring Milo Weaver, CIA agent in the Department of Tourism. "Tourists" are undercover agents with no identity and no home. Milo is not the James Bond type, although there are plenty of thrilling escapades and violence. But we see the other side of this spy's life, the family he wishes he could spend more time with. I enjoyed picking up on Milo Weaver's adventures again. I like the depth of the characters and the exploration of the conflicts in their lives within this framework. The first book in the trilogy is The Tourist, the second is The Nearest Exit.

A Deadly Thaw by Sarah Ward (2016)
This is Sarah Ward's second novel featuring Detective Inspector Francis Sadler and his team. It is a good police procedural, focusing as much on some of the people related to the crime as on the investigative team.

The dead body of a man is found in an abandoned mortuary, located in an overgrown area outside of Bampton, Derbyshire. The deceased was supposedly murdered twelve years before. His wife, Lena, confessed to the crime and served a ten year prison sentence. Thus begins an unusual case which combines an investigation into who was killed years ago with an inquiry into whether the proper procedures were followed at that time. The plot is very complex but not at the expense of the reader's enjoyment.

See Also Deception by Larry D. Sweazy (2016)
This is the second book in a series featuring Marjorie Trumaine, set on a farm in rural North Dakota in 1964. Marjorie is an indexer, creating indexes for non-fiction books. She does this work freelance to make money that she and her husband, Hank, badly need. The area is affected by a drought, with a severe impact on the crops and livestock on the farm. Hank is an invalid due to an accident on the farm and Marjorie shoulders the responsibility for running the farm.

In this book, Marjorie's best friend in the area, a librarian, commits suicide. She begins to suspect that the suicide was faked but the police will not discuss the case with her. In addition to providing an intriguing mystery, the story gives us a vivid picture of what it was like to be a woman at this time, and how difficult it was to be heard in a man's world.

Shot in Detroit by Patricia Abbott (2016)
A novel of psychological suspense, set in 2007 Detroit. It does not paint a pretty picture of that area or the struggle to survive financially in that environment. The story centers on a female photographer who is working on a project to photograph black men who have died much too young. The subject matter is sometimes unsettling and the story is dark.

Violet Hart is the center of this story. She has family issues; her father deserted her family and her sister died when she was young. She has trouble making ends meet and wants very much to succeed in artistic photography. She is not a very likable person, willing to use people to get what she wants, always pushing her agenda first.

Reading in September 2016

I cannot believe it is already October and only three more months left in the year. I do love this time of year. The promise of cooler weather coming (but not here yet for sure). Many holidays coming up. Veteran's Day, Thanksgiving holidays, and a long break between Christmas and New Year's Day.

In September I read seven books total. Two of the books were not crime fiction. The first book I read was a classic novel written for children, The Wind in the Willows. My first time reading it and I enjoyed it a lot.

The second book I read in September was also not crime fiction although it does have elements from that genre. Death Warmed Over by Kevin J. Anderson is mainly classified as a novel in the urban fantasy genre. The protagonist is a zombie who was formerly a private detective before becoming undead.

Then I moved on to straight crime fiction books:

The Diamond Feather by Helen Reilly

Helen Reilly wrote over 30 mystery novels between 1930 and 1962 and almost all of those were police procedurals featuring Inspector McKee.  This was her first Inspector McKee novel, and my favorite of the ones I have read so far.

A Deadly Thaw by Sarah Ward

This is Sarah Ward's second novel featuring Detective Inspector Francis Sadler and his team. It is a good police procedural, focusing as much on some of the people related to the crime as on the investigative team.

Thirty-Three Teeth by Colin Cotterill

Set in the 1970s. Dr. Siri Paiboun, a 72-year-old medical doctor in Laos has been appointed the national coroner under the new Communist regime. This is the second book in a series. Very enjoyable, but it was heavy on supernatural elements. 

Grifters & Swindlers edited by Cynthia Manson

A collection of 17 short stories taken from Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine and Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine. The stories all center on tricksters and con artists who are plotting to cheat someone of their money or valuables. The contents are variable, but there were several stories I liked a lot, and all were worth reading. The stories were published between 1950 and the late 1990s.

Quoth the Raven by Jane Haddam

This was a reread. Quoth the Raven is the 4th book in a long-running series about Gregor Demarkian, retired FBI agent, living in Philadelphia. I discovered this series in 2005 and read the first 20 books in three months. This one is set in rural Pennsylvania at a small college, where Gregor has been invited to give a lecture. Set around Halloween.

I have been participating in the R.I.P. event in September and continuing in October. That event celebrates reading of books of mystery, suspense, dark fantasy, and horror. All of the books listed above except for The Wind in the Willows -- which I finished in early September -- fit into that type of reading. Four were on my list of proposed books for the event. In October I have read two more: The Coffin Dancer by Jeffrey Deaver and Strong Poison by Dorothy Sayers. And I am now reading another from the list: All the Lonely People by Martin Edwards. So that event has been good for motivating me to read several books that have been on my TBR stacks for years.

