Hello, everyone! I'm WR.

[Woman Reading]

Upgrade by Blake Crouch

I hadn't originally intended to read this since it's off of the beaten track for me. But I ended up doing so because I had I received an invitation from the publisher. This was very good, and I need to prioritize more sci-fi thrillers.

My review - www.Goodreads.com/review/show/4841878104

[Woman Reading]

Another mystery lite from the prolific Georgette Heyer -
The Unknown Ajax

My review - www.Goodreads.com/review/show/4852947559

[Woman Reading]

The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman - a promising debut of a septuagenerian cold cases investigation Club seeking an active killer

My review- www.Goodreads.com/review/show/4868919839

[Woman Reading]

A Taste for Poison: Eleven Deadly Molecules and the Killers Who Used Them.


Neil Bradbury wrote an interesting blend of hard science and accounts of poisoners from the 19th through 21st centuries and sprinkled them with allusions to writers such as Agatha Christie.

My review - www.Goodreads.com/review/show/4855383873

[Woman Reading]

Secondhand Time: The Last of the Soviets by Svetlana Alexievich, who had received the Nobel Prize in Literature shortly after this book's publication.

This nonfiction is a compilation of oral histories documenting momentous periods in the 20th century history of the USSR and of the aftermath of its dissolution in 1991. Plenty of criminal acts but without the justice delivered in crime fiction.

My review - www.Goodreads.com/review/show/3221142892

[Woman Reading]

The Quiet American

My introduction to Graham Greene was a success. I had this on my list after reading through the John le Carré's George Smiley series.


My review - www.Goodreads.com/review/show/4886505380

[Woman Reading]

I'm slowly re-reading the Slough House series by Mick Herron. For fans of the television adaptation, season #2 has been approved; get a preview with the second novel.

Slow Horses #1

My review -
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...


Dead Lions #2

My review - https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

[Woman Reading]

Agatha Christie fans should know that she had published 6 novels under the pseudonym Mary Westmacott. I've read one of them - while not a mystery, I can see some of her mystery writing tactics.

The Rose and the Yew Tree was her psychological story of redemption.

My review -
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

[Woman Reading]

I needed a change of pace so I read Mia P. Manansala's debut novel - a multicultural cosy mystery with a focus that would please foodies -
Arsenic and Adobo


My review - www.Goodreads.com/review/show/4938679486

[Woman Reading]

Homicide and Halo-Halo

Author Mia P. Manansala improved with her sequel in the cosy with ethnic food mysteries.

My review - www.Goodreads.com/review/show/4969622641

[Woman Reading]

All the Shah's Men: An American Coup and the Roots of Middle East Terror

This was a geopolitical espionage story and an entirely nonfiction one at that. While I don't share author Stephen Kinzer's conviction, this was an intriguing book providing an overview of Iranian history and delving deeply into foreign intrigue of the 1950s.

My review - www.goodreads.com/review/show/4902400942

[Woman Reading]

I enjoyed Ben Macintyre's The Spy and the Traitor: The Greatest Espionage Story of the Cold War tremendously so I was eager to read his other books.

A Spy Among Friends: Kim Philby and the Great Betrayal felt differently as it wasn't a straight up biography. This was more of an ensemble story to show the impact of betrayal -- Philby's betrayal of country, friends, and wives.


My review - www.goodreads.com/review/show/3896919341

[Woman Reading]

Prior to the invention of the chronometer, men were literally at sea when their ship was in open waters because they couldn't determine their longitudinal position.

Longitude: The True Story of a Lone Genius Who Solved the Greatest Scientific Problem of His Time by Dava Sobel

It's an esoteric topic but it's a tale with messy human emotions and conflicts that's been engagingly written for the general reading populace.


My review --
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show... good one at that!

[Woman Reading]

Spook Street #4 by Mick Herron

This was my second reading for a BR of the entire series.

Still excellent --

my review
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

[Woman Reading]

No Plan B by Andrew Child and by Lee Child

This was the third Reacher novel by Andrew Child. Third time wasn't charmed.

My Review -- https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

[Woman Reading]

Agatha Christie was a prolific crime fiction author. But like everyone else, she didn't want to be pigeonholed.

So under the pseudonym Mary Westmacott, Christie published 6 novels. I've finished my second Westmacott novel -- Absent in the Spring.

Christie had been very pleased with it. And I liked it as well, rating it a 4 ☆ novel.

My review -- https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

[Woman Reading]

London Rules by Mick Herron

For my re-read, I listened to the audiobook. It did not disappoint. Slough House is now my comfort read series.

My Review -- https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

[Woman Reading]

The Bullet That Missed by Richard Osman

This is #3 and it could be read as a standalone but why miss out on the preceding two?

My review -- https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

[Woman Reading]

If you're a fan of Leigh Bardugo, then go ahead and pick up Hell Bent #2 in the Alex Stern eventually-to-be trilogy.

It's been a while since I had read a novel that completely gripped me from the beginning. It only took 7 pages for Hell Bent to sink its claws into me.

I've got to look into the Grishaverse now.


My Review -- https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...