Skip to main content
PBS logo
 
 

Discussion Forums - Mystery & Thrillers

Topic: April Brings Spring Showers - What's On Your Reading List This Month?

Club rule - Please, if you cannot be courteous and respectful, do not post in this forum.
  Unlock Forum posting with Annual Membership.
Generic Profile avatar
Standard Member medalFriend of PBS-Gold medalPBS Blog Contributor medal
Subject: April Brings Spring Showers - What's On Your Reading List This Month?
Date Posted: 4/1/2018 2:59 PM ET
Member Since: 5/31/2009
Posts: 4,904
Back To Top

I'm beginning the month by reading Tana French.  Starting with Broken Harbor and The Secret Place.



Last Edited on: 4/1/18 6:20 PM ET - Total times edited: 2
mary2029 avatar
Limited Member medal
Date Posted: 4/1/2018 3:39 PM ET
Member Since: 3/31/2013
Posts: 750
Back To Top

Read and enjoyed the 1st four Dublin Murder Squad books by Tana French. They don't all have the same characters, so it's not necessary to read them in order.  Last night I started a non-mystery - Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel.

 

Generic Profile avatar
Standard Member medalFriend of PBS-Gold medalPBS Blog Contributor medal
Date Posted: 4/4/2018 9:01 AM ET
Member Since: 5/31/2009
Posts: 4,904
Back To Top

Finished both Tana French books.  Quite liked The Secret Place but Broken Harbor not so much.  Seemed like Harbor dragged.  Thought it could have been edited or maybe it had too many ideas going at once.  Not sure why I didn't like it as much as Place.



Last Edited on: 4/4/18 9:01 AM ET - Total times edited: 1
vintagejoy avatar
Standard Member medalMember of the Month medalBook Cover Image Group medalBook Data Correction Group medalTour Guide Leader medalFriend of PBS-Silver medalPBS Blog Contributor medalPrintable Postage medal
Date Posted: 4/4/2018 5:08 PM ET
Member Since: 9/30/2006
Posts: 7,942
Back To Top

Finished reading 'A Golden Cage' by Shelly Fredont.  There is an earlier book in the series and I hope she writes more of them.  The MC is the daughter of a wealthy family who spends the summer season in Newport, Rhode Island with the likes of the Vanderbilts. This takes place in the ending of the Golden Age, late 1890's - early 1900's.  These large, elaborate, mansions are referred to as 'cottages' by the wealthy.  Murder and mayhem are the results of the end of a large party celebrating one of the character's birthdays.  Very good.

Then I read 'The Case of the Counterfeit Eye' and am currently reading 'The Case of the Rolling Bones, both by Erle Stanley Gardner.

ASJ avatar
Alice J. (ASJ) - ,
Standard Member medalMember of the Month medalFriend of PBS-Double Diamond medalPrintable Postage medal
Date Posted: 4/8/2018 7:06 AM ET
Member Since: 5/13/2009
Posts: 65,535
Back To Top

I am enjoying Low Country Bordello by Susan M Boyer. Very good cozy series.

Generic Profile avatar
Date Posted: 4/8/2018 8:20 AM ET
Member Since: 6/30/2008
Posts: 4,173
Back To Top

April Brings Spring Showers

actually April showers bring May flowers.

mary2029 avatar
Limited Member medal
Date Posted: 4/8/2018 11:18 AM ET
Member Since: 3/31/2013
Posts: 750
Back To Top

Charles - Was doing a heck of a lot of showering here yesterday. I was wondering what materials I might have in my garage to build an ark.

Generic Profile avatar
Date Posted: 4/8/2018 11:41 AM ET
Member Since: 6/30/2008
Posts: 4,173
Back To Top

easiest is an inflatable raft. try to find the ones with co2 cartridge inflating. Tie the raft on your roof just to be safe. smiley

vintagejoy avatar
Standard Member medalMember of the Month medalBook Cover Image Group medalBook Data Correction Group medalTour Guide Leader medalFriend of PBS-Silver medalPBS Blog Contributor medalPrintable Postage medal
Date Posted: 4/8/2018 2:28 PM ET
Member Since: 9/30/2006
Posts: 7,942
Back To Top

April showers do bring mayflowers.  And what do mayflowers bring?  Pilgrims.

I've read "Aunt Dimity and the Widow's Curse" by Nancy Atherton and just finished "The Last Chance Olive Ranch" by Susan Wittig Albert.  Both excellent as usual.  I've always been a huge fan of Susan Wittig Albert.  I don't know how many books she has written but between the original 'China Bayles' series, (that is what this one was) the 'Beatrix Potter' series, the 'Darling Dahlias'series and the series she wrote as Robin Paige and working with her husband Bill, the 'Death at ...' series there have been a tidy few of them.  I think I've read all of them.  I just counted and there have been 52 books.  Wow. 



