Identity Theft, part two

Sigh. Guess someone thought signing me up for memberships on websites without my permission is a good thing.

Imagine my surprise when I checked that given-out-to-friends-only email address this evening to discover that I apparently have a member page on Facebook. The first email came on Wednesday, and there have been 133 of them, some confirming friend requests, and some remarking about photos that have been posted on the account.

Except, I don't have a Facebook account. I never signed up for one because they're too time intensive to take care of.

If you stumble across this thing, I have nothing to do with it. I did notify Facebook that my email was being used fraudulently, so hopefully it'll be shut down very soon.

Green In The Midst Of Drought Edition

I'm uncertain yet if I like the new posting interface on Blogger. Seems sometimes like the guys who design this stuff tinker with it just because they can, and not because it really needed it. Take, for instance, the new Windows 8 interface--they've apparently done away with the iconic desktop and replaced it with tiles as if it were a tablet computer. Sorry, guys. I think I'll stick with Windows 7 as long as possible. I like my laptop to have its wallpaper and all, not look like a tablet. And the chances that I'll get a tablet computer are pretty remote. I'm a writer. I need a keyboard to work with, not what passes for one on the already small screen a tablet computer provides.

Summer seems to want to hang around a while longer. Don't guess I mind that, since it means it stays warm rather than getting cold sooner. This whole year has been running about two weeks early, as far as the weather and the seasons go, though. Not sure what that will mean for this winter. We're supposed to be heading into an El Nino winter, but they're not certain when it will start, since it seems we're in a pause between the El Nino/La Nina cycle.

We've been in the upper ranges of the drought scale for a while now, with the dividing line between Extreme and Exceptional falling very close to us on a map of the State. Hurricane Isaac (tropical depression by the time it reached us) helped take the edge off that, though I know we need a lot more rain that what we got to bring things back to where they should be. I know there were a lot of places that got flooding and tornadoes and wind damage, so it was awe-inspiring to watch on radar as the core of the storm passed somewhere within 50-100 miles to the east of us, all nice and polite and dropping a rather gentle rain with a light breeze most of the day. We maybe got 1 or 2 inches, spread out so much that the ground had a chance to soak it up as it fell.

Of course, now the grass is growing like crazy, so there's the trade-off of someone having to mow in the humid heat. The trees, though, are already half bare. They've been dropping leaves for a couple of months, slowly at first, then more heavily as the drought got worse. With all the dry grass and brown leaves on the ground, there were times recently when it could have passed for fall, if not for the fact that the thermometer reading was up around 100F.

I promised, right before summer hibernation, that I'd post a list of what I'd been reading recently, so I guess I'll see what I can drag up. There may be some duplication from previous entries, since I can't remember precisely what I've already posted...

In paper:

Deader Homes and Gardens, by Joan Hess. New Claire Malloy. Claire, teenage daughter Caron, and new husband Peter Rosen are crammed with their belongings into Claire's small apartment, and it's more than they can take. With Peter off on police business, Claire searches for the perfect house, and finds it...but is it really available? Claire isn't about to let murder stand in the way of getting her dream home if she can help it. Fun read. Given that much of the series is set in a fictional version of the place I grew up, it's easy to picture places I know when reading these.

On the Nook:

A Man Lay Dead, by Ngaio Marsh. First Inspector Alleyn book. Enjoyed it.

Charles Todd: (not in order)

Ian Rutledge series:
A Cold Treachery
The Kidnapping (Short Story)
The Confession
A Long Shadow
A False Mirror

Bess Crawford series:
An Unmarked Grave

James R. Benn: (not in order)

Billy Boyle WWII series:
A Mortal Terror
Rag and Bone
Evil for Evil
Blood Alone
The First Wave

Margaret Frazer: (not in order)

Dame Frevise Medieval series:

Winter Heart
The Murderer's Tale
The Bishop's Tale
The Outlaw's Tale

Elegy for Eddie, by Jacqueline Winspear.

Currently reading on Nook:

Dear Mr. Holmes, by Steven Hockensmith. Holmes on the Range series, short story collection. Narrator Otto has a wonderful 'voice'. Lots of fun to read.

A lot of these I read long enough ago that the details aren't clear enough to give a synopsis. I enjoyed them, though.

