Friday Finds – July 31, 2015

Friday Finds is a weekly bookish meme hosted by Jenn of A Daily Rhythm to showcase books you recently found and added to your TBR list. It doesn’t matter whether you found them free online, borrowed them from a library or purchased them. Anything and everything works.

My Finds for the month of July include a modern classic, a non-fiction and four series mysteries. A nice haul!

*  *  *  *  *

Justine
(Book One of the Alexandria Quartet)
by Laurence Durrell

I’ve known about and considered reading the Alexandra Quartet for a number of years. When I saw it on Fred’s Desert Island list earlier this month, I knew the time had come. Thanks, Fred!

*  *  *  *  *

Places
The Journey of My Days, My Lives
by Thaao Penghlis

Having enjoyed watching Thaao Penghlis on General Hospital and Days of Our Lives, I’ve been looking forward to the paperback publication of Places. Thaao Penghlis has also been in a number of movies, including portraying a fascinating character in one of my favorite movies, Altered States.

*  *  *  *  *

Now for the series mysteries:

The Blood of an Englishman (Agatha Raisin #25) by M C Beaton – a tried and true series for me which I have been following for years.

The Twelve Clues of Christmas (Royal Spyness #6) and Heirs and Graces (Royal Spyness #7) by Rhys Bowen – a new series I put off reading, finally tried thanks to Selah at A Bibliophile’s Style and now love.

Dead Water (Benjamin January #8) by Barbara Hambly – I first heard of Barbara Hambly through her Star Trek novels and am now hooked on her historical mystery series set in New Orleans.

*  *  *  *  *

Share your Finds with us! We’d love to know if you found anything exciting this week.

Teaser Tuesdays – February 3, 2015

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading.

Anyone can participate.

If you’re new to Teaser Tuesdays, the details are at MizB’s Should Be Reading or on my Teaser Tuesdays Page.

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

This week features a return to my favorite genre of series mysteries. You can tell this is one of my favorites since it is the thirtieth installment.

Death of a Policeman
by M.C. Beaton
(Hamish Macbeth #30)

The fact that Daviot’s secretary, Helen, greeted him with a welcome smile made Hamish uneasy. The only times that Helen had ever smiled on him were when he was in trouble.

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

Have you read any of the Hamish Macbeth books or her Agatha Raisin series?

What are you reading now? Do you have a TT to share with us? Please leave a comment with your link on MizB’s Teaser Tuesday post or below. If you don’t have a blog, you can share your Teaser here in the comment section instead.

Friday Finds – November 28, 2014

Friday Finds is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading to showcase books you recently found and added to your TBR (to be read) list. It doesn’t matter whether you found them free online, borrowed them from a library or purchased them. Anything and everything works.

My Friday Finds this time are the books I purchased during November.

This was one of the first mystery series I started reading back in the 80s. A couple of moves and being busy in general caused a lapse. These are the next two up for me:
Dead Midnight (2002) by Marcia Muller (Sharon McCone #21)
The Dangerous Hour (2004) by Marcia Muller (Sharon McCone #22)

One of the few mystery series with which I’m up to date:
Death of a Policeman (2014) by M. C. Beaton (Hamish Macbeth #30)

This is a new mystery series for me!
The Vanishing Thief (2013) by Kate Parker (Victorian Bookshop Mystery #1)

That’s the mystery series, now the others:
If on a winter’s night a traveler by Italo Calvino (translated by William Weaver)
The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern

* * * * *

Share your Friday Finds with us! Please leave a comment with the link to your own Friday Finds post on MizB’s blog or here. If you don’t have a blog, you may share your Finds as a comment here anyway. We’d love to know what you found this week or this month.

Teaser Tuesdays – October 21, 2014

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading.

Anyone can participate.

If you’re new to Teaser Tuesdays, the details are at MizB’s Should Be Reading or on my Teaser Tuesdays Page.

This week features a book from one of my favorite long-running mystery series. I first discovered M.C. Beaton in the Hamish Macbeth series which began with Death of a Gossip in 1985. Her first Agatha Raisin book was Agatha Raisin and the Quiche of Death published in 1992. After reading the first book, I wasn’t sure if I liked Agatha or not. She can take a bit of getting used to. But I enjoyed the book enough to give the next one a try with the result that Agatha and the series were soon great favorites of mine. Something Borrowed, Someone Dead is the 24th Agatha Raisin book.

Something Borrowed, Someone Dead
by M. C. Beaton

She could not afford to investigate any case where she could not earn any money.

At the week-end, she was morosely looking at her garden, feeling that she should try to weed some of the flowerbeds, and deciding to sit down and have a gin and tonic and a cigarette instead, when her doorbell rang.

Have you read any of Beaton’s books? What are you reading now? Do you have a TT to share with us?

Please leave a comment with your link on MizB’s Teaser Tuesday post or below. If you don’t have a blog, you can share your Teaser here in the comment section instead.

Teaser Tuesdays – July 29, 2014

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading.

Anyone can participate.

If you’re new to Teaser Tuesdays, the details are at MizB’s Should Be Reading or on my Teaser Tuesdays Page.

 

Death of Yesterday
by M. C. Beaton

There was a village here that was supposed to be right friendly but along came the Hydro Electric Board, built the dam and made the loch, and the old village was drowned. So folks say there’s a curse on the place.

 

Death of Yesterday (2013) is the 29th entry in the Hamish Macbeth series. It is one of the few series I began reading from the beginning (Death of a Gossip, 1985) which is still ongoing. Thank you, M.C. Beaton!

 

What are you reading now? Do you have a TT to share with us?

Please leave a comment with your link on MizB’s Teaser Tuesday post or below. If you don’t have a blog, you can share your Teaser here in the comment section instead.

 

Friday Finds – July 25, 2014

Friday Finds is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading to showcase books you recently found and added to your TBR (to be read) list. It doesn’t matter whether you found them free online, borrowed them from a library or purchased them somewhere. Anything works.

 

A great haul for me this week! Eight books which I ordered from Powell’s Books earlier this month have arrived.

 

Death of Yesterday by M.C. Beaton (Hamish Macbeth #29)
Something Borrowed, Someone Dead by M.C. Beaton (Agatha Raisin #24)
The Gods of Guilt by Michael Connelly (Mickey Haller #5)
Ten Little New Yorkers by Kinky Friedman (Kinky Friedman #18)
They Shoot Horses Don’t They? by Horace McCoy
Alien Hearts by Guy de Maupassant
Hard Time by Sara Paretsky (V.I. Warshawski #9)
Total Recall by Sara Paretsky (V.I. Warshawski #10)

 

Any guesses which book shot to the top of the TBR list? (hint: Series mysteries are my favorite contemporary reading and this is one of the series I have been reading the longest.)

Did you have a productive week? Share your Friday Finds with us! Please leave a comment with the link to your own Friday Finds post on MizB’s blog or here. If you don’t have a blog, you may share your finds in a comment here anyway. We’d love to know what you found this week.