What We’re Reading

 

LUCY BURDETTE: I’ve been reading steadily this summer, not quickly, but still delighted to be reading lots of different books. HIDDEN VALLEY ROAD by Paulette Alden presents a slice of life in Greeneville, SC, with characters struggling with racial and family tensions. Next up, JUST FOR THE SUMMER by Abby Jimenez, a cupcake baker turned romance writer. She’s gotten some amazing press and sales and so I wanted to try one of her books. I can see why readers love her (including me)--the characters are deeply drawn, not at all cardboard, with a most satisfying ending and enjoyable setting. Adriana Trigiani was also new to me. I loved THE VIEW FROM LAKE COMO for its family drama, descriptions of both New Jersey and Italy, and her fabulous food writing. HEARTWOOD  by Amity Gauge was recommended by my friend Chris Falcone–the story of a missing hiker on the Appalachian Trail written from some very interesting points of view. I also loved WELCOME TO MURDER WEEK by Karen Dukess, in which a young woman is left an all-expense-paid trip to a murder mystery week in a small British town. Nicely done! Finally, I enjoyed debut writer Adam Roberts’ very foodie FOOD PERSON, in which a socially awkward writer takes a job as a ghostwriter for a Hollywood starlet’s cookbook. 

What are you reading, Reds?

HALLIE EPHRON: I am happily immersed in Rhys’s MRS. ENDICOTT’S SPLENDID ADVENTURE… which is completely splendid and I’m trying to *slow down* because I’m enjoying it so much. Queued up behind it is Gillian McAllister’s WRONG PLACE WRONG TIME which Hank recommended. Then I have a whole stack of books to come after including one that I missed, OLIVE AGAIN by Elizabeth Strout.

HANK PHILLIPPI RYAN: Oh, yay, Hallie, I hope you love it. Welcome to Murder Week by Karen Dukess, Lucy, highly recommended! I am reading Lisa Jewell’s DONT LET HIM IN (to interview her at Bouchercon, although I would read anything she writes, whenever she writes it.)  PLEASE DON’T LIE by Christina Baker Kline and Anne Burt is on the pile as is Guilty By Definition by Susie Dent. And cannot forget KISS HER GOODBYE by Lisa Gardner! Oh, oh, and FULL BLOOM by Francesca Serritella. ANd oh, breaking news. Do not miss THE DEAD HUSBAND COOKBOOK. It is completely clever and ingenious and…. what if your favorite TV chef was accused of being, well, a fan of Sweeney Todd? That’s not a spoiler. And it’s terrific!

JULIA SPENCER-FLEMING: I’m not reading as much as I usually am this month, as I’m busy prepping for house full of guests for my daughter’s wedding at the end of August. (If you’re recalling that she married last fall and is now pregnant, dear readers, you’re right! This is the religious service and party side of the event.) However, I’ve got my usual trio of mystery, science fiction and other going.

Mystery: Shari Lapena’s SHE DIDN’T SEE IT COMING, which drew me in for the setting (a luxe condo building a la Only Murders in the Building) and the gender switch - it’s the wife who’s disappeared and the husband has to figure out what’s up.

SF: Also a mystery! The third of Mur Lafferty’s Midsolar Mysteries, INFINITE ARCHIVE. I love this space-station twist on the classical village cosy - and the current book throws in a mystery readers convention!

Other: I’m finally, finally reading Richard Russo’s acclaimed NOBODY’S FOOL (yes, it DID come out over 30 years ago!) It’s so much like being back in Argyle, NY - no wonder when you consider Russo’s home town is an hour away from mine. I’m so glad I didn’t read this earlier; I would have either felt like I was ripping him off, or I would have fallen into despair over how much my own writing fails to come up to his. Now, I can just enjoy it for the gem it is.

DEBORAH CROMBIE: I seem to have been doing a lot of re-reading, mainly Deb Harkness’s All Souls Trilogy, although I am mainly (re) listening on Audible. But I have read the new Martin Walker Bruno novel, AN ENEMY IN THE VILLAGE, the new Damien Boyd, BLUE BLOOD (British procedural series, top notch!), the new Ben Aaronovitch Rivers of London novel, STONE AND SKY, all of Martha Wells Murderbot Diaries series, which I adored. But maybe the standout for me is a novel called SANDWICH by Catherine Newman that my daughter insisted I read because she loved it so much. I struggled a bit with the beginning, probably because of being more used to having plots set up clearly from the start, my failing) but by the time I was a third of the way through I couldn’t put it down. I loved it. It’s a joyous book, and is one that will stay with me for a long time.

RHYS BOWEN: I’ve just read two books I really enjoyed. One was THE MIDNIGHT LIBRARY, by Matt Haig ( interesting it was written by a man as it is so sensitive to a woman’s point of view), and The House at Mermaid’s Cove by Lindsay Jane Ashford, set in the part of Cornwall where I spend time every summer. I’m now just starting The View from Lake Como by Adriana Trigiana as I’m a guest on her podcast next week, enjoying her writing style so far.

JENN McKINLAY: I've been maintaining my cozy fantasy bender. I just read Gate to Kagoshima by Poppy Kuroki and it was fascinating (last samurai history). I've also finished Julie Leong's The Teller of Small Fortunes and I really enjoyed it. Next up is The Enchanted Greenhouse by Sarah Beth Durst. I really enjoyed The Spell Shop by her so I have high hopes!

Okay Reds, phew! What are you reading?

What we’re reading

 

LUCY BURDETTE: You know I adore this topic (and I know many of you do too) even though I honestly have more books in my multiple piles than I could finish in a lifetime. But new sparkly titles are constantly getting published, along with favorites from my most favorite authors, and reminders about older books that I’ve overlooked. Aside from all that, I’m judging a contest that I am forbidden to discuss. So I’m accumulating a teetering stack of books that might be right up your alley that I can’t mention!  I’m trying the technique of alternating the books I’m dying to read with the ones that are part of my contest obligations.

