I'm reading Heart of Ice / P J Parrish.  This is the 11th in the series.  I think you could read it without reading the previous books.  And, for those who like Mackinac Island this involves a murder on Mackinac Island which has a five man police force.  It's the end of the tourist season.  Businesses are closing.  Even the Grand Hotel has closed.  The horses have been taken off island and it's cold!  I liked this series and wish it would have gone further.

I was up late finishing Tilt A Whirl by Chris Grabenstein, the first John Ceepak police procedural.  I loved this book.  The twists and turns kept me guessing.  I haven't liked characters this much since Stuart Pawson's Charlie Priest books.  The Pawson books are Brit police procedurals and this series is set on the Jersey shore.  But they have two big things in common.  One is that the main character is such a decent, likeable, giving person that you wish he was  real and you could meet  him.  The second is the dry humor.  There were so many laugh out loud moments in this book. I was reading "selected excerpts"  (as my husband calls it) to my husband and he was laughing too.  It looks like there are 8 books in this series.  It has been several years since the last one and the author seems to have moved on to other projects. Darn!  I just ordered the other 7 books.

Bronwyn, that is good to hear. There are 8 in that series and I just checked my TBR and found that I have the first 5 books in the series.

I am reading the 3rd book in the Amish Mystery series by Laura Bradford, Shunned and Dangerous for the cozy challenge. After this one I want to read the next two books to get caught up with this series. I really am enjoying this series.

Connie, I hope you like it as much as I did.  You are lucky to have the five as there aren't any of his books in the PBS system that I could find.  I ordered from the used books sellers at Amazon.  I rejoice in their existence and I am sure that they rejoice in mine.  Every time they tally up the profits!! 

I have started The Madwoman Upstairs by Catherine Lowell.  I don't know how to categorize this book.  It does have some mystery to it.  The MC is the last living relative of the Bronte family (of Jane Eyre, Wuthering Heights, etc. fame).  She is American but has started university in England.  And Strange Bronte Related Things are happening.  Enjoying it so far.

Bronwyn as soon as you mentioned Charlie Priest I knew I had to have that series!  I really enjoyed Charlie and was sorry to hear that Stuart Pawson was ill and would not be writing more.

Tilt-a-Whirl is 99 cents on Kindle.  The Madwoman is very expensive.  I've got it marked to watch for the price going down.  The Kindle and hardcover are almost the same price!  It's on my wl now.

Oh, so glad to see someone else has discovered the Ceepak series! I really wish Chris would write some more, but he has kind of shifted over to primarily writing kids' books now, which are also great, but...he has many loyal fans who are frequently hounding him for MORE CEEPAK! That was one of the few series that I would get the book as soon as it came out and then be sad when it was done because I had to wait!

I've started On The Line by S.J. Rozan (#10 Bill Smith & Lydia Chin) in audio--actually, I'm over half done even though I just started listening yesterday, it's one of those hard-to-put-down books. There's only one left in the series after this, and it's been a few years since there was a new one, but I'm hoping it's not a dead series. On the Kindle, still reading The Whole Lie by Steve Ulfelder (#2 Conway Sax) which is....meh. I am not sure I'm going to continue the series after this one. It's ok, but...the older I get, the less I am satisfied with just "okay." My reading clock is ticking! In print, I'm about halfway through Blood and Honey by Graham Hurley (#6 Joe Faraday and Paul Winter), which is a nice meaty Brit police procedural which I'm really enjoying.

Cheryl

Heart of Ice is my bed book but on Kindle I have Those Who Walk in Darkness /Joyce Lavene.  It takes place in 1870.  Jack Jackson is a Pinkerton Agent.  An in desguise woman.  Allen Pinkerton is aware the he is a she but no one else does.  Jack is now tracking down an Indian who has kidnapped the wife and son of a railroad executive.  Heading for the Cherokee nation in North Carolina.  These are Indians who his Oklahoma on the Trail of Tears, said you're kidding and somehow managed to get back to North Carolina.

Cheryl, I'm the same way these days.  Why should I even finish something that's not holding my attention or it's just okay or a series that has become stale.

This disease of mine is about to wear me out without seeing much progress!!  And to ice the cake this morning I got up dizzy as a duck with vertigo!!  I am really ready to call it a day --- too much stuff.  Got some Prednisone and started yesterday and I actually tell that some bits of this are improving.  Perhaps it is all worthwhile ---

I am reading what I believe to be the most recent in the Janet Deleon Ida Bell and Gertie books.  I ready of the somewhat recent Maisie Dobbs editions between flying and such. I have not really a thriller, it seems, in some time so I may try one of the Karin Slaughter books.  I really enjoyed the series with the doc and the Sheriff an they could not wait to kill him off andit sort of went downhill.  I may thru with the series and not yet know it.

