Shiver!  Stuff to keep me warm.

Read an oldie Dead and Gone / Mary Kitteridge, currently reading another oldie Contest of Wills / Frank O'Neil.  The last of a four part series.  Just cleaning up the TBR.  These were and are light mysteries, not really cozies.  The MC in Contest of Wills is a male in training to be a PI working with an experienced PI.

Also for all the Bernie Rhodenbarr fans there's a new one coming out!  The Burglar Who Counted Spoons.  Release date on Amazon is December 25, 2013.  The last new Bernie story was in 2004.       .

Still reading The Concrete Blonde by Michael Connelly. It's very good so far.

Bad Blood has to be one of Sandford's best books. Starts with a murder made to look like an accident, and the bodies start piling up quickly after that. Lots of excitement during the final chase. Virgil Flowers is a very interesting MC. His father is a Lutheran minister. Virgil isn't religious, but can quote scripture chapter and verse. He's not quite sure what he believes, but thinks about God every night before falling asleep, and wonders what God thinks about what's going on with humans in general, and Virgil in particular.

Next up is Sacred Cut by David Hewson, another new author for me.

Just ordered the first Thomas Black book by Earl Emerson - The Rainy City

I've never run across this author before but I found him on a few lists for the challenge this year and the books sounded interesting. It's great to be able to find so many new authors...well, new to me. This series started in 1985 so I guess it's not actually NEW

Leslie, I began reading Earl Emerson with The Rainy City.  I've read all the books and his Mac Fontana series too.  I hope you enjoy them as much as the rest of us have.

You've hit on what I love most about PBS!  finding new to me authors that others have enjoyed and recommend.  Many times I'd stand in front of the book racks thinking will I like this book unless it was an author I recognized!

Currently reading another oldie B & E / Dave Pedneau.  One more book in the series. 

Hello All --- Just got started sending out Secret Santa partner information, but have to stop and fix salad and green beans for the homeless shelter this evening.  Everyone will have their partner information before bedtime tonight!!!

Finished Sophie Littlefield's Shattered Bond, the 2nd book in her Detective Joe Bashir series....very good. Also read the small but mighty read of Craig Johnnson's The Spirit of Steamboat....very good with just Walt and Lucian, back just after Walt won the election for Sheriff.

Geri...Fantastic...can't wait for the newest Bernie Rhodenbarr!!

Leslie...Think Geri got me started on Earl Emerson.  Read all the Thomas Black and Mac Fontana books and loved them.  One of those "why didn't they write more" authors.  Have started collecting/reading his non-series books.

Read Louisiana Longshot/Jana Deleon...the first of her Miss Fortune mysteries. As with all of hers, a bit crazy but fun!

Geri...Fantastic...can't wait for the newest Bernie Rhodenbarr!!

Leslie...Think Geri got me started on Earl Emerson.  Read all the Thomas Black and Mac Fontana books and loved them.  One of those "why didn't they write more" authors.  Have started collecting/reading his non-series books.

Read Louisiana Longshot/Jana Deleon...the first of her Miss Fortune mysteries. As with all of hers, a bit crazy but fun!

Working on Screwed by Eoin Colfer, follow up to Plugged.

Geri - I actually got the Earl Emerson series from your list. So thank you!

Marla - Think I will try the Bernie Rhodenbarr series as well.  You guys are awesome. I am all set for a long, cold winter of reading inside with my cats to keep me warm!

I was a little burned out with mysteries so I took a little break. I read 2 Winnie the Pooh books while on my break. I really enjoyed them.

I am back to mysteries and just finished DOWN BY THE RIVERSIDE by Jackie Lynn. As a mystery it wasn't that good. There was a murder, but I wouldn't classify the book as a mystery. I am getting ready to start CATERING TO NOBODY by Diane Mott Davidson.

Leslie you'll love Bernie!  Believe it or not they made a movie of the first and Whoopie Goldberg played Bernie!!!  Bernie in the books is a man for pity sake.  I can't wait for this new one, I never tired of Bernie.  In fact I liked the Evan Tnner series though they are dated now, Evan was in the Korean war and "worked" as a spy.  The Chip Harrison series wasn't bad.  Keller the hit man is funny!  The only series that Lawrence Block writes that didn't grab me was the Scudder series.  When I saw Lawrence Block's name on the bookshelf where ever I was I grabbed, until the Scudder series.  Why" It's been too long since I attempted to read one to say.  Just not my cuppa I guess.