A Deadly Thaw: Sarah Ward

The dead body of a man is found in an abandoned mortuary, located in an overgrown area outside of Bampton, Derbyshire. DI Francis Sadler is one of the first on the scene and he recognizes the body. The deceased was a childhood acquaintance; unfortunately he was supposedly murdered twelve years before. His wife, Lena, confessed to the crime and served a ten year prison sentence.

Thus begins an unusual case which puts stress on all involved.  Because the newly discovered body exposes mistaken identification in an old case, there will inevitably be a further investigation into whether the proper procedures were followed at that time. As the inquiry proceeds, it becomes obvious that there is a larger department-wide investigation going on... which only top officials are privy to. The plot is very complex but not at the expense of the reader's enjoyment.

The police detectives (Sadler, DC Connie Childs and her partner, DS Damian Palmer) are a significant presence in the story, but other characters related to the crime also play a big role. Lena, the murdered man's wife, and her sister Kat, a psychotherapist, are questioned about both cases. Kat is shocked by the revelation of years of secrets in her family. Connections are made to other members of the community.

The story does address some social issues, which I will not describe here because they are gradually revealed throughout the story and integral to the plot. This part was well done and the issues do not overwhelm the story.

I was impressed with the structure of this novel. I like the short chapters; they keep the story moving. There are flashbacks interspersed throughout the story, taking the reader back to key points in the time when the first crime occurred and events that led up to it.  The story is seen from multiple points of view, primarily Kat's, and the detectives. This approach to storytelling works well for me but would not be to everyone's taste.

A Deadly Thaw is Sarah Ward's second novel and the second in the series featuring Francis Sadler and his team. It was released in the UK on September 1, 2016, and in the US on September 27, 2016.

In summary, my thoughts on this book agree with my assessment of the first book in the series, In Bitter Chill. This is a good police procedural, showing not only the investigative techniques but also the interactions between the members of the team and the upper level policemen, and how this can enhance or hamper their efforts. The story of the people affected by the crime is also a strong element. And, more important, the writing is very good, keeping me interested throughout. I look forward to more in this series.


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Publisher:   Minotaur Books, 2016 (orig. pub. in UK)
Length:       375 pages
Format:      Hardcover
Setting:      Derbyshire, UK
Genre:       Police procedural
Source:      Provided by the publisher for review

Favorite Reads of 2015

I read 90 books in 2015.  Of that total, 79 were novels, 8 were non-fiction books, and 3 were books of short stories. As usual, most of my reads were mystery novels, but I did read some fantasy and some science fiction. 

I don't keep good statistics so my numbers are rough, but I did check out how many books by male and female authors I read. 45 books by male authors, 34 books by female authors. I would like a better balance in that area. Of the 79 novels, 11 were re-reads. 

Of the 11 re-reads, there were several that were top reads this year. However, with such a long list of favorites, I elected not to include re-reads.

There is no order to this list, and I did not pick a top favorite of them all.

Lock In   by John Scalzi. 
This novel, published in 2014, is a thriller set in the near future. The story picks up about 20 years after the world-wide epidemic of a virus which causes Lock In syndrome. At this point, technological breakthroughs have been developed to the point where the victims of the disease who have been locked in can move around, talk, and function in society in a robotic device while their bodies are lying in a bed elsewhere. The ramifications of a life like this and the society which deals with it is explored via a murder mystery.

I have read two other books by John Scalzi, both in the Old Man's War series, Old Man's War and The Ghost Brigades. That series is military science fiction, and it surprises me how much I like it. I do enjoy the way Scalzi tells a story.

The Maltese Falcon   by Dashiell Hammett. 
Most of you will be familiar with this novel, originally published in 1930. Briefly, the story is set in San Francisco, in the late 1920's. Sam Spade is a private detective hired by a beautiful and mysterious woman to help her find her sister. I avoided reading this book for a long time because I thought it would be too brutal and dark for me (even though the 1941 movie with Humphrey Bogart is one of my favorite movies).  I could not have been more wrong; I loved every word of this book. After reading the book, I watched the film again. Both the film and the book are very, very good.

Concrete Angel   by Patricia Abbott. 
This is Abbott's debut novel, published in 2015, and it is stunning. In the opening chapters of this book, Eve Moran kills a man and insists on treating it as an accident; and then proceeds to let her daughter Christine, at twelve years of age, take the blame. From that point on, Christine relates the background of Eve's problems, how her parents met and married, and how Eve's mental problems and behavior mold Christine's life. Thus this book has elements of crime fiction, but it is primarily a character study and the study of a very dysfunctional family. The events are set in and around Philadelphia in the 1960s and 1970s. My summary is inadequate to convey the depth of the story.




