Two Envelopes And A Phone > Recent Status Updates

I thought The Honjin Murders was kind of average - even a bit gimmicky (this from a guy who loved any and all gimmicks in Shimada's Murder in the Crooked House!) - but other books in this series were a step up. And this one has started off well.

Ghost Light and Gormenghast and frozen Knives Out thrown in the Matrix in the Matrix (“Which Matrix? — “That Matrix….no that one. Well, any one of them…”).

Hmmm. I might do this re-read just ahead of Little Sparrow Murders…the lure is strong. This is a very important Doctor Who novel - long ago, he fired his family, but he finally goes back home - yet somehow I have pretty much forgotten it. Well, it’ll be fresh again!

It’s horrible. But I’m almost done.

So I’m scheduling some trashy reads now, after deciding not to participate in a particular reading event next summer. This is not as offensive as I thought it would be (so far), but it sure is silly, and there’s too much talk for too many chapters. I knew this would be okay at best, but not great.

Shall finish it tonight. Seems like we're gearing up for an explosive finale.

Hooked already. I'm up for wherever Callaghan finds himself...

I bought several trashy books for a reading event taking place next summer - alas, a reading event I have decided I will not be participating in. So now I’ve got this handful of crappy, and more than likely offensive, crap to read. For a while, then - every second book will be a Perry Rhodan book, or a Doctor Who novel, or one of these cruddy books I’ve stuck myself with. Rhodan and Who should help with the crap.

Gives off a subtly different massively explosive conflagratively atomic armageddony vibe than other Doctor Who novel novels. A little like eating a cheese grater just to make sure one doesn't miss even a speck of cheese, and discovering that either or both the cheese and/oar cheese grater had gone bad anyway. But, all in good fun, and same grate taste. Easel-y the Dave Stone book worth reading backwards.

No sign of the Re-Read Blues - I still love this book. Maybe no one else ever will, but this is so much my jam, I may need a damn jam dam.

Of all the Virgin Publishing Doctor Who books out there, I judge this one to be Least Likely to Have Its Entirety Detach from Its Cover’s Spine, or Otherwise Start to Fall Apart, Especially During an Ill-Advised Re-Read (yes, I’m looking at you Sleepy, and you Managra…and YOU, So Vile a Sin! How could you, So Vile a Sin?!). Anyway, I think there are special people out there with special glue.

Very excited to be re-reading this. Off we go, with Sgloomi Po!

It's weird - she's done so well with all the other characters, but Lady Fane seems a bit like a caricature. I would rather she have been left out of the book, instead of this repetitive exclaiming, and wilting. Regardless, it's a minor complaint, because overall, Houston - an actress who loved reading whodunits and decided to write one - has done a bang-up job. There's some melodrama, but I like this one a lot.

Right. So, because I have just devoured a huge book on the history of these Virgin Books Doctor Who novels, I’m inspired to re-read a few. I would’ve guessed that Stone, and Bulis, were pseudonyms for well-known authors knocking off Who novels in their spare time…but it seems not to be. Anyway, I liked this one more than most fans, I love the cover - so this and Lungbarrow get priority. Sgloomi Po!!!

A great start. I’m already wishing she wasn’t a One Hit Wonder as a Mystery writer.