And I'm too lazy to check.
In any case, here's the line-up as we enter the week of 17 March:
-- Black Irish, by Stephan Talty - Police mystery/procedural/thriller based in "The County," an Irish enclave in Buffalo, NY. I'm not sure this is the start of a series (or for that matter, the continuation of a series), but the protagonist is the adopted daughter, now 31, of an Irish Buffalo cop, who is now a detective herself. Talty's description of the desolation of Buffalo is depressing in the extreme, and I don't know how accurate it is. But definitely Buffalo is not on my list of places to visit before I die. Some of the incidents are a little far-fetched, but overall it's a pretty good story, if you like this sort of thing. Almost done.
-- Birthdays for the Dead, by Stuart MacBride. Another police procedural/mystery/thriller by the author of the Logan Macrae cop series, though this is a standalone. About 100 pages in. Gruesome serial killer at work, some interesting twists so far. I like the Macrae series, so I think I'm going to enjoy this one.
-- The Last Victim, by Karen Robards - I think this is the first Robards book I've read. I'm just about 50 pages in. Another serial killer novel, with the main character not a cop but a profiler who sees and talks to ghosts. Definitely not a comedy, as some "ghost stories" can be. Pretty dark so far. The story flows, though, and I'm continuing to read.
-- Short Squeeze, by Chris Knopf - This is a spinoff of the Sam Aquillo series. I've listened to the audiobooks for the Aquillo novels. They're pretty lightweight, but Knopf tells a pretty good story. This one, though, bothers me. Maybe it's the narrator, maybe it's the character, who seems more out of character from the roles she's had in the Aquillo novels. She seems more like a busybody than anything else, getting involved in things that really are none of her business. Maybe the same could be said of Sam Aquillo in his stories, but there's always either a direct connection or some principle at work when he gets involved in cases.
-- Snow White Must Die, by Nele Neuhaus - I started listening to this one because that's one heck of a title. Guy gets out of prison after 10 years for murder. No bodies, no memory of the crime, but he was convicted. Now he's out, and everyone in their small town hates him. Then all sorts of things start happening. You know he's innocent, but can't figure out who's guilty. I'm all for tension in a novel - that's what makes them appealing - but when that tension is derived from idiotic behavior, it gets irritating. I've taken a bit of a break about halfway through because the main character behaves stupidly and, of course, gets into more trouble. Good character development, a number of sub-plots. I don't know if I'll finish it, though.
-- The Burn Palace, by Stephen Dobyns - I think I mentioned this one before. I have about 80 pages to go. Good story, excellent character development, excellent sense of place, dark where it needs to be, with lighter moments in just the right places. Even toward the end, I have no idea who's the guilty party and whether the apparently supernatural elements are supernatural or easily explainable. I'll pick up some other Dobyns novels after this.
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