What We're Reading

LUCY BURDETTE:  I haven’t been reading quite as much as usual because I had some retina surgery last week that’s cramped my style. (It has not however cramped my appetite, as you can see in this photo, which was on the way home from the surgery center.) 

I have read and loved Hallie’s CAREFUL WHAT YOU WISH FOR, and Jenn’s WORD TO THE WISE, and Rhys’s LOVE AND DEATH AMONG THE CHEETAHS, and I have Hank’s and Debs’s new books on my nightstand. Yay! But I wanted to recommend one more nonfiction, non-Red book called MOTHERLAND by Elissa Altman. Altman started out as a food writer and blogger, and has since written three memoirs.

In MOTHERLAND, her latest, Altman tells the astonishing and poignant story of her troubled relationship with a narcissistic mother. It's beautifully written--alternately funny and tragic. I loved it. And loved meeting her at RJ Julia Booksellers , too, to hear her talk about this intense and complex mother-daughter dance.

Assuming you all have the new Reds releases on your TBR pile, what else are you reading or looking forward to this fall?

JULIA SPENCER-FLEMING: Since my actual TBR pile is literally all Jungle Reds books right now, I'll share what I'm looking forward to. I'm going to use the  descriptions, because they're both tantalizing and compact: First, in mystery, Kopp Sisters on the March by Amy Stewart, who had appeared here on JRW. I've enjoyed her series on the amazing (but based on true life) Kopp Sisters, and this is the fifth. Publisher's Weekly says, "In the spring of 1917, the Kopp sisters sign up for one of the military-style training camps for women who want to serve in WWI. When an accident befalls the matron, one of the sisters reluctantly agrees to oversee the camp."

For science fiction/fantasy, Gideon the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir. It's REALLY hard to describe this sword and sorcery debut set in an interstellar empire - PW calls it "madcap", but I read the first chapters at Tor.com and immediately pre-ordered it from one of my local indy bookstores. Crazy good writing.

My final choice, a thriller, isn't coming out until December, but it sounds so much my cup of tea I'm including it here: Good Girls Lie by J.T. Ellison. SheReads.com says, "The Goode School is an Ivy League boarding school – with only the most elite students – until a stranger shows up and things go from Goode to bad (see what I did there?). In a school where people can’t be bothered to turn their heads or question anything about the evil of some of these students, everything comes to a head when a popular student is found dead…. possibly due to a dark secret." JT, if you read this, send me an ARC!!

HANK PHILLIPPI RYAN: I am on book tour, so lots of flight time, but I need to use the to finish MY new book! Still, you cannot work all the time, right? So I am reading the crazy THE ESCAPE ROOM by Megan Goldin, which is a locked room thriller that absolutely should not work but it absolutely does! I have to keep tearing myself away from it.  I know I should read THE WHISPER MAN, such a fabulous cover, but it sounds so scary. And eager to get started on TURN OF THE KEY by Ruth Ware.  I powered through THIRTEEN (The serial killer is not on trial, he's on the jury, so says the cover). Another book that should not have worked, but did. And THE CHAIN! Shaking head. How do they do this? 

RHYS BOWEN: I have just concluded my book tour, while juggling page proofs of my next book and keeping up my writing requirement for the WIP. So... Not much time for reading. I have just read a stellar Book of WW2 Amsterdam called House on Endless Waters. I'm dying to find time to start Louise Penny's new book. Actually I'm dying to find time to sit and read!

JENN McKINLAY: I belong to a plot group with two insanely talented writers and very dear friends. Because we plot together -- shenanigans and mayhem, as you do -- I get to see the inner workings of their writing and marvel at how they take the random suggestions we throw at each other and then deliver them in twisty turny, compelling mysteries. Both of my partners have books coming out that I am just giddy about. Paige Shelton's THIN ICE, a suspenseful mystery set in Alaska, and the latest offering in Kate Carlisle's ever brilliant series Fixer Upper Seris, SHOT THROUGH THE HEARTH. Trust me, these are two books you don't want to miss!

LUCY: Jenn, you’ve talked about your plot group before—I am lime green with envy!

HALLIE EPHRON: I'm just back from teaching at Book Passage's annual conference for mystery writers where I moderated a panel on creating a main character. There were four authors on the panel, each a fantastic mystery writer, and I went back and found the first time each had put their protagonist on the page. At the conference, they read it aloud and (tried to!) remember why they'd introduced their character in that particular way. One of the authors on the panel was Elizabeth George, and the book where she introduces Lynley and Havers is A Great Deliverance. Well, I could not stop reading. I read the entire book in two days. No wonder that series is such a success.

LUCY: That sounds like an amazing conference panel, Hallie. Such a smart way to run it!

