What I read in October 2020

 My reading appears to have slowed down a bit this month, not helped by the length of a couple of books

1. 4.4, THE MYSTERY OF THREE QUARTERS, Sophie Hannah - audio book 
2. 4.8, TROUBLED BLOOD, Robert Galbraith
3. 4.7, OUR HOUSE, Louise Candlish
4. 4.8, THE SURVIVORS, Jane Harper - Australian author  
5. 4.4, THE KILLINGS AT KINGFISHER HILL, Sophie Hannah - audio book
6. 4.5, FOLLOW THE DEAD, Lin Anderson

Review: DEAD HEADING, Catherine Aird

• first published by Allison & Busby 2013
• ISBN 978-0-7490-1388-2
• 287 pages
• source: my local library
• #23 in the Sloan and Crosby Mystery series

Synopsis (Fantastic Fiction)

When Jack Haines reports a break-in at his greenhouse, the motive of the intruder is unclear. Other than the destruction of some expensive orchids, no damage has been done, and nothing seems to be missing. But Detectives Sloan and Crosby sense something sinister, and soon their suspicions are confirmed. Similar reports are multiplying and sabotage is the word on everyone's lips.

The pair is drawn into an equally perplexing case when the mysterious Miss Enid Maude Osgathorp goes missing. Investigations begin at her deserted abode, Canonry Cottage, where the detectives soon discover that the house has been ransacked. Shattered glass is found in the larder, and traces of blood spatter are found on the floors. Something disturbing has undoubtedly taken place, but Sloan and Crosby can't figure out who did it, or why.

As it becomes clear that the two cases are linked, the two detectives must work to find the missing woman, and how she connects to the greenhouse burglary, before it is too late.

Dead Heading is the 23rd book in Catherine Aird's series following Detective Chief Inspector C.D. Sloan.

My Take

I decided to borrow this from my local library after seeing a tribute to Catherine Aird on Martin Edwards' blog after the CWA announced she had been awarded the Diamond Dagger for sustained excellence in her work.
Edwards says

Her plots are clever, her characters and situations are entertaining,and her humour a real bonus..

Despite the number of books Aird has written (see Fantastic Fiction for the list), I have never reviewed one in the history of this blog.

DEAD HEADING was true to Edwards' summary: a clever two-pronged plot where the strands finally merge, but it is hard to see for most of the book how they will. A cozy in the British tradition and a fine mystery. I also enjoyed the characters of the two main detectives and their boss. It didn't seem to matter that I had come in at the end, rather than the beginning, of the series.And there is a fine touch of humour - quirky little quotations, references to other well known novels and writers and so on.

My rating: 4.3

900 Reviews on this blog

When I began this blog in January 2008, I did so thinking it would be primarily a place to post reviews of the books I have read. I also thought it would help me remember plots and titles.

Now after 2915 posts, I have reached the 900th review. This year I have published fewer non-review posts but even so about 30 % of my posts have been reviews.

I am still maintaining an "All Reviews" page, sorted by author, and in addition I post my reviews on Library Thing (where I have 1068 books listed) and on NetGalley.
Reviews of Australian authors also appear on Fair Dinkum Crime.

Well, I declare, 700 reviews!

Just a quick note to tell you that the review of Agatha Christie's ORDEAL BY INNOCENCE  was the 700th stored on my blog.

The full list is at All reviews (ranked)

The primary purpose of this blog is to review all the books that I read. My blog was begun in January 2008 so it is very nearly 5 years and 5 months old.

Review: SO MUCH BLOOD, Simon Brett - audio book

• Book originally published 1976
• #2 in the Charles Paris series
• this audio version published 2011
• narrated by the author, Simon Brett
• Length  6 hrs 10 mins
• source: my local library

Synopsis (Audible)

Charles Paris returns again, in a fringe show at the Edinburgh Festival, with another nubile girl to provoke him, his accommodating wife to console him and a gory murder to challenge him.

Edinburgh and the Festival are both background and foreground with Charles flitting between a production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream, a ‘mixed-media’ satire, a late-night revue and his own one-man show on Thomas Hood. Then a fading pop star is murdered, there’s a bomb scare in Holyrood Palace and someone makes a suicide leap from the top of the Rock….

My Take

There is something special about an audio book when the narrator is actually the author, especially when it is really well done as SO MUCH BLOOD is.

This title comes early in the Charles Paris series (which by the way has a new title, the first for 16 years, published this year.) Charles isn't quite the dipsomaniac he becomes in later books, and his marriage still clings to some vestiges of life. All the books in the series are connected to Charles' life as a barely successful actor.

