April 2024 MysteryKit: Series

If you are like me and are always trying to catch up with the series that you are reading, then I have some good news as in April I am hosting a month of MysteryKit that will highlight reading our mystery series. Whether we are reading a particular author’s work in order, or following a specific series, as long as it is a mystery/crime story, we can read and count it here.

Enjoy your April reading and let us know which series you are going to be reading. If you wish to add your title(s) to the Wiki, it can be found here: https://wiki.librarything.com/index.php/2024_MysteryKIT

Planning to read A Man Lay Dead, first of the Roderick Alleyn series by Ngaio Marsh.

I am planning on reading the 24th book in the Alan Banks series, Sleeping in the Ground.

>1 DeltaQueen50: Great choice! I have so many...which one or two will float to the top?

The Exiles last of the Aaron Falke series
The Last Devil to Die Thursday Murder Club
The Secret Place Dublin Murder Squad
The Mistress of Bhatia House Perveen Mistry series

And that's just a few!!!

So many to choose from .....

>5 Robertgreaves: I was going to comment something similar! It will not be hard to find something (or multiple somethings!) to read for this one.

>6 LibraryCin: I've got so many series to choose from because if I read more than 3 at a time from one series they blur together and I find it difficult to think of anything to say in a review.

Marcus Didius Falco (by Lindsey Davis) - I'm trying to catch up the to 75ers and their next discussion on Book 6 in May:
🔎 #3 Venus in Copper
🔎 #4 The Iron Hand of Mars
🔎 #5 Poseidon's Gold
🔎 #6 Last Act in Palmyra

Hmmm, that's a lot of MDF in the next 8 weeks. Realistically, I'll probably be lagging in the group discussion by at least one, if not two books but we'll see how close I can get!

I've also got a few first-in-series that I'd like to get to; but if I don't, I can move them to "Golden Age", "New to You" and maybe even "Not too Scary":

🔎 It Walks by Night: A Parisian Locked-Room Mystery (Henri Bencolin #1; by John Dickson Carr) #GoldenAge #Cozy
🔎 The Plot is Murder (Mystery Bookshop #1; by V.M. Burns) #Cozy
🔎 Lady Helena Investigates (The Scott-De Quincy Mysteries #1; by Jane Steen) #Cozy
🔎 Still Life with Murder (Nell Sweeney Historical Mysteries #1; by P. B. Ryan) #Cozy

I plan to read The Cruellest Month by Louise Penny for CalendarCAT, and since it is part of the Inspector Gamache series, it will fit this KIT, too. Like others also said, I have so many series going, so there might be other entries as well.

Since we'll be away for a couple of weeks visiting friends next month, I'm going to let one of my books do double duty: I'll be reading Montmorency on the Rocks by Eleanor Updale for this and the AlphaKit.

I am planning to read Public Anchovy #1 in the Deep Dish Mysteries series by Mindy Quigley.

I'm going to read the second in the Dexter series.

I'm planning on reading Song at Dawn: 1150 in Provence (The Troubadours Quartet) which is book 1 in a historical mystery series.

I have two possibles:

Lantern's Dance by Laurie R King (waiting on a library hold)

A Whisper to the Living by Stuart Kaminsky (last in the series)

LOL, So yeah, the book I just picked up a couple days ago and that I have just now finished, it’s not in the list I generated above 😂

The Secret, Book & Scone Society (The Secret, Book & Scone Society #1; by Ellery Adams) - A cozy mystery set during the present day in a fictional small town in North Carolina. People flock to Miracle Springs, a liberal utopia near Asheville, in search of healing and for some, a fresh start in their lives. Neil Parrish, part of a real estate development team that’s financing new home sales nearby, comes into town early for a meeting but is discovered dead on the railroad tracks. Nora— a bookstore owner, seller and “bibliotherapist” (someone who helps people with their troubles by recommending books to them)— and her three new friends, Estella, Hester and June do not believe it is suicide and decide to uncover the truth. Each member of the Secret, Book and Scone Society has her own secret— as well as seemingly every secondary, tertiary and passerby character in the story. The pages are over embroidered with details and literary allusions; and the mystery itself is underdeveloped. Overall the story is tiresome and not particularly exciting, even at the climax and denouement. ⭐⭐-1/2

This book is definitely not my cup of tea but I have some British crime Classics in my stacks that I’m eager to try.

I read The Leper of Saint Giles by Ellis Peters

>3 DeltaQueen50: I have changed my mind and now I am planning on reading The Killing Room by Peter May, the third book of his that features Margaret Campbell and Li Yan. I am also planning on reading Dark Saturday by Nicci French, the 6th book in the Frieda Klein series.

I think I’m in the mood for Beneath the Bleeding, and possibly Fever of the Bone.

