I recently finished Lorraine Heath’s newest historical romance The Return of the Duke. Enjoyable! https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/59450147-the-return-of-the-duke I’m now reading Mary Balough’s latest Remember Love. I think this means it is officially historical romance week for me!https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/59473683-remember-love

I was taking a scheduled book break of sorts and reading my way through a stack of romantic suspense Harlequin type books I checked out from prime. All with service dogs and very comforting. But something possessed me to click on the first in the Brooke Walton series that I bought at some point dirt cheap. Oh boy, a female Dexter type main character. Sucked me right in. Everett was a rather page turning distraction and the second book in the series is moving right along! https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/54007409-everett?ac=1&from_search=true&qid=ir1z4VT1Pw&rank=2 @Laurel-in-CAI think I read the first in that Isla Frost series and enjoyed it. @StorygirlI love Dervia McTiernan and have read them all!

Happy Birthday to James! I also want to thank you for the thread. @Robin M You all know that I love books with animals! I actually finished my U book a couple of days ago and it was a dog book that I picked up for free at some point. Unleashed is the first book of a long Kindle Unlimited series that I am now tempted by as it was one of those rather unrealistic fun addictive thriller books about a former coffee house waitress turned super detective with an awesome dog. Dog book! 😂. I actually have the next book in my library too somehow so I plan to read it soon. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/60499958-unleashed I also finished The Hidden One by Linda Castillo and enjoyed it. I have to say it started slow for me because I was disappointed that the story was not set in Painter’s Creek @Storygirl After I got started it improved and the German twist was intriguing. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/58724837-the-hidden-one Old Bones Lie was the last book in Marion Todd’s DI Claire McKay series. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/60280221-old-bones-lie They are all a great but I was able to listen to some of them on audiotape but the author who has an absolutely fabulous accent. Those are the best. Finally I am almost done listening to Paula Munier’s latest in her doggy mystery series. It’s a favorite and fits this weeks theme! https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/58724806-the-wedding-plot

@Kareni I hope you are feeling better! I recently finished a book by Mary Stewart that I have been saving, more like hoarding😂. Madame, Will You Talk ? is a book that I do not believe I read previously and it was charming. A holiday in the south of France, a mystery, a bit of romance. Great stuff!

Thanks Robin! I’ll make sure to try Stone Barrington when I finish the Orchid Island series. Matt Goldman is one of those writers of mysteries that I found on a list and tried. I really enjoyed his first mystery/thriller a few years ago and have read each new book as my library purchased them. I put in a purchase request for the latest a couple of years ago and my library finally bought Dead West https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/52379919-dead-west. It works as a stand alone but is much better as the likely conclusion to a series. Instead of quoting Dead West I am going to quote from GR for the first book Gone to Dust because it is a book I would probably put on a favorite mystery list. I loved the idea of 100’s of vacuum cleaner bags ruining the evidence! The first three books in the series are currently $2.99 at Amazon and I added them to my collection. Thank you Bookbub! Fair warning someone at BaW tried it after my rave review years ago and disliked it……..so from GR Set in Minnesota, Gone to Dust is the debut private eye murder mystery from Emmy Award-winning Seinfeld writer Matt Goldman. A brutal crime. The ultimate cover-up. How do you solve a murder with no useable evidence? Private detective Nils Shapiro is focused on forgetting his ex-wife and keeping warm during another Minneapolis winter when a former colleague, neighboring Edina Police Detective Anders Ellegaard, calls with the impossible. Suburban divorcee Maggie Somerville was found murdered in her bedroom, her body covered with the dust from hundreds of emptied vacuum cleaner bags, all potential DNA evidence obscured by the calculating killer. Digging into Maggie’s cell phone records, Nils finds that the most frequently called number belongs to a mysterious young woman whose true identity could shatter the Somerville family–but could she be guilty of murder? After the FBI demands that Nils drop the case, Nils and Ellegaard are forced to take their investigation underground, where the case grows as murky as the contents of the vacuum cleaner bags. Is this a strange case of domestic violence or something with far reaching, sinister implications?

Thank you for this thread @Robin M Like Negin I finished Lady in Waiting this week. Negin posted a great review with some of the most memorable quotes for me too over on GR. I havent watched the YouTube’s yet but read a great deal about the lawsuits following Colin’s death thanks to google. I think extraordinary life was right, that gal was exceptionally good at rolling with the bizarre! Keep Calm and Carry On was very much her motto! I read some cute contemporary romances this week and finally gave Stuart Woods a try as a crime spree author. I picked his female police chief series where every book has Orchid in the title. The setting is small town Florida near Vero Beach. A clever Doberman is featured so fun dog series @Pen…..I plan to read another one. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/410741.Orchid_Beach

Btw, Back to the Prairie has been abandoned at the halfway point. Let’s just say I couldn’t take take the irritating parts anymore......both the F bombs and whining.