Most enjoyable books of the spring so far? Kristin Hannah’s THE WOMEN, Rhys Bowen’s THE ROSE ARBOR (one of her very best!), Kent Krueger’s THE RIVER WE REMEMBER…and I’m so looking forward to Barb Ross’s TORN ASUNDER and Jenn’s LOVE AT FIRST BOOK, and so many more—just look at my recent pile—wahhh! Reds, what are you reading?

HALLIE EPHRON: I just finished reading a book that Sarah Weinman suggested in a roundup of recommendations. It’s an oldie and now I’m wondering how I missed the series. I read DEATH AND THE PENGUIN by Andre Kurkov. Wonderful dark humor in a book with a detective/aspiring writer who’s in a dead end job writing obituaries and, oh by the way, he has a pet penguin. Highly recommend. 

And fascinated as I am by the movie business and alcoholic mega-stars, I’m reading COCKTAILS WITH GEORGE AND MARTHA, and nonfiction by Philip Gefter. It’s about the genesis and filming of WHO’S AFRAID OF VIRGINIA WOOLF. From Edward Albee to Mike Nichols to Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton: utterly fascinating. Also an excellent doorstop.

I also loved Rhys’s THE ROSE ARBOR which I tore into the minute I got my hands on an advance copy.

JENN McKINLAY: Count me in for Rhys’s THE ROSE ARBOR! Such a fascinating story. I loved it. Also, I’m reading YOU’D LOOK BETTER AS A GHOST by Joanna Wallace. Very original! I can’t even describe how different it is but I’m enjoying it tremendously. Recently, I read WEYWARD by Emilia Hart and could not put it down. It was excellent.

RHYS BOWEN: Aw, I’m blushing because you all said nice things about The Rose Arbor! Thank you. It was a complicated book and I was relieved that it worked out so well in the end. What am I reading? I’m returning the compliment… Jenn’s LOVE AT FIRST BOOK.  It was exactly what I needed right now having had a stressful first half of the year with radiation for John, lots of strange doctor visits (the symptoms were strange, not the doctors). So I’m savoring Ireland and Jenn’s snappy dialog. Always so good. I’ve reread the Paris book at least twice.  

HANK PHILLIPPI RYAN: I just read two absolutely fabulous books, completely fabulous! By two of my favorite authors, and was so honored to interview them afterward. The first is CLOSE TO DEATH— and I know I go on and on and on about how much I adore Anthony Horowitz and his brilliant meta-fiction, and they just get better and better. This book is absolutely terrific in every way, and sometimes I just had to stop reading and applaud. You know, this is the series where I Anthony Horowitz the author is a character in the book. I don’t know how he managed to do it so beautifully.

And the other book I just read, and adore is THE LAST MURDER AT THE END OF THE WORLD by Stuart Turton—- it’s sort of a dystopian utopia, yes, truly, or Agatha Christie meets the apocalypse on an isolated island. The world has ended, and there are only 121 people left, and they live this idyllic life – – although the reader is aware, something is not quite idyllic :-) – – until someone is murdered. And that’s like, chapter 1. This is an absolute tour de force in genre bending, with a solid mystery underneath.

It strikes me in discussing these—that both authors have written an intriguing, unique complex, unusual, pushing-the- envelope novel, but underneath both still depend on a satisfying, believable, and fair traditional mystery .

DEBORAH CROMBIE: Joining the dittos on Rhys’s THE ROSE ARBOR! I loved it! So well plotted, and I particularly loved the characters and the details of the late sixties setting.

Also, I’ve listened to the audiobook of THE WOMEN by Kristin Hannah, narrated by Julia Whelan, my absolute favorite female narrator, and was blown away. It’s one of those books that makes you feel desperate for someone to talk to about it when you’ve finished it. AND I finally, finally (I think I’m the last person in the world!) read LESSONS IN CHEMISTRY by Bonnie Garmus, and of course it is just brilliant. It was nice to read these one right after the other–similar themes, similar time period (LESSONS is a bit more than a decade earlier,) and then Rhys’s book also is set in the same time period as THE WOMEN. I listened to the audio of Marion McNabb’s SOME DOUBT ABOUT IT, which I really enjoyed. And now I’ve started Elly Griffith’s THE LAST WORD, but i picked up Jenn’s LOVE AT FIRST BOOK and will not be putting this one down until I finish it. So good!!!

JULIA SPENCER-FLEMING: Hank, I saw THE LAST MURDER AT THE END OF THE WORLD and thought it was calling my name, but you've sold me - it definitely sounds like my kind of read. 

Loved THE ROSE ARBOR and LOVE AT FIRST BOOK (don't hate us because we get advanced copies, dear readers!) and I also recently read Tessa Wegert's next Shana Marchant mystery, THE COLDEST CASE. It's a little Agatha Christie combined with frigid weather and a great detecting couple, so if that appeals, pre-order it now!

Catching up with what everyone else raved about, I tore through Benjamin Stevenson's EVERYONE IN MY FAMILY HAS KILLED SOMEONE and EVERYONE ON THIS TRAIN IS A SUSPECT. I can see why HBO has picked this up. 

Next up, VILLAGE IN THE DARK, Iris Yamashita's follow-up to one of the most original mysteries of  '23, VILLAGE UNDER ONE ROOF. No science fiction! That's a first for me.

LUCY AGAIN: That's enough from us, but we'd love to hear what you're reading!

What We're Reading

LUCY BURDETTE: I feel like I am still reading slowly, and my TBR pile is not going down. But perhaps that is because I keep adding to it? Anyway, here are some of the books I’ve read since we last had this discussion. I just finished reading Ragnar Jonasson's new book, Reykjavík, written with the Prime Minister of Iceland, Katrin Jakobsdottir. I am completely fascinated by this duo of authors, not the least, because Katrin has a masters degree in Icelandic literature, including a dissertation on the subject of the crime fiction of Arnaldur Indridason. I love his books, so how could I resist this one? Reykjavik has great pacing, plus a fascinating old case, and I love the setting of Iceland. It made me want to travel there immediately.

Before that, I read Ann Cleeves’ new book, The Raging Storm. This is the second third Detective Matthew Venn book, and he is growing on me. She is such a master at creating a crime story that reflects the cold and claustrophobic setting, this time a small town called Greystone in Devon. She also does an amazing job creating and filling out secondary characters. Now I am eagerly awaiting the next Vera book.

