My Weblog: April Reads

from Mary Saums

Happy Friday! Hope all is well and lovely in your world today.

Hey, check out our latest Femmes cover girl -

YAY! Mystery Scene is top notch and always full of great mystery articles, so be sure and grab a copy while on your bookstore perambulations. Congratulations, Catriona!

My book list for the month is short - only two -

LONDON'S GLORY by Christopher Fowler

What a wonderful surprise to find this new release of short stories. I listened to the Audible version and loved it, loved it, loved it! Each story is a case from the one and only Peculiar Crimes Unit, headed up by senior detectives Arthur Bryant and John May. These two are hands-down the most wonderful, intelligent crime-solvers ever. And real and funny and wise and .... ah, well, yes, yes, okay, I'm still in love with them. Ya know. :)

Two stand-out points about this particular Bryant & May book to make here:

Each story is a wonder of craft. Fowler doesn't skimp on any aspect just because it's a short story. Each one is in full, perfect bloom. Character, settings, pulling readers into the scene, all are done in a way that makes the reader feel the depth of the story. And all with a dash of trademark wit.

If that weren't enough, he also does a wonderful thing that gives incredible added value. He shares his own thoughts and extra information around the writing of each story as intros throughout the book. PLUS, a wonderfully funny added bonus at the end, "Arthur Bryant's Secret Library." Haha! If you've read any of the series, you know dear Arthur has a most ... er ... eccentric and robust book/reading addiction.

Highly Recommended.

STRANGE TIDE by Christopher Fowler

This is the 13th (my, how time flies) in the Bryant & May series. The Peculiar Crimes Unit, always on the brink of being closed down by their (cough) superiors, are worried that this time it all might really be over. Bryant's mental state is usually unusual, but even more so now as he begins to show signs of old-age forgetfulness. The rest of the team carries on with menial tasks but knows that, without Arthur, the future is iffy at best.

But they are called to handle an impossible case. A young woman's body is found on an out-of-the-way bank of the Thames. She's tied to an iron ring in the sand, only there are no footprints to the ring, or away from it, not even her own. Even accounting for the tides, and checking CCTV cameras for clues, the PCU team may have finally come up against a crime they can't solve.

Besides the entertaining puzzles throughout the book, I particularly enjoyed this one because of the great side stories about the Thames itself. Talk about history. Such wonderful, colorful true stories with the great river through the ages.

Highly Recommended And Thoroughly Enjoyable. :)

Okay, so that's me for this month.

What have you been reading lately? Any of your faves coming out with a new book soon?

Comments

Yes, yes, yes! I adore Bryant and May. The Burning Man (#12 in the series) was a heartbreaker with Arthur Bryant's memory problems beginning to surface, but one of the short stories gives me hope that things may not be as dire as they seemed. Looking forward to Strange Tide...

Posted by: Cathy Adams | April 17, 2016 at 01:57 PM