Although there is one gory murder, SO MUCH BLOOD is really a cozy. Charles Paris is rather easily led and makes some basic mistakes in his judgment of those around him. He follows some red herrings, and so for that matter did I. A lovely enjoyable read.

My rating: 4.3

I've written about the Charles Paris series before in connection with Friday's Forgotten Books:
CAST IN ORDER OF DISAPPEARANCE
Who killed Marius Steen, the theatrical tycoon with a fortune to leave his young mistress Jacqui? And who killed Bill Sweet, the shady blackmailer with a supply of compromising photographs? Charles Paris, a middle-aged actor who keeps going on booze and women, takes to detection in Cast, In Order of Disappearance, by assuming a variety of roles, among them that of a Scotland Yard Detective-Sergeant, and the results are both comic and dramatic. As the mythical McWhirter of the Yard, he actually precipitates the crime; as one of the blackmailer's victims, he finds himself in bed with the blackmailer's wife; as a small-part player in a horror film (The Zombie Walks), he gets shot at by a murderer. And he arrives at the solution by way of the petrol crisis and an abortive attack of the German measles. It's a light-hearted frolic that is, at the same time, a beautifully ingenious puzzle, and it fizzes with fun and wit.

Simon Brett is also the author of the Fethering series.
I've also reviewed the following titles from that series.

BLOOD AT THE BOOKIES
THE POISONING IN THE PUB - this review also includes some mini-reviews of 6 other Fethering titles.
4.4, THE SHOOTING IN THE SHOP

Ratings to stay!

In the post to Rate or Not to Rate? I recently asked the question about whether readers/followers found my ratings helpful.
Many thanks to the people who contributed to both the poll and to the comments.

In the light of the fact that some fellow bloggers have decided not to give ratings to the books they read, I was considering following.

But is obvious that many people find my ratings helpful and so they will stay.

Some people commented they found the finer granularity of my ratings scheme a bit of a puzzle, and a couple of contributors thought my ratings were a bit inflated.
Others said they took less interest in the rating than in whether I liked the book.
So I thought I would try to be a bit stricter with my selection of ratings, but I have been rating with this scheme for about 10 years now, and I think the granularity (e.g. the differentiation between say 4.6 and 4.4) does mean something to me.

My ratings in 2013 ranged from 5.0 to 3.1 on 142 books.
57 books scored more than 4.5
Another 77 scored more than 4.0
And there were 7 that scored under 4.
The average score was 4.48

My rating system

5.0 Excellent
4.0 Very Good
3.0 Average
2.0 Poor
1.0 Did Not Like
0 Did Not Finish

The final answer is that I will continue to think, at the sae times as making sure that my ratings don't feel inflated to me.

Agatha Christie Reading Challenge January 2013

The monthly Agatha Christie Reading Challenge Blog Carnival continues in 2013.
The year has opened with some interesting posts and a new contributor (Christie's Fan) who is blogging and reading and hoping to read all the Christie novels in a calendar year!

The February Carnival is now open for contributions.

Agatha Christie Reading Challenge Participants

1. A Murder is Announced - Clarissa Draper's Review 2. THE SEVEN DIALS MYSTERY - Joanne @ SeagreenReader 3. Review: DESTINATION UNKNOWN - MiP 4. That Christie You Haven't Read and a Crazy Little Thing Called Love Interest 5. MURDER AT THE VICARAGE - TracyK 6. Official Christie January Newsletter 7. Christie's Fan 8. Review: By The Pricking Of My Thumbs 9. Moira @ Clothes in Books - Death on the Nile 10. Moira @ Clothesin Books - The Sittaford Mystery

Learn more about Agatha Christie Reading Challenge here.

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76th Book Review Blog Carnival

Welcome the August 28, 2011 edition of the Book Review Blog Carnival.
Every other Sunday the carnival appears at a blog, somewhere in blogtopia.
The founder of the carnival is Clark Bjorke who blogs at I'll Never Forget the Day I Read a Book!

There are 26 contributions to this edition of the carnival and I encourage you to visit them and leave comments if you can.
Many thanks to all participants.

The next host is Colloquium who will be hosting the September 11 edition.

Children's Books

Jon Welling presents Review: Skary Childrin and the Carousel of Sorrow posted at Hippies, Beauty, and Books Oh My!.
"This was a delightful read and I would highly recommend it to any parent for their older children. It is fun, perfectly put together, and teaches great morals. I look forward to reading more from this author!"