Also currently working on Patty's latest.

Until next time~~

Interstellar Illusions

Source: Hubblesite.org

This is one of my favorite Hubble pictures (there are many). The galaxies shown are not actually colliding. They're actually about ten times the distance apart than the distance between the Milky Way and Andromeda, and it's just chance that they've aligned in such a way that we can see the nearer one highlighted by the background one.

It's been a while since I posted last. My apologies. I've done some reading to report on, and lots of thinking about the new book, with some stuff seeming to come together in that direction. We'll see how it goes. Next post will hopefully be soon.

Enjoying what seems to be a normal June, though May was significantly drier than usual.

Update

My publisher just let all us authors know that they've acquired a company that records audio books, so at some point in the future, my books may be available for listening to. There's no schedule, and the voice talent will apparently get to choose which books they want to record, so when and if this happens, I'll let you know.

Website updates may take a bit... I had intended to add mobile accessibility to the site, and discovered that in order to do that, I have to know either Javascript or PHP, so I have a bit of learning to do before I can do what I was wanting. Still intending a simple update in the meantime, but the big stuff will have to wait.

Have done very little recreational reading lately, so I have no list to give you this time around.

Do you enjoy Doctor Who? Here's the preview for the upcoming season, courtesy of the BBC: Preview

Spring has been unusual this year. We've been having April weather in March. The old saying about March coming in like a lion and going out like a lamb all took place within the first week. Not that I'm complaining. Except for the pollen part. So many people have had pollen allergies come up a month earlier than usual, and it's been confusing for everyone.

Not much else for the present~~

An odd sort of identity theft...

Over the past month or more, I've been getting spam from a dating website.

At least, I thought it was spam. It ended up directly in my spam folder, and I deleted it unread, just like I tend to do with all the other spam I get. After a while, though, I noticed the subject lines on the emails were not normal spam subject lines. These looked like the type of emails that social network sites send out to notify you when there's activity on your 'page'. Except, I don't have an account with any dating websites--I've been married for 27 years and love my husband dearly, and have no desire to look for someone else.

Then something else occurred to me--the email address these things were being sent to was a private email that not very many people have. Primarily, people whom I've considered my friends.

It's always a bit icky when you realize someone's appropriated your email. Just ask anyone who's had to explain to their email provider that they've been hacked and their email stolen. This had that extra bit of ickiness, though. Someone I know took my email address, and set up an account with this dating website, in essence stealing my identity and planting it in a public place where I have no control over it. I haven't been to the website. I have no idea what's in the profile on the 'page'.

There are enough clues, between the use of the private email and the profile name, which sometimes pops up in the subject lines of emails sent by the site, that I may have a fair idea who did it, and why. Not cool, guys. And very inappropriate, for reasons that you know as well as I do. Proverbs 27:11. Be wise, and delete the account, please, if you haven't already.

There was a previous version of this post, if you read it and wondered what happened to it. Shortly after it was posted, all email activity from the dating site stopped. It could mean the profile was taken down. If so, thank you. It could mean the email address was changed, in which case the profile may still be active. It's also possible my blog is showing up on the profile page, in which case potential suitors were probably quite turned off. I was way more ticked last night. (If this is showing up on the profile page, please point this post out to the site moderators. Maybe they can do something about getting the 'page' taken down.)

In case you're wondering, a Google search showed the site was one of the bigger free dating sites, and the last email I got from them, which I did open and look at, was a newsletter-type thing letting me know where there was 'singles activity'. Well, I'm sure someone's happy to know there's singles activity out there, but since I'm happily settled, it's not me. The only possible reason I can think of to visit the site would be to check that the profile on it has been deleted.

Recent reads...

I had a list around here somewhere of the books I'd read, but it's managed to get buried, so I'll try to remember what was on it...

Cara Black:
Murder on the Palais Royal-- Aimee Leduc's partner is shot and left for dead, and Aimee's being accused.

Charles Todd:
Wings of Fire
Search the Dark
Watchers of Time
Legacy of the Dead
A Fearsome Doubt
A Lonely Death

Inspector Ian Rutledge. Obviously, I'm trying to catch up on the series.

