Secret Identity by Alex Segura

 

Carmen Valdez has come to New York after a disastrous love affair in her hometown of Miami.  She has landed a job as a secretary at Triumph Comics, her dream profession.  She hopes to eventually work her way up to being a writer as she has been working on a female hero for several years on her own.

When a co-worker gets the chance to write something for the boss, Carmen is disappointed it wasn't her.  But the co-worker asks her to collaborate with him.  Carmen gives him six of her female character's, The Lethal Lynx, scripts only to find that he turns them all in to the boss with no cowriter credit for her, claiming the work as his own.  Carmen goes to his apartment to confront him, only to find him lying dead, shot in the head.

Who would kill him?  When the police don't seem to be making any progress on the case, Carmen starts to investigate herself.  Another woman in the comic business is attacked and put in a coma and then Carmen herself is targeted.  What is the secret that someone doesn't want to come out?

This was an interesting novel apart from the mystery itself, which was great.  I enjoyed the setting of New York in the 1960's and 70's and the look into the comic business before the advent of graphic novels.  Carmen is gay and her love affairs add another dimension to the story as does the difficulty of being a woman in a man's world before women gained more equality in the work place. I listened to this novel and the narrator was great as Carmen.    This book is recommended for mystery readers. 

Stella Maris by Cormac McCarthy

 

Alicia Western, twenty, has come to the psychiatric hospital Stella Maris and checked herself in.  She has been there several other times in the past as she doesn't fit into the world.  Alicia has come from Europe where her beloved brother Bobby has crashed his race car and is in a coma.  Pressed to make a decision about whether to withdraw life support, she has fled back to the States and the hospital which she considers a refuge.

The novel is told as a series of sessions between Alicia and her therapist.  Alicia is brilliant, a mathematician who only a few can follow.  But her brilliance also means that few can really engage with her and it leaves her lonely and questioning existence.  She also has hallucinations, the main one being The Kid, a dwarf with flippers for arms.  

This is the second book in the series The Passenger.  The first was Bobby's story and this is Alicia's.  The fate of these two siblings is forever intertwined.  This is not an easy book to read as the philosophy, physics and mathematics are not entry level but these subjects are all interests of McCarthy.  He is considered one of the best of American authors and this duology may be his last work.  This book is recommended for readers of literary fiction.  

All The Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr

 

Blinded at six years by a disease, Marie-Laure lives with her father in Paris.  He is the lockmaster at the Museum Of Natural History where he overseas thousands of locks.  To give Marie some independence, he makes an exact model of the blocks between their apartment and the museum so that she can study it and eventually make her own way around her home.  But this is the 1940's and Paris is not safe.  The Germans will soon occupy it so Marie and her father make their way to a small French town on the coast where his uncle lives.  Etienne has not left his house in several decades, afraid of the things he sees after his own war experience. 

Werner is a German orphan, living with his sister in a home in a mining town in Germany.  He knows that he will be sent underground at age fifteen to the same mines that killed his father.  But Werner is brilliant, able to repair almost anything mechanical and especially radios.  His aptitude is noted and he is sent to one of the premier schools in Germany and then finally to the front where his job is to locate the transmitters of the Resistance so that they can be stopped and those who risk their lives to exchange information imprisoned or killed.  At last they come to the same town where Marie-Laure and Etienne live.  They have become part of the Resistance and their broadcasts are the ones the Germans most want to stop.

By now, the war is almost over and the Americans are about to take back the town.  This means that the town becomes a battlefield.  The two meet when the battle is over and Werner helps Marie to escape the town.  She shows him her secrets, including the diamond that her father had been trusted to leave the museum with to preserve it from capture.  

This book won the Pulitzer Prize and was a National Book Award finalist.  Doerr tells the story of these two individuals forever marked by the war in alternating chapters.  The reader sees the tragedy of war through the lives of Marie and Warner and the love that sustains even in wartime.  This book is recommended for readers of historical and literary fiction.

The Boys From Santa Cruz by Jonathan Nasaw

 

Luke Sweet didn't have much of a chance in life.  Raised by a serial killer father and his partner, Little Luke managed to escape when the police came for them.  Raised with little school but plenty of drugs and violence, he went to his grandparents, hoping to live with them but they turned him in to the police and he was put in a juvenile center.  There he was taken on a wilderness trip that ended up with two other juveniles dead, deaths that were put on Luke's list. When he is caught this time, he is put into a mental hospital and drugged into compliance.

Ten years later, FBI Agent E.L. Pender hears about a mental hospital that had a gas explosion with lots of patient deaths.  Pender had been part of the team that took down Big Luke and when deaths occur to those close to Little Luke, he believes that the son has somehow escaped and is now taking revenge.  He goes back to California to finish what he started all those years ago.  Will he be successful this time?

I'd forgotten how much I like Jonathan Nasaw.  His thriller are not for the faint-hearted as they are full of violence and gore, but Pender is an engaging character and his adventures are always fun to read.  He sees what other law enforcement seem to miss and his policy of ask forgiveness instead of permission is engaging.  This book is recommended for thriller readers. 

All The Colors Of Darkness by Peter Robinson

 

DI Annie Cabbot is called out to a death.  A man's body has been found in the woods, the death a suicide by hanging.  The man, when identified, was a set designer at the local theatre.   When police go to his address, they find another body, that of his partner, a retired man who had spent much of his adult life abroad.  This man had been beat to death with a cricket bat.

What could have caused such a scenario?  DCI Alan Banks discovers the older man was the son of a famous woman who owned one of the most successful retail establishments in England.  Even more surprising, she tells Banks that her son had been a spy for his country, thus the time spent overseas.

Now the field was wide open.  Had the death of the second man been a lover's quarrel gone wrong and the hanging a result of guilt and loss?  Had the deaths been committed by another country's spies?  Or our own?  Banks is visited by a representative of M16 and it leaves a bad taste in his mouth.  He refuses to be warned off.  But as the investigation proceeds, Banks starts to believe the answer lies in one of Shakespeare's plays.  

This is the eighteenth in the DCI Alan Banks series.  Alan has a new girlfriend in this one, a woman much younger than himself who lives in London.  His boss wants to close down the investigation quickly but Banks refuses to be pressured by the government and works the case on his forced vacation days.  I didn't care for this one as much as others in the series but it is well written and readers who enjoy spy stories will enjoy this one.  This book is recommended for mystery readers.

Holmes Marple & Poe by James Patterson and Brian Sitts

 

The newest investigators in town are Brendan Holmes, Margaret Marple and Auguste Poe.  Where have they come from and are they really related to the famous ancestors they claim?  Regardless of their back story, they are effective and solve cases that have the police running circles.

Currently, they have three cases they are working.  One is a locked room mystery where rare books were stolen somehow.  Another is a kidnapping case where a young girl and her stepfather have been taken and there is a ransom demand.  A third case starts when they uncover a mass grave under the subway system that has scores of young women's bodies.  Can they solve the cases?

This is the start of a fun series.  Poe is a womanizer who loves cars.  Miss Marple has a checkered history and many secrets while Holmes is a computer hacker whose penchant for drugs can place any investigation in peril.  The three live together and work together and solve the cases they are given.  This book is recommended for mystery readers. 

Day One by Abigail Dean

 

At the end of every school year, there's the Day One ceremony.  The current students put on a program for the students who will be coming next year so that their first day is a memory of fun.  Mrs. Ward is everyone's favorite teacher, the one who makes every pupil feel wanted and who spends time preparing riveting lessons.  Marty is her daughter and was the town's golden girl until she failed her exams and didn't get a place at university.  Marty now works at the school teaching sports to the kids.

But today's program is different.  Part way through, when Mrs. Ward's class is performing, a gunman breaks in and starts firing.  Before all is done, people are dead and many are injured.  The dead include students and Mrs. Ward, who dies trying to save her class.  The local policeman's son, Oliver, is also among the dead.  The shooter, who had worked at the school for a while, is also dead.

At first the country is horrified and Marty and her mother are seen as heroes.  Mrs. Ward for her actions and Marty as the person who gave the first interview about what happened afterwards before she even found out her mother was dead.  But soon the conspiracy theorists start up.  Why wasn't the town's policeman there?  Did Mrs. Ward really save anyone?  What secrets does Marty hold?  Trent used to live in the town and remembers the shooter as a friend to a lonely boy.  He falls in with the radio commentator who heads up the conspiracy theorists and soon is chief among them.  What was the truth of Day One?

This is Abigail Dean's second novel.  Her first was Girl A and was a bestseller both in her native England and in the United States.  She has a way of writing suspense that is different from the average thriller.  Her work is full of secrets that are slowly revealed, changing the reader's thoughts about what happened from revelation to revelation.  This book is recommended for mystery readers.

The Devil's Feast by M.J. Carter

 

Captain Avery has come to London from his rural estate to help his old friend Blake.  Blake has ended up in debtor's prison, the infamous Marshalsea, not because he really owes a debt but because he has refused a case from a man high up in government.  Avery tries to get Blake to change his mind and be released but to no avail.  

