Penny Reads in 2022

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Penny Reads in 2022

1pmarshall
Modifié : Jan 1, 2022, 2:25 pm

I will continue following my series, in the next 3 months there will be a new additions from Ian Hamilton, Sheldon Siegel, Alec Gray, John Lescroart and Jacqueline Winspear and I am looking forward to all of them. I am still reading Daniel Silva and have a long wishlist at Kindle. And as you know I always have books in my library to reread.

2NanaCC
Jan 1, 2022, 2:52 pm

I’ll be following along Penny. Happy reading!

3labfs39
Jan 1, 2022, 5:08 pm

Happy new year, Penny! I too like Jaqueline Winspear, although I am behind a few. I was reading on your profile about your interest in reading about women in the Resistance. Which ones have you read and enjoyed? I really liked A Train in Winter and Madame Fourcade's Secret War. I received A Life in Secrets: Vera Atkins and the Missing Agents of WWII as a gift and will read it as soon as I get my new glasses (the type is very small).

4pmarshall
Jan 1, 2022, 5:45 pm

#1.What Child is This, Rhys Bowen

It is Christmas Eve, 1940 in London and Maggie and Jack are trying to celebrate with the little they could get on their ration cards and are missing their young daughter, who died of illness, even more. Their street is bombed and they escape from their burning house with the clothes on their backs. They learn of the generosity of strangers and how they can help each other build new futures despite being from different backgrounds.

⭐️⭐️⭐️1/2

5labfs39
Jan 1, 2022, 6:06 pm

>4 pmarshall: I like WWII stories, and your review piqued my interest. I think I still have the Kindle app on my phone, I'm off to see if I can read it. I never read on my phone, so this will be an experiment.

6pmarshall
Modifié : Jan 1, 2022, 6:14 pm

>3 labfs39::
I have read quite a few books, fiction and nonfiction, look under the tag resistance, in my books. I have read about Vera Atkinson but not the one you have. Some books I recommend are The Frenchman’s Daughters, The Sisters of St. Croix, The Best of Our Spies and books by Alan Furst. AlsoThe Paris Library
I can definitely relate to type that is too small. I have had to give up on books and now read Kindles where I can adjust the font size. I read on my IPad, I doubt I could read on my phone!

7labfs39
Jan 1, 2022, 6:14 pm

>6 pmarshall: thanks for the recommendations. I have read several of Alan Furst's novels, but not the others.

8AlisonY
Jan 2, 2022, 6:28 am

Happy New Year, Penny! Hope 2022 brings you plenty of great new books.

9dchaikin
Jan 2, 2022, 8:59 pm

Happy 2022 Penny. I'll follow along here, although i may do so quietly.

10pmarshall
Jan 2, 2022, 10:43 pm

#2. A Death in Vienna, Daniel Silva

Gabriel Allon returns to the Holocaust and his mother’s history. Nazis officers who at the end of the war were able to establish new identities and new lives by moving to the Middle East or Argentina. People and countries look at the war and the treatment of the Jews as a past event and not something to still be concerned about.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

11pmarshall
Jan 4, 2022, 10:54 pm

#3. The Sultan of Sarawak, Ian Hamilton

A storage building belonging to a company affiliated with Three Sisters is bombed and one of the owners dies. The police first charged a radical group against the deforestation of the rain forests but then accused her. Ava Lee goes to Sarawak to investigate and then in Hong Kong answers the family she believes behind it with a taste of their own medicine with a car bomb and the bombing of three buildings. Difficult negotiations bring the matter to a close.

⭐️⭐️⭐️1/2

12labfs39
Jan 5, 2022, 3:55 pm

>10 pmarshall: I would like to read something by Daniel Silva. Would this book stand alone, or would I need to read the first three Gabriel Allon books first?

13AnnieMod
Jan 5, 2022, 4:00 pm

>12 labfs39: This one works on its own (kinda) but some of the details are richer if you are coming after the first three. Not a bad place to start the series though.

14labfs39
Jan 5, 2022, 4:02 pm

>13 AnnieMod: Thanks, Annie. I'll see what my library has.

15AnnieMod
Jan 5, 2022, 4:07 pm

>14 labfs39: There are a few sub-series of books where books follow from one into another and it is better to read them in order -- but a lot of them can work on their own. And later in the series, things from the past come and connect into interesting patterns which work better if you know the backstories but most of the early ones are safe(ish). But there is of course the inevitable spoilers for earlier books here and there. :)

16pmarshall
Jan 6, 2022, 10:41 pm

>12 labfs39::
I agree with Annie, it is best to read these in order. I started reading what my library had which was a number of titles in the middle. I have now started with the first and will read all in order. There is a lot of information besides the plot action and I know I will reread this series.

17pmarshall
Jan 6, 2022, 10:55 pm

#4. Prince of Fire, Daniel Silva

Following a terrorists bombing in Rome a DVD is found that layout the life of Gabriel Allon. After much thought and investigation Allon and his team have a starting point which could lead them to the group that did the Rome bombing and have another planned for Paris plus a means of destroying Allon’s life. The early conflicts between the Palestinians and the Israelis are a major part of the background.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

18labfs39
Jan 7, 2022, 11:38 am

>15 AnnieMod:, >16 pmarshall: Thanks, I'll check the library for Kill Artist

19pmarshall
Modifié : Jan 8, 2022, 6:58 pm

#5. The Messenger, Daniel Silva

The power and the money of Saudi Arabia and its ruling house and its support of terrorism against the west and the Jews are the background for this book. It opens with an incredible bombing attack on the Vatican including wounding the Pope. Gabriel’s team identify key people and develop a plan to infiltrate the business of one. Their plan is successful until their agent is discovered.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

20pmarshall
Jan 9, 2022, 11:09 pm

#6. The Secret Servant, Daniel Silva

This book continues with a focus on Islamic terrorists, in particular those based in Egypt although they have agents across Europe. The daughter of the American Ambassador to the Court of St. James, (i.e. Great Britain), and god-daughter of the U. S. President is kidnapped from Hyde Park, London, by a cell of an Islamic Terrorists group. Gabriel Allon happens to see the end of the operation and kills two of the terrorists and wounds a third. At the request of the Ambassador he becomes involved in her recovery.
The wedding finally happens!

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

21pmarshall
Modifié : Jan 11, 2022, 11:59 am

#7. Bolt, Dick Francis

I really like Daniel Silva and his Gabriel Allon series but I needed a break from the terrorists and the politicians and the politics at multiple levels. It is fiction but there is a truth running through it which I can’t ignore. So I am taking a break from it and I have turned to my go to author, Dick Francis. Funnily enough the first one I reread Bolt is about making 100% plastic guns that can go on planes undetected and make lots of money for its unscrupulous manufacturer.

The second in the Kit Fielding series.

The Princess Kit Fielding rides for family has come under threat from a unscrupulous business partner of her husband's who wants their company to manufacture plastic arms. This would bring dishonour to the family. At the same time Kit feels that his relationship with the Princess' husband’s niece is under threat by her nephew as well as Danielle’s fear of Kit’s job. Kit also feels threatened by Maynard Allardeck and the authority he has as a Racing Steward. Add to the mix a sudden visit from Florida of the Princess’ sister-in-law who is trying to pressure her brother to sign the gun deal as it will increase her allowance. Living in Palm Beach is expensive when one throws parties for 50 or 100! Finally three of the Princess’s horses are murdered with a bolt to the brain. Kit must solve all of this plus attempts on the lives of Danielle and Litsi. He and his friends face an arrogant bully who only see what he wants and it takes some twisted thinking to best him. Another horse is dead before that is ended.

In this book Francis, perhaps guided by his wife Mary and her experiences as a jockey’s wife, presents what the spouse goes through as her husband experiences the excitement and dangers of steeplechase racing. As one wife said to Danielle “It is fear and Joe, or no fear and no Joe.” At the same time Kit is wrestling with the idea of a life alone. This is done with out sentimentality but one does feel the emotion.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

22pmarshall
Jan 12, 2022, 9:08 am

#8. Straight, Dick Francis

Jockey Derek Franklin's brother Greville, dies in a senseless accident. Derek inherits his business, gemstones, gadgets, enemies, horses and even his mistress. He learns how to run a business, that some people will take what ever chance available to cheat and bully him and that knowing about cocaine being used on horses is deadly. His strength saves him.
The parts about the gemstone business are quite interesting - where the best stones come from and what they are used for in jewellery and decorations. Also his brother’s collection of mini electronics is fascinating.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

23pmarshall
Modifié : Jan 14, 2022, 12:25 am

#9. Last Call, Sheldon Siegel

Mike Daley’s cousin manages his grandfather’s bar. When a policeman is murdered in the back alley he is arrested for the crime. Mike takes on the case but doesn’t feel very confident in getting the charges dismissed. Help comes from an unexpected source.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

24pmarshall
Jan 15, 2022, 3:44 pm

#10. In the Frame, Dick Francis

Charles Todd’s cousin’s house is robbed and his wife murdered when she interrupted the robbery. An accidental meeting with a woman whose house was burned down lead Todd to an art gallery in Australia. What he discovered was an organization much broader than he expected and more dangerous.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

25pmarshall
Modifié : Jan 17, 2022, 8:19 pm

#11. Moscow Rules, Daniel Silva

Ivan Kharkov, a Russian arms dealer, investor and
a very wealthy man who used his KGB links to help him dominate individuals and companies. He was not a pleasant person regardless of the first impression he made. It was his way or the highway. Allon became involved with him when he murdered a journalist to prevent him from meeting with Allon. When Allon discovered who the source was he becomes determined to bring Kharkov down.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

26pmarshall
Jan 19, 2022, 12:55 am

#12. Come to Grief, Dick Francis

Someone is cutting off the foot of two year old horses. Sid Halley investigates with a London paper until he has enough evidence to name a friend, a former jockey, a television commentator a well respected man throughout the country. No one will believe Halley, the newspaper caries out a campaign that ridicules him. He is made to look like a lier, jealous and making up the evidence. A person dies and attempts are made on Halley’s life before the case is closed.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

27pmarshall
Modifié : Jan 23, 2022, 7:53 pm

#13. Off the Record, Peter Mansbridge

In short vignettes Peter Mansbridge tells his life story from age three when he is sailing from England to Asia with his family, his father worked for the British Foreign Civil Service to his retirement from his position as Senior Journalist with the CBC (Canadian Broadcasting Corporation). He covers the world, the interesting people he meets, interviews and the events of which he is part.
In the 2017 Disney film “Zootopia” near the end is a 10 second scene with news anchor Peter Moosebridge. It took Disney a lot of talking to one prove they were serious and two they based it on and wanted Peter Mansbridge to do the voiceover of Peter Moosebridge.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

28pmarshall
Modifié : Jan 24, 2022, 10:36 pm

#14. The Defector, Daniel Silva

This is a continuation of some events and characters that appeared in Moscow Rules. In retaliation for helping a woman escape from her husband and Russia Allon’s wife is kidnapped and moved from Italy to Russia. The Office and Gabriel and his team with help from MI5 and the CIA are able to locate where she is being held. They organize a successful rescue but have to hunt down the 12 participants.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

29pmarshall
Jan 26, 2022, 9:41 pm

#14. Damage, Felix Francis

Jeff Hinkley, undercover investigator for the British Horseracing Authority (BHA), is drawn into an investigation to determine who is trying to destroy the BHA and jump racing in Britain. A man believes his birth right has been taken away when in 2006 the British Horseracing Authority took over the governorance of horseracing done by the English Jockey Club since 1715. To regain it he disrupts important races across England by poisoning all the horses in a race, then the jockeys at another course and the stewards and then takes more drastic steps to stop racing. At the same time he is blackmailing the BHA.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

30AnnieMod
Jan 27, 2022, 1:33 am

>29 pmarshall: Penny, do you need to read Francis in order or is it old-style series where it does not matter?

31pmarshall
Modifié : Jan 28, 2022, 8:32 am

>30 AnnieMod::
Most of the Dick and Felix Francis books are stand alone so you can read whatever interests you. Break In and Bolt are a Dick Francis series. He also has a series featuring Sid Halley to which Felix has added two titles Refusal and one coming out this spring or summer. There are 6/7 in that series. Google Sid Haley for the titles. Or go to Fantasticfiction.com and enter Dick Francis. (If you don’t know this site go look at it. It is fabulous for information on authors and series.)Read Sid Haley in order. Felix has a Jefferson Hinkley series Damage, Front Runner, and Triple Crown. I would read them in order but they have more character connections than plot so it doesn’t matter as much.
Some of my favourite Francis books are Decider, Hot Money, 10 Lb. Penalty, Straight, To the Hilt and Banker and many more.
Enjoy!

32pmarshall
Jan 28, 2022, 8:38 am

#15. Front Runner, Felix Francis

Jeff Hinkley is told by the top jockey that he is being blackmailed to stop races. Before they can meet again the jockey is murderd. Hinkley encountes an angry situation where he over hears a man being told "You shouldn't even be in the country!" and he wants to know why. Then there are three attempts made on Jeff’s life and he doesn’t know why. He has to travel to the Cayman Islands to piece it all together.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

33pmarshall
Modifié : Jan 29, 2022, 11:04 pm

#16. Triple Crown, Felix Francis

Jeff Hinkley is seconded to the American federal agency that oversees fraud in horseracing. There is a mole within the agency disrupting their investigations of the use of drugs by alerting trainers and owners prior to raids and testing. Hinkley goes undercover in a stables with the aim of identifying and catching the mole. In the stables it turns into a tale of knobbing horses to ensure yours wins the Triple Crown, the Kentucky Derby, the Preakness and the Belmont Stakes. Another good Francis read.

Felix lacks the lightness of his father’s writing, he has a heavier hand although he follows the same format that made his father such a popular author. In Triple Crown Francis shows the difference in the approach of the British and the Americans to solving a problem. The almost careless disregard of the use of weapons that the Americans expressed is almost unbelievable, the more bullets fired the better, but it is real. Felix presents this well, the heaviness also shows in the repeativness of the horse grooms work. I do enjoy his books just in a different way.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

34AnnieMod
Jan 28, 2022, 11:37 am

>31 pmarshall: I and fantasticfiction are old friends :) I was just wondering about the series and if you can read the books inside of it in any order. Thanks!

35pmarshall
Jan 31, 2022, 5:44 pm

#17. The Other Woman, Daniel Silva

I have been reading these in order however this was available at the library so I took it. In many ways it is a stand alone, but perhaps not for future books.

Gabriel Allon is convinced there is a mole working for the Russians in Europe and he narrows it down to the British service, MI6. The search ends in Washington and not well, the relations among the Americans, the British and the Israelies is severely damaged. The part of the book that deals with the Cambridge Five, in particular Kim Philby is interesting and adds some reality to the plot.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

36pmarshall
Jan 31, 2022, 5:49 pm

January Summary:

Read: 17
No reviews

37pmarshall
Modifié : Fév 1, 2022, 9:18 pm

#18. A Bitter Feast, Deborah Crombie

Crombie’s new book is due out February 7, 2022 so I reread this one in preparation for the new title A Killing of Innocents.

The James- Kincaid family has been invited to spend a fall weekend at Melody Talbot’s family home in the Cotswolds. The occasion is a fundraising luncheon featuring the fabulous food using local ingredients created by the chef of the local pub. Enroute to the family home Kincaid is involved in a car accident which results in two deaths, one of which is suspicious. It reaches back in the developing career of the chef and the ambitions of the famous, now dead chef. Another death and an attempted murder occur before the local police and the visiting officers from London conclude the case.
A Bitter Feast entertained me but it didn’t grip me in the same way that the previous titles in this series did.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

38NanaCC
Fév 2, 2022, 12:02 pm

>37 pmarshall: I didn’t realize a new book was coming out, Penny. I’ll look for it soon.

39pmarshall
Modifié : Fév 4, 2022, 1:40 pm

#19. The Fallen Angel, Daniel Silva

Allon is in Rome restoring a painting for the Vatican when he gets called to a case involving counterfeit antiquities which are sold to raise money for the Hezbollah. This in turn was used to fund their fight against Israel. Knowing who is behind it is one thing, proving it is another.

The information on Italian and Middle East antiquities and the very early history of Jerusalem is most interesting.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

40pmarshall
Fév 3, 2022, 3:55 pm

>38 NanaCC::

Do you use the web site fantasticfiction.com? If you join it you can indicate what authors you are following and they will let you know when a new title is coming out. It is also useful for following an author’s series in the right order. I use it a lot. The new Crombie is due out on February 7, A Killing of Innocents. Enjoy!

41AnnieMod
Fév 3, 2022, 4:12 pm

>40 pmarshall: Up to 200 authors -- which is enough for most people unless you read a lot of obscure "publish one book every 10 years" authors. :)

42pmarshall
Fév 6, 2022, 8:03 am

#20. The Rembrandt Affair, Daniel Silva

An unknown painting by Rembrandt has surfaced and is being restored until the restorer is murdered and the painting stolen. Allon is asked by MI 5 to investigate and he discovers a number of murders attached to the painting as well as the involvement of a Nazi officer who tricked it away from a Dutch Jewish family before sending then to work camps in Germany in 1942. By following its history he is led to a well known and admired philanthropic and extremely wealthy German businessman who is also looking for it. Behind his public veneer he is a greedy man who makes his money without scruples, including selling the parts to make nuclear weapons to Iran.

The Rembrandt painting doesn’t exist but the information on the artist is interesting. Switzerland runs its banks as if they are a law onto themselves. This has come up in earlier books. Both German and Swiss companies actually sell Iran parts to make nuclear weapons, they defend it as trade without questioning the end result.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

43pmarshall
Fév 7, 2022, 7:11 am

>38 NanaCC::

I just realized that the Crombie book is coming out February 7, 2023. I had placed a preorder and was so looking forward to reading it today.

44pmarshall
Fév 10, 2022, 11:56 pm

#21. Portrait of a Spy, Daniel Silva

Terrorists bombs are set off in Paris, Copenhagen and London on a Saturday afternoon. Allon sees it happen in London but is unable to prevent it. The CIA set up an operation to identify the lead terrorist and to find a way to take him out. The latter would of course be done by Gabriel as the U.S. couldn’t/wouldn’t take such an action as the president wouldn’t approve it. Gabriel develops a plan that involves converting a civilian, an Arab businesswoman living in Paris, and have her fund the group. It is planned to take place in Dubai. It doesn’t go quite as planned.

