A Reading Update, New Books and Women Authors

The Blue Jays newest pitcher José Berrios started and won his first game with them today. It would be great if they could go on a nice winning streak, especially while they're playing in Toronto. Finally!

I've completed one book since my last update and have received two books as well. I'll provide my review of the completed book (my last one of July) and the synopsis of the next book in line and also the synopses of the new books. Then I'll get back to my look at Women authors whose books I've been enjoying.

Just Completed

1. Gideon's Night by J.J. Marric (Commander Gideon #3).

"Gideon's Night by J.J. Marric is the 3rd book in English author's Commander Gideon Scotland Yard police procedural series. This book takes place over the course of a foggy night in London. Gideon decides to work the night shift because he figures that The Prowler will strike again during this night. The Prowler is a rapist who attacks young women on foggy nights.

The story basically shows Gideon and his officers juggling balls. It's a fascinating story, showing excellent police practices and a neat variety of cases. You've got the Prowler, a baby kidnapper, a missing woman and her husband, a possible gang war, and various sundry other cases. We get to see Gideon shepherding his resources, dealing with his district commanders, going out on cases when necessary and sorting out personal issues and temperaments. You get to see things from the PoV of victims, other police, and even the criminals. Even family matters play a role, with son Matthew wanting to finish school and become a cop like his dad.

It seems like a simple story but really there is so much in the story, it's intelligent, with nice action and even enjoyable decision making (does that seem silly?). I don't usually give mysteries 5-star ratings but what can you do when the story deserves it. Purely enjoyable and entertaining. (5 stars)"

Currently Reading

1. Capital by John Lanchester (2012). I first heard of this series when Jo and I watched the TV mini-series based on the book. I've wanted to read it for awhile.

"It's 2008 and things are falling apart: Bear Stearns and Lehman Brothers are going under, and the residents of Pepys Road, London--a banker and his shopaholic wife, an old woman dying of a brain tumor and her graffiti-artist grandson, Pakistani shop owners and a shadowy refugee who works as the meter maid, the young soccer star from Senegal and his minder—are receiving anonymous postcards reading "We Want What You Have." Who is behind it? What do they want? Epic in scope yet intimate, capturing the ordinary dramas of very different lives, this is a novel of love and suspicion, of financial collapse and terrorist threat, of property values going up and fortunes going down, and of a city at a moment of extraordinary tension."

New Books

1. Sleep with Strangers by Dolores Hitchens (Jim Sader #1 / 1956).

 

"This American murder mystery in the tradition of Raymond Chandler and Dashiell Hammett, focuses on the chilling story of private eye Jim Sader's attempt to pursue his lonely trail down California's mean streets. She has also written 'Sleep With Slander'."

2. The Mother Tongue: English and How It got That Way by Bill Bryson (1990). This turned up in my Little Free Library the other day. Bryson is one of my favorite non-fiction writers, along with Simon Winchester. Both men are so varied in their subject matters.

"With dazzling wit and astonishing insight, Bill Bryson—the acclaimed author of The Lost Continent—brilliantly explores the remarkable history, eccentricities, resilience and sheer fun of the English language. From the first descent of the larynx into the throat (why you can talk but your dog can't), to the fine lost art of swearing, Bryson tells the fascinating, often uproarious story of an inadequate, second-rate tongue of peasants that developed into one of the world's largest growth industries."

Women Authors I've Been Enjoying - Kate Ellis

Kate Ellis

Kate Ellis was born and grew up in Liverpool England. She has written 3 different series of which I've tried two so far. I've read four of her books so far. They have an archaelogical twist to them. I have 7 more of her books sitting on my bookshelf. Let's take a look at 4 of them to give you an idea of some of her story lines.

1. The Armada Boy (Wesley Peterson #2 / 1999).

"Archaeologist Neil Watson did not to expect to find the body of American veteran Norman Oppenheim in the ruins of the old chantry chapel... He turns to his old student friend, Detective Sergeant Wesley Peterson, for help. Ironically, both men are looking at an invading force - Wes the WWII Yanks and Neil a group of Spaniards killed by outraged locals as they limped from the wreckage of the Armada. Four hundred years apart two strangers in a strange land have died violently - could the same motives of hatred, jealousy and revenge be at work? Wes is running out of time to find out .."

 

2. An Unhallowed Grave (Wesley Peterson #3 / 1999).

"When the body of Pauline Brent is found hanging from a yew tree in a local graveyard, DS Wesley Peterson immediately suspects foul play. Meanwhile Wesley's archaeologist friend Neil Watson has excavated a corpse at his nearby dig, that of a young woman who—local legend has it—had been publicly hanged from the very same tree before being buried on unhallowed ground five centuries ago. Wesley is forced to consider the possibility that the killer knows the tree's dark history. Has Pauline also been executed rather than murdered? To catch a dangerous killer Wesley must discover as much as he can about the victim, but Pauline appears to have been a woman with few friends, no relatives, and a past she has carefully tried to hide."

3. The Funeral Boat (Wesley Peterson #4 / 2000). 

"When a skeleton is discovered on a small farm, DS Wesley Peterson a keen amateur archaeologists intrigued by the possibility that it is a Viking corpse, buried in keeping with ancient traditions. He also has a more urgent crime to solve, namely the recent disappearance of a Danish tourist. His boss Gerry Heffernan believes that the attractive Dane s disappearance is linked to a spate of brutal robberies, but is her disappearance linked to far older events?"

4. The Bone Garden (Wesley Peterson #5 / 2001). 

"An excavation at the lost gardens of Earlsacre Hall is called to a halt when a skeleton is discovered under a 300 year old stone plinth, a corpse that seems to have been buried alive. But DS Wesley Peterson has little time to indulge in his hobby of archaeology. He has a more recent murder case to solve. A man has been found stabbed to death in a caravan at a popular holiday park and the only clue to his identity is a newspaper cutting about the restoration of Earlsacre. Does local solicitor Brian Willerby have the answer? He seems eager to talk to Wesley but before he can reveal his secret he is found dead during a 'friendly' game of village cricket, apparently struck by a cricket ball several times with some force. If Wesley is looking for a demon bowler this appears to let out most of the village side. But what is it about Earlsacre Hall that leads people to murder?"

The complete listing of Ellis's works can be found at this link. Enjoy your upcoming week. Stay safe. 😷