The Hungry Detective

 Over the Thanksgiving holiday I read...well finished... three books. TINKER, TAILOR, SOLDIER, SPY by John le Carré, THE MAID by Nita Prose and STATION ELEVEN by Emily St. John Mandel. There was a moment when I thought I could catch my reading goal of 40 books. That was.....foolish. [ Editor's Note: I can recommend all 3 books, immensely enjoyable in their own ways. ]  However, December reading died on the vine and alas I only made 28. The last official read of 2022 was Mark Billingham's THE MURDER BOOK. I was remined yet again that the Thorne books are pound for pound the best series running. I started EVERY CLOAK ROLLED IN BLOOD by James Lee Burke but did not finish it until after the 1st. Silver lining....it will pad the 2023 reading numbers. How was the book you might ask? JLB has ascended criticism in my mind so....  After that I moved on to THE ISLAND by Adrian McKinty. I was less enamored with this book than his last. It was some tough sledding through the fir...

At some point in the last year Barnes and Noble got interested in selling Crime Fiction. The last four Barnes & Noble in four different cities and in two different states I browsed now have large displays that feature Crime Fiction. For years Crime Fiction was shoe horned between Sci-Fi and the General Fiction section. Usually buried in the back half of the store taking up only 2 or 3 shelves with only meager hardcover availability. Now in 3 of the 4 stores I visited there was a large U-Shaped section encompassing 16-20 shelves. In all cases there were dozens of hardcover offerings. It looked great to see that much variety and it certainly spurred the purchase of the three books below. So after not buying from Barnes and Noble for the last handful of years...save for the most desperate circumstances...I think I might have to reconsider. Anyway these are my recent purchases. THE MAID - Nita Prose I went from definitely getting this, to not getting this, to putting a hold at the Libr...