I went for a browse at the library this evening and came home with a sampling of mysteries:
Hidden Depths by Ann Cleeves: I've read a couple of Cleeves' Shetland mysteries, but this series, set in England and featuring Inspector Vera Stanhope, is new to me. I picked it up because I liked the sound of Vera. Here's a snippet about her from the author's website: "Hidden Depths is the third book to feature Inspector Vera Stanhope, yet Ann Cleeves told Shots Magazine that The Crow Trap (the first Vera Stanhope novel, now back in print) was originally intended as a standalone novel. But 'I liked Vera Stanhope so much that I brought her back, first in Telling Tales and now in Hidden Depths. She developed because I was so cross with even feminist writers writing female central characters who were young, fit and beautiful. Vera isn't any of those things. She's overweight and middle-aged.' – 'more Nero Wolfe than V.I. Warshawski', as Jake Kerridge put it in The Telegraph!"
Slaying is Such Sweet Sorrow by Patricia Harwin: This is the second in Harwin's Far Wychwood series. I read the first ages ago, liked it and planned to look out for the second, then promptly forgot the name of the author. So I was very happy to randomly stumble on it tonight. The premise of the series is a cozy standard — a middle aged American woman sleuthing about an English village. But as I recall it was well written and I liked the sleuth. She's a very spirited sixty-something former librarian making a new life for herself post-divorce. And from the back cover description it appears that this installment takes place in an academic setting, and my recent Amanda Cross reread has whetted my appetite for another academic mystery.
A Question of Blood by Ian Rankin: I've been rationing my Rebuses knowing that I'll soon run out (this one is third from the last in the series). But with a new Rankin novel due out in the Fall which may well be the beginning of a new series, perhaps it's time for me to finish the Rebuses and move on...
The Nine Tailors by Dorothy L. Sayers: I'm a great Sayers fan but there are still a few Peter Wimsey novels I haven't read and I'm pretty sure this is one of them.
Now which of these shall I start with? Police procedural or cozy? The seamy side of Edinburgh or a quaint English village? Old friend or new acquaintance? Choices, choices...
6 comments:
You find the best mysteries! These all look wonderful, and the majority are new to me. I'll have to note several of those authors down.
I love crime fiction too and have just discovered Donna Leon - which combines my love of Italy and detectives in one - and also Bernard Schlink (author of The Reader) who has written a detective series around a character called Self. They're great fun and beautifully written! I'm going to take up the recommendation on the Cleeves.
Kathleen
That was a tough question! I think The Nine Taylors is a wonderful classic, but then Vera Stanhope is such an unusual character. The whole series is good, but perhaps the first, The Crow Trap, is the best of them all.
Wimsey! Wimsey! Wimsey!
Enjoy these! I really like the description of Cleeves's protagonist too and will have to keep an eye out for that series.
I haven't read NEARLY enough Sayers, and this one may be the only Wimsey book I've actually read. I wonder why, as I remember enjoying it! Thanks for the reminder...
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