(Jeff Meyerson, from the archives)
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.
Yvette Banek, TRAITOR'S PURSE, Margery Allingham Les Blatt, DEATH MAKES A PROPHET, John Bude
Brian Busby, THE GERRARD STREET MYSTERY, John Charles Dent
Martin Edwards, MURDER ON THE SECOND FLOOR, Frank Vosper
Curt Evans, THE MURDERS NEAR MAPLETON, Brian Flynn
Richard Horton, POINT OF HONOUR, Madeleine Robins
Jerry House, THE MOUSETRAP AND OTHER PLAYS, Agatha Christie
Margot Kinberg, HARRIET SAID, Beryl Bainbridge
Rob Kitchin, SOLO HAND, Bill Moody
Evan Lewis, D'ARTAGNAN, H. Bedford Jones
Steve Lewis, "The National Debt" Leslie Charteris
Todd Mason, THE SCOTT FORESMAN INVITATION TO WRITING PROGRAM. ed, Helen Robinson et al
Neer, LOST HORIZONS, James Hilton
J.F. Norris, MERRIDREW FOLLOWS THE TRAIL, John Russell Fearn
Matt Paust, NIGHT TRAIN TO LISBON, Pascal Mercier
James Reasoner, KISS AND KILL, Richard Deming
Gerard Saylor, ALAN'S WAR, Emmanuel Guilbert
Kevin Tipple, TEXAS VIGILANTE, Bill Crider
TomCat, THE CASE OF THE AMATEUR ACTOR, Christopher Busch
TracyK, THE BIG BOOK OF CHRISTMAS MYSTERIES, ed. Otto Penzler
Prashant Trikannad, DEAD LINE, Stella Rimington
Yvette Banek, TRAITOR'S PURSE, Margery Allingham Les Blatt, DEATH MAKES A PROPHET, John Bude
Brian Busby, THE GERRARD STREET MYSTERY, John Charles Dent
Martin Edwards, MURDER ON THE SECOND FLOOR, Frank Vosper
Curt Evans, THE MURDERS NEAR MAPLETON, Brian Flynn
Richard Horton, POINT OF HONOUR, Madeleine Robins
Jerry House, THE MOUSETRAP AND OTHER PLAYS, Agatha Christie
Margot Kinberg, HARRIET SAID, Beryl Bainbridge
Rob Kitchin, SOLO HAND, Bill Moody
Evan Lewis, D'ARTAGNAN, H. Bedford Jones
Steve Lewis, "The National Debt" Leslie Charteris
Todd Mason, THE SCOTT FORESMAN INVITATION TO WRITING PROGRAM. ed, Helen Robinson et al
Neer, LOST HORIZONS, James Hilton
J.F. Norris, MERRIDREW FOLLOWS THE TRAIL, John Russell Fearn
Matt Paust, NIGHT TRAIN TO LISBON, Pascal Mercier
James Reasoner, KISS AND KILL, Richard Deming
Gerard Saylor, ALAN'S WAR, Emmanuel Guilbert
Kevin Tipple, TEXAS VIGILANTE, Bill Crider
TomCat, THE CASE OF THE AMATEUR ACTOR, Christopher Busch
TracyK, THE BIG BOOK OF CHRISTMAS MYSTERIES, ed. Otto Penzler
Prashant Trikannad, DEAD LINE, Stella Rimington
13 comments:
Thanks for including my post, Patti. Dead Anyway sounds like a good read - glad you enjoyed it.
Mine's up now. Happy New Year!
Merridrew Follows the Trail by John Russell Fearn
Jerry House's link says no such blog. I hope Jerry's okay!
Ah, I see the "J" is missin from the URL.
Here's the fix: http://jerryshouseofeverything.blogspot.com/2017/12/forgotten-book-mousetrap-and-other-plays.html
The week got away from me, Patti. I'm still working on the post but maybe I'll just leave it for next Friday. Thanks for your patience with this lazy old lady. :)
It always amazes me how often you do it.
Thanks, Patti. And here we are, I did finish it and it's up on my blog as we speak.:) I got unlazy. Ha.
One of my more pleasant tasks is selecting my next book to read
You don't want to go forward with the First Book by a New For You Writer challenge for next week? This might be an impractical if poetic (new year/new writer) timing, but do you feel like going forward with it later in January?
Not that the new-to-me-writer books I have at hand can't be simply done without the challenge...
Since I never really talked about it at all, I figured no one will have done it. Including me. But am happy to have one if you did. I have a few books set aside but my reading has been abysmal. I just keep doing edits on my own work right now.
Happy New Year, have a great 2018 Patti.
Thanks, Steve. Looking forward to meeting up again.
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