I also very much enjoyed Spencer Quinn’s (a.k.a., Peter Abrahams) new book, Mrs. Plansky‘s Revenge. Mrs. Plansky, a retired 70 something in Florida falls victim to a scam that cleans out her savings. She rises to the occasion in the most charming and wildly believable way. If you enjoy Richard Osman's books (or even Miss Gloria from the Key West mysteries), Mrs. Plansky is for you. Also on the cozier side of the spectrum, I finished Alicia Bessette’s Murder on Mustang Beach. The writing is lovely, the Outer Banks of North Carolina is a wonderful setting, and she writes appealing characters living in a small town.

Last night I started Barbara O'Neal's The Starfish Sisters. She's such an amazing writer--I can hardly wait to get back to it. How about you Reds, what are you reading?

HALLIE EPHRON: I just finished reading an advance copy of Lori Rader-Day’s THE DEATH OF US. It’s a heartwarming/heartbreaking mother/son story. Gorgeously written. Reminded me of the way Megan Abbott brings the complicated teenage daughter/father relationship to the page… only Lori does it with mother/teenage son. The cover blurb from Ann Cleeves nails it: “So sharp, and tight and clear. And real.” It’ll be out in October.

Now I’m into Geraldine Brooks: HORSE. Historical fiction about an enslaved groom and a record-setting horse, set during the Civil War. Incandescent prose. Great storytelling. I’ll truly never look at a painting of a racehorse in the same way again.

A horse of a different color, I’m listening to: BECOMING DUCHESS GOLDBLATT. By Anonymous! It’s the hilarious and deeply moving the story of a woman who creates a Twitter alterego for herself (Duchess Goldbaltt: an 81-year old purveyor of wisdom) based on a portrait in a Frans Hals painting. It’s funny and surreal and breathtaking. I’m listening to the audio book in which Lyle Lovett narrates his own part. Thanks to my friend Patty Jo for recommending it.

HANK PHILLIPPI RYAN: I just finished Allen Eskens’ SAVING EMMA, a brilliant and thoughtful literary legal thriller–highly recommended. And whoa–Lisa Jewell’s None of This is True and Shari Lapena’s Everyone Here is Lying–such different books, amazing, but two absolutely breathtakingly wonderful authors.

Oh, have you read The Secret Book of Flora Lea by Pattii Callahan Henry? Drop everything, seriously, and get it.

On my pile, and cannot wait, Just Another Missing Person by Gillian McAlllister, and Happiness Falls by Angie Kim! I have no doubt they will both be fabulous.

And back to TV? The oh so talented Alexis Gordon’s Gethsemane Brown mysteries are on Hallmark Mystery now! And they are SO perfect. YAY!

JULIA SPENCER-FLEMING: Representing science fiction here with two amazing and quite different novels that both have animals as main characters: John Scalzi’s STARTER VILLAIN and Paul McAuley’s BEYOND THE BURN LINE. The former is an homage/satire/updated twist of the Blofeld type of baddie, complete with volcano lair and fluffy cat; the latter… really, it’s best to go in not knowing much.

In our own genre, I absolutely loved Nina Simon’s MOTHER-DAUGHTER MURDER NIGHT (and now I want to write a book where the Maine Millennial and I solve a mystery!) THE BONES OF THE STORY by Carol Goodman is a fantastic locked-room mystery set in her signature gothic-academic setting. I love Carol’s writing so much; her work perfectly balances literary and crime fiction.

Non-fiction read: THE HEAT WILL KILL YOU FIRST, by Jeff Goodell, a climate journalist who also write THE WATER WILL COME. If you like having the crap scared out of you, read these terrific books and start planning your escape route. I suggest Michigan.

JENN McKINLAY: Julia, I’ve heard amazing things about Simon’s MOTHER-DAUGHTER MURDER NIGHT - adding it to my TBR!

I have been on a reading bender and it’s been glorious! As I’ve mentioned in previous posts, I’m heading into a new genre (sort of) that’s a grown up Harry Potter meets Agatha Christie with some Edgar Allan Poe thrown in because why not? So my reading is joyfully all over the place.

Right now, I’m reading an epic fantasy THE KINGS OF THE WYLD by Nicholas Eames (middle-aged mercenaries on a rescue mission, it’s a blast). I’m also reading a romcom ARC by Nic DiDimizio called NEARLYWED (two gay men, who hit some relationship obstacles as they gear up for their wedding - poignant and hilarious). Nic’s writing is just so fun! And because it’s the season of all things scary (which I love), I just read T. Kingfisher’s A HOUSE WITH GOOD BONES (which our Hank rightly endorsed) and up next is Kingfisher’s THE TWISTED ONES. Oh, and I just finished THE HOUSEMAID by Freida McFadden. I figured out the twist early on, but it was still excellent.

RHYS BOWEN: Julia, I can absolutely recommend writing a book with your daughter. Clare and I have so much joy writing together! I haven’t read much recently as I’ve been traveling and working on edits,but I did read The Marsh King’s Daughter that I picked up at Bouchercon–brilliant but darker than I usually read. I also dipped back to several old favorites, including a couple of Mary Stewarts. I wish there were more like her being written today. A recent favorite is THE SECRET BOOK OF FLORA LEA by Patti Callahan Henry. I love her work!

DEBORAH CROMBIE: I want Jenn's list! The fantasy and the gay wedding book sound fabulous. I feel like a slacker compared to some of you. I know I mentioned it before Bouchercon, but I absolutely adored Allison Montclair's latest, THE LADY FROM BURMA. Since B'con I've read Jacqueline Winspear's THE WHITE LADY–so good. Also James Benn's latest Billy Boyle, PROUD SORROWS. I'm behind in the series but really enjoyed this regardless. Now I've just started the latest Richard Osman, THE LAST DEVIL TO DIE. And this week is a bonanza, with G.M. Malliet's new Max Tudor, THE WASHING AWAY OF WRONGS, the new Robert Galbraith Cormoran Strike novel, THE RUNNING GRAVE (at almost 1000 pages, that may take me a day or two…,) AND a book I have been looking forward to for ages, S.J. Bennett's 3rd Her Majesty the Queen Investigates novel, MURDER MOST ROYAL. If you've missed the first two books in this absolutely delightful series, I highly recommend them!

