New month, no joke!

Starting the new month off  with Cross Fire by James Patterson ( Alex Cross # 17). Half way through the book and it's pretty good. Some of the other Alex Cross books are better.

Not sure what will next maybe Abandoned by Cody Mcfayden.

Happy reading

Tammy

Just finished A Test of Wills by Charles Todd - not a lot of action but great ending!  Starting Gun Monkeys by Victor Gischler.

I just finished Heaven's Keep, the tenth book in the Cork O'Connor series. Bleh.  It was more soap opera than mystery. Not impressed with this one at all.  The author seems intent on using emotional melodrama to move these books forward.  I think I'll be taking a nice long break from this series which is too bad because I really enjoyed the first three or four books. **sigh** Oh, well.

I have a stack of books from the library sitting here so I guess I'll choose one and begin!

Will be starting THE CORONER'S LUNCH as soon as I wrap 3 books to mail out in the morning.

Gail

Im reading Bed of Roses by Nora Roberts - ( the 2nd in her Wedding Quartet series )  I really like this series!   =)

Okay, I picked up The Riddle of the Third Mile by Colin Dexter and I'm nearly done with it.  I'd forgotten how much I enjoyed the Inspector Morse mysteries!  I never read the first books, having first discovered Morse on Mystery! on Thursday nights in the late 80s and early 90s.  Anyhow, this one was published in 1983, the year I graduated high school so it fits into the challenge.  If anyone needs a "one, two, three" book, this will work there, too.

I also picked up Wife of the Gods, by Kwei Quartey. I read the first 60 pages and I'm enjoying it so I'll finish this one too. This one takes place in Ghana and the setting figures large in the story.  Very exotic and interesting. It's also the first in what seems to be a projected series so this one will fit a few categories in the challenge, too.

I just finished reading 'Vanished' by Joseph Finder and it is a great book--I like this character 'Nick Heller', compare him to 'Jack Reacher', it was hard to put down just to go pee!!

I started the Cotterill book - now on Chapter 3 and I'm so much enjoying it. I didn't think the setting, age of 'hero' etc would appeal but it's such a beautifully written story. One of the reviewers called it "an embarrassment of riches......." how true.

I'm so glad I didn't wait to read THE CORONER'S LUNCH. Thanks to everyone who commented on it early on.

Gail

Okay --- How goofy am I???  I have been wondering where everyone was --- no one was posting in the "what are you reading" forum.  So --- here you all are in a new month!!! 

LeeAnne --- I am sad to hear that Corc O'Connor is going downhill.  I too have enjoyed the first 5 books.

Gail --- I too just learned of Colin Cotterill from the Challenge forum and I have now read the first two books and just love them.

I am reading "Hell's Corner" by David Baldacci right now.  It is the most recent installment of his Camel Club books.  It doesn't really fit  in anywhere for the Challenge --- I am just taking a little break.

This is one very quick check of e-mails, PBS, and FB before I log off for the day. Watching the UConn/Kentucky game, and I can't put the Cotterill book down (well, you know what I mean - I obviously put it down to check in here ).

I'm half finished and it's a good thing it's Saturday night - I can see a late bed time for me. It's funny, satiric, heartwarming, exotic. I can see right now that this is a series I'll be devouring very quickly.

Gail

I am in the middle of Tell Me, Pretty Maiden by Rhys Bowen (one of the Molly Murphys) which I forgot in my desk at work so it won't get finished til later this week. The other mystery I'm currently reading is The Weaver and the Factory Maid by Deborah Grabien, #1 in the Haunted Ballad series. So far I'm really enjoying it--it's about a folk singer who also does home restorations in the UK.

I'm also reading a historical (The Last Kingdom by Bernard Cornwell, first of his Saxon series) and a fantasy--am listening to A Hat Full of Sky by Terry Pratchett, one of his Discworld books for younger readers...loving that too, the reader is very entertaining.

Cheryl

Life had gotten in the way and I had not been reading much in a very long time. I was really missing it and started back this weekend. After finishing book 16 of Stephanie Plum, I am now reading The Apprentice by Tess Gerritsen.

