A Good Hanging (1992) Ian Rankin A Good Hanging is a collection of Inspector Rebus short stories. I read Knots and Crosses a couple years ago, and although I enjoyed it, found it very dark, so I’ve been hesitant to continue in the series because I haven’t been in the mood for that much darkness. […]
Playing for the Ashes (1994) Elizabeth George Synopsis: Kenny Flemming is a brilliant cricket player who seemed to have come out of nowhere, and came to cricket not through the school system by through a factory league. Just before players are to be chosen for the Test matches, Kenny Flemming is found dead, in a […]
Missing Joseph (1993) Elizabeth George Synopsis: Deborah St. James is still struggling over her inability to have a child. When she ducks into a museum to escape a storm, she meets a vicar with whom she feels she feel she could talk, however, when she and Simon arrive at Lancashire for an out-of-season vacation, they […]
For the Sake of Elena (1992) Elizabeth George Synopsis: Lynley is still keeping busy as things are still uneven between him and Helen, while Havers continues to struggle with finding care for her mother. When Lynley volunteers to take a case in Cambridge, both of their personal situations come to a head. Elena Weaver is […]
A Suitable Vengeance (1991) Elizabeth George Synopsis: Going backwards in time, we see the engagement of Lynley and Deborah, which we well know isn’t going to last, and we meet other members of Lynley’s family, including his mother and his brother, and spend time in the town where he grew up. Unfortunately, Lynley’s engagement weekend […]
The Shadow Pavilion (2009) Liz Williams Detective Inspector Chen has multiple problems to deal with: his partner Zhu Irzh has disappeared, along with the badger, a Bollywood star/tiger demon is on the rampage, and someone wants to kill the Emperor of Heaven. Add to that the complexity of everyday life in Singapore Three, a new […]
Well-Schooled in Murder (1990) Elizabeth George Synopsis: Thomas Lynley is called upon by an old schoolmate from Eton, when a boy at his school–a boy for whom he was ultimately responsible–is discovered to have been missing for the entire weekend. As Lynley is currently taking every case that comes across his desk (and a number […]
Payment in Blood (1989) Elizabeth George Synopsis: Once again, Thomas Lynley is called from vacation to deal with a murder. And once again Barbara Havers is to be his partner. As the subject of their investigation the upper class to which Lynley belongs, he feels that Havers may cause more problems that she might help […]
A Great Deliverance (1988) Elizabeth George I’ve been out of sorts recently, and keep picking up books, reading a few pages, and then putting them back down, because they’re not what I’m in the mood for. Luckily (or perhaps unluckily) for me, Amazon provides endless recommendations, based upon other books you’ve read and enjoyed. Thus, […]
The Wings of the Sphinx (2006/2009) Andrea Camilleri translated by Stephen Sartarelli Inspector Salvo Montalbano and his girlfriend Livia are again on the outs. And his day begins with a call from Catarella, about a dead body. And if you’ve read an inspector Montalbano book, you know that no phone call from Cat can lead […]
Victoria Vanishes (2008) Christopher Fowler The Peculiar Crimes Unit (PCU) has changed Oswald’s retirement party to a wake, and on the way home Bryant sees a woman who is later discovered murdered. Unfortunately for him, he sees her across from a pub that hasn’t existed in decades. Unsurprisingly, the PCU is drawn into the case, […]
A Clubbable Woman (1970) Reginald Hill I’ve been in the mood for mysteries recently, so I’ve read through most of the ones I had in the house but had not already read. I’m a fan of British mysteries, so I figured the Dalziel & Pascoe series looked interesting. And since it was available, I picked […]
A Sea of Troubles (2001) Donna Leon I am failing to understand the hows and whys of Penguin’s publishing schedule for Donna Leon’s Commissario Guido Brunetti series. A Sea of Troubles was first published in 2001, but was published by Penguin and released in the US only this year (2009). Additionally, there was not notice […]
The Girl of His Dreams (2008) Donna Leon This has all of the elements I’ve come to expect of a Commissario Guido Brunetti mystery–death, intrigue, good food, and corrupt Italian politics. This is not to say she presents all Italians as corrupt, after all we have Brunetti and Vianello on the side of the “good […]
Bangkok Haunts (2007) John Burdett Once again we return to Bangkok where Detective Sonchai Jitpleecheep is investigating another murder. A stuff film has appeared in Bagkok, and as the body of the prostitute has also appeared, it is apparent this is truly a film of her death. Sonchai is investigating–even against the orders of Colenol […]
August Heat (2005) Andrea Camilleri translated by Stephen Satarelli It’s August, and it’s hot, and Inspector Montalbano is unhappy not only because of the heat, but because Liva made Salvo find a house from her friends to rent during their vacation. Unfortunately, the house turns out to be far more trouble than Inspector Montalbno expected […]
Suffer the Little Children (2007) Donna Leon Brunetti is called to the hospital for an assault case, where it turns out that a citizen of Venice has been injured, only the assault isn’t what he was expecting, and draws Brunetti into a case of illegal adoptions. I’d been saving Suffer the Little Children for months, […]