What are you reading Reds?

Jolabokaflod? AKA What to Read Next?

LUCY BURDETTE: did you have the pleasure of experiencing an Icelandic holiday book flood this year? (On Christmas Eve, they exchange books, in a tradition called Jolabokaflod.) I received an embarrassment of riches, leaving me with the enviable problem of what to read next. As my sister pointed out, I am pretty good at speaking out about what I’d love to see around the tree on Christmas morning lol. Plus I added the top two myself, including Maddie Dawson’s SNAP OUT OF IT and our own Jenn’s FATAL FASCINATOR. I decided yesterday to start THE BULLET THAT MISSED because I was in the mood for characters I already knew and enjoyed. 

How about you Reds, books for Christmas? What are you reading from your pile?

HANK PHILLIPPI RYAN: Oh, drop everything and read THE MYSTERY OF THE ALPERTON ANGELS by Janice Hallett. So incredibly good, she’s the most brilliant person! Here’s the pitch:

Open the safe deposit box.

Inside you will find research material for a true crime book.

You must read the documents, then make a decision.

Will you destroy them? Or will you take them to the police?

It’s great, truly.

Looking forward to Jordan Harper’s EVERYBODY KNOWS and Deepti Kapoor’s AGE OF VICE and Mary Kubica’s JUST THE NICEST COUPLE.

(And if you need a bargain, TRUST ME and THE MURDER LIST are each just $1.99 today!)

Oh, and so you can say you heard it here first, ALL THAT IS MINE I CARRY WITH ME by WIlliam Landay is gaspingly brilliant. Unforgettable.

HALLIE EPHRON: I finished THE BULLET THAT MISSED and loved it. Now I eagerly await the next in that series. And I’m in line for anything new from BIll Landay. His books are worth waiting for. Jenn’s FATAL FASCINATOR is on my TBR list. And I bought myself THE LAST CONFESSIONS OF SYLVIA P by Lee Kravetz… party truth, part fiction, totally fascinating, based on Sylvia Plath’s writings and her stay at McClean Hospital where she was treated for severe depression.

JULIA SPENCER-FLEMING: For the first time ever I didn’t get a single book for Christmas! What?!? Everyone here should just send me books, that’s all I’m going to say. Grump Grump Grump.

LUCY: Wow Julia, that's shocking!!

DEBORAH CROMBIE: I did give books, LESSONS IN CHEMISTRY to my daughter and the Jim Kay illustrated version of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone to my granddaughter. Then my friend Gigi surprised me with not one, but two, of the Jim Kay books, Chamber of Secrets and the Prisoner of Azkaban. Have you seen any of the Jim Kay books? The illustrations are absolutely gorgeous! They are absolute treasures and I can't wait to sit down and dip into my new copies. I do wonder, however, just how massive these books are going to be by the time Kay gets to the seven-hundred-some-odd page books towards the end of the series!

Also, I'm quite tickled that I've finally learned how to spell Jolabokaflod without double-checking it!

LUCY: Debs, our daughter asked for the first illustrated book for her family. It is gorgeous! I gave out Lessons in Chemistry too!

RHYS BOWEN: Count me as another fan of Lessons in Chemistry. Nobody gave me books for Christmas, which is fine as I always have a stack of upcoming books waiting to be blurbed. One of these I’ve just finished was Queen Wallis, a follow up to Widowland. Did anyone read that? So brilliant and chilling! The only books I gave were cookbooks. Are they still relevant,do you think, now all recipes can be found online?

JENN McKINLAY: We always give a book and a bookstore giftcard to each other for the holidays. This year’s selections for the fam were: Never Finished by David Goggins (Hooligan 2), Cheap Movie Tricks by Rickey Bird (Hooligan 1), Rory Galagher: His Life and Times by Marcus Connaughton (Hub), and Thank You for Listening by Julia Whelan (me). We had a wedding in the family so I haven’t had a chance to read anything but I’m really looking forward to some downtime!

How about you Reds, did you experience the joy of Jolabokaflod??

It's Time For a What We're Reading Check-in!

DEBORAH CROMBIE: It's been awhile since we've checked in on our favorite things–books!--and I have a surfeit of riches to share! Here's just a glimpse.

I started the month with Robert Galbraith's (aka JK Rowling) massive (1000 pages!) new Cormoran Strike novel, THE INK BLACK HEART. I love this series, and have them all in hardcover, but because of the length I bought it on Kindle. This did not turn out to be the best idea–as you can see, I ended up buying the hardcover, too. Sections of the book consist of two or three simultaneous online chats, and it was hard to follow in the digital format. On the plus side, I really enjoyed the book and once I had the hardcover I went back and worked my way through parts of the plot again, just to make sure I'd followed it all.

Then I dived into the new Ann Cleeves Vera novel, THE RISING TIDE, which I'd ordered from the UK, and it was as good as you would expect. I won't say anymore because, spoilers. Now I've started the new Richard Osman, THE BULLET THAT MISSED, which I'd been looking forward to for ages.

Waiting for me I have Laurie King's BACK TO THE GARDEN, Blair Fell's THE SIGN FOR HOME, an ARC of Francine Mathew's new Merry Folger Nantucket mystery, DEATH ON A WINTER STROLL, Ruby Tandoh's essays, EAT UP (fans of The Great British Baker will remember her as a finalist a few years ago,) and an ARC of Margaret Mizushima's new Timber Creek mystery, STANDING DEAD.

And as soon as I get to London, I'm buying the new Elly Griffiths Harbinder Kaur novel, BLEEDING HEART YARD, and Alan Rickman's diaries, MADLY, DEEPLY. I adored Rickman so this read will be bittersweet.

Now all I need is more time to read! What's on your have read/coming up list, fellow REDs?