Well, not a British Crime Classic but a mystery that's half-so! The Plot is Murder (Mystery Bookstore #1; by V.M. Burns) is a cozy mystery set in a small town in Michigan. Samantha, "Sam" Washington is a widow who opens up a mystery bookstore on the shores of Lake Michigan. Right before her store officially opens, her realtor knocks on the shop's door, desperate to talk to her. Having had contentious dealings with him, she refuses to let him in and turns away. The next morning, he is discovered dead on the property. Teaming up with her grandmother and three other "Golden Girls" analogs, Sam solves the mystery while also writing a mystery of her own. The structure of the book is different in that Sam's work-in-progress, a whodunit set in 1930s England involving a dead body found in a maze during a house party, is given equal play with the framing story. But neither story is particularly well developed and both suffer from a lack of descriptive detail.

Both The Secret, Book & Scone Society (The Secret, Book & Scone Society #1; by Ellery Adams) and The Plot is Murder are books that were selected by a tea & book club that I belong to and I can see why they selected these books: There's a meta factor in play as the book shop owners talk about books and drink tea. Fair enough, but neither is compelling enough to warrant continuing in their respective series. Admittedly, I'm not really much of a cozy reader outside of Agatha Christie novels (though I'm still willing to try a couple of these British Crime Classics that I got my hands on); but I'am also questioning whether the tea & book club is a good fit for me!

I've been meaning to get back to the Harry Hole books by Jo Nesbo - I've only read two so far - The Snowman was my first (out of order) and that's when I decided to start from the beginning, with The Bat.

I'm still figuring out my April reading plans, lol, but Cockroaches is a likely pick.

I just started reading The Lantern's Dance, perfect for this challenge!

I reread One Corpse Too Many by Ellis Peters, my favorite book in the wonderful Brother Cadfael series (it's #2, but you don't have to read #1 to follow the plot). What's not to love about a medieval monk who solves crimes?

>20 LisaMorr: I'm no chicken, but a book titled Cockroaches scares me :-D

I've started Black Diamond by Martin Walker, the third in its series set in France.

>23 mstrust: I'm trying not to focus on the title, LOL!

I've finished Montmorency on the Rocks by Eleanor Updale, the second book in the Montmorency series.

I just finished S is for Silence by Sue Grafton. Not my favorite in the sereis, but still enjoyable.

I just started and am already in the middle of Venus in Copper (Marcus Didius Falco #3; by Lindsey Davis; narrated by Simon Prebble).

Bone Crossed / Patricia Briggs
3.5 stars

Mercedes (Mercy) is a mechanic and a shapeshifter, more specifically a coyote. She was raised by werewolves, so has a foot in that culture. She is also friends with at least one vampire. Her vampire friend, Stefan, appears as an almost “dead” blob on her floor one day. It takes a bit to bring him back. Some things have happened with the vampires (in other books earlier in the series), so they are not on good terms with Mercy (except Stefan). When Mercy is asked by an old college friend to come to Spokane (from Tri-Cities where Mercy lives) to help with a ghost in her house who is bothering her 10-year old son, everyone thinks it’s safest for Mercy to be away for a while. Spokane has only one (very territorial) vampire. Of course, somehow Mercy is unable to avoid him. And things escalate…

I liked this, though it took a while to remember the characters. There was some refresher on what had happened in the previous book (this is the 4th in the series), but I still found it tricky to remember the characters, who they were, or how they related to Mercy and others. It got better in second half, right around when Mercy headed for Spokane. I found the ghost story most interesting of the entire book (and the lead-up to the end). I wonder if this is because I used to like werewolf/vampire stories more than I do now, plus I’ve gotten more interested in ghost/haunted house stories.

I have completed my read of Dark Saturday by Nicci French. This is the 6th entry in their Frieda Klein series of crime stories. As usual I enjoyed this dark and compelling story.

I finished another one over the weekend, A Killer in King's Cove by Iona Whishaw, book 1 in the Lane Winslow sereis. This was an enjoyable historical mystery set in British Columbia after WWII featuring a former British spy who wants to start a new life for herself after the war.

Starting A Cold Wind by Neil Plakcy, No. 8 in the Have Body, Will Guard series. Aidan and Liam are asked to guard an unwillingly-retired minor Russian oligarch in self-imposed exile in Monaco, who has had attempts made on his life, but from whom?

A Cold Wind was more of a thriller than a mystery and unlike the earlier books in the series was rather meh, so on to my next one, The Way of All Flesh by Ambrose Parry, the first in the Raven, Fisher & Simpson series.

I also read The Case of the Murdered Muckraker by Carola Dunn

I have finished La disparue du Père-Lachaise, second in the Victor Legris series. I rather enjoyed walking the streets of Paris, while the mystery is so-so.

