Ideas, Opinions, Genealogy, and Book Reviews
This is the second in a series. I liked the first and reviewed it about a year ago on this blog. I liked it so much I eagerly jumped at the chance to read and review an ARC of Brooklyn Graves: An Erica Donato Mystery by Triss Stein. Continue reading “Brooklyn Graves: An Erica Donato Mystery”
I have been a fan of Gabriel Cohen‘s writing for several years now. So when I received an email that his Jack Leightner crime novels have been published as ebooks by Open Road Media, I thought I should help spread the word. Continue reading “Gabriel Cohen mysteries published as ebooks”
Sarah Ettritch’s The Deiform Fellowship Two: The Cult is the second in the The Deiform Fellowship series. I thought the premise a bit odd but the title of the first intrigued me and so I gave it a try.
I wrote my review of The Atheist: The Deiform Fellowship One less than a week ago and as I was writing I was thinking about how good this book was and that maybe I should try the second in the series.
I should mention (for the benefit of those who haven’t read my review yet) that Deiforms are agents of God (or at least believe that to be true) and the main character in The Atheist is Jillian. And there is an interesting conflict of beliefs since Jillian is an atheist. Continue reading “The Deiform Fellowship Two: The Cult by Sarah Ettritch”
I was just browsing Netgalley looking for something that would be an interesting read when the title The Atheist caught my eye. So I looked a bit further and the description seemed interesting:
“Jillian Campbell doesn’t believe in God. When local pastor Jim Preston claims to be an agent of God called a Deiform, and declares that Jillian is one too, she dismisses him as a kook. Two days later, Preston is dead, and Jillian stands accused of his murder.”
Continue reading “The Atheist: The Deiform Fellowship One by Sarah Ettritch”
I came in ignorance. But found a good book anyway. In fact, I found what seems to be a good series. Let me explain.
I had heard of Nero Wolfe. I never Continue reading “2 Nero Wolfe Mysteries by Robert Goldsborough”
The Penguin Pool Murder by Stuart Palmer is an oldie but goodie. This book was made into a movie in 1932 so it has obviously been around for a few years. And I would guess that there have been many reprints.
This incarnation is digital. I have placed a link to and picture of the Kindle edition to the left but if you look around you can probably find other formats. Maybe even an older edition in physical book form. Or if you follow my Amazon link to the Kindle edition, you can find a DVD of the movie.
The story itself was entertaining and an easy read. I’ve not seen the movie.
It opens in a New York aquarium (near the penguin pool , of course) with a small mystery of a purse snatcher and a teacher taking her class of third graders on an outing. And there is a hunt for the teacher’s missing hat pin. The first few pages did not seem very promising to me.
But a murder is quickly discovered. The teacher, Miss Hildegarde Withers, gets involved in the murder investigation. And the story gets interesting. So don’t give up too quickly.
Enjoy the story. It moves quickly. The case quickly becomes more complicated as the third grade teacher and the detective find many people with motive to kill the victim and many suspicious actions.
I was surprised at least twice near the end. You may be too but in any case you’ll have an enjoyable read along the way.
Why did I decide to read The White Cottage Mystery by Margery Allingham ?
I’ve been searching for information on the Allinghams and the name Margery Allingham frequently pops up. I had read she was a good mystery writer and I was a bit curious. Lately, I’ve been gravitating toward mysteries.
Why search for Allinghams? I do some genealogy and my great great grandmother was an Allingham.
So I thought that one of these days when I was at the library, I’d look up one of her books. I usually have a bunch of books waiting for me so that day was probably pretty far off. I often review current books and many of these are Advanced Reader Copies (ARCs). I get them as e-books from Netgalley.
Then about a month ago, I was browsing Netgalley to see if anything of interest was available. And to my surprise I ran across The White Cottage Mystery by Margery Allingham. It had been republished as an e-book by Bloomsbury about a year ago. The publicist at Bloomsbury was kind enough to approve me anyway. So my thanks to both Netgalley and that publicist.
So since this is supposed to be a book review and you’ve put up with my ramblings for so long, I should tell you right off that I liked the book. From what I’ve read, it seems this was her first mystery and at the time (1920s) it was published as a newspaper serial and much later edited into a short book.
But my thought was that if I was going to read Margery Allingham, I might as well begin at the beginning. It is a good mystery. It very quickly gets down to a murder and a suspect. But then there are too many suspects, each with a good reason to kill the victim, but none apparently did. I completely enjoyed this one and plan read more of her work.
Brooklyn Bones begins with an incident any parent can relate to. A teenage daughter calls about something terrible and, of course, it is all your fault. The terrible thing gets your attention and then the story slows down a little but definitely keeps your attention as the main characters are fleshed-out.
