My Last Reading Update for August and My Ongoing Look at My Favorite Authors

 I started off the week at the dentist, getting another crown put in. Back Thursday to get the final tune-up on it. I'm noticing it's rubbing against the inside of my bottom lip. And there is this bump at the back. We'll see.

I finished two more books to finish off the month of August. I'll provide my reviews of them as well as provide the synopses of the two books I've started in their place. Then I'll continue with my ongoing look at my Favorite Authors. Tomorrow I'll provide my end-August reading summary.

Just Finished

1. The Searchers by Alan Le May.

"The Searchers by Alan Le May was turned into a movie in 1956 by John Ford, starring John Wayne and Vera Miles. It's a gritty, powerful Western, not a genre I normally read.

The story is set in the Texas frontier where settlers struggle to survive, fearing attacks by Indian warriors. Amos Edwards and Martin Pauley leave Amos' brother's homestead to search for cattle rustlers with other homesteaders. On their return they discover the farm has been attacked by Commanche warriors. All of the people have been killed except two daughters. They have been taken by the Commanche. This is the basis of the story. Amos and Martin will spend the next five years searching for the two.

It's a fascinating, gritty journey as the two scour the unsettle West trying to find the two. It's a barren, hard area, with few people except Indian tribes and the odd fort. It's a tough (to put it mildly) difficult journey as they weather all conditions as they try to find clues to which Indian tribe took them and try to find out where they might have settled. Over time, they periodically return to the old homestead, where they stay with the Mathisons, where resides their daughter Laurie who has feelings for Marty.

But this journey is in their minds. They need to find the Edward girl(s). It's a journey of necessity, their need is under their skin, a deep itch that festers until the end. It's a dark journey, quite powerful. I'm hesitant to watch the movie.... Worth trying (4 stars)"

2. Hag's Nook by John Dixon Carr (Gideon Fell #1).

"I discovered American author John Dickson Carr only a few months ago. Carr lived from 1906 - 1977 and is known for his Gideon Fell & Sir Henry Merivale mystery series. According to his write-up he was influenced by GK Chesterton's Father Brown books and was the master of the closed room scenario. I managed to find his first Gideon Fell book, Hag's Nook and decided to give it a try. Entertaining and I will continue to explore his books.

Dr. Gideon Fell is a renowned lexicographer living in Lincolnshire, England. He's a big man, walks with two canes but has an active, fertile mind and for his size gets around quite well. American graduate, Tad Rampole is visiting with Gideon and his wife. On the train to Chatterham, he meets a lovely young lady, Dorothy Starberth and the two immediately feel an attraction. Dorothy's family owns Chatterham Prison and while it's now closed it has a spooky reputation. They have to keep it in the family or they would lose the money on the property. 

There is a tradition in the family. The first born son of each generation, in this case, Dorothy's brother, Marin, must spend one hour in the Warden's office, at 10 pm on the night that the son attains his 25th birthday. Tad Rampole arrives just at the time when Marin is coming to town (also from America) to perform for his inheritance. Now another factor, which is the spooky part, is that there is also a 'tradition' that this son often dies in mysterious circumstances, often with a broken neck.

Got it now? Well, Gideon Fell and Tad decide they need to keep an eye on the prison on this night. Marin must stay in the room by himself as there are family secrets involved. They can see the window of the room from Gideon's lounge. The worst happens of course and Marin is found dead or a broken neck. This begins the investigation that gets you to know Gideon Fell.

It's an entertaining, often confusing story, with a few suspects. Gideon grows in importance as the story moves along. We get to see his intuition, his skills at observation. At the same time a romance is developing between Dorothy and Tad. All in all, I liked this story very much. I think it's of its time period. I liked the description of the setting, the way the story was presented and of course, I enjoyed the mystery and Fell's description of the solution. It's gentle, for all of the deaths, and made me want to explore his work more. Another series to keep me busy. (4 stars)"

Currently Reading

1. In the Evil Day by Peter Temple.

"The Cold War is long dead but the trade in deceit and lies is still running hot. In Hamburg, John Anselm is hiding from the ghosts he has left behind in foreign war zones. He spends his days working for a surveillance firm. At night he drinks too much, paranoid about the suspicions he glimpses in the eyes of strangers.

In London, Caroline Wishart calls herself an exposé journalist. The story she has stumbled on could make her career or is she playing somebody else's game? Into both their lives comes ex-mercenary Con Niemand, bearing an explosive secret, a secret with the power to topple governments and destroy them all.:

2. The Warded Man by Peter V. Brett (Demon Cycle #1). I've had this for awhile now. I like how it's started.

"As darkness falls after sunset, the corelings rise--demons who possess supernatural powers and burn with a consuming hatred of humanity. For hundreds of years the demons have terrorized the night, slowly culling the human herd that shelters behind magical wards--symbols of power whose origins are lost in myth and whose protection is terrifyingly fragile. It was not always this way. Once, men and women battled the corelings on equal terms, but those days are gone. Night by night the demons grow stronger, while human members dwindle under their relentless assault. Now, with hope for the future fading, three young survivors of vicious demon attacks will dare the impossible, stepping beyond the crumbling safety of the wards to risk everything in a desperate quest to regain the secrets of the past. Together, they will stand against the night."

3. Fear is the Key by Alistair MacLean. MacLean is my September focus author.

"A classic novel of ruthless revenge set in the steel jungle of an oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico – and on the sea bed below it. Now reissued in a new cover style.

A sunken DC-3 lying on the Caribbean floor. Its cargo: ten million, two hundred and fifty thousand dollars in gold ingots, emeralds and uncut diamonds guarded by the remains of two men, one woman and a very small boy.