Life After Life   by Kate Atkinson.
This book, published in 2013, is not a mystery, and it has an unusual structure. Ursula, the heroine, lives her life over and over. Sort of like the plot of the film Groundhog Day, but not. At the beginning, it is a challenge for her to even get out of childhood. One mishap after another and the next time she comes back, that one is averted. Sometimes.

Because Ursula is born in 1910 and the book continues to some point in the 1960s, parts of both World Wars are covered. Through Ursula we experience the Blitz and Germany under Hitler. But what I liked most was the view of roles that women played and how the various lives illustrated the limited opportunities open to them.

Shotgun Saturday Night   by Bill Crider. 
Published in 1987, this was the second book I had read by Bill Crider, and I liked this entry in the Dan Rhodes series even more than the first one, Too Late to Die. Dan Rhodes is the Sheriff of Blacklin County, Texas. In this book he gets involved with motorcycle gangs and FBI investigations. Although the story borders on being a cosy-ish police procedural, the ruthless motorcycle gang members do move it a good ways away from cozy.I am hooked on the series, which has now extended to twenty two books. I love the details of life in Blacklin County, in the late 1980's, and the characters, including Sheriff Rhodes' small crew (one jailer, one dispatcher, one deputy).

Hopscotch   by Brian Garfield. 
Published in 1975, this is is an intelligent spy thriller, which won author Brian Garfield the Edgar Award for Best Novel from the Mystery Writer’s of America. Miles Kendig has been forcibly retired from the CIA. In retaliation, he decides to write his memoirs and publish them, revealing secrets harmful to the CIA. Soon the hunt begins to find Miles Kendig and terminate him. Although most of the agents involved in the hunt are depicted as ruthless, self-serving, and unimaginative, there are some great characters in this book. In 1980, it was adapted as a film starring Walter Matthau and Glenda Jackson. Both the book and film are very entertaining but the book is darker.

In Bitter Chill   by Sarah Ward. 
This is another excellent debut novel published in 2015. The story focuses on the abduction of two very young girls while walking to school. Rachel was returned to her family, but Sophie was never found. The crime occurred in the 1970s and was never solved. Over thirty years later, Sophie's mother is found dead in a hotel room on the anniversary of her daughter's disappearance, and all evidence points to suicide. The suicide motivates the police to consider reopening the investigation of Sophie's abduction, and this turns Rachel's life upside down. 

I always enjoy a police procedural; this one focuses not only on the investigation, but also the repercussions on the victim and the two families that were involved. There are sections of the book that alternate between the past and the present and this was particularly well done, maintaining tension throughout.

The Moving Finger   by Agatha Christie.
One of the things I like about Agatha Christie's books is that she often surprises me. The Moving Finger has a first person narrator, Jerry Burton, who has moved to the small village of Lymstock with his sister to recuperate from a serious injury. Shortly after he arrives, he receives a very nasty poison pen letter. He discovers that others in the village have also received such letters. All of a sudden the village becomes more menacing, and a couple of deaths follow.

I enjoyed this book, the story and the characters. It was billed as a Miss Marple mystery, but she barely shows up until the end, making her part in the solving the mystery a bit unrealistic. It also seems to me that this one has a little more romance than usual. The attraction builds slowly and one wonders where it is going, but it is a nice addition.

Funeral in Berlin   by Len Deighton.
Published in 1964, only three years after the Berlin Wall was constructed, this is the third novel in the Nameless Spy series by Len Deighton.  The protagonist is sent to East Berlin to facilitate the defection of an East German scientist. This story is told in first person for the most part, but there are chapters here and there that are in third person. Thus we see some events various character's points of view. I liked that change from the previous two books in the series, although the narration of the nameless spy is one of the best elements of the story.




Diamond Solitaire   by Peter Lovesey.
Published in 1992, Diamond Solitaire is the 2nd book in a police procedural series that is now 15 books long. Its protagonist, Peter Diamond, is ex-CID, due to difficulties in his last assignment. At the beginning of this book, Diamond is sacked from his job as a security guard at Harrods in London. He pursues a personal investigation into the identity of a young Japanese girl, traveling to New York City and Japan along the way. The story is somewhat unbelievable, but I did not have any problems stretching my disbelief and going along with the story. I enjoyed the book throughout, including the methodical way Diamond looks for clues and the patience he exhibits in getting to know Naomi.

The Old English Peep Show   by Peter Dickinson. 
This is the second book in the Superintendent James Pibble series, published in 1969. Pibble is an unusual protagonist, a middle-aged man with a wife who bullies him "into reading the Elsa books." (They figure into the story, of course. This book was also published as A Pride of Heroes.) He is sent off by Scotland Yard to handle the investigation of the loyal servant, Deakin, at Herryngs, a great English country house being run as a theme park, complete with lions, by two retired WWII heroes. Shortly after Pibble arrives he senses that the family is hiding something. This book and the first in the series each won the Gold Dagger award.

Dickinson calls his book "a baroque spoof." The thing that surprised me was that with all the elements of humor and caricature, the later part of the book still has definite thriller elements.