When I lived in England in the 70s, I fell in love with mystery writer June Thomson.  Her books have sometimes been hard to find in the US.  I'm just now rereading them, and I forgot how well her plots with Inspector Finch (or Rudd) describe English village life and police procedues.

 I enjoy the English mysteries and this sounds like an interesting series to start.. Thanks for the information.

Thanks for the tip! I ordered one...I love British mysteries.

I know there was something I read recently and realized all over again how really good it was, but  I can't remember what it was now!

Which is the first in the series?

I just finished "Death Cap" an inspector Rudd  novel. Good little mystery. Passing along to my Mother and her friends.

This year I bought and reread Alas Babylon and On the Beach.  I read them when I was so young that the emotions behind the women didn't mean very much to me.  This time around I truly understood the anguish of the young mother in On the Beach and the wife of the man lost in the 'safe bunker' back in his military job,  never to be heard from again in Alas Babylon.

I read this book so long ago and can't believe how much I enjoyed it....The Adventurers by Harold Robbins.  You will not be able to put it down.

A Parchment of Leaves by Silas House -- the writing is exquisite and the story is compelling. 

I have been re-reading Lou Cannon's biography of Ronald Reagan, President Reagan: Role of A Lifetime. Amazing book. Cannon was a personal friend, and had written Reagan's campaign biography and one more. Impressive in its documentation. Every member of Reagan's cabinet but one is interviewed and quoted at length. After he published it, Nancy never spoke to Cannon again or allowed him in her presence. Cannon remains an admirer of Reagan, the man, but also shows his deficiencies.

That Cannon book sounds interesting. I'd love to read one that wasn't just totally adoring.....

I've been re-reading a lot lately. Almost done with the Alvin Maker series, and also finished (again) George RR Martin's Fire and Ice series.

Martin just knocks my socks off and makes me breathless at the depth and detail of his imagination. There is so much there, I think it could be re-read a zillion times and still find new things.

Not that long ago I re-read all James Lee Burke's Robicheaux books. Still cannot pick a favorite.....

Hawaii by James Michener and Tully  by Paullina Simons.

Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte

Rebecca by Daphne DuMaurier

anything by Mary Stewart  like-  My Brother, Michael

all better reads when older and wiser

I completely agree with Jane Eyre.  This has been among my top three favorite books since I read it for the first time when I was twelve years old.  I've read it at least a dozen times in the intervening years and I gain new perspective every time I read it.

Larry McMurtry's Lonesome Dove is another that speaks to me in a new way each time I read it.

Just last week, to loan to a minister who just moved here from Northern Nevada, I pulled out Rabbit Boss, by Thomas Sanchez. And I stuck my nose in it and can't get it back out. To my thinking, this is the best novel ever written about Native Americans. (One or two by Leslie Marmon Silko and the collected works of Louise Erdrich are close) Slow, to most, yes. Depressing, and then some. But that is because he tells it true. He depicts several long scenes, such as the Washoe watching from a distance the people with skins the color of the underbelly of a fish eating each other, are as vividly and unforgettably done as any I have ever read by anyone.

When I was a teen (I'm in my late 30's now)  I read a book called Sinuhe, the Egyptian. A wonderful book about one of the first physicians of Ancient Egypt. The book expands through the whole life of Sinuhe since he was a baby till his death if I remember correctly and it it is vibrant an accurate account of ancient Egypt. It brings to life historical charaters like Nefertiti and the King  Tut. The author, Mika Valtari a finnish writer must have done extensive research to create such a wondeful story that depicts Ancient Egypt just as you imagine it must have been- so full of detail and realistic, I could feel myself transported to Ancient times. The book marked the way I read books today and since that tiem I only ead historical fiction, I was hooked. I highly reccomend this book. If you love historical fiction, medicine or Ancient Egypt, this book is AMAZING!