Almost finished with B & E.  So far 11 people dead, two more have been bitten by a snake and I'm at the point where I think we might have a couple more dead.  Phew!  This is a small town in West Virginia and there's a fanatic loose in the area.  He has kids doing burglaries to steal guns to use for terriorist acivities within the U. S.!  Oh, and another dead guy in another city killed with one of the stolen guns. 

I am just starting a new cozy series Bran New Death (Merry Muffin, Bk 1) :: Victoria Hamilton

Okay so far

Does one snake usually bite multiple people???

I am reading two books just now:  "Death at Glamis Castle" Robin Paige and "Mr. Churchill's Secretary" by someone I cannot remember this moment.  The Robin Paige book is about Charles Sheridan and his wife Kate.  I enjoy these books as they always incorporate some lovely historical facts about things along with the mystery.  I am not far into "Mr. Churchill", but it seems as though it will be enjoyable.

 

Apparently if you irritate the snake, cross it's path, or step on it, it will.  In this case it was a copperhead and bit the first person who got the dose of venom.  The second person was tracking the first person and crossed the snake's path.  He got bit but there was no venom, just the bite.  From reading a bit more two more people actually came upon the snake and it was ready to attack them!  They were in his territory and he was defending it.  

Good reading choices Becky.  I liked Mr. Churchill's Secretary, maybe I sent it to you?    

You may have Geri.  It has been on my shelf for a little bit --- think it may have come from you.  I am just not able to read anything very "meaty" these days.  My concentration is still at a pretty low level --- hopefully with the passage of time it will get better.  In the meantime I am reading shorter, less in-depth books.  I even ordered a book someone here mentioned about a book store in a town that had courted book stores to pep up their town.  Cannot remember title or author at this moment --- what is new about that????
 

Read Say You're Sorry/Michael Robotham...another Brit series I've got hooked on!!

Hey, Geri, there will be another Krewe of Hunters book...The Cursed...coming out in May of next year!

I know what you mean, Becky...I sometimes go through periods when I really can't cope with anything really serious or meaty or that I have to really focus on...and I don't have any real excuse!  That's why I try to keep a reasonable variety on my TBR...can usually find something to suit my mood.  It's either that or go to the library and grab an armload of "no-brainers"!!!!!  LOL

Marla, I suspected that another would be making an appearance.  Almost sounds like it ties in with the Bone Island series.  Maybe just because it's Key West.

Finished B&E, mercy 15 people killed,  1 by the terrorist group, 11 by one person and two by his leader who in turn died a very fitting death in a car accident.   Love the series, there's only one more book but I have to space them out because they're a bit gruesome at times.

Found an oldie on my TBR that I hope is a bit lighter though the title may not sound like it, Murder of the Month / Elizabeth C Main.  It stems from a book club in a book store - reading a "murder of the month".  Naturally it has to have a murder in there somewhere. 

I am reading my second Camilla Lackberg nordic noir, THE STONECUTTER. Her books are 450 pages +, so not short reading, and definitely not cozy. The following is her info on SYKM:

Mary (mepom) --- I just cannot do those Scandinavian authors!!!  I have tried and tried and it just does not work for me!!  So happy I do not have to learn to speak Swedish at this time in my life!!!  Just look at those book titles.

LOL, BECKY. They are translated.

Enough about the Swedes! How about those Italian cops? Just finished Sacred Cut, which is set in Rome, although written by a Brit, David Hewson. It's the 3rd in the Nic Costa series, so now I've got another series to follow. Starts out with a naked dead American woman posed like daVinci's Vitruvian Man in the middle of the Pantheon. She was strangled and then had a geometric shape carved into her back with a scalpel. It's the first murder in Rome, but there were several others similarly staged in the U.S. The FBI is talking to its Italian counterpart, but they both want the Rome police to catch the murderer without sharing vital information with them. The characters were very well drawn and the story moved along at a good pace. Lessons on Emperor Hadrian and architecture included. Very enjoyable.

Next up is Another Thing to Fall, part of the Tess Monaghan series set in Baltimore by Laura Lippman. 

Here's a little teaser for Challenge fans - mark your calendars!    The Historical Fiction people already have their 2014 challenge posted.  I'm going to be posting our 2014 challenge next week.  That's so people can look it over and maybe find something they'd like to read and let Santa know he can put it in their stocking.  

I've eliminated the books older than me catagory (NOT easy for Marla and ME!). used suggestions from people who did the challenge and hope it won't be difficult for any of us!  Though I have to admit it's not going to do a lot to clean up my TBR except for one category in the bonus section!