DEBORAH CROMBIE: I am all caught up on my fellow Reds fabulous books--such a reading feast! Next up for me is the ARC of Charles Todd's new Bess Crawford, A CRUEL DECEPTION, and I can't wait to dive in. And here are the top four below it on my nightstand: THE HEART'S INVISIBLE FURIES by John Boyne (recommended by our JRW friend Ann Mason), THE SPIES OF SHILLING LANE by Jennifer Ryan, MEET ME IN MONACO by Hazel Gaynor and Heather Webb, and THE PARIS ARCHITECT by Charles Belfoure. Of course, no telling what I'll come across between now and then, or pull off my to-read shelves, or my Kindle. I enjoyed Kate Atkinson's BIG SKY so much that I want to go back and catch up on the Jackson Brodie novels I haven't read.

Okay Reds, your turn! What are you reading?

Have You Fallen in (Literary) Love This Summer?

Michael with Lucy

LUCY BURDETTE: 
Several weeks ago, Michael Connelly was coming to our neck of the woods and speaking at a lunch sponsored by RJ Julia booksellers. My good friend and writing buddy, Angelo, suggested that several of us attend. I've heard Michael before and long been a fan of his books and characters, especially Harry Bosch. And what's better than lunch with friends while hearing an admired writer talk? So of course I said yes!

He was completely charming and we all bought books and stood in line to have them signed. Mine was signed for John's birthday, but I didn't think he'd mind if I read it first. (Especially if he didn't know, LOL.) The Late Show introduces a new character, a female cop who works the night shift at the LAPD. I didn't expect to get swept into her life and her story so quickly, but I loved it. 

And Lord knows, with the world in a scary shambles lately, one of the things that really helps get my mind off what I can't control is good books. Now I am finishing up Rhys's new Royal Spyness mystery – Georgie is the perfect antidote for anxiety. If you haven't started this series, you have a giant treat ahead of you. I have Joshilyn Jackson's new book lined up next. But after that…You know I always get a little desperate that the next read won't be quite as good…

So have you fallen in literary love this summer?

Snow Day Reads

LUCY BURDETTE: Oh boy, our Reds in New England have been whacked by winter lately. And it looks like more to come...The good news? Perfect weather to read and to find out what you're reading! 

During our trip, John and I both devoured

The Light Between the Oceans by ML Stedman, which is the story of a light keeper and his new wife who are stationed on a tiny island off the western coast of Australia. One terrible decision leads them into more and more tragic outcomes. Gripping! I also enjoyed catching up with two of my favorite mystery series, both long on character development, Julie Hyzy's All the President's Menus featuring White House chef Ollie Paras, and Stone Cold, CJ Box's newest installment in game warden Joe Pickett's series.

What are you reading Reds, to cope with the dreadful weather?

 
HANK PHILLIPPI RYAN:

Hank's birdbath becomes a topiary

Let me first recommend Shannon Kirk's Method 15/30, coming soon. It is incredibly good, truly (reviewer Hallie, please note!) about a young woman who is pregnant who is kidnapped (really , stay with me) and what she does to get away. Its sort of The Ransom of Red Chief meets ah, well, you tell me when you read it. I have the Todd's new book ready to go, and The Girl on the Train, (of course, sigh) and I just finished a debut called Hangman's Game, which I loved--the star/sleuth is a....professional football player. No kidding, and it's pretty great! You don't have to understand football, which I kind of do, or even like it, which I also kind of do, if it's a game that matters. (I will pause now while you remember where I live!)  Oh, and Michael Sears newest, Long Way Down-- truly good--one reviewer compared him to Ian Fleming. Yeesh. Now THAT's a good review!

Hallie's driveway

HALLIE EPHRON: It's NOT snowing today but the roads are still dismal. So far 4 FEET(!) of snow in a week and more on the way. It's nutty.

Yup, I'm reading AND writing... Thinking of taking down To Kill a Mockingbird in anticipation of the NEW (but written in the 50s) Harper Lee novel that's been announced with much hooplah. I hope it's good.

Right now I'm reading Holly Robinson's Haven Lake and loving it. So far at least it's the story of a teenager who runs away from home and ends up with his new stepmother's hippie-dippie mother who has a sheep farm (that was of course once a commune). A great read for anyone looking for an interesting and not cliched older woman character. And the kid is spot on. It's not  mystery but I am so hooked.

Also I'm in the middle of Mary Roach's Gulp: Adventures on the Alimentary Canal. A journey through the digestive system and the history of what we know (or think we know) about it. She's a very funny writer and asks the questions of experts that the rest of us would be too embarrassed.

DEBORAH CROMBIE: We have gone from freezing to warm to back to freezing here in Texas. But I love the idea of  a snow day to do nothing but read. Such a luxury! But I have been reading, of course--all three of the James Runcie Granchester books (on which the new PBS series is based) and I adore them! I hope there will be more! Also, the new Miranda (Dean) James, a Charlie Harris and Diesel book called Arsenic and Old Books, and a fabulous debut novel called Past Crimes by Glen Eric Hamilton. He's being compared to Dennis Lehane, Robert B. Parker, and John D. MacDonald, but I'd add a little Lee Child to the mix. The book is that good. Both these lovely guys will be our guests next week. AND I got my hands on a ARC of Mark Pryor's new Hugo Marston book, The Reluctant Matador. I LOVE this series--I think it is my find of the year.

Red readers, how are you holding up this winter and what are you reading?