Read Aloud Dad presents Burt Dow, Deep-Water Man by Robert McCloskey posted at Read Aloud Dad.
"Our family celebrates Robert McCloskey as one of the greatest teachers of the finest things in life."

Poetry

Scott Bartlett presents Crowshite posted at BATSHITE.
"A review of Ted Hughes' poetry collection, Crow."

Fiction

Jim Murdoch presents The Good Muslim by Tahmima Anam ( posted at The Truth About Lies.
"At the end of a brutal civil war, a man stumbles upon an abandoned building and finds a young woman whose story will haunt him for years. Almost a decade later his sister returns home to find her brother transformed. While she has stuck to her revolutionary ideals, he has shunned his old life to become a charismatic religious leader. And when he decides to send his son to madrasa the conflict between them comes to a devastating climax. Set in Bangladesh at a time when religious fundamentalism is on the rise, The Good Muslim is an epic story about faith, family and the long shadow of war.

Lj Quillyn presents Review: Ghost Story by Jim Butcher | The Writing Life of LJ Quillyn posted at The Writing Life of LJ Quillyn.
"Dresden fans the world over have tuned in once again for the thirteenth installment of the Dresden Files:  Ghost Story.
This book was absolutely fantastic. I’ll have to admit my bias. I love the Dresden Files. Always have. There’s just something playful and wonderful about the way that Jim Butcher writes."

Zohar presents Thoughts on: Uncle Misha’s Partisans by Yuri Suhl posted at Man of la Book.
"“Uncle Misha’s Par­ti­sans” by Yuri Suhl is a fic­tional book fol­low­ing the adven­tures of a Ukrain­ian boy dur­ing World War II. The book is meant for young adults (YA) and should be read as such."


KerrieS presents Book Review: UNTIL THY WRATH BE PAST, Asa Larsson posted at MYSTERIES in PARADISE.
"17-year-old Wilma Persson and her boyfriend are trapped while diving beneath the ice of Lake Vittangijarvi, looking for the wreck of a Nazi transport airplane that crashed there during the War. The story opens with Wilma as the narrator and she continues to make frequent appearances throughout. When Wilma's body is first discovered in a nearby river, it is assumed her death was an accident. No-one had known where the young couple were diving. When forensic evidence shows that Wilma did not die where her body was found, Rebecka Martinsson decides to take over the investigation herself. Translated into English from Swedish. Excellent."

Zohar presents Thoughts on: Tess of the d’Urbervilles by Thomas Hardy posted at Man of la Book.
"“Tess of the d’Urbervilles” by Thomas Hardy is a fic­tional book pub­lished in 1891 . The book fol­lows Tess through her tri­als and tribu­la­tions in Vic­to­rian Eng­land."

Jim Murdoch presents Two Cows and a Vanful of Smoke by Peter Benson posted at The Truth About Lies.
"The marijuana leaves, the cows and caravan on the cover – and indeed the book's title – all point to a comic romp involving rustic stoners; the reality is much more interesting. When Elliot gets a job on a farm he thinks he'll have plenty of time to lean on gates or stare at fields. But his best mate Spike keeps getting him into trouble finally turning up at his caravan's door with a van full of weed, the owners of which are deadly serious about getting back."

Zohar presents Book Review: Roma by Steven Saylor posted at Man of la Book.
"“Roma” by Steven Say­lor is a packed his­tor­i­cal fic­tion book which attempts to tell 1,000 years of his­tory in 600 pages. The book suc­ceeds superbly in some parts, but not so much in others."

KerrieS presents Review: BRUNO, CHIEF OF POLICE, Martin Walker posted at MYSTERIES in PARADISE.
The first in a new series of crime fiction set in France in the town of St. Denis. A satisfying cozy.

Camille Buffenmeyer presents Rock Bottom by Erin Brockovich & C.J. Lyons - Review posted at A Book A Day.

"Rock Bottom is the debut thriller by the renowned Erin Brockovich. It is the story of Angela "AJ" Palladino and her son who is handicapped."

Skylerreep presents 10 Tiny Reviews of the Best Novels of the Last 20 Years posted at Skyler Reep's Blog.
"Although it took me more than the time-frame I had originally budgeted, I finished ten novels this summer and I have two still simmering for two very different reasons. So here they are; my 10 tiny reviews."

