What are you reading at the moment?

[Jackmeister]

Thanks Bjorn - I figured they would be, what with the same last name and all, but I didn't want to read too far through this forum, because I'm at the beginning of the series I don't want to find out things that will spoil the future books for me.

Cheers

[Hot_Rod_Otis]

After watching and enjoying the show on A&E........I'm really enjoying the Longmire mysteries by Craig Johnson.

[ALFRED DUST]

Hi All,
Living here in England I've just discovered C.J.Box. I've just finished Back of Beyond and was struck by the similarities with the greatest living novelist James Lee Burke. The lead character Cody Hoyt reminds me so much of Clete Purcel. It was a great read and I'm now on a pursuit of his Joe Pickett books. Can't wait for Creole Belle to hit these shores.

[ALFRED DUST]

Bloodline by Mark Billingham.

Mark Billingham is a UK writer who is very, very good. This is his 9th book and the 8th to feature Detective Inspector Tom Thorne.

Thorne is a character along the same lines as Ian Rankin's Inspector Rebus (Rankin is another master), if you like one, you will like the other. Thorne's London is not a pretty place and the world he does his work in can be quite bleak.

In this novel, people are being killed and the bodies are being left with a small piece of an x-ray in their hands. What is the reason for this and is there a common thread to the killings?

The story is entertaining and fast-paced, Thorne and the rest of the cast tend to be easy to read about and likable. The mystery is not that difficult to figure out but this is not the main thing, it is the writing of Billingham that always gets me involved. Another plus to his writing is that there is a realism to it, Thorne is no superhero, he is an ordinary man with personal demons.

I think Mark Billingham is getting better with each novel he writes and that is a very good thing for readers of quality fiction.

Hi there, Mark Billingham is very good. Have you tried Peter James? He's another UK novelist writing terrific crime stories set in Brighton on the the south coast of the UK. The lead character is a cop called Roy Grace and all the titles in the series (8 so far) contain the word DEAD. Well worth a read.

[CaribooRose]

HI Guys
I'm just about finished Daniel Kalla's Rage Therapy ... it's a bit of an odd story but I've sure enjoyed it. He's written seven one-off novels ... Rage is the third.

Our hero is Dr Joel Ashman, a psychiatrist in Seattle, WA. He often works with local police. Someone murdered (horrifically, I might add) Dr Ashman's long-ago partner, Dr Stanley Kolberg ... and Joel is stuck right into the thick of the investigation. Who dunnit? Why?

Regards!!
Rose

[jbenham]

Just starting Creole Belle! Rose how have you been?

Jackmeister, glad to see you here!

I am pumped! Something to do with a new Robicheaux.

[Jackmeister]

Jeff, I'm new to this Board and I've only just jumped on the Dave Robicheaux bandwagon, I have only read the first 2 so far, liked them a whole lot, can't wait to read the rest.

[Jackie]

Then you've read Neon Rain? Hooked me!

[Jackmeister]

I've just gone on-line and ordered the next six in the series.
Now the long wait till they get to me.

[Jackie]

Jackmeister,

You say series, but Jim also wrote, for example, about Billy Bob Holland in Texas and a great book about the Civil War entitled White Doves at Morning, so it's not like every year was a Robicheaux. I hope you won't miss those as well because they are every bit as good and brilliant as in White Doves, and the villains in the Texas books are shudderingly evil. But then they all contain the beautiful prose that I love so much no matter his subject.

I remember one book where Dave is given a drug like a woofie at an evening outdoor party and he is driving home when it hits. He runs off the road into the marsh, hits his head on the steering wheel or the dashboard whatever, and becomes unconscious, and experiences a visit with an officer and his men from the Civil War who had bivouacked temporarily there in the woods by the water. Does anybody remember which book this was? I'm stumped. Anyway, it was moving and poetic and surreal and added a defiant dignity to the memory of those ragged brave soldiers. The scene was haunting. (haha no pun intended)

Jackie