So, let's see. I've finished two books since my last reading update. As well, two new books arrived from Better World of Books today. I'll update my reading and also get back to my Author's A - Z listing.
New Books
"A spinster whose passion was bird-watching, a dotty peer who pinched pennies, and a baffling murder made the tiny village of Littlebourne a most extraordinary place. And a severed finger made a ghastly clue in the killing that led local constables from a corpse to a boggy footpath to a beautiful lady’s mansion.
But Richard Jury refused, preferring to take the less traveled route to a slightly disreputable pub, the Anodyne Necklace. There, drinks all around loosened enough tongues to link a London mugging with the Littlebourne murder and a treasure map that would chart the way to yet another chilling crime."
"This exciting, action-packed novel marks Jack Chalker's triumphant return to his celebrated multi-volume saga: The Well World. The Sea Is Full of Stars explores an unknown interstellar civilization, stars an all-new cast of characters, and reveals fresh secrets. But of course, The Well remains . . .
After three passengers--Ming, Ari, and Angel--embark on an elite starship journey into the Realm, they unwittingly become ensnared in one man's bloodthirsty vendetta that will alter their very beings. That man is Jeremiah Wong Kincaid. He vows to destroy Josich Conqueror Hadun, the evil genius who has wreaked unspeakable havoc throughout the universe. It is an obsession that will take him to lands of demons and strange races--and into a deadly new cyber world where humans are mere pawns of the godlike computers they have created.
But it is only after Kincaid and his unwitting fellow travelers enter Well World and discover the water hexes that he confronts the mad tyrant--and learns their universe is threatened by something far, far worse . ."
Just Finished
"Under Orion is the first book I've read by author Janice Law. It is the 3rd book in her Anna Peters series. Anna Peters works for New World Oil as a sort of fixer. In this story she journeys to West Germany with one of New World's scientists to try and negotiate a deal with an East German scientist who claims to have developed a process for extracting oil from bilge water.
The mission becomes a dangerous adventure. Are the two East Germans playing the company? Is Martin, the scientist, working against the company? And what is the secret life he seems to be living? The story moves along at a steady pace and bodies start to crop up. Are the East German intelligence services trying to stop the deal? Is it the West Germans? Who are these two brothers?
It's definitely a different kind of thriller, a combination of spy thriller and industrial espionage. There are some scary people and a chase that leads across Germany.
It's not a perfect story but still entertaining. We learn a bit about Anna and her friends and what kind of work she does. Now I've got to find the first two books in the series to see how her character was introduced. Glad I finally had a chance to explore this series. (3 stars)"
"I first heard of this book, Caught by Canadian writer Lisa Moore when my wife and I watched a TV series starring Paul Gross and Alan Hawco based on the book. The TV mini-series was quite excellent and the book was also.
Newfoundlander David Slaney escapes from prison and begins a trek across Canada to meet his old partner Brian Hearn. The two of them had been arrested a few years previously for smuggling a shipment of marijuana from Columbia. Hearn had skipped bail and Slaney ended up in prison. The two want to try again. Inspector Patterson of the RCMP is chosen to follow Slaney and to catch the two in the act once again. (The escape was helped by the police so they can catch the two).
The story for the most part follows Slaney as he journeys across Canada and the people he interacts with on the way. It's an interesting story almost a stream of consciousness as Slaney meets people and also reflects on his life and the events that lead to his arrest.
It's definitely a unique story, sometimes hard to follow but worth reading. There is enough action as well, very well described and an appropriate tension at all times that you won't be bored with the story. In some ways it's quite different from the TV series which made it fresh and interesting. I enjoyed very much, a well-crafted, entertaining story. (4 stars)"
Currently Reading
"George Sueño and his partner Ernie Bascom thought they’d seen it all, but nothing could prepare them for the Slicky Boys. They’re everywhere. They can kill a man in a thousand ways you don’t even want to know about. And you’ll never even see them coming. They steal, they kill, they slip away. 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"
"A converted fishing trawler, Morning Rose carries a movie-making crew across the Barents Sea to isolated Bear Island, well above the Arctic Circle, for some on-location filming, but the script is a secret known only to the producer and screenwriter. En route, members of the movie crew and ship's company begin to die under mysterious circumstances. The crew's doctor, Marlowe, finds himself enmeshed in a violent, multi-layered plot in which very few of the persons aboard are whom they claim to be. Marlowe's efforts to unravel the plot become even more complicated once the movie crew is deposited ashore on Bear Island, beyond the reach of the law or outside help. The murders continue ashore, and Marlowe, who is not what he seems to be either, discovers they may be related to some forgotten events of the Second World War."
Bill's Ongoing Author's A - Z
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| Michael Cox |
"'After killing the red-haired man, I took myself off to Quinn’s for an oyster supper.'