On the Nook:

Steve Hockensmith:
The Black Dove

Rex Stout:
A Family Affair
Gambit
Too Many Women
Three Men Out

Currently reading:
On paper:
Daphne DuMaurier:
Jamaica Inn

On Nook:
Rex Stout:
The Hand in the Glove

Up Next:

Not sure. I have Death and Judgement by Donna Leon, or another Rex Stout, or half a dozen ebooks by Margret Frazer that I haven't touched yet. Plenty of choices.

I'm planning on doing a redesign on my website, once I can figure out some background art.

Winter has been unusually mild. I'm not complaining. Still have a couple of months to go, so there's plenty of time yet for nasty weather.

Until next time~~~

Rainy November

Well, it's rainy today, anyway. And it's supposed to rain the next couple of days. Sigh.

We had a bit of excitement on Saturday night. About 10:53pm, an earthquake hit an area of Oklahoma centered near Sparks, with an intensity level of 5.6, the highest on record for Oklahoma. By the time it got to us, the intensity level was somewhere around 3, which was enough to make many people sit up and take notice. Most of the earthquakes that we get are so tiny that either we don't feel them, or the vibrations are so slight that we're not certain we really felt it. This one occurred during a pretty strong series of wind gusts, and many of us locally thought it was just the wind shaking things, until it became plain that it wasn't. There was a bottle of water on my dresser, and the water inside picked up the vibration of the ground. It was interesting and a little unnerving to watch.

Yeah, I know, this was child's play compared to the ones California gets, but this isn't California. As someone in Oklahoma stated, we get tornadoes. We don't get earthquakes. The next morning, whenever two people met, the likely first question was, "Did you feel it?" I know I heard it a lot.

The Muse Online Writers Conference went well, at least my part of it. It was the first year I ran the suspense workshop solo. There was a bit of a mix-up about participants being reminded about the conference's starting date this year, so there weren't a lot of people participating, but those who did were there to learn, and it made working with them a pleasure. Hopefully I'll be a bit better prepared next year.

Reading...erm, yes, I have done some. I'm a bit blank on things right now, and will have to refresh my memory on what all I read since last time. That will have to be in another post.

Car Wrecks, BB&BBQ, and the Muse Conference

The last couple of weeks have been busy. We had about $2000 in maintenance work done on the main family car somewhere around a month ago, and just over two weeks later, a young man in a pick-up truck pulled out in front of us at an intersection and there was a collision. Granted, he couldn't see us, because another SUV blocked us from sight until it was far too late. I'm thinking it was his first major collision. You don't have that deer in the headlights look when you've been in a wreck before--you're too busy stepping on the gas pedal trying to get out of the way of oncoming traffic.

The young man had no insurance, something that just astounded my father, who came out to pick us up because our car was undrivable after the wreck. 'How could he get his car licensed without insurance?' he wondered. Insurance companies call such people 'taggers', because they buy insurance just so they can get the tags on their car, then cancel the policy. The police officer who handled the report of the wreck had a nice stack of tickets for him when all was said and done. Just the ticket for failure to have insurance is $500, according to our insurance agency. Fortunately, we keep comprehensive coverage on the family car, and our insurance company has been wonderful through the whole process.

There's an unmistakable roar of Fall in the air. It's Bikes, Blues, and Barbecue week. For the uninitiated, it's rapidly becoming one of the bigger biker rallies in the US. I've heard the number 400,000 tossed around in the attendance area. Lots of free concerts, some barbecue competitions, a few not-so-free concerts. Motorcycles everywhere. Next week's going to seem very, very quiet after this one.

I'll be happy to have that peace and quiet, as next week is the Muse Online Writers Conference, an entirely online conference where instructors and students from around the world can gather at times convenient to them. The workshop 'rooms' are open 24/7, and assignments can be posted whenever, and graded when the teacher is up and ready to work on them. I'll be teaching our Suspense workshop again this year, though I will be doing it solo, because my workshop partner is unable to attend this year. Hopefully everyone will be patient with me.

Gigi Ann of Ann's Reading Corner has posted her thoughts on Reef Runner. Thank you, ma'am!

So far this fall, the weather's been pretty nice. I guess we're getting a break before winter hits us. Definitely not complaining.