The fortune was there for the taking, and ready to grab it were a blue-blooded oilman with his own offshore rig, a gangster so cold and independent that even the Mafia couldn’t do business with him and a psychopathic hired assassin.

Against them stood one man, and those were his people, those skeletons in their watery coffin. His name was Talbot, and he would bury his dead – but only after he had avenged their murders."

My Favorite Authors - Patricia Cornwell

Patricia Cornwell is an American crime writer, born in Miami Florida in 1956. I discovered her Kay Scarpetta forensic crime series when I came to the Valley back in early 2000. I read a number of the books in a quick flurry. I enjoyed the Scarpetta series very much. I will say that for some reason, I've neglected her books in the past few years. I think it might have been because I tried one of her non-Scarpetta books and didn't enjoy it quite as much. I do have to get back in to the series though.

1. Black Notice (#10 Scarpetta / 1999).

"An intriguing Dr Kay Scarpetta novel which will take Kay an ocean's breadth away from home. The case begins when a cargo ship arriving at Richmond, Virginia's Deep Water Terminal from Belgium is discovered to be transporting a locked, sealed container holding the decomposed remains of a stowaway. The post mortem performed by the Chief Medical Examiner, Kay Scarpetta, initially reveals neither a cause of death nor an identification. But the victim's personal effects and an odd tattoo take Scarpetta on a hunt for information that leads to Interpol's headquarters in Lyon, where she receives critical instructions: go to the Paris morgue to receive secret evidence and then return to Virginia to carry out a mission. It is a mission that could ruin her career." (4 stars)

2. The Body Farm (#5 / 1994).

"The Body Farm - a research institute that tests the decomposition of corpses. Black Mountain, North Carolina: a sleepy little town where the local police deal with one homicide a year, if they're unlucky, and where people are still getting used to the idea of locking their doors at night. But violent death is no respecter of venue, and the discovery of the corpse of an 11-year-old girl sends shock waves through the community. Dr Kay Scarpetta, Chief medical Examiner on a similar case in Virginia, is called in to apply her forensic skills to this latest atrocity, but the apparent simplicity of the case proves something of a poisoned chalice - until Scarpetta finds enlightenment through the curious pathologists' playground known as the Body Farm." (4 stars)

3. Body of Evidence (#2 / 1991).

"Someone is after Beryl Madison -- spying on her, making threatening phone calls. Terrified, she flees to Key West. When she comes back home it's not harassment that's waiting...it's murder. Someone kills her, someone she trusted enough to open her door to.

Police work begins with Dr. Kay Scarpetta, Chief Medical Examiner. She finds laboratory clues no one wants to believe. So she follows them herself, putting her professional career -- and her life -- on the line." (4 stars)

4. Cruel and Unusual (#4 / 1993).

"Virginia Chief Medical Examiner Kay Scarpetta is called in to autopsy the body of convicted murderer Ronnie Waddell after his execution. Several days after the execution, a young boy is discovered murdered in the fashion of Waddell's earlier killings, with Waddell's prints near the body. Scarpetta, along with FBI Agent Benton Wesley and Detective Pete Marino, try to discover how a dead inmate could have possibly committed another murder after his death. As the story progresses she seeks the assistance of her 17-year-old niece Lucy after she discovers a strange folder on her computer." (4 stars)

5. From Potter's Field (#6 / 1995).

"In From Potter's Field, #1 New York Times bestselling author Patricia Cornwell once again enters the chilling world of Dr. Kay Scarpetta, Chief Medical Examiner of Virginia and consulting forensic pathologist for the FBI. Upon examining a dead woman found in snowbound Central Park, Scarpetta immediately recognizes the grisly work of Temple Brooks Gault, a bold, brilliant killer from her past. Soon she realizes that Gault's murders are but a violent chain leading up to one ultimate kill: Scarpetta herself. Now she must stay her own fears and keep step with a psychopath who is always one step ahead, both everywhere and nowhere. But even with the help of her FBI and police comrades, Scarpetta knows the endgame is hers alone to play. Having repeatedly plunged into the madness of Gault's mind, Scarpetta must finally descend into his terrifying home in the subway tunnels beneath New York City. And confront the one killer who would not be caught ..." (4 stars)

6. All that Remains (#3 / 1992).

"In Richmond, Virginia, young lovers are dying. So far, four couples in the area have disappeared, only to be found months later as mutilated corpses. When the daughter of the president's newest drug czar vanishes along with her boyfriend, Dr. Kay Scarpetta knows time is short. Following a macabre trail of evidence that ties the present homicides to a grisly crime in the past, Kay must draw upon her own personal resources to track down a murderer who is as skilled at eliminating clues as Kay is at finding them ..." (4 stars)

7. Point of Origin (#9 / 1998).

"Dr Kay Scarpetta, Chief Medical Examiner and consulting pathologist for the federal law enforcement agency ATF, is called out to a farmhouse in Virginia which has been destroyed by fire. In the ruins of the house she finds a body which tells a story of a violent and grisly murder.

The fire has come at the same time as another even more incendiary horror: Carrie Grethen, a killer who nearly destroyed the lives of Scarpetta and those closest to her, has escaped from a forensic psychiatric hospital. Her whereabouts is unknown, but her ultimate destination is not, for Carrie has begun to communicate with Scarpetta, conveying her deadly - if cryptic - plans for revenge." (4 stars)

As you can see, I didn't really read the books in any sequence. It's a series that got me interested in other similar types of series; Karin Slaughter's Grant County series and Kathy Reichs' Temperance Brennan series. The complete listing of Patricia Cornwell's books can be found at this link.

Enjoy your week. Stay safe and read a good book.