Avery is invited to dinner with the renowned chef, Monsieur Soyer at the Reform Club.  Avery and Blake had managed to get their friend, Matty, a place in the kitchens there and she is doing well.  But all is not well at the Reform.  A man sickens after the dinner and Avery stays to help as it appears to be cholera and he had experience with that in India.  The man dies and it turns out to be arsenic.  The club asks Avery to stay and look into the death as there is soon to be a major diplomatic dinner there.  Avery knows that Blake is the real detective in their partnership but agrees to do what he can.

Things get worse with more deaths.  Blake escapes and comes to help Avery.  Can they solve the case before more people die and Chef Soyer loses his reputation?

This is the third and final book in the Blake and Avery series and I'm sorry to see it come to an end.  I love the time period in the mid 1800's and the world of men's dining clubs and the Victorian era.  The two men are similar to Sherlock and Watson, although Blake is definitely not a refined Victorian gentleman but much closer to the streets.  The friendship between the two men was forged during their time serving in India and while they seem an unlikely pair for friendship, it has been forged in danger and they have admiration for each other.  This book is recommended for mystery readers. 

The Eighth Sister by Robert Dugoni

 

Charles Jenkins thought he had it all together as he entered his sixties.  He had found the love of his life, Alex, and married her.  They had a nine year old son and another baby on the way.  He had his own security company, based on his former work for the CIA when he was young.  But his biggest client is far behind on payments and it's causing Jenkins financial woes.  He has had to take out loans to make payroll and worse, had to put his family farm up for collateral.  When his former CIA boss shows up unexpectedly, Jenkins is willing to listen to him.

The man explains that they need someone to go to Russia for a quick mission.  For decades, there have been seven women who have spied for the Americans there.  They are buried deep in the Russian government and should have been safe.  But two of them have been killed recently and it's feared that under torture, they could have given information that could make finding the others possible.  There is a woman assassin called The Eighth Sister who would kill them all.  Since Charles has a branch of his company in Moscow and CIA experience, he would be the perfect person to go and find the name of the eighth sister.

Jenkins reluctantly agrees and there are issues as soon as he arrives.  It is clear that he is being watched and he barely escapes Moscow with the help of a woman who is obviously another of the sisters.  She helps him get out of Moscow and eventually, with the help of his lawyer and a contact in Mexico, Jenkins gets home.  But when he tries to report what is going on, the CIA denies they had hired him and he is arrested for treason.  Can Jenkins reclaim his former life?

Robert Dugoni is known for his Tracy Crosswhite series and other spy and legal thriller series.  This is the first in the three Charles Jenkins books.  Dugoni can't write a bad book which is obvious to me because spy novels aren't my favorite but I enjoyed this one.  It is split into two parts.  The first is the spy trip Jenkins takes to Russia and the second is a courtroom drama at his treason trial.  I liked the first part better as it was more exciting.  This book is recommended for readers of spy novels.

The Devil & Sherlock Holmes by David Grann

 

This anthology is a series of twelve nonfiction articles that David Grann has written over the years.  Those readers hoping for stories about Sherlock Holmes will be disappointed.  Only the first article has anything to do with the famous detective.  It is about the search, over the years, for a cache of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's papers and who eventually ended up with them.  

This is a varied list.  One story relates the search of marine biologists for a viable specimen of the giant squid.  Another story tells of an arson in Texas in which three children died and whether the man who was executed for their murder was really responsible.  A cold case investigator in Poland and the man he brought to justice years after he wrote a story outlining the murder is a topic.  Another man in France who spent his life impersonating missing children is highlighted.  

The men that devote their lives to digging the tunnels under New York to carry the city's water are a topic as is the story of a fireman's day on 911 and his inability to remember what he did that day in the disaster.  There is a profile of baseball great, Ricky Henderson and one of a man who spent his entire life as a bank robber and escape artist.  The Aryan Brotherhood, also known as The Brand, and its members are highlighted in another article.  

David Grann is known for his intensive research and bestselling nonfiction books such as Killers Of The Flower Moon and The Lost City Of Z.  His books have been turned into movies and documentaries.  He is also a staffer at the New Yorker.  This book is a good introduction to his wide ranging interest as readers can pick and choose those articles that are interesting to them.  My favorite was probably The Old Man And The Gun about the lifelong bank robber and his escape from Alcatraz.  This book is recommended for nonfiction readers.

The Darkest Place by Phillip Margolin

 

When Robin Lockwood returns to her hometown to grieve the loss of her fiance, she also walks into an intriguing legal case.  Marjorie Loman had agreed to be a surrogate for a family who couldn't have children.  But after delivery, she had been allowed to bond with the baby and wanted to change her mind and keep the baby she had carried and given birth to.  A few weeks later, she had burst into the house of the surrogate parents, pistol-whipped the mother and kidnapped the baby.  The baby was recovered a few hours later but Marjorie was arrested and charged with various crimes.

Robin believes that Margorie was acting under the influence of temporary psychosis brought on by her pregnancy and the trauma surrounding it.  She and her local partner line up experts and start the trial.  Robin believes in Marjorie even when she finds that Marjorie is under indictment in Portland, Oregon, for the murder of her husband and that Marjorie is not even her real name.  Can Robin win these cases?

Phillip Margolin is known for his work in the thriller genre.  This book is the fifth in the series but can be read as a stand alone.  Robin has spent her life fighting the odds and her career as a lawyer allows her to fight for those who otherwise might not have a voice.  I listened to this book and the narrator did a great job.  This book is recommended for mystery and thriller readers.

The Last Days Of Night by Graham Moore

 

This book is set in the late 1880's and tells the story of how electricity was harnessed and used to light the world.  Thomas Edison was the first to market with his direct current light bulbs and held the patent.  George Westinghouse was trying to displace Edison in the market and had a competing product.  A brilliant inventor from Croatia came to the United States, Nikola Tesla.  Direct current worked but only over short distances.  Tesla had the idea of alternating current which worked over much longer distances, allowing an entire town to be lit with one large generator instead of the small individual generators direct current required. 

An epic legal battle ensued.  Westinghouse picked a young recent law graduate named Paul Cravath to represent him.  The battle went through the courts for several years with both legal and extralegal maneuvers abounding.  Paul fell in love with an opera singer who also was one of Tesla's few trusted friends.  Together, they watched out for Tesla and helped him during an epic breakdown after his laboratory was set of fire while he and Paul were inside.  

This was a fascinating story of how scientists and inventors work and the legal battles over patents that could make or break a man's financial standing.  This was the author's second novel and he also is known for writing screenplays.  Telling the story from the viewpoint of Paul and the legal battles is an interesting choice and made the novel more focused on the epic courtroom case that ultimately determined the success of AC current to light the world.  This book is recommended for readers of historical fiction. 

Animal's People by Indra Sinha

 

Animal, like almost every other person in his village, is a victim of the American Kampani.  The company that built a factory that made poisons and that had such lax safety requirements that one night a noxious cloud arose and killed off much of the village.  Animal was a baby and lost both his parents.  The poisons in the air twisted his body so that he can only move by walking on all fours, the dream of standing upright only a dream.

Now nineteen, Animal gets by scrounging and stealing, doing what little work he can.  He is known to be bright but insists that he is not human but an animal.  He loves the daughter of the village's former singing star, but she is the girlfriend of the local resistance leader.  That man has spent over a decade trying to bring the company to court in India and to make reparations and clean up the land and water.  

Then Ellie appears.  She is an American doctor and has come to India to open a free clinic.  The resistance leader insists that there is more to her kindness and organizes a boycott of her help.  Ellie tells Animal that she believes he could be helped with an operation and promises to take him to America to get it.  Animal is afraid to believe but can't help but want her help.

When the company is compelled to come to an Indian court after all this time, at first the people are jubilant.  But when a team of American lawyers comes to the village before the court date, it is obvious they are trying to cut a deal with the government.  Zahreel, the resistance leader, goes on a hunger strike and after days is close to death.  Will the village be saved?

Indra Sinha was born in India of British and Indian parents.  He was raised and lives in Britain but has written several books that depict the issues of India.  This book was shortlisted for the Booker Prize.  Readers will not be able to resist Animal with his profane outlook, a man hopeful when it seems life should have crushed the hope from him.  The book is based on the 1984 toxic Union Carbide leak in Bhopal, India.  It is recommended for readers of literary fiction.

The Enchanters by James Ellroy

 

In Ellroy's latest, he revisits the police department of Los Angeles.  The book opens with the main character, Freddy Otash, a disgraced former policeman and current P.I., working with some old police chums on a starlet kidnapping.  They throw one of the suspects off a cliff and get the woman's location from his partner.  

Freddy has been spying on Marilyn Monroe for Jimmy Hoffa.  Hoffa wants blackmail information on Robert and John Kennedy and the rumor is that both have had affairs with her.  But when Freddy goes into Marilyn's house to remove his bugs and cameras, he finds her dead, an apparent overdose.

