Mystery/Thriller Reading Friends discussion

Another good month of reading.

Here are my September reads:

Top Reads

Into the Blue
Robert Goddard
Typical Goddard book in that it had great characters, a very deliberate and well constructed plot, and interesting settings. I really enjoyed this book just as I have his others.

The Cruelest Month
Louise Penny
A visit to Three Pines with Chief Inspector Gamache is always entertaining and this entry was no exception. I love all the characters, the plot was pretty good, and the audio narration by Ralph Cosham was excellent.

Ammunition
Ken Bruen
I really enjoy this series and am sorry to see that this one is the last one published so far. Brant is a one of a kind character and I love the author's writing style.

Good Reads

Brightness Reef
David Brin
Started a bit slow but once the story got going I was very engaged. I did not realize though that this was really just part one of a larger story since the previous books set in the universe had self-contained stories. I listened to the audio version which was read by George Wilson who always does a great job with the various alien and human voices.

The 500
Matthew Quirk
A suspense thriller set in Washington D.C. that was really quite silly but fairly entertaining. The plot was a bit derivative and low on the plausibility scale but the pacing was fast and I found the first person narration by Jay Snyder excellent and worth another star for my rating.

Swan Song
Edmund Crispin
Classic golden age type mystery featuring Gervase Fen, an Oxford don, who is a well known crime solver. The book is set just after World War 2 in Oxford where an opera house is preparing to perform Wagner for the first time since the war but murder soon intervenes. The plot was suitably tricky, the characters all well rounded, and I enjoyed picking up bits and pieces about Wagner while listening. The audio narration was performed by Philip Bird who did a stellar job.

Anatomy of Murder
Imogen Robertson
A quite agreeable historical mystery set in England in 1781. While the plot was perhaps a bit over complicated the depiction of the characters, both high born and from the slums, was quite good and the workings of the London opera was interesting. Listened to the audio version which was narrated by Jenny Sterlin who was fine.

Gallows Lane
Brian McGilloway
A good second outing for DI Benedict Devlin who works the Irish side of the border between Ireland and Northern Ireland. The plotting was good, the setting was interesting, and really my only complaint was that I wish the writing was a bit tighter.

The Drop
Dennis Lehane
Usually I think most novels are too long but I wish this one had a few more pages so some of the characters could have been a bit more fleshed out. I did enjoy this dark crime novel set in Boston though and have high hopes that the movie version will be pretty good too.

When in Greece
Emma Lathen
The always controlled and urbane John Putnam Thatcher of the Sloan Guaranty Trust must travel to Greece where a coup has disrupted negotiations between the bank and the government and, even worse, one of his junior trust officers has disappeared. This entry had quite a bit more action and suspense than previous books but was still well written with the understated humor that I enjoy.

The Wanderers,
Richard Price
The author's debut book published back in 1974. A group of guys come of age in the early 1960s in the Bronx. The dialogue was quite authentic (graphically sexist and racist) and the characters realistic. Parts of the book were humorous but mostly it was dark, violent, and bleak.

OK Read

Collision Low Crossers: A Year Inside the Turbulent World of NFL Football
Nicholas Dawidoff
This was a tremendously hyped sports book that takes the reader behind the scenes with the New York Jets during the 2011 season. Unfortunately for me I found it quite boring in places and it became a bit of a chore to finish. The book's main focus was on the assistant coaches and the interminable meetings and film sessions that occurred throughout the season.

Good month, Sandi! I have enjoyed a couple of the Ken Bruen series that includes Ammunition, out of order so may try to get that jump started from the beginning on Kindle Unlimited. (the first three are available that way) I also really like his writing style. Your description of Swan Song catches my eye too. Tempting!

Sandi Great month

Good books!

Ann wrote: "Good month, Sandi! I have enjoyed a couple of the Ken Bruen series that includes Ammunition, out of order so may try to get that jump started from the beginning on Kindle Unlimited (the first three are available that way) I also really like his writing style. Your description of Swan Song catches my eye too. Tempting!..."

I read the first three books in the Brant series one after the other since they were all included in The White Trilogy: A White Arrest, Taming the Alien, and The McDead.

The Fen series is really fun. The Moving Toyshop was # 72 on the Mystery Writers of America's list of 100 best mysteries of all time and # 25 on the list by the British Crime Writers Association.

Nice mix as usual, Sandi.

I almost started the Fen series when the British Mysteries GR group was reading the first, but I never got to it. This brings it back on my radar screen.

I should look at those "best of"lists for mysteries to see what I've missed.

Carol/Bonadie wrote: "

I almost started the Fen series when the British Mysteries GR group was reading the first, but I never got to it. This brings it back on my radar screen.

I should look at those "best of"lists for mysteries to see what I've missed..."

I like the best of lists though the books can be a bit hit or miss.

Here is a link to the Wikpedia page which has both of the lists: Top 100 Crime Novels

Sandi wrote: "

Here is a link to the Wikpedia page which has both of the lists: Top 100 Crime Novels ..."

Thanks, Sandi. It would be amusing to see how many I've read, but I'm guessing fewer than a third as many are "vintage".

The lists are from 1990; I wonder how it would look now, 24 years later?

Carol/Bonadie wrote: "Thanks, Sandi. It would be amusing to see how many I've read, but I'm guessing fewer than a third as many are "vintage".

The lists are from 1990; I wonder how it would look now, 24 years later? "

I think there would be quite a few changes with some additions of some books by authors like Dennis Lehane and probably Stieg Larsson.