I finished one more book today, a bit of a disappointment. I've picked one final book for the end of the year; it's a short one. I also got one of my last book orders yesterday in the mail. I'll update those and also show you what my 12 + 4 Reading Group Challenge will be for 2019.
New Book
"The brilliant anatomist Dr. Thomas Silkstone returns in Tessa Harris's vivid and compelling mystery series set in 1780s London. . .
It is not just the living who are prey to London's criminals and cut-purses. Corpses, too, are fair game--dug up from fresh graves and sold to unscrupulous men of science. Dr. Thomas Silkstone abhors such methods, but his leading rival, Dr. John Hunter, has learned of the imminent death of eight-foot-tall Charles Byrne, known as the "Irish Giant," and will go to any lengths to obtain the body for his research.
Thomas intends to see that Byrne is allowed to rest in peace. Yet his efforts are complicated by concern for his betrothed, Lady Lydia Farrell, who breaks off their engagement without explanation. When Dr. Hunter is implicated in the horrific murder of a young castrato, Thomas must determine how far the increasingly erratic surgeon will go in the name of knowledge. For as Thomas knows too well, the blackest hearts sometimes go undetected--and even an unblemished façade can hide terrifying secrets. . ."
Just Finished
"The Gunman by Jean-Patrick Manchette was disappointing. On paper it is an interesting premise. Hitman Martin Terrier performs his latest hit, killing a Russian traitor in England. He then heads back to France and advises his paymasters that he is retiring. He then heads back to his home town to reclaim his past girl friend to make her his wife. Unfortunately, his bosses don't want him to retire and will do anything to keep him working.
Thus we have a trail of bodies, some killed by his bosses (or maybe the family of previous victims) and also many by Terrier. Ultimately, he is found and pressured into working for them once again. So there you go, that's the basic story.
But other than lots of action, Terrier seeing suspicious people around every corner that he seems to ignore (to his chagrin and personal risk), it really didn't do anything for me. I don't mind lots of action and violence if it makes the story interesting. But this didn't really do that. And then the last few chapters just never made any sense and the ending seemed quite silly. So there you go. I'm sure other people will enjoy this. The best thing about it for me was that it was short and an easy, action-packed read. But that was about it. (2.5 stars)"
Currently Reading
"A simple enough case... on the face of it. A commercial traveler killed in a hotel bedroom on the Loire. But Maigret sensed falseness everywhere, in the way the witnesses spoke and laughed and acted and, above all, in the manner of M. Gallet's death, under a false name, from a shot that nobody heard, with his own knife plunged into his heart. And behind the falseness, as Maigret discovered, the pathos of a man for whom nothing had ever gone right - not even death."
Bill's 2019 12 + 4 Group Read Challenge
For my 12 + 4 challenge this year, I'm focusing on Series that I've kind of neglected for the past few years. They are mostly mysteries but there are others as well.
"You are cordially invited to a weekend house party at Black Dudley Manor. While there, you will participate in a gruesome ritual, your host will be brutally murdered, you will be held hostage, and someone will interrogate you in a most unpleasant manner. But never fear! Albert Campion is a fellow guest . . . and you just might survive to tell the tale."
"In this prequel to the earlier books in the series, Ellis Portal, the disgraced former judge turned sleuth, is taken back to his law school days."
"This latest Baantjer mystery delves into a grotesque double murder in a well-known Amsterdam hotel. Inspector DeKok must unravel clues from two unexpected characters: a six-year-old girl who has trouble sleeping and a respected accountant who seeks DeKok's advice on committing the perfect crime. In a surprising twist, DeKok meets with the murderer and tries everything possible to prevent the man from giving himself up to the police. Risking the anger of his superiors, DeKok goes so far as to disappear in order to prevent the perpetrator from being found."
"Park Ranger Anna Pigeon stumbles upon a gruesome murder with frightening racial overtones in the latest installment of this bestselling series.
In Deep South, Anna travels cross-country to Mississippi, only to encounter terrible secrets in the heart of the south.
The handwritten sign on the tree said it all: Repent. For Anna, this should have been reason enough to turn back for her beloved Mesa Verde. Instead she heads for the Natchez Trace Parkway and the promotion that awaits her. Almost immediately, she finds herself in the midst of controversy: As the new district ranger, she faces resentment so extreme her ability to do her job may be compromised, and her life may very well be in danger. But all thoughts of personal safety are set aside with the discovery of a young girl's body in a country cemetery, a sheet around her head, a noose around her neck.
The kudzu is thick and green, the woods dark and full of secrets. And the ghosts of violence hover as Anna struggles for answers to questions that, perhaps, should never be asked."
"The first corpse was found hooded, bound, and naked, kneeling on a bare mattress in a seedy hotel room. This was no ordinary murder but rather the work of a killer driven by something special, something spectacular. The fact that the dead man was a convicted rapist recently released from prison only increases the bizarre nature of the gruesome crime ... and the police's reluctance to apprehend the perpetrator. It's the body count that troubles Detective Inspector Tom Thorne, as brutal slaying follows brutal slaying, each victim more deserving than the last. Though he has no sympathy for the dead, Thorne knows he must put an end to a cruelly calculating vigilante's bloody justice before time runs out -- and a horrifically efficient serial killer targets a life worth fighting for."