Then the action speeds up and never stops until the end. The book is Brooklyn Bones and the author is Triss Stein. This book is the first in a series featuring Erica Donato. Continue reading “Brooklyn Bones by Triss Stein”
For several years now, I have enjoyed Daniel Silva’s series of novels about Gabriel Allon. Gabriel Allon has a remarkable and unusual set of talents. He is a gifted art restorer as well as a professional spy and assassin.
Daniel Silva also has unusual talents. According to Daniel Silva’s page at Amazon
I have been enjoying this series since the late 1990’s and look forward to each new novel. Since I have read most, if not all, I can say with a good degree of confidence that Silva provides enough of a background in each novel that I think it is entirely possible to enter the series anywhere (but there is something to be said for beginning at the beginning). This brief background is certainly not so much that it bores the series enthusiast or bogs down the story in any way. Since only 1 or 2 novels come out each year these backgrounds are helpful to review relevant highlights of story that you might have read several years ago.
The Fallen Angel is the latest addition to the series. Gabriel is retired from Israeli intelligence and is progressing nicely with his restoration a Caravaggio masterpiece in the Vatican. But he is asked to look into a possible murder or suicide in St. Peter’s and quickly uncovers a vast conspiracy, and as he progresses finds great threats to Israel and world peace. As a follower of the series I know that he will get involved with his old job, save Israel and the rest of us, and return to his art restoration.
But how the tale is told is the thing that keeps me coming back. Daniel Silva tells the story well. I hope Gabriel’s retirement is interrupted often in the coming years. All of the books in the series have been wonderful.
Nelson DeMille’s Death Benefits is a short story which will be released by itself as a digital short in an e-book. The story has already been published in the anthology edit by Demille, The Rich and the Dead.
The short story opens with an author past his prime. He once wrote best-seller mysteries but his last few books just haven’t done well. (Nelson DeMille is himself a best selling author but certainly not past his prime.)
The writer still lives well but just doesn’t have the money to support the lifestyle he likes and to which he has become accustomed. He is broke. He resents his agent who took 15% in the good times and the writer sure could use that money now. He has an insurance policy on the agent’s life which he took out in the good times. Can he now commit the perfect crime and be a wealthy man again?
Demille tells the story well. It starts well and just gets better until the twist and the surprise ending.
Athough I haven’t read The Rich and the Dead, I have seen reviews and understand it is a fine collection of short stories by a wonderful group of writers. Death Benefits is just one of the stories.
So if you are interested a short mystery, try Death Benefits . It is available as a digital short for those with e-readers such as the Kindle or Nook. According to the latest on the Amazon site this won’t be release until August 1, 2012 but can be ordered now. If you would like to try a group of short mysteries, try The Rich and the Dead . This is available as an e-book as well as an actual physical book.
I thoroughly enjoyed The Philosophical Practitioner by Larry Abrams . It is an unusual book, a thought-provoking philosophy lesson wrapped in a compelling story with romance and mystery. The story grabbed me at the beginining and made it hard to put the book down. But since I read it on my Kindle, it might be more accurate to say that it was, hard to put my Kindle down.
So what is the mystery? A potential client seems to be seeking his help in deciding on whether she should kill a man. It turns out that the target is the philosophical practitioner. Is she serious? If so, why him? When, where and how add a bit more to the mystery.
The romance progresses as does the practice. Eric, the philosophical practitioner, consults with people with a variety of problems. This consultation is not unlike that of a psychologist but the emphasis of the philosopical practitioner is on getting the client to use reason to find out what is important in each situation. It is interesting to listen to Eric present his reasoned philosophical arguments to his clients. And to think about how you might handle a similar situation.
So this is both a learning experience as well as a good read. The book is available as both a paperback and Kindle edition. The Kindle edition is a fraction of the price so that might be a consideration for you.
So, what is the meaning of life? What is important to us? Whether you agree with Eric or have another philosophy, you are going to learn something about yourself here.
I’ve long been a fan of Michael Connelly’s books. I decided to read or re-read The Black Echo by Michael Connelly because it was the first of the Harry Bosch series which I have enjoyed over the years. It has been so long since I may have read it that I wasn’t sure if I read it or not, but after a few pages I knew that I had. I did not remember it well enough that I knew what was coming so I was surprised by most of the twists in the plot but at least parts of the story were familiar. I totally enjoyed this mystery and as a bonus Harry worked with Eleanor Wish who will feature in other books of the Harry Bosch series.
I do not wish to say too much about the plot or specifics about characters as I don’t want to spoil the surprises for that rare reader who has not yet discovered this series. But, in short, both Harry and Eleanor are very interesting characters and the story is well-told with a number of surprising twists. For me, it was a re-read and a very enjoyable experience. For someone new to the series, it may be a bit different but I can’t imagine not enjoying it. I think this would be a great introduction to the characters as well as a great story. If I was thinking about trying a Harry Bosch book because so many people love the series, I would probably start at the beginning with The Black Echo .
