January 2024 – Whatbare you reading?

Have at it!

I'm currently reading The Mystery of the Nervous Lion, part of the Three Investigators middle-grade series, a fond memory from my 1970s childhood.

Daughters of Night by Laura Shepherd-Robinson was excellent - the sort of book which lingers in your mind long after you have turned the last page...

The Fallen: A DCI Matilda Darke short story by Michael Wood - great plot - but didn't like the writing style - kept wanting to edit the text, which is a bit of a distraction when reading :(

Currently reading At the Sign of the Clove and Hoof by Zoë Johnson. Recently rediscovered (written in 1937) and reprinted, I am really enjoying this. If you love Edmund Crispin (but cant quite cope with his rather weird Glimpses of the Moon) then this is for you :)

>1 rosalita: I'm remember the existence of the Three Investigators, but missed them somehow. However, the Christmas I got the entire (at least up until then) Trixie Belden series in a crate, I hid out in my secret reading corner for days!

Just ordered a used copy, and will jump in as soon as it arrives: Fierce Poison. I'm behind on my Barker and Llewellyn.

>3 gmathis: Oh, I loved the Trixie Belden series so much! I had to make do with the school library so I don't think I ever read them all. I do remember getting one book for my birthday, The Black Jacket Mystery, and I read that one over and over.

>4 rosalita: I'm a Missouri farm kid so the one set in the Ozarks, Mystery at Bob-White Cave was one of my favorites.

>5 gmathis: Those kids really got around — I think there was one set in St. Louis, too, The Mystery on the Mississippi. And one set here in Iowa, Trixie Belden and the Happy Valley Mystery, although it was set on a sheep ranch which is ... an unusual choice for Iowa!

Just picked up an oldie from my doctor's pay-it-forward shelf: Curtains for a Jester, circa 1953.

Am coming into the end of The Crime of Julian Wells and while there is a mystery there, it's not a thriller or even all that suspenseful. I hope we get to know what it was even though I already have my suspicions. It's part of the Audible Plus catalog which is good because I'd probably return it if I had to buy it.

It started snowing around here again, which always tends to put me in a festive mood, no matter whether it's December, January or February...
So started reading Murder on the Christmas Express by Alexandra Benedict yesterday.

I am trying to get the Joe Pickett series to current status before the 24th comes out in February. Now reading the 22nd (Shadows Reel).

>7 gmathis: Mr. and Mrs. North -- I've listened to most (all?) of the surviving radio dramas about them but never read a book in the series... Will be curious to hear what you thought about it.

>10 AnnieMod: Just a couple chapters in so I don't have much comment on the plot; however, the early 50's retro chic vibe is kind of fun. I wasn't aware of the radio connection!

Now reading The Gathering by Lisa Stone. Can't say I'm too intrigued yet.
The two previous thrillers I read, Looker by Laura Sims, which started my reading year 2024, and the mystery mentioned in >9 Yuki-Onna: were also quite disappointing.
Did I become picky?

>12 Yuki-Onna: I've seen becoming picky as more of a when, not an if, at least over a long time. (Some days I am definitely less picky than others.)

Just started the new SF mystery by Mur Lafferty, Chaos terminal. I just got to the murder, I think.

Have recently read:

See Them Run by Marion Todd
Murder by Degrees by Ritu Mukerji
Please Join Us by Catherine McKenzie
The Bandit Queens by Parini Shroff - really enjoyed this...

Going to hunt out a Golden Age mystery for my next read...

I read an earlier book by Fred Vargas, Sans feu ni lieu which I really enjoyed. It features Louis Kehlweiler, not her iconic detective Adamsberg, but her dreamy style is clear and it's what I enjoy most about her books.

Could someone please fix the typo in the heading?

Thank you.

>12 Yuki-Onna: :)))
The Gathering really irked me at the start, and I'd nearly DNFed. Luckily, at around the halfway mark, it picked up and got better (Apart from the last paragraph, but... well..)
Now going to start Into the night by Sarah Bailey

Am listening to The Running Grave on 1.2x speed and ff through the preaching and assault bits that are part of Robin's undercover work at a cult. It's getting draggy at 31 hours and I really wish she'd tighten up these books rather than let them sprawl all over with not much tension for hours at a time. Still, I'm interested to see where Cormoran and Robin end up at the end of this one. I've read there is a cliffhanger type ending so imagine that I'll continue with the next one which will probably clock in at 3 days.

>19 Annie_09:, please do not include links where you can acquire a book. That's not allowed anywhere on LibraryThing.

Now reading the latest by Kate Atkinson, Shrines of gaiety, in London in 1924.

Just picked up Death of a Schoolgirl, a Jane Eyre spinoff.

Just finished On the Cold Cold Ground by Adrian McKinty. I can't wait to get to the rest of the series. So great to find a new series with 6 or 7 books already written. It feels like there are still a few books to get to but not so many you'll never get current.

Started Mystery Man, by Colin Bateman, today and am already 150 pages in. It makes a good commuting book.

Started The Shell House Detectives} by Emylia Hall as it was recommended by Elly Griffiths. So far really enjoying the language and sense of place this is giving (Cornwall) and the characters seem interesting. Ally Bright is the widow of a local police officer and Jayden Weston a young ex-cop who's moved from the north to to Cornwall after his partner was killed. A woman has gone missing, and a young lad has gone over a cliff (attempted suicide or murder?). They come together to solve the mystery & in doing so, maybe start healing themselves.

In the village of Yule, Scotland with Lexy and the Last Ditch crew, visiting her parents in their new B&B: Hop Scot.

I'm reading The Shadow by James Patterson and Brian Sitts. I wasn't expecting a sci fi thriller based on the 1930s radio show, but it's quite fun, despite the chilling vilain.

Time for a re-read: Easy to Kill, by Agatha Christie.

Really enjoyed The Shell Detectives so moving on to 2nd book The Harbour Lights Mystery by Emylia Hall

Just finished Jennifer Hillier's Wonderland. I liked the writing a lot .

Started a new topic for February 2024 :)