This is my week for having things in my stack that other BaWers are reading! I have both the Revenge of the Rubies and the first book in that series, something Sapphire, waiting to read has we go back thru the alphabet. I’ve been looking forward to them.

@Storygirl The Hidden One is a book I currently have checked out. I also love that series but have to say it’s made me really respect pigs! I also have the latest Reichs in my hold’s....I keep having to delay it.

Thank you! @Robin M I have skipped ahead in the alphabet challenge and finished my V last week. Swiss Vendetta by Tracee De Hahn https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/29503758-swiss-vendetta. is a book I bought for my kindle library several years ago because it kept popping up at me on lists but I never bothered to actually read it. I ended up giving it a 4* because I enjoyed the scenery greatly, a Swiss Chateau on the banks of Lake Lucerne in a blizzard. The mystery wasn’t bad but that house captured my imagination. I finally read Holocaust House from the Americans section of the Crime Spree that I mentioned very enthusiastically a few weeks ago. Norbert Davis wrote pulp fiction and one of his series was “Doan and Carstairs” which features a very hard boiled detective named Doan and his partner a ginormous Great Dane named Carstairs. Holocaust House turned out to be a novella by current standards and I think these stories may all be short and previously serialized in magazines. I own a few more as I bought a collection cheap. It was an enjoyable read and I plan to finish the collection soon. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/8134945-holocaust-house?ref=bk_bet_out I have started listening to Melissa Gilbert’s Back to the Prairie as it fits a bookchain and I had it marked in my to reads. So far it’s fun and gossipy. She narrates. I was a huge Laura Ingalls fan! https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/59345236-back-to-the-prairie

Several titles by Charlotte Armstrong appear to be discounted to $1.99 today…..I am not sure that this is truly on sale in all cases as I haven’t been following the prices. She is an author that came to my attention during the planning for crime spree so I am not super familiar. She wrote what I would class as American Noir set in the 50’s and 60’s. I have read two of her books and just bought a few more for my kindle library. Fingers crossed that I picked good ones as GR reviews are unkind in some cases. Here’s a link to one of the books I picked…….The Chocolate Cobweb https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1410731.The_Chocolate_Cobweb?ac=1&from_search=true&qid=QTL4T1qon2&rank=1

I finished two books yesterday. The first was one of my working dog series, The Lost by Jeffrey B. Burton https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/58724860-the-lost. It’s the third in a series that is getting better with each book! It’s not often that book series improve vastly after the first book but considering that I have abandoned book one not just once but twice, this series improves. The dogs are good and the mystery was acceptable, way over the top but for the most part it tracked. What a recommendation! https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/58724860-the-lost Now for my cool book that I am seeing reviewed all over the place…….The Cartographers. The cover is beautiful and it’s world intriguing but I got bored. I seriously considered abandoning it at the halfway mark on audio, it did improve but I am not sure sticking to the end was worth my time. I can listen to most things on audio pretty happily so it needs some serious editing imo. The audio was 14 hours long, even at 2x I devoted a lot of time to The Cartographers. It is a book that is supposed to be filled with intriguing reveals but they are foreshadowed to such a degree that many are more a case where I thought finally! https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/55004093-the-cartographers

I just started reading the latest Elly Griffith book The Locked Room. It’s the first book I have read that portrays Covid and it’s approach relatively realistically. Everyone need hand sanitizer, the news is talking about the cruise ships with nowhere to dock etc. I have read a few books that were set in 2020 and never mention it or gloss over it oddly. I’m sort of glad someone is recording it in fiction ….. accurately. Although I am not necessarily speeding through it as I don’t particularly want to read about Covid. This is a favorite series so I must…. It appears it’s going to be a plot point as this archeological mystery series appears to be heading for an exploration of plaque pits. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/57039730-the-locked-room I have been enjoying some Paranormal also. I finally got around to reading Blood Kissed by Keri Arthur https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/34550311-blood-kissed. It’s good and interesting in terms of setting……. Australian werewolf reservation. The Lizzie Grace series has been recommended to me for years and I’m glad I finally tried it. I also listened to Kim MacDougall’s Dragons Don’t Eat Meat which was just plain fun. Cute creatures and some scarey ones too. This was just something I spotted in the new books section in overdrive and is a fun find. I like cryptozoology! I plan to continue reading both series.