LUCY BURDETTE: I just finished THE LAST DRESS FROM PARIS by Jade Beer. If you love reading about high fashion and Paris and a thwarted love story, this is for you! I also loved the new Ann Cleeves. I was looking at it this morning and thinking how sad I was that I’d have to wait another year for the next one! Very much enjoyed Kent Krueger’s newest Cork O’Connor book. Ditto on having to wait! And I am super excited about Ann Mah’s new book coming out Tuesday, JACQUELINE IN PARIS. You’ll hear more about that one next week…

HANK PHILLIPPI RYAN: I adored BACK TO THE GARDEN! Not to be missed! And STANDING DEAD  is on the way. But you all,  I have also been absolutely blown away by three other books, too,  books recently. I mean, they are intimidatingly good. One is  MORE THAN YOU’LL EVER N-KNOW  by Katie Gutierrez. And WRONG PLACE WRONG TIME by Gillian McAllister. And ALL THAT IS MINE I CARRY WITH ME by William Landay. Reds and readers, these are the books of the year.  Truly. Life-changing, writing-changing –and explosively, rule-breakingly great. 

HALLIE EPHRON: I’m in the middle of BONES UNDER THE ICE, a debut novel from Mary Ann Miller, with a rookie female sheriff in Indiana.

And slowly reading THE LAST CONFESSIONS OF SYLVIA P. by Lee Kravetz. I met Lee when I was at Book Passage’s mystery writing conference - he’s one of their local writers and the book is a knockout–a “literary mystery.” The eponymous “Sylvia P.” is of course poet Sylvia Plath. So far the story is set at the McLean psychiatric hospital where she spent a lot of time as a patient, and which was the setting for my “Dr. Peter Zak” series mystery novels.

JENN McKINLAY: LESSONS IN CHEMISTRY by Bonnie Garmus is my fave book of 2022…so far. I even mentioned this book in our upcoming convo about characters. I also recently read NOSY PARKER by Lesley Crew and adored it - a coming of age story set in the late sixties Montreal. Wickedly funny. And I am currently reading an ARC of  Annabel Monaghan’s SAME TIME NEXT SUMMER and absolutely loving it!

 

JULIA SPENCER-FLEMING: I wish I could show you a stack of books, but I'm at a conference and everything I brought with me to read is virtual - and also not yet out! I'm loving SONS AND BROTHERS by Kim Hays, the next Linder and Donatelli mystery set in Bern, Switzerland. (Kim has been a guest here, so you may recognize her name.) Next up: UNDER A VEILED MOON, the second in Karen Odden's new Inspector Corravan series, set in 1870s London. It's not out until October, but you can read the first in the series, DOWN A DARK RIVER, right now. 

 

About to check out from the library: LUCY BY THE SEA, by Maine's own Elizabeth Strout. I'm not even sure what it's about; I read her based on her reputation alone. I've never been disappointed in one of her books.

DEBS: I've been really looking forward to the Ann Mah book, too, and I'm so intrigued by all the other suggestions. So interesting where we overlap and where we don't, and I love that these suggestions push me in new directions!

READERS, what's standing out for you at the moment? And what are you especially looking forward to?

Rhys on What We're Reading

RHYS BOWEN: Well, we’ve made it through another week, haven’t we? I wonder if it will get any easier if we’re in isolation for a month, for two months?


Please email me if you’d like me to answer any of your questions or concerns like “IS it normal to want to put a pillow over your husband’s face while he is sleeping because he’s driving me crazy?” Okay, only some of the time. Most of the time he’s being really good. Except when he brings in a package and PUTS IT ON THE JUST CLEANED AND DISINFECTED COUNTER!


Earlier in the week I talked about the gift of time, which should translate into time for reading all those books I’ve meant to read but never did. But you know what I find? I find it hard to concentrate. So no complicated mystery stories, nothing too dark, and certainly nothing too sad. It has to have a happy ending (except that for some reason I’m finding Harry Potter just fits the bill. Maybe because he’s battling against terrible odds and finally wins … unless you are Dobby).


So I find I’ve been re-reading things I’ve enjoyed before. Kate Morton’s The Forgotten Garden. Some of Louse Penny’s early Gamache books, and now Laurie King’s The Beekeeper’s Apprentice which I must have read when it first came out and I didn’t know who Laurie King was.


Unfortunately I’m at my Arizona winter retreat so I don’t have access to all my library of children’s books and old favorites which I’d normally read in times of stress. My entire collection of Agatha Christie for example. So I’d like to hear from you:


What are you reading right now? Any suggestions for books in the time of plague?


LUCY BURDETTE: Ha ha on the pillow over hub’s head. I texted with friends yesterday and we agreed (1) maybe we’d have more time to write in jail, and (2) we’d look good in orange.


Bad jokes aside, I feel very lucky to have my hub holed up with me! I’m reading an unusual book called THE GULF by Belle Boggs. It takes place at a rundown motel in Florida, where a poet and her ex-boyfriend are trying set up a writing seminar for inspirational writer wanna-bes. I wanted something other than a murder mystery for once, and this is very different!


I’ve also started THE MOTH CATCHER, a Vera book by Ann Cleeves. I’d say this is comfort reading because I know and love the characters. And I also pre-ordered Julia’s new book, coming VERY SOON--HID FROM YOUR EYES. Let’s all do that and then we’ll have a virtual book party!





JENN McKINLAY: LOL, Rhys. Yes, quality time with the fam has begun to feel more like doin’ time. Thankfully, I have a plethora of ARCs to read for endorsements and for once I actually have time to savor them instead of wedging the reading into every spare minute I can find. So, that’s nice. Let me just say there is some really terrific fiction coming out this year and next like our Lucy’s KEY LIME CRIME (July), Devon Daniels’s MEET YOU IN THE MIDDLE (Sept), and Lauren Elliott’s A PAGE MARKED FOR MURDER (Oct). Other than that, I am trying to write, catching up on my Netflix backlog, and doing a lot of procrastibaking. I’m on a shortbread bender at the moment.


DEBORAH CROMBIE: I thought I would do so much reading! But, like most everyone else, I’ve been very distracted. An advance copy of Lucy’s THE KEY LIME CRIME helped get me through the last couple of weeks! Now I’m missing being in her fictional Key West--virus free! Now I’m reading an ARC of Cara Black’s WWII standalone, THREE HOURS IN PARIS, which comes out next week, and I can tell you that it’s gripping! And so looking forward to our Julia’s book, HID FROM OUR EYES, out next week as well. I’ve been waiting SO long! This is my big anticipated read of the spring!


