PK the Bookeemonster: Back to work we go...

Monday, June 12, 2023

Back to work we go...

Monday

Over the weekend, I finished reading MURDER IN THE WHITE HOUSE. by Margaret Truman. I gave it three stars. I liked it quite a lot up until the end. I don't try to solve the crime while reading a book; generally I'm along for the ride. However, this book's reveal was very much like watching a murder mystery show on TV where you KNOW whodunnit - because it's always the special guest star of that episode.

It was kinda obvious to me whodunnit in this book. But I liked it fine. I'll probably read more in the series.

I didn't plan it, but I started reading TALKING TO THE DEAD by Harry Bingham. 1st of 6 in series featuring Fiona Griffiths, a young detective constable with a philosophy degree from Cambridge, in Cardiff, Wales.

At first, the murder scene appears sad, but not unusual: a young woman undone by drugs and prostitution, her six-year-old daughter dead alongside her. But then detectives find a strange piece of evidence in the squalid house: the platinum credit card of a very wealthy—and long dead—steel tycoon. What is a heroin-addicted hooker doing with the credit card of a well-known and powerful man who died months ago? This is the question that the most junior member of the investigative team, Detective Constable Fiona Griffiths, is assigned to answer. But D.C. Griffiths is no ordinary cop. She’s earned a reputation at police headquarters in Cardiff, Wales, for being odd, for not picking up on social cues, for being a little overintense. And there’s that gap in her past, the two-year hiatus that everyone assumes was a breakdown. But Fiona is a crack investigator, quick and intuitive. She is immediately drawn to the crime scene, and to the tragic face of the six-year-old girl, who she is certain has something to tell her . . . something that will break the case wide open. Ignoring orders and protocol, Fiona begins to explore far beyond the rich man’s credit card and into the secrets of her seaside city. And when she uncovers another dead prostitute, Fiona knows that she’s only begun to scratch the surface of a dark world of crime and murder. But the deeper she digs, the more danger she risks—not just from criminals and killers but from her own past . . . and the abyss that threatens to pull her back at any time.

Published 2012; 368 pages. I guess I was in the mood for a procedural.

As I mentioned previously, the month of June for some book people is "June On the Range", promoting the reading of Westerns. I have to put my own spin on it as we all do.

The group is mostly doing Western romances of which there are thousands. So, for me it's either crime fiction or science fiction. I'm starting with science fiction. Currently reading SPACE DEPUTY by Jenny Schwartz. 1st of 4 in Interstellar Sheriff series.

A millennium into the future, the Saloon Sector is where the Wild West meets the 1950s, in space, with robots. It’s where careers go to die. Thelma Bach graduated top of her class after four years at the Galactic Justice academy. But she’s a Rock Sector citizen. The core worlders were never going to let her transcend her background. So she’s been assigned to serve her seven years as a deputy in the Saloon Sector. The message for the Federation’s out-world citizens is clear: you’ll never be our equal, so don’t even try. The stuffy bureaucrats of the Galactic Justice service chose the wrong person to push around. Thelma will subvert her interstellar sheriff, charm artificial intelligences, fight bandits and hunt the legendary Eldorado Cache. But with the frontier region holding secrets of its own, she needs to choose her new allies wisely because a scary, business-suited enemy is hunting her.

Published 2018; 217 pages. I've read this author's work before and liked it. My only quibble with this book is that there are VERY similar elements in both series.

I didn't complete an afghan block this weekend. I started it. It fought me. I'm not having a problem with the stitches, it just looks "not right" to me. Messy. You can't see the individual stitches. The nice thing about my bead group ladies is that they've done crafts for decades, including crochet. They're saying the yarn seems to be an issue. It's the yarn that the company provided for this project, yes, but it is not a "fine" yarn. Nor is it overly bulky. But I mean in the accompanying video, the person's looks great. Mine doesn't. So I'm not pushing it.