There are lots of well-known names in the mix.  There's Bill Parker and Darryl Gates, current and future LAPD Chiefs.  J. Edgar Hoover is in the mix along with a ton of well known actors and actresses.  Freddy has a long standing love affair with Pat Lawford, the President's sister married to Peter Lawford.  It turns out that the kidnapped starlet has been having a long term affair with a studio head and was a friend of Marilyn's.  She also had a sister who was kidnapped off the L.A. streets and killed, the murder never solved.  

Readers need to strap in before starting an Ellroy novel.  The action comes fast and furious and everything, everything, counts and needs to be paid attention to.  I'm on a current Ellroy kick and this one is as much of a roller coaster ride as I've come to expect.  My biggest joy is that Ellroy is prolific and I still have lots of titles yet to read.  This book is recommended for readers of literary and historical fiction.

Blood Sugar by Sasha Rothchild

 

Ruby is a therapist and she considers herself a great one.  The fact that she's killed three people shouldn't change that, should it?  Her first murder was when she was five and killed the bully that made her adored big sister's life miserable.  She didn't kill again until she was a senior in high school when she killed one of her friends' father.  The father was a letch who targeted young girls.  Finally, in almost an offhand thought she killed the most miserable patient she'd ever encountered years later when she was about to start her own practice.

But now Ruby is in trouble.  Her husband, who she loved unabashedly, had died in the night and she is accused of killing him.  He had life long diabetes and neither of them heard his alarm bell going off in the night.  Ruby can't believe she got by with real murders and now is set to go on trial for killing the one person she never would.  Will she be convicted?

Sasha Rothchild is known for her work in television and is an Emmy-nominated writer.  The reader will see that influence in the book which is written in short vignettes that could be adapted for a tv series or movie.  Ruby isn't a particularly likeable person no matter the justifications she adopts.  The irony in being put on trial for the one death she would never cause is perhaps her best punishment.  This book is recommended for mystery readers. 

In The Dark by Deborah Moggach

 

Britain during the first World War.  Eithne Clay's husband is in France, fighting, leaving her to run the boarding house with only the help of her son and the maid, Winnie.  Times are tight and it's getting hard to feed everyone.  There's the enigmatic man blinded in battle. There's the family whose father came home shell shocked and cannot leave their room.  Several older women live there.  Eithne knows some of them are getting behind on their rent but what can she do?  There's nowhere else for them to go.  

Things get worse when her husband is killed but help is around the corner.  Mr. Turk is the neighborhood butcher but much more.  His shop has expanded to triple the size during the war and he always has plenty of meat when other shops have only scraps.  He sets his sights on Eithne and Mr. Turk always gets what he wants.  Soon the two are married and everything is about to change.

Eithne's son and Winnie unite in a silent battle against Mr. Turk.  They can see that there is something wrong about him even when no one else can.  Then Winnie has a personal issue and leaves and Mr. Turk gives the other lodgers notice.  What will happen to everyone?

Deborah Moggach is an English author whose best known book is Tulip Fever about the obsession with tulip bulbs that seized the world.  She writes about family relationships and women finding their way in the world.  Her work has been adapted for television series and movies.  In this novel, Eithne's discovery of obsessional sex leading her to ignore all her other relationships is revelatory.  The son is the silent hero who struggles on to keep things going and to fight the evil that has overtaken their lives.  This book is recommended for readers of historical and family fiction. 

Ocean State by Stewart O'Nan

 

Like most coastal cities, Ocean State was divided between the haves and the have nots.  Miles was a have, rich, attractive and the one all the girls sighed over.  Birdy was poor but attractive and popular.  When these two get together, it was a secret as Miles has a three year girlfriend and Birdy a steady boyfriend.  But, inevitably, the secret leaks out with tragic circumstances.

This story is told by Marie, Birdy's little sister who was nine at the time but telling the story as an adult many years later.  When Birdy and Miles' relationship leaks out, Birdy is scorned at her high school, branded as a man stealer and a slut.  She is physically attacked by Miles's girlfriend.  The girlfriend also demands things of Miles to stay with him, auditing his phone, making him promise to never talk or look at Birdy and eventually forcing him to make an assignation with Birdy at their secret hideaway.  But this assignation is a setup to again beat up Birdy with both Miles and the girlfriend participating.  But things don't go as planned and the girlfriend ends up dead.  

Stewart O'Nan is an author who writes about New England and the surrounding states.  His work portrays the working people of the region and the way their lives have changed as manufacturing has moved overseas.  This book portrays the angst of teenage relationships and the way that they can go wrong, sometimes with deadly results.  The reader will emphasize more with Marie than any of the main protagonists as Marie is an innocent child struggling to understand what went wrong and what will happen to the older sister she idolizes.  I listened to this book and the narrator, while not having the strong New England accent, still portrays the sorrow and pain that this family went through.  This novel is recommended for readers of literary fiction.

Booksie's Shelves, May 13, 2024

 

Art by RF Skia & Culpeo S. Fox

Spring is here and blooming.  North Carolina has been in the 80's lately and beautiful with a Tarheel Blue sky.  Sports are over until fall football and that's my other obsession besides reading. We've been slowly but surely trapping our semi-feral pack and getting those who aren't neutered fixed.  We eventually hope to find homes for two of them and bring one inside to join our two inside cats.  But on to books! I've been filling in the backlists of Booker and Women Prize nominees as those are the two prize lists I follow and try to read.   Here's what's come through the door:

1. Creatures Of Passage, Morowa Yejide, literary fiction, purchased
2. Summer, Ali Smith, literary fiction, purchased
3. This One Sky Day, Leone Ross, literary fiction, purchased
4. Civilisation Francaise, Mary Fleming, literary fiction, sent by publisher
5. The Safekeep, Yael Van Der Wouden, literary fiction, sent by publisher
6. Middletide, Sarah Crouch, mystery, sent by publisher
7. Mr. Loverman, Bernardine Evaristo, literary fiction, purchased
8. End Of Watch, Stephen King, mystery, purchased
9. The Wedding People, Alison Espach, literary fiction, sent by publisher
10.  Masquerade, O.O. Sangoyomi, literary fiction, sent by publisher
11. Homesick, Jennifer Croft, literary fiction, purchased
12. Destination Morgue, James Ellroy, literary fiction, purchased
13. Exciting Times, Naoise Dolan, literary fiction, purchased
14. I'm A Fan, Sheena Petal, literary fiction, purchased
15. Goddess In The Machine, Lora Beth Johnson, fantasy, purchased
16. Ignorance, Michele Roberts, literary fiction, purchased
17. The Trick Of Time, Kit De Waal, literary fiction, purchased
18. The Night Guest, Hildur Knutsdottir, mystery, won in contest
19. Such A Bad Influence, Olivia Muenter, women's fiction, sent by publisher
20. The Familiars, Stacey Halls, historical fiction, purchased
21. Mrs. England, Stacey Halls, literary fiction, purchased
22. Serious Sweet, A.L Kennedy, literary fiction, purchased
23. The Many, Wyl Menmuir, literary fiction, purchased
24. Hystopia, David Means, literary fiction, purchased
25. The Schooldays Of Jesus, J. M. Coetzee, literary fiction, purchased
26. How It Works Out, Myriam LaCroix, women's fiction, sent by publisher
27. A Pair Of Wings, Carole Hopson, multicultural fiction, sent by publisher
28. What The Birds See, Sonya Hartnett, literary fiction, purchased
29. The Witch's Heart, Genevieve Gornichec, fantasy, purchased
30. Hot Stage, Anita Nair, mystery, sent by publisher
31. Canary, Duane Swierczynski, mystery, purchased

Here are the ebooks I've bought:

1. The Robber Bride, Margaret Atwood, literary fiction
2. Awakening Sin, Kennedy Layne, mystery
3. Not The Faintest Trace, Wendy Wilson, mystery
4. Lesser Evil, C.J. Lyons, mystery
5. Song For Night, Chris Abani, literary fiction
6. Champion Of Fate, Kendare Blake, fantasy
7. Empire Of The Vampire, Jay Kristoff, fantasy
8. The Magician's Lie, Greer Macallister, mystery
9. Ravencaller, David Dagleish, fantasy
10. The Belly Of The Bow, K.J. Parker, fantasy
11. Evil For Evil, K.J. Parker, fantasy
12. Colours In The Steel, K.J. Parker, fantasy
13. An Early Grave, Robert McCracken, mystery
14. The Murder Diaries, David Carter, mystery
15. An Aura Of Mystery, Joy Ellis, mystery
16. 8 Lives Of A Century-Old Trickster, Mirinae Lee, literary fiction
17. A Past Unearthed, Jin Yong, fantasy
18. The Two Minute Rule, Robert Crais, mystery
19. The Art Thief, Michael Finkel, nonfiction
20. The Girl In The Eagle's Talons, Karin Smirnoff, mystery
21. Essex Dogs, Dan Jones, historical fiction
22. The Good Ones, Polly Stewart, literary fiction
23. The Black Jacobins, C.L.R. James, nonfiction
24. Swim Home To The Vanished, Brendan Basham, literary fiction
25. The Uninvited, Cat Winters, horror
26. This Time Tomorrow, Emma Straub, literary fiction
27. Someone Like Me, M.R. Carey, mystery
28. Bonegrinder, John Lutz, mystery
29. The Garrick Year, Margaret Drabble, literary fiction
30. Refiner's Fire, Mark Helprin, literary fiction
31. True Crime, Andrew Klaven, mystery
32. Summer Will Show, Sylvia Townsend Warner, literary fiction
33. The First Cut, Ellery Kane, mystery
34. The Missing, C.L. Taylor, mystery
35. The Ones We Trust, Kimberly Belle, mystery
36. The Confusion, Neal Stephenson, fantasy
37. American Taboo, Phillip Weiss, true crime
38. Jane And Prudence, Barbara Pym, literary fiction
39. The Retreat, Sarah Pearse, mystery
40. Residue, Michael McGarrity, mystery
41. Dead Or Alive, Michael McGarrity, mystery
42. The Children Of Red Peak, Craig DiLouie, horror
43. Naked Addiction, Caitlin Rother, mystery
44. Son Of A Grifter, Kent Walker, true crime
45. The Wild Inside, Christine Carbo, mystery
46. Botchan, Natsume Soseki, literary fiction
47. Disappearances, Howard Frank Mosher, literary fiction
48. The White Feather Killer, R.N. Morris, mystery
49. The Novels Of The Jaran, Kate Elliot, fantasy
50. The Starless Sea, Erin Morgenstern, fantasy
51. Silence For The Dead, Simone St James, mystery
52. Moon Of The Crusted Snow, Waubgeshig Rice, literary fiction
53. Valor, John Gwynne, fantasy
54. Ruin, John Gwynne, fantasy
55. Wrath, John Gwynne, fantasy
56. Jade War, Fonda Lee, fantasy
57. Jade Legacy, Fonda Lee, fantasy
58. Ancillary Sword, Ann Leckie, fantasy
59. Ancillary Mercy, Ann Leckie, fantasy
60. Memory, K.J. Parker, fantasy
61. A Dance Of Shadows, David Dagleish, fantasy
62. A Constellation Of Vital Phenomena, Anthony Marra, literary fiction
63. The Lies You Told, Harriet Tyce, mystery
64. House Of The Hunter, J.A. Jance, mystery
65. Dorothy Must Die, Danielle Paige, fantasy
66. The Birchbark House, Louise Erdrich, literary fiction
67. The Brides Of Maracoor, Gregory Maguire, fantasy
68. Exposed, Jane Velez-Mitchell, true crime
69. Daughter Of The Moon Goddess, Sue Lynn Tan, fantasy
70. Freya, Anthony Quinn, literary fiction
71. Seven Deadly Shadows, Courtney Alamada, fantasy
72. The Sixteen Pleasures, Robert Hellenga, literary fiction
73. The Windsor Knot, SJ Bennett, mystery
74. Thirst For Salt, Madelaine Lucas, literary fiction
75. The House Of Silk, Anthony Horowitz, mystery
76. Beastly Things, Donna Leon, mystery
77. The Dark Forest, Cixin Liu, fantasy
78. The Time Has Come, Will Leith, literary fiction
79. Penance, David Housewright, mystery
80. Sun Damage, Sabine Durrant, mystery
81. The Tree Of Hands, Ruth Rendell, mystery
82. The Final Confession Of Mabel Stark, Robert Hough, literary fiction
83. Brazzaville Beach, William Boyd, literary fiction
84. Summer Island, Kristin Hannah, women's fiction
85. A Tangled Web, Lesley Rule, true crime
86. Hotel Cuba, Aaron Hamburger, literary fiction
87. Rovers, Richard Lange, fantasy
88. The Wanderers, Richard Price, mystery
89. The Lock-Up, John Banville, mystery
90. Folly, Stella Cameron, mystery
91. Blue Lonesome, Bill Pronzini, mystery
92. The Eye, Bill Pronzini, mystery
93. In An Evil Time, Bill Pronzini, mystery
94. The Fatal Tree, Jake Arnott, historical crime
95. Want Now, Jonathan Miles, literary fiction
96. The First Cut, Peter Robinson, mystery
97. Liliana's Invincible Summer, Cristina Garza, true crime
98. The Waltham Murders, Susan Clare Zalkind, true crime
99. Judgment Ridge, Dick Lehr, true crime
100. Trial And Error, Robert Whitlow, legal thriller
101. Feral, George Monbiot, nonfiction
102. Putney, Sofka Zinovieff, literary fiction
103. Knight's Shadow, Sebastien de Castell, fantasy
104. Saint's Blood, Sebastien de Castell, fantasy
105. The Sea, The Sea, Iris Murdoch, literary fantasy
106. The Bonus Room, Ben Winters, fantasy
107. Untamed Shore, Silvia Moreno-Garcia, literary fiction
108. The Girl In Room 12, Kathryn Croft, mystery
109. Himself, Jess Kidd, literary fiction
110. Suffer The Little Children, Donna Leon, mystery
111. Age Of Assassins, RJ Baker, fantasy
112. By Its Cover, Donna Leon, mystery
113. Cadillac Jukebox, James Lee Burke, mystery
114. The Secret Diary Of Charles Ignatius Sancho, Paterson Joseph, literary fiction
115. Blackwood, Charles Ferris Smith, literary fiction
116. The Revisioners, Margaret Wilkerson Sexton, literary fiction
117. About Face, Donna Leon, mystery
118. Running Blind, Lee Child, mystery
119. The Calamitous Bob, Alex Gilbert, fantasy
120. Covered With Night, Nicole Eustace, true crime
121. Knowing What We Know, Simon Winchester, nonfiction
122. Drawing Conclusions, Donna Leon, mystery
123. The Citadel, AJ Cronin, literary fiction
124. Malice Of Crows, Lila Bowen, mystery
125. The Shadow Lines, Amitav Ghosh, literary fiction
126. Fatal Lies, Andrew Cunningham, mystery
127. Lolth's Warrior, R. A. Salvatore, fantasy
128. On Animals, Susan Orleans, nonfiction
129. The Infinite Blacktop, Sara Gran, literary fiction
130. One Day I Shall Astonish The World, Nina Stibbe, literary fiction
131. PrairyErth, William Least Heat-Moon, travel
132. River-Horse, William Least Heat-Moon, travel
133. Transient Desires, Donna Leon, mystery
134. Gun, With Occasional Music, Jonathan Lethem, literary fiction
135. Dead Man In A Ditch, Luke Arnold, fantasy
136. Guardian, Joe Haldeman, science fiction
137. Dead Girls, Alice Bolin, true crime
138. Demon Knight, Dave Duncan, fantasy
139. A Question Of Belief, Donna Leon, mystery
140. The Riverman, Robert Keppel, true crime
141. Blood From A Stone, Donna Leon, mystery
142. Lullabies For Little Criminals, Heather O'Neill, literary fiction
143. My Life Among The Serial Killers, Helen Morrison, true crime
144. The Less People Know About Us, Axton Betz-Hamilton, memoir
145. The Girl Of His Dreams, Donna Leon, mystery
146. Death And Croissants, Ian Moore, mystery
147. Pattern, K.J. Parker, fantasy
148. A Field Guide To Getting Lost, Rebecca Solnit, literary fiction
149. Falling In Love, Donna Leon, mystery
150. Evil Eye, Etaf Rum, literary fiction
151. Clandestine, James Ellroy, literary fiction
152. The Waters Of Eternal Youth, Donna Leon, mystery
153. The Lost Get-Back Boogie, James Lee Burke, mystery
154. Traitor's Blade, Sebastien de Castell, fantasy
155. Kristin Lavransdatter, Sigrid Undset, literary fiction
156. Blood Tracks, Matt Hilton, mystery
157. Clawback, J.A. Jance, mystery
158. The Coffin Dancer, Jeffrey Deaver, mystery
159. Braiding Sweetgrass, Robin Wall Kimmerer, nonfiction
160. The Old Silent, Martha Grimes, mystery
161. Act Of Oblivion, Robert Harris, historical fiction
162. Phoenix Rising, Pip Ballantine, fantasy
163. The Janus Affair, Pip Ballantine, fantasy
164. Thunder Bay, Douglas Skelton, mystery
165. My Brother, The Killer, Alix Sharkey, true crime
166. The Two Of Swords, K.J. Parker, fantasy
167. Sword Catcher, Cassandra Clare, fantasy
168. Reasonable Adults, Robin Lefler, women's fiction
169. None Shall Sleep, Ellie Marney, mystery
170. October In The Earth, Olivia Hawker, women's fiction
171. How To Be Eaten, Maria Adelmann, fantasy
172. Texasville, Larry McMurtry,literary fiction
173. A Wedding In December, Anita Shreve, literary fiction
174. Menagerie, Rachel Vincent, fantasy
175. King Solomon's Carpet, Ruth Rendell, mystery
176. In The Shadow Of Wolves, Alvydas Slepikas, literary fiction
177. Mumbo Jumbo, Ishmael Reed, literary fiction
178. The Summer He Didn't Die, Jim Harrison, literary fiction
179. Snake Eyes, Joyce Carol Oates, literary fiction
180. Talking To Strange Men, Ruth Rendell, mystery
181. The Escapement, K.J. Parker, fantasy
182. The House Across The Lake, Riley Sager, thriller
183. Half A World Away, Mike Gayle, literary fiction
184. Liberation Day, George Saunders, anthology
185. The Twenty, Sam Holland, mystery