Rhys, you’ve tempted me to go back to Harry Potter. I’d started the Jim Kay illustrated edition with Wren a few weeks ago, but we are not co-reading for the time being… Or I might pick up one of my all-time favorite reads in times of stress, a Dick Francis novel.


HANK PHILLIPPI RYAN: Oh, gosh, my brain is having such a difficult time focusing. Luckily I have the new Kate White HAVE YOU SEEN ME and Roz Nay’s HURRY HOME--both sinister and twisty. The new Samantha Downing arc just arrived, hurray, called HE STARTED IT. I am sure it’ll be wonderful--she’s so talented. I cannot wait for Cara Black--you are all so lucky to have read it--but mine will arrive on pub day.


I am loving SOMETHING WONDERFUL, a bio of Rogers and Hammerstein by Todd Purdom. (I appeared with him on one of my last book tour events, sigh.) It’s wonderful, and a fascinating examination of how those geniuses worked together. ANd has a lot of the discarded lyrics, which are fascinating. (Can you believe So Long, Farewell with a verse that says something like: “So long, farewell, and now we must aloha; I know it’s sad, but time for me to go-ha.” Isn’t that hilarious?


I’ve been very tempted to read all the Agatha Christies, I must say, but suddenly my life is all about decontamination and dinner-making, and worrying that I am not writing. Books all seem to have a weird subtext now, like when you see old movies on TV where people are standing too close together. My mind is still searching for a new normal, so I’m thrilled to see all these suggestions.


HALLIE EPHRON: I”m reading Wendy Corsi Staub’s heartstopping THE BUTCHER’S DAUGHTER - the finale of her The Foundlings Trilogy. You’lll have to wait until the end of August to see how it all comes together. I also have Raymond Chandler’s FAREWELL MY LOVELY, just to remind myself what an amazing writer he was.

And I’m reading PRIVATE INVESTIGATIONS - an anthology of essays by mystery writers on the real mysteries they’ve experienced in real life. Both Rhys and I have essays in the collection, edited by Victoria Zackheim. It comes out in a few weeks, y’all will be hearing much more about it then.


JULIA SPENCER-FLEMING: Comfort reads for me. I’m re-reading Lucy’s Key West Food Critic series because it has everything my life does not right now - solvable problems, delicious food I don’t have to make, beautiful settings and warm weather. I’m also rereading in my usual favorite genre, science fiction: the more recent books of Lois McMaster Bujold. I’m not usually a big rereader, and I think I’m enjoying it precisely because I know what’s going to happen. Unlike here in the real world.


Side note: The Maine Millennial and I were talking about this sense of uncertainty, and I realized the next week, day, hour has always been uncertain - it’s just when things are trundling on as normal we can forget that inconvenient fact.

Back to books - I’m really excited about some books I’ve ordered from one of my local independent bookstores. I’m getting THE LAST EMPEROR, third in an amazing series by John Scalzi, the SF author even people who don’t get SF can read and love. Also Tessa Wegert’s DEATH IN THE FAMILY, because murder on an isolated island is irresistible now. And finally, I’m looking forward to Deb’s current read, THREE HOURS IN PARIS, by Cara Black. Did you know it’s on Amazon’s Editor’s Pick for Best Books for April? I think it’s going to be a BIG book.




NOTE FROM RHYS: Cara will be our guest on Sunday, sharing her favorite sites in Paris. And I LOVED the book. It's brilliant.




















So, dear friends, what are you reading? Can you read? Is it old comfort reads or fun new books?

What We're Reading

LUCY BURDETTE: I only took three books with me on my two-week vacation--a scary-low number, right? But I knew we’d be busy, and we only took carryon luggage so my space and weight was limited. Lest you think I’d lost my marbles, I did have my ipad loaded to the gills with back-up books just in case. My first read was CRY THE BELOVED COUNTRY by Alan Paton, which you may remember reading in high school--a heartbreaking story about an African pastor trying to rescue his son and sister from a life of crime in race-riven Johannesburg, which is at the time a white man’s world. Paton wrote this in long hand in 1947, and shortly after it was published by Scribner, and became an international bestseller. It has been described as the greatest novel to come out of the South African tragedy, I found it distressing but haunting and lovely--a good introduction to what we’d see in that country. (Also if you’re interested in this difficult subject, read Trevor Noah’s BORN A CRIME. Or better still, listen to him narrate his story.)

 Book number two was HARBOUR STREET by Ann Cleeves, the 6th Vera Stanhope investigation. I’ve been doling these out so I don’t have a big wait before a new one arrives--next fall I think. She’s simply an amazing wordsmith, aside from drawing characters so clearly and developing intricate plots. I always enjoy her books--and having this one with me in a foreign country was like traveling with an old friend. And the third book which I finished on the way home was HOW TO WALK AWAY by Katherine Center. She’s immensely popular in the field of women’s fiction and with good reason--her characters face disruptive life events and enormous disappointments but manage to emerge having made the best of them. Or at least grown from them...

Now I’ve started Juliet Blackwell’s THE VINEYARDS OF CHAMPAGNE, and after that Jenn’s BURIED TO THE BRIM is waiting. How about you, Reds?

HANK PHILLIPPI RYAN: Why is this such a hard question? It always makes my brain fry. 

I just finished Joe FInder’s HOUSE ON FIRE. I always admire his fast-paced linear story-telling ,which I can NEVER do, but my special reason for devouring this one came from a funny story. He and I were at dinner recently--a few months ago--and I asked him: “What’s your new book about?” And he said “I’ll tell you, but you tell me about ours first, “ Okay,”  I said, “I have to figure out how to talk about it, and it’s not really ABOUT this, but the main character is a daughter of a Sackler-like family who decides to blow the whistle on the big pharma company. What’s yours?

And Joe paused ,and said:  “The main character is a daughter of a Sackler-like family who decides to blow the whistle on the big pharma company.”