The Paper Moon (2005) Andrea Camilleri translated by Stephen Sartarelli I am sad. I have now read all the Inspector Montalbano books that have been published and translated into English. August Heat comes out later this year, but after that? No more Inspector Montalbano for me–at least until the next book is translated. Montalbano is […]
The Patience of the Spider (2004) Andrea Camilleri translated by Stephen Sartarelli The problem with Inspector Montalbano books is that if I pick one up, I tend to read the entire book in an evening. Which isn’t so good on a week night. Montalbano is recovering from the events in Rounding the Mark. Liva is […]
Rounding the Mark (2003) Andrea Camilleri translated by Stephen Sartarelli Inspector Montalbano is mad. Very mad. Police raids in Genoa have made a spectacle of Italian police, and Montalbano feels as if he has been betrayed by a system that ignores that ideals he holds dear. He says he’s going to resign, but then he […]
The Smell of the Night (2001) Andrea Camilleri translated by Stephen Sartarelli As Montalbano continues to have trouble with the commissioner, trouble with Liva, continues to be an asshole to everyone he works with. In other words, nothing has changed with him. In The Smell of the Night Emanuele Gargano has run off with billions […]
Excursion to Tindari (2000) Andrea Camilleri translated by Stephen Sartarelli A young man is found dead just outside his front door in what seems to be a mafia killing. This event would have passed almost unnoticed, except that a distraught man calls to report that his parents–who live in the same building as the murdered […]
Voice of the Violin (1997) Andrea Camilleri translated by Stephen Sartarelli The more I read of Andrea Camilleri’s Inspector Montalbano series, the more I like it. Initially I wasn’t sure about Salvo–he’s often a jerk–why do people like him? Well, he can be a jerk, but the more I read, the more he comes across […]
The Snack Thief (1996) Andrea Camilleri translated by Stephen Sartarelli The third book in Andrea Camilleri’s Inspector Montalbano series finds Montalbano investigating a man found murdered in an elevator, while Augello investigates a shooting on a fishing boat that left a Tunisian dead–shot ostensibly by a Tunisian police boat claiming the fishing boat was no […]
The Terra Cotta Dog (1996) Andrea Camilleri translated by Stephen Sartaelli In the second Inspector Salvo Montalbano book, Montalbano is called by his friend Gege–the head of local prostitution–to meet, because Gege has something he has been asked to discuss with Montalbano. From here, Montalbano is drawn into organized crime, whether he wants to or […]
The Shape of Water (1994) Andrea Camilleri translated by Stephen Sartarelli After stumbling upon The Fencing Master several years ago, I overcame my reluctance to read books that had been translated into English. I’d somehow gotten it into my head that translated books were literature and my experiences with literature have not always been the […]
Through a Glass, Darkly (2006) Donna Leon I’ve been trying to slowly read–to savor–Donna Leon’s Commissario Brunetti books. However, being home sick I’ve read through several in the past couple days, and having finished Through a Glass, Darkly have only one published paperback left. (There are a couple of books that were not republished in […]
Friends in High Places (2000) Donna Leon Apparently, Donna Leon’s Commissario Brunetti books are not being published in the US following European copyright dates. Friends in High Places has a European copyright of 2000, but was published in the US only recently. Not that this particularly matters in the grand scheme of things, as the […]
Blood from a Stone (2005) Donna Leon In Donna Leon’s fourteenth Commissario Guido Brunetti book, a vu cumpra is shot down on the street by hired assassins. Brunetti is (eventually) called to the scene, and attempts to unravel why a man selling fake handbags was shot in cold blood on the streets. The more Burnetti […]
White Corridor (2007) Christopher Fowler Once again the Peculiar Crimes Unit is in danger of being closed. After Raymond Land decided to close the until for a week’s vacation, a member of the unit is found killed, while Bryant and May are on their way to one of Bryant’s spiritualist conventions. With Bryant and May […]
Doctored Evidence (2004) Donna Leon A querulous old woman is killed in her apartment, and suspicion automatically falls upon the maid. Scarpa closes the case, but when Brunetti comes back into town, new evidence–that Scarpa wants to dismiss unheard–comes to light. This book is not just about discovering who killed a nasty old woman and […]
Uniform Justice (2003) Donna Leon I really like Commissario Guido Brunetti. I like his sense of justice and fairness. I like his intelligence and wit. And I like his wife. In fact I think I wish I was Paola. A boy is found dead in the local military school, and it’s immediately filed as a […]
Precious Dragon (2007) Liz Williams The third Detective Inspector Chen novel, it seems as if recent activities have brought Chen and Zhu Irzh to the attention of authorities, and they are charged with escorting the emissary from Heaven, Miss Qi, through Hell. Meanwhile, an old woman arranges the marriage of her only daughter, and soon […]