I finished Venus in Copper (Marcus Didius Falco #3; by Lindsey Davis; narrated by Simon Prebble) - While the previous installments are concerned with court intrigue and conspiracies, the plot in this story turns away from the gaze of Emperor Vespasian's eye and returns Falco to the less royal streets of Rome. He is hired by a freeman's household to investigate and thwart a gold digger from marrying into the family but complications set in and the case turns into a whodunit.
In addition to the cozy mystery, Ms Davis also provides insight into the classism of first century Rome: Vespasian is a "middle-class" soldier who has risen in the ranks and become Emperor; Emancipated slaves can ply their wiles in the market and it is neither impossible nor illegal for them to climb the social ladder to nouveau riche status; Republicans and citizens can scramble for greater respect and household goods but without considerable money, cannot hope to attain higher standing as a Senator or, in Falco's case, marry a Senator's daughter. There are times when Ms Davis's descriptions border on inventory listings but she manages to blunt this artlessness by having Falco have an auctioneer's acuity learned from his father. What saves the whole from mediocrity is a scene late in the book which winds up tension and then releases it with an emotional punch. It sounds as if even the audiobook narrator is affected.

Currently listening to book #4 in this series, The Iron Hand of Mars.

>33 Robertgreaves: The Way Of All Flesh sounds interesting! I wonder if you have a thread somewhere (in another group?) where I can follow your reading more closely? Or do you only post your comments in the monthly threads?

>37 MissBrangwen: My more detailed thread with short reviews and books which don't fit any KITs or CATS is in the ROOTs group at https://www.librarything.com/topic/356895#

I hope you enjoy it.

>33 Robertgreaves: Now reading the second in the series, The Art of Dying

>38 Robertgreaves: Thank you! I'll have a look and visit you there.

I have finished L. A. Requiem from the Elvis Cole series, in which we learn about the past of his enigmatic partner Joe Pike.

I just finished Catherine Lloyd's Death Comes to the Nursery, the penultimate book in the Kurland St. Mary mystery series set in the 1820s. These are pleasant but not groundbreaking historical mysteries, potentially worth a read if you want something cozy and not too demanding.

I finished listening to The Iron Hand of Mars (Marcus Didius Falco #4; by Lindsey Davis; narrated by Simon Prebble) last night. There is a lot going on in this book, maybe too much... Vespasian recalls Falco to court where Falco is assigned a diplomatic mission with a dash of espionage: Falco is to present a new standard of arms to the 14th Gemina in Germania, suss out their actual loyalty, find out what happened to a missing military officer or two and, locate two local rebel Cletic leaders and talk to them-- one of which is a prophetess. Along the way, there's graft and murder involving the local pottery trade, a hairdresser accompanying Falco who may or may not be just a hairdresser, twenty newbie soldiers, Falco's girlfriend's brother, the girlfriend herself, and stories that are tied to the land if not the plot. The author clearly had a wealth of research to work with but the actual story might have been better served with a stronger editorial hand. As it stands, it's not always clear what's going on or how what is happening is relevant. Not my favorite of the series so far, but I'm forging ahead with book #5, Poseidon's Gold.

>43 Tanya-dogearedcopy: Although I found this one very funny, I think this was the point where I started to get a bit tired of Falco and Helena Justina's on again off again on again relationship and wished they'd either get together permanently or separate.

Perfect timing - I have A Deadly Yarn which I moved from March to April ready to go.

I have finished Watery Grave, third in the Sir John Fielding mysteries series.

Finished Murder on Astor Place by Victoria Thompson

Birthdays for the Dead by Stuart MacBride
Despite the abhorrent crimes this is a real page-turner. Thankfully, the delightful character, Alice McDonald, provided light relief. I am a fan of Stuart MacBride’s gritty crime novels, and happily will be following the Ash Henderson series.

COMPLETED three from Ambrose Parry's Raven, Fisher & Simpson series set in 1840s/50s Edinburgh:

The Way of All Flesh
The Art of Dying
A Corruption of Blood

I read Assaulted Caramel by Amanda Flower, the first book of the Amish Candy Shop Mysteries. It's not like I need a new series, but I just really felt like reading this!

I read A Man Lay Dead, #1 of 32 in the Roderick Alleyn series by Ngaio Marsh.

I read The Last Detective by Peter Lovesey

I read Beneath the Bleeding and April in Spain and I will probably look for another book to read before the month is over.

I've read Dearly Devoted Dexter, second in the series. If there's a fun serial killer, Dexter is it.

>54 mstrust: I'm watching Dexter on Netflix at the moment. I'm about halfway through the second season. Although I like Dexter himself, I'm a bit disappointed in that I was expecting more detection with him tracking down bad guys and overall I'm not sure there is enough story to justify the long story arcs - a lot of it seems to be just marking time.