Thank you for the thread and links, Robin! I was surprised to spot a thriller I enjoyed reading last month on one of the Southern Fiction lists, The Marriage Lie https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/29095401-the-marriage-lie?ac=1&from_search=true&qid=TauYOhqUQ0&rank=1&ref=bk_bet_out. I also put Michael Koryta’s Never Far Away on hold https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/53915356-never-far-away?ac=1&from_search=true&qid=Z1k1Ker4p5&rank=2 I have now finished listening to all of Kelley Armstrong’s Rockton series. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/57693455-the-deepest-of-secrets I am so glad I waited to dive in at this point because the latest book The Deepest of Secrets is the first one not to end with a huge cliff hanger. I suspect there is more to come! Rockton is a secret village hidden in the Yukon that very few people know exist. It’s filled with people who are hiding......so good! I also advanced one of my bookchains by reading a cozy in a new to me popular series set in Key West. Fatal Reservations was the sixth in this series and picking up and reading it was not a problem at all. Almost zero references to past books in the series. I might read more in the series and will probably just use them as needed for spelling challenges. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/23591071-fatal-reservations I finished my W on the way back with Whistling Hangman by Baynard Kendrick. His blind detective has hit a sweet spot with me. These books are probably no where near as great as I make them out to be but I love being transported back to the golden age of crime with this blind detective. In this book I learned a lot about luxury apartment hotels in NYC. I have another Duncan Maclain ready to go. Finally, I read a couple of paranormal mysteries. the Remains of the Dead by Wendy Roberts was about a crime scene clean up business where the owner can talk to the victims. I have checked the next one out as it’s a fun series. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/59082376-the-remains-of-the-dead I also read an enjoyable YA one from Prime Reads with a detective partnership that includes a Dragon. I could happily read more but the rest are Kindle Unlimited so will wait. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/59246651-dragons-are-a-girl-s-best-friend

Laura Griffin’s latest Midnight Dunes was a good one in case anyone is wondering! Nothing special beyond the fact that the characters were likable and the pacing good, basically an easy read if you like romantic suspense. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/56898241-grave-reservations?ac=1&from_search=true&qid=xznYxCactl&rank=1 Now Grave Reservations started awesome but was so boring at times that I kept trying to find a better alternative for my bookchain. I couldn’t, so I finished it. The start of the book has a travel agent frantically trying to call a ticked off client to let him know he doesn’t need to rush to catch his flight because she has rebooked him. Her reason was she had a feeling……the plane crashes. The client is a police detective with a cold case. Yep, a seriously great start to a book by an author I have really enjoyed in the past….https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/56898241-grave-reservations?ac=1&from_search=true&qid=xznYxCactl&rank=1

I came away from reading these knowing I really need to pull out/ actually click on my Ashley Gardner books. I have bought a few over the years which for me is almost a sign I won’t read them as I always always have books that are on a library time limit. The Gladiator series by Gardner sounds interesting and tempts me. I also need to give Veronica Speedwell another try!

Thank you for the new thread, Robin! I really enjoy American Noir type mysteries. It’s a relatively new love so I haven’t read most of the books by authors Rex Stout, Raymond Chandler, or Dorothy Hughes. They are the authors I am either collecting on Kindle or thrilled my library has on their virtual shelves. Others like Grafton and Hillerman are old friends that I have read and reread over the years. So for this month my plans are Baynard Kendrick, lots of Kendrick. His main character, Duncan Maclain reminds me ever so slightly of Nero Wolfe with the addition of blindness and dogs. Stalking amazon and collecting the entire series as they each went on sale for $1.99 which has been an ongoing hobby for months now and I now own most so the reading can seriously began! The Whistling Hangman is next in the stack https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/57184753-the-whistling-hangman?ac=1&from_search=true&qid=pJz3EdqTc6&rank=2&ref=bk_bet_out Charlotte Armstrong is very recently discovered. I have only read one of her books(The Better to Eat You) which was a great twisty read with a young woman who thinks her friendship kills her friends. It’s a good creepy! I have A Little less Than Kind ready to go.https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2761419-a-little-less-than-kind?from_search=true&from_srp=true&qid=ybiKOWRP1M&rank=24 Now for Norbert Davis and the Doan/Carstairs series. Davis was a prolific author of 50’s pulp fiction who wrote a bit of everything and this dectective with his Great Dane duo were apparently quite popular. So dogs......I needed to try these! I found a bundle of four titles cheap on kindle and will finally be reading one. Holocaust House is apparently a prequel of sorts and is first up https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/8134945-holocaust-house?ac=1&from_search=true&qid=CF9Wkz9lDg&rank=2 My audio plans center around Stout and Chandler but I find myself stuck in Rockton. Kelley Armstrong’s series the I happily have ignored for years has me hooked so I will continue listening before I check out more audio books!

That is one of the ones I downloaded. Glad to hear you enjoyed it!

