What we're reading, the MTS edition

jeseymour

Super Member
Registered
Joined
Dec 5, 2008
Messages
1,098
Reaction score
127
Age
61
Location
seacoast New Hampshire
Website
jeseymour.com
I'm reading an Edgar Nominee, The Humans, by Matt Haig. Bleh. It doesn't even seem to be a mystery. My library has it classified as sci fi. I'm about a third of the way into it, and it reminds me mostly of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Universe.
 

jeseymour

Super Member
Registered
Joined
Dec 5, 2008
Messages
1,098
Reaction score
127
Age
61
Location
seacoast New Hampshire
Website
jeseymour.com
Finished The Humans. Clearly sci-fi, though it does have crime in it. Sort of an intergalactic hit man. Now reading Gone Girl. The only reason I haven't thrown it across the room is because this book has come recommended by so many people. I don't like the constant pop culture references. I hate both main characters. I'll keep reading, but it doesn't feel like my kind of book so far.
 

Barbara R.

Old Hand in the Biz
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Apr 4, 2009
Messages
1,963
Reaction score
242
Location
New York
Website
www.barbararogan.com
Just read THE BLACK-EYED BLONDE by Benjamin Black, aka John Banville, channeling Raymond Chandler--got all that? Black uses a title Chandler himself had considered and wrote a book that is, incredibly, every bit as good as the original Marlowe books. Have a read---you can thank me later.
 

ishtar'sgate

living in the past
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Aug 23, 2007
Messages
3,801
Reaction score
459
Location
Canada
Website
www.linneaheinrichs.com
I'm reading Peggy Blair's The Poisoned Pawn and finding it a bit muddy. I can't keep the characters straight and the plotline feels sort of scattered. I also find myself skipping over whole paragraphs of let-me-educate-you-about-Havana-Cuba.
 

jeseymour

Super Member
Registered
Joined
Dec 5, 2008
Messages
1,098
Reaction score
127
Age
61
Location
seacoast New Hampshire
Website
jeseymour.com
Well, Gone Girl got better, but sort of turned into a psychopathic thing, which I'm not all that fond of. It was okay. Now reading The Big Sleep. Raymond Chandler. The genesis of Hardboiled PI. Way too much description of characters, places, things, even clothing. The voice, though, just amazing.
 

Helix

socially distancing
Kind Benefactor
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Mar 31, 2011
Messages
11,695
Reaction score
12,077
Location
Atherton Tablelands
Website
snailseyeview.medium.com
Have got several books on the go at the moment, but the one that's caught my greatest interest is Reginald Hill's 'The Death of Dalziel'. Hill is a thumping good story-teller and very funny.
 

jeseymour

Super Member
Registered
Joined
Dec 5, 2008
Messages
1,098
Reaction score
127
Age
61
Location
seacoast New Hampshire
Website
jeseymour.com
Finished The Big Sleep. Read Red Hook by Gabriel Cohen. It was okay. I'm not really into police procedurals, and the family drama was a bit much. Now reading One Came Home by Amy Timberlake, this year's Edgar Winner for best juvenile. Moves a bit slow.
 

muse

standing on head, typing one-handed...
Kind Benefactor
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Sep 25, 2010
Messages
9,143
Reaction score
3,021
Location
Ireland
Trust Your Eyes by Linwood Barclay.

A really good read. I just loved his prose. He makes writing appear effortless.
 

onesecondglance

pretending to be awake
Kind Benefactor
Super Member
Registered
Joined
May 2, 2012
Messages
5,359
Reaction score
1,661
Location
Berkshire, UK
Website
soundcloud.com
Just finished Use Of Weapons by Iain M Banks - a book that was so well written that it made me want to weep for joy - and have embarked upon Gone Girl. I'm about five pages in and it feels like it's trying too hard. We'll see.
 

pdichellis

Murder! You want fries with that?
Kind Benefactor
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Mar 31, 2013
Messages
553
Reaction score
63
Location
California, small beach city
Website
murderandfries.wordpress.com
Finished John Sandford's latest, Field of Prey. Dark and brutal. Suspense, subplots, and investigative leads keep the 400pp story moving, though procedural fans might wonder why the method used to locate one of the killers wasn't implemented sooner. The book identifies the two villains to the reader early, but includes a stunning twist about them near the end.