I am not kidding.  And then we just stared at each other. 

So I went crazy, because yikes. (And his book came out Monday, and mine not til August.) But it is so fascinating, because now that I’ve read it, it’s a master class in how EXACTLY the same description can be used for two ENTIRELY DIFFERENT books. (and whew.)

I also read the amazing Jennifer Hillier’s new LITTLE SECRETS. (She wrote the super creepy Jar of Hearts.)  She is such a brilliant writer, and such a master of suspense. I loved it. AND I’m very envious of her talent.

And next up is an advance copy of WAITING FOR THE NIGHT SONG by Julie Carrick Dalton,  is a thriller about a climate change scientist who’s searching for a certain insect she thinks is precursor of  massive wild fires. So far, so fabulous.

HALLIE EPHRON: I’m reading Paula Munier’s BLIND SEARCH and loving it. Great dogs-and-people book. Amazing weather. A page turner.

We were just on a 2-plus week vacation so I stopped at my library book sale to get some paperbacks I could read and leave behind. I grabbed an ancient paperback copy of Dorothy Sayers STRONG POISON and I’m here to tell you, it does not hold up. Not at all. It begins with a judge going on for about 40 pages summarizing, for the jury, what happened during testimony at a murder trial -- Harriet Vane is on trial for the murder of her ex-boyfriend. So boring. And when Lord Peter and Harriet are finally on the page together, talking in her a jail cell, it’s like Rosalind Russell dialogue from His Girl Friday. Quip. Parry. Quip. So dated. And I *loved* Dorothy Sayers. Sigh. 

Fortunately I also picked up a copy of C. J. Box’s Joe Pickett novels. Terrific. And I’m getting ready to read Carol Goodman’s THE SEA OF LOST GIRLS with great anticipation.

DEBORAH CROMBIE: Hallie, I loved Blind Search, and A Borrowing of Bones, a couple of my favorite reads last year. And that’s very interesting about Dorothy Sayers. A  year or so ago I tried to reread Gaudy Night and found I just...couldn’t. It seemed overwritten and snarkily mean. Maybe I was just not in the right frame of mind, but it was disappointing. I loved Dorothy Sayers, too.

On the upside, I’ve just finished reading Ruth Reichl’s Save Me the Plums, which I’d started last year but got sidetracked, and I loved it. I’ve got her novel, Delicious, on Kindle. Has anybody read it? I’m also reading Girl, Woman, Other by Bernadine Evaristo, which was the co-winner of the Booker Prize last year. The language and characters are fabulous, but I’m not sure yet if there is actually a plot. I’ve started Jenn’s Buried to the Brim--such fun! And I’ve been reading my way through Barry Maitland’s Brock and Kolla detective novels, but I’m a bit burned out on them. Time for a break before the last couple to date in the series. 

LUCY: I read everything Ruth Reichl writes--loved SAVE ME THE PLUMS as well as DELICIOUS! Hope both she and Ann Mah come out with new novels soon...

JULIA SPENCER-FLEMING: Well, I’ve started a new series based on the fact I also liked Paula Munier’s A BORROWING OF BONES and BLIND SEARCH. I’m reading THE DARKEST THREAD by Jen Blood. She’s a Maine author I met at a library event (she and the fabulous Bruce Coffin read) and I was intrigued. It’s about a single mom whose business is both training dogs for law enforcement and rescue and working search-and-rescue herself. So far, so good. 

Right after the holidays, I read Stephen King’s THE INSTITUTE which is wonderful and creepy and so well-written. I tore through it the first time and then went back to see what he had done, because the book has an almost perfect four-act structure, and the novel I’m working on is a four-act as well. Best way to learn is by watching a master do it.

Then of course, I have my science-fiction read: GIDEON THE NINTH by Tamsyn Muir, which I picked up a couple months ago and finally got around to. It’s SO good, y’all. If you like SF/Fantasy, run, don’t walk to the bookseller and grab this before its sequel, HARROW THE NINTH comes out. It’s so unique and Muir’s prose is like a molotov cocktail thrown through an original edition of Frankenstein.

JENN McKINLAY: Oh, Julia, I loved GIDEON THE NINTH! It was recommended by my friend Kevin Hearne, fantasy author, and it did not disappoint - so original. I loved it! Currently, I just finished REAL MEN KNIT by Kwana Jackson. It was fabulous. A romcom set against the backdrop of friends and family trying to save the Harlem knitting shop when the owner, grandma to the neighborhood, passes away. Right now, I’m tucking into Dean James’s CARELESS WHISKERS, because any mystery set in a library is a-okay with me but his are particularly wonderful.

Your turn Reds--what are you reading?

What We're Reading

DEBORAH CROMBIE: I've had a request from one of our regular commenters (that would be you, Gigi Norwood!) for a "What We're Reading" update, because she needs some good new book suggestions! And we are happy to oblige.

I'm two thirds of the way through Tina Whittle's Tai Randolf #1, THE DANGEROUS EDGE OF THINGS, and I keep wanting to sneak off and finish it when I should be working.  We had Tina as a guest last week talking about her latest in the Tai Randolf series, #5, and I was so intrigued that I started the series from the beginning and I am loving it. (JRW gets me in so much book-buying trouble...)


Next up, THE NIGHTINGALE by Kristin Hannah, which just came out in paperback and looks fab.  And I've ordered THE ESSEX SERPENT, by Sarah Perry, which comes out in pb next week and is supposed to one of THE books of 2017.

On the non-fiction side, I'm reading BEATEN, SEARED, AND SAUCED by Jonathan Dixon on Kindle, a memoir of his training at the CIA (Culinary Institute of America.) (I plead research related.)

And in hardcover, Greg Easterbrook's IT'S BETTER THAN IT LOOKS, and A BRIEF HISTORY OF EVERYONE WHO EVER LIVED by Adam Rutherford. I heard Easterbrook on NPR and was so fascinated that I immediately bought the book, and the Rutherford was recommended by our own Ann Mason.

Oh, and I just finished Anthony Horowitz's HOUSE OF SILK. It's a Holmes pastiche, and very well done. I dare say Horowitz writes better than Doyle!