The author’s notes on the relationship of Saudi Arabia and the funding of terrorists worldwide is scary.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

45pmarshall
Modifié : Fév 11, 2022, 8:25 pm

#22. Field of Thirteen, Dick Francis

Thirteen diverse characters from book-makers to a news editor who is also a punter (boat), from crooked owners of race horses to a tramp who walks away with a valuable horse and a an infatuated middle age owner who is ripped off by her trainer and handsome young jockey are featured in these short stories. Francis is so good at defining characters and emotions.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

46NanaCC
Fév 12, 2022, 11:19 pm

>43 pmarshall: Oh boo. I will impatiently wait. But a whole year…. Ugh!

47pmarshall
Modifié : Mar 22, 2022, 11:59 am

#23. War Tourist: Memoirs of a Foreign Correspondent, Hilary Brown

“War correspondents are like war tourists in flak jackets. They record human misery and then move on.”
Hilary Brown, a Canadian journalist covered the news on all continents except Antarctica. In 1971, at age 22, she covered the India Pakistan War, in 1975 she was one of the last correspondents to leave Saigon, via a helicopter from the roof of a hotel to a U. S. warship. She anchored the evening news for CBC in Toronto but the majority of her 47 year long career was ‘in the field’ reporting for ABC and CBC. She also did features and documentaries that showed the people side of her hard broadcasts. Her work was praised by network presidents to the camera people she worked with to people who stopped her in the street. She sets this against her personal life which provides a well rounded book. She was a leader in her field.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️1/2

48pmarshall
Fév 15, 2022, 10:19 am

>46 NanaCC::
Yes, a long time to wait.

49pmarshall
Modifié : Fév 18, 2022, 5:21 pm

#24. Till the butchers cut him down, Marcia Muller

McCone leaves All Souls and opens her own office. Suitcase Gordon, was a self-styled itinerant purveyor of prefab scams, schemes, and dreams when Sharon knew him at UCB. Now he's a "turnaround man," a corporate troubleshooter. McCone finds herself in a case far more frightening than she imagined, ending in a confrontation on San Francisco's waterfront. This comes after the investigation goes to Little Hope, Nevada and the ruins of a steelmill in Pennsylvanian.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️1/2

50dianeham
Fév 18, 2022, 12:03 am

>49 pmarshall: Marcia Muller is an old favorite.

51pmarshall
Fév 18, 2022, 5:20 pm

>50 dianeham::
Oh, yes!

52pmarshall
Fév 20, 2022, 10:45 am

#25. A Wild and Lonely Place, Marcia Muller

It's worth a $1 Million reward to Sharon McCone if she catches the man called the Diplo-bomber, who has set off bombs at consulates all over the U.S. and Europe. Diplomatic Immunity plays a major role in the book. The kidnapping of a nine year old girl takes McCone to the Caribbean to rescue her.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

53pmarshall
Modifié : Fév 21, 2022, 11:00 am

#26. The broken promise land, Marcia Muller

Ricky Savage, McCone's brother-in-law, is the hottest country singer in the business. He's on top professionally, but hitting rock bottom in his personal life. Ricky has been getting anonymous letters threatening not only himself, but also his family, so he turns to his sister-in-law Sharon McCone for her investigative skills. Interesting insight on the behind the scenes operations of a country music star, the business and how concerts are run.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

54pmarshall
Fév 22, 2022, 12:07 am

#27.Listen to the Silence, Marcia Muller

While going through her father's personal effects following his death, McCone comes upon a shocking document, one that raises questions about her birth. The search for answers takes her to Montana where she meets the man who helps her identify who her mother is. In Boise, Idaho her birth mother is involved in a hit and run accident before they can meet. However a case she is working on take Hy and Sharon to Northern California to investigate a possible environmental disaste tied to the law suit. Hy tells her to listen to the silence, to the gaps in what people are saying. By doing so she is able to work out the solutions.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

55pmarshall
Fév 24, 2022, 3:11 pm

#28. Locked In, Marcia Muller

Sharon McCone comes across a burglar in her office and is shot in the head which causes a locked in condition. She can not move, or speak but can see and hear all that is said around her and can respond by blinking her eyelids. All of her operatives look at their current and recent cases to determine who the assailant could be. As Sharon listens she helps direct them as they question themselves. She faces a long recovery after the bullet imoves and brain surgery is requires.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

56pmarshall
Fév 25, 2022, 2:35 pm

#29. Someone Always Knows, Marcia Muller

McCone and Ripinsky International is the result of Sharon and Hy finally uniting their companies into one and it is immediately threatened. Gage Renshaw, a past partner of Hy’s who went missing some years earlier appears with a threat ... but he won’t articulate it. Hy is called away leaving Sharon to deal with Renshaw as well as a new case that ends up becoming involved with Renshaw.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

57pmarshall
Fév 25, 2022, 11:00 pm

#30.The Color of Fear, Marcia Muller

Sharon McCone’s father, Elwood, is attacked in San Francisco and left for dead in what appears to be a racially motivated attack. Subsequent events against her agency and staff support this theory. It happens just prior to Christmas and is solved by New Year’s. It highlights an increasingly nasty side of our society as well as the ‘don’t get involved’ sector, but not in a preachy way by any means.

58pmarshall
Fév 28, 2022, 3:47 pm

#31. House of Spies, Daniel Silva

A continuation from The Black Widow when Saladin, head of ISIS, got away from Gabriel. This involves a sting operation on a well know, two- sided Frenchman, a wealth, popular entrepreneur and a major drug dealer. His Moroccan connections lead them to Saladin. The work is done by Allon and his people in hand with the French and communication with the British. When the Americans hear about the operation they demand everyone report to Washington … and are met by no as the response. In the end they take responsibility for the success in their typical flashey fashion. They don’t understand the need for patience, slow steps and silence.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

59pmarshall
Fév 28, 2022, 8:14 pm

#32. The Breakers, Marcia Muller

The Breakers was low-key for a Muller mystery. In this book a young friend and former cat and house sitter of Sharon's disappears from an old building she is rehabbing and her parents reach out to Sharon. She does the majority of the leg work herself and, in fact it is a fairly straightforward case, but it does have a couple of strange side plots. The ending makes me think the end of the series is near. I wonder who will replace Sharon McCone and Sue Grafton's Kinsey Milhone for me? I hope I am wrong.

⭐️⭐️⭐️1/2

I marked it down from the 4 ⭐️‘s I usually give Muller because I felt you used a lot of filler that didn’t relate to the plot to make the book long enough.

60pmarshall
Fév 28, 2022, 8:16 pm

February Summary

Read 15

Total 32

61pmarshall
Mar 1, 2022, 10:25 pm

#33. Reflex, Dick Francis

he death of a racetrack photographer.followed by the trashing of his home during his funeral and then the destruction of it by fire causes jockey and photographer Philip Nothe to agree to the photographer’s son’s request that he look into it. He finds a box of film puzzles which when solved and printed prove to be very dangerous. At the same time he is asked by his grandmother, upon their first meeting, to find a sister he never knew he had.

The power of a photograph is clearly illustrated, what the photographer can do with it and what impact it can have on those in it, particularly if they claim not to know each other or be father/daughter when they are doing something they shouldn’t do together. A picture can be worth much more than a thousand words.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

62pmarshall
Mar 2, 2022, 11:12 pm

#34. Wolf in the Shadows, Marcia Muller

Hy Ripinsky, Sharon's lover and an environmental activist, suddenly vanishes. Determined to find him, Sharon discovers Hy's abandoned plane, wrecked rental car, and the intrigues of a shady international security firm. Is he involved with recovering a kidnapped biotech executive, the movement of illegals across the Mexico - U. S. border. Sharon is stretched trying to find him, avoid those so-called good guys trailing her and the changes at All Souls which could mean the end of her job there.

📚📚📚📚

63pmarshall
Modifié : Mar 10, 2022, 7:19 pm

#35. The Black Widow, Daniel Silva

This is the second time I read this book, actually the first time as I skimmed it the first time for the reasons I describe below. I went back to it as it tied in closely with the next in the series House of Spies.

ISIS pulls off a major bombing in Paris followed by one in Amsterdam and Washington with numerous knife attacks on individuals across Europe and the Middle East. Allon identifies a French doctor and turns her into a spy who will infiltrate ISIS. It works until an incident in Washington blows her cover.

It took me time to read it as I kept putting it down. I didn’t like how the doctor was being used and how her training by the Israeli and ISIS was so one sided. I understand why but it goes against what I believe. I didn’t like ISIS’s attitude that there was only room for them, Sunni Muslims and everyone else had to convert or go. However I stay with it to the end and as always from Silva’s books learned something. In this case how people are recruited and trained to be intelligence officers/spies by both sides.

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64pmarshall
Modifié : Mar 12, 2022, 6:56 pm

#36. Beyond the Trees: A Journey Alone Across Canada’s Arctic, Adam Shoalts

A quiet hike along the dirt trail called the Demster Highway, from the sign indicating the Arctic Circle to the shores of the MacKenzie River, was the beginning of the journey. Adam Shoalts is crossing the Arctic from west to east which means he is paddling against the current as he goes up rivers like the MacKenzie and the Coppermine.

Each river and lake provides different challenges, rapids, waterfalls, ice in Great Bear Lake, the world’s eighth largest, fog, high winds and currents to the point he is land bound. His approach is the tortoise and the hare, he knows one wrong step could be life threatening. He conquers each river by paddle, pole, rope, hauling his canoe by hand and when necessary portaging his belongings. The latter is not a single trip but three return trips and finally the seventh with his canoe.

He finds the animals, grizzly bears, foxes, wolves, squirrels and the musk ox to a certain extent, are as curious about him as he is about them. He describes the landscape from the coming of summer to that of winter. The changing colours of the vegetation and of the animals. The rainbows and ever changing skies enchant him. He is very much in tune with the environment.

What amazed me the most, but was so in keeping with him, was his quiet arrival in Baker Lake, Nunavut, his final destination. He landed his canoe for the last time, did some hiking around the area, talked to old timers and left two days later. No big announcement, although he did tell the airline. He had sadly committed to leaving his canoe as he couldn’t afford to fly it out. When the airline heard what he had done they offered to fly the canoe to Winnipeg.

A quiet beginning, an eventful middle and a quiet ending to mark a solo journey across a beautiful but unknown part of our country, Canada.

“Beyond the Trees” is well written and researched. I thought the historical information on earlier travellers added interest to his journey.

📚📚📚📚1/2

Reviewed March 12, 2022

65pmarshall
Mar 15, 2022, 2:49 pm

#37. The Order, Daniel Silva

The Allon family are on holiday in Venice. The Pope dies and Gabriel is pulled into solving his murder. One theme that goes throughout is the Bible and the gospels that were omitted in the 4th century writing. How the gospels blame the Jews for the death of Jesus and thus set up the position of Jews in history. The second is a right wing group that are moving not just the church in the direction of the fascists and the Nazis but the governments of Europe. The surprising results of the first round voting for pope help address these issues.

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66pmarshall
Modifié : Mar 22, 2022, 12:00 pm

#38. The Cellist, Daniel Silva

A man dies in London because of nerve gas particles spread through a package of documents on the laundering of money by the Russian government through a Russian bank in Zurich. This touches off a retaliation in the ‘spy’ world lead by Israel’s chief of intelligence. The cellist is a bank employee who made copies of such documents and sent then to various people in an attempt to stir up reaction against Russia at which she was successful. She also plays the cello, plays it very well.

This is the first book I have read that actually addresses the pandemic, the wearing of masks, social distancing and group sizes. It also, without mentioning names, discusses whether the U. S. president will win the election, will he accept the results if he doesn’t, Russia’s possible role in the election, the march and subsequent damage to the Capital Building and the events of January 20, 2021. These are fitted into the plot nicely.

I don’t usually read series like this but I enjoyed it and will see what the library has of the earlier titles. I got hooked on Silva’s books and now wait for his next release.

67labfs39
Mar 15, 2022, 9:21 pm

I tried to find the Kill Artist at the library yesterday, but they didn't have it.

68dchaikin
Mar 15, 2022, 11:18 pm

>64 pmarshall: I'm intrigued by Shoalts's Arctic trip.

69AlisonY
Mar 17, 2022, 8:49 am

Also intrigued by the Arctic book - sounds great.

70pmarshall
Mar 18, 2022, 1:40 am

>68 dchaikin::, >69 AlisonY::
I am still telling people about Beyond the Trees it made such an impact on me. He has written another book about exploring a river that flows into Hudson Bay, I will look for it. Enjoy!

71pmarshall
Mar 22, 2022, 12:26 pm

#39. The Apollo Murders, Colonel Chris Hadfield

The Russians have an unmanned space laboratory studying the geology on the moon, as well as a space ship ready to launch. NASA is in the final stages of sending a three person capsule to the moon. At the last minute there is a helicopter accident and the astronaut who was to command the mission is killed and it becomes a two person flight. Their route to the moon is adjusted so they can investigate the Russian space ship and dismantle it. This action becomes more than they planned for and ends up with the demise of the Russian ship and one of their cosmonauts on board the American ship. The operations onboard and on the moon are very tense. But do result in the first Russian moon walk and done by a woman. The Russians are waiting at the landing site and things get pretty nasty.
The murder mystery is well done well done with lots of twists and turns. There is also a lot of technical information which I skimmed but would interest others. Colonel Chris Hadfield was a Canadian astronaut with NASA and finished his career as head of Sky Lab so he knows of what he writes.

⭐️⭐️⭐️1/2

72pmarshall
Modifié : Mar 23, 2022, 6:23 pm

#40. The Consequences of Fear, Jacqueline Winspear

There are multiple levels to this book. It starts in October, 1941 and ends with the bombing of Pearl Harbour, December 7.There is much to fear in both the actions of the characters and the consequences.

England is sending trainer volunteers to work with the Resistance in France. Maisie’s Dobbs is involved with the approval process as the recruits work through levels of training. She experiences great fear for the future of two young women whom she knows.

The Police and Government departments used young boys to run from building to building to deliver messages. One young lad sees a murder occur and then delivers a message to the murderer. There is no sign of the crime so the police don’t believe him and he goes to Maisie who does believe him after some investigation.

The threads of these two events start to intertwine. Maisie’s adoption of Anna is complete and she continues to be torn when she has to spend time away. The new factor is her love affair with Mark Scott and where it might lead.

In her usual fashion Winspear weaves together fact and fiction to provide the reader with a good read.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

73labfs39
Mar 22, 2022, 3:20 pm

>72 pmarshall: I reread a Maisie Dobbs books last week in preparation for reading the last few. I had left off with In this Grave Hour.

74pmarshall
Modifié : Mar 24, 2022, 9:26 pm

#41. A Sunlit Weapon, Jacqueline Winspear

Winspear once again twists different events into a single solution to the surprise and delight of the reader. In this book be prepared to be inspired by the power of the Spitfire airplane and the women of the British Air Transport Auxiliary who move planes from one military base to another throughout Great Britain. Not all the dangers come from the sky, some come from a person on the ground trying to shooting them down. Three such happenings, two fatal, are taken to Maisie’s Dobbs (Scott) by a pilot who was missed.

Eleanor Roosevelt visits England and Mark Scott, American Embassy, is responsible for her security. This is made more difficult by Mrs. Roosevelt’s intentions to respond to the moment. His plans get twisted because of Maisie’s investigation which involves two American soldiers, one of whom is missing and perhaps dead. They maybe part of the threat to the First Lady. One of these soldiers is black and regardless of British law the U. S. Military Police apply the segregation laws of the United States. It was interesting to read how they divided and treated their troops.

Finally Maisie discovers that Anna is being bullied at school and it has been done in such a manner to turn the other students and, through them, their parents against her. When Maisie discovers who is behind it she is furious.

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75AnnieMod
Mar 23, 2022, 9:57 pm

>66 pmarshall: :) He is addictive (even if you usually read books like that) :)

76pmarshall
Mar 24, 2022, 8:41 pm

>75 AnnieMod::
Yes, he is! He is also an author I will enjoy rereading in the future. 📚📚📚

77pmarshall
Mar 27, 2022, 9:05 pm

#42. The New Girl, Daniel Silva

A young girl, daughter of the Saudi Arabia crown prince, is kidnapped from her Swiss school. Her father turns to Gabriel Allon to find her. The search ends in his abdication and the appointment of his uncle who has Russian connections. Allon and MI 6 set up a sting whereby the Russians poison the new crown prince when he is on a state visit in London. It is a convoluted plot but interesting.

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78pmarshall
Modifié : Mar 28, 2022, 10:26 pm

#43. Killer Cocktail and Other Short Stories: Patricia Fisher Mysteries 2.5 plus three more stories (Patricia Fisher Cruise Ship Mysteries), Steve Higgs

Four short stories that highlight the different series Higgs writes. The first has Patricia Fisher attending a party in Los Angles and a murder occurs. She is drawn in as the victim was a close friend of Barbie. The second is told by a dog who tries to lead his owner to the cat who took the diamond ring. In the process his owner uncovers an insurance scam. The third has two ancient magical beings beating up on a third who has been abducting young children in Paris. He needs to eat them to survive. The last involves zombies and a village investigator in England.

I didn’t find the dog/owner story believable or amusing. The last two were beyond my scope of belief. Others may enjoy them, I didn’t.

📚📚1/2

79pmarshall
Modifié : Mar 31, 2022, 3:39 pm

#44. The Rule of Law, John Lescroart

I am rereading this as I just received his latest The Missing Piece today.

A newly elected corrupt D.A. crosses Dismas Hardy when he has Hardy’s secretary arrested. When the police prove the D.A. wrong he is determined to bring Hardy down and turns to the Dock Yard Massacre to do so. Lescroart says he wrote this book to tie up some loose ends. It works for those of us who have read the series but will be difficult for others. Not his usual high quality read.

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80pmarshall
Modifié : Mar 31, 2022, 12:26 pm

#45. The Missing Piece, John Lescroart

This and The Rule of Law were disappointments for me. They lacked the plot and speed of earlier books which drew me in and kept me reading. Lescroart doesn’t write straight forward plots but I found that of The Missing Piece to be particularly convoluted and hard to follow. Perhaps because I kept putting it down. A man’s daughter is raped and murdered and the killer sentenced to life. He is later exonerated and murdered by her father, who is then murdered. An additional murder and suicide and three out of state murders of people exonerated for their crime plus numerous interviews finally lead newly retired Abe Glitsky iin his first P. I. job, to the correct solution.