Best wishes,
Peter DiChellis
 

Dave Williams

Zappa isn't frank!
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Sep 26, 2014
Messages
226
Reaction score
18
I've been reading some British stuff lately. Simon Kernick, Colin Cotterill, Chris Ewan, Brian Freemantle for detetive/adventure stuff; Alastair Reynolds, Charles Stross, and Richard K. Morgan for SF.
 

vagough

Traveling down the Query Road...
Kind Benefactor
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Aug 22, 2011
Messages
1,617
Reaction score
275
Location
Virginia
Website
goughpubs.wordpress.com
Just started reading Ordinary Grace, by William Kent Krueger. The character development and sense of place are very enjoyable (I'm about 100 pages in).

This comes on the heels of another book with a less hectic pace, A Cold and Lonely Place by Sara Henry, which I enjoyed. The pacing reminded me a bit of Louise Penny's style (which I also enjoy).
 

jeseymour

Super Member
Registered
Joined
Dec 5, 2008
Messages
1,098
Reaction score
127
Age
61
Location
seacoast New Hampshire
Website
jeseymour.com
Well, I guess I should have known better. I don't like horror or supernatural elements in my crime fiction, but I'm trying to read the Edgar nominees for 2014, and Stephen King's Joyland was one of those. Way too much woo-woo factor in it for my taste, and the denouement made me want to throw the book across the room.

Looking for a new read at the moment, probably delve back into Sherlock Holmes while deciding what to read next.

Blech.
 

onesecondglance

pretending to be awake
Kind Benefactor
Super Member
Registered
Joined
May 2, 2012
Messages
5,359
Reaction score
1,661
Location
Berkshire, UK
Website
soundcloud.com
Just finished Gone Girl. I'm kinda meh about it. It's well written, and I can see why others might like it, but for me it's just two unsympathetic characters being nasty to each other for the whole book.

SPOILERS
I think Flynn was going for the reader building sympathy with Amy in the first half of the book through the false diary, and then reversing that after the reveal that she wasn't dead. Problem was that I didn't sympathise with Amy in that first half - she's just irritating and self-obsessed - and of course I didn't sympathise with Nick because you're not supposed to. And in the second half I didn't sympathise with Amy - because you're not supposed to - and I still didn't like Nick, because he's an idiot. So I spent the whole book with characters I hated, watching them be hateful to each other. I felt the artifice of the whole thing made it like some weird performance art; I couldn't appreciate it as entertainment because I hated everyone in it, and I couldn't appreciate it on literary terms because it didn't feel real.
 

jeseymour

Super Member
Registered
Joined
Dec 5, 2008
Messages
1,098
Reaction score
127
Age
61
Location
seacoast New Hampshire
Website
jeseymour.com
I'm now reading a collection of Dashiell Hammett novels. I'm about 2/3 of the way through Red Harvest. Every now and then I have to stop for a second, because something I've just read is so brilliant. It's so Noir, and yet there are little sprinkles of wry humor. Loving the writing.
 

Niccolo

Super Member
Registered
Joined
Jul 19, 2012
Messages
513
Reaction score
49
I recently found a collection of Isaac Asimov's mysteries at GoodWill and a HUGE stack of Agatha Christie paperbacks at a church bag sale, and have been alternating between Hercule Poirot and Black Widower shorts ever since. Before now, my only experience with any mystery at all was Murder on the Orient Express and now I'm absolutely hooked.

I can't believe I've been missing this...
 

Maxx B

Super Member
Registered
Joined
Dec 8, 2013
Messages
515
Reaction score
48
Location
England
I've just finished The Martian by Andy Weir. I absolutely loved it. It was one of the rare books that I read in a couple of sittings. It was hard to put down as I had to find out what happened next.
It was a bit heavy on the science, and some folks reviews criticize him for this. But it was just right for me.
If I do have any criticism, it was that his character development was a little thin, but I still connected with the main character.
 

pdichellis

Murder! You want fries with that?
Kind Benefactor
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Mar 31, 2013
Messages
553
Reaction score
63
Location
California, small beach city
Website
murderandfries.wordpress.com
Just finished The Ways of the Dead by Neely Tucker – Another outstanding read with an investigative reporter as protagonist. A series of deaths and missing persons prompt a damaged reporter to sniff out big news, a serial killer. The author, a Washington Post reporter, struts his stuff, showing us DC’s meanest streets, its power politics, and hot newsroom conflict between reporters and editors. I’m not a fan of serial killer yarns, but this one works because it’s a keen mystery, and the character’s investigative procedures are whip-smart.