Welcome, Aerika!  I was in a bit of a reading funk a month or so ago but I seem to have found my groove again.  Whew!  If you're ever in need of inspiration or ideas for mysteries and thrillers, this is the place to come!  Check out the 2011 challenge.  I don't believe it's too late to begin! 

I am nearly through with Wife of the Gods and I'm still really enjoying it though I'm not certain I really like Darko Dawson.  We'll see.

Last night I read the first chapter of three other books that I checked out at the library just to see if I really wanted to keep them all.  Of course, I do!  The books are Deadly Currents, by Beth Groundwater.  This one is about whitewater rafting in Colorado and it is SO not me but the first chapter is pretty good. Also, Headcase by Peter Helton, the first Chris Honeysett mystery set in Bath, England and The Weird Sisters by Eleanor Brown, which from the Epilogue only, looks to be fabulous.  Lots of reading to come!

Just finished Woman With a Birthmark (Inspector Van Veeteren Mystery) by Hakan Nesser.  I haven't visited with the Scandinavians for a while and enjoyed it.  Set in Sweden, you know who did it and how it was planned from the beginning and watch the police investigation unfold.  I took it with me on a day train trip to NY from Maryland and was panicking because I thought I would finish it before the trip was over.  Horrors, to be caught with nothing to read!

Now reading Wedding Bell Blues (Maggie Skerritt #4) by Charlotte Douglas.  It's an enjoyable series published by by Harlequin in their Next series, "Every Life Has More Than One Chapter".  It is well written and not really "romance-like", but I still have not tried any of the other authors in this series.

SG

Welcome Aerika ---- Do check out the Mystery Challenge 2011 !!!!  LeeAnne is the one who so cleverly came up with all of the categories.  In my opinion, it is definitely not too late to participate.  There is a forum for lists only and also one where we all sort of keep in touch about the Challenge in particular.  It has caused me to read some new authors and will cause me to read my first "paranormal" !!!!

I am still reading "Hell's Corner" --- reading it in bed at night will not have it going very fast!!!  I keep falling asleep!!

LeeAnne --- the book set in Bath looks interesting.  Please keep us posted on what you think of it as you read further.

I am in the middle of Gun Monkeys by Victor Gischler - might be the most un-cozy mystery I have ever read.  Lost track of the body count by Chapter three.

I volunteered at our local FOL sale yesterday and, lo and behold, there was a copy of The Coroner's Lunch so of course I picked it up because of the glowing recommendations here.  Looking forward to starting it next.  Unfortunately it is an ARC but will still put it in the book bazaar when I'm done.  Also picked up a couple of challenge books, In Cold Pursuit (Antarctica) and December Heat (South America).

I've finished a new to me author, A Rant of Ravens by Christine Goff.  Book one of the series and it kept me guessing as to which of a set of seven characters was the "bad" guy!  Very unusual for me as evidenced by the next book I started.  Sink Trap by Christy Evans.  Also the first in a series, sigh, and the last.  By page 16 I knew the missing person was murdered, had figured out who murdered the person and why. 

I've got the second Chrisitne Goff on it's way to me and DNF after just 16 pages the Christy Evans.

I polished off Expiration Date by Dwayne Swierczynski.  An interesting concept, more sci-fi than mystery since the main character pops a pill that he thinks is an asprin and goes back in time.  There is a mystery involved and I didn't figure this one out immediately either.

Oh and I read Shotgun Sorcess by Lucy A Snyder.  Not a mystery but...

I'm currently reading a book on my Kindle that's only available on Kindle.  A Christin romantic suspense that actually has me flipping pages and wishing I could read faster!  Written by an author who is a member of PBS.  Danger at the Door by Michelle Sutton.  If someone hadn't recommended it I doubt I would have picked it up.

Also reading Mary Daheim's Saks & Violins of her Bed & Breakfast series.  Just to clear out the TBR.  I loved that series but now it's getting a bit tiresome.  I'm not sure if I'll finish it simply because it's pretictible, I might just post the others I have on my shelf too.  

Not sure what's next.  .  .  

I just finished two non mysteries. "Confessions of a Prairie Bitch" by Allison Arngrim and "I Still Dream About You" by Fannie Flagg. While I love all of Fannie Flagg's books, this one did not live up to her previous standards IMO. I read Confessions in one day and really enjoyed it since I grew up watching Little House.I also just finished up " Dog On It" by Spencer Quinn.