186. Little Drummer, Kjell Dahl, mystery
187. The Assistant, Kjell Dahl, mystery
188. The Courier, Kjell Dahl, mystery
189. The Lazarus Solution, Kjell Dahl, mystery
190. Wolves At The Door, Gunnar Staalsen, mystery
191. Wolves In The Dark, Gunnar Staalsen, mystery
192. Fallen Angels, Gunnar Staalsen, mystery
193. Big Sister, Gunnar Staalsen, mystery
194. The Siege, Isadare Kadare, literary fiction
195. The Lost Ones, Sheena Kamal, mystery
196. Anglesey Blue, Dylan Jones, mystery
197. Doll Face, Dylan Jones, mystery
198. Shadow Soul, Dylan Jones, mystery
199. Soul Of The Fire, Terry Goodkind, fantasy
200. J M Barrie And The Lost Boys, Andrew Birkin, nonfiction
201. Fatal, John Lescroart, mystery
202. The Monstrous Misses Mai, Van Hoang, literary fiction
203. I Am The Only Running Footman, Martha Grimes, mystery
204. The Five Bells And Bladebone, Martha Grimes, mystery
205. His Favorite Graves, Paul Cleave, mystery
206. The Forgery Of Venus, Michael Gruber, literary fiction
207. American Boy, Larry Watson, literary fiction
208. Nickel Mountain, John Gardner, literary fiction
209. The Love Of Impossible Sums, Panayotis Cacoyannis, literary fiction
210. Remote Sympathy, Catherine Chigley, literary fiction
211. The Storyteller's Death, Ann Davila Cardinal, literary fiction
212. The Publicist, Natalie Tambini, mystery
213. What Kind Of Mother, Clay Chapman, horror
214. Flowers Over The Inferno, Ilaria Tuti, mystery
215. The Cormorant, Chuck Wendig, mystery
216. Uniform Justice, Donna Leon, mystery
217. Doctored Evidence, Donna Leon, mystery
218. Nine Times Nine, Anthony Boucher, mystery
219. One Of The Good Guys, Araminta Hall, mystery
220. Jade City, Fonda Lee, fantasy
221. Five Survive, Holly Jackson, mystery
222. Women Are The Fiercest Creatures, Andrea Dunlop, women's fiction
223. The Children's Book, A.S. Byatt, literary fiction
224. The Dead Romantics, Ashley Poston, mystery
225. Standing In The Shadows, Peter Robinson, mystery
226. The Hangman's Story, James Oswald, mystery
227. Natural Causes, James Oswald, mystery
228. Dead Country, Max Gladstone, fantasy
229. Tulips And Chimneys, E.E. Cummings, poetry
230. Laws Of Depravity, Eriq La Salle, mystery
231. The Warden, Daniel Ford, fantasy
232. Obsession, John Douglas, true crime
233. Nothing More To Tell, Karen McManus, mystery
234. The Lie Maker, Linwood Barclay, mystery
235. Murder Your Employer, Rupert Holmes, mystery
236. Grace, Paul Lynch, literary fiction
237. Deadly Greed, Joe Sharkey, true crime
238. Evil Intent, Jane Issac, mystery
239. Hidden Things, Doyce Testerman, mystery
240. The Golden Egg, Donna Leon, mystery
241. A Deadly Education, Naomi Novik, fantasy
242. Dawnshard, Brandan Sanderson, fantasy
243. Mister Lullaby, J. H. Markert, mystery
244. Trace Elements, Donna Leon, mystery
245. The Temptation Of Forgiveness, Donna Leon, mystery
246. Dressed For Death, Donna Leon, mystery
247. Cloud Atlas, David Mitchell, literary fiction
248. A Sudden Light, Garth Stein, literary fiction
249. Freeze Frame, Peter May, mystery
250. Out Of Time, Lynn Segal, nonfiction
251. Clockwork Boys, T. Kingfisher, fantasy
252. Later, Stephen King, horror
253. Frogkisser!, Garth Nix, fantasy
254. Human Croquet, Kate Atkinson, literary fiction
255. Slant, Greg Bear, fantasy
256. Mariposa, Greg Bear, fantasy
257. A Death In White Bear Lake, Barry Siegel, true crime
258. Watching You, Michael Robotham, mystery
259. The Bookwoman's Last Fling, John Dunning, mystery
260. The Incarnations, Susan Barker, literary fiction
261. The Wise Men, Walter Issacson, nonfiction
262. Born To Die, Lisa Jackson, mystery
263. The Guilty Couple, C.L. Taylor, mystery
264. The Last Mona Lisa, Jonathan Santlofer, mystery
265. What Are You Like? Anne Enright, literary fiction
266. White City, Kevin Power, literary fiction
267. The Devil I Know, Claire Kilroy, mystery
268. Blightborn, Chuck Wendig, fantasy
269. Red Sky In Morning, Paul Lynch, literary fiction
270. The Everything Box, Richard Kadrey, fantasy
271. The Hole We're In, Gabrielle Zevin, literary fiction
272. The New Neighbor, Carter Wilson, mystery
273. The Sunset Years Of Agnes Sharpe, Leonie Swann, mystery
274. The London Train, Tessa Hadley, literary fiction
275. Gilgamesh, Joan London, literary fiction
276. Palm Beach, Finland, Antti Tuomainen, mystery
277. The Visible World, Mark Slouka, literary fiction
278. The Casuarina Tree, William Somerset Maughn, literary fiction
279. One Puzzling Afternoon, Emily Critchley, mystery
280. A Crack At The End Of The World, Simon Winchester, nonfiction
281. Incendiary Circumstances, Amitav Ghosh, nonfiction
282. I Am Not Who You Think I Am, Eric Rickstad, mystery
283. Brooklyn, Colm Toibin, literary fiction
284. Devil's Gate, David Roberts, nonfiction
285. The House Of God, Samuel Shem, literary fiction
286. Mozart's Starling, Lyanda Haupt, literary fiction
287. Furyborn, Claire Legrand, fantasy
288. The Idiot, Fyodor Dostoyevsky, literary fiction
289. Mystery, Jonathan Kellerman, mystery
290. The Unquiet Ghost, Adam Hochschild, nonfiction
291. Duel To The Death, J.A. Jance, mystery
292. The Big Crowd, Kevin Baker, literary fiction
293. The Surrogate Mother, Freida McFadden, mystery
294. One Year Gone, Avery Bishop, mystery
295. Snobs, Julian Fellowes, literary fiction
296. Queen Of Angels, Greg Bear, fantasy
297. Moving Mars, Greg Bear, fantasy
298. Dead Cert, Dick Francis, mystery
299. Capture The Crown, Jennifer Estep, fantasy
300. The Quite Nice And Fairly Accurate Good Omens Script Book, Neil Gaiman, fantasy
301. Lord Of The Fire Lands, Dave Duncan, fantasy
302. The Ethical Swordsman, Dave Duncan, fantasy
303. Know My Name, Chanel Miller, memoir
304. The Novels Of Jimmy Breslin, Jimmy Breslin, literary fiction
305. Rush Of Blood, Mark Billingham, mystery
306. The Callashire Chronicles, Catherine Aird, mystery
307. Booked For Murder, Val McDermid, mystery
308. Hostage To Murder, Val McDermid, mystery
309. Mrs. Caliban, Rachel Ingalls, literary fiction
310. LaRose, Louise Erdrich, literary fiction
311. Oathbound, Todd Herzman, fantasy
312. I'll Show Myself Out, Jessi Klein, nonfiction
313. My Better Half, M.M. Boulder, mystery
314. The Cruelty Men, Ermer Martin, literary fiction
315. Sneak Peek For Service Model, Adrian Tchaikovsky, fantasy
316. Hearts Of Darkness, Jana Monroe, true crime
317. Kill Show, Daniel Sweren-Becker, true crime
318. No Way Out, Cara Hunter, mystery
319. The Mole People, Jennifer Toth, nonfiction
320. Broken, Daniel Clay, literary fiction
321. The Stranger In The Mirror, Liv Constantine, mystery
322. The Coffin In The Wall, M J Lee, mystery
323. Bitter Flowers, Gunnar Staalesen, mystery
324. Close Your Eyes, Chris Tomasini, literary fiction
325. Burning Angel, James Lee Burke, mystery
326. The Mind Of A Murderer, Michael Wood, mystery
327. The Woman Who Gave Birth To Rabbits, Emma Donoghue, anthology
328. Buffalo Girls, Larry McMurtry, literary fiction
329. The House We Grew Up In, Jisa Jewell, mystery
330. The End Of Ordinary, Edward Ashton, fantasy
331. Swordheart, T. Kingfisher, fantasy
332. The Raven Tower, Ann Leckie, fantasy
333. The Devil's Diadem, Sara Douglass, fantasy
334. Red Famine, Anne Applebaum, nonfiction
335. Never, Jessa Hastings, literary fiction
336. Freshwater, Akwaake Amenzi, literary fiction
337. Evicted, Matthew Desmond, nonfiction
338. Table For Two, Amor Towles, anthology
339. Feet Of Clay, Terry Goodkind, fantasy
340. Through A Glass, Darkly, Donna Leon, mystery
341. Bad Dog, Alex Smith, mystery
342. Wonderous Times On The Frontier, Dee Brown, nonfiction
343. Talking With Serial Killers, Christopher Berry-Dee, true crime
344. Sleeping With Psychopaths, Christopher Berry-Dee, true crime
345. I Keep My Exoskeletons To Myself, Marisa Crane, fantasy
346. Ragdoll, Daniel Cole, mystery
347. A Place For Us, Fatima Farheen Mirza, literary fiction
348. Genius Makers, Cade Metz, nonfiction
349. Bride Of The Tornado, James Kennedy, horror
350. These Burning Stars, Bethany Jacobs, fantasy
351. Beneath The Bleeding, Val McDermid, mystery
352. The Killer's Daughter, Kate Wiley, mystery
353. The Winter Girls, Roger Stelljes, mystery
354. This Is The Way, Gavin Corbett, literary fiction
355. Sin Eater, Megan Campsi, horror
356. Disrupting Destiny, Jan Foster, fantasy
357. Anarchic Destiny, Jan Foster, fantasy
358. The Maleficent Seven, Cameron Johnson, fantasy
359. Briarpatch, Ross Thomas, mystery
360. The Gravedigger's Son And The Waif Girl, Sam Feuerbach, fantasy
361. The Peripheral, William Gibson, fantasy
362. All The Pretty Girls, J.T. Ellison, mystery
363. Atlanta Burns, Chuck Wendig, mystery
364. The Hunt, Chuck Wendig, mystery
365. Desolation Mountain, William Kent Krueger, mystery
366. The Alone Time, Elle Marr, mystery
367. Hokuloa Road, Elizabeth Hand, mystery
368. The Intruder, Peter Blauner, mystery
369. The Radetzsky March, Joseph Roth, literary fiction
370. Calico, Lee Goldberg, mystery
371. Little Bird Of Heaven, Joyce Carol Oates, literary fiction
