Hello everyone!
It’s the end of summer and the summer TBR list has been completed. I finished up with the medieval thriller Blood on the Sand by brilliant author Michael Jecks! If, like me, you’re a mystery/thriller devotee, I hope you took the time to explore some of these titles. Here’s what I read during the summer of 2015:
MC Beaton – Death of a Liar (Constable Hamish MacBeth – Scotland)
Marjorie Eccles – An Accidental Shroud (Inspector Gil Mayo – England)
Tim Ellis – Fragments of the Dead (Parish & Richards – Englend)
Tim Ellis – Whispers of the Dead (Tom Gabriel, PI – St. Augustine, FL)
Jane Haddam – Festival of Death (Gregor Demarkian – Philadelphia, PA)
Cynthia Harrod-Eagles – Dear Departed (Inspector Bill Slider – England)
JA Jance – Remains of Innocence (Sheriff Joanna Brady – Bisbee, AZ)
Peter Robinson – The Hanging Valley (Inspector Alan Banks – Yorkshire, England)
Donna Leon – Beastly Things (Commissario Guido Brunetti – Venice, Italy)
Archer Mayor – The Surrogate Thief (Lieutenant Joe Gunther – Brattleboro, VT)
Janwillem Van de Wettering – Hard Rain (Grijpstra & De Gier)
Martin Walker – The Crowded Grave (Bruno Coureges, Chief of Police – St. Denis, France)
Michael Jecks – Blood on the Sand (Fripper Berenger and his Vintaine – Calais, France)
It was a great reading summer between Santa Fe and Valdosta as well as the long plane rides in between! Since I finished a bit early and it wasn’t quite fall yet, I started on a “tweener” reading The Einstein Prophesy by Robert Masello. I’m not quite done with it yet, so it’s delaying the launch of my fall TBR list, but it’s a very good read. It’s a work of historical fiction taking place in 1944 and, yes, Albert Einstein is a prominent character, although not the protagonist. It’s a very interesting blend of the occult with the appearance of demons from ancient Egypt, the race with the Nazis for the atomic bomb, and an ancient archaeological discovery. You might think of it as Indiana Jones and The DaVinci Code. Anyway, I’m enjoying it, but I’m anxious to get started on the fall list. It starts with the new Jack Reacher title, Make Me!
Nothing much more to report. Creative activity has all but stopped due to school duties. I seem to be on a plethora of committees each with a significant workload that was due “yesterday.” And then, of course, online classes require the constant reading of 300-500 word essays. So the two novels are parked midstream and the composing ideas are just that – ideas!
The fam is off performing: Daniela in Leipzig (Aija went along as Eva’s nanny!), Alek in Philadelphia for his first Alfredo (Traviata). Holidays and school breaks will find us in Philadelphia and San Francisco. Aija and I did manage a “daycation” to Jeckyll Island on Labor Day. Valda, Moxie, and I are here in the deep south holding down the fort!
It’s been a long time since the last blog post. Chalk that one up to the start of school! Please reply, respond, share, like, subscribe, and any other way you can let me know that somebody out there reads this!
I’ll follow this post with another launching the fall TBR list. I hope you’ll read with me and stay tuned for further adventures! Meanwhile, maybe I’ll see you ONLINE! Cheers! -Jim
