The Mystery, Crime, and Thriller Group discussion

I can't imagine listening to this series. Too intense, somehow. I'm really impressionable (is that a word?) and when I'm reading, if the scene is too rough I have to put the book down and go do something else.

Was is ok, Barbara? I can't wait to read this. My copy will arrive in September, I think. *sigh*

Hayes wrote: "I can't imagine listening to this series. Too intense, somehow. I'm really impressionable (is that a word?) and when I'm reading, if the scene is too rough I have to put the book down and go do som..."

Hayes, I had already read the printed version before I listened to the audio. I agree with you that some scenes are so violent that they're hard to take. But as I knew what to expect I gritted my teeth and let the DVD roll on. And I kept saying to myself "I know there's a third book so Salander can't die."

I just finished The Scent of Rain and Lightning by Nancy Pickard. I highly recommend it.

I'm reading Cemetery Dance by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child. It's about strange murders committed by what seem to be zombies brought to life by a voodoo cult. It's not my usual genre but it's okay. Some parts are a little slow.

I just finished Sweetheart. I thought is was very good. If you don't mind a sick, twisted mind, then I definitely recommend this series. It starts out with Heartsick.

I've just finished The Calling by Inger Ash Wolfe. It was fantastic and I struggled to put it down in the last half of the book. Which wasn't great because I was at work.

Hi Erin, I read The Calling last year for my F2F book group and I agree it was a real page turner but it's not for the squemish or faint of heart. It is a very complex psychological mystery with a very realistic police force and all the bureacratic maneuverings and personalities that you would expect.

I think there is another book in the series to be released soon.

Just finished Fellowship of Fear by Aaron Elkins and
Scone Cold Dead (Liss MacCrimmon Mysteries)by Kaitlyn Dunnett. Liked them both.

I'v now finishedCemetery Dance by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child. It started off okay with a few murders and assaults committed by what appeared to be "zombies." After a while there was really no mystery...just detectives chasing around here and there. Pretty boring. I had to force myself to finish. Not recommended.

Hayes wrote: "How did you like the Nunn book, James? I'm in the middle of the Mandela memoir and my antennae are quivering at any thing to do with the subject of south Africa."

I loved it. Her descriptions of the landscape are wonderful; she creates some great characters that you really care about, and her descriptions of the social and class relationships in South Africa at that time sound dead-on. Plus, it's a very compelling story.

Hi, I'm new to the group. I'm currently reading Julie Hyzy's GRACE UNDER PRESSURE and thoroughly enjoying. Terrific pace! Grace is a winning heroine. It's a debut novel.

Hi Avery. Thanks for joining the group and for the recommendation.

@ James: Thanks. I will add that to the TBR too.

Welcome, Avery! I haven't been posting much because I've been working 10-hour days for 13 days straight and come home exhausted. But now that rush is over and I'm vacation, so yay, more reading time! I finished a new Remy Chandler novel, Where Angels Fear to Tread. A good series if you like your crime fiction with a supernatural bent. I've just started The Scent of Rain and Lightning so I'm glad to hear good things from Jan!

Hi Dorie! Welcome back and I'm glad you're on vacation now and can take a well-deserved break.

Welcome Avery and welcome back Dorie!

I'm really trying to catch up on authors/series that have been recommended to me many times and for one reason or another I haven't read so now I'm reading Black Cherry Blues: A Dave Robicheaux Novel by James Lee Burke. The descriptions of the Gulf Coast are amazing and with so much in the news from the Gulf right now somewhat sad.

I agree. And as I recall, not from that book necessarily but from some of the others, wasn't Robicheaux's father killed in a Gulf oil drilling accident?

Hi James, Yes it was mentioned in the beginning that his father was killed in a drilling accident. I am only about 50 pages in but it seems that a big oil company with shady dealings may play a role in this book too.

Donna, What I really love about that James Lee Burke book in particular is that much of it takes place in Montana in the area where I was born and raised. Burke actually lives there virtually full time now and not in Louisiana...

I'm currently reading PERSUADER by Lee Child. I've become a big fan of Jack Reacher!

I'm also new to the group and must say that this thread has given me lots of new books to add to my wishlist. Currently reading The Westminster Poisoner by Susanna Gregory. This is the first of her Thomas Chaloner books that I've read. I really love her Matthew Bartholomew series.

Avery wrote: "Hi, I'm new to the group. I'm currently reading Julie Hyzy's GRACE UNDER PRESSURE and thoroughly enjoying. Terrific pace! Grace is a winning heroine. It's a debut novel."

Hi Avery, I'm sort of new also. I am reading "A Reliable Wife" and it so much more than it's title. Some call it a turn of the century soap opera and some call it literature. I think it's literature with decadent love hate greed overtones. This book has completely fascinated me so far!

K.B. wrote: "I'm also new to the group and must say that this thread has given me lots of new books to add to my wishlist. Currently reading The Westminster Poisoner by [author:Susanna Gregory|37..."

Welcome K.B. I have enjoyed the Matthew Bartholomew books but I don't think I've read any of the Thomas Chaloner series sounds good though. Let us know what you think when you are finished.

Thanks, Donna. I'm about halfway through the book and it's good. She takes the same nonromantic, expose-all-the-ugliness approach to Restoration London that she has taken to 14th-century Cambridge. And Chaloner, like Bartholomew, seems to be an island unto himself and is perpetually surprised to discover what people think of him. But I'm not finding as much humor in this book--none of the banter like she uses between Brother Michael and Matt.