Fatal Remedies (1999) Donna Leon I started Fatal Remedies immediately after I finished A Noble Radiance, wasn’t sure about the direction the story was taking, and then picked it up again today, as I have a whole stack of Guido Brunetti books waiting to be read. What I was unsure about was how things were […]
A Noble Radiance (1998) Donna Leon The Commissario Guido Brunetti series continues with A Noble Radiance. A body is discovered in a field that has lain fallow for several years, and from the ring found with the body, it is likely that the body is that of a young man who had been kidnapped two […]
Quietly in Their Sleep (1997) Donna Leon This was a rather strange story in comparison to the previous books. Brunetti is given only a vague idea that there might be something untoward happening in a nursing home–a home that is run by the same man as the home in which Brunetti’s mother resides. It is […]
Acqua Alta (1996) Donna Leon In Acqua Alta we return to two of the characters that Guido met in the first mystery, Death at La Fenice. Brett Lynch is beaten in the doorway of her own apartment. When Guido discovers what has happened he goes to her hospital where he again meets Flavia Pitrelli, with […]
Death and Judgment (1995) Donna Leon In two seemingly unrelated incidents, a truck goes off a cliff, killing the driver and his unexpected cargo of lumber and women. And months later, in Venice, Commissario Guido Brunetti is given the investigation of the murder of a prominent local loyal, whose unblemished record is enough cause for […]
Death in a Strange Country (1993) Donna Leon The second Commissario Guido Brunetti mystery (how I managed to read the third book instead of the second in two different series within a week is beyond me) finds Guido awakened to come down to a canal as a body was found in the water. The stab […]
Dressed for Death (1994) Donna Leon The second third Commiario Guido Brunetti mystery, Dressed for Death starts with the body of what is assumed to be a prostitute found behind a slaughterhouse in Marghera. The case falls to the Mestre police department, however due to a series of unfortunate events, they have no detectives, so […]
Tooth and Nail (1992) Ian Rankin In some ways, 1992 doesn’t seem that long ago to me. But reading this book, it seems a lifetime ago. Tooth and Nail was written in 1992, it many of the little things in the book made it feel old to me: the lack of cell phones, the smoking, […]
Death at La Fenice (1992) Donna Leon Guido Brunetti is vice-commissario of police in the Venice, and a good detective as well. When a world famous maestro is found dead in his dressing room, from what seems to be cyanide poisoning, Guido is immediately pressured to find the killer, lest Venice receive bad press. Although […]
Knots and Crosses (1987) Ian Rankin Knots and Crosses is the first John Rebus mystery. John Rebus is a Detective in the Edinburgh police force, who is not doing a very good job of getting over his divorce, or his time spent in the special forces. When someone starts kidnapping and murdering young girls, the […]
Bangkok Tattoo (2005) John Burdett The sequel to Bangkok 8 returns us to Krung Thep, where Sonchai is now part owner of the Old Mans Club, in addition to remaining a detective in the Royal Thai Police Force. It is because they are in Bangkok that a devout Buddhist and policeman can also be part […]
Bangkok 8 (2003) John Burdett Sonchai and his life-long friend and now partner in the Bangkok police force, Pichai, are following an American Marine through Bangkok, on the orders of the Colonel, the head of the police department in his sector. When the Marine is murdered and the woman he was with has disappeared, Sonchai–for […]
A Ghost in the Machine (2004) Caroline Graham Ghost in the Machine may be my least favorite Inspector Barnaby mystery so far, because it takes us forever to actually get to Inspector Barnaby, and even once he becomes involved, we still spend a great deal of time with the characters involved in the murders. What […]
The Killings at Badger’s Drift (1987) Caroline Graham This is actually the first Inspector Barnaby mystery. How annoying when publishers only have part of a writer’s catalog and one is deluded into thinking you’ve read the first book in a series, only to discover you were terrible wrong. So this is the book where we […]
A Place of Safety (1999) Caroline Graham I only meant to read a couple of chapters of A Place of Safety. Unfortunately, an interesting combined with difficulty getting to sleep after an afternoon nap meant that I read the entire book yesterday evening. A man witnesses what appears to be a woman pushing a girl […]
Faithful Unto Death (1996) Caroline Graham I picked up a later book in this series somewhere, and being the way I am, decided to go back and start at the beginning of the series. Too bad for me. This isn’t the first book in the series, it’s simply the first book published by St. Martin’s […]
The Demon and the City (2006) Liz Williams After reading The Snake Agent, I’ve been looking forward the reading the next Detective Inspector Chen book. (In fact, the paperback edition has been on pre-order for several months.) As with many authors I like, after getting a book, I’m hesitant to read it, for fear that […]