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.