Recent reads--

A Pale Horse
A Matter of Justice
both by Charles Todd

These books have a darkness to them that comes from the protagonist's state of mind. A shell-shocked WWI veteran, he has recovered enough to function in his job as a Scotland Yard detective, but never knows when it will catch him at a bad moment during an investigation. Because of that, each book carries a certain level of depression with them, but are worth reading if you space them out with other books in between.

Billy Boyle by James R. Benn

This one was read in a listserv I'm on, but it wasn't until recently I had the chance to read it. Billy Boyle is a newly-minted detective on the Boston police force, just at the beginning of the US's entry to the Second World War. Family connections bring him to the attention of a distant uncle, General Eisenhower, who snaps him up fresh out of Officer Candidate School and has him shipped to London to serve as his own personal investigator. I had a little trouble connecting with the character right at first, but as both author and character grew comfortable with their surroundings, Billy became someone whose adventures I'm interested in following.

On the Nook:

The Black Mountain, by Rex Stout.

The death of Nero Wolfe's friend sets in motion events that not only see him leave the Brownstone, but send him to his birthplace in Montenegro (then part of Yugoslavia) to find the killer. Right-hand man Archie Goodwin spends most of the book waiting for Wolfe to translate for him, since he doesn't speak Serbo-Croatian.

Currently reading:

On the Nook:

Plot It Yourself, by Rex Stout.

Am enjoying this, not only for the usual antics, but because of the fact that Wolfe's clients in this one are authors and publishers.

Up next:

Heat Rises, by 'Richard Castle'.

Book 3 of the series purportedly being written by the character Richard Castle from the TV series 'Castle'. These things are fun. Not outstanding literature, but a neat way of making viewers of the series feel 'connected' to the characters and as if they're participants in a way.

Enough for now. I need to do some prep work for the conference.

'til later~~~

Comment moderation

My apologies, but I've put the blog on comment moderation. I don't have the time and energy to fend off a lot of comment spam, and I certainly didn't start this blog to give folks a place to advertise products.

Legitimate comments will be approved as I get the notifications.

Thank you for your patience and understanding.

Uncertain weather

This has been one interesting year, weather-wise. I'm sure anyone who's had access to either a TV or the internet knows exactly what I mean by that.

We went from summer to fall overnight, with the passage of one cold front. Days with highs in the nineties went to days in the seventies, and nights in the lower seventies went to nights in the forties. It's great not to roast every day, but now I'm cold, lol! I got adjusted to the hot temperatures. We had that nice rain a couple of weeks back, which has combined with the cooler temperatures to encourage vegetation to make up for lost time in a desperate attempt to reproduce before winter. My husband started suffering from allergies a couple of weeks ago. It really started hitting me just during this past week. At first I couldn't figure out what was going on, but then I noticed things flowering. The grass greened up after the rain, but we haven't had much more than morning dew for the past couple of weeks, so things are still abnormally dry. As far as I know, we're not under a burn ban, but there are enough dead leaves on the ground from the trees trying to save themselves during the heat of summer that a carelessly discarded cigarette or match could cause a disaster.

Gigi Ann of Ann's Reading Corner has posted her thoughts about Blood Money and Rio Star. Thank you very much, ma'am!

The new novel is coming along. I have a bit more research to do on it.

As far as reading goes:

I've just finished A Duty to the Dead, by Charles Todd. The first of the Bess Crawford mysteries, set during WWI.

Murder in Belleville, by Cara Black. Second in the Aimee Leduc series.

Natural Environments of Arizona. This is a textbook, bought for story research. It's about as dry as the title suggests.

Insider's Arizona Guidebook. An Arizona Highways book. Also bought for research. The part of the state that I'm interested in got a small section, but the pictures are gorgeous.

Arizona: A Cavalcade of History, by Marshall Trimble. Actually, I haven't read this yet, but it's on the list, as it's research material.

The Nature of Arizona. A guidebook of plants, animals, and trees in Arizona. Research.

The Mountains Know Arizona. An Arizona Highways book. Expected a trade-paperback type thing, and got an fairly good-sized hardback, with big, beautiful pictures. Definitely useful. Research.

The Mapping of Love and Death, by Jacqueline Winspear. Maisie Dobbs series.

Waiting on my Nook are:

Still Life, by Louise Penny. First in series.

The Black Dove, by Steve Hockensmith. Third in the Holmes on the Range series.