Also, the winners of the Anthony, Macavity, and Shamus Awards were announced over the weekend. Lots of TBR material here.

Best wishes,
Peter DiChellis
 

cmhbob

Did...did I do that?
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Sep 28, 2011
Messages
5,742
Reaction score
4,834
Location
Green Country
Website
www.bobmuellerwriter.com
Just read The Lincoln Myth by Steve Berry. Take Mormon radicals, and in a bit of Civil War fact, a touch of Constitutional wondering, and mix well for a neat story about modern-day secession. My first Steve Berry book will not be my last.
 

CWHs2

Super Member
Registered
Joined
Jul 22, 2014
Messages
113
Reaction score
5
Location
St. Louis, MO
Homicide: A Year on the Killing Streets by David Simon was on my nightstand and I tried to get through it (600+ pages) but alas, those pesky library deadlines thwarted my efforts. This is the book that HBO's The Wire was based on so I'm going to just have to borrow it again. The few chapters I read were pretty good - if a little confusing with all the detectives, victims, suspects, etc.
 

vagough

Traveling down the Query Road...
Kind Benefactor
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Aug 22, 2011
Messages
1,617
Reaction score
275
Location
Virginia
Website
goughpubs.wordpress.com
Homicide: A Year on the Killing Streets by David Simon was on my nightstand and I tried to get through it (600+ pages) but alas, those pesky library deadlines thwarted my efforts. This is the book that HBO's The Wire was based on so I'm going to just have to borrow it again. The few chapters I read were pretty good - if a little confusing with all the detectives, victims, suspects, etc.

I ended up getting this as an audiobook from Audible and have been listening to it on my iPhone during long drives (am now nearly through). It gets a little less confusing as you go along with the detectives, victims, etc….

I loved The Wire. I believe Homicide: Life on the Streets (another good series) was also based on this, at least in part.
 

vagough

Traveling down the Query Road...
Kind Benefactor
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Aug 22, 2011
Messages
1,617
Reaction score
275
Location
Virginia
Website
goughpubs.wordpress.com
Just scrolled through this thread to see where I left things. Here goes.

Finished Ordinary Grace, by William Kent Krueger. To be honest, if you'd asked me my opinion after the first 100 pages or so, I'd have said, yes, enjoyable, try it. After getting to the end, I thought it was really fabulous, very moving, a great piece of M/T/S and literature. (And I'm not just saying that because I heard his presentation at Killer Nashville earlier this year.)

I've also finished three books by Stuart Neville, Ghosts of Belfast, Collusion, and Ratlines. I loved all three of them. The first two are part of the Jack Lennon series (Jack, a flawed hero, meaning he's great) and the second is completely different, more of a historical look back. A little skeptical about the premise (related to Nazis), but I loved the TDHH hero (TDHH = tall, dark, haunted, and handsome, which I'm a total sucker for). I can recommend all of them.

Cheers, vagoughs
 
Last edited:

MarkEsq

Clever title pending.
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Feb 26, 2005
Messages
3,711
Reaction score
1,139
Age
56
Location
In the wilds of Texas. Actually, the liberal oasi
Finished Ordinary Grace, by William Kent Krueger. To be honest, if you'd asked me my opinion after the first 100 pages or so, I'd have said, yes, enjoyable, try it. After getting to the end, I thought it was really fabulous, very moving, a great piece of M/T/S and literature. (And I'm not just saying that because I heard his presentation at Killer Nashville earlier this year.)

So get this, I was on a panel with him last weekend and he freely admitted that the deaths were incidental to the story, not essential to it. He called the murders 'Macguffins,' which I thought interesting because it was basically him saying the book wasn't MTS. One of the other panel members, jokingly, said he should give back his Edgar award since the book's not really in the genre.

All done in good humor, with lots of laughs, but thinking about the book now (and I LOVED it), I can see what he means. (Also, he's a very, very nice man.)