So begins an extraordinary story of betrayal and treachery, of delusion and deceit narrated by Edward Glyver. Glyver may be a bibliophile, but he is no bookworm. Employed “in a private capacity” by one of Victorian London’s top lawyers, he knows his Macrobius from his First Folio, but he has the street-smarts and ruthlessness of a Philip Marlowe. And just as it is with many a contemporary detective, one can’t always be sure whether Glyver is acting on the side of right or wrong.
As the novel begins, Glyver silently stabs a stranger from behind, killing him apparently at random. But though he has committed a callous and brutal crime, Glyver soon reveals himself to be a sympathetic and seductively charming narrator. In fact, Edward Glyver keeps the reader spellbound for 600 riveting pages full of betrayal, twists, lies, and obsession.
Glyver has an unforgettable story to tell. Raised in straitened circumstances by his novelist mother, he attended Eton thanks to the munificence of a mysterious benefactor. After his mother’s death, Glyver is not sure what path to take in life. Should he explore the new art of photography, take a job at the British Museum, continue his travels in Europe with his friend Le Grice? But then, going through his mother’s papers, he discovers something that seems unbelievable: the woman who raised him was not his mother at all. He is actually the son of Lord Tansor, one of the richest and most powerful men in England.
Naturally, Glyver sets out to prove his case. But he lacks evidence, and while trying to find it under the alias “Edward Glapthorn,” he discovers that one person stands between him and his birthright: his old schoolmate and rival Phoebus Rainsford Daunt, a popular poet (and secret criminal) whom Lord Tansor has taken a decidedly paternal interest in after the death of his only son.
Glyver’s mission to regain his patrimony takes him from the heights of society to its lowest depths, from brothels and opium dens to Cambridge colleges and the idylls of Evenwood, the Tansor family’s ancestral home. Glyver is tough and resourceful, but Daunt always seems to be a step ahead, at least until Glyver meets the beguilingly beautiful Emily Carteret, daughter of Lord Tansor’s secretary.
But nothing is as it seems in this accomplished, suspenseful novel. Glyver’s employer Tredgold warns him to trust no one: Is his enigmatic neighbour Fordyce Jukes spying on him? Is the brutal murderer Josiah Pluckthorn on his trail? And is Glyver himself, driven half-mad by the desire for revenge, telling us the whole truth in his candid, but very artful, “confession”? "
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| Edmund Crispin |
"Death and decapitation seem to go hand in hand in the Devon village of Aller. When the first victim's head is sent floating down the river, the village's rural calm is shattered. Soon the corpses are multiplying and the entire community is involved in the murder hunt. While the rector, the major, the police and a journalist, desperate for the scoop of the century, chase false trails, it is left to Gervase Fen, Oxford don and amateur criminologist, to uncover the sordid truth."
"Gervase Fen is summoned by a friend to a pretty village whose inhabitants are thrown into distress by a spate of anonymous poison-pen letters."
"Richard Cadogan is at loose ends in Oxford, very late at night. Charmed by the window display of an old-fashioned toyshop, he is worried to find the door unlocked; surely the owner should be alerted. And so Cadogan slips into the darkened store and up the narrow stairway to the apartment above.
But rather than a snoring toyman, he finds a very dead old lady, the marks of murder still livid on her neck. But when Cadogan returns with the coppers, the toyshop ... has disappeared.
This, it seems, is a matter for Gervase Fen."
The other books in the series are -
- The Case of the Gilded Fly (1944)
- Holy Disorders (1945)
- Swan Song (1947)
- Love Lies Bleeding (1948)
- Buried for Pleasure (1948)
- Frequent Hearses (1950)
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| Blake Crouch |
"'Are you happy with your life?'
Those are the last words Jason Dessen hears before the masked abductor knocks him unconscious.
Before he awakens to find himself strapped to a gurney, surrounded by strangers in hazmat suits.
Before a man Jason's never met smiles down at him and says, "Welcome back, my friend."
In this world he's woken up to, Jason's life is not the one he knows. His wife is not his wife. His son was never born. And Jason is not an ordinary college physics professor, but a celebrated genius who has achieved something remarkable. Something impossible.
Is it this world or the other that's the dream? And even if the home he remembers is real, how can Jason possibly make it back to the family he loves? The answers lie in a journey more wondrous and horrifying than anything he could've imagined--one that will force him to confront the darkest parts of himself even as he battles a terrifying, seemingly unbeatable foe."
Well, there you go for another day. Time for me to sign off. I've finished my mid-week shuffle. Time to see if the missus is hungry. She's been busy paying bills and deserves something.. maybe a Malibu and coke..
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| Midweek Snoopy Shuffle! |
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