Mystery/Thriller Reading Friends discussion

Heaven and Earth Grocery Store: James McBride
Set in the period between the great wars, in a dumpy Pennsylvania town. The story follows the balc and Jewish communities as they try to find their place in the American dream. (A)

After That Night: Karin Slaughter
This is a Slaughter, so you know you will see flawed people, and even with the people you most like, will see their pain scraped raw like a new scab. Sara figures greatly in this story, with the timeline going back to a college rape, and forward to rapes 20 years later. (A)

Crook Manifesto: Colson Whitehead
Follow on to Harlem Shuffle. If Pelecanos was too tame and whitebread for you, following these low level criminals in Harlem a few decades back will be your treat. (B+)

Malibu Burning: Lee Goldberg
Amazon First. Lee was one of Evanovitch’s stable of ghost writers. He dies a nice, if somewhat light, mystery or procedural. (B+)

The Intruder: Peter Blauner
A Lawyer charged with murder, a train driver descending into drugs, a mobster looking for a patsy. The book keeps you guessing who will wind up where when the music stops. (B+)

Dead Fall: Brad Thor
Thor brings his tales to today’s world, setting the scene in Ukraine, with depictions of the brutality of Russia and Wagner. No doubt where he stands. (B+)

Lion and Lamb: Duane Swierczynski
Complex murder mystery, with a nice light hearted touch. Have not seen Swierczynski in a while, good to have him back. (B+)

The Kaiser’s Web: Steve Berry
For books set in the modern time, the concept of actions by escaped Nazis has finally aged out. So here we have Nazis, the next generation. (B)

An Honest Living:Dwyer Murphy
A noirish mystery taking place at the dawn of the cell phone era. Set in New York City with a lawyer who fancies himself as an investigator. (B)

Providence: Max Barry
I guess he has moved beyond the great farces, like Jennifer Government and Syrup. This is science fiction, along the theme of 2001 in that the crew is on a sentient ship, but the similarity ends there. (B)

Animal Instinct: David Rosenfelt
A K team novel. Murder, mystery, dogs. What more could you want? (B)

Diablo Mesa: Preston/Child
A Nora Kelly novel. She is convinced to do an archaeological dig ar Rosswell to lok for alien artifacts. (B)

Nice month, BarryP! I've just added the McBride book. I immediately thought of at least ten different places with the words "dumpy Pennsylvania town". I haven't read a McBride in a while.

Goldberg’s books seem like M/T lite with a healthy dose of screen play ready, but they are entertaining and easy reads.

I have Crook Manifesto on my Kindle! Glad you liked it.

Very nice month Barry, I am enjoying the Slaughter book now. After That Night is a major treat being a Sara and Will book. I jumped right back into the series and characters. I was happy to hear Karin say in a Poisoned Pen interview that her next book will also be this series.
As I read I have been imagining my “book characters” and will still be ready to watch the ‘tv show characters’ when it comes back. Both are great. This one is no different from her usual, a tough subject. She handles it well, illuminating through fully dimensional favorite characters.
I have the McBride on my Libby hold list; also picked the Goldberg for my August First Reads (hoping to get to it soon) and have Been thinking about the Whitehead book.

How is your experience with Libby? I have had some books on hold forever, and find many titles they just do not carry at all.

Books I put on hold just disappear.

another good month, barry

BarryP wrote: "How is your experience with Libby? I have had some books on hold forever, and find many titles they just do not carry at all."

I'm not a fan of libby and really miss overdrive which, I thought, was easier to use and much easier to recommend a book or books I hoped the library would buy

Barry, I love Libby. The books available are managed by your individual library system so that can be a factor. My library has embraced digital lending and has a very robust catalog. A few years ago the audio book offerings were more limited, but now that availability is much improved. I love being able to stay at the top of the hold list and delay delivery to manage the timing of my borrowing. Most really popular titles will have new copies added when demand gets high.
Different libraries set different rules so your experience might be different.

BarryP wrote: "How is your experience with Libby? I have had some books on hold forever, and find many titles they just do not carry at all."

Sherry, I used Overdrive for years and missed it for a bit after the conversion. It's been awhile but i find Libby to be better: easier to borrow ebooks, easier to juggle my holds and with the smart tag to notify me when a title not in our catalog is available, it seems the library is notified of interest because they often pop up later that the library purchased them. Overdrive would add a recommended book to my holds list automatically. Libby just lets me know it's available to place a hold.

Sherry wrote: "'m not a fan of libby and really miss overdrive which, I thought, was easier to use and much easier to recommend a book or books I hoped the library would buy.."

Ann wrote: "Sherry, I used Overdrive for years and missed it for a bit after the conversion. It's been awhile but i find Libby to be better: easier to borrow ebooks, easier to juggle my holds and with the smar..."

thanks for that, ann. i guess I just have to use it more for it to be more user friendly for me.

Ann wrote: "I love being able to stay at the top of the hold list and delay delivery to manage the timing of my borrowing. ..."

I second Ann's assessment of Libby, but I'm not sure I ever used OverDrive so can't compare the two. I've found it very easy to use and a fair amount of books (although not all) that I'm looking for are available. I mostly get audios there.

I wish there were a way to return a book early AND stay at the top of the queue. I had the Tom Hanks book wrested away from me before I was done and now am 12th or something in line. I also haven't seen the "smart" tag; Ann do you think that depends on the library system as well?

Great list Barry as always. I have both Crook Manifesto and The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store in my hold queue at the library. I'm surprised to see such recent releases (I think they are anyway) in your lineup! Trades?

