Reading list from June Just Desserts “Series Share” meeting

Wednesday, 06 July 2016 17:34

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Hey, mystery fans! Looking for something good to read?

At the June 2016 Just Desserts meeting last week, we held our annual “Series Share” meeting, in which group members were encouraged to read the first or second volume in a new series that’s started within the past couple of years, and share their thoughts in a “round-robin” format. 25 members were in attendance, and 23 contributed reviews. Here’s a list of the novels/series that were mentioned by group members, plus whether they gave them a “thumbs up” or “thumbs down”:

• Scott – The Vinyl Detective: Written in Dead Wax by Andrew Cartmel – ^^
• Pat – tried the first book in the Grantchester series by James Runcie, but gave up and tried The Last Mile, second in the Amos Decker series by David Baldacci – ^^
• Rayma – The Lost Ancestor, second in the Forensic Genealogist series by Nathan Dylan Goodwin – ^^
• Ted – presented a list of 10 of his favorite authors, and talked about the Lew Archer series by Ross MacDonald, including his favorite, the 10^th volume, The Zebra-Striped Hearse – ^^
• Susan – Keeper of the Castle, third in the Haunted Home Renovation series by Juliet Blackwell – ^^
• Mary – also read The Last Mile by Baldacci, and Bread of the Dead, first in the Santa Fe Café series by Ann Myers – ^^
• Don – Linda, as in The Linda Murder, the first Evert Backstrom novel by Leif G.W. Persson – ^^
• Brandon – hadn’t read any “new” series, but recommended the works of Dashiell Hammett, also The Highwayman, the latest novella in the Walt Longmire series by Craig Johnson – ^^
• Tracey – Midnight Crossroad, the first in the new Midnight, Texas series by Charlaine Harris – ^^
• Suzy – Crime and Poetry, first in the Magical Bookshop Mystery series by Amanda Flower – ^^
• Carolyn – Read It and Weep, 4^th in the Library Lovers Mystery series by Jenn McKinlay – ^^ /vv, and The Absent One, 2^nd in the Department Q series by Jussi Adler-Olsen – ^^
• Ladena – Eeny Meeny, first in the Helen Grace series by M.J. Arlidge – ^^
• (two observers – no recommendations offered)
• Linda – The Grey Ghost Murders, second in the Sean Stranahan Mystery series by Keith McCafferty – ^^
• Barb – The Nebraska Quotient and Moving Targets, first two in the Nebraska Mystery series by William J. Reynolds (from back in the 1980s/1990s) – ^^, also The Case of the Colonist’s Corpse, a Star Trek mystery novel by Bob Ingersol and Tony Isabella – ^^
• Melba – Book of the Dead, by Patricia Cornwell – vv (recommends earlier volumes in this series)
• Linda – The Poacher’s Son, the first in the Mike Bowditch mystery series by Paul Doiron – ^^
• Vera – The Doll’s House, 3^rd in the Helen Grace series by M.J. Arlidge – ^^ /vv
• Valery – Blood on the Snow and Midnight Sun, first (and only) two in the Blood on the Snow series by Jo Nesbo – ^^, also the Inspector Gamache series by Louise Penny – ^^
• Cathy – Mycroft Holmes, the first in a new Sherlockian series by Kareem Abdul-Jabbar – ^^
• Jody – Can Anybody Hear Me? and Are You Watching Me? By Sinead Crowley – ^^
• Joan – The Cracked Spine, first in the Scottish Bookshop Mystery series by Paige Shelton – ^^
• Charlotte – Deadly Desires at Honeychurch Hall, 2^nd in the Honeychurch Hall series by Hannah Dennison – ^^
• Paula – One Foot in the Grape, first in the Cypress Cove mystery series by Carlene O’Neil – ^^ /vv

[ ^^ – recommended | vv – not recommended | ^^/vv – so-so recommendation ]

So, what mysteries have you been reading that you’d recommend?