YvonneHi Kathyrn,
I haven’