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81pmarshall
Modifié : Mar 31, 2022, 11:06 pm

#46. Mission for the Maharaja, Steve Higgs

Following finding Zanzibar’s sapphire Patricia Fisher and her friends are invited to the coronation of the new Maharaja. Things start to go wrong when their private jet comes under attack, a cobra snake is placed in Fisher’s suite, two friends go missing and Fisher is told the new Maharaja is a fake and a coup is planned. It comes down to the wire but Fisher figures out where the real ruler is and she and her friends get to him and interrupt the coronation in time.

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82pmarshall
Modifié : Avr 3, 2022, 6:32 pm

March Summary

14 Read
1 Reviewed

46 Total

83pmarshall
Modifié : Avr 1, 2022, 11:04 pm

#47. Full Disclosure, Beverley McLachlin
Jilly Truitt, orphan, foster child, street persson and now a criminal defense attorney in Vancouver, is defending a wealthy man accused of brutally murdering his wife. The police identify him as the murderer and stopcL looking. The case goes to court on circumstancial evidence. The plot is deep and convoluted bringing in a past drug case of Truitt's. I hope McLachlin makes this the first in a series.

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84pmarshall
Modifié : Avr 3, 2022, 6:29 pm

#48. Denial, Beverley McLachlin

Four people had keys to the house. Two of those people were in it, one was murdered and the other accused of committing it. But did Vera finally weaken and fulfill her ill mother’s request and end Olivia’s life? Jilly Truitt is defending Vera who is charged with causing the death of her elderly mother who has been suffering from bladder cancer for four years. The prosecutor has a strong circumstantial case and Truitt has very little until another of her cases provides her with the break she needs.

This book resonated with me because I feel strongly that we have the right to die with dignity and that we should have some control over when and how it happens,

It is interesting to note that both Denial and Full Disclosure were written by Beverly McLachlin, Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Canada from 2000 - 2017.

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85pmarshall
Modifié : Avr 4, 2022, 11:25 pm

#49. A Cruel Deception, Charles Todd

Nursing Sister Bess Crawford is sent to Paris in the spring of 1919 to search for a missing soldier. He was working on the peace talks when he disappeared. Events that occurred in 1914 have been brought back to haunt him. Attempts on his and Bess’ lives intensify the need for a solution. The question of Bess’ future runs through the book as well as where is Simon.

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86pmarshall
Modifié : Avr 6, 2022, 9:00 pm

#50. Lady Clementine, Marie Benedict

Clementine Churchill married Winston Churchill when she was 23 and he was 34. From the beginning of their marriage they were partners in the development of his career and in the work that came with his positions. He was not an easy man to live with and often overlooked what Clementine did in light of what he, himself, accomplished. His put downs of her work, the fact that she didn’t have maternal feelings and didn’t know how to deal with her five children (one died very young) caused her to be depressed and nervous. She eventually found treatment but it was an ongoing issue.

Her work with the Prime Minister and her own focus on how the WW II, in particular the bombing, affected the citizens, what war work women could do, acting as a fire warden dominated her war work. She and her husband did nightly tours of the bombed areas in London and the country. It was a major way of show they cared.

The book ends in June, 1945. The war is over but the political fallout for the world is a worry for the Churchill’s. It is a very interesting look at a marriage and the individuals in it.

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87pmarshall
Modifié : Avr 8, 2022, 10:46 pm

#51. The Edge, Dick Francis

Horses, owners and riders go by train from Toronto to Vancouver. The entertainment is a murder mystery that becomes real.

📚📚📚1/2

88pmarshall
Modifié : Avr 10, 2022, 12:17 am

#52. An Irish Hostage, Charles Todd

Bess Crawford flies to Ireland to be a bridesmaid only to discover, upon arrival, that the groom is missing. In 1916 the Irish Rising took place and was put down by the British. This has left strong feelings against British citizens and Irish who fought with the British during WW I. Bess is caught up in events in the village which threaten her as well as others in the wedding party. It becomes crucial for them to secretly depart from Ireland as their lives are in danger.

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89pmarshall
Modifié : Avr 9, 2022, 10:55 am

#53. The Gato Conundrum: A Thriller Short Story, John Lescroart

A CIA agent is in Italy to meet a contact but she dies just after passing him the information. In London her sister, according to her, rescues him from an attack by six men. Then on to Moscow where they end up locked beneath The Kremlin. Once that escape is accomplished he realizes they need to return to Paris and then on to Washington solo. The answer is revealed to the final clues and the unbelievable story ends with the taste of almonds.

Two things I admire about Lescroart are his use of language and how his plots flow. Neither are the case in this story. Couple this with the poor layout and I rank it quite low.

📚📚1/2

90pmarshall
Modifié : Mai 1, 2022, 4:52 am

Ce message a été supprimé par son auteur

91pmarshall
Modifié : Avr 11, 2022, 12:07 pm

#54. One True Friend: The Freeman Files Series, Ted Tayler

A woman asks a neighbour to babysit her son for ten minutes and she never returns. Her body is found, strangled, in her car out in the countryside. Ten years later the case is turned over to Gus Freeman and his group that investigate cold cases. As always it is convoluted and the cause of her death unrelated to the evidence, although the murderer had been interviewed in the original investigation.

📚📚📚1/2

92pmarshall
Modifié : Avr 13, 2022, 5:07 pm

#55. The Bookshop of Second Chances, Jackie Fraser

Thea, recently and unexpectedly separated from her husband of twenty years goes to Scotland to investigate an inheritance. She stays in the village getting a job at a secondhand bookstore with a grumpy owner. What develops is the ups and downs of a romance between two people in their mid-forties.

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93pmarshall
Modifié : Avr 16, 2022, 8:25 pm

#56. A Nice Class of Corpse: A Mrs. Pargeter Mystery, Simon Brett

Mrs. Pargeter, a widow, has moved into a retirement hotel on the sea coast. Shortly after her arrival a resident dies in the night from a fall down the stairs, then a second a few days later. It is also discovered that the jewelry of one of these women has been stolen. Mrs. P. had heard things in the night and doesn’t believe that the deaths were accidental and she starts to investigate. The outcome is surprising.
Mr. Pargeter was a professional criminal and when he died he left his wife with an address book that provided her with access to men he had worked with who have particular talents and access to useful information; people she can call on in times of need. In this case it was a jeweller who replaced real gems with good quality fakes and sold the gems for his clients.

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94pmarshall
Modifié : Avr 15, 2022, 6:42 pm

#57. Ashes to Murder, Alec Peche

Jill and Nathan are in South Carolina when he proposes and they organize a wedding in a church ruin in a vineyard. The officiant is found dead in the vineyard following the wedding. Jill and her team swing into action to the surprise of some of the guests and the local police department.The case expands before it comes to a complete conclusion. It also determines a new direction for Jill and her private investigation business.

📚📚📚1/2

95pmarshall
Modifié : Avr 17, 2022, 9:11 pm

#58. Mrs, Presumed Dead, Simon Brett
Mrs. Pargeter has moved into a house on a close with five neighbours, all stay at home wives. She tries to contact the previous owner’s unsuccessful, they have disappeared. She gets it into her head that the wife was murdered and with the assistance of her late husband’s former colleagues she finds her body. Further investigation leads her to the husband, secrets held by her neighbours and finally to a showdown with the murderer, which doesn’t go exactly as planned. But all’s well that ends well.

📚📚📚

96pmarshall
Modifié : Avr 19, 2022, 7:43 pm

#59. Mrs. Pargeter's Package, Simon Brett

Mrs. P. goes on a package tour to Corfu with a friend who commits suicide on their first night. But Mrs. P has her doubts and thinks it is a case of murder.

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97pmarshall
Modifié : Avr 21, 2022, 5:48 pm

#60. This Side of Murder, Anna Lee Huber

A party to celebrate Helen and Walter’s engagement has a strange grouping of people, some of her friends and all the remaining soldiers he had served with in the Thirtieth. Verity Kent is invited as her husband, Sidney, had been the commanding officer before his reported death and attends because of a threatening letter which claims her husband committed treason. The atmosphere is rather strange even before the dead bodies start to show up.

📚📚📚1/2

98pmarshall
Modifié : Avr 23, 2022, 10:22 am

#61. Treacherous Is the Night, Anna Lee Huber

Verity Kent is talked into attending a séance and is amazed to hear her name used and reference made to her war time Secret Service work and a colleague in Belgium. Information that was not public knowledge. This leads to a trip to Belgium and a search for the other person. In the process she and her husband uncover a plot that would result in killing British tourists visiting graveyards on war sites in Normandy. I find the writing slow and repetitive.
This book provides an interesting view of what happens to a wartime marriage and how difficult it is to put it back together.

📚📚📚

99pmarshall
Modifié : Avr 24, 2022, 11:05 pm

#62. Penny for Your Secrets, Anna Lee Huber

Verity Kent and her husband Sidney are making the adjustment from their W. W. I activities and settling into their marriage and peace. It is 1919. They may not see it but they are on the way to being private investigators. In this case a friend of Verity hasn’t been arrested yet but it is thought that she murdered her husband. Another friend asks Kent to look into the dead of her sister. It occurred during a home invasion.Investigation shows that the two cases are related along with a third case they have been manoeuvred into taking on and it will go forward with them.The other cases are closed.

An interesting plot but a series that should be read in order. I found it a slow read with some repetition.

📚📚📚1/2

100pmarshall
Modifié : Avr 26, 2022, 9:53 pm

#63. A Pretty Deceit, Anna Lee Huber

The Kent’s undertake a family duty and visit her Aunt Earnestine and cousin Reg, the new Baron. It appears small things are being stolen and large art work replaced with forged pieces. Two murders follow. They are still involved with the role of Max’s father in the plot layer out in Penny for Your Secrets. It expands to include local Roman ruins, including those on Verity’s relative’s estate, the near by Air Force bases and an incident that occurred during the war when Verity delivered a message about traitors and the receiver of it was blown up. Lord Ardmore continues to shadow them as well as be a threat.

📚📚📚

101pmarshall
Modifié : Sep 7, 2022, 8:44 pm

#64. Murder Most Fair, Anna Lee Huber

Verity Kent and her husband Sidney have decided, after a five year absence, to spend the Christmas holidays in the Yorkshire Dales with her family. She has yet to fully grieve the death of her brother, Rob, and going home will force her to do so. There are interesting discussions on death due to war and grieving for those thus lost also the different expectations for men and women.
Verity’s great-aunt, a German, appears unexpectedly with her young ladies maid. The acceptance of their presence in the small village brings out a negative response and ends in the maid’s murder.

📚📚📚1/2

102pmarshall
Modifié : Avr 30, 2022, 6:49 pm

#65. The Chancellor: The Remarkable Odyssey of Angela Merkel, Kati Marton

Kati Marton wrote this biography of Angela Merkel during her last four years in office, in the midst of a pandemic based on interviews and time spent with Merkel. She had no written record, a diary or journal, to go to and very few public interviews as the Chancellor was an extremely private person who sharply delineated between her public and private lives.

Merkel’s father was a Lutheran pastor who chose to move to East Germany. Russian soldiers and Stasi spies outnumbered the local population and made their present felt in all aspects of their lives. Angela studied sciences at university and earned a Ph.D in physics. In 1989 when the Berlin Wall fell she was in a dead end, boring job but saw this as a means to start a new life, in politics.

She used her scientifically oriented brain to bear on the political issues, prepared herself, knew what she believed in and as one of the few women available was given work which caused her to be noticed by what she produced. The bulk of the book covers from 2005 when she became Chancellor until her retirement in 2021. I think her major fault was she dealt with facts and presented them like a scientist, without emotion, lacking a human touch in most cases.

Her four terms required her to touch in someway on all the big issues, climate change, refugees, financial crash, the problems within the European Union, first Russian -
Ukrainian War in 2014, trade with China, Putin, Trump, and COVID-19. In some cases she was seen as the European leader not just the German Chancellor. She was untouched by scandal which wasn’t the case with her predecessors and some colleagues, in and outside Germany.

Marton’s writing is mainly clear and reflects the straightforward style used by Markel. At times I needed to reread a sentence or paragraph to follow the sense of it. One sentence that caused me pause and some thought was written about Merkel’s first visit to Israel and she is about to enter the parliament building. The author comments on Israel’s “blue and white banner” and “Germany’s red, black and gold flag” outside the building. Israel’s FLAG is blue and white! I couldn’t decide what the sentence was trying to express, but it didn’t sit well with me.

Merkel played a prominent role in international politics in this century. This book clearly lays out what she accomplished, how she did it and how it was received.

Reviewed April 30, 2022

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103pmarshall
Modifié : Mai 1, 2022, 4:51 am

April Summary

19 Read
1 Reviewed

65 Total

104pmarshall
Modifié : Mai 1, 2022, 4:52 am

Ce message a été supprimé par son auteur

105labfs39
Mai 1, 2022, 9:58 am

>103 pmarshall: Impressive reading month!

>102 pmarshall: The Merkel biography sounds interesting. Do you think I would have a hard time with it since I don't know a lot about German politics? As for the "banner" reference, the only thing I can think of is that perhaps it wasn't the Israeli flag on display, but a welcome banner or some such? I agree that otherwise it is odd and off-putting.

106pmarshall
Mai 1, 2022, 5:11 pm

>105 labfs39::
I didn’t know about current German politics either but it didn’t matter. The issues, e.g. women’s rights, climate change, are the same ones we face in Canada and are common across the world. I learned a lot reading the book. Enjoy!

107pmarshall
Modifié : Mai 2, 2022, 6:46 pm

#66. Mrs. Pargeter's Pound of Flesh, Simon Brett

Mrs. P and a friend register for a weekend diet and exercise program. Kim is keen to lose weight before her husband comes home, Mrs. P is just enjoying herself until she sees a young woman’s body removed in the middle of the night. Her investigation includes the woman behind the current diet craze sweeping the country. With the assistance of some of her late husband’s colleagues she discovers the truth behind the murders, the businesswoman and as an added bonus uncovered the man who double-crossed her husband.

📚📚📚

108pmarshall
Modifié : Mai 4, 2022, 1:00 pm

#67. Decider, Dick Francis

Architect/contractor Lee Morris and five of his six sons get sucked into the intra-family warfare concerning a race course. Navigating the turbulent family waters is complicated by the fact that he is connected by marriage to the combatants. One of them is willing to kill to close the race course and sell the land to a developer, another uses blackmail, a familiar family tool, and another
fire. Each want to get their own way and know that the family will maintain privacy and protect them.

Decider is my favourite Dick Francis book. It has horses, most of the action is set around a race course and it’s future, it balances families, Lee Morris and his five sons, aged 7 to 14, the baby (boy) is at home, against the multi-generational Stratton’s, good versus evil. According to my LT records this was my tenth reading, but as it was published in 1993 I expect the number is higher than that. I still enjoy it and find new things to admire. In this reading it was the families and how Lee tried to understand why the Stratton’s acted as they did while being aware of the needs of each of his individual children, in particular Toby.

📚📚📚📚1/2

109pmarshall
Modifié : Mai 6, 2022, 5:55 pm

#68. Death in Paris, Kate Darroch

Mairi Maguire is an English teacher in Glasgow and she decides she needs a change after her boyfriend of 14 years announces he is marrying an Asian bar maid. She accepts a new position in Istanbul and persuades her friend Lianna to go with her. But first they go on a week long package tour of Paris. The taxman who has been hassling Lianna shows up in Paris and is murdered and she is arrested. Maguire is determined to prove her innocent. Unknown to her the murder is tied into Algerian terrorists who plan to blow up the Eiffel Tower and national police forces are investigating them. Both parties are successful.

I found the beginning of the book confusing with characters being added with no explanation of who they were or what was their role in the plot. Bearing in mind that the events are being told by an English teacher in 1970 her grammar is wrong. For example she doesn’t use the pronoun “I” instead she uses “me” as in “Me and Lianna.” It grated every time I read it. For me this book was too ‘cozy.’

I received this book through LibraryThing Early Reviewers program.

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110labfs39
Mai 6, 2022, 6:43 pm

>109 pmarshall: after her boyfriend of 14 years announces he is marrying an Asian bar maid I hate it when that happens...

111pmarshall
Modifié : Mai 7, 2022, 2:13 pm

#69. The Danger, Dick Francis

Finding kidnappers is the company's business. An Italian female jockey disappears, followed by the young child of a Derby winner, and then in Washington the senior steward of the Jockey Club. Lastly the man who had rescued the first two victims and was investigating the third is taken!

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112pmarshall
Modifié : Mai 9, 2022, 3:26 pm

#70. Mile 445: Hitched in Her Hiking Boots, Claire Miller

Claire Henley leaves a dead end job in Tennessee to walk the Pacific Crest Trail which runs from Mexico to Canada. Enroute she meets Caleb Miller from New Jersey and after two intense weeks - Claire explains that two weeks together on the Trail is like dating for a year - they marry and carry on. After walking close to 1,000 miles, not quite halfway they decide to leave the trail and go to Alaska. The descriptions of their experiences are mind boggling and, obviously, life changing.

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113pmarshall
Mai 10, 2022, 12:42 pm

#71. Wild Horses, Dick Francis

While making a film about racing in Newmarket, the director, Thomas Lyon, finds himself facing a dilemma of whether to reveal the truth about a 26 year-old murder which he learned from a deathbed confession of an old friend or stick to the script. Interesting information on knives and the collecting of them. In 1988 it was made illegal for anyone or institution except for a museum to collect knives or retain a collection they had prior to that date. It is also illegal to carry a knife. It is a masterpiece on manipulation both at the time of the original death and current time.

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114pmarshall
Modifié : Mai 10, 2022, 8:43 pm

#72. Dismas Hardy: A Mysterious Profile, John Lescroart

Lescroart describes his two part vision of how he would become a writer, a literary writer who, on the side, wrote genre mysteries to make money. His development of what became his main character, Dismas (the good thief who was crucified with Jesus) Hardy (from the Hardy boys) very much follows the changes in Lescroart’s own life - bartending, divorce, remarriage to a younger women, two children. He didn’t plan on Hardy becoming a series and had written two books featuring the more dynamic man, Abe Giltsky before his editor asked for another book featuring Hardy. Interesting to read how the author developed in his early years.