@tuesdayschildI am waving! I love it when you pop in. I think I may have permanently stalled in reading the Rowland Sinclair mysteries. I had set them aside because I was finding them hard reads in terms of violence. I picked the next one in my reading order last month and read 40 or 50 pages and decided to set it down again. It’s funny because I am not necessarily violence adverse in my reading but this series really bothers me. The historical knowledge packed into this series is so fascinating that I feel like I should try again! DE Stevenson is an author I still want to read a new book or two from this year. I think my library has Miss Buncle in overdrive so I will try that one, so thank you for helping me make that decision. Black Dudley is a book of repeat failures for me. I probably should try again as I enjoy the tv series!😂

Glad you don’t have to sit on your heating pad anymore! Looking forward to hearing what you think of the Deep Ops series. I think I am going to wait for the next book to be released in my Laurel Snow series before branching out. I have recently started Allison Brennon’s Lucy Kincaid series....I read the prequel and have book one ready to go. fwiw I really liked Don’t Cry, it was one of the better stories in the series imo. I haven’t read Hold Your Breath yet.

I just ended up checking out and putting hold’s on a few. The scope was pretty broad and Miss Fortune kept getting mentioned! I need to figure out where I am in that series because I now really want to read one!lol

This week I listened to the first in a new to me mystery series called Sister Eve, Private Eye https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/21556065-sister-eve-private-eye?ref=bk_bet_out which I really enjoyed. Sister Eve returns home to care for her crusty PI dad who needs nursing care while recovering from having his foot amputated. She starts working on his current case and loves it. She was already conflicted about her calling.........the next is on hold. I also revisited a series I started reading a couple of years ago because of one of Robin’s challenges, Harry Kemelman’s Rabbi Small. I’ll be honest and say I did love Saturday the Rabbi went Hungry as much as the first installment because the congregation irritated me but at some point I will pull out the third in the series and continue reading. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/16078785-saturday-the-rabbi-went-hungry Finally, I found a new cozy police detective series set in the Cotswolds. I listened to the first and am looking forward to the rest. Mud, Muck, and Dead Things is the first in the series https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6305077-mud-muck-and-dead-things From GR.....Lucas Burton hates the countryside. To him it's nothing but mud, muck and dead things. And he's right. When he turns up at a deserted farm in the middle of nowhere hoping to conduct a business deal he stumbles across the body of a girl. And that's just the start of his bad luck: Penny Gower from the local stables has spotted his silver Mercedes leaving the scene of the crime. Suddenly, for Lucas, things are looking very bleak indeed...Inspector Jess Campbell is on the case, but with few leads and a new superintendent, Ian Carter, breathing down her neck, she's beginning to feel the pressure. Then another dead body is found...

@Robin MOnce again Thank you for starting our thread! How are you doing? As you all know I really enjoy doing the spelling alphabet type challenges with my reading because they force variety into my reading. Z can be a hard letter with nothing easy to fall back on for me. I recently read a book by Rebecca Zanetti (You Can Run) in the romantic suspense genre and loved it! She has a lot of books and is compared to Laura Griffin who is a personal favorite. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/57937502-you-can-run I have started the journey back through the alphabet and finished another Inspector Chen late last night. So my author is Xiaolong and X is done! The Enigma of China which was sort of a great visit with an old character friend but likely not the place to start this series. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/17167255-enigma-of-china

I am going to have to read this! The description doesn’t call to me but with everybody loving it I suspect I will too. Btw Maisie Dobbs is a wonderful series especially on audio. I hope you enjoy it! Gamache is pretty good 😉on audio too. The narrator changes around book 9 or 10 due to the death of Ralph Cosham and I am not as fond of the books after the narrator shift. I actually like the new narrator so it’s more a case of storylines.

Robin, Thank you for the tread. I think I read a couple of books in the Kay Hooper special crimes series years ago and liked them. If I wanted to try them again can I just pick one and jump in? Any rec’s on which one to start with? I managed to read two different series by Kelley Armstrong this week. The first being the first in her newest time travel series called A Rip in Time. It was rather disappointing only because her other time travel series https://www.goodreads.com/series/296580-a-stitch-in-time is so very good. For my Bookchain I need a word that could be found in the next book for me in one of Kelley’s long running series that I have never been enthusiastic about, Rockton. They are about a little village in the most remote part of the Yukon wilderness filled with people in hiding, sort of the ultimate witness protection with no outside contact available. I actually enjoyed my audio version more than expected and checked the next book out. https://www.goodreads.com/series/164879-rockton My mysteries with Religious Characters has been a mixed bag with a couple of books being abandoned. I did enjoy Katherine Hall Page’s A Body in the Belfry on audio. Very village cozy with a main character (vicar’s wife) that was very chatty! Easy listening so I will continue the series at this point. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/24742107-the-body-in-the-belfry I am currently reading Susan Mallery’s latest summer beach read book. I love Susan Mallery’s contemporary romances but I to say she does a better book in fewer pages. These 400 plus pages are a bit of a slog and it’s fluff! And it has a bookshop………. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/58939852-the-boardwalk-bookshop