What Fiction are you reading this week, January 29, 2023?

[hermetic]

I just read a small book I got for Christmas called Christmas Peril by Elizabeth Penney. A good Christmas read with a nice mix of romance and mystery. Penney has penned several cozies and this one sure kept me turning the pages for a couple of days.

Now I'm reading The Guest List by Lucy Foley. A wedding celebration on a small isle off the coast of Ireland turns dark and deadly. "A deliciously wicked and atmospheric thriller." Each chapter is told from the viewpoint of a different character. I've only just started so too early for an opinion.

I am listening to What the Cat Dragged In by Miranda James. Librarian Charlie Harris and his faithful Maine Coon companion, Diesel, have inherited Charlie's grandfather's house, along with a deadly legacy: a decades-old crime scene. Delightful, as expected.

What books are you expecting to read this week?

[Bayard]

1. I am thrilled!

I found a used book site online with great prices and quick, free shipping. I ordered 20 books for $5-6 each, and with another discount, paid $62! They are all in excellent to very good condition.

So, I'm looking at this big stack here, trying to decide what to read next. I have a mix of Dean Koontz, Stephen King, James Patterson, and dressage books.

[hermetic]

4. Awesome!

Good for you! My favorite dilemma: what book to read next. If you got as much snow as I did last night, staying in and reading looks like a plan for the next several days.

[bif]

17. Are you using Biblio.com?

Or Alibris.com? Those two are my faves.

[Bayard]

20. Better World Books

I'll check out the other two. Although I'm pretty stocked for awhile!

[CrispyQ]

2. "The Bandit Queens" by Parini Shroff.

From GoodReads:

Geeta's no-good husband disappeared five years ago. She didn't kill him, but everyone thinks she did--no matter how much she protests.
But she soon discovers that being known as a "self-made" widow has some surprising perks. No one messes with her, no one threatens her, and no one tries to control (ahem, marry) her. It's even been good for her business; no one wants to risk getting on her bad side by not buying her jewelry.

Freedom must look good on Geeta, because other women in the village have started asking for her help to get rid of their own no-good husbands...but not all of them are asking nicely.

Now that Geeta's fearsome reputation has become a double-edged sword, she must decide how far to go to protect it, along with the life she's built. Because even the best-laid plans of would-be widows tend to go awry.

I just started, less than 50 pages, but the three women introduced so far have all be spirited & lively characters.

Cats have been a part of lots of stories I've read or been interested in reading recently. I also enjoy stories with different POVs & am trying to write one.

[hermetic]

5. Oh, that does sound like a fun story

Yeah, I like books with cats as characters. Dogs, too, of course but they seem not as prevalent.
Best of luck with your story-writing.

[wnylib]

3. I just picked up an audio book from my library.

It's Camino Winds, by John Grisham. One of the few Grisham books that I have not read. Haven't started it yet, but I'm expecting to enjoy it as much as his other books.

I don't usually go in for audio books, but there are some projects I'll be working on that won't leave much time for reading so I figured that I can listen while I work.

[hermetic]

6. That book sounds great

Pretty new. I love having an audio book on as I go about my chores. Good luck with your project.

[The Blue Flower]

7. Just finished The Lacuna by Barbara Kingsolver

I'm a big fan of hers. Consider her a writer's writer for her brilliant use of language and immersion in characters. I read her Demon Copperhead and The Poisonwood Bible earlier this year.

[hermetic]

8. She's truly among the greatest

And, "The Lacuna is a rich and daring work of literature.."

[MontanaMama]

9. I just finished

An Elderly Lady Is Up To No Good, by Helene Tursten…translated by Marlaine Delargy. The back of the book says it all “Maud is an irascible 88-year old woman with no family, no friends….and no qualms about a little murder.”

This is a quick read…it’s funny and irreverent. If someone presents a problem for Maud, she offs them. Highly recommend….I hear there is a sequel to this little book.

Hope all is well with you, neighbor.

[hermetic]

10. Ah, it's Swedish

Definitely sounds like one I want to read. Thanks.

Well enough. Got a good dump of snow last night. Just when the previous one had all melted. So shoveling is on my list of things to do again. Gotta keep the paths cleared for the kitties. Hope all is good for you, too.

[Martin68]

11. "The Good Lord Bird" by James McBride.

Very funny, laugh out loud, tall tale account of John Brown's slave revolt. But at the same time, full of human truth and a sense of what it was like to live while the US was fighting over whether to expand or prohibit slavery. Excellent writing!

[hermetic]

13. Sounds terrific!

Thanks for sharing.

[japple]

21. I loved that book. It was a real trip. All of James McBride's books

are excellent. He has a new one coming out this year.

[Martin68]

22. i'm reading the Color of Water next.

[mike_c]

12. The Deluge by Stephen Markley

I've just started it.