📚📚📚1/2

115pmarshall
Mai 12, 2022, 5:43 pm

#73. Crossfire, Dick Francis

Tom Forsyth returns to his mother's training stable following an injury sustained while serving in Afghanistan to discovery she is being blackmailed, forced to prevent her horses from winning and owing over one million pounds in back taxes.

As in most Francis books there is information that runs through the book supporting and expanding the plot. In this case it is military tactics in dealing wIth the enemy. Referring to Thomas’s military studies and recent experience in Afghanistan as well as references to British military guidelines and “The Art of War” written in the 5th century B.C. by Sun Tzu. The latter is considered a classic in the field and is still studied today.

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116pmarshall
Mai 13, 2022, 10:07 pm

#74. Comeback, Dick Francis

Diplomat, Peter Darwin, returns to England and becomes embroiled in a racing mystery involving a veterinary surgeon with serious troubles. It is located in the village he lived in until age 10, and brings back faded memories. The information on how a veterinary clinic runs and in particular the medications that will kill horses without leaving a trace is interesting.

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117pmarshall
Modifié : Mai 15, 2022, 1:35 pm

#75. Pulse, Felix Francis
Pulse is a different Francis Book, quite removed from those written by Dick and going farther into another subject than the previous Felix Francis titles. Both authors did plot their horse related mysteries around other occupations, bankers, pilots, and toy designers are some examples.

First I will outline the plot. Dr. Chris Rankin is a doctor in the emergency department of the Cheltenham Hospital. An unconscious man arrives from the racetrack without identification and he dies. She decides it is her fault and sets out to find out who he was and what happened to him. In the process she uncovers a racing/betting fix and she endangers herself and her family. Typical Francis, but slowly told.

Dr. Rankin is suffering from depression and an eating disorder to the point she is suspended from her hospital duties and placed in a mental institution. She does return to work but recovery is a slow personal battle.

What makes this, in my mind, different from other Francis books is the detailed scientific and medical information provided, the details of the man’s symptoms, heart rate and blood pressure, the impact of orally ingested cocaine. In addition there is in-depth information on depression and anoxia and the mental and physical impact on the person, in this case Dr. Rankin, and her family. This is not in-passing information but as I said detailed information throughout the book that is presented in both a scientific and layman’s language. I found it repetitious, a fault I have found in other Felix Francis books.

When I don’t know what to read I look to Dick/Felix Francis as comfort books. This won’t be on my comfort list, but I will probably reread it because some of the plot details are hidden by the medical info. If you read Francis don’t skip Pulse.
Reviewed 2018/1/1

Upon rereading Pulse I still found it slow with too much detailed medical information. Even the telling of the plot doesn’t live up to other books by Felix and certainly not Dick.

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118pmarshall
Mai 16, 2022, 6:56 pm

#76. To the Hilt, Dick Francis

Artist, Alexander Kinlock leads a quiet life in Scotland until he returns home one day to find a group of thugs waiting for him asking 'Where is it?'This leads to his financial rescue attempt of his stepfather's brewery against the physical deterient of his daughter who will eventually inherit it.

I learned interesting facts about King Alfred the Great, after whom the brewery is named and of Prince Charles Edward Stuart, aka Bonnie Prince Charlie and two opposing views of his contribution to Scottish history. It is also an account of perseverance in the actions of humans, Alexander shows it in his paintings of golfers and horse racing and it is present in his family’s history of keeping the hilt of Bonnie Prince Charlie’s sword when the government of Scotland claims ownership and in his own behaviour.

📚📚📚📚

119pmarshall
Mai 17, 2022, 8:25 pm

#77. Nerve, Dick Francis

Rumours are flying around the racetrack about jockeys, one is always late, another bets too often, another is losing his nerve and hence is losing his races. They are believed although no one tries to substantiate them and the jockeys are ruined.. Rob Finn is aware first as a bystander and then first hand and he sets out to find out who is behind it and why. An underlying theme is the effect being born into a family of musicians or horsemen, but not having any talent or interest in that area, has on that person and how they deal with it, positively or negatively.

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120pmarshall
Modifié : Mai 18, 2022, 9:33 pm

#78. 10-lb Penalty, Dick Francis

In practice, a 10-lb penalty is the maximum extra weight a winning thoroughbread is normally set to carry in a horse race. Ben Juliard discovers a 10-lb penalty can be a killer when he finds himself the target of his politician father's enemies.
The process of standing for Parliament and the inner workings of the governing party is interesting. Juliard’s father is elected, becomes a minister and then runs for the leadership of the party and the position of prime minister.

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121pmarshall
Modifié : Mai 20, 2022, 11:32 am

#79. Bloodline, Dick Francis

Jockey Clare Shillingford should have won that race and her twin brother, Mark, a race announcer told her so. They argued about it. The next day he is told she committed suicide by falling from the 15th floor of a London hotel. He doesn’t believe it wants to know who killed her. He does find out when there is a third attempt to murder him and two other murders.
Very interesting information on horse race commentating on live television, particularly when they are presenting races from up to three different courses. Some things are done in advance but the races must always be shown live. In one case a horse gets free at Ascot and the race is delayed ten minutes which causes great concern at the other track but they manage to catch the horse in time!

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122pmarshall
Modifié : Mai 21, 2022, 6:43 pm

#80. Crisis, Felix Francis

Harrison Foster, Legal Consultant is better known as Harry, a crisis management specialist. He knows nothing about horses or racing but is sent to Newmarket to find out why his client’s horse died in a stable fire. His Highness Sheikh Karim’s horse Prince of Troy was touted to win The Derby in two weeks. Solving the crisis is complicated by the behaviour of the family owning the stables and the finding of human remains.
Felix has to start believing his reader picks up on a fact the first time it is presented and not keep repeating it. This repetition is something that can be caught and decided on in the editing process.

📚📚📚1/2

123pmarshall
Modifié : Mai 23, 2022, 4:40 pm

#81. A Taxing Death, Alec Peche

Dr. Jill Quint is called in by a family who do not believe their husband/father died of a heart attack. It was easy to prove it was murder and suddenly Jill and the police have four murders, all employees of the department that audited tax returns. A Joint Police Task Force discovers a connection with the Sovereign Citizen Movement who believe only the constitution is the law of the United States which consists only of the original 13 states, the rests are territories with no rights, in this case no right to collect taxes.

📚📚📚1/2

124pmarshall
Mai 24, 2022, 3:32 pm

#82. Vials, Alec Peche

Dr. Jill Quint, M. D., a forensic pathologist and wine grower, accepts cases from family members who believe the decision regarding the cause of death is wrong. In this case it was not blood poisoning but murder by infecting the person with a bacteria that cased the death. But when Jill starts to look into the why of the case it turns on her and her life is in jeopardy. The three women who research the case for her are amazing and show what you can learn through a computer, it is scary.

The editor should have done a better job.

📚📚📚1/2

125pmarshall
Modifié : Mai 27, 2022, 1:47 am

#83. Chocolate Diamonds, Alec Peche

Dr. Jill Quint and her three partners, Angela, Jo and Marie, are on vacation in Belgium. On their first day they witness a woman suffer a severe nut allergy reaction and Jill accompanies her to the hospital. Her life is saved but she is murdered in the hospital. This involves the women in a wide ranging case centred on the theft of diamonds and diamond cartels in 5 countries. Before it comes to a conclusion the Belgian and Dutch Police as well as Interpol are involved and the women are threatened, a smoke bomb set off in their hotel suite in the night, kidnapping and more. It is a good read but by the end I thought it was a little overwhelming. Again, it needed better editing.
The information on diamonds; the mining, rough versus cut, consortiums that control the sale for good or bad; adds to the background.

📚📚📚1/2

126AnnieMod
Mai 24, 2022, 7:17 pm

Just stopping by to say hi - I am reading your posts but as these authors are on my TBR, I don't have much to say :)

127pmarshall
Mai 27, 2022, 1:46 am

#84. A Breck Death, Alec Peche

Dr. Jill Quint is asked to investigate the death of a skier that has been attributed to a heart attack. Jill proves he died by poison delivered by a dart to his back. Jill quickly assembles her team, Marie, Jo and Angela from Wisconsin. Nick from Holland was on his way to Texas so he takes a side trip to Colarado and Nathan arrives from California. The FBI gets involved as the group’s work identifies a ‘person of interest’ to them.

It is a fast paced read but I found the actions of the bad guys quite far fetched. But I will admit I don’t read action fiction and I have trouble operating my IPad. There is no way I could make it drive remote controlled snow plows. Things happened that were beyond my imagination, or at least outside of it. I will keep reading to see what Jill and her group get into next!

⭐️⭐️⭐️1/2

128pmarshall
Modifié : Mai 28, 2022, 5:57 pm

#85. Death on a Green, Alec Peche

Jill Quint is on vacation in Green Bay, Wisconsin visiting her friends and fellow investigators, Jo, Angela and Marie. They witness the murder of a popular doctor on the golf course and, of course (no pun intended) have to investigate. They identified the person they think is responsible and Jill goes home. But the case follows her.

The ending is weak and the book needs better editing. Interesting information on autopsies both on fresh corpses and ones that have been embalmed and buried.

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129pmarshall
Modifié : Mai 29, 2022, 8:20 pm

#86. Murder At The Podium, Alec Peche

A conference speaker takes a sip of water, collapses and dies. Her husband hires Jill Quint to look into her death. He says she has been estranged from her family since age 18 and they are part of a Mexican drug cartel. Once the cause of death is determined he thanks Quint for her service and fires her. The Dallas Police Department offer Jill a contract because, they say, with her track record the murderer will be found because he will attack her as her case progresses. They are proven right. The case expands from the single murder to include the husband’s possible connection to drug trafficking. Numerous police forces come together, following Jill’s suggestions, solve the case.
The editing is worse in this book, not just grammar but in the printing, words and phrases repeated. In my second last job I was chief librarian and executive director of a small press run by the university. One of my tasks was proofreading the final manuscript from the printers and that is why I don’t have any patience with errors in books. It is difficult to get everything but the errors in this book were too obvious to miss.

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130pmarshall
Modifié : Mai 30, 2022, 10:47 pm

#87. Castle Killing, Alec Peche

Jill Quint and her friends are in Cardiff, Wales waiting for their Dutch friend Nick to join them before moving on to Scotland. The police inform them that Nick was pushed out of a tower window and fell to his death at Cardiff Castle. The group’s investigation indicates Nick was a member of a secret organization that dates back to WW II. Once in Scotland they continue their computer based investigation amidst visits to distilleries tasting whiskey. The case expands to searching for art work stolen by the Nazis. As with all of Peche’s books it needs to be proofread more carefully and she needs to be aware of the rules of grammar.

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131dchaikin
Mai 29, 2022, 9:16 pm

>102 pmarshall: I really enjoyed this post on Merkel.

132pmarshall
Mai 30, 2022, 10:43 pm

>131 dchaikin::

Thanks. I liked the book. I didn’t know much about Angela Merkel before I read the book and still don’t know the personal side of her life. I can understand why she keeps it private, it is none of my business, and more power to her for having done so. The author presents her public life well. I enjoyed the book.

133pmarshall
Modifié : Juin 1, 2022, 12:18 pm

May Summary:

Read - 22

Total - 87

134pmarshall
Modifié : Juin 1, 2022, 12:10 pm

#88. Crescent City Murder, Alec Peche

A Louisiana State agricultural worker is murdered by drinking water laced with poisonous nutmeg. The New Orleans corner is perplexed by the cause and turns to a former classmate, Jill Quint. Jill doesn’t expect it to be a dangerous case until she discovers marijuana growing among the corn. In the end she uncovers enough information to bring down a major drug trafficking ring and a state politician. As always with the help of her friends in Green Bay.

I had hoped as the series progressed the writing, i.e. grammar and editing might have improved but instead it is getting worse. It definitely lacks a good proofreader.

📚📚📚1/2

135pmarshall
Modifié : Juin 2, 2022, 6:01 pm

#89. Sicilian Murder, Alec Peche

A businessman from Green Bay, Wisconsin is found dead in Sicily and his daughter reaches out to Jill Quint because she believes he was murdered. All of the team, plus Nathan, are free to go to Italy where they discover the police call the death an accident and haven’t bother to look any further. The local police are overwhelmed by Jill and her team but do settle into a cooperative relationship. Of course because of where they are the Mafia have to play a role. Case closed.

📚📚📚1/2

136pmarshall
Modifié : Juin 3, 2022, 8:40 am

#90. Opus Murder, Alec Peche

Many of Jill Quint’s cases occur when she and her friends are on vacation. This time they are touring Toronto, Montreal and Quebec City in Canada. Their first activity in Toronto is a concert in an old historic church by a Russian pianist. Part way through he is shot with an ice arrow through one of the organ pipes. Jill rushes to his side and ends up viewing the autopsy. Her discoveries draw her to the attention of a group of Russians whose view to the solution is to dispense with Jill and her group. The Toronto City Police, the RCMP, FBI and CIA are involved at various stages but are unable to protect the group from attack until the very end when they pull off a sting operation.

📚📚📚1/2

137pmarshall
Modifié : Juin 3, 2022, 11:41 pm

#91. Forensic Murder, Alec Peche

Dr. Jill Quint replaces the keynote speaker at a forensic conference in New Zealand and thus begins a series of accidents/murders that occur near her in New Zealand and Australia. A zip line gives way, a spider bites a woman in a winery, a hiker is poisoned to name just a few. It takes both Jill and the police time to realize and accept her connection. A large sting operation in Cairns, Australia brings it all to a head but not before he drugs nearly 70 police undercover through the tea and coffee.

📚📚📚1/2

138pmarshall
Modifié : Juin 4, 2022, 7:38 pm

#92. Embers of Murder, Alec Peche

An arsonist is setting fires in California with an added touch, the body of a bad date from an on-line website is found where the fire started. An insurance agent gets suspicious when three of his clients are found in these circumstances. The Sacramento Medical Examiners Office, Jill Quint’s former employer calls her in to look into his claims as they are busy with a bus crash. When Jill visits the burn sites she finds cigarette butts and another investigator which sets off bells in her mind. The case gets stranger as the investigation widens ending in an arrest.
It was interesting reading about arson and the factors that need to be considered to get a good fire going. It is timely considering the number of wildfires in California every year.

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139pmarshall
Modifié : Juin 5, 2022, 3:31 am

#93. Ashes to Murder, Alec Peche

Jill and Nathan are in South Carolina when he proposes and they organize a wedding in a church ruin in a vineyard. The officiant is found dead in the vineyard following the wedding. Jill and her team swing into action to the surprise of some of the guests and the local police department.The case expands before it comes to a complete conclusion. It also determines a new direction for Jill and her private investigation business.

📚📚📚1/2

140pmarshall
Modifié : Juin 30, 2022, 5:59 pm

Ce message a été supprimé par son auteur

141pmarshall
Modifié : Juin 6, 2022, 5:29 pm

#95. One True Friend, Ted Tayler

A woman asks a neighbour to babysit her son for ten minutes and she never returns. Her body is found, strangled, in her car out in the countryside. Ten years later the case is turned over to Gus Freeman and his group that investigate cold cases. As always it is convoluted and the cause of her death unrelated to the evidence, although the murderer had been interviewed in the original investigation as was the person who covered for the murderer.

📚📚📚1/2

142pmarshall
Modifié : Juin 7, 2022, 11:09 pm

#96. Whispered Truths: The Freeman Files Series, Ted Tayler

A woman dashes out for ten minutes and her body is found the next morning in a parking lot. The case happened ten years ago and Gus Freeman and his group are taking a second look. Everyone involved is still in the area which makes it easy to interview them. They quickly discover it was poorly handled by the police who mishandled their opportunity to interview the murderer. They wrap up the case in under a week.

📚📚📚1/2

143pmarshall
Modifié : Juin 7, 2022, 11:00 pm

#97. The Last Thing He Told Me, Laura Dave

Hannah married Owen and moved in with him and Bailey, then 14, now 16, near San Francisco. She is still adjusting to having a stepmother and usually just avoids Hannah. The company Owen works for has been charged with fraud and the owner arrested. Hannah receives a note from him saying “Protect her,” and Bailey finds in her school locker over $600,000. Owen disappears and Hannah begins to search for him in Austin, Texas based on early memories of Bailey. She comes to realize that her husband is not who he said he was and she needs to learn why. She will have to be very strong to follow Owen’s plea of “Protect Her.”

I have never read a book like this before and enjoyed it very much.

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144pmarshall
Modifié : Juin 8, 2022, 12:41 pm

#98. Maisie Dobbs: A Mysterious Profile (Mysterious Profiles), Jacqueline Winspear

Interviews with Maisie’s father, Francis Dobbs, Lady Rowan Compton, Maisie’s first employer and later her mother-in-law, Dr. Maurice Blanche who guided her education and taught her how to be an investigator and William (Billy) Beale her assistant.

📚📚📚📚

145labfs39
Juin 8, 2022, 9:40 am

>143 pmarshall: The Last Thing He Told Me sounds intriguing. I checked and my library has it too.

>144 pmarshall: I'm curious about this. I just finished reading the series.

146pmarshall
Modifié : Juin 8, 2022, 9:55 am

>144 pmarshall::
Do read it and let me know what you think of Hannah. She doesn’t really write about the impact of what happens on herself.

147pmarshall
Modifié : Juin 8, 2022, 1:37 pm

#99. Precious Ramotswe: A Mysterious Profile (Mysterious Profiles), Alexander McCall Smith

McCall Smith talks about his time spent in Southern Africa and how he feels the land and people reflect the social and political activities of the country, e.g. the differences between Swaziland and South Africa, and how a woman sweeps her yard in Botswana. When he first wrote about Precious he never expected it to become the world wide success it became, translated into 45 languages. It took five books before he had a publisher that was really behind the book. He explains how he developed Precious’s character from a variety of different people with the premise that she would deal with ordinary every day events.

📚📚📚📚

148pmarshall
Modifié : Juin 9, 2022, 1:45 pm

#100. Whispered Truths: The Freeman Files Series, Ted Tayler

A double murder, 13 years old, is the current case facing Gus Freeman and his group. A man answered his door at 10 in the evening and was shot with a rifle while his partner listens from upstairs. Nine months late she is dead and the coroner’s verdict waffles between suicide and murder. Gus’s troops know the right questions to ask and having a holiday caravan burn down brings the case to a close. Or at least the murder is solved. What they have done is uncover drug and people smuggling. On to the next book.
📚📚📚1/2

149pmarshall
Modifié : Juin 9, 2022, 9:30 pm

#101. Time’s Up, Alec Peche

This short story is a prequel to the Dr. Jill Quint series. It introduces her on her vineyard and starting plans for her first bottling which brings in Nathan, a wine label designer. The call from Fresno to assist them by doing an autopsy on an elderly man who appears to have died of natural causes, doing test in her own lab causes Jill to question this and think it was murder. Not held back by employer regulations she turns to her friends Marie and Jo for information on the man’s family. Quint passes this on to the police who get a confession. The beginning of a new business and the possibilities of a new relationship is set for Quint.