372. Fall, Tracy Clark, mystery
373. Death In A Strange Country, Donna Leon, mystery
374. Lost And Never Found, Simon Mason, mystery
375. The Deaths Of Sybil Bolton, Dennis McAuliffe and David Gran, nonfiction
376. The House Of Sky, Ivan Doig, literary fiction
377. Leave No Trace, Mindy Mejia, mystery
378. Bodily Harm, Margaret Atwood, literary fiction
379. Friends Like These, Hannah Ellis, literary fiction
380. Turning Pages, John Sargent, nonfiction
381. Kairos, Jenny Erpenbeck, literary fiction
382. Site Unseen, Dana Cameron, mystery
383. Is Mother Dead, Vigdis Hjorth, literary fiction
384. The Nowhere Girls, Dana Perry, mystery
385. A Clock Stopped Dead, J.M. Hall, mystery
386. The Lewis Trilogy, Peter May, mystery
387. Poison, Sara Pinborough, fantasy
388. Outposts, Simon Winchester, travel
389. Fatal Remedies, Donna Leon, mystery
390. Earthly Remain, Donna Leon, mystery
391. Blood And Guts In High School, Kathy Acker, literary fiction
392. Beneficence, Meredith Hall, literary fiction
393. Pale Morning Light With Violet Swan, Deborah Reed, literary fiction
394. The Wedding Of The Year, Jill Mansell, women's fiction
395. The Chosen Sarah Sala, mystery
396. Doughnut, Tom Holt, fantasy
397. Pascoe's Ghost, Reginald Hill, mystery
398. The Darkness Of Evil, Alan Jacobsen, mystery
399. Winterman, Alex Walters, mystery
400. Keeper Of The Light, Diana Chamberlaine, women's fiction
401. John Woman, Walter Moseley, mystery
402. Resistance, Halik Kochanski, nonfiction
403. Dixie City Jam, James Lee Burke, mystery
404. The Unquiet Grave, Sharyn McCrumb, mystery
405. The Things We Keep, Janet Dawson, mystery
406. Snapped, C.M. Sutter, mystery
407. In The Moon Of Red Ponies, James Lee Burke, mystery
408. All The Good Things, Claire Fisher, literary fiction
409. Hear That Lonesome Whistle Blow, Dee Brown, nonfiction
410. The Night She Died, Dorothy Simpson, mystery
411. Docherty, William McIlvanney, mystery
412. The Paper Wasp, Lauren Acampora, literary fiction
413. A Stolen Tongue, Sheri Holman, mystery
414. Alligator, Lisa Moore, literary fiction
415. Killing Season, Carlton Smith, true crime
416. Blind Faith, CJ Lyons, mystery
417. Black Sheep, CJ Lyons, mystery
418. The Next Widow, CJ Lyons, mystery
419. Say My Name, Joe Clifford, true crime
420. Future Home Of The Living God, Louise Erdrich, literary fiction
421. Confessions Of A Domestic Failure, Bunmi Laditan, memoir
422. The Taxidermist's Daughter, Kate Mosse, literary fiction
423. Burnt Shadows, Kamila Shamsie, literary fiction
424. Where The Pieces Lie, JD Kirk, mystery
425. Knife, Salmon Rushdie, memoir
426. The Newborn King, Julian May, fantasy
427. The Adversary, Julian May, fantasy
428. Black Widow, Chris Brookmyre, mystery
429. Carolina Crimes, Rita Shuler, true crime
430. Rabbits For Food, Bonnie Kirshenbaum, literary fiction
431. Dead Midnight, Marcia Mueller, mystery
432. A Raging Dawn, CJ Lyons, mystery
433. Some People Need Killing, Patricia Evangelista, memoir
434. Stillborn Armadillos, Nick Russell, mystery
435. Rising, Elizabeth Rush, nonfiction
436. All The Names, Jose Saramago, literary fiction
437. The Scent Of Death, Simon Beckett, mystery
438. The Hollows, Mark Edwards, mystery
439. Destiny Arising, Jan Foster, fantasy
440. The Diamond Eye, Kate Quinn, fantasy
441. The Gargoyle, Andrew Davidson, literary fiction
442. Jacob's Ladder, Ludmila Ulitskaya, literary fiction
443. A Noble Radiance, Donna Leon, mystery
444. The Last Housewife, Ashley Winstead, mystery
445. Salt To The Sea, Rupa Sepetys, historical fiction
446. Everybody Knows, Jordan Harper, mystery
447. Holiday Country, Inci Atrek, literary fiction
448. Death And The Sisters, Heather Redmond, mystery
449. Cold In Hand, John Harvey, mystery
450. Still Water, John Harvey, mystery
451. Reckoning, Catherine Coulter, mystery
452. A Great Improvisation, Stacy Schiff, nonfiction
453. By Two And Two, Jim Schultz, true crime
454. Under My Skin, Sarah Dunant, mystery
455. The Vegetarian, Han Kang, literary fiction
456. Darkness, Take My Hand, Dennis Lehane, mystery
457. Cold Light, John Harvey, mystery
458. Murder Untimely, Anita Waller, mystery
459. In The Rogue Blood, James Carlos Blake, historical fiction
460. The Traitor God, Cameron Johnson, fantasy
461. Apples Never Fall, Liane Moriarty, women's fiction
462. M And M, John Peak, mystery
463. All The Flowers Are Dying, Lawrence Block, mystery
464. Splinter In The Blood, Ashley Dyer, mystery
465. Acqua Alta, Donna Leon, mystery
466. Death And Judgement, Donna Leon, mystery
467. The List Of 7, Mark Frost, mystery
468. Life Or Death, Michael Robotham, mystery
469. A Case Of Betrayal, Neil Turner, mystery
470. Vanishing Day, Valerie Davisson, mystery
471. Truth In The Smoke, SP Neeson, fantasy
472. Snow So White, C. Gockel, fantasy
473. Do You Remember?, Freida McFadden, mystery
474. Night Boat To Tangier, Kevin Barry, literary fiction
475. The Girl In Green, Derek Miller, mystery
476. The Crone Of Midnight Embers, Iris Beaglehole, fantasy
477. The Removed, Brandon Hobson, literary fiction
478. The King's Dragon, Kate Elliott, fantasy
479. Hard Country, Reavis Wortham, mystery
480. Above Suspicion, Joe Sharkey, true crime
481. Red Rising, Pierce Brown, fantasy
482. A Fatal Obsession, Trevor Negus, mystery
483. The First Cut, Trevor Negus, mystery
484. Comanche Moon, Larry McMurtry, literary fiction
485. The House Is On Fire, Rachel Beanland, historical fiction
486. Devotion, Howard Norman, literary fiction
487. Dr. Neruda's Cure For Evil, Rafael Yglesias, literary fiction
488. Make Them Cry, Smith Henderson, literary fiction
489. Mr. Flood's Last Resort, Jess Kidd, literary fiction
490. The Bone Fire, Gyorgy Dragoman, literary fiction
491. The Fog Ladies, Susan McCormack, mystery
492. When You Are Engulfed In Flames, David Sedaris, humor
493. Friends In High Places, Donna Leon, mystery
494. Unto Us A Son Is Given, Donna Leon, mystery
495. The Green Man, Ellen Datlow, anthology
496. The Master Of Whitestorm, Janny Wurts, fantasy
497. You Again, Debra Jo Immergut, women's fiction
498. Dead Man's Thoughts, Carolyn Wheat, mystery
499. The Piano Teacher, Robert Tanenbaum, true crime
500. Cry For Help, Wendy Dranfield, mystery
501. Dark Passage, JT Vargas, mystery
502. There Will Be Fire, Rory Carroll, nonfiction
503. Prisoner's Dilemma, Richard Powers, literary fiction
504. Lake Country, Lori Roy, mystery
505. The Pike, JJ Richards, mystery
506. The Children, David Halberstam, nonfiction
507. Neon Gods, Katee Roberts, fantasy
508. Stone Blind, Natalie Haynes, fantasy
509. Wandering Souls, Angela van Liempt, fantasy
510. Work Like Any Other, Virginia Reeves, literary fiction
511. Little Shoes, Pamela Everett, true crime
512. The Luminous Dead, Caitlin Starling, horror
513. The Sea Queen, Linnea Hartsuyker, historical fiction
514. Wrecking Crew, John Ferak, true crime
515. Everyone Is Beautiful, Katherine Center, women's fiction
516. An Honest Living, Dwyer Murphy, mystery
517. A River Of Golden Bones, A.K. Mulford, fantasy
518. The Wolf And The Rain, Tanya Lee, fantasy
519. The Thief And The Waste, Tanya Lee, fantasy
520. Lovecraft Country, Matt Ruff, fantasy
521. The Destroyer Of Worlds, Matt Ruff, fantasy
522. The Black Book, Orhan Pamuk, literary fiction
523. Lost Man's Lane, Scott Carson, mystery
524. The Worlds I See, Fei-Fei Li, nonfiction
525. The Sword Of Shannara, Terry Brooks, fantasy
526. The Last Child, John Hart, mystery
527. Pursuit, Thomas Perry, mystery
528. A Dark Devotion, Clare Francis, mystery
529. Snake Skin, CJ Lyons, mystery
530. Tyll, Daniel Kehlmann, literary fiction
531. The Manor House, Gilly Macmillan, mystery
532. I Shall Wear Midnight, Terry Prachett, fantasy
533. Gallant, V.E. Schwab, fantasy
534. The Palace Job, Patrick Weekes, fantasy
535. The Prophecy Con, Patrick Weekes, fantasy
536. The Paladin Caper, Patrick Weekes, fantasy
537. Under The Empyrean Sky, Chuck Wendig, fantasy
538. At The River, Kendra Elliott, mystery
539. The Last Sister, Kendra Elliott, mystery
540. The First Death, Kendra Elliott, mystery
541. Master Of The Revels, Nicole Galland, fantasy
542. My Absolute Darling, Gabriel Talent, literary fiction
543. Our Little Secret, Roz Nay, mystery
544. An Unofficial Rose, Iris Murdoch, literary fiction
545. Our Hideous Progeny, C. E. McGill, horror
546. The Southern Lawyer, Peter O'Mahoney, legal thriller
547. The Free, Willy Vlautin, literary fiction
548. Mockingbird, Chuck Wendig, mystery
549. The Long Song, Andrea Levy, literary fiction
550. Willful Behaviour, Donna Leon, mystery
551. Victim 14, KJ Kalis, mystery
552. Soon To Be Mine, KJ Kalis, mystery
553. Small Gods, Terry Prachett, fantasy
554. A Kingdom Besieged, Raymond Feist, fantasy
555. In The Time Of Night, Antonio Munoz Molina, literary fiction
556. The Year Of The Flood, Margaret Atwood, fantasy
557. Say Her Name, Dreda Mitchell, mystery
558. Broken Harbour, Tana French, mystery