Plot It Yourself
Three Men Out
Gambit
The Black Mountain
Too Many Women
--All by Rex Stout. Five Nero Wolfe books I haven't read yet.

Waiting in paper is: A Pale Horse, by Charles Todd. Inspector Ian Rutledge mystery.

Nearly a third of the way through September already. The older I get, the more I understand what the Bible means when it says that a thousand years is as a day to God.

More to come as things warrant...

~~~

Revenge of Summer, parts One and Two

You may have notice that I haven't said much for the last couple of months. (Well, I know someone has--thanks, Wayne, for asking!)

You may also know that I don't have air conditioning (just look back through my posts from previous summers. You'll find it). If you also know that the midsection of the US has been getting baked in a pressure cooker of a weather system for the past couple of months, you can probably guess what I've been doing. Computer time has been limited in order to protect my computer from overheating on those long and intensely hot days we've had, starting back in June and getting hotter and more intense as the summer progressed. Just right now, we're getting a break because the high pressure ridge that was holding everything in place fell apart and set some rain and cooler weather in, but the weather service indicates that the ridge is rebuilding, so we'll likely be heading right back into heat and drought in fairly short order. Hopefully nothing as intense as it's been. We came one degree short of equaling our all time record high of 110 degrees, and have had 16 days of 100 degree or higher temperatures this year, which is very unusual for us.

I'm not looking forward to that 'part two' of the summer attack. I was really hoping our end of the summer heat was just coming early this year.

Got some reading done, though:

Gamble (otherwise known as Dick Francis' Gamble) by Felix Francis.
I think the family business is in good hands. Felix is already a good writer. There's a lot about this that's familiar, in a good way. I look forward to the next one from him.

An Impartial Witness, by Charles Todd
The first out of this series I've read. World War I nurse helping to solve the murder of a woman who was the wife of one of her patients. This era is getting a lot of play lately, with Jacquiline Winspear's Maisie Dobbs books set in the aftermath of the war, and Todd's other series centered around a man who suffers from the after-effects of battle and traumatic injuries in his life as a police detective.

Swan for the Money, by Donna Andrews
Came in on this series with Cockatiels at Seven. It's okay. Will probably pick up more.

Dare to Die, by Carolyn Hart. One of her Death on Demand books. These later ones are easier for me to read, mainly because the earlier ones felt too much like every police official in the Carolinas was presented at one time or another as a rabid idiot who was so set on convicting an innocent person that only our intrepid heroine could keep an unwilling law and order moving in the right direction. Yes, this was probably typical of mysteries at the time they were written, and yes, it bothers me in other books of the era. I did guess what it was that set Emma's memory of the attack off, and had a fair idea whodunit. I enjoyed her Henrie O series as well, and hope she'll continue writing those. Not at all interested in the ghost series she's writing now.

Next up is Dead in Vineyard Sand, by Philip Craig, and then probably Bury Your Dead, by Louise Penny. Sometime soon, possibly Absolute Zero Cool, by Declan Burke, which I'll have to order from overseas, I think.

Thunder and rain approach as I type this. Gotta enjoy it while it's here.

Mundania's having a Sale!

Mundania Press is celebrating its ninth year in business with a sale. All books on their website are 29% off for the month of August.

Yes, that's all books, whether in trade paperback or in ebook format.

If you're thinking about picking up copies of the Patty O'Donnell series as gifts, or if you're missing one and would like to get it at a discount, you can find them HERE. Sale prices are only available on the Mundania website.

If you like humorous crime fiction with a definite noir edge...

Just received word from Declan Burke, one of the rising young stars of Irish crime fiction, that his new book, Absolute Zero Cool, is coming very soon...



Jacket Copy:

ABSOLUTE ZERO COOL

by Declan Burke

“A genuinely original take on noir, inventive and funny. Imagine, if you can, a cross between Flann O’Brien and Raymond Chandler.” – John Banville, author of THE SEA


Who in their right mind would want to blow up a hospital?

“Close it down, blow it up – what’s the difference?”