Now I have barely started both "The Corpse Wore Tartan" by  Kaitlyn Dunnett and "Wicked Witch Murder" by Leslie Meier.

I had a stack of books come in at the library that I had on hold and have a lot of good reading in store for me for the next couple of weeks.

I started one of my challenge books, A Thousand Cuts by Simon Lelic (also published under the title "Rupture" in the UK)--for the "New Kid on the Block" category. It's the investigation of a school shooting--by a teacher!--in London, where those types of things don't happen very often. So far it's quite compelling, I had a hard time putting down when I was supposed to be nodding off to sleep last night.

I was also doing the happy dance when I saw that Love Songs From a Shallow Grave by Colin Cotterill is 'in transit' to my library for me to pick up, so I should have that in hand later in the week. I waited months at #1 on the wishlist and even though it came out last August, just wasn't moving...the library comes through again! LOL

Cheryl

LeeAnne, I finished Wife of the Gods really liking Darko Dawson, although his name took a little getting used to!

And Cheryl, I read A Thousand Cuts last year and loved it--really gives you a different perspective on the issue, doesn't it?

I started The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane for the supernatural category of the challenge--books in this category are not my favorite so I sometimes have trouble finding something to fit, but I'm liking this one more than I expected.  Every once in a while there'll be a line or two that kind of jars--like the author is explaining too much (I think this is her first novel) but overall it's really keeping my attention, so a pleasant surprise.

Diane

Linda --- Good for you for finding books at your Library sale.  I doubt you will have any trouble getting rid of "The Coroner's Lunch" even though it is an ARC.  I think you will really enjoy the book.

Geri --- I read "A Rant of Ravens" some time back and now cannot figure out why I did not pursue the series.  Probably because my shelves are so stacked full of books!!  I just put the others on my Reminder List for future reference.

Cheryl --- I have "A Thousand Cuts" on my TBR --- it is nice to have some recommendations.

Diane --- I also have "Deliverance Dane" on my TBR --- did not realize it would work for supernatural --- I too do not usually read those sorts of books --- I think I ordered it because it had such glowing reviews somewhere!!!!  I probably did not even realize it WAS supernatural --- now it may come in handy!!

Slow reader me --- I am still working on "Hell's Corner".  I have much to do before we leave on our trip next Tuesday --- so the hours of daytime reading will be few and far between.  However, there will be the long flights from Philadelphia to Los Angeles and Los Angeles to Indonesia (14 hours).

I just finished Perfect Murder by Brenda Novak--it was an okay read, but I'm not compelled to pick up another one of her books soon.

I started reading Devil's Banker by Christopher Reich--it's a book that's been on my TBR shelf for over five years--so it's about time!  I've just started it and think it'll be a good read, right now I'm getting to know all the characters--and so far there are quite a few!

I'll also probably be starting Fellowship of Fear by Aaron Elkins shortly.  I haven't read any of his books, but they look good--and I want to start at the beginning.

I'm also currently listening to "City of The Sun" by David Levien in audio.  He's a new to me author as well--and I'm really enjoying this book so far.  It's read by Scott Brick, who is one of my farovite narrators, so that helps.  The book is about a family whose son has gone missing and the police have done essentially nothing for over a year.  Finally the father hires ex-cop Frank Behr to look into the case.  Behr's character reminds me of Michael Connelly's Harry Bosch character.

Last post about this book - til I read the author's next in the series:

Finished THE CORONER'S LUNCH at lunch today - what a tremendously satisfying read! On my own I know I would have never discovered this author, or if I'd seen one of his books somewhere I probably would have put it down thinking it wouldn't be for me.

How wrong I would have been.

Gail

Gail, so glad The Coroner's Lunch was satisfying! I almost picked that up when I DNF Red Wolf, but, like you, was not sure 'it was for me' for many of the same reasons. Honestly, would not have ordered it if not for the glowing reviews here.

I picked up 13 1/2 by Nevada Barr, instead, and am enjoying the book. I do believe The Coroner's Lunch will be next

Becky, LOL! I was wondering the same (about where everyone went), glad to not be alone :)