Marina presents Introducing Indie Authors ? Amanda S. John posted at WRITING UNHOOKED.
"I want to start a series called Introducing Indie Authors. How many indie authors do you know and read? I did not know many until I published my short story Neighbors, got involved in social networking and blogging, and met quite a few talented and interesting indie writers."

Jonathan presents 10 Benefits of reading. posted at Smart blog.
"Although this isn't a book review, this post shows the benefits of reading and why we should all pick up a book."

e-books

Zohar presents Thoughts on: The Devil’s Gold By Steve Berry posted at Man of la Book.
"A short fic­tional eBook orig­i­nal. The book fol­lows one of the char­ac­ters in Mr. Berry’s books on a short adventure."

Non Fiction

Zohar presents Thoughts on: Better by Mistake by Alina Tugend posted at Man of la Book.
"“Bet­ter by Mis­take: The Unex­pected Ben­e­fits of Being Wrong” by Alina Tugend is a non-fiction book which tries to explain how deal­ing with mis­takes can ben­e­fit you and your work. While this book might be cat­e­go­rized as self-help, I found it to be more than that and  thought pro­vok­ing as well."

Jonathan Milligan presents Best Self Help Books of All-Time posted at Simple Life Habits.
"Here is my personal review of 12 of my favorite self-help books."

Jim Murdoch presents Shadow Child by P.F. Thomése posted at The Truth About Lies.
"A woman who lives longer than her husband is called a widow; a man who remains behind without his wife, a widower. A child without parents is an orphan. But what do you call the father and mother of a child who has died? In Shadow Child a father charts the course of his child's life, all 47 days of it and the effect the death has on him and his wife. A short, very moving and memorable book."

Rachel presents Three Cups of Tea (Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin) posted at Books In The Sun.
"I picked up Three Cups of Tea at my book (sharing) club and didn't know too much about it beyond the description my friend gave me. It covers the story of Greg Mortenson who in 1993, after a failed attempt to climb K2, promised to return to a local Pakistan village to build a school. The story takes us through the challenges he faces, the creation of the Central Asia Institute (CAI) the charity organisation he now fronts, and the growth of the organisation to build schools across various locations in Pakistan and Afghanistan."

Katie Sorene presents Top 20 Travel Photography Books of all Time posted at Tripbase.
"Short reviews of the top 20 travel coffee table books available including publications by Lonely Planet and National Geographic."

Persha Davis presents Understanding Men With Men Made Easy ebook -Are Men This Easy To Understand posted at Dumped Days.
"After interviewing hundreds of men, Kara Oh developed Twelve Simple "Secrets" so she could share her winning techniques with other women. Her fresh insights, derived from teaching self-empowerment workshops, bring a new slant to understanding men and improving romantic relationships."

Manisha presents Woman Men Adore Never Want To Leave ebook Review posted at Break Up Survival Advice.
"An ebook written by Bob Grant, a reputed marriage counselor with over 17 years experience. He has carried out counseling on thousands of couples, and claims that this ebook has been used by over 42,000 women."


Danette Schott presents Look at My Eyes: Early Intervention and Navigating the System posted at Help! S-O-S for Parents.
"I recently had the pleasure of “meeting” TheFowler4, Melanie and Seth Fowler, parents of two children, one of whom has autism."

Jonathan Milligan presents Put Your Dreams to the Test posted at Simple Life Habits.
"My personal review on the latest book by John Maxwell."

Teacher Man presents Book Review; Liars Poker By Michael Lewis posted at My University Money.
"A book review by Michael Lewis. It should help you achieve your financial dreams!"

Reviewing Kindle books

I am about to commit to print some reviews of books that I read when I was travelling.
What they have in common is that they are all books that on my Kindle.

I am toying with the vague feeling that reading them on my Kindle affects the style of review I am able to write.
 
For example, checking up on some detail is not as easy on the Kindle as with a made-from-paper book where you can quickly flip over pages to locate some words you remember as being on "top left".

I described some of my techniques in an earlier post.

I try to compensate by making annotations and marking text on the e-book as I go and then by checking these after I've finished reading. But that really depends on whether I've marked the text in the first place. I have finished reading some books and found I have not marked or annotated anything.

Of course you can search the e-text itself for particular references but that is a rather slow method as the Kindle will throw up all bits of text containing that search term. When there are 100s, this not particularly useful.

While I was travelling I got into the habit of writing a draft review in a notebook immediately after completing the book. I hope that helps.

If you are also reviewing books you've read in e-book format, you might like to leave a comment about how you feel these reviews compare with reviews you've written of books in other formats. Are they skimpier? Is the format influencing your style of review?

