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...

Curious occurrence that both books are written as flashbacks. I could not reconcile why this was the right time tell these stories this way. Still, both have The Hungry Detective's strongest recommendations.   CRY BABY - Mark Billingham Mr. Billingham is a closer. Which is to say that he knows how to bring to bare the weight of all that has come before in a book's closing moments. In the case of CRY BABY the closing moments certainly calmed some general qualms about why a flashback story now, especially as a milestone book, Mr. Billingham's 20th. There must be something there, right? There is no acknowledgement in previous books, no cryptic references to the events in previous books about this story. Regardless of this semi-frustrating structure, CRY BABY is great, and Mr. Billingham has not missed in quite some time.   A PRIVATE CATHEDRAL - James Lee Burke "I'm talking about the acknowledgment of mortality, and not the kind that slips up on you in hospice or on th...

I have reached the point in my quarantine that I am looking for positives wherever I can find them. I've read 17 books off my 'To Be Read Pile' leaving me within tangible reach of being caught up. Although when I look at the list below I don't seem all that close. Looking for positives here there is a big one. RESIDUE by Michael McGarrity was released in 2019, and everything after that is 2020 release. I will have caught up to the current release year. It is not hyperbolic to say that that has not happened in forever. Truly. 20 years, maybe more. RED WHITE BLUE - Lea Carpenter Last summer I wanted to read spy books, so I bought this on eBay for cheap. It is a goal to read all of the George Smiley books next year, and RED WHITE BLUE was scratching that itch. This book had some nice notices and for $10 bucks it is now on my bookshelf. [ Editor's Note: Since starting this post I read this book. I liked the style even if it did not amount to too much. The first 200 ...

On Sunday, I finished THE KILLING HABIT by Mark Billingham. I ripped off the last 100 pages or so while the person behind me on my flight home was vomiting in his chair. Happy Easter..... (bunny emoji) Despite my inauspicious personal surroundings, THE KILLING HABIT was a good day for the author Mark Billingham. Over the course of the last couple books, he has transitioned his series from Tom Thorne to Tom Thorne and Nicola Tanner. And in fact, his next work, THEIR LITTLE SECRET, is firmly presented as Thorne and Tanner novel. [Editors Note: Well at least on the UK side it is ...] And given how THE KILLING HABIT ended calling THEIR LITTLE SECRET a Thorne/Tanner book makes a lot of sense if just for this one only. Of course, I am reminded of another series trying to do something similar, the Bosch and Ballard books that Michael Connelly has been writing over a similar amount of time. And based on the limited sample size of both authors works, I have to say Billingham is doing ...

These are the next 6 books I am going to read. All but the latest James Lee Burke are 2018 releases. I am also under the vague impression that I can do this by early April. Initially, I was going to move onto THE KILLING HABIT next, but I pivoted to the Craig Johnson because in thinking it over, his previous novel, THE WESTERN STAR, was my favorite read last year. DEPTH OF WINTER is the continuation of that book and the (possible?) conclusion to a longer running arc of Tomás Bidarte as Walt Longmire's nemesis. Following that will be the Connelly. Which will be the first book of his that I have some mild trepidation to read. TWO KINDS OF TRUTH did not connect with me and the first book in a long time that I felt was lacking from Mr. Connelly. In the past, I always thought to myself that mediocre -- insert author that you like -- is still better than most books. In truth, that is a weird narrative. And I should just embrace that fact that I didn't like the book. Anyway, TW...

Two years ago, as I was casting about in an effort to rekindle my affection for Crime Fiction, I thought a good project would be to clear out the significant backlog of books that were waiting to be read. I made a list. It was long. 60 plus books. I gave myself the deadline of December 31st, 2018. I did not make that deadline. In fact, even a year ago at this time, I know I would miss it. I think I was 40-ish books away and with all of my usual authors publishing something I knew it would be impossible.  I refocused. I caught up with a few authors whose books I had not been up to date with in several years. I picked off Mark Billingham and Laurie R. King and felt a pretty good sense of accomplishment. Now, I am reading the 2nd of 7 books that I am behind on Stephen Booth.  Mini-review. DEAD and BURIED (2012) is fantastic. One of the best in what is a great series. After Mr. Booth, I will nail down all 5 of the James Lee Burke books I have on the...