Sandi's comments (member since Apr 02, 2009)

Sandi's comments from the M/T Reading Friends group.

Happy Birthday, Leslie!!!

Happy Birthday, Jan!!!

>>The audio reader, Christian Conn, is great.<<

I agree, I loved his narration of Caught Stealing. He does not seem overly prolific though. My library only has three other books narrated by him. The second Hank Thompson book Six Bad Things A Novel(which I need to download soon) and then two Hard-Case Crime books A Diet of Treacle and The Guns of Heaven(which both look pretty interesting).

>>NR
Caught Stealing has me on the edge of my seat (of the car, it is my current audio)<<

Loved the audio version of Caught Stealing though a couple of the more violent scenes were almost a bit too much for me (especially listening on audio since you cannot skim).

Happy Birthday, Dave!!!

Happy Birthday, Lorraine!!!

Happy Birthday, Susie!!!

>>Are there many Susan fans around? I don't mind the Harvard education, but I can't stand her eating, or lack thereof. <<

I don't mind Susan but I have only read up to A Savage Place which was published back in 1981. The dog has not shown up yet either.

Pretty busy month between work and Bouchercon so my book count is down but the quality of reads was still good

Top Reads


The Napoleonic War with Dragons. Think Hornblower mixed with Pern. Lots of fun and Simon Vance did a great job with the narration.


Love this series featuring the most dangerous cop in London.


Very good and realistic thriller. Narrated by Christopher Lane

Good Reads


Debut in a Chicago PI series. Saw the author at the Baltimore Bouchercon.


Perhaps a bit too detailed but interesting look at the international star and the deal that brought him to the MLS.


Tale of the Cold War and inter-agency rivalry. Started great but the middle bogged down a bit. Always a treat to listen to Frank Muller narrate.


Very enjoyable first in the series about a young woman in a small Southern town. A bit darker than I suspected from the cover.


Another author I saw at the Baltimore Bouchercon. Good historical set during the time of Henry III. Will look for more in this series.


Lots of mayhem and violence in LA.

>>The Final Detail (Myron Bolitar) by Harlan Coben
slowly working my way (still) through the series. Esperanza is accused of murder and she won't speak to Myron to let him help her.<<

This has been my least favorite in the series so far mainly because of the way Esperanza and Myron interacted and I am not a big fan of the series character accused of murder type plot either.

>>The Big Bounce: Elmore Leonard
A few fairly low life types wander around chatting, fighting, and generally creating mischief. I didn't see the point. (C)<<

I think I may have liked just a bit more than you but not much. The Big Bounce along with Split Images have been my least favorite books of the eleven I have read by Elmore Leonard

>>The Sparrow by Mary Doria Russell (audio)<<

This is a book I've always been interested in, but not enough to actually read. Before, my library did not have an audio copy but your mention reminded me to look and now there is an unabridged copy. Will put it on hold and hopefully will be listening to it soon.

Back from the last day of Bouchercon. Did not manage to go to any panels today but did participate in the Book Bazaar. Usually when you check in to the conference you get a big bag of free books but this year they decided to give everyone 5 tickets to use at the Bazaar. In theory it might have been a good idea but in reality the execution was a bit haphazard. I guess they did not realize that everyone would line up early and the crowds overwhelmed the spaces between the tables. It was really hard to get around and try to even use the tickets. Cheryl was nice enough to get me because she remembered me talking about wanting to try his work earlier in the conference. I was able to use my five tickets on , , , , and

I must admit that most of these authors were on the outside tables so I had easier access to them.

All in all though a fun conference. I really enjoyed meeting Mary and, of course, it was nice seeing Jan and Cheryl again.

Here are the Saturday panels I attended:

First up was Thrillers: 100 Must Reads with David Morrell, Laura Benedict, Lee Child, & Gayle Lynds. The International Thriller Writers Association will be publishing a book which includes essays by today's biggest thriller writers on thrillers of the past. This panel gave a few sneak peeks. The book will be published next summer and sounds very intriguing.

Next up was The MWA Celebrates Edgar Allan Poe with
Michael Connelly, Sue Grafton, Peter Lovesey, John Lutz, & Sara Paretsky. This was standing room only since it had such heavy hitters on the panel. Connelly had recently edited a book of stories that were inspired by Poe.

After lunch I was off to War Crimes with Suzanne Arruda, James R. Benn, Rebecca Cantrell, the male half of Charles Todd, and Martin Limon.

Finally to end the day I attended The Humor Panel with Alan Gordon, Donna Andrews, Chris Grabenstein, and Harley Jane Kozak which definitely lived up to its title.