Billy Karlsson needs to get real. Literally. A hospital porter with a sideline in euthanasia, Billy is a character trapped in the purgatory of an abandoned novel. Deranged by logic, driven beyond sanity, Billy makes his final stand: if killing old people won’t cut the mustard, the whole hospital will have to go up in flames.

Only his creator can stop him now, the author who abandoned Billy to his half-life limbo, in which Billy schemes to do whatever it takes to get himself published, or be damned . . .


“ABSOLUTE ZERO COOL is unlike anything else you’ll read this year … Laugh-out-loud funny … This is writing at its dazzling, cleverest zenith. Think John Fowles, via Paul Auster and Rolling Stone … a feat of extraordinary alchemy.” – Ken Bruen, author of AMERICAN SKIN


Advance Praise for ABSOLUTE ZERO COOL:


“Stop waiting for Godot – he’s here. Declan Burke takes the existential dilemma of characters writing themselves and turns it on its ear, and then some. He gives it body and soul … an Irish soul.” - Reed Farrel Coleman, author of EMPTY EVER AFTER


“Declan Burke has broken the mould with ABSOLUTE ZERO COOL, which is actually very cool indeed. Funny, inventive and hugely entertaining crime fiction - I guarantee you’ll love it.” - Melissa Hill, author of SOMETHING FROM TIFFANY’S


“If you want to find something new and challenging, comic crime fiction is now the place to go … Declan Burke [is] at the vanguard of a new wave of young writers kicking against the clichés and producing ambitious, challenging, genre-bending works.” - Colin Bateman, author of NINE INCHES


“ABSOLUTE ZERO COOL is a surreal rollercoaster of a read, full of the blackest humour, and yet poignant. An outrageously funny novel ... The joy is in the writing itself, all sparky dialogue and wry observation, so smooth that when it cuts, it’s like finding razor blades in honey.” - Deborah Lawrenson, author of THE LANTERN


“Burke has written a deep, lyrical and moving crime novel … an intoxicating and exciting novel of which the master himself, Flann O’Brien, would be proud.” - Adrian McKinty, author of FIFTY GRAND



Absolute Zero Cool gets its official launch on August 10th at the Gutter Bookshop, Temple Bar, Dublin. If you're in that area, I'm sure he'd appreciate it if you dropped in.

You should be able to find the book here once it's available, or of course, you can find it on Amazon.co.uk.



In the meantime, you can find Down These Green Streets, a collection of crime fiction short stories by Irish crime writers and edited by Declan Burke, at the link above.

Plot Device, the video

If you haven't seen this yet, you really should.

Plot Device

Website update

First off, I've noticed an uptick in people websearching "Pepper Smith", so greetings to everyone who's just wandered in, and unless you're looking for the Pepper Smith who is a mystery writer, you've wandered in to the wrong place. A web search shows she's just been in the news again, but I don't have links to give you. There's a link in the sidebar to a previous post, where you can find the Glamour Magazine article from January about her.

Now, if you are here about the Pepper Smith who's a mystery writer, I've just done a minor update on my website, adding in some new reviews for Rio Star and Reef Runner, and a couple of links to interviews. Still need to get the character information written up and posted, but I suspect that's going to have to wait until the heat of summer breaks. We've been having a series of 99-100 degree days, which means I don't get a lot done in the way of thinking, unless it's trying to figure out how to angle the fan so it does a better job cooling. Today we have cloud cover and rain, and temps in the lower 80s. Much better, but temporary. We'll be back into the hot stuff over the next few days. Gah! It's only July 13th. We still have to get through August. Fort Smith set a record last month, 30 days at 90 degrees or above for the high. Since June only has 30 days, you can tell the summer started out hot. We're usually a bit cooler than Fort Smith, but it's been hotter than usual for longer than usual this year, and it's not going to get better until around the end of August. If then.

If you've happened to notice, Amazon for some strange reason has decided to list the Kindle version of Blood Money as gay/lesbian fiction. I don't know why, and neither does my publisher, as the book is definitely not gay/lesbian fiction. My publisher is working on getting it properly listed as mystery/suspense, but there's no telling when Amazon will make the change. In the meantime, if you bought a copy thinking it was gay/lesbian fiction, there's nothing I can do except hope that you enjoyed it anyway. The listing was not our doing.

Recent reads:

On the Nook:

On the Wrong Track, by Steve Hockensmith. Fun series, protagonists playing Holmes and Watson in the Old West. Second in series.