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150pmarshall
Modifié : Juin 12, 2022, 2:41 pm

#102. State of Terror, Louise Penny, Hillary Rodham Clinton

Ellen Adams has given up control of her vast multimedia empire to her daughter and become Secretary of State for President Douglas Williams. Adams looks like a fifties June Cleaver from the 1950’s television series “Leave it to Beaver,” she looks gullible and easily fooled. Williams is counting on that, he was made out to be a fool on a show run on one of her channels and he sees his appointment as payback. She accepted to serve her country. By the way she knows her appearance can be used to confuse. Williams’ administration is hampered by the actions of his predecessor who sounds much like Trump.

Three nuclear physicists are murder when bombs are left on buses in London, Paris and Frankfort, also killing and injuring hundreds of innocent adults and children.Who is behind it? Are there more bombings to come? Could they be nuclear and in the United States?

Adams begins her search for an answer by making the first visit to Iran by an American politician since President Jimmy Carter in 1979. Information received sends her to Pakistan and finally to Russia, where the leader will remind you of Putin. At the same time her journalist son, who was thrown of the bus in Frankfort just before it blew up, goes to Afghanistan seeking information based on time he spent there as a kidnapped victim and barely escaped with his head.

There are multiple characters and threads that run throughout the plot presenting history, views and the actions of others that support, positively or otherwise what Adams is doing. One of these points to a group who want to see the U. S. return to a white, Christian, right-wing country and they are positioned to make it happen and will do what they can to stop positive progress.

Ellen Adams, with assistance, brings the many threads together, the really bad guy is captured, others are identified. Her actions have moved her country forward in regaining its status as a world leader which had been damaged by the previous president. Her belief in telling the truth, no more lies to the public, will build on this.

The one bit that didn’t sit quite right with me was having it end in Three Pines, Quebec, the setting of many of Penny’s mysteries. It seemed contrived.

The multi-layers of the plot, the activities of numerous characters and the movement from place to place could make this book quite confusing. But, on the whole, it is relatively easy to follow. However it is a book I will reread and I know I will pick up on new items. Unfortunately what is happening in the world today, plus the recent history of Trump, makes this book believable. The authors have done a good job of not over writing the actions and use current world events well in “State of Terror.”

📚📚📚📚

Reviewed June 12, 2022

151pmarshall
Juin 14, 2022, 3:02 pm

#103. A Duty to the Dead, Charles Todd

Bess Crawford, a nursing sister in World War I, is in England on sick leave and fulfills a promise to a former patient by delivering a verbal message to his brother. This involves Crawford with a strange, disturbed family, in murder, past and present, and a strong sense of duty to set things right.

This is the first in the Bess Crawford series. It establishes her background, childhood in India, apartment in London, parents in Summerset, her father, Simon and her nursing. Also her involvement with patients that leads to the mystery she solves.

📚📚📚📚

152pmarshall
Modifié : Juin 16, 2022, 8:35 pm

#104. Beware of Railway-Journeys, Frank Heller

I did not finish reading this book, a rare occurrence for me. I read the first 200 of 800 pages (pdf) and it didn’t make any sense to me. A young Swedish man catches a train to Paris because he is captivated by a glimpse of a female passenger. A few stops later he is arrested and spends a couple of days in jail before the police admit to mistaken identity. When he arrives in Paris he finds a note in his pocket directing him to a fancy hotel where he finds the woman who then attacks him for following her. His luggage which he left in the German train station appears unexpectedly. Then a young Indian prince with, it is rumoured 125 wives, arrives at the hotel, seeking an European princess to marry. It was at this point I gave up. Perhaps another day in another mood I might read it but I don’t feel like putting anymore time into it now.

I received this through the Early Reviewers program.

📚1/2

153pmarshall
Juin 15, 2022, 8:26 pm

#105. Hot Money, Dick Francis

Hot Money is one of my favourite Francis books. A VERY wealthy man, Malcolm Pembroke has an uncanny ability to make money buying gold and stocks and knowing just when to sell. He is spending his money and six of his seven children are very upset as they see it as ‘their’ money. He is supporting charities, establishing scholarships, buying horses.

His fifth ex- wife was recently murdered and except for his strong alibi the police would have arrested him. Now someone, he suspects one of his ex-wives or children, has made two attempts on his life (so far.) He has turned to his son, Ian, for protection and a solution.

Dick Francis writes a study of people. In this case it is of a family fighting over the size of a future inheritance. They don’t see the millions their father earned as his to do with what he wishes, it is their future and he should leave it alone. Although he set up each of them with trust funds they want more, now and later. A situation that occurs everyday over hundreds of pounds to millions.

Ian, who believes it is his father’s money to enjoy, studies each of his half-brothers and sisters to determine if they are making the attempts on Malcolm’s life. What he learns is an interesting study in family dynamics. It also leads him to the murderer, but how to prove it?

By the end Ian causes some upheaval in the family and definitely some rethinking of personal desires. For himself he decides to move from amateur to professional steeplechase jockey for the remaining 4/5 years of his career and then look to training. He has also faced up to why he has remained single, he didn’t want to follow his father’s example. Certainly the unveiling of the murderer makes a major impact on the family. At the end the rebuilding of Malcolm’s home which had been twice bombed, is seen as a sign of rebuilding the family.

Reviewed March 10, 2021

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

154pmarshall
Modifié : Juin 19, 2022, 12:01 pm

#106. The Bone Code, Kathy Reichs

In Montreal and fifteen years later in Charleston Tempe is faced with the bodies of two females, shot, identically wrapped and stuffed into medical waste barrels and dumped in the ocean some years prior to recovery. In Montreal she and Ryan were unsuccessful in identifying the bodies or developing a case. In Charleston Tempe is determined that won’t happen again. And it doesn’t.

The second aspect of the book is about the manipulation of genes, DNA and vaccines for control and money. It is interesting, and scary, because of COVID-19. For me it gets too scientific and I had trouble following all the details. This is where the book lost half a star.

Overall the basic plot is good and the characters interesting as usual.

📚📚📚1/2

Her new release Cold Cold Bones will be out in early July.

155pmarshall
Modifié : Juin 21, 2022, 11:10 pm

#107. As the Crow Flies, Damien Boyd

A rock climbing friend of Dixon's falls to his death, is it an accident or murder? Did his drug dealing result in the death of a teenager? Or was it the selling of falcon eggs in the Middle East? Dixon learns this and more about his friend as he settles into his new job and leads the investigation. Both Nick and his friend Jake were rock climbers and the reader learns the basics of the sport.

This is the first in the Detective Inspector Nick Dixion series set in the rural area of Southern England.

📚📚📚📚

156pmarshall
Juin 22, 2022, 9:31 pm

#108. Head in the Sand, Damien Boyd

The head of an elderly woman is found in the sand bunker on a golf course. The body's is found in a burned out car. The investigation leads the police to four more decapitations over a period of thirty years. What is the link?

An interesting look at dementia, the impact of the death of a child and the mental urge to correct this latter situation.

157pmarshall
Modifié : Juin 23, 2022, 9:42 pm

#109. Kickback, Damien Boyd

Dixon investigates the death of a young stable worker at a racing stables. What was Noel’s murder going to break open? Drug smuggling, illegal betting, blackmail.

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158pmarshall
Modifié : Juin 24, 2022, 3:36 pm

#110. Swansong, Damien Boyd

Dixon goes undercover at a boarding school in an investigation of the murder and mutilation of a young woman. It takes him back seventeen years to his time at boarding schools and his first love.

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159pmarshall
Modifié : Juin 25, 2022, 7:54 pm

#111. Dead Level, Damien Boyd

Lizzie Perry is murdered and great care is taken to leave evidence pointing to a particular person. Set against massive flooding, constant rain and a bye-election Dixon follows a number of false leads until he realizes the health condition he and Perry share is at the root of the crime.

The information on candidate selection to stand for Parliament is interesting, also the information on the types of insulin prescripied for diabetics.

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160pmarshall
Modifié : Juin 26, 2022, 9:04 pm

#112. Death Sentence, Damien Boyd

The Falkland War, a marine denied his Victoria Cross, the highest medal awarwd for bravery in Britain, marines now dying from breathing in asbestos and a related pending court case for compensation, and a murdered soldier who was a Falkland War veteran and a witness in the courtroom. How is all this connected?

📚📚📚📚

161pmarshall
Modifié : Juil 1, 2022, 6:44 pm

#113. Heads or Tails, Damien Boyd

Nick Dixon is assigned to a team in Manchester when a murderer from there in the 1990’s appears to have reappeared in Avon and Somerset (around Bath and Bristol). When a second body is found and Nick realizes there is a leak in the Manchester Police Department he decides to return home and approach the case from that angle. It is a complicated case and Nick doesn’t escape unscathed, but he leads the team to a solution that covers the old and new cases.

📚📚📚📚

162pmarshall
Modifié : Juin 29, 2022, 9:48 am

#114. Dead Lock, Damien Boyd

Two ten year old girls are kidnapped but there appears to be nothing connecting them. Nick Dixon and Jane Winter are called back from their holiday to assist in the search. Dixon starts looking for a connection between possible kidnappers. When he finally works it out there have been three murders in addition to the kidnappings. Dixon’s cases are getting more complex as the series progresses.

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163pmarshall
Modifié : Juin 30, 2022, 5:56 pm

#115. Beyond the Point, Damien Boyd

The search continues for the man for hire behind the kidnapping of the two girls and following murders. Dixon traces him to the construction site of a nuclear power station and is then in a face to face meeting with him. He learns how he is connected to the recent death on site and what was behind it before he is shot by a police sniper. A suicide in 1995 following the deaths of three men in an industrial accident on a bridge construction was where it started. Dixon has to prove it wasn’t an accident and led to at least two more murders. It is as convoluted as this description sounds, but a good read.

📚📚📚📚

164pmarshall
Modifié : Sep 4, 2022, 7:01 pm

June Summary
27 Read
2 Reviewed

Total 115

165pmarshall
Modifié : Juil 1, 2022, 11:48 pm

#116. Down Among the Dead, Damien Boyd

A serial killer had been arrested and found guilty and now, fifteen years later he is before a court requiring an appeal. The killings took place on the site of a rebellion in the late 1600’s and the events of it continue to cross over to current day events. When a body is found there is great pressure put on Dixon to uphold the earlier investigation which he refuses to do. He is seeking the real murderer. I found that the history of the rebellion caused confusion in following the events and slowed down the action.

📚📚📚1/2

166pmarshall
Modifié : Juil 3, 2022, 8:38 am

#117. Dying Inside (DI Nick Dixon Crime, 11), Damien Boyd

People moved their government pensions to a private company which offered much better interest, and others accepted/were bullied into a new wage payment plan which avoided taxes. In both cases when the law was changed in 2016 they were presented with a tax bill, in some cases a very large one on a pension that has disappeared. Someone decided to eliminate the people who developed these scams and the government tax official in charge of collecting the back taxes, using a cross bow. They started practicing on killing sheep and that is when Nick Dixon became involved. Around the same time a yacht sunk in a storm and four people were reported lost. Rumours were that it was carrying a large amount of drugs. The owner was also killed with a cross bow.

Dixon and a large team investigate, trying to find the link among the diverse victims, in particular the owner of the yacht as he doesn’t fit in the pension/wage scheme. Although Dixon has been promoted and should be managing not investigating he can’t not become involved. There are more deaths before he works out all the details but he does close the case.

In each book Nick’s personal life with Detective Constable Jane Winter and his dog, Monty, and friends runs through the background giving the series a believable situation.

📚📚📚📚

167pmarshall
Modifié : Juil 4, 2022, 6:00 pm

#118. Carnival Blues (DI Nick Dixon Crime Book 12), Damien Boyd

Having read the 12 Damien Boyd’s Nick Dixon police procedural series titles I feel I must express my amazement for him, and other series authors. How do they continually find topics that are interesting and believable? The worst part of reading a series has arrived, I need to wait 8 - 12 months or so for the next book.

Carnival Blues starts with a real estate agent suffering third degree burns when a fire works back fires in his face. Dixon calls it attempted murder and he finds himself in the middle of an investigation of corrupt sales agents. That comes to a halt, on an official bases, when he is arrested for the murder of an Albanian who had enter his home in the middle of the night and Nick hit him with his own rifle to stop him from escaping. The special police who arrested him appeared to be more on the Albanian’s side than Nick’s and were disappointed when he proved his innocence and the fact that the Albanians fixed his arrest so they could gain control over him. Neither side appreciated the true strength of Dixon.

📚📚📚📚1/2

168pmarshall
Modifié : Juil 6, 2022, 6:42 pm

#119. Cold Cold Bones, Kathy Reichs

Someone is copying old cases of Dr. Tempe Brennan and making sure they come to her attention, e.g. leaving an eyeball on her back porch. It takes her sometime to realize this is what is happening but she doesn’t know why. Her daughter, Katy, has completed eight years in the army and is having a difficult time adjusting to civilian life and is distressed by the lack of services for returning vets, many of whom end up homeless. Her disappearance causes her mother great distress. Tempe works out who is behind everything but it isn’t over without her suffering for it.
I found the book weird and difficult to follow at times. It reminded me of the direction Patricia Cornwell went with Kay Scarpetta after a dozen or so books. I hope it is a one off.

📚📚📚1/2

169pmarshall
Modifié : Juil 7, 2022, 11:27 pm

#120. Finale: The Lost Decades of Uncle Chow Tung, Ian Hamilton

Uncle is receiving treatment for stomach cancer and suffering from the chemo which has further weakened him. Ava is involved with a case that involves her with the Canadian Intelligence Agency. A second case has her in Hong Kong briefly and Uncle opens up to her about his fiancée who drowned fleeing from China, his will and other issues his death will raise for Ava. He flies to Shanghai and while there learns she has been kidnapped by a man in Borneo who was supposed to help her. Men are sent from Shanghai to rescue her. Does she return to Hong Kong in time to see Uncle?

📚📚📚📚

170pmarshall
Modifié : Juil 9, 2022, 3:16 pm

#121. Game Over, Cynthia Harrod-Eagles

A journalist is murdered and an attempt is made on Bill Slider’s life. Following much research it is determined the two are connected. But why, as the police know who is trying to kill Slider. He phoned him up to threaten him. Intrigue at the highest political and police levels cover up of an environmental disaster dating back to W. W. II and related blackmail, murders and pricey business deals are all involved in the solution.

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171pmarshall
Modifié : Juil 11, 2022, 10:21 pm

#122. Fell Purpose, Cynthia Harrod-Eagles

The murder victim is 17, beautiful, intelligent, artistic, lonely and pregnant. Her parents want opposite things for her and her life is very controlled. Her only school friends come from wealthy families and have no interest in school, their focus is boys. A drug dealer she once had an affair with, a man just released from prison after serving a sentence for killing prostituties, and her father are being investigated for her murder. This leads to a fourth suspect. Slider and company solve the case.

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172pmarshall
Modifié : Juil 13, 2022, 3:00 pm

#123. Body Line, Cynthia Harrod-Eagles

Dr. David Rogers loved women, many women at once, it was his great weakness. Add that to trading in illegal body parts and you know why he was murdered. But how he got to that point is Slider’s puzzle in his current case.

Damien Boyd’s Nick Dixon solves police cases and violence is always a part of the solution. Harrod-Eagles’ Bill Slider relies on investigation and thinking things through, the murder is the violent event, although the armed police do show up at the end of this case. She has a slower pace and very descriptive writing. A couple of examples follow:

“Seduced by the sun, Atherton hadn’t worn an overcoat either. He shivered beside Slider like a fastidious cat.”

“… had shown the depth of a rapidly evaporating rain puddle when it came to women?”

📚📚📚📚

173pmarshall
Modifié : Juil 15, 2022, 10:02 am

#124. Kill My Darling, Cynthia Harrod-Eagles

A young woman’s body is discovered by a dog walker. It appears that she has been murdered. But why? It takes a lot of digging to discover the various men, past and present, in her life and their impact on her. They uncover other crimes before they identify the cause of her death.

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“‘Who on earth thought of putting an “s” in the word “lisp”?“

174labfs39
Juil 14, 2022, 9:23 am

Just popping up to say I am lurking and so impressed with your reading speed!

175pmarshall
Juil 15, 2022, 9:50 am

>174 labfs39::
It is more a case of what else will I do. I live in a nursing home, most of the programs, e.g., Bingo, don’t interest me, I prefer books to movies and most of what is on TV doesn’t appeal. I don’t walk so rely on a motorized wheelchair and special transportation to get places which limits outings. So I read and enjoy it!

176pmarshall
Modifié : Juil 16, 2022, 9:12 pm

#125. Blood Never Dies, Cynthia Harrod-Eagles

A man starts to ask questions and as a unplanned result he and other men start to die. The murderer tries to make it look like suicide but is not successful. Slider knows the deaths are connected but not why. Drugs are also involved but who is the head, who is directing all the parts?

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“His chest was so broad his nipples were in different time zones.”

177labfs39
Juil 15, 2022, 1:04 pm

>175 pmarshall: So I read and enjoy it! Sounds good to me!

178pmarshall
Modifié : Juil 18, 2022, 4:21 pm

#126. Hard Going, Cynthia Harrod-Eagles

A man almost everyone has a good word to say about is murdered. Trying to discover his life story more than eleven years back is difficult and time consuming. From no suspects to a number and then back to none Slider and his people soldier on until surprise information opens it up.

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‘I fear the day when the technology overlaps with our humanity. The world will have a generation of idiots.’ Albert Einstein
You only had to see a group of youngsters out for the night, all texting away instead of talking to each other, to suspect old Al had a point.

179dianeham
Juil 16, 2022, 11:30 pm

>176 pmarshall: nipples in different time zones - that’s funny.
Do you buy all these books or does a library supply them?

180pmarshall
Modifié : Juil 18, 2022, 3:51 pm

>176 pmarshall::
Both and from Amazon Kindle Unlimited as well as my library.