>>I would have liked the Translation one too. Any revelations about translating the Stieg Larson series? So sad that there will be no more...<<

The translation of the works of Stieg Larsson made a fascinating story. First, it was a difficult job because the author had passed away before any of the translating work had been started. The second problem was that film rights had already been sold and they needed an English translation fast so the screenplay could be written. As to there being no more books, there is a half written book on the hard drive of a laptop that Larrson's partner has, but it seems it is the beginning and the end of a story with no middle section.

>>This is one I would have hit with Charlaine Harris on the panel. What did she have to say about the Sookie characters? <<

I thought this was panel you would have enjoyed. Charlaine Harris was a hoot. She first said how Sookie incorporates all of the attributes that she really admires and then decided that Sookie was a lot like her daughter. She also said the Sookie will not turn into a vampire and that she has three more books contracted and will decide soon whether to wrap up the series. She does not like to have series go on too long and also stated that the latest in the Harper Connelly series would probably be the last and she had said all she needed to say with Lily Bard. She admitted that she had made a few mistakes within the Sookie universe since they had to be written so quickly, that she likes to watch True Blood since she is not sure what will happen, and that her biggest regret was some sort of blood bond between Sookie and Eric (? not real sure that I have that right).

On to Friday's panels:

First up for me was Murder is a Family Affair with Edward Wright, Patricia Gussin, Sophie Hannah, Jason Starr, and the Caroline Todd half of the Charles Todd writing combo. Lots of great info on family dynamics in crime. Will try and read a number of these authors in the future.

Then I went to The Dark Side of the Fair Sex with Megan Abbott, Chelsea Cain, Sophie Littlefield, and representing all of mankind Derek Nikitas. This was a very funny/informative panel and I must admit that while I usually do not like books with serial killers I will try because of this panel.

After lunch was the GOH interview of Michael Connelly by Michael Koryta.

Then I went to How I Met My Protagonist with Julie Kramer, Kelli Nichols(half of P.J. Parrish), Charlaine Harris, and Martyn Waites. Another very funny panel where all the authors shined.

Finally I ended the day with Murder at the Edge of the World with Leighton Gage, Christopher G. Moore, Tamar Myers, Yrsa Sigurðardóttir, & the Stanley Trollip half of Michael Stanley. When I first looked over the author listing I was a bit puzzled that Tamar Myers was on the panel since I thought she wrote cozies set in Pa. Well it turns out she does write two cozy series but she has a new book forthcoming which is based on her childhood in the Belgian Congo where her parents were missionaries. Another great panel, really the whole day was very entertaining, not a dud in the bunch.

Hi All,

Having lots of fun at Bouchercon. Here are a few quick thoughts on the panels I have attended

Thursday's Panels

I started the day off with The Mean Streets of Indianapolis with authors Tony Perona, Brandt Dodson, Michael Z. Lewin,Brenda Stewart, and
Ronald Tierney. This was about how Indy stacks up as a locale for crime fiction.

The second panel I attended was Lost in Translation? with Peter Rozovsky who writes the very entertaining blog http://detectivesbeyondborders.blogspot.... author Yrsa Sigurdardottir, translators Steven T. Murrary (The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo) author and translator Tiina Nunnally and Robert Pepin (translates American crime fiction to French). This was one of the best panels I have attended. I really enjoyed the inside info on how translators work and having an author whose work is translated added a great counterpoint to the discussion.

The third panel of the day that I attended was Murder, Therapy and Social Work with Elizabeth Zelvin, Margaret Fenton, Roberta Isleib, and Lois Greiman.

Next up was The Mystery of a Lifetime which was an interesting discussion among authors who wrote bio's or articles about other mystery authors. On the panel were Jeffrey Marks, Julia Jones,
Leslie S. Klinger, Craig McDonald, and Elena Santangelo.

The final panel of the day that I attended was Dirty Rotten Liars: The Game Show which was a fun quiz type panel with Peter Lovesey, Liza Cody and Michael Z Lewin.

Happy Birthday, Shom!!!

>>I would like to get together Wednesday night, if possible. Is anyone else going to hear S J Rozan with Sandi? We could meet before or after at the bar/lounge in the Hyatt. They have sandwiches and salads. <<

Wednesday dinner would be fine with me. We can meet up around 6 or so. If no one else want to go see S. J. Rozan then we can just grab something to eat.

Just a note, the weather has been very damp, dark, and cold the last week and the forecast for next week does not look much better though the sun is shining today and the wind seems to have finally died down a bit.