Here's what I'm reading:

1. Animal's People, Indra Sinha, hardcover
2. The Devil And Sherlock Holmes, David Gran, paperback
3. The Last Days Of Night, Graham Moore, kindle
4. The Eighth Sister, Robert Dugoni, kindle
5. The Devil's Feast, M.J. Carter, kindle
6. The Enchanters, James Ellroy, hardback
7. House Of Names, Colm Toibin, kindle
8. The Darkest Place, Philip Margolin, audio

Happy Reading!

The Other Side Of Nothing by Anastasia Zadeik

 

After the death of her beloved father, Julia has fallen into a depression.  She checks herself into a residential treatment program.  She and her mother, Laura, have grown distance since the death and Laura doesn't know how to talk or act with Julia.  As Julia starts to feel better with treatment, she falls in love with an magnetic patient, Sam.  He is about to leave treatment and when he does he convinces Julia to leave with him.

Both Laura and Sam's mother, Arabella, are worried about this.  The two aren't making contact.  Arabella knows this is a repeating pattern with Sam, a fast infatuation with a girl, spiraling out of control and disaster but she doesn't share this with Laura.  Instead, the two set off on the road trying to guess where their children are headed.  Julia had a bucket list that seems to give clues.  

The mothers almost catch up with Sam and Julia at one location but Sam sees them and they flee.  It soon becomes apparent that the two are headed to a remote, dangerous location where Sam hopes to duplicate one of Ansel Adam's most famous images.  Can they find the two before Sam spins completely our of control?

This is an important book about mental illness and suicide that is relevant to many.  The author has family experience with the topics and offers a ray of hope when all may seem dark and uncharted territory.  It emphasizes the necessity of getting help when one's mind is cluttered and spinning and the fact that there is a better life waiting.  Julia sees how Sam becomes more and more focused on his obsessions and she tries to help him but eventually realizes that she cannot do what is not wanted.  This book is recommended for readers of family relationships. 

Friend Of The Devil by Peter Robinson

 

In this edition, the team are working on two different murders of women.  Annie Cabbott has been seconded to another police station for a few weeks so she catches the first one.  A woman from a nearby nursing home, paralyzed and in a wheelchair, has been taken to a nearby field and cliff.  Her throat is cut and of course she can do nothing to stop it.  It becomes even more interesting when it turns our that this was the wife of the serial killer DCI Banks had caught several years ago.  Although he always suspected that the wife was a partner in the killings a case never was made especially after the woman dove through a window to evade capture and ended up helpless.

Back home, another woman has been killed.  This one was killed in the maze of alleys and deserted buildings after the pubs had closed.  She had gone in there on a dare but never emerged.  Even worse, as the investigation proceeds, it hits home close to Bank's team as another murder occurs.  Can these cases be solved?

This is the seventeenth novel in the DCI Alan Banks series.  This one is interesting for its look back to a prior case that shaped the team in many ways and for the hubris that ends the life of one of the team.  Outside of that, Annie takes a new lover she isn't sure she was wise to engage with and those around her are worried about her state of mind.  This book is recommended for mystery readers.  

The Golden Couple by Greer Hendriks and Sarah Pekkanen

 

When Marissa Bishop comes to counselor Avery Chambers, she says she and her husband Matthew need marital counseling.  The Bishops are an attractive, wealthy couple with one son who have been together since their teenage years.  But at the first session, Marissa blows everything Avery had planned out the window when she confesses that she has been unfaithful.

Matthew is stunned but ultimately agrees that he is willing to work on their marriage.  Marissa says that he had become so remote that she strayed in her loneliness.  Avery finds that both Marissa and Matthew are hiding secrets and being less than honest with each other.  Marissa's partner in adultery has no plans to give her up and is waging a campaign behind the scenes to get her to leave Matt and be with him.   Can this marriage be saved?