Last Edited on: 4/8/18 2:47 PM ET - Total times edited: 1
Generic Profile avatar
Date Posted: 4/9/2018 3:30 AM ET
Member Since: 6/30/2008
Posts: 4,173
Back To Top

A Beautiful Blue Death by Charles Finch. I guess this qualifies as a historical mystery since it takes place in Victorian times. I think the date is 1865. slow easy pace. lots of tea, toast and fireplaces.

This was only okay for me. probably will not read any other by this author.



Last Edited on: 4/11/18 1:42 PM ET - Total times edited: 1
Generic Profile avatar
Standard Member medalFriend of PBS-Gold medalPBS Blog Contributor medal
Date Posted: 4/14/2018 3:49 PM ET
Member Since: 5/31/2009
Posts: 4,904
Back To Top

In the midst of Bone Mountain by Eliot Pattison.  I love Inspector Shan and the Tibetan friends he make and the culture depicted in these books.  And, I finished The Far Side of the Sun by Kate Furnivall.  Good read focusing on a young English girl whose parents are both gone and a man connected to the Mob.  A man named Morrill is found knifed in an alley and the heroine tries to save him.  She doesn't and encounters his best friend with whom she falls in love.  The mystery thickens with the man accused of his friend's murder and a wealthy man loved by the island shot.  There is a secondary romance that I thought was unneeded but the story itself is quite good.  

Generic Profile avatar
Date Posted: 4/21/2018 2:18 AM ET
Member Since: 6/30/2008
Posts: 4,173
Back To Top

The Underground Man by Ross MacDonald. This book starts quickly.

finished this afternoon. MacDonald's plots are so convoluted and there are so many people it is sometimes hard to keep all the details straight. I sometimes lose a little of the thread of what is happening but the denouement usually becomes clear in the end.



Last Edited on: 4/29/18 12:27 AM ET - Total times edited: 3
Generic Profile avatar
Date Posted: 4/22/2018 2:39 PM ET
Member Since: 6/30/2008
Posts: 4,173
Back To Top

The Will of the Tribe by Arthur W Upfield.

ASJ avatar
Alice J. (ASJ) - ,
Standard Member medalMember of the Month medalFriend of PBS-Double Diamond medalPrintable Postage medal
Date Posted: 4/24/2018 6:26 AM ET
Member Since: 5/13/2009
Posts: 65,535
Back To Top

I have started The Secret Book and Scone Society By Ellery Adams. She is one of my favorite cozy authors. This one is a little less cozyish but very good.

Generic Profile avatar
Standard Member medalFriend of PBS-Gold medalPBS Blog Contributor medal
Date Posted: 4/24/2018 7:53 AM ET
Member Since: 5/31/2009
Posts: 4,904
Back To Top

Have been collecting mysteries by the Norwegian author, Jo Nesbo, and began my first one, The Devil's Star.  Easy reading so far and an interesting main character named Harry Hole.  Anyone else read this author?  

And, Charles, I truly enjoy Arthur Upfield.  Have only one more by this author on my TBR shelf!  They are hard to come by.



Last Edited on: 4/24/18 9:38 AM ET - Total times edited: 1
Generic Profile avatar
Date Posted: 4/24/2018 1:13 PM ET
Member Since: 6/30/2008
Posts: 4,173
Back To Top

I have two Upfield's in the mail on their way to me. I am about finished with him. I have only one more on my wish list which is the one that has the Kelly gang in it.

I have a Swedish author on my shelf. It is The Princess of Burundi by Kjell Erickson. I haven't read it. The reviews are very uneven. Some like it but many don't. I think I had a Jo Nesbo at one time in the past but I never read it.



Last Edited on: 4/24/18 1:25 PM ET - Total times edited: 2
mary2029 avatar
Limited Member medal
Date Posted: 4/24/2018 10:11 PM ET
Member Since: 3/31/2013
Posts: 750
Back To Top

A Whisper to the Blood by Dana Stabenow. This book in the Kate Shugak series seemed a little slow to me. A mining company is going to put in a open pit gold mine in the park. Kate's not sure whether it will be good - creating jobs, or bad - maybe ruining salmon fishing on several rivers due to runoff from processing the ore. Meanwhile, people on snow machines are being attacked and having their supplies stolen, and a man is murdered at the trailer housing a guard up at the mining site. When I started the book, I didn't realize that I hadn't read the previous book in the series and that created some confusion for me. While I'm not adamant about reading every book in a series in order, this is one time that would definitely have been a good idea.

Generic Profile avatar
Date Posted: 4/28/2018 5:18 AM ET
Member Since: 6/30/2008
Posts: 4,173
Back To Top

bump

Spuddie avatar
Friend of PBS-Gold medalPBS Blog Contributor medal
Date Posted: 4/28/2018 8:48 AM ET
Member Since: 8/10/2005
Posts: 4,607
Back To Top

All April brought me was a spring blizzard, but that was two weekends ago and hopefully THAT is over with! I am a big lover of my four different seasons here in Minnesota, but man...it seems like this has been the longest winter EVER. Although I know it hasn't really....but I am ready for spring! Not even complaining about the mud, slush and ankle deep puddles as the 17" of snow we got melts away.