I finished The Madwoman Upstairs.  I really enjoyed all the literary discussion and the glimpse of life as a student at Oxford.  The little mystery was resolved but I needed more.  Anyway, brave Geri is going to give it a try so it will be on its way to her soon.  I am going to get back to my paranormal series as book 15 comes out in two weeks and I am trying to catch up.  So starting book 10.

I'm reading Kindles currently Those Who Walk in Darkness.  I thought since it was a Joyce Lavene it would be a bit lighter.  This is a bit paranormal.  It's also a bit draggy.  The four people two Pinkertons and Indian guide and the civilian have been riding for what sems like forever but at this point is two days.  Just started Hazardous Duty a new cozy (supposedly).  The MC is a cleaner that cleans after a murder.  I have To Live Forever which is a sci fi, another time travel.  MC is Meriweather Lewis of Lewis and Clark fame.

Finished Heart of Ice.   Sigh, I don't know if there will be another since this was written in 2013.  This was the 11th in the series and evey one was nominated for at least one award except the first.  This was a Shamus winner.  Taking place in the 1990s in the off season on Mackinac Island.  No bikes, no fudge and only one hotel open. 

reading now The Sleeping Car Murders by Sebastien Japrisot. police procedural. as Simenon is the giant in this field in France you can see similarities between this story and Simenon's Maigret series. Character driven story. There is another title for this novel. The 1030 From Marseille. a woman is found dead in a sleeping compartment on the train from Marseille to Paris. There are 6 people in the compartment including the dead woman. I have only begun. not very far in the story yet. but some of the other passengers from the train are going to turn up dead also.

finished this yesterday. The plot was much more complicated than I suspected. I would say about 8 or 8.5 out of 10.

I'm so behind reading this topic I've had to sit here with a notebook and pen writing down all the great book suggestions!

Becky ~ Hope you are feeling better soon ~ you take care of yourself, now.  You know how you are.  :)

I've been sidelined with a little setback, which is why I haven't been in here much.  Hit with a tremendous amount of nerve pain in my foot, triggered from the surgery.  Back on pain meds and it seems to be settling down a bit.  Or else I don't care if it hurts. :)  Haven't been able to put my foot in my walking cast or ice it because both of these things make the pain worse.  Has slowed down my mobility progress a bit.  But all the stitches are out, which is a good thing.  Another thing that is helpful is counter-irritant therapy.  This happens when your hand bangs against something or gets squeezed between the wheel and say, a wall or door jamb while pushing around in the wheelchair.  The pain from this makes the foot pain go away instantly and without medication.  :)

I've been reading a lot though!  Reading is about the best diversion therapy I know.  I've read:

• Moss Hysteria ~ Kate Collins
• For Cheddar or Worse ~ Avery Aames (last in the series)   :(
• River in the Sky ~ Elizabeth Peters
• Needle and Dread ~ Elizabeth Lynn Casey
• Wedding Cake Murder ~ Joanne Fluke

And I've just started 'Town in a Cinnamon Toast' by B. B. Haywood.

Hope you are all having a great weekend!

Wonderful pain therapy Joy.  Counter pain, I'll have to remember that one,

I finished Those Who Walk in Darkness / Jim and Joyce Lavene.  Didn't care for it.  I don't know if it was the era, 1870s, the subject Pinkerton agent on the job, a miserable guy they were trying to protect and he was rotten.  No real end to it and with them both gone I don't know if it will continue. 

Now starting Black Irish / Stephen Talty.

Haven't posted for a bit, but I'm still here.  I've got the veggies all planted and one fruit tree (apricot) harvested.  A plum tree is ready and I'll go out after it cools down a bit (I hope!) and pick that fruit.  It's been miserable the last few days--102 on Thurs., 105 yesterday and 109 today.  It's too early for this kind of heat.  Fire season is upon us I'm afraid.  Update: we topped out at 110 today.

Since it's been so hot and I wasn't feeling too chipper before that, I have been doing some reading.  I finished

• 15th Affair by James Patterson
• Soldiers of Fortune by Jana DeLeon
• Serendipity by Lisa Clark O'Neill
• Berry the Hatchet by Peg Cochran
• Crime and Poetry by Amanda Flower
• Murder and Marinara by Rosie Genova
• Sweet Pepper Hero by J J Cook

I just started Captured by S. J. Harper which is a prequel for an urban fantasy series.  Just started it but I can tell I definitely want to read the series.  

Becky and Joy, hope you both feel better soon.