181pmarshall
Modifié : Juil 20, 2022, 2:12 pm

#127. Portrait of an Unknown Woman: A Novel, Daniel Silva

Allon has retired and moved to Venice where his wife is managing an art restoration company and he will restore paintings, their twins are in elementary school. At the moment he is still recovering from the life threatening gun shot wound he suffered in Washington.

“Portrait of an Unknown Woman” is a painting dating back to the 1600’s and it has been forged, twice, in the last 34 years. As a result a French woman is murdered and Allon starts to investigate what becomes an extremely largeinternational forgery case involving millions of dollars.

The information on art forgery; what is involved to make the painting look authentic, how they are sold, how paintings are tested, how art is used as an investment, is fascinating.

📚📚📚📚

182labfs39
Juil 19, 2022, 1:22 pm

>181 pmarshall: Have you read all of the Gabriel Allon series? I would like to try them, but my library doesn't have any. I should ILL the first one.

183pmarshall
Modifié : Juil 20, 2022, 1:50 pm

>182 labfs39::

Yes, I have read them all, this is the most recent. I think it is a series best read in order - but I feel that way about most. I think it would be readily available on ILO. I read many through the library, but I wish I could buy them as it is easier to reread them.

184pmarshall
Modifié : Juil 21, 2022, 9:48 pm

#128 Orchestrated Death, Cynthia Harrod-Eagles

A nude woman is found murdered in a vacant flat and is identified as a violinist by the mark on her shoulder. Her desk mate in the LSO is Johanna Marshall and once Slider meets her his life is changed forever. It appears the dead woman was involved in the movement of antique musical instruments from Italy to Britain.

📚📚📚📚

185pmarshall
Modifié : Juil 23, 2022, 2:58 pm

#129. Death Watch, Cynthia Harrod-Eagles

A man’s body found in a burnt out motel room is the beginning of a very complicated case. Pressure from above Slider wants it to be declared a suicide for budget reasons, but Slider won’t give in an continues to investigate it as a murder. It eventually leads to five other deaths but what is the connection? The second thread of the book is Bill and Johanna’s relationship and when is he going to tell his wife.

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186pmarshall
Modifié : Juil 26, 2022, 6:27 pm

#130. Necrochip, Cynthia Harrod-Eagles aka Death to Go

A teenage customer of a fish and chips shop discovers a finger in her chips. The police discover a cut up body minus scalp, eyes and hands. Slider has a new boss who makes it very clear that he dislikes him, that he does not believe where the evidence, little that there is, is leading and he takes active steps to upset Slider’s squad and turn people against him. Slider’s life is made more uncomfortable when Johanna makes it clear if he wants to continue seeing her he has to confront his wife and say he wants a divorce. Slider, like myself, can see both sides of an issue and this is what makes it difficult to face his wife, he made promises and has responsibilities, but his happiness lies with Johanna. The solution to the case further upsets his boss.

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“… a pair of massive, wrought-iron, electronically operated gates, backed with heavy duty wire mesh to prevent an anorexic burglar slipping between the bars.“

187pmarshall
Modifié : Juil 26, 2022, 6:45 pm

#131. Grave Music, Cynthia Harrod-Eagles, aka Dead End

A conductor popular with the public but not so by the musicians he directs is shot as he raises his baton to lead a rehearsal. Before the murderer is identified the police uncover, within the conductor’s life and family the sexual abuse of young men and women, trafficking in hard drugs, and the misuse of clients funds. A family well respected and considered to be ‘a nice family.’ It certainly confuses the case. Slider’s wife has announced she is leaving him for her bridge partner (male) and wants a divorce. Johanna has not backed down on her ‘leave me alone stance.’

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188pmarshall
Modifié : Juil 28, 2022, 2:53 pm

#132. Blood Lines, Cynthia Harrod-Eagles

Opera, fanatical religion, sex and adoption all lead to a number of vicious murders. Slider is first left with no leads and then is truly puzzled by the direction of the solid lead he does get from a reliable witness. Johanna is away and he doesn’t feel at home in her flat with out her, his first meeting with his-to-be-ex-wife and two children shows all three are also having adjustment problems and at work he is having learn the ways of a new boss. All this plus fatigue makes his thought processes slow and his physical ones even slower.

📚📚📚📚

189pmarshall
Modifié : Juil 30, 2022, 2:49 pm

#133. Killing Time, Cynthia Harrod-Eagles

Slider is investigating the death of a gay dancer. The information gathered is contradictory and when he gets a lead he is told by powers above to leave it to someone else. It is only when he and his Sargent are attacked that all the pieces finally come together.

📚📚📚1/29

190pmarshall
Modifié : Août 1, 2022, 2:31 pm

Ce message a été supprimé par son auteur

191pmarshall
Modifié : Août 1, 2022, 3:39 pm

July Summary

18 Read
133 Total

192pmarshall
Modifié : Août 1, 2022, 2:43 pm

#134. Dear Departed, Cynthia Harrod-Eagles

A woman everyone said was good, was wonderful, kind and friendly is murdered in a copycat manner after a serial killer. She was all those things but not quite to everyone, in particular not to her half-sisters. But what reason would they have for killing her? There are a number of leads but they twindle away and Slider is left with a vague idea that he develops so that it closes the case.

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193dianeham
Août 1, 2022, 8:16 pm

Hi Penny

194pmarshall
Août 4, 2022, 7:13 pm

>193 dianeham::
Hello, how are you surviving the heat?

195pmarshall
Août 4, 2022, 7:29 pm

#135. Shallow Grave, Cynthia Harrod-Eagles

A woman’s body is found in a construction trench by the murderer and the woman’s husband, the contractor. He becomes the chief suspect. His wife’s reputation in the village is that of a pushy, determined, self-centred, promiscuous woman. She is disliked by almost everyone the police interview.

📚📚📚1/2

196dianeham
Modifié : Août 4, 2022, 9:03 pm

>194 pmarshall: I’m staying inside. Hubby goes out and gets food and stuff. The dog and I are in the ac. I live at the seashore and I noticed on facebook that even the locals are hitting the beach this week.

I was going to try one of the Bill Slider mysteries that you’ve been reading and they aren’t on kindle in the US. My library has hard copies though.

197pmarshall
Modifié : Août 6, 2022, 8:33 pm

#136. A Morning Murder: The Freeman Files Series - Book 20, Ted Tayler

Throughout the Gus Freeman series there has been some reference to the previous case. In A Morning Murder the reader finds the solution to Whispered Truths, a solution that goes beyond what was in that book and one that has nothing to do with the new case. He does the same thing at the end of A Morning Murder. I find it annoying.

The new case is about two teenage girls who are out in the early morning, running or walking to school. A third attempted murder happens in the same area of the village. As is the norm the group take a different view of the case and focus on the similarities between the first two victims and the location of the crimes. This leads to as much of the solution as Tayler is prepared to reveal.

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198pmarshall
Août 6, 2022, 6:23 pm

>196 dianeham::

It is hard to read a series in order when you get the books from the library but for character and background development it makes more sense with this series. So try to start with the early ones. I keep forgetting to comment on this but Harrod-Eagles is a slow paced writer, I find I scan some of her descriptions. On the other hand her use of language and local London dialect is amusing and well down. Enjoy!

199pmarshall
Modifié : Août 6, 2022, 7:06 pm

>196 dianeham::
I looked at your page and the books we share. I think you might like David Adams Richards, a Canadian author of novels, poetry, short stories, biography and autobiography. I particularly like the latter, Hockey Dreams and Lines on the Water. His trilogy Nights Below Station Street, Evening Snow Will Bring Such Peace and Those Who Hunt the Wounded Down have won awards. The rest of his books are stand alone. All are based in the province of New Brunswick.

200dianeham
Août 6, 2022, 7:26 pm

>199 pmarshall: thank you, Penny. I will check him out.

201pmarshall
Août 7, 2022, 9:35 pm

#137. DEAD BISHOPS DON’T LIE a fast-paced, action-packed international thriller (Thierry Dulac Thrillers Book 1), Andre K. Baby

Investigating the murder of two Vatican archbishops takes Interpol agent Dulac across Europe from London to Moscow to Rome with a side trip to the Caribbean.

📚📚📚1/2

202pmarshall
Modifié : Août 9, 2022, 6:34 pm

#138.The Chimera Sanction, Andre K. Baby

The Pope has been kidnapped and Thierry Dulac of Interpol is asked by archbishops in the Vatican to find him. Dulac determines that an old enemy of his is behind the abduction but it is further complicated by the Cathars Sect which wants to establish a power base within the Vatican and change the direction of the church. The kidnapping is just the first step.

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203pmarshall
Août 9, 2022, 7:08 pm

#139. Jaws of the Tiger, Andre K. Baby

Thierry Dulac and his friend Dr. Karen Dawson, a professor at the Sorbonne are going on a Caribbean cruise but they are barely underway before the boat is highjacked by an East Asian group. Dulac is suspicious of an early morning fire drill and meets another passenger who agrees and they avoid being herded together with the other passengers under the control of the highjackers. This enables them to work with the rescuers. Then Dulac becomes involved investigating who funded the event and discovers it goes high in the English government.

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204pmarshall
Août 12, 2022, 9:35 am

#140. Blood Sinister, Cynthia Harrod-Eagles

A well known and well respected journalist is found in a compromising position, strangled. Her life style was that of ‘someone who got off the bus in ‘69,’ i.e. a hippie, except on the day she died she did something very uncharacteristic for her, she cooked dinner from scratch. She was a very private person in some ways which made it difficult for Slider to determine what important events she was hiding. The way his mind works, connecting small facts together that others never see, is amazing. It works again although proving the case will be difficult.

📚📚📚📚

205pmarshall
Modifié : Août 14, 2022, 3:40 pm

#141. Gone Tomorrow, Cynthia Harrod-Eagles

Pimps, prostitutes, illegal businessmen and the big man who pulls all the strings. When things don’t go the right way one murder leads to three more deaths. The connections are tenuous and Slider is stretched to make the connections and wouldn’t have without the public’s help, reporting on what they saw finally leads to a complete picture.

A chapter heading “Not Buried But In Turd”

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206pmarshall
Août 15, 2022, 10:53 pm

#142. One Under, Cynthia Harrod-Eagles

Two suicides and a hit and run in different parts of London and there doesn’t appear to be anything connecting the three events. But Bill Slider isn’t content and feels they are related. His investigation leads to parties with well known older men having sex and drugs with underage girls. It looks like there will be a cover-up of the sexual side but an attempt to bring down the men in the manner of Al Capone. Slider escapes with a rap on the knuckles.

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207pmarshall
Modifié : Août 16, 2022, 9:52 pm

#143. Headlong, Cynthia Harrod-Eagles

The body of a book agent is found in the construction site next door to his house. Slider ranges from no suspects to many as the man’s love life is revealed. There was initially internal pressure to have it declared either a suicide or an accident but it was murder. Slider is also forbidden to talk with the most recent lover because of whom she is related to. Regardless Slider and his team slough through dozens of interviews, a false confession and multiple feet of film from community and traffic light cameras. Finally it pays off and the case is closed.

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“ … but if he were on the hunt, how tired he would be of all that hair! The time and effort spent on its care and maintenance, the intrusiveness of it, the constant tossing and swinging and grooming and brushing – it was like having a girl bring her pony with her on a date. No, he’d make it a rule only to date short-haired girls. They’d have so much more attention to spare for him …” (This does not refer to Slider but his Sargent.)

208pmarshall
Août 18, 2022, 2:01 pm

#144. Old Bones, Cynthia Harrod-Eagles

Slider is given a 20+ year old cold case to solve. A 14 year old girl disappeared from her back garden leaving no trace. The general view is her father lost his temper and hit her too hard, although he had no history of abusing her. It is a matter of tracking old classmates, teachers, neighbours and relatives. Hard, time consuming work for Slider’s team. But it pays off in the end although the conclusion is the reverse of what most expected.

Slider was given this case to keep him down after the political fallout from One Under and the leak to the media. He learns when one of his people resigns who did it, which is a relief as his Sargent had been given a hard time and a worry to him. Also he learns that the Al Capone approach he suggested was actually undertaken by the Fraud Squad and people are starting to fall.

📚📚📚📚

209pmarshall
Modifié : Août 19, 2022, 3:56 pm

#145. Shadow Play, Cynthia Harrod-Eagles

Real estate developers, aging listed properties, and government grants to redevelop properties lead to attempted blackmail, murder and an attempt on Slider’s life but nothing to tie individuals and single events together. This case is a hard slough for Slider and his team.

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“A body without a name was as unsettling to a policeman as a raspberry pip stuck between the teeth.”

210pmarshall
Modifié : Août 22, 2022, 7:11 pm

#146. Cruel as the Grave, Cynthia Harrod-Eagles

Erik with a ‘k’ and a beautiful body was a personal trainer who provided ‘extra’ services if his female clients liked. He became involved as a result of this practice with the young sister of a friend and didn’t understand his friend’s negative and angry reaction when he broke it off and left her heart broken. When Erik was found murdered all this becomes known to the police. But they had a hard time finding evidence that pointed to any one in particular and when they finally do they don’t have a motive. The case goes in a number of directions before it opens up to Slider.

I am now up to date with this series and need to wait for her next one.

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“A rash of sleevelessness had overcome the locals: who said only Americans had the right to bare arms?“

211pmarshall
Modifié : Août 23, 2022, 7:54 pm

#147. Blood Sport, Dick Francis

Gene Hawkins works for a department of the Civil Service that uses undercover agents and his boss has introduced him to an American horseman who just had a valuable stallion stolen, the second one. With the help of a Yogi Bear look alike on a hankie Gene is able to trace the horse and steal it back. He suffers from depression and is constantly thinking of death and fighting off the temptations provided by his job.

📚📚📚📚

212pmarshall
Août 24, 2022, 8:24 pm

#148. Bonecrack, Dick Francis

An interesting read, how two sons, one 34 and one 18, deal with oppressive fathers. Told against the background of running a horse racing stables by one and the ambitions to ride a famous horse in the Derby by the other.

A rutthless crime lord wants to grant his son Alessandro wish to ride on the Derby winner, sees the best way to achieve such an end is to kidnap Neil Griffon, who is temporarily in charge of his father's stables & threaten him with the destruction of the stables unless his son is given the ride. It becomes a battle of the mind on Niel’s side and violence from Alessandro’s father with Alessandro in the middle.

📚📚📚📚

213pmarshall
Modifié : Août 26, 2022, 2:35 am

#149. Guilty Not Guilty, Felix Francis

Bill Russell’s wife is murdered and for a period of a week or so the police suspect him, he is arrested and then released but still suspected by the public. He is convinced his brother-in-law is responsible. When he nearly dies in a car accident his conviction, and fear, grows.

The second part of the book deals with the trial. Will the jury convict the accused? Is he guilty? Was it murder? The cover poses the question “Who do you believe?” Does it ultimately come down to that or the actions of someone else?

The preface presents a clear explanation of the British law system and how lawyers, barristers and solicitors differ. The theme of suicide and what causes it, how it can be treated and it’s impact on others runs throughout the book.

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214dianeham
Août 26, 2022, 2:49 am

>213 pmarshall: I’ll have to read that preface.

215pmarshall
Modifié : Août 27, 2022, 6:07 pm

#150. Flying Finish, Dick Francis

A young aristocrat, Henry Grey, throws up a respectable job to join a firm which transports race horses all over the world. When men start making one way trips he wonders what happened to them.

An interesting commentary on the place of the aristocracy in the everyday working life of England and how they are viewed by others.

In preparation for the writing of this book Francis went abroad an air horse transport plane and worked as a stable lad. Mary Francis, who was a pilot, did the navigation.

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216pmarshall
Modifié : Août 28, 2022, 3:13 pm

Ce message a été supprimé par son auteur

217labfs39
Août 28, 2022, 9:33 am

>216 pmarshall: That sounds interesting. How did you happen to choose it?

218pmarshall
Modifié : Sep 4, 2022, 6:58 pm

>217 labfs39:

It has been in my unread pile for a while. It was first published in 1979 and reprinted in 2016 and that is when I got it. It provides an interesting history on how apartments were introduced to N. Y. C. Unlike in Europe where people had been living in them for a few hundred years they were first viewed as hotels. I am finding it interesting but not something I am in the mood to read straight through, that may change when I get to the people living in the Dakota.
It was on sale for $1.99.

219pmarshall
Modifié : Août 28, 2022, 3:16 pm

Ce message a été supprimé par son auteur

220pmarshall
Modifié : Août 28, 2022, 3:19 pm

#151. High Stakes, Dick Francis

A crooked trainer in cahoots with a bookie are out to take a toy inventor, Steven Scott, for all he is worth. When the cheater is caught out he refuses to accept that his behaviour has brought on actions against him by the innocent victim. Hatred blinds people. On the other hand the innocent victim finds there are unexpected costs to exposing the guilty, costs that hurt him. But he would do it again?

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221pmarshall
Modifié : Sep 4, 2022, 6:45 pm

#152. Life at the Dakota: New York's Most Unusual Address, Stephen Birmingham

When this apartment building was built 1880-84 it was said in New York City to be so far west it must be in the Dakota Territory and the Clark family named it thus. The Dakota was extremely unique in its architecture, construction and the layout of the apartments but it had two major issues to overcome. New York society was settled in large mansions on the east side, led by Mrs. Astor and secondly although apartments (flats) were common in Europe they weren’t in America and the Dakota was trying to set a new trend. One that took some time to be accepted.
Birmingham, in a long, slow style, goes into great detail on the history of the Dakota up to the late 1970’s: the various tenants, the decor of different apartments, the renovations and the removal of much of the original wood and plaster work, the turning of an original elevator car into a bar, the turning of it into a co-operative in the early 1960’s and much more.
The detail was more than I expected. Perhaps if I were an American instead of a Canadian perhaps the family names would have meant more, although I expect one needs to be from New York City to fully appreciate the ‘who’s who’ details. He even goes into the accounts and the accompanying correspondence. By the end of it I was scanning the chapters. I think most readers would find it dense.

Reviewed September 4, 2022

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222pmarshall
Modifié : Sep 4, 2022, 1:21 pm

August Summary

18 Read
151 Total

223pmarshall
Modifié : Sep 2, 2022, 10:35 pm

#153. Bloody Pages, Bruce Lewis

Photographer Edward Curtis published “ The North American Indian” however not all the photos had been taken by him although he took the credit. From 1924 to 1930 William Byrne was one of his photographic assistants and he took many of the photos. Curtis’ behaviour created a situation in the Byrne family which is called intergenerational violence - the abused becomes the abuser. It took three generations and much physical and mental suffering for it to be recognized and stopped.

