Two Envelopes And A Phone > Recent Status Updates

Is this Mount Misery meets The House of Thunder. (No, probably not.) Anyway, it’s fascinating.

Of course, 5 minutes after stating that I had never read this author before, I recalled the book The Ballad of Black Tom - which I read in a day, years ago, when someone sent it to me as a gift - and suddenly thought “wait, that was the same guy as this one, right?”. Right! Okay, so this is my second LaValle, and I love it. Powerful stuff, creepy too.

When I’m finally done with it, I’ll be glad to have checked it off, because of its status…but most of these stories are unfortunately not for me. Still, I’m getting there, slowly.

My first book by this author - the setting sounds intriguing, as does the plot description. The cover makes me think of Under the Skin by Faber, but I don’t think this will be like that!

I don’t know quite what to expect. Humour, I guess.

I go to Action Thrillers less often than I used to, as they can be very similar. That said, ever since Crashers, I have been a fan of this author and happy to keep going back to the well.

Loving it. To paraphrase James Bond, “Everything seems up to the usual high standard”.

Okay, so, update time: previous reports now untrue…I ain’t gonna finish this tonight. Conking out until tomorrow. Anyway, this is probably going to be a 3 star book for me; Emma is an I interesting character to try and analyze (unless one just stops at “snob”), and I’ve always been (am still) curious about what’s going to happen to her. Quite ready for a Dana Haynes thriller next, though, that is for sure.

I intend to finish this tonight - the style is appealing (except I’m playing whack-a-mole with the word “approbation”, at this point), but the story is dull for me.

Oho, the marvellous Mr. Churchill is coming back. Well, we knew that was bound to happen.

Compelling reading, considering it’s not really my thing. Enjoyable.

“gettalifeEmmajayzuz!”

It's always hard for me to go off genre fiction, and buckle down and read a classic. But if I keep procrastinating, bouncing the book between To Read and Currently Reading and back to To Read, well, I'll end up reading no classics. I'm happier reading a few classics now and then, rather than just ignoring them altogether. My last Austen was Mansfield Park, and I liked it.

Interesting to hit a patch of stories that are humorous in nature...

I’ve read two other “shipboard” Mystery/Thriller novels this year - both were okay but not spectacular - and I would say this one has got them beat, so far. But this book would have to do some grand tricks to top The False Inspector Dew. Nevertheless, this one is a treat.

I'm enjoying it; there's clearly some kind of underhanded scheme in play, tied to the creation of a risky new cruise line and the getting of money to back it, but I can't figure out who is duping who, and what the endgame really is. Apparently, all this will lead to murder...and Inspector "Ploddy" French (sorry - my nickname for him).

Awright…I’m gonna sneak this on ahead of Emma by Austen. I will for sure read Emma right after. Anyway, these old Inspector French titles seem to come in waves, and I’m thrilled to see them get re-issued.

Just finished the chapter that covered everything Brown wrote featuring the detective duo Ed and Am Hunter. I've only managed to read the first four novels, and the story 'Before She Kills'. Like much of the author's output, just darned hard to find or expensive to pursue. One day...

A re-read - and I'm pumped for it!