"Sweeping across decades, Burke masterfully unearths a cold case that is far from closed while introducing an intrepid novice reporter, Irene Kelly, learning the ropes from her mentor, Conn O'Connor. From the late fifties, when a bloodstained car is buried on a farm and a wealthy family disappears at sea . . . to the seventies, when Irene makes shocking connections and brashly tracks a killer from the past . . . to today, when new threats and deadly surprises are closing in on the veteran journalist and her husband, Frank Harriman, Bloodlines follows a fascinating labyrinth of lives, loves, sins, and secrets -- with the irrepressible Irene Kelly at its core."
"Helping damsels in distress is nothing new for Travis McGee--it's basically how he spends his life. But this one was different right from the start. Tossed off a bridge with cement wired to her feet, dragged to safety by Travis and Meyer, she was a hot Eurasian beauty with a cold heart...ready to snare them in a murder racket to end all murders.... "
"Lost items found. Paranormal Investigations. Consulting. Reasonable rates. No Love Potions, Endless Purses, or Other Entertainment. Harry Dresden is the best and technically the 'only' at what he does. So when the Chicago P.D. has a case that transcends mortal capabilities, they come to him for answers. For the 'everyday' world is actually full of strange and magical things - and most of them don't play well with humans. That's where Harry comes in. Takes a wizard to catch a - well, whatever. The first six Dresden files novels will be published over three months - a great introduction to Harry Dresden, a modern-day wizard who manages to get into some seriously tricky situations."
"To stem the Napoleonic tide, Sharpe must capture a fortress—where his wife and infant daughter are trapped—while protecting himself from a fellow officer determined to destroy him."
"Before odious Edwin Shorthouse can sing the lead in the first Oxford post-war Die Meistersinger, someone kills him in his own locked dressing room. Gervase Fen, eccentric professor of English Literature with a passion for amateur detecting, is on the case."
"It should be a fairly routine job for Henry Gamadge: Examining the papers of a dead poet and playwright with some early promise but not much commercial success. But it's not so much the life and letters as the death of the author (murdered in Central Park) that interests Gamadge. Add in a dead witness and the odd behavior of the family, and Gamadge decides something criminal is afoot."
"Robert Blair was about to knock off from a slow day at his law firm when the phone rang. It was Marion Sharpe on the line, a local woman of quiet disposition who lived with her mother at their decrepit country house, The Franchise. It appeared that she was in some serious trouble: Miss Sharpe and her mother were accused of brutally kidnapping a demure young woman named Betty Kane. Miss Kane's claims seemed highly unlikely, even to Inspector Alan Grant of Scotland Yard, until she described her prison -- the attic room with its cracked window, the kitchen, and the old trunks -- which sounded remarkably like The Franchise. Yet Marion Sharpe claimed the Kane girl had never been there, let alone been held captive for an entire month! Not believing Betty Kane's story, Solicitor Blair takes up the case and, in a dazzling feat of amateur detective work, solves the unbelievable mystery that stumped even Inspector Grant."
Alternates - The next four are my alternates. I'm sure I'll read them as well. I usually do.
"Vampire detective Jack Fleming's latest venture-the Lady Crymsyn nightclub-has become the favorite haunt for Chicago's elite. But amongst his patrons lurk a smarmy blackmailer and a dangerous up-and-coming mobster from New York-both unaware how deadly Jack can be when blood is spilled..."
"Swing off the Jersey Turnpike and you'll be in bounty hunter Stephanie Plum's neighborhood. You'll know it because all hell will be breaking loose. Not that she looks for trouble - it just seems to follow her. In Ten Big Ones it explodes at a deli, and when Stephanie pegs a robber as a member of a vicious Trenton gang, they peg her as dead. Vice cop Joe Morelli fears she's in way too deep - even with the help of crime-solving, cross-dressing, bus driver Sally Sweet, and Stephanie's friend Lula riding shotgun as backup. With a notorious killer on her tail, Stephanie figures the best hideout is Ranger's secret lair..."
"The tragic end to James Bond’s last mission—courtesy of Ernst Stavro Blofeld—has left 007 a broken man and of little use to the British Secret Service. At his wit’s end, M decides that the only way to snap his best agent out of his torpor is to send him on an impossible diplomatic mission to Japan. Bond’s contact there is the formidable Japanese spymaster Tiger Tanaka, who agrees to do business with the West if Bond will assassinate one of his enemies: a mysterious Swiss botanist named Dr. Guntram Shatterhand.
Shatterhand is not who he seems, however, and his impregnable fortress—known to the locals as the “Castle of Death”—is a gauntlet of traps no gaijin has ever penetrated. But through rigorous ninja training, and with some help from the beautiful and able Kissy Suzuki, Bond manages to gain access to Shatterhand’s lair. Inside lurks certain doom at the hands of 007’s bitterest foe—or a final chance to exact ultimate vengeance."
"Allyson Brown, the Girl Gatsby, is a woman of wealth, hostess of fabled parties, patron of the arts--especially of poets. Found floating in her own swimming pool, shot to death.
Poet and fledgling detective Talba Wallis gets an urgent call from the sister she barely knows: Janessa. To Girl Gatsby Janessa is close friend. But this call isn't an invitation to an elegant literary salon. Janessa wants off the hook as the principal murder suspect.
Investigating, Talba and her irascible boss, Eddie, find the reality behind the Gatsby glamour. Allyson was widely hated, a con artist who neglected her children, failed to pay her bills, and lied to everyone she wanted something from. The one person she loved may have ushered her to her death.
The case takes Talba and Eddie from literary parties to Gulf Coast bait shops, from biker bars to abandoned wharves, and finally, to the story of another Gatsby, which may yield answers, or greater mysteries."
There you go. My start to 2019. Tomorrow I'll highlight my individual reading challenges. Have a great night.
No comments:
Post a Comment