AAR

[Tee]

Don't know if this thread will fly or if there's enough interest out there for an ongoing Suspense/Mystery thread, but let's try. Nothing ventured, nothing gained. I'll begin with my most recent suspense book.

Kill You Twice by Chelsea Cain

Another book in her series of Archie and Gretchen, although Gretchen is not playing that large a part in these recent stories, which is a good thing. I love Cain's writing, so I'm willing to put up with the Gretchen link, but I would probably be just as happy to say goodbye to her and have him continue on trying to get his life in some sort of order.

I like what Cain is doing with his character still. He's so totally screwed personally, but he's on his game being a detective. Susan's character has never appealed to me and I would not mind if a substitute was found for her. In the meantime, I'll be anxiously awaiting her next thriller in which I'm sure there will be a Gretchen connection.

[Tinabelle]

I read a lot of mysteries although not necessarily romances; I really like historical mysteries, too. I'm always looking for new titles/authors so I hope the thread flies, too. I created a huge list from the blog post on mysteries and am anxious to check them out.

I recently started the Maisie Dobbs series by Jacqueline Winspear and just finished book #2 - Birds of a Feather. The books are set in 1920's England and are rich in historical detail. Maisie is an unusual woman - a Cambridge trained psychologist who opens a detective agency. I am finding plots interesting and characters that are complex.

Right now I am waiting excitedly for the next installment in Louise Penny's Inspector Gamache series. Comes out on Aug. 28th. Woo hoo!
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So many books; so little time!
www.shelfari.com/tinabelle

[Tee]

Here's another from within the past week I've read.

Gone Missing by Linda Castillo

The most recent book in her current ongoing series featuring Chief Kate Burkholder and Agent John Tomasetti. Both of these characters are excellent at their game, but their personal lives leave much to be desired. They're working at it--sometimes winning and sometimes failing. That's the appeal here with following their journies.

This particular book is involved with missing Amish teenagers who have rebelled somewhat from their strict upbringings. Linda Castillo is an excellent writer who brings authenticity to this story and I loved it from beginning to end.

[JudyZ6666]

[MEK]

Great thread idea!

I also copied the suggested mystery series from the recent blog. I have not read a lot of mysteries especially in the romance genre, but I'm getting burned out on historicals and there are only so many paranormals series I want to keep track of at one time. Otherwise I get confused on the world building!

In recent years I've enjoyed Diane Mott Davidson's Goldy Schulz series about a caterer. I would highly recommend Alexander McCall Smith's No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency series with Precious Ramotswe set in Botswana. Its completely unique and delightful. I've neglected both these series, but may get back to them.

In romantic suspense many have mentioned Prey by Sandra Brown and I thought it was great. The HEA was particularly well done and a change from the usual.

I still have the entire In Death series to read! Yikes!

[Leigh]

I read the latest by P.J. Tracy - The Monkeewrench crew - review is coming.

I also dipping my toe in the mystery waters a little more too. Have Nancy Bush's latest to review Nowhere to Run(haven't started it yet)

Also have David Baldacci's latest - The Innocent in my TBR pile.
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Gone to Rainbow Bridge - Lily 2000-2011

[dick]

"The Sound of a Scream" by John Manning. More a gothic than a suspense, its heroine is a young woman hired as a governess straight from a convent school. The former patriarch of the family who hires her had been a serial killer who lured his victims dressed as a clown. The clown returns. The romance is almost tangential.

[Minerva]

I've been on a mystery binge for the past few weeks.

Several of you posted about Karin Slaughter in the Recently Read thread. OMG I just can't put her books down! I've read through all the Will Trent books. I'm reading Criminal right now.

So, thanks for the recent recommendation and keep them coming!

[Tee]

[MMcA]

There was a review on Dear Author about a week ago of the latest Tana French book. Someone in the comments mentioned they were worth reading in order, so I started with the first 'In the Woods'.

Blurb from Amazon: When he was twelve years old, Adam Ryan went playing in the woods one day with his two best friends. He never saw them again. Their bodies were never found, and Adam himself was discovered with his back pressed against an oak tree and his shoes filled with blood. He had no memory of what had happened.

Twenty years on, Rob Ryan - the child who came back - is a detective in the Dublin police force. He's changed his name. No one knows about his past. Then a little girl's body is found at the site of the old tragedy and Rob is drawn back into the mystery. Knowing that he would be thrown off the case if his past were revealed, Rob takes a fateful decision to keep quiet but hope that he might also solve the twenty-year-old mystery of the woods.

I really enjoyed it. She writes well, and it's an interesting idea, but the mystery is still guessable. So I then flew on to the next 'The Likeness' which is connected, in that the detective was the partner of the detective from the first book.


Still traumatised by her brush with a psychopath, Detective Cassie Maddox transfers out of the Murder squad and starts a relationship with fellow detective Sam O'Neill. When he calls her to the scene of his new case, she is shocked to find that the murdered girl is her double. What's more, her ID shows she is Lexie Madison - the identity Cassie used, years ago, as an undercover detective. With no leads, no suspects and no clues to Lexie's real identity, Cassie's old boss spots the opportunity of a lifetime: send Cassie undercover in her place, to tempt the killer out of hiding to finish the job.

This one, I wasn't so keen on - it depends so much on the reader being able to believe that a woman could have a double so exact that they could substitute for each other, and I couldn't. And she conceals evidence from her superiors - it just all was a bit hard to buy in to. I'll probably read on with the series, but I've lost that got-to-have-the-next-one-now feeling.

And I finally read Susanna Kearsley's 'The Splendour Falls' yesterday. I was travelling, and it was hot and busy, so that may have contributed to my not enjoying as much as I've enjoyed her other books. Certainly, as always, the writing is lovely and transports you - she writes evocatively about places - but there were a lot of characters to keep straight, and she killed the one I was rooting for as hero. It was suspenseful, and it was good, but I've enjoyed her other books more.

Currently I'm starting Sherri Cobb South's 'A Dead Bore' because she mentioned on the Writer's News forum that it was available as an ebook. I've only read a very little, but I'm slightly worried that I'd have been better to read the first in the series first - it has the feel of a connected story.

And I probablty should mention Ben Aaronovitch - again, it's a Dear Author rec from the end of July. I'd heard of the books before, but I'd somehow got the notion they were violent and dark, and I like my mysteries cosy. Not that I'd particularly count these as proper mysteries: I never have a clue who did it or why - but the narrator is charming, and they're funny, and while there's the odd dark moment, so far the good outweighs the bad by a long way. I tore through the three books one after the other, and enjoyed them a great deal.

[LinnieGayl]

Great thread!

I will be starting over the weekend Before I Go to Sleep by S.J. Watson for my mystery book group. I'm trying to finish it a bit early so I can read Louise Penny's next Inspector Gamache book when it comes out on August 28.

And JudyZ6666 up thread mentioned the "Sarah Kelling and Max Bittersohn." The series should definitely be read in order but has a lovely romantic thread between the two.
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LinnieGayl

[Manda]

[Tee]

[Manda]

[Margaret]