I am reading two fictionalized stories about real murders. I had no idea that was what they were about but I'm enjoying them:

Crippen by John Boyne is about Dr. Harvey Hawley Crippen who in 1910 murdered his wife and fled from London on the S.S. Montrose with his lover, Ethel LeNeve. They are disguised as Mr. John Robinson and his son Edmund and are headed to Canada to start a new life. He is credited with being the first criminal caught by aid of the telegraph which had just been invented. The story does bounce from the present to the past frequently and tends to jar. However, not being familar with the real story, I found it fascinating. Have it on my Kindle from the library.

Quiet Dell by Jayne Ann Phillips. This one is the story of Asta Eicher and her three children who are struggling to make it in Chicago in the 1930s after her husband dies in a trolley accident. She answers a lonely hearts ad and is seduced by love letters from con man Harry Powers. Shortly after meeting him, the entire family is dead and buried in Quiet Dell, West Virginia. I had this one quite awhile on my TBR.

Thanks to Geri I got my Krewe of Hunters fix yesterday with Hidden Destiny/Heather Graham!  Two more coming out this year

Have been reading, but nothing really outstanding.  Sister Eve and the Blue Nun/Lynne Hinton, the third in the series.  Lots of Eve trying to decide if she wants to be a nun or a detective, lots of spiritual help from the Blue Nun when she gets herself into life-threatening situations.  The Blue Nun is an actual historical figure who was credited with bilocation...being in two places at once.  This is not a bad series, just nothing that falls into the "can't wait for the next one" category!

Death at Breakfast/Beth Gucheron...sort of a semi-cozy.  Two widows are staying at a resort to take a week long cooking class.  Another hotel guest is murdered, a former hotel employee is accused and the two MCs think differently.  A very mild, quiet mystery with a few funny moments.

Plus, a bunch of others I've already forgotten! 

today requested a book that has 4 novels in it. The novels are Mr Moto mysteries by John P Marquand. I am not sure I have ever heard of Mr Moto. anybody read any of these?

Oh my, I haven't heard the name Mr Moto in forever.  I can say I have read Mr Moto books but this will knock your socks off.  My grandmother let me read her books when I was about eight or nine.  By no means are they children's books.  I was allowed to read "adult" books.  Fu Manchu and Charlie Chan were a couple of other books she had.

there are Charlie Chan movies on youtube. and I think there may be some Mr Moto movies also with Peter Lorre.

Good Morning. Crazy busy here with graduation. Been reading more paranormal right now. I did start Crime and Poetry (Magical Bookshop, Bk 1) :: Amanda Flower yesterday though and am enjoying that.

Sad, sad.  For some reason I can't seem to latch on to one book.  I have six books started on Kindle and though I'm not giving u on any none of them are holding me either.  I'll read a bit, get up and do something and come back to a different book.  I am reading my bed book but, so tired I'm not reading much.  No insomnia right now either.  Must be all the gardening.  I still have three projects to do and they're a bit heavy.  Haul those 40 lb bags of stuff from the garage to the working area.  It's raining so no outside work for me.  Might not do any for the next couple of days the rain will cool me off.

Reading Til Dice Do Us Part / Gail Oust for my bed book.  It's meh.  :) 

I finished reading Berry the Hatchet last night.  The first part went pretty fast but for whatever reason I kept wanting to quit reading on the last half. Just had a hard time holding my interest.  The last couple of cozies I've read have been pretty much the same way.

Getting ready to start Braking for Bodies so maybe it will go better. Have to get it read to send on to someone in the cozy box.

I'm getting closer to being able to get the new Amos Decker book by David Baldacci from the library.  First put it on hold I was #27 so down to #3 now.

Joy I'm reading Hazardous Duty / Christy Barritt.  It first struck me as a bit on the gruesome side since the MC ceans houses that have had a death by murder or otherwise,  It's a Christian cozy.  If I were reading the book it woud be going to you when I finish but I have it on my Kindle.  

Thanks, Geri ~ I will check it out.

Finished 'Vanilla Beaned' by Jenn McKinley, the latest cupcake bakery book.  I have got to say this is one of the best in the series.  Mel, Angie & Tate go to Las Vegas to meet with a woman who wants to buy a franchise of their cupcake store and open it in Vegas.  Non-stop action from first to last and a great cliff-hanger ending.  I could literally not put the book down, you could almost name it as a thriller. 

Finished up Til Dice Us Do Part.  It picked up but I simply don't care for the premise that the police are not capable of doing their job and need a civilian to discover the murderer.  At the end the police chief calls MC to apologize that they didn't check the bullet for fingerprints which would have immediately proved who dun it.  There's a few more in the series but, I have to think about continuing.