Yeah, he's not a detective in the usual way, and he gets much of his info about the people he's hunting by nefarious means. Also, he rarely gets anyone arrested. But I was hooked and couldn't wait to get to the next episode. I liked the whole cast and that it was set in a hot climate in a vibrant city, which seemed like such a contrast to the usual.

I read Dropped Dead Stitch by Maggie Sefton yesterday. It was fun and a joy to visit with the friends and customers of the fictional Lambspun Yarn store. I also like how this book takes place 2 years after the first two, so that we can see how Kelly has settled into her new life in Fort Connor.

Roses are Red / James Patterson
4 stars

While a bank is being robbed, the manager’s family is being held hostage. If they don’t get their money in a set amount of time, the family will be killed. They get their money, but within a minute the family is killed, anyway. Alex Cross is working with the FBI on this one. Then it happens again, but this time, bank employees are killed and the family is left alive. Someone called “The Mastermind” is behind it, with the help of others (who mostly don’t last long themselves).

This is a really good series. It is dark and violent, though. I am often not as interested in the sections/chapters (in most books) from the “bad guy’s” POV, but this one was good. Maybe the psychology of it made it more interesting to me? Parts of Alex’s personal life was interesting and other parts I wasn’t as concerned about; in any case, there was some forward movement on that part of his life, as well. And yup – the end was definitely a surprise!

I'm caught up in the Marcus Didius Falco series! Later this week, I'll be able to download the next book and be on pace in the 75ers Mystery series discussion :-)

Poseidon’s Gold (Marcus Didius Falco #5; by Lindsey Davis; narrated by Simon Prebble) - A cozy historical mystery set in motion when Marcus is accused of having killed a centurion he has been seen recently arguing with. Marcus is drawn into the legacy of his late brother’s schemes, missing statues, suspected fraud, the volatile relationship with his father and, his love for the strong-willed Senator’s daughter, Helena. The plot is solid and the peeks into the auction and art houses of Ancient Rome are interesting— though perhaps the overly detailed descriptions of furniture in every room of every place the characters move through might seem a bit tedious. There is a short history lesson showcasing Vespasian’s role in Judea and subsequent rise to power but the story shies away from court intrigue and runs through the streets and taverns of Rome. ⭐⭐⭐⭐

>44 Robertgreaves: This one was much better than The Iron Hand of Mars: Not too sprawling and even though Helena pulls a Lucy Ricardo stunt (a single-minded action taken by the female lead that makes you cringe and that you know drives the male lead a little crazy too), the relationship seems to have settled down into something sure :-)

I read the next book in the Alex Cross series, Cross Fire for this month's challenge.

I read book 1/6 in the Provence in 1150 series, Song at Dawn by Jean Gill. TBH, not sure if it was a mystery, thriller, historical fiction, or a historical romance etc. It had elements of all.

I have finished Rapscallion, a historical mystery set in Regency London about a Bow Street Runner. This one was mostly nautical, with Hawkwood sent under cover to the prison hulks where French POWs are detained.

Read Valley of the Shadow by Carola Dunn

Starting Buried Deep by Kristine Kathryn Rusch, No. 4 in the Retrieval Artist series, a series of SF mysteries.

Well, I'm going to wrap up here and now as I'm not likely to get any more in for this prompt this month! This was by far my most successful monthly challenge so far with six titles:

• The Secret, Book & Scone Society (The Secret, Book & Scone Society #1; by Ellery Adams)
• The Plot is Murder (Mystery Bookshop #1; by V.M. Burns)
• Venus in Copper (Marcus Didius Falco #3; by Lindsey Davis; narrated by Simon Prebble)
• The Iron Hand of Mars (Marcus Didius Falco #4; by Lindsey Davis; narrated by Simon Prebble)
• Poseidon's Gold(Marcus Didius Falco #5; by Lindsey Davis; narrated by Simon Prebble)
• The Beggar King (The Hangmans' Daughter #3; by Oliver Pötzsch; translated by Lee Chadeayne; narrated by Grover Gardner) - Actually this one is in progress, soon to be wrapped up in the next day or two but I'm counting it now even though it may bleed into May by a day.

My favorite is Poseidon's Gold - a solid mystery with characters that we know and that have settled down :-)

My biggest disappointments are The Secret, Book & Scone Society and The Plot is Murder -- too light and underdeveloped .

My biggest surprise is The Beggar King -- which, while ostensibly a cozy contains some rather dark and graphic imagery. I'm okay with it now that I know what to expect. My husband, who has ready all the ones that have been translated into English, says they get darker as the series goes on. Duly noted.