Colin Byrne finds his grandfather’s journals and finally realizes how the anger started. He has an idea of stealing the 1924-30 volumes of Curtis’ book from the Portland Public Library Rare Book Room. He doesn’t plan to sell them, the complete set is worth three million, but to use them to highlight abuse in some way. His plan is vague. He convinces a friend to steal them but the great amount of planning does not work. A security guard is severely injured and the police are involved. In some ways what follows is a comedy of errors before an arrest is finally made.

As each new character is added their background information ends in having them wake from a nightmare. Why is final revealed at the end of the book. I was just tired of nightmares and thought the author could have come up with some other behaviour.

The introductions and the planning makes the pace of the book slow and in some cases repetitive. The editor slipped up on a number of occasions where there is an extra word in a sentence. An example is “… we will put it back on display it for the public’s enjoyment.” Having edited books I know things creep in but when it is the same problem it should be caught. It is book two in a series but reads well as a stand alone. Overall what stands out for me is the information on intergenerational violence.

I received this book through LibraryThing’s Early Reviewers program.

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224pmarshall
Modifié : Sep 4, 2022, 1:16 pm

#154. An Image in the Lake, Gail Bowen

“Sisters and Strangers” the six part series bases on the lives of Sally Love and Joanne Kilbourn begun in The Unlocking Season is ready for its television debut. Surrounding that event are the internal politics of the media company, the firing and disappearance of two women producers, the more than overbearing behaviour of four student interns and attacks on Jo’s daughter Taylor, a provincial political leader and two deaths. It is about the power of words and innuendo used to control people, make them do things they don’t want to do, the power this gives to people to control events. It is a puzzle for Zack and Jo to solve.
The next book in the series will be out September 6, 2022!

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225pmarshall
Sep 5, 2022, 11:27 pm

155. A Pretty Deceit, Anna Lee Huber

The Kent’s undertake a family duty and visit her Aunt Earnestine and cousin Reg, the new Baron. It appears small things are being stolen and large art work replaced with forged pieces. Two murders follow. They are still involved with the role of Max’s father in the plot layer out in Penny for Your Secrets. It expands to include local Roman ruins, including those on Verity’s relative’s estate, the near by Air Force bases and an incident that occurred during the war when Verity delivered a message about traitors and the receiver of it was blown up.

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226pmarshall
Modifié : Sep 6, 2022, 7:29 pm

#156. What’s Past Is Prologue, Gail Bowen

A female lawyer from Toronto is in Regina to delivery a prestigious lecture and this is causing division in both the legal and general community. She had been the first chair in a sexual assault case that involved a prominent television broadcaster. He is found not guilty because one of the women purgers herself. Her address, which is well received, is on the responsibility the community has in preventive sexual assault. The conflicts and murders are related to this case and the people who had some relationship to it.

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227pmarshall
Sep 7, 2022, 8:47 pm

#157. Murder Most Fair, Anna Lee Huber

Verity Kent and her husband Sidney have decided, after a five year absence, to spend the Christmas holidays in the Yorkshire Dales with her family. She has yet to fully grieve the death of her brother, Rob, and going home will force her to do so. There are interesting discussions on death due to war and grieving for those thus lost also the different expectations for men and women.
Verity’s great-aunt, a German, appears unexpectedly with her young ladies maid. The acceptance of their presence in the small village brings out a negative response and ends in the maid’s murder.

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228pmarshall
Modifié : Sep 9, 2022, 5:14 pm

#158. Brutal Crimes, Michael Hambling

An officer Sophie Allen has worked with has gone rogue and the result is being murdered and dropped in a waterhole. This is overseen by a young girl and his recovery leads to the discovery of a second body. Both had ties to an extremely wealthy Arab with a viscous temper.

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229pmarshall
Sep 10, 2022, 9:01 pm

#159. Dark Crimes, Michael Hambling

The first in the Sophie Allen series set in the south of England. Allen heads up the Violent Crime Unit and what starts as a single murder leads to six charges being laid. It involves a psychopath who preys on young women and abuse leads to murder. But it is not that straight forward and Allen keeps her information close. I am going to enjoy this series.

230pmarshall
Sep 11, 2022, 6:36 pm

#160. Deadly Crimes, Michael Hambling

A complicated mystery, the murder of a man in 1969 who accidentally walked into a robbery in progress and the impact it has on his daughter nearly forty years later. The trafficking of young women from Romania to southern England runs into problems when the mutilated body of a man in left in the town and one of the women escapes and is picked up by the police. Cases continue to get intertwined but Sophie Allan, who is both personally and professional involved closes it all with the assistance of her officers.

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231pmarshall
Modifié : Sep 12, 2022, 10:08 pm

#161. Secret Crimes, Michael Hambling

Sophie Allen returns to work after taking leave to recover from the previous case which touched her and her family. Her new case starts with two bodies being found within two days of each other but with nothing that links them. Gradually the team uncover the first link which is group sex which in some cases leads to abuse. The second links is much harder to uncover and is almost a last minute eureka moment. The final capture almost fails but doesn’t. A transgender staff member joins the team and it is interesting to see the different ways the others react and accept.

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232pmarshall
Modifié : Sep 14, 2022, 10:35 am

#162. Buried Crimes, Michael Hambling

The skeletal remains of two young children are found when a man and his daughter decide to move a butterfly bush. This leads to the exposure of two more deaths and a current day murder. It is a difficult case as the age of the original corpses don’t provide any clues as to cause of death or identity, a retired actress continues to act so it is hard to determine what she says is true or not and it takes a lot of person-hours to review historical and financial records. A difficult case.

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233pmarshall
Modifié : Sep 15, 2022, 9:10 am

#163. Twisted Crimes, Michael Hambling

An elderly couple attend the wrong funeral by accident and within a month are dead. It was made to look like suicide but it was murder. It took some work to attach this murder to the owners of a number of cafes and clubs that were decidedly on the criminal side. A bent cop, another death and the realignment of ownership of the cafes all contribute to the solution.

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234pmarshall
Modifié : Sep 16, 2022, 6:22 pm

#164. Hands Down, Felix Francis

Under protest Sid Halley is drawn into an investigation of jockeys and trainers being threatened physically and financially so they fixing races by having their horse lose. The trainer who alerted Halley to the situation has his barn burned down which killed some horses and later, after he has spoken out publicly saying he won’t participate his body is found. It looks like suicide but Halley says no, it is murder. No one involved wants to talk, the leaders have been very careful with wording and Halley has to risk his life to crack it opened. Thank goodness for recording phones!

Halley received a complete hand transplant three years previous but he didn’t realize how it was affecting him mentally until his wife said she couldn’t live with it and went to home to Holland. His good hand is injured in the solving of the case and a conversation with a doctor gives him a new point of view regarding his other hand. An interesting discussion on human transplants runs through the book.

I enjoyed the book but found Felix Francis to be slow and repetitive. He is not the same level of writer his parents were.

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235pmarshall
Modifié : Sep 17, 2022, 5:46 pm

#165. Evil Crimes, Michael Hambling

Suicides that could have been forced, multiple sexual partners and abuse, blackmail - take your pick of the crime they may all relate back to H with the lovely long red tresses.

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236pmarshall
Modifié : Sep 18, 2022, 11:35 am

#166. SHADOW CRIMES, Michael Hambling

This starts as an investigation into a bent cop but before that even begins a policewoman is the victim of a verbal racial attacked. The attacker only appears to be surprised when she identifies herself as police. The cop disappears. A bent prison officer is murdered before he is interviewed but that case leads to one that involves materials being smuggled into prisons. The death toll mounts to four. It is complicated because of the layers and the identity of the head man is only learned when an arrested man breaks down.

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237pmarshall
Modifié : Sep 19, 2022, 6:19 pm

#167. SILENT CRIMES, Michael Hambling

Jade Allen, daughter of Chief Superintendent Sophie Allen discovers the body of a tramp who was living in the woods. She hadn’t seen him in town for a few days so went looking for him. The investigation leads to a commune that closed under some dark circumstances 12 years earlier which left another murder victim. Police in a number of countries become involved before the old and new cases are closed.

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238pmarshall
Modifié : Sep 21, 2022, 8:26 pm

#168. RUTHLESS CRIMES, Michael Hambling

A convoluted plot involving a government immigrant investigation group, the movement of Iranians to Britain illegally which ends up as front page news when, to make more money, the boat crossing the Channel is overloaded and understaffed and crashes on the beach resulting in four m'deaths. How does that tie into the single deaths Superintendent Sophie Allen and her team are investigating?

I liked the interplay of individual police officers, an Iranian family, and Allen’s family throughout the book. It helped create a balance between everyday life, albeit mixed with tragedy, and the high level police investigation involving the Dorset police, the Met. and the government, and the ruthless criminals who kill easily to cover their tracks and are doing it for the money. Unfortunately I found the ending a bit of a whimper after a big buildup.

239pmarshall
Modifié : Sep 26, 2022, 10:48 am

#169. The Orphan's Guilt, Archer Mayor

A 28 year old vegetated boy/man, Peter Rush, dies and this reopens a 32 year old financial case, the O.D. of Peter’s mother 30 years ago, the possible battering of infant Peter by his father, the life long care he received from his older brother, the D. U. I. charge against the older brother, his disappearance and, finally, in the present day the murder of his father and a newspaper reporter and a private investigator trying to find the ultimate cause. Joe Gunther and the Vermont Bureau of Investigation are looking into the death of Peter as a possible homicide dating back to the original battering and where the family got all the money. An intriguing, convoluted plot with an interesting mix of characters that solve the case almost by accident.

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240pmarshall
Modifié : Sep 24, 2022, 1:52 pm

#170. Deceived by Ornament, Edward J. Leahy

Five murders: two policeman, a Latino immigration lawyer, a social worker and a church housekeeper and the suspected murderer is a policeman. Each body is marked on the chest with a pagan symbol which connects the bodies and indicates more to come to complete the symbolism. It is clear that a strong dislike of migrants and people of colour, in particular Latinos, regardless of the fact that they maybe American citizens born and bred, runs through the group behind the killings and the subsequent riots in the city.

The lead detective, Kim Brady, has a successfully solved homicide case on her record and is able to keep numerous balls in the air at one time. She has been landed with an officer who doesn’t have the qualifications or the knowledge to work in the department but does have someone pulling strings for him. It is clear one of her senior officers is being blackmailed which makes her investigate difficult, however with a strong team she succeeds in solving the case.

I liked the book but had a number of problems with it. The title doesn’t make sense, the chest carvings don’t sat ornaments to me. There are a large, perhaps too large, number of characters and I found them difficult to keep track of particularly as many of the last names started with the same letter, “C.” There is a lot of action in various parts of the city and again keeping track of who was doing what where was confusing. Perhaps I have been reading too many rural English police procedurals!

I received this book through LibraryThing’s Early Reviewers Program.

Reviewed September 24, 2022

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I had trouble downloading this book so I actually read this book as a KindleUnlimited title.

241pmarshall
Modifié : Sep 26, 2022, 8:22 pm

#171. The Lawyer Lifeguard, James Patterson

Brian Lord is about to get into a car with his fiancée when it blows up. He leaves the hospital and goes to his family’s home on Lake Huron. He spent his teenage summers as a lifeguard on the local beach and while he sits the remembering and thinking of suicide a child’s dog starts to drown and without thought he goes into action and saves him, suffering a bad bite to his arm and stars in a video that goes viral on social media. He can not hide. He learns there are at least two people after him as well as two police departments. He also meets a close friend from years back and this may be their moment. Ultimately he realizes this is the new beginning to his life. Patterson puts all this in 150 pages.

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242pmarshall
Modifié : Sep 28, 2022, 6:30 pm

#172. Dead in the Alley, Sharon Michalove

The chef/owner went out in the alley for a smoke and to consider his problems and gets run over, again and again, by a motorcycle. When the police investigate they add drug trafficking to the case and are surprised to find no trace of money in the restaurant or the owner’s accounts. The suspects include his very surprised wife, kitchen workers, business associates, in-laws and friends.

The restaurant was opened in northern Michigan to get them away from the problems of running one in New York City. It was a success. The one problem that follows Bay, wife, co-owner, baker and in charge of the front of the restaurant, is her relationship with her family. Was she adopted? Why have her parents always treated her like an outsider? She and her husband moved back to her hometown to open their restaurant and her family is a thorn in her side. To the point that after the funeral she moves in with a girlfriend to escape them. She has no place of her own to go to thanks to her late husband.

To complicate matters one of the police officers investigating the case is a former high school sweetheart of Bay’s. It was a serious relationship until he became an international bike racing star and he ‘ghosted’ her. Something else for Bay to overcome.

The book moves quickly with each of the main characters, easily identified, contributing to the telling. I particularly liked this aspect of the book. However I think the author went overboard with all that he added, homosexuality, kidnapping by the evil villain who is losing control, the difficult family relationships, the secrets around Bay’s birth. Some of this would be fine but not all of it. Regardless I couldn’t put the book down!

I received this through LibraryThing’s Early Reviewers Program.

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243pmarshall
Modifié : Sep 30, 2022, 8:48 pm

Ce message a été supprimé par son auteur

244pmarshall
Modifié : Sep 30, 2022, 8:54 pm

#173. Left You Dead, Peter James

It doesn’t pay to make assumptions. In this case a woman leaves her husband in the car and goes into the grocery store to buy kitty litter and disappears. Her husband is arrested for her murder although her body is not found. Assumptions are made based on this and other information which nearly causes three deaths before the case is ended.

Grace and his boss Pewe have a final showdown and one of them will go. Roy and his wife face a personal crisis when his son Bruno suffers extreme head injuries when he is playing on his phone and steps in front on a car.

There is an incredible amount of repetition in this book. The evidence did increase in size but there was no need to review it from the beginning four or five time. A couple of times would have been sufficient, readers do remember. I will admit that I don’t remember all books in a series and that is why I read the last before the new one. But while reading I do keep track of events. However I do miss not being able to flip pages in a book when I am reading an e-book. The editing is why I gave this only 3.5 stars.

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245pmarshall
Modifié : Nov 2, 2022, 8:39 pm

September Summary

Read 22
Reviewed 2

Total 173

246pmarshall
Modifié : Oct 2, 2022, 11:50 pm

#174. Picture You Dead, Peter James

A couple buy a painting at a car boot sale because they like the frame and find a second painting under the first. A 16th century painting that could be worth £5 million. It is part of a four painting set and a rich collector wants it to complete his collection and he will go to great lengths to get it.

Grace and his team are investigating a cold case, the murder of an art seller from four years previous. The two cases come together when the same suspicions people show up in each case as well as the same artist.

Grace’s son Bruno dies as a result of injuries suffered in the previous book. The small family funeral turns into one with a standing room only church full.

There is a lot of information on forging paints, repeated throughout the book. James and his editor are not good at looking at the amount of repetition that shows up in each book. It really slows the book down.

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247pmarshall
Modifié : Oct 12, 2022, 4:35 pm

175. The Mystery of Julia Episcopa, John I. Rigoli

Written in the early days of the growth of the Christian Church and in the present day reporting on the past this is an interesting view of the role women have played in the development of the church and what men continue to do to protect their power in the church.

Two women archeologists discover information in the Vatican Library which leads them to research the life of Julia Episcopa whom they believe was a bishop in the Catholic Church in the first century. They keep their discovery a secret until they are able to meet with the Pope and his top officials. The reaction to this was generally similar in both the first and twenty-first centuries - negative although there were a couple of the clergy who saw it as positive for the Church. A death, perhaps a murder follows and the case is dismissed. All are sworn to secrecy. But will it hold?

I liked the movement between the centuries and the women telling the story. It was interesting to see how behaviours and beliefs have not changed over the centuries.

I received this book through LibraryThing’s Early Reviewers Program.

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248pmarshall
Modifié : Oct 5, 2022, 1:09 pm

#176. Who is the Most Important Person in the World?, John I. Rigoli

A teacher uses the title question to in-still confidence and change the life of a very shy girl in her class. If you have KindleUnlimited you can borrow this children’s picture book.

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249pmarshall
Oct 7, 2022, 1:17 pm

#177. Last Call, Sheldon Siegel

Mike Daley’s cousin manages his grandfather’s bar. When a policeman is murdered in the back alley he is arrested for the crime. Mike takes on the case but doesn’t feel very confident in getting the charges dismissed. Help comes from an unexpected source and it is over in the Pre’lim, it doesn’t have to go for trial.
Siegal’s next release is due out October 12, 2022

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250pmarshall
Oct 9, 2022, 1:41 am

#178. Deadlock, Quintin Jardine

This is the first book I have read set in the middle of the COVID-19 Pandemic. Scotland is under lockdown, people are limited in how and where they can gather, stores and restaurants are closed except for delivery. People wear masks and social distance.
Skinner has just recovered from COVID-19 as the book opens. The time in isolation opens him to the needs of others in his village so he becomes involved with a group that reaches out to mainly the elderly. Is it by accident or murder as three of these people are found dead?
At the same time a grisly murder occurs in Glasgow. It is extremely difficult to identify the victim, but there is forensic evidence that links it too a former police officer. Add in more cross over evidence and a mystery author writing the perfect mystery and this becomes a complete puzzle or does it?
His new release is due out in early November and will continue this story.

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251pmarshall
Modifié : Oct 17, 2022, 10:09 pm

#179. Double Jeopardy (Mike Daley/Rosie Fernandez Legal Thriller Book 14), Sheldon Siegel

COVID-19 has hit San Francisco, it is the early days and people are talking of duration in terms of weeks, although by the end of the book most city offices are getting ready to work remotely.

Mike Daley has taken over a murder case from a colleague. His homeless client is accused of murdering a young homeless woman by giving her pills that looked like OxyContin but were really the much stronger Fentanyl, a drug that that has suddenly increased in availability in the city. The solution to this case is truly a ‘soddi.’

There is an appendix on the drug Fentanyl and the dangers the drug poses.

The book dragged, was repetitive and needed to be better edited.