Writing book reviews using my Kindle

I thought some people might appreciate the steps I use in writing book reviews when I have read the book on my Kindle.

• I highlight/bookmark memorable bits as I'm reading
• I write comments about passages or ideas that strike me as I'm reading - just highlight some text and then press the space bar to begin making your annotation.
• Your book marks and annotations are stored in a file called MyClippings. When you attach your Kindle to your computer, it shows up as an extra drive. Look for a file called MyClippings. This is a text file and the annotations etc for the book you are currently reading will be at the end of the file.
• I copy and paste the relevant parts of the MyClippings file into a new text file and then save it on my computer by the name of the book.
• Once you've saved the text file you can disconnect the Kindle from your computer and then on the Kindle use MENU>View my notes and highlights to check the passages in the e-book that the notes and highlights are connected to.
• From the text file you've saved, you can use highlighted passages in your review as quotes, and hopefully the notes you've made will jog your memory about things you wanted to discuss in your review. (You'll find you get better at doing this)
• Sometimes the e-book also includes information about the author and other titles they have written. I often highlight that information and then use it in an "about author" section at the end of my review.
• You'll notice from my reviews on MYSTERIES IN PARADISE that I often use the image from the Amazon site, the product description, and the publisher's blurb in my review, but I always have a section where I talk about my impressions of the book.

Sunday Salon: What is Reading? Do you count Listening?

Browsing some blogs this week I came across the suggestion that listening to books is not reading.
It was obviously a question that the followers of that blog were very intersted in - there were 33 comments - so I decided to see what the good folk who visit MYSTERIES in PARADISE  think.


First of all, there are some interesting definitions of reading:

• the cognitive process of understanding a written linguistic message
• a complex cognitive process of decoding symbols for the intention of deriving meaning (reading comprehension) and/or constructing meaning
• Reading is an action performed by computers, to acquire data from a source and place it into their volatile memory for processing
• a multifaceted process involving word recognition, comprehension, fluency, and motivation.

Ok, so you get the idea... Reading starts out with an interpretation of the written word.
My focus in this topic is probably narrowed by the fact that I am interested mainly in crime fiction, although to be quite honest I read every day and all day as part of my job. I read books, computer screens and so on.

I think that, in listening to an audio rendering of a book, I am reading. Certainly I count these books in the lists of books that I have read, and I review them just as I review books that I read with my eyes.
I acknowledge that I am listening to an interpretation by the narrator of an author's original work, but as I've noted before, I feel that often enhances my enjoyment.

I have one rule though: I do not listen to abridged versions of novels, just as I don't read abridged printed versions (Like Readers Digest ones, tempting though that can be). Nor do I count dramatised versions as reading, unless the original was meant for dramatisation, like a Shakespearian play - but then we are not talking about a short story or a novel.

I often think how audio versions of books must enhance the life of the visually impaired by opening up for people the wonderful world of fiction.

BUT, I don't count watching a dramatic version of a novel , e.g. a TV version of an Agatha Christie novel, as reading the book.

So what do you think? Do leave a comment.
To make things a bit simpler too, I have put a poll over on the right hand side: tell me, yes or no, whether you count audio books in your lists of books read.

New to me this year

In the first 5 months of 2010 I have read 16 "new to me" authors (that is, this is the first book I've ever read by this author).
You can locate my reviews below. The ratings are at the end of the line.

THE MARATHON MURDERS,  Chester D Campbell     4.1
DARK WINTER, William Dietrich   4.2
THE SWAYING PILLARS, Elizabeth Ferrars   4.2
THE BLOOD OF THE WICKED, Leighton Gage    4.9
THE SILENCE OF THE RAIN, Luiz Alfredo Garcia-Roza 4.5
INHUMAN REMAINS, Quintin Jardine     4.2
CONSEQUENCES OF SIN, Clare Langley-Hawthorne     4.3
BLOOD & ICE, Robert Masello    4.5
DEVIL'S PEAK, Deon Meyer (audio book)    5
CROSSFIRE, Miyuke Miyabe    4.6
THE PANIC ZONE, Rick Mofina    4.8
THE GHOSTS OF BELFAST, Stuart Neville  aka THE TWELVE    4.7
TAROKO GORGE, Jacob Ritari    4
THE LAST POPE, Luis Miguel Rocha    4.3
A CARRION DEATH, Michael Stanley    5
DEADLINE MAN, Jon Talton    4.4