Just Finished, Currently Reading and Some New Books

Finally, a day without rain. Well, it still sprinkled a bit, but there was actually some sunshine. We've had this strange bird stalking our house the past week or so. He keeps flying at the windows, either in the kitchen or in the lounge, depending on his mood. He's just a little fella, flies off when I wave my hands in front of the window then comes back after. Weird.

Just Finished

Royal Flash by George MacDonald Fraser. This is the second book in the Flashman adventure series. My review is below.











"Royal Flash is the 2nd book in the Flashman series by George MacDonald Fraser. This story was used for the movie (1975) starring Malcolm McDowell as the irrepressible Harry Flashman. The book was first published in 970.
Flashman is one of those heroes / anti-heroes like Sharpe and Horatio Hornblower. The difference is that Flashman is a rogue and a coward always looking out for number 1, AKA himself. In Royal Flash, a dalliance he has with an Irish beauty, during which he also meets Otto von Bismark (who he embarrasses) causes much tribulation in Flashman's future. He embarrasses this Lola Montez as well and she is used as bait to get Flashy into an untenable situation.
Flash is encouraged to go to Germany to help Lola with a situation. The combination of his troubles with his in-laws and a payment of a considerable amount of money sways him towards this voyage even though he wonders why Lola would want his help after what he has done to her.
This starts Flash on an unplanned adventure to a small state north of Germany where he is forced to impersonate a Crown Prince of Denmark, all part of the subterfuges of future Iron Chancellor, Bismark. It's a fun and adventure-filled story, with Flash both enjoying himself (heck, he does get to dally with a beautiful princess) and fighting to save his skin.
The story moves from London to Munich to northern Germany and the action flows easily along the route. The story is interesting and moves along nicely. How will it all turn out for Flashy? Well, there are another 10+ books in the series, so you can figure it out for yourself. If you want an enjoyable adventure, you might like the Flash series. (3.5 stars)"

Currently Reading

I'm continuing with my Spy / Adventure / War genre with my next book, the 11th book in the James Bond spy series by Ian Fleming, On Her Majesty's Secret Service. I mentioned it in my previous BLog entry and there is a synopsis there. (Just click on the title and scroll down a bit. :0)













Some New Books

I returned some books to Nearly New Books a couple of days ago and checked out their new stock. I found the following books.

1. Adam Hall - Quiller Solitaire. (Note - I scanned these books instead of photographing them; hence the slight different format.)

"The agent he was assigned to protect has been murdered - and now Quiller is out for blood. His mission - and his penance - is to find the assassin by infiltrating Nemesis, a frighteningly efficient Euro-terrorist organization with horrifying designs on the future of humanity. In the lethal domain of the death masters. Quiller has never been more alone .. or more needed - as he sits atop a twenty thousand pound payload of nerve gas and high explosives, rocketing through the skies above an unsuspecting world on a direct, non-stop flight to Armageddon."

2. Martin Limon - Slicky Boys. This is the 2nd book in a new series for me that is set in South Korea. I'm looking forward to starting it.

"George Sueno and his partner Ernie Bascom thought they'd seen it all. For military cops in Korea, back-alley knifings, flesh peddler's drug rings - they're all in a day's work. But nothing prepared them for the slickest criminals this side of the DMZ.
The Slicky Boys were everywhere. They could kill a man a thousand ways you don't even want to know about. And you'll never hear them coming.
The Slicky Boys steal, they kill, they slip away. And George and Ernie are about to discover that even the U.S. military is no match for evil, and that human sympathy can sometimes lead to a lonely grave."

3. Bernard Cornwell - Sharpe's Regiment. This is the 17th book in the Sharpe series. (Note - I remember this one in the TV series.)

"Major Richard Sharpe's men are in mortal danger - not from the French, but from the bureaucrats of Whitehall. Unless reinforcements can be brought from England, the depleted South Essex will be disbanded, its troops scattered throughout the army.
Determined not to see his regiment die, Sharpe returns to England and uncovers a nest of well-bred, high-ranking traitors, any one of whom could utterly destroy his career with a word, or a stroke of the pen. Sharpe is forced into the most desperate gamble of his life - and not even the influence of the Prince Regent may be enough to save him."

4. Colin Cotterill - Curse of the Pogo Stick. This is book five in Cotterill's Dr. Siri Paiboun series. I have enjoyed it very much so far.

"Laos, 1977. Dr. Siri Paiboun, the spry seventy three-year-old reluctant national coroner of Laos, is on his way back from a Communist party meeting when he is ambushed on a jungle trail and kidnapped by seven female Hmong villagers. His only route to freedom is to exorcise the village of its demon - a task he has no idea how to accomplish - and in doing so he brings to pass the prediction of Auntie Bpoo, a transvestite fortune teller. Meanwhile, back in Vientiane, Nurse Dtui, Dr. Siri's fiancée are on their own to track down the assassin who is intent on wiping out the mortuary staff.
Exploding corpses, zombie muggers, and a geriatric gun fight - just another day at the Laos national morgue."

5. Peter Robinson - A Necessary End. This is the 3rd book in the Inspector Bank's series.

"One rainy March evening, an anti-nuclear demonstration outside the Eastvale Community Centre turns nasty: the mood of the crowd begins to darken as the weather worsens. Finally the police lose control and violence erupts, leaving one policeman dead with almost a hundred suspects.
Detective Chief Inspector Banks is back, investigating his third case in Yorkshire. But things become difficult for him when Superintendent Richard 'Dirty Dick' Burgess is sent from London, for political reasons, to lead the investigation. Sitting through a host of unusual suspects and disturbing discoveries about the police themselves, Bans is warned off the case. But the only way he can salvage his career is by beating Burgess to the killer. As the two head for a final confrontation, Banks pieces together the full story behind his most tragic case so far."

So there you go. Almost time for Frankie Drake mysteries and Lucifer. Have a great week!