Hi K.B. Thanks for joining. I read the first Bartholomew, and while I enjoyed it I probably wont read the rest. I like the sound of the Chaloner series better. More my time period too.

Happy to be here, Hayes. Backing up a century, there's a great series by C. J. Sansom that takes place during Henry VIII's reign. Matthew Shardlake is a great character. If you haven't read those, I highly recommend them.Dark Fire Dissolution Sovereign CJ Sansom

I've been eyeing the Shardlake books for a while now. Will get to them sooner or later!

I'm reading Curse of the Spellmans by Lisa Lutz. It's the second in the series and I haven't read the first. While I really enjoy Janet Evanovich, in general I'm not a big "funny mystery" fan. Not sure how I feel about this one yet.

I'm glad I'm not the only person who doesn't always enjoy a funny mystery. Somehow I ended up with a copy of Plum Spooky last year. I read it and guffawed my way through it, but I have never been tempted to pick up any of her other books. Donna Andrews on the other hand I do go out of my way to find.

Hi Faith and K.B., Sometimes you just have to be in the mood for a certain type of book, funny or serious. I read the first in the Spellmans series, The Spellman Files, and I while I did laugh at some parts I thought some of the characters were just plain mean but maybe I just didn't see the humor in it.

I recently read the first Stephanie Plum book and really enjoyed that one but there again I would probably get tired of the series if I read too many in a row. I will look for more Plum books though when I need a lighter read.

I finished In Plain Sight by C.J. Box, a Joe Pickett (Wyoming game warden) thriller. In this book a psycho ex-con with a grudge targets Joe and his family at the same time that Joe is having problems with his boss, the local sheriff, and a ranching family with an attitude. I enjoyed the book. 4 stars.

Heather, there are actually 4, but for some reason I failed to provide the last link. Revelation

There's a fifth book due out in the near future. Goodreads says August 2010, but Amazon doesn't give a date yet.

I didn't read them in order. I actually started with the second book so I didn't miss much. But if you can read them in order, things will be clearer.

You know how some series just scream for you to grab the next book and begin reading immediately? For me, the Shardlake books are one of those series.

Go ahead, twist the knife... now I won't be able to sleep until I find them all!

Mwah hah hah!

Janiceinbellevue wrote: "Kind of addicted to the Donna Leon series with Venetian police Commissario, Guido Brunetti. One reason is that I visited Venice recently..I also enjoy the gentle tweaking of the Italian attitudes t..."

I've read the first two and in the next couple weeks will be reading the third one. I also found this book as a library discard:
Brunetti's Venice: Walks Through Venice with the City's Best-Loved Detective

Hayes wrote: "Just finished listening to The 39 Steps, a classic spy novel from before WWI. I listened to the Librivox version ( http://librivox.org/the-thirty-nin..."

PBS recently showed a remake of 39 Steps which was AWFUL.

I'm reading The Maul and the Pear Tree: The Ratcliffe Highway Murders, 1811. It's nonfiction co-written by P.D. James.

Lobstergirl wrote: "Hayes wrote: "Just finished listening to The 39 Steps, a classic spy novel from before WWI. I listened to the Librivox version ( http://librivox.org/..."

That's too bad. I gave the audio I listened to 4 stars, 3 for the ok story and 5 for the reader.

ETA: Am re-reading Reflex, which is one of my favorite Dick Francis books. Something easy going, which is just what I need to keep me through a few heavier reads at the moment.

Finished The Alchemy of Murder by Carol McClearly. This book features Nellie Bly, Jules Verne, Oscar Wilde, and Louis Pasteur. I found it to be disappointing. First in a series.

Starting Heresy by S. J. Parris. Heresy

I finished one C.J. Box book,In Plain Sight, and went on to the next in the series Free Fire. (This was just a lucky chance actually; I was in a hurry and just grabbed two C.J. Box books off the shelf in the library

I haven't read a C.J. Box book since Open Season , which I remember was very good. I think I'll have to go hunt some more of his.

I've just finished The Girl Who Played with Fire, and am now reading another of Richard Stark's Parker novels, The Rare Coin Score, before moving on to The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest.

Hi James, Have you checked out the discussion of The Girl Who Played with Fire in this month's group read?

Hi Donna, Actually, I just finished the book last night and will check the discussion now that I have.

Recently read Carte Blanche, an Italian crime novel set in the last days of Mussolini. Loved it. I just finished City of Dragons and am into A Trace of Smoke, both noirish mysteries with female protagonists and set in the 1930s/40s - in San Francisco and in Berlin, respectively. I guess you can tell what I like to read and write - any historical noir. Great thread here with so much to read!

Steve

Hi Steve. I've Had Carte Blanche on my TBR for a while. I may have to bump it up a bit.

Just wanted to let everyone know that BBC Radio 7 is starting a dramatisation of The Moonstone. You can follow on the "Re-Listen" programs starting today (Monday June 7) or tomorrow, depending on where you live.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b007jp8z

I've just started The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. I'm looking forward to this series.

I'm reading "Russka" by Edward Rutherford which is historical fiction but it has some mystery to it. So far hard to follow but I am determined to read it through. I have had this book in my possession for 16 years with 2 previous attempts to read getting only a few pages in each time. Yeh, I am on page 60 this time so there's hope!