I would guess that the new reader would be fine jumping into the series with any book that sounds interesting to him or her. Michael Connelly does work enough background of the characters into each book that I’ve read that the new reader should be able to enjoy the stories. But it is interesting to start at the beginning and watch a character develop and age. In The Black Echo Harry is close to 40 but in the later books he is at an age when lots of us are retired.
Michael Connelly has written quite a few books and I have enjoyed all of those I’ve read. If you are interested in learning more about this author you might want to check out Michael Connelly’s Amazon page
On an unrelated note, I just wanted to add that I started reading this book on my Kindle. I had borrowed it from the county library and I’m not quite sure how borrowing ebooks works. But when it was ready (and there was a waiting list), it was sent to my Kindle by Wi-Fi and through my Amazon account. I did enjoy reading the book on the Kindle and my only gripe was that the loan period was one week which included Christmas Eve and Christmas day. Since I hadn’t finished by the end of the week and the book on my Kindle disappeared, I borrowed the actual book from the library to finish the story.
Thanks to netgalley I read an advanced reader’s copy (ARC) of Gideon’s Sword by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child. The book won’t be released until February 22, 2011 but is available for pre-order though Amazon as either a physical book or a Kindle edition. The novel is planned to be the first installment in a new series featuring Gideon Crew. Gideon Crew is a fascinating character: an accomplished art thief, a Los Alamos physicist, an outdoorsman, an actor, a jazz fan, and more.
In the opening chapter a boy’s father is killed in front of him as a traitor to the United States government. Years later, Gideon who is now a young man learns his father was murdered as a scapegoat for an intelligence failure.
He plots his revenge and in carrying it out shows skills which bring him the attention of a private company which seems to be a government contractor for secret projects. Needless to say, Gideon agrees to a specific project and that does not go as planned and a thrilling sequence of events follows.
The authors do a wonderful job in telling his story. It was a real page-turner and I read the whole book (300+ pages) in less than 24 hours. The characters were interesting and the plot moved quickly. I had high expectations having previously read several books in the Agent Pendergast series by the authors.
I almost completely enjoyed this book. The ending seems to only partially resolve Gideon assignment. In many ways it felt like watching a TV show and getting very interested and wondering how they are going to wind up the story in a few minutes and then being left hanging when they say “Continued next week” but worse because you know it will be much more than a week. Although I found this ending disappointing, it does pique your interest for future installments of this planned series.
So this is sort of a mixed review. I enjoyed the book until the chapter which disappointed me greatly.
Recently I’ve been reading some non-fiction and really enjoyed those books but large non-fiction books can be a bit slow and since I liked the crime fiction by Gabriel Cohen, I thought I would give myself a treat with a couple of his books that were on my “to read” list. These would be “The Graving Dock” and “Neptune Avenue”. And as expected, both were much faster and enjoyable in a different way.
In the past few months, I reviewed 2 books by Gabriel Cohen: “The Ninth Step” and “Red Hook”. I really liked both, the first and fourth in a series about Detective Jack Leightner. “The Graving Dock” and “Neptune Avenue” are and second and third.
Gabriel Cohen’s books are crime novels, they are so much more. Jack grew up near the docks in Red Hook, Brooklyn and is haunted by his childhood (his relationship with his father and the death of his brother mostly) and his failures as an adult (especially a failed marriage, an uneasy relationship with his son, and difficulties in relationships). All in this series have been excellent reads and now that I’ve read all 4 in the series to date, I guess I’ll just have to wait for the next.
Since the sense of place is so important in Gabriel Cohen’s novels, these books are wonderful for those who either know Brooklyn or want to know more about Brooklyn. By the way, a graving dock is a dry dock and is used to repair ships below the water line. And Neptune Avenue is in Brooklyn, the Coney Island, Brighton Beach area.
So I’ll finish up with a few links you might find useful or interesting:
Last month, I reviewed “The Ninth Step” by Gabriel Cohen..
I really liked that book but it is the 4th in a series about Detective Jack Leightner. At the time I mentioned that I planned to look for the earlier books in this series. As it turned out I found the first of the series in our county library and enjoyed that as much as the other. Here is my review of the first in the series, “Red Hook” .
Although Gabriel Cohen’s books (or at least the two that I’ve read) are crime novels, they are so much more. “Red Hook” begins with a young Dominican man who is found murdered near the Gowanus Canal. The questions are who and why and there is no obvious answers. Sure the book is a crime mystery and in it Jack investigates a this crime and risks his career doing what he thinks is right (and his superiors disagree) but it is more importantly a story of an imperfect man dealing with his past and working toward a better future.
Continue reading “Red Hook by Gabriel Cohen”