JENN McKINLAY: I just finished A BEAUTIFUL PLACE TO DIE by Malla Nunn. Set in 1950's apartheid South Africa, featuring Detective Emmanuel Cooper, it was a fantastic read. It fascinated me because I don't know much about that time and place but also the writing was crisp and clever, the characters sympathetic, and the relationships complex. In nonfiction, I am enjoying KNIT LOCAL: CELEBRATING AMERICA'S HOMEGROWN YARNS. I had no idea there were so many yarns handcrafted in the States. Now I want to visit them all. Next up is Anne Gracie's newly released MARRY IN SCANDAL because...Anne Gracie! No one writes regency romance as cleverly as she does. And then I will dive into WHY KILL THE INNOCENT by C. S. Harris because I am signing with Candi (C.S.) at the Poisoned Pen in May. I've told her before that  Sebastian St Cyr is my fictional boyfriend, but she insists he's actually hers. So rude. LOL.

INGRID THOFT: I’ve read a lot of intriguing things recently.  AN AMERICAN MARRIAGE by Tayari Jones is about a marriage that is put to the test when a black man is wrongly convicted of a crime and sent to prison in Louisiana.  He and his wife struggle to maintain their connection under the most difficult of circumstances.  THE FLIGHT ATTENDANT by Chris Bohjalian was a page-turner that I read in a matter of days.  An alcoholic flight attendant wakes up in a bed in Dubai next to a dead man.  What she did and who he was are just some of the questions that get answered in this suspenseful tale.  I’m currently reading MAGPIE MURDERS by Anthony Horowitz, which is a book within a book.  The story starts with a book editor reading her star author’s latest manuscript, a traditional mystery set in England in the 1950s.  I don’t want to give too much away, but the book toggles between that story and the present, and I’m equally engaged with both threads of the story.  On the non-fiction front, LOOK ALIVE OUT THERE, is a great collection of essays by the hilarious Sloane Crosley.  If you need an injection of humor into your life, look no further.

LUCY BURDETTE: Jenn, A BEAUTIFUL PLACE TO DIE was one of the top five Edgar nominees one of the years I served on that committee. I still remember it as an excellent book. I have recently finished DEATH AL FRESCO by Leslie Karst (she was a guest recently--love this series), HUMMUS AND HOMICIDE by Tina Kashian (ditto, guest, fun first in a new cozy series), and DEAD WATER by Ann Cleeves. Thanks to you all, I am now addicted to this series. Sadly, I'm getting toward the end of what's available, so I will have to beg her to hurry up and write! I may try a non-mystery next, maybe Elena Ferrante's MY BRILLIANT FRIEND, or Amy Bloom's WHITE HOUSES, or Joshilyn Jackson's GODS IN ALAMBAMA? I hate this in between feeling so suggestions warmly welcomed!

HALLIE EPHRON: I'm reading a wonderful book, THE WIDOWS by Jess Montgomery (a pseudonym for Sharon Short) and it will be published by Minotaur, but you'll have to wait for it to come out. It's a historical mystery set in Ohio coal country in the 1920s. Keep an eye on it. It's a winner. And a book that Lucy recommended by Karen Joy Fowler, WE ARE COMPLETELY BESIDE OURSELVES, beckons. I've also added AXIOS to my daily mashup of newsfeeds that are keeping me from getting my novel finished.

HANK PHILLIPPI RYAN: Oh, I loved MAGPIE MURDERS, Ingrid, (can't wait to read his upcoming one) and THE FLIGHT ATTENDANT, too. Because things are all coincidence, I was in an airport, and needed a book and the was absolutely nothing,..until I saw A TALENT FOR MURDER by Andrew Wilson. It's the mostly-fiction story of why Agatha Christie disappeared for those two weeks.  I completely adored it! And have scarfed up all of his books now.  Kate Moretti's THE VANISHING YEAR! Yay.  I love Wallace Stroby, and am reading his terrific upcoming SOME DIE NAMELESS,  and got to love Alafair Burke's THE WIFE.  I am judging for a contest, though, and cannot talk about most of the stuff I'm reading!  (And thank you Gigi, I love doing this and hearing about everyone's reading!)

JULIA SPENCER-FLEMING: In audiobooks, I'm still working my way through OREGON TRAIL: A NEW AMERICAN JOURNEY by Rinker Buck. Not that it's a slog, just that I'm (thankfully) not in my car as frequently as I used to be. In my hot little hands, but haven't started it yet: HEAD ON, John Scalzi's sequel to his near-future police procedural LOCK IN. Interestingly, as a SF reader, I'm seeing a lot more mash-ups of science fiction and mystery - mostly from writers known for the former. I'll be interested to see if some crime fiction authors get into the genre-splicing game.

I'm also reading my way through the Agatha Best First Mystery nominees. I'm on THE PLOT IS MURDER by V.M. Burns, which has a delightful mystery-within-a-mystery story; and Kellye Garrett's HOLLYWOOD HOMICIDE - great characters and and a genuinely fun read. I can see why both of them nabbed the nomination.

RHYS BOWEN: I'm impressed with the amount of time the rest of the Reds seem to have to read. I find it impossible to read fiction when I'm writing as I tend to pick up another writer's style. I mailed off my latest book to the editor a couple of weeks ago and since then I have been reading nothing but books to blurb. I seem to have become the blurb queen of historical fiction these days. If there is any book about a British aristocrat in the first half of the 20th Century it is sent to me. I can't tell you about the books as they are not yet published but I enjoyed them.

 But what I am also doing is re-reading Louise Penny's series in order as I have to interview her at Malice next week. However, I'm going to Europe at the end of May and my Kindle is already loaded with things I want to read, have been dying to read.

DEBS: It's so interesting how different our reading choices are, but at the same time, books on my to-read or have-read list turn up on other people's lists. Now, if we follow even a few of these suggestions, I don't think any of us will run out of things to read anytime soon...

(And I haven't even mentioned my Bookbub addiction, which means that I buy mumble mumble $2 books a week for my Kindle--enough to keep me in reading matter for the next two-hundred or so years!)

READERS, tell us what you're reading that you love love love and that we should add to our lists!