[hermetic]

15. That just came out

The Deluge is a once-in-a-generation novel that meets the moment as few works of art ever have. From the Gulf Coast to Los Angeles, the Midwest to Washington, DC, each faces a reckoning: what will they sacrifice to salvage humanity's last chance at a future? Their intertwined odysseys unfold against a stark backdrop of accelerating chaos.

Wow!

[mike_c]

19. I sometimes pre-purchase interesting sounding books from Amazon...

...before they're released, so they show up as a future surprise. It's like, happy whenever to me!

[MOMFUDSKI]

14. A non-fiction but

what a read! "The Spy Who Knew Too Much" written by Howard Blum in 2022. I've since ordered 2 more of his at my local library.

[hermetic]

16. An Ex-CIA Officer's Quest

Through a Legacy of Betrayal. Sounds like a James Bond story. Some of it could be fiction. Shows up on the Fiction Data Base site. Sounds really great.

[MOMFUDSKI]

18. Fiction or not

these operatives have brass balls. Takes a certain kind of person to even want to dabble in the intrigue. My husband joined the AF right out of high school and his testing indicated they wanted him in intelligence. He saw a notice on the bulletin board in the mess hall for Survival Trainer and went for it. He could not be chained to a desk for ANYTHING. Total outdoorsman but with a brain.

[yellowdogintexas]

23. decided I needed some fierce action.

Finished one I started last week:
Country Roads by Ernest Dempsey
Dak Harper's search for a pair of stolen artifacts leads a crime ring in a small town.
North Carolina, A thief waits for his buyer to arrive near a vacated rock quarry, but he and his partner get more than they bargained for from a sociopath with a financial stranglehold on the region.

After the artifacts disappear, and a mysterious murder, Dak Harper arrives on the scene to solve both.

His boss, an eccentric young millionaire with a passion for antiquities, has sent him to North Carolina to retrieve the artifacts--a set of Civil War pistols stolen from a museum. The legendary Samuel Colt made the guns for President Abraham Lincoln, but now they've vanished, and Dak only has a short window of time to find them before they're gone forever.

As he tracks his quarry, Dak learns a Southern tycoon’s interests stretch much further than stolen weapons. Turns out he’s holding an entire town hostage at the center of a sprawling crime syndicate. And innocent townsfolk are dying.
Armed with few weapons of his own, Dak must somehow fight through a county full of crooked cops and deadly mercenaries to erase a tyrant whose greed is matched only by his cruelty.

Only then can he find the guns, rescue the town, and maybe save himself.

The bad guy is really really bad!

Currently reading:
Two Nights in Mumbai (also a Dak Harper novel in The Courier series)

When artifacts go missing, there's only one guy to call. And he's the baddest good guy you'll meet.

It seemed like a great way to bank some cash, travel to exciting destinations on his boss’ dime, and keep under the radar of some very bad men trying to kill him.

But Dak has traded one deadly set of problems for another. He might be making bank in his new career, but each country he visits is chock full of entirely new groups of heavily armed men aiming to stop his work and put him in a body bag. Dak might have traded his combat fatigues for jeans and trainers, but he’s still getting shot at for money.

Now in India to save a stolen idol and rescue the Mumbai museum curator protecting it, he’s got to duck Russian mobsters, sidestep an Indian casino boss who wants more than just his time, and distract a local police force who seems to be as incompetent as they are clueless.

If Dak has to keep this up, there’s a good chance this new job is gonna get him killed faster than his old one.

This fast-paced crime thriller with thousands of 5-star reviews by USA Today bestselling author Ernest Dempsey will have you ripping through the pages as Dak Harper races to solve the mystery, recover the artifacts, and save a town from its oppressor.

I also read one of the Pineapple Cove cozies.
Pineapple Mystery Box
When a giant inflatable Halloween witch goes missing in the Pineapple Port retirement community, amateur sleuth Charlotte Morgan’s eager to nab the culprit. But before she can lift a fingerprint, someone threatens to kill a new neighbor who looks like an adorable Pomeranian but possesses a disturbing talent for revenge. Moments later, a stranger demands the return of a mysterious wooden box… or else.

Charlotte's romantic interest, Declan, isn't having a great morning either. His calculating ex-girlfriend has returned to claim she's the rightful owner of his pawn shop. She’s livid he’s found a new lady, and she is not the sort of person you want angry at you…

Eh. Things could be worse. At least Charlotte doesn’t know that a mojito-swilling killer is on his way to Pineapple Port…

This is a long series; I have been able to catch a large number of them on sale via the discount vendors. Throughout the series, you find serial killers, crazy ex-girlfriends, loving dogs, romance, government operatives, FBI agents, danger... and a cast of characters almost as funny as they are loving, supportive and brave. The series appeals to men and women.

If Janet Evanovich's Stephanie Plum and the Golden Girls had a baby, it would be the Pineapple Port series!

[Jilly_in_VA]

24. The Fires of Lilliput by Michael Martin

It's a WWII novel, set in the Warsaw Ghetto. Quite intense and a bit slow going, but very good. Also long, but never boring.