A Lesson in Secrets, by Jacqueline Winspear. Maisie Dobbs works with the Special Branch in 1932 Britain.

On Paper:

The Girl in the Nile, by Michael Pearce. #5(?) in the Mamur Zapt series. The Mamur Zapt is the head of the Secret Police in Egypt in the early 1900s. Welshman Captain Gareth Owen holds the post. Usually the Secret Police are the bad guys. Not in this series. Fun reads, not overly complicated writing. Interesting insights into turn of the last century Egypt.

Murder in the Marais, by Cara Black. First in the Aimee Leduc series. Had some problems believing the leader of the neo-Nazi group, but otherwise enjoyed the read.

Did not finish The Stabbing in the Stables, by Simon Brett. Second one of this series that I've tried. Just did not mesh with the protagonists, and figured out who did the killing way early in the book, although I didn't know why the killing happened until I cheated and read the ending. I think this series is not for me.

Currently reading:

On the Nook:

Street of the Five Moons, by Elizabeth Peters. #2 Vicky Bliss. Enjoyed these books when I was younger, still enjoy them now.

On paper: Don't know yet.

The "Where Has June Gone?" post

I would complain about the heat and humidity, but it's only June. I suspect July and August are going to be whoppers in the heat and humidity department. However, the Southern Sauna season is well and truly underway. You don't even need a club membership. Just pull up a chair on your front porch and don't forget the towel and the ice tea. You're gonna need them.

Recent reads:

A Question of Belief, by Donna Leon

The Wings of the Sphinx and The Track of Sand, both by Andrea Camilleri. There's a new Camilleri due out this fall, if I'm remembering correctly.

On the Nook:

Borrower of the Night, by Elizabeth Peters

Muletrain to Maggody, by Joan Hess

Apple Turnover Murder, by Joanne Fluke. I did figure out who the murderer was in this one. Unfortunately, I figured it out before there was actually a murder. Sigh.

Up next on the Nook:

A Lesson In Secrets, by Jacqueline Winspear, with her heroine Maise Dobbs.

Up next in paper:

I haven't decided yet. Depends, but it may be one of Michael Pearce's Mamur Zapt mysteries, set in Egypt in the early 1900s. Also looking forward to the new Felix Francis book, which is supposed to be out in July.

I'll be honest--nothing much of general interest has gone on this month. I went to Artfest on the main square in Bentonville on the 3rd, along with the owner of Nightbird Books and an author who writes and illustrates his own graphic novels, as representatives of the 'Literary Arts', where, between us, we sold six books during a very hot four hours under a tent. Turns out that when the organizers of the event invited us, they neglected to mention most of the booths had exhibits aimed at children. Nightbird Books is planning on going back again, but next time it will be with a display of children's books.

There's a new review of Reef Runner at Night Owl Reviews.

More when I can think of more...

New reviews for Rio Star and Reef Runner

Cathy at Kittling: Books has posted her review of Rio Star here.

And RT Book Reviews has posted their review of Reef Runner here. (I suspect it's too late to correct Patty's last name in the review, but I think I can live with that.)

Thank you very much to both of you ladies!

Recent Reads

Recent reads (because I can't remember exactly when I read them):

by Andrea Camilleri:
The Shape of Water (Inspector Montalbano series book #1)
The Terra Cotta Dog (#2)
The Snack Thief (#3)
The Voice of the Violin (#4)
The Patience of the Spider (#8)

Rounding the Mark (#7) was the first of the series that I read, having picked it up from B&N as a remaindered book. The series is set on Sicily, and is a bit different in tone from Donna Leon's Guido Brunetti series. I was surprised to find the first three books loaded with f-bombs, since language wasn't a marked feature of Rounding the Mark, but it had eased considerably by the fourth book. These are translated into English, and the translator did a good job making them enjoyable in English. Salvo Montalbano is a interesting character, a police officer with integrity in a land awash in crooked politics and Mafia dealings. If language doesn't bother you, dive right in. If it does, give some thought to skipping the first three, or put on your blinders.

Speaking of Donna Leon:

Dressed for Death (#3 in the Guido Brunetti series)
A Noble Radiance (#7)
The Girl of His Dreams (#17)

Brunetti and his team investigate crimes in and around Venice. Brunetti's family keeps him grounded in a world where justice is often perverted by politics.

by Cara Black:
Murder on the Ile Saint-Louis (Aimee Leduc #7)
