Happy New Year.... Welcome to 2019

Bonnie

My first post of 2019. It's been a rough start to the year. Both of our puppies caught a gastrointestinal virus. It especially hit our female, Bonnie. She basically collapsed on New Year's Eve and then spent the next four nights trying to recover at the Veterinary Hospital in Nanaimo, about an hour's drive from here. I finally picked her up yesterday and while she's definitely not 100% she's so much better than she was.

Bonnie and Clyde waiting for Chicken from the Sky

Clyde may have caught some of the same bug that was affecting Bonnie. I think we caught his a bit quicker and he's doing very well.

So it's been a rough old start to the year but Jo and I are both hoping that things will improve steadily from now on. So, that's my main reason for not providing an entry until now. I haven't managed to finish any of the books I started the new year off with but I think I'll be able to finish The Black Dudley Murder by Margery Allingham in the next day or so.

When I went to pick up Bonnie from the hospital yesterday I left here a little early and dropped in at The Bookcase in Qualicum Beach. I found 4 books; my first purchases of 2019. Here they are, folks.

New Books

1. Something Borrowed, Something Black by Loren D. Estleman (Peter Macklin #4).











"Peter Macklin, contract killer--retired--has found himself the perfect woman. He's convinced young, beautiful, innocent Laurie that he is simply a salesman from Detroit, and they're passionately honeymooning in Los Angeles. . . . until the phone call. Peter tells Laurie he has to go to Sacramento to take care of business, and he'll be back in a day. After a day passes, though, a man called Abilene shows up with a note from Peter saying Abilene will take care of her until his return.

Macklin's retirement seems to have been premature, and Laurie's innocence is about to end . . ."

2. Tank of Serpents by James Leasor (1986).











"Benares, India, 1945. Captain Richard Blake stands trial at a court martial, accused of stealing a million rupees from one of the wealthiest, most powerful and dangerous men in India. Eight years later, he begins his quest for retribution."

3. Sergeant Death (originally pub as Once in a Lifetime) by James Mayo (Charles Hood #4)











"Charles Hood is commissioned to find out who's been undermining the prestige of Kristoby's, London Art Dealers, by slipping them some very fine forgeries. He backtracks to Tehran, a black market mecca for one Sergeant Bannion and a smuggler's paradise for Malik. the town's wily manipulator. Then there's filthy rich and dirty pool playing Degado. known to his discomfort as ""the man who bought the best fakes,"" and determined to get even. A fantastic archaeological discovery doubles the take and the Hood-wink series carries on. . . and on. . . ."

4. The Sergeant's Cat and Other Stories by Janwillem van de Wetering (1987).











"The philosophical Detective Adjutant Grijpstra and his assistant, Sergeant de Gier, appear in eight of these superb mystery stories. In one they learn which of two lady friends put a bullet through the head of a handsome oceanographer found dead amidst his tanks of shiny, living mussels. In another they strong-arm a brutal crime-lord whose henchman threatens the sergeant's cat. Another finds them wondering how a man could explode a wife-killing bomb in the country while he was, all the time, in his city office. Still another leads them to a murderer whose weapon is a chocolate Easter bunny. And that's just the beginning: the collection contains six other stories, each touched with that curious blend of wit and the macabre which readers have come to expect from the pen of Janwillem van de Wetering."

So there you go. I'll be getting back to my look at the Mystery Genre and also my Alphabetical Author's A - Z in my next entries.. But for tonight the missus and I are going to watch the Golden Globe Awards and a Miss Marple.. Enjoy your week!