I am still here, decided to renew my membership for another year. Reading a lot...still making my way through the Peter Diamond series by Peter Lovesey and loving that, enjoying all of Chris Nickson's various historical mystery series, and have breezed quickly through the first four of Ann Swinfen's Medieval Oxford mysteries. Mostly I seem to be reading fantasy and sci-fi these days. I went to look at the list of the recently announced Edgar Awards and I hardly recognized any of the names of the nominees, much less the winners! I seem to be behind the mystery times!

Hope everyone is well, I'm plugging along at work as usual, grandsons are growing like weeds, Marshall turned 4 in January and Clint's 3rd birthday is coming up next weekend if you can believe it!  Continuing to get healthier the closer to 60 I get (later this year...eeeeeek!) and am now off all prescription meds and totally controlling my diabetes and blood pressure with diet since last August....I should say diet and exercise but I'm a confirmed couch potato and exercise is sporadic at best. More walking now that the weather is better, though! Low-carb/Keto definitely the way to go.

Hope to pop in a little more often, but the books coming and going remains pretty low so I usually do a quick check in, update my reading list on my Bulletin Board and mosey on. I've enjoyed some occasional PM conversations with some of you as we've exchanged books and that's been fun. Take call ya'll!

Cheryl

beanie5 avatar
Standard Member medalBook Cover Image Group medalBook Data Correction Group medal
Date Posted: 4/28/2018 10:47 AM ET
Member Since: 10/6/2007
Posts: 3,143
Back To Top

Cheryl --- Good to see that smiling face!!  Hard to believe your little grands are 3 and 4!!!!  I too am reading, just not posting here as much.  My reading has become almost exclusively on Kindle, however, as I am unpacking after what I hope is my last move, I have found a box of paper books!!! 

All goes pretty well for me --- after 5 years of sitting in my recliner (subsequent to David's death) I have begun an exercise program.  Starting out with training for some improvement in strength and hopefully balance.  However, yesterday the trainer gave me home work!!  I am to begin doing 20 minutes of cardio 3 times a week!!!  I know that sounds like nothing, but after a long while of doing nothing, at least it is a beginning!!

Reading mostly historical mysteries, but some few thriller and mysteries in current times.

mary2029 avatar
Limited Member medal
Date Posted: 4/28/2018 1:48 PM ET
Member Since: 3/31/2013
Posts: 750
Back To Top

Cheryl and Becky - After so long it's good to hear from both of you. Was beginning to think this forum was dying. I can remember when by the end of the month there'd be at least 3 pages of posts. Got two cortisone injections in my lower back earlier this week, but not the relief I was hoping for. Am now thinking that the problem may be related to my knee, which was replaced a year and a half ago. Hip on that side is also giving me more problems. I seem to be falling apart.

Certainly haven't had the weather problems down here that people have been experiencing elsewhere in the country. We did get a couple days of fairly heavy rain last week. The temperature fluctuates a lot more than I was used to in Phoenix. I think we'll be seeing the last of highs in the 60s in the next couple days. I accepted an offer in my Phoenix house; assuming all goes well, closing is scheduled for May 30. Can't be soon enough as far as I'm concerned because I need some cash to get ceiling fans installed in my office and kitchen, so that I don't need to run the a/c as much when things start heating up next month.

Haven't been reading as much in April as I did earlier in the year. Began reading Creole Belle by James Lee Burke a couple days ago. I love his writing style. 

Generic Profile avatar
Date Posted: 4/28/2018 4:52 PM ET
Member Since: 6/30/2008
Posts: 4,173
Back To Top

I just recently bought myself a cane. It is nice for the extra stability it gives me but with the cane in one hand it makes carrying things a bit harder. I have to think ahead about how I am going to do things.

vintagejoy avatar
Standard Member medalMember of the Month medalBook Cover Image Group medalBook Data Correction Group medalTour Guide Leader medalFriend of PBS-Silver medalPBS Blog Contributor medalPrintable Postage medal
Date Posted: 4/28/2018 7:36 PM ET
Member Since: 9/30/2006
Posts: 7,942
Back To Top

Charles ~ I know what you mean about the cane, it can be wicked trying to get used to one.  I've had to use one off and on for several years. My trouble is that I just tend to rush around without thinking ahead.  They are very helpful though when you need them.

Cheryl & Becky ~ great to hear from both of you!

Mary ~ good luck with your closing!

I've also been reading quite a bit.  Just recently finished "Suspicion at Sanditon" by Carrie Bebris, and "The Late Scholar" by Jill Paton Walsh.  The Bebris book is part of a series in which Elizabeth Bennett and Darcy (married now) from Jane Austin's book "Pride and Prejudice" solve mysteries of various sorts. Who knew they could do this?  One of the best of the series so far, IMO.  The Late Scholar continues the life of Lord Peter Wimsey.  This was very good as well.  I'm currently starting the Little Library mysteries, "A Most Curious Murder" by Ellizabeth  Kane Buzzelli.