Carol, that is a great idea for those times when our Libby loan runs out of time and there are holds on the book. I ended up using an audible credit for the Tom Hanks book for the same reason.
So smart tags. The tag area on my iPhone is at the top of the Shelf view (at the top of the page, loans, holds, tags)
The option to add a tag is on the book view - basically putting on a wish list, you can customize the type of tag.
The notify tag option is probably library specific. My library allows 'deep searching' to add a notify me 'tag' for example when a new release isn't available yet. I don't recall having those options yet a few months ago.

Carol/Bonadie wrote: "I wish there were a way to return a book early AND stay at the top of the queue. I had the Tom Hanks book wrested away from me before I was done and now am 12th or something in line. I also haven't seen the "smart" tag; Ann do you think that depends on the library system as well?.."

Carol/Bonadie wrote: "Great list Barry as always. I have both Crook Manifesto and The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store in my hold queue at the library. I'm surprised to see such recent releas..."

Yes, trades. I try to keep my "trade" TBR low by reading things quickly so I can return them. At least a third of what I read are loans from friends.

BarryP wrote: "How is your experience with Libby? I have had some books on hold forever, and find many titles they just do not carry at all."

Just speaking from personal experience, but one of the best decisions I've ever made was installing the Libby app. I mainly use it for audiobooks and indeed, it's what got me into that format.

But yeah, the long, long, looong holds can be ridiculous and my local library not having copies of ebooks that I want to read is frustrating. Apparently one remedy is to try and sign up for library cards from other library systems. Some of them, especially the major libraries, will issue them to anyone who applies, regardless of whether or not they live in their area.

In Scottsdale you have to provide a government ID with a local address to get a library card, and you have to appear in person every year to keep your card active. On the plus side ( for certain unnamed board members) the library is fine-free.

Dan: Our library dropped fines completely a few years ago; I haven't had dealings with a lost book since that system was implemented so not sure what happens if a book is truly lost.... As I went to the site to check I discovered that Richard Osman is making an in person appearance to talk about The Last Devil to Die. It is our next group read book, how fun, unfortunately only overflow tickets are still available. Oh well.
meanwhile you do pay for lost books but can still use your card unless you have two lost books, when they do restrict the card from checking out more until cleared.

Dan in AZ wrote: "In Scottsdale you have to provide a government ID with a local address to get a library card, and you have to appear in person every year to keep your card active. On the plus side ( for certain un..."

Ann wrote: "The option to add a tag is on the book view - basically putting on a wish list, you can customize the type of tag.
The notify tag option is probably library specific. My library allows 'deep searching' to add a notify me 'tag' for example when a new release isn't available yet. I don't recall having those options yet a few months ago. ..."

Hmm. I'll have to wait to see what kind of tag is available the next time I request a title the library doesn't have. What do you mean by "deep searching?"

JasonReads wrote: "Apparently one remedy is to try and sign up for library cards from other library systems. Some of them, especially the major libraries, will issue them to anyone who applies, regardless of whether or not they live in their area...."

Jason I did this years ago when my local library system had a subpar website for online ordering and didn't allow one to request new releases online, wanting to have them available for in-person visitors. I joined a neighboring library system and they did not require I live in any of the system communities. My local system is now vastly improved but I'm in the habit of using the other now so it's still my go-to. It can be handy to belong to two systems although some here would accuse me of abusing the privilege as I have been know to request the same book from each to see who gets it to me faster.

Dan in AZ wrote: "On the plus side ( for certain unnamed board members) the library is fine-free."

Hey! Is that a shot?!?!

One of my libraries has gotten rid of fines also, and I thought I was living high on the hog until after a period of time they listed the overdue book in my account as an outstanding item with a purchase price... and I couldn't borrow any more books until that was cleared up. Needless to say I returned the book pronto.

Ann wrote: "As I went to the site to check I discovered that Richard Osman is making an in person appearance to talk about The Last Devil to Die...."

Oh too bad there are only overflow tickets available Ann. Something tells me he will be at Bouchercon Nashville but I may be wrong.

Carol: so on the Libby app search screen (iPhone) the search filters include ‘deep search’
And if I search for a future release title not in the catalog
the result of a search sometimes has near the top of the message “deep searching is available for this title”
Based on other comments here and there about Libby it appears each library has several customizable options. This wasn’t available at the Nashville library until fairly recently. Previously If a book had a future release we didn’t see at all until release date.
This deep search gives a preview of sorts and for books that haven’t been purchased the notify tag you add might never become an option to borrow or put on hold; it seems to alert the library of interest in the title similar to the overdrive recommendation option.

Ann wrote: "Carol: so on the Libby app search screen (iPhone) the search filters include ‘deep search’
And if I search for a future release title not in the catalog
the result of a search sometimes has near th..."

Okay, I see it, thanks. I'll have to find a future release and test it. Most times my library has plans to order to has ordered, so I'm allowed to place a hold (like the upcoming Cormoran Strike book). Maybe I'll search Sherry's JF posts for a future title I haven't requested yet, LOL.

I found a hardcover copy of Harlem Shuffle by Whitehead at my local used bookstore, so I'm looking forward to reading that. Hopefully I'll like it enough to want to read Crook Manifesto.

Jason: will look forward to hearing what you think of the first book.

JasonReads wrote: "I found a hardcover copy of Harlem Shuffle by Whitehead at my local used bookstore, so I'm looking forward to reading that. Hopefully I'll like it enough to want to read Crook Manifesto."