People always ask (I know, I ask too)
how you decide what to read next. Might as well ask, how do you decide
what to read, period? I have a list of favorite authors whose books I
read when they come out but for newer writers or ones I don't know I
tend to lean on recommendations from friends, reviews here or on other
blogs, plus newspaper and magazine reviews. If they sound interesting
to me, I'll check them out.
Chris Knopf had two earlier series set
in the Hamptons but this is the first in a new series.
Apparently Bill
Crider reviewed it when it came out last year but somehow his review
did not make enough of an impression on my brain until I read his review
of the sequel a few weeks ago, linking back to his Dead Anyway review. Then I thought, this sounds good. And it is.
How's this for starting with a bang?
Arthur Cathcart, an overweight 40ish guy working at home doing market
research and other high end computer research, married to a gorgeous
woman who owns a real estate firm near their home in Connecticut, comes
home from a walk to find his wife sitting on the couch and a man holding
a gun on her. The man insists she answers five questions written on a
paper, and to emphasize his seriousness, he shoots her husband in the
thigh. She answers the questions only to have the man, clearly a hired
killer, shoot her in the head and kill her. Then he shoots Cathcart,
who somehow doesn't die.
Now you may be able to resist seeing
what happens next, but I sure couldn't. Cathcart is gravely injured and
decides (with the help of his physician sister) to stay dead and use
his computer skills to discover who killed his wife and why, not easy in
the post-9/11 world. But first he has to recover enough physically and
mentally to be able to act. Along the way he gets some help from a
woman named Natsumi Fitzgerald, who throws her lot in with his.
I really enjoyed this one and will be reading the sequel as soon as it comes in to the library. Definitely recommended.
Mark Baker, THE DEATH OF AN AMBITIOUS WOMAN, Barbara Ross
Les Blatt, MY KINGDOM FOR A HORSE, Craig Rice
Brian Busby, ROUGHING IT IN THE BUSH, Susannah Moody
CrossExaminingCrime, The Family Affair (1980) and Breakaway: The Local Affair (1980) by Francis Durbridge
Martin Edwards, LAURA, Vera Caspary
Curt Evans, DEATH GOES TO SCHOOL, Q. Patrick
Richard Horton, The 13th Immortal, by Robert Silverberg/This Fortress World, by James E. Gunn
Jerry House, THE PLAGUE OF SILENCE, John Creasey
Margot Kinberg, DEATH ON DEMAND, Carolyn Hart
George Kelley, YEAR’S BEST SCIENCE FICTION STORIES: 1954 Edited by Everette F. Bleiler T. E. Dikty
Rob Kitchin, STRAIGHT MAN, Richard Russo
B.V. Lawson, AN AMIABLE CHARLATAN, E. Phillips Oppenheim
Evan Lewis, YOU ONLY LIVE TWICE, Ian Fleming
Steve Lewis/Barry Gardner, AH TREACHERY, Ross Thomas
Todd Mason, THE BEST FROM FANTASY AND SCIENCE FICTION 11th Series edited by Robert P. Mills; THE GHOUL KEEPERS edited by Leo Margulies
J.F. Norris, THE DEVIL AND Ben Franklin, Theodore Mathiessen
Matt Paust, GORKY PARK, Martin Cruz Smith
James Reasoner, THE BRONZE AXE, Jeffrey Lord
Richard Robinson, WEST OF GUAM: THE COMPLETE CASES OF JO GAR, Raoul Whitfield
Gerard Saylor, THE 57 BUS, Dashka Slater
Kevin Tipple, Barry Ergang, POLITICALLY CORRECT BEDTIME STORIES, James Finn Garner
TomCat, FOUR CORNERS, Theodore Roscoe
TracyK, THEY DO IT WITH MIRRORS, Agatha Christie
11 comments:
I'm so sorry I forgot to e-mail you last night. I actually have one as well: The Death of an Ambitious Woman by Barbara Ross. http://carstairsconsiders.blogspot.com/2018/07/book-review-death-of-ambitious-woman-by.html
Mark-I am going to add your blog to my list and then I should see when one comes up.
You are very fast! Thanks so much. :)
I don't have reviews for FFBs every week, so I will try to send e-mails when I do as well. Between both of us, we should get them all.
Mine is up now, Patti: THE PLAGUE OF SILENCE, a Dr. Palfrey thriller by John Creasey.
Here's my post for this week:
The Devil & Ben Franklin by Theodore Mathieson
Thank you, as ever, for including my stuff, Patti. And thanks for mentioning Knopf's work. I really do need to some of those books...
I've just been advised, and it's true, the George's link is failing above...and thanks for the assembly!
The link to Rick Robinson's Jo Gar post gets a 404 error as well.
As always, thank you for including my blog, Patti.
Rick Robinson's link doesn't open, Patti. :'(
Try this one: https://tipthewink.net/2018/07/12/ffb-west-of-guam-the-complete-cases-of-jo-gar/
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