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252pmarshall
Modifié : Oct 20, 2022, 5:14 am

#180. Quick To Anger: The Freeman Files series - Book 21, Ted Tayler

The Freeman’s group current cold case is the five year old murder of a young woman. She had been beaten up, then knifed and left in a churchyard. It is a complicated case as it also features reprisals for a burglary and they are hard to separate from the murder. However the men responsible for the former are now speaking out about the latter and separating themselves from it. A chance word (oh how I love it when an author uses the words bring and take properly!) used by one witness and another word by two others opens the case after Gus spends a weekend puzzling it out.

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253pmarshall
Modifié : Oct 31, 2022, 10:29 pm

#181. The Riverwoman’s Dragon, Candace Robb

This book is focused on Magda Digby, the Riverwoman the plot has numerous twists and turns involving her daughter and great-grandson, her neighbours, clients and, of course, Owen Archer and his wife Lucie, local merchants, churchmen and the poor. It all comes together but I did have trouble keeping all the lines and people straight. Magda didn’t, she continued to treat her expectant mothers, discover a murder, hid from people who wanted to see her dead and deal with the broken relationships with her relations.

Magda Digby has appeared in every Owen Archer book with an increased presence until now she has her own book. She has developed the persona of an older, wise woman with a mystical aura, a healer and midwife.

Robb started writing this book in 2020 as COVID-19 was making its presence known. In The Riverwoman’s Dragon the Black Plague was reappearing and she questioned having it do so under her writing circumstances but it’s presence had already worked it’s way into the plot so she noted the similarities in peoples behaviour and carried on. It wasn’t know until I read the Author’s Note that I learned this and it isn’t obvious in the book unless the reader looks at characters’ behaviour.

October 31, 2022

I read books quickly and when I finished this I realized I had lost a twist of the plot or the background of a not-so-minor character. I decided to reread it at a slower pace and I enjoyed Robb’s use of English, her descriptions of the woodlands anew. I followed each of the characters from the young River Boys who guarded Magda’s abode to the guards Owen used in the city. The ending made sense with all, well mostly all of the plot’s twists and turns. Something has to be left for another book.

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Reviewed 2022-10-31

254pmarshall
Modifié : Jan 4, 2023, 12:28 pm

October Summary

Read - 8
Reviewed - 2

Total Read - 189

255pmarshall
Modifié : Nov 2, 2022, 8:33 pm

#182. The Case at Barton Manor, Emily Queen

Rosemary Lilywhite had been an almost partner with her private investigator husband until he died a year ago. She is starting to move on when approached by a neighbour of her parents for assistance, she things someone is blackmailing her father. Lilywhite and a long time friend are off to the country outside London to visit family and attend a party for the blackmail victim. Before the case is closed two men are murdered and Lilywhite and her friend are kidnapped by the killer. But her Scotland Yard Inspector friend comes to her rescue just as she acts to save herself. Set in 1920’s England.

📚📚📚1/2

256pmarshall
Modifié : Nov 4, 2022, 2:25 pm

#183. HIDDEN CRIMES, Michael Hambling

A woman and her collage-age son are both murdered, followed by an attempted murder of a teenage boy without any apparent reason. Sophie Allen is heading up the first case of a tri-county serious crime unit and needs a success. Long hours and many interviews lead to some small cracks that show cause, abuse of teenagers and sexual grooming, but not by whom, but more hard work wins out.

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257pmarshall
Modifié : Nov 6, 2022, 5:14 pm

#184. A Certain Darkness, Anna Lee Huber

Verity Kent and her husband, Sidney, are asked by her former boss, C, Head of British Intelligence, to travel to Belgium to investigate the murder of a man in a railroad car. He was acting on behalf of the agency seeking a report and the woman who had it. Now both are dead, she, supposedly committed suicide while in jail but actually has a broken neck. The Kent’s follow her clues and others follow them. Success comes at a cost. As always the ending leads into the next book.

One aspect of the book many readers may not be aware of was Germany’s approach to President Wilson in 1916 with a proposal that would have ended the war. Their terms were reasonable but getting an answer proved impossible. Death and destruction carried on for two more years.

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258pmarshall
Modifié : Nov 7, 2022, 2:52 pm

#185. The Murder Next Door, Emily Queen

The dentist with home and office next door to Rosemary Lilywhite is accused of murdering a patient by a news reporter even though it is declared an accidental death by the police. This goes far in ruining the dentist’s reputation and his practice. Lilywhite and her friends delay their holiday to solve the crime. As is often the case there are other criminal actions involved that need to be resolved to clear the dentist.

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259pmarshall
Modifié : Nov 8, 2022, 1:12 pm

#186. Death on the Isle of Love, Emily Queen

Rosemary Lillywhite, her friend Vera, brother Freddy and his friend Desmond are vacationing in Cyprus at a beautiful but rather dysfunctional hotel. The manager is murdered and her body discovered by Rosemary who proceeds to investigate. With disgruntled staff, a man wanting to downgrade the hotel so he could buy it, and various male female relationships there are a number of strings to follow before the puzzle falls into place.

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260pmarshall
Modifié : Nov 9, 2022, 11:50 am

#187. A Body Among the Roses, Emily Queen

Rosemary Lillywhite’s mother is having a charity fete at her home and is demanding that her daughter and friends attend to ensure all the seats are taken. It has been organized by a group of village women who are divided on who should be in charge. There is acrimony among the young woman as well as against the older women. Their leader is murdered during the event. There are sidelines involving Rosemary and her friend Vera’s love lives or lack there of.

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261pmarshall
Modifié : Nov 9, 2022, 9:51 pm

#188. A Murder Most Unlikely, Emily Queen

There are two plot lines in this mystery. One features a missing art gallery owner, a couple Renoir forgeries and a tie into the show Vera is starring in. The other involves Inspector Max Whittington’s mother who is convinced her neighbour is going to kill his wife. In the background the romances of Vera and Frederick, Rosemary’s brother and Max and Rosemary develope.

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262pmarshall
Modifié : Nov 10, 2022, 8:35 pm

#189. Most Definitely Murder, Emily Queen

Rosemary Lillywhite’s butler is arrested for the murder of a policeman and it comes out that he was a policeman until he quit to work with Rosemary’s husband, Andrew. The wife of the dead man asks Rosemary to look into the murder because she doesn’t believe the right person has been arrested.

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263pmarshall
Nov 11, 2022, 10:21 pm

#190. Open Season, Quintin Jardine

A terrific wind storm partially destroys a woods and tangled in the roots of one tree is a male skeleton, a second one is discovered later. The DNA comparisons upset an entire family. Matthew Reed the writer from the previous book has disappeared leaving no trace. However dedicated police work and the curiosity of Bob Skinners brings that to a surprise ending.

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264pmarshall
Modifié : Nov 12, 2022, 8:05 pm

#191. Death Down the Aisle, Emily Queen

Rosemary Lillywhite’s best friend, Vera, and her brother, Frederick, are finally getting married. A week before the wedding the Village Minister is murdered. Vera makes Rosemary promise she won’t get involved in solving which is difficult as information keeps finding its way to her. Before the wedding is over the correct arrest is made.

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265pmarshall
Modifié : Nov 13, 2022, 10:35 pm

#192. A Twisted Case of Murder, Emily Queen

A murderer who had escaped from the police in an earlier book is now stalking Rosemary Lillywhite but dies of apparent natural causes in her garden before he can kill her. She continues to research his background which connects her to a relative of his and feeds her belief that he was murdered.

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266pmarshall
Modifié : Nov 14, 2022, 10:31 pm

#193. Evil on the High Seas, Emily Queen

Rosemary Lillywhite, her brother Frederick and his wife Vera and their long time friend Desmond are sailing to New York. En route it includes a murder, smugglers of rum and a jewelled headpiece and crooked bridge players. In the five day voyage Rosemary and her friends are able to solve each aspect, although they cut it close.

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267pmarshall
Modifié : Nov 19, 2022, 5:42 pm

#194. A BODY ON THE BEACH, P.F. Ford

A woman’s body is found on the beach. In identifying it the police discover that she had been missing a week but her husband had not reported her missing. Why? What else is he not saying? Inspector Norman Norman has been transferred to Llangwelli, West Wales to mentor a group of young police officers whom others have written off. Will they succeed with their first ever murder case?

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268pmarshall
Modifié : Nov 19, 2022, 5:24 pm

#195. A Body Out At Sea, P.F. Ford

A man neatly leaves his clothes in a pile on the beach and he walks into the sea and disappears leaving no remains. Who was he? Why did he do it? In another part of the village construction on a house extension is stopped when a scull is dug up. The police team that was expected to fail but has had success with their first case are not put off by having two cases at one time. There are many twists and turns as they unravel the cases successful.

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269pmarshall
Nov 21, 2022, 6:48 pm

#196. A Fox in the Fold, Candace Robb

This book takes us back to when Owen Archer was betrayed by one of his own men and lost the vision in one eye. It is still the goal of this man to bring disgrace and death to Owen. He recruits men in York to commit crimes and even murder, all to make Archer look bad. He threatens his children. But in the end Owen out thinks him and his last plan fails and he is captured.

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270pmarshall
Modifié : Nov 23, 2022, 12:16 am

#197. Break In, Dick Francis

Holly Fielding turns to her twin brother, the jockey Kit Fielding, when she and her husband Bobby are attacked in a newspaper column. It turns out it is really aimed at Bobby’s father, Maynard, and in his investigation of him Kit finds how he used people to enrich himself at their expense. Kit also upsets the owner of the newspaper which published the column. The guys after Kit band together to get him but all works out in the end. On the up side he meets the Princess’ American niece!

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271pmarshall
Modifié : Nov 24, 2022, 6:00 pm

#198. Come to Grief, Dick Francis

Someone is cutting off the foot of two year old horses. Sid Halley investigates with a London paper until he has enough evidence to name a friend, a former jockey, a television commentator a well respected man throughout the country. No one will believe Halley, the newspaper caries out a campaign that ridicules him. He is made to look like a lier, jealous and making up the evidence. A person dies and attempts are made on Halley’s life before the case is closed.

I don’t reread this title often because I don’t like the idea of someone cutting through the fetlock of a young colt to hear the ‘scrunch’ and feel the power. But the book is really about friendship and the loss of it, the fatal illness of a child and the strength she has to face it, the disbelief of the public that their hero could do this terrible, horrible act and at the same time they destroy the reputation of a man they had held up as a hero. It is about the many faces of grief, for the living and the dead, human and horse.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️1/2

272pmarshall
Nov 26, 2022, 12:56 pm

#199. Under Orders, Dick Francis

Sid Halley is asked to investigate the fixing of races and internet gambling on a day that also saw the murder of a jockey, a trainer and the death by heart failure of a winning horse. The horse was mourned by more than the others. In past cases Sid has show that he can't be intimidated by threats of force, in this case he has to show that threats to his loved ones get the same reaction.

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273pmarshall
Modifié : Nov 27, 2022, 2:26 pm

#200. Refusal, Dick Francis

Sid Halley returns to investigation against his will. He has come to the attention of an Irishman from Manchester who specializes in moving in on people and taking over their liives and have them do as he says. This is not Sid's way so putting himself and family in danger he sets out to put McCusker out of business. In the process he is accused of sexually abusing his six year old daughter. He also undergoes tests, physical and psychological, to see if he is a suitable candidate for for a hand transplant. Then he has to hope for rain.

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274labfs39
Nov 26, 2022, 3:16 pm

I'm getting excited to see what book #200 will be. Will you pick something special, or just next off the TBR?

275pmarshall
Modifié : Nov 27, 2022, 2:28 pm

>274 labfs39:

A reread of one of my favourite authors. It wasn’t planned it just happened.

276pmarshall
Modifié : Nov 28, 2022, 5:29 pm

#201. A Body Down the Lane, P. F. Ford

One, no, two bodies and a police officer with a serious head injury are found in the lane. The first was forced off his motorcycle and then driven over. The second was an Albanian woman on the run from her capturers and dies of exposure (it is winter,) the officer was responding to a 999 call and reporting in when hit in the head. Another body and a woman in the hospital makes this the largest case Norman and his group have handled and they worry it will be taken from them. Imagination, good luck and hard work leads them to the solution. They also figure out why the man who walked into the sea and committed suicide in the last book did so.

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277pmarshall
Nov 29, 2022, 3:08 pm

#202. Knock Down, Dick Francis

Some bloodstock agents are using their power to inflate sale prices, forcng other agents to join in defrauding clients and owners or get put out of business. Jonah Dereham takes a stand against them and violence, fire and murder follow.

As always there is an underlying story or theme. In this case it is you can’t control other people’s actions if they have a firm belief in what they are doing, be it good or bad. Push people to far and they will push back, violence begets violence and goes beyond the control of both parties. Finally innocent bystanders caught up in the actions of others will be disregarded, they don’t count and are in the way. Finally Caveat Emptor, Buyer Beware! Also the alcoholic brother adds another line to the plot.

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278pmarshall
Modifié : Nov 29, 2022, 11:04 pm

#203. Little Treasures The Ladies Killing Circle, Barbara Fradkin

A collection of short stories by The Ladies Killing Circle, a group of women authors in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada who write about murder. Their award winning stories are funny, serious, realistic as well as entertaining.

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279pmarshall
Modifié : Jan 4, 2023, 12:31 pm

November Summary

Read - 22

Total Read - 203

280pmarshall
Modifié : Déc 5, 2022, 6:46 pm

#204. You Light Up My Death: A Camilla MacPhee Mystery, Mary Jane Maffini

Camilla and Ray are driving from Ottawa to Cape Breton to get married but after a phone call Ray receives in Quebec City his mood changes and when he disappears in Sydney he leaves a message on her home (not mobile) phone in Ottawa saying it is over. She decides he has to say it to her face so she starts to follow him based on information from his phone. But first she searches out her mother’s grave and discovers she was born a year after her mother died. She can’t look into it as the search for Ray is getting complicated with deaths reported, attempts made on her life and many people lie to her. However she puts it together and solves the case. Her wedding is not what she and Ray had planned but it does happen on the beach.

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281pmarshall
Modifié : Déc 5, 2022, 10:48 pm

#205. Death Wears a Beauty Mask and Other Stories, Mary Higgins Clark

The title is a novella about the attempted murder of a model. The short stories are of successful murders, mainly, involving a former First Lady and Secretary of State who were witnesses, a man who blames people who didn’t help his daughter thus preventing her death. The last one is a plan involving cats to scare his grandmother to death.

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282pmarshall
Modifié : Déc 8, 2022, 4:01 am

#206. I've Got You Under My Skin, Mary Higgins Clark

Twenty years ago after a Graduation Gala celebrating the graduation from college of four young women who had been friends for years the mother of one was murdered and the case never solved. “Under Suspicion” a television reality series was bringing the people involved together and interviewing them over a three day period with the hopes it would break the case. The graduates had lost contact with each other following the Gala and they all had a secret to hide. What would be the outcome?

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283pmarshall
Modifié : Déc 9, 2022, 4:35 pm

#207. The Cinderella Murder, Mary Higgins Clark

Twenty years early a UCLA student was found murdered in Hollywood. She was on her way to an audition and never arrived. Her mother brought the case to the producer of the television reality show “Under Suspicion.” The background interviews were with people involved with movies, a technology company and an alternative church. The case is solved.

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284pmarshall
Modifié : Déc 10, 2022, 2:04 pm

#208 All Dressed in White, Mary Higgins Clark

Five years ago a bride disappeared from her destination wedding site the day before the ceremony and left no trace. There were numerous suspects but not enough details to make a case until another woman disappears. Laurie has another successful program.

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285pmarshall
Modifié : Déc 11, 2022, 12:14 pm

#209. The Sleeping Beauty Killer, Mary Higgins Clark

The show’s focus is on a woman who served 15 years for the murder of her fiancé, but has always maintained her innocence in the face of strong opposition. Laurie believes her and starts lining up the participants. But can she maintain that belief?

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286pmarshall
Modifié : Déc 12, 2022, 1:02 am

#210. Every Breath You Take, Mary Higgins Clark

Who murdered Virginia? The trainer, her son, her nephew or a stranger? Was it triggered by the possibility she was changing her will or getting married? Laurie and her team identify information missed by the police which puts one of them in front of a gun. Leo, Laurie’s father and a retired NYPD commissioner works out a rescue solution.

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287pmarshall
Déc 12, 2022, 10:56 pm

#211. You Don't Own Me, Mary Higgins Clark

The doctor was shot in his garage and the public decided that his wife hired a hit man to do it. Until they married he encouraged her in her medical studies after marriage came two babies, postpartum depression and the doctor over medicated her leaving her feeling like a zombie and incapable of doing much. Laurie and her team unearth other suspects but the ending is unexpected.

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288pmarshall
Modifié : Déc 13, 2022, 10:26 pm

#212. Piece of My Heart, Mary Higgins Clark

Laurie and Alex’s wedding has finally come. They have planned a very small beach ceremony on Long Island. Everyone arrives safely but on the first day Alex’s seven year old nephew,Johnny, is kidnapped. Laurie’s father thinks there is a possible connection to a man he arrested 18 years ago. There are a number of paths to follow to solve this case

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289pmarshall
Modifié : Déc 19, 2022, 6:56 pm

#213. Red Herring Season: The Freeman Files Series, Ted Tayler

Freeman’s team is broken up, some to London and others to local forces. Lydia joins up with Suzie, Gus’ partner. They follow a red herring from a local journalist which leads them to police using sex to dominate women. Gus looks into the murder of a restaurant delivery man.
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290pmarshall
Modifié : Déc 19, 2022, 6:57 pm

#214. It Can’t Be October Already, Jeffery Archer

Pat Flynn commits a crime every October to prevent having to spend the winter outside.
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291pmarshall
Modifié : Déc 25, 2022, 10:51 am

#215. An American Alibi, Emily Queen

Rosemary Lillywhite and her friends travel to New York City for shopping, an audition, some business and a couple of murders.

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292pmarshall
Modifié : Jan 4, 2023, 8:13 pm

#216. The Sultan of Sarawak, Ian Hamilton

A storage building belonging to a company affiliated with Three Sisters is bombed and one of the owners dies. The police first charged a radical group against the deforestation of the rain forests but then accused her. Ava Lee goes to Sarawak to investigate and then in Hong Kong answers the family she believes behind it with a taste of their own medicine with a car bomb and the bombing of three buildings. Difficult negotiations bring the matter to a close.

Reread as next title is due out in next few days.

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293pmarshall
Jan 4, 2023, 12:35 pm

December Summary

Read - 13

Total Read - 216