Hey!! Let's get some action going! What are we reading?

[Apache]

Originally Posted by alansplace

Now on to much more modern, faster paced and more exciting fare, Frozen Heat, the fourth Nikki Heat novel.

How are the Nikki Heat books? I have been thinking about buying them.
Apache

[WT Sharpe]

Originally Posted by WT Sharpe

I've just started The Case of the Backward Mule by Erle Stanley Gardner. I'll be starting chapter 7 of 22 in a moment, and so far no sighting of Perry, Della, or Paul.

I bought this thinking from the title that it was a Perry Mason novel, but it's not. It's a Terry Clane novel. Seems there were other "The Case of the" novels by Mr. Gardner that involved protagonists other than Mason.

1. The Case of the Backward Mule (Terry Clane)
2. The Case of the Turning Tide (Gramps Wiggins)
3. The Case of the Smoking Chimney (Gramps Wiggins)
4. The Case of the Musical Cow (Rob Trenton)

Still, it's a very enjoyable mystery.

[alansplace]

Originally Posted by Apache

How are the Nikki Heat books? I have been thinking about buying them.
Apache

The first one was pretty good, the second and third were improved from the first. This one started out just fine so far. All of them have been enjoyable light reads. They are all probably a better experience if you're a fan of the show.

[Apache]

Originally Posted by alansplace

The first one was pretty good, the second and third were improved from the first. This one started out just fine so far. All of them have been enjoyable light reads. They are all probably a better experience if you're a fan of the show.

Thanks, I do like the show. I will be buying them after I finish Infinity Hold.
Apache

[CRussel]

Originally Posted by DixieGal

Hi there! I'm sort of adrift and looking for something interesting to listen to. How are you? We are having a hurricane right now. What book should I listen to?

What do you like? I've been listening to the Liaden books by Sharon Lee and Steve Miller and enjoying them quite a bit. But if SF isn't your genre, you might give the Phryne Fisher mysteries by Kerry Greenwood. I'm reading them in eBook, not audio book, but I see they're available on Audible and would be a good choice.

[cassidym]

Originally Posted by Apache

How are the Nikki Heat books? I have been thinking about buying them.
Apache

I've read the first three and liked them very much.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by DixieGal

Hi there! I'm sort of adrift and looking for something interesting to listen to. How are you? We are having a hurricane right now. What book should I listen to?

The Wizard of OZ is a good one. It has this hurricane scene you might really enjoy.

[caleb72]

Originally Posted by caleb72

Now I'm moving onto another indie novel: Clay's Way by Blair Mastbaum, a GBLT, coming-of-age romance set in Hawaii which could be interesting.

I love these books if they're done right so we'll see how it goes.

This one had a lot of impact on me. It lures you in with the promise of obstacles overcome, tantalises you with the possible happy ending and then sucker punches you.

There were a few too many parallels with my early life which made it far too easy to relate to the main character. I feel like watching Mary Poppins after that.

Could have done with more proof-reading though.

After the great experience I had with Martuk ... the Holy, I picked up two of Jonathan Winn's novellas which are basically side-stories for the novel. The first is The Wounded King and the second is The Elder.

[Kindoll]

Just started The Twelve and enjoying it so far!

[benham]

Finished Camel Club. It started out a bit slow while Baldacci laid the foundation and you got introduced to the characters. It picked up nicely, though, as there were a few plot lines you had to try and figure out how they were connected. A surprise or two at the end.

Just starting the next book in the Camel Club series, The Collectors, and it has had no trouble getting off to a fast start.

[Xanthe]

I'm currently reading "Three Parts Dead" by Max Gladstone:

A god has died, and it’s up to Tara, first-year associate in the international necromantic firm of Kelethres, Albrecht, and Ao, to bring Him back to life before His city falls apart.

Her client is Kos, recently deceased fire god of the city of Alt Coulumb. Without Him, the metropolis’s steam generators will shut down, its trains will cease running, and its four million citizens will riot.

Tara’s job: resurrect Kos before chaos sets in. Her only help: Abelard, a chain-smoking priest of the dead god, who’s having an understandable crisis of faith.

When Tara and Abelard discover that Kos was murdered, they have to make a case in Alt Coulumb’s courts—and their quest for the truth endangers their partnership, their lives, and Alt Coulumb’s slim hope of survival.

Set in a phenomenally built world in which justice is a collective force bestowed on a few, craftsmen fly on lightning bolts, and gargoyles can rule cities, Three Parts Dead introduces readers to an ethical landscape in which the line between right and wrong blurs.

[Lynx-lynx]

Just read a delightful novel:

The Cartographer
Peter Twohig

It's about an 11 year old boy in 1959 Melbourne (Aus), who takes himself on many adventures with wonderful zeal and adventure.

A mixture of a boys own (for adults to read) and an espionage novel for tweens.

Wonderful, especially as it's a first novel.

[CRussel]

Originally Posted by CRussel

Next up on the eBook side is Cocaine Blues by Kerry Greenwood. This is the first of the Phryne Fisher books and is getting rave reviews from my DW.

Originally Posted by dreams

I have this first one on my kindle and haven't read it yet. Let us know what you think about it.

Finished Cocaine Blues and went immediately on to read the next, Flying Too High. I really enjoyed both of them, and I've bought the next couple, taking advantage of Amazon's WhisperSync deal to also buy the Audible versions of them.

Phryne Fisher is an English woman brought up poor, but who has now inherited a very large fortune (we don't actually know it's size, but it appears essentially bottomless.) The stories are set in the 1920's, and Phryne is an entirely emancipated woman who has just moved to Melbourne Australia and sets about solving mysteries somewhat by accident, but then by intent.

Phryne has a knack for acquiring completely devoted staff by attaching them as she works, and an equal facility for finding lovers as she goes (and unacquiring them nearly as quickly). She's an aviator, drives a Hispano-Suiza, carries a revolver, and isn't afraid to solve a problem by throwing well thought out money at it. All somewhat a bit too good to be true, but one really doesn't mind and disbelief is happily suspended.

The one weakness in these early books is the endings tend to be just a bit too contrived and awkward, and there are always a few more subplots going on than absolutely necessary. Somehow, these faults seem minor in the context of a thoroughly original and enjoyable character. Highly recommended.

[dreams]

Thanks Charlie. I'll move that up on my TBR list now.

[Lynx-lynx]

@CRussel, I also enjoy the Phryne (pronounced Fry knee) series by Greenwood and agree generally with your comments.

Earlier this year the Aus Broadcasting Commission aired maybe half a dozen of her early Phryne novels in 1 hour telemovie format. There have been some character changes (for whatever reasons) and the wonderful Mrs Butler and her even more wonderful meals are not part of it.

The reviews were somewhat mixed, but I thoroughly enjoyed viewing them!!

I don't know if you're aware but Greenwood also writes about a contemporary sleuth in the form of the Corinna Chapman series, an inner city Melbournian baker and her Private Investigator partner.

These books deal with the Melbourne of today, as opposed to Phyrne's 1920's.

Personally, I'm a 1920's lover so they're my favourites.