Murder in the Rue de Paradis (#8)
Murder in the Latin Quarter (#9)

Interesting mysteries, interesting protagonist. Don't read them one after the other, because there are things about them that may annoy you, such as the pattern of informants being murdered just before Aimee gets there, and some things about Aimee's personality.

by Alan Bradley:

The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie

First in the Flavia de Luce series. Super bright 11 year old girl, set in Britain of the 1950s. Notices things the police don't. Two older sisters, and a stamp-collecting father who's still mourning his dead wife, and seems oblivious to the presence of his daughters on most occasions. Interesting start to the series. Read for the local Mystery Book Club.

by Joanne Harris:

Gentlemen & Players

Read for the local Mystery Book Club. Set in a British boy's school. Narrative works back and forth between two first person accounts, one from the murderer's pov, the other from the pov of the Latin teacher at the school, an older gentlemen with a lot of personality. Enjoyable, but the switches in pov can be jolting.

by Brian O'Connor:

Bloodline

Debut mystery novel set in the world of Irish steeplechasing. Cover blurb says 'Beats Dick Francis at his own game'. Good, but not quite to DF's standards. Will be watching for more by this author, though.

On the Nook:

by Diane Mott Davidson:

Crunch Time (Culinary Mystery Series #16)

Goldy somewhat redeems herself from last book's extraordinary bout of Too Stupid To Live. She still does some pretty stupid stuff, but compared to the last outing, this stuff seems minor. Whether you read it or not depends on your tolerance for TSTL, though.

by Joanne Fluke:

Cream Puff Murder (Hannah Swenson Series #11)
Plum Pudding Murder (#12)

This is one of those series that I don't know why I keep following, but I can't seem to help myself when the new book comes out. I'm really tired of the love triangle. REALLY tired. Mike the Sheriff's deputy would have been out on his backside a long time ago if it were up to me. I'm also not thrilled with the cat. Don't get me wrong, I'm a cat person, but I just have a hard time believing a cat that will put away the left-over food from one of those big multi-day self-feeders. (Carried it a mouthful at a time to put it back in the bag. Uh-huh.) And Hannah's baked treats are always somewhere to be found around the murder victim. Haven't tried any of the cookie recipes. Maybe someday.

Also got and read copies of Rio Star and Reef Runner on the Nook. Wanted to see how they looked...

Celestial Rose

This 'rose' is actually two interacting galaxies, in an image captured by the Hubble Telescope. You can find a larger version of it at Hubblesite.org.

Odds and ends

Our yard has become part sponge, part wading pool. I think the last time there was this much water in our yard, there was a 'possum that had taken shelter under our house, and for a few days couldn't get out. The opening it had come in through was under water. We'd finally managed to prop open the access door to give it a way out, but I think it still waited a little rather than swim to get through the opening.

I'm ready for the rain to end. First the unusual winter weather, and now this. Of course, once summer gets here and we have to deal with scorching heat and tinder-dry grass, we'll be wanting a bit of this rain, but this is a bit much all at once.

Reef Runner is now available from Mundania Press. Currently, the PDF is available for immediate download. The trade paperback is orderable, but probably won't be printed until the middle of May, or thereabouts. Such is the joy of working with POD. It takes about a month for Ingram to list the book, after which time it can be ordered and received within a few days if ordered through Amazon, or a bit longer from other venues, depending. I'll keep my list of where to order kept up to date as new places become available, but for now, it's from the Mundania site.

Purplume reviewed Rio Star, for which I once again say, 'thank you'.

Cathy at Kittling: Books has done a review of Blood Money that had me grinning from ear to ear. I'm delighted that you enjoyed it, ma'am!

I'll probably start posting a monthly list of what I've been reading. I'll likely say something about the ones I really enjoyed, but I doubt I'll do more than make a notation on the ones I didn't enjoy or didn't finish. For some reason, people forget that authors are also readers with opinions, and when we express negative opinions, we're considered to be jealous, and we get pounced on by fans of the author we 'dissed'. I don't really care to deal with rabid fandom.

Looking forward to sunshine, which the weather forecast says we should get in a couple of days.

~~