These two authors have worked together before to write thrillers.  This one has interesting characters and lots of red herrings before everything is brought into the light.  I listened to this one and the narrators did a great job, especially with Marissa's soft, beguiling voice.  The story is told in alternating chapters by Avery and Marissa and the climax is satisfying.  This book is recommended for mystery readers.

Nimona by ND Stevenson

 

Lord Ballister Blackheart had trained as a hero at the Institution Of Law Enforcement and Heroics.  But after he lost his arm in an unfair joust with his best friend, Sir Ambrosius Goldenloin, he leaves the Institution and becomes a villain.  He is doing pretty well in this but lacks one thing; a sidekick.

When Nimona, a teenage shapeshifter shows up, she wants the job.  She adores Blackheart and is much more bloodthirsty than he is.  She can also shapeshift into any creature she wants.  Together the two start to realize that the Institution is not doing good but instead is releasing disease and pestilence into the land.  Even worse, they want to kill Nimona.

Although they try to kill her several times, Nimona always manages to escape.  Blackheart is forced to choose between her and Goldenloin and he makes the only choice he can.  

This graphic novel is written by ND Stevenson who is known as one of the most talented graphic artists currently writing.  It is a National Book Award Finalist and has been turned into a series on Netflix.  Stevenson writes about how being different is valuable not something to be regretted and his own life history proves that point as well.  This book is recommended for fantasy readers.

Kairos by Jenny Erpenbeck

 

It is the end of the 1980s in East Berlin.  Katharina is nineteen when she meets and starts an affair with Hans, a man in his fifties who is a decade older than her own father.  He is married but a serial adulterer and his wife knows about the affair but doesn't seem to care.  Her friends tell her that its a bad idea but the two seem entranced with each other.

Over the next two years, we watch as the affair sours just as the East German government is souring and failing as reunification looms.  Hans is controlling, desperate to dictate every moment of Katharina's life.  She begins to rebel against this and eventually has an affair with a man close to her own age.  This insures that Hans beats her down psychologically for the rest of their time together.  

At the end of the novel, reunification has happened.  Katharina has moved on, into a theatre career in set design and finds a more stable love.  Hans is caught in the fact that his talents are no longer needed as a radio commentator and that his ideas have passed.  His relevance is over and he has a hard time adjusting to the new reality of reunification.

This book is on the 2024 shortlist for the International Booker Prize.  It is an allegory using the doomed love affair to shadow the doomed government of East Germany and the control of the government similar to the control Hans needs to have over all around him.  Hans is a despicable character and we only learn the depths of his degradation at the end of the novel but Katharina also has issues as the hope of the future.  Jenny Erpenbeck is recognized as one of the leading voices of German literature and she lived through this time period and experienced much of what was happening.  This book is recommended for literary fiction readers.

Killers Of The Flower Moon by David Grann

 

The Osage nation of Native Americans, like other tribes were pushed from their traditional lands by the Western expansion of settlers.  They eventually were pushed into Oklahoma onto poor land.  But in the 1900's oil was discovered on their land and by the 1920's, the Osage nation were the richest in the country.  

But their troubles weren't over.  Instead, there were systematic attempts to defraud them and steal their money.  Many white people married Osage individuals to share in their money.  The governments and banks had Osage individuals declared incompetent to manage their money and appointed guardians who gave them allowances and stole their money while supposedly overwatching it.

Yet even that was not enough.  In the 1920's, a criminal conspiracy targeted various Osage families for murder so that their money could be taken.  The man behind the conspiracy was William Hale, a man who moved there and became wealthy, stating that he was the Osage tribe's best friend.  One of his nephews, Ernest, married into an Osage family and the murders starting happening.  Before it was over, the matriarch, three sisters and one of their husbands were killed.  One murder was a house blown up even though Ernest knew his own wife and children were supposed to be there that night.

Eventually, the murders became so egregious that the federal government stepped in.  The newly formed FBI sent an agent named White to the area where he used undercover agents and turned conspirators against each other until the men could be charged.  Although they were imprisoned for long periods, none were put to death.  This is that story and the one told in the recent movie.  But there was more.   In a part two not referenced in the movie, the author discusses all the cases that occurred before and after the infamous ones and how the reign of terror has affected the Osage nation even today.

David Grann is a journalist and staff writer at the New Yorker.  His work is extensive and his research impeccable.  He is known for his intense immersement in his topics and this book is probably his most impressive and the one he has given most of his professional life to.  It was a National Book Award finalist and the reader will be appalled at yet another example of how the Native Americans were treated by those who came after them.  This book is recommended for nonfiction readers. 

The Leavers by Lisa Ko

 

Demming Guo and his mother Polly don't have much time together.  Polly came to the United States undocumented and had Demming there, making him a citizen.  But she sent him back to China to live with his grandfather when he was one as she didn't have anyone to watch him and had to work to pay back her passage.  Demming came back to New York and Polly when he was five after his grandfather died.  By then, Polly had given up factory work and was working in a nail salon, living with her boyfriend Leon, his sister Vivian and her son Michael.  

Demming had from five to twelve with his mother, the person he adored above all others.  Then she started getting antsy and talked about moving them to Florida.  When she disappeared, everyone thought she had gone without Demming or telling anyone.  Eventually, Vivian signed Demming over to social services and he was adopted by a set of white college professors in New England.

He had lost all track of his mother and had no hope of finding her.  He went back to New York only to find Leon, Michael and Vivian gone also from their apartment.  Demming grew up being called Daniel by his parents.  They wanted him to follow them into an academic career.  Demming wanted to play music and went back to the city to play with a friend from high school.  Just as they were about to break through, Demming's got into gambling and debt.  He lost his friends over money and lost his parents over refusal to do what they wanted.

But he was contacted out of the blue by Michael and eventually found Leon in China and from there he found his mother's number.  She had been in China all those years, deported back in an ICE sweep but never contacting Demming as she had no way of finding him.  He starts talking with her and the connection is instantaneous across the years.  Will he reconnect?

Lisa Ko has written a haunting story of connection and family.  What makes a family?  Is it the blood connection or is it whoever shows up to take care of a child.  Both Demming and Polly are restless souls, constantly moving and changing their lives to try to find a fit.  Polly is ambitious and determined to make a life that is comfortable while Demming just wants to find a place to belong.  This novel was a National Book Award Finalist and is recommended for readers of literary fiction.

Scarecrow Has A Gun by Michael Paul Kozlowsky

 

On the first night Sean and Gina leave their baby, Nike, with a babysitter, Gina is killed in their apartment.  Sean was there but knocked out.  The police have never solved the case, even now sixteen years later.  Sean is now with another woman who he has a daughter with.  But he can't move past the grief and uncertainty of that night.  If only he could remember.

At work, he is in a strange group.   His boss, a business entrepreneur has created a 'Widowers Club' as he himself has been widowed.  Every year there is a competition between the men in this club and the winner advances through the company.  This year Sean wins and his prize is a new technology.  It's called a Memory Palace and it replays a person's memories.

Now Sean is sure he will be able to find the answers he has wanted for so long.  But that memory doesn't come up at first.  He relives his childhood and his time with his own parents.  He relives his courtship of Gina and that of his current partner.  He revisits the birth of his son and realizes that what is shown on the memory palace doesn't match his own memories.  Now he starts to see more contradictions between what he has always believed to be true about his past and the reality.  Will he find the truth?

This is an interesting look at the science of memories and how two different people might remember the same event very differently.  What is reality?  What is truth?  I listened to this novel and the narrator really brought Sean to life, his voice exactly how I imagined Sean would sound.  As Sean delves deeper into his past life, he sees the way forward to living the rest of it.  This book is recommended for thriller readers.  

The Mercy Of The Tide by Keith Rossen

 

Riptide, Oregon is a small Oregon fishing town, the kind of town where kids can't wait to leave.  It is further depressed by a recent car wreck that killed two women.  One was the sheriff's wife and the other was a wife and mother of two children, Sam and Trina.  Sam is a senior planning on a road trip after graduation with his friend but now trying to think of a way to tell him the trip is off after all their planning and saving.  He needs to take care of his little sister, Trina who is nine and reading books about nuclear holocaust to try to take back control of her life.

Things start happening.  Sam, Trina and his friend find a skeleton buried in the local park, an Indian girl from a century ago who was killed by an animal.  On the beach, feral dogs and cats are being found mutilated maybe by an descendant of that animal.  Hayslip, a deputy fighting depression and alcohol, becomes obsessed with the skeleton and it's ties to a mystic Indian superstition.  When a new death occurs and appears to also be by the same animal, he spins out of control and is put on suspension.

Keith Rossen is an author and graphic designer.  He has created a world in a small town where everyone knows everyone and their business and depend on each other to make it through.  The hero of the book is Sam, who although no whiz kid, is a kind guy who is loyal and takes care of everyone around him, the kind of kid who is often overlooked.  The various threads weave together to end up in a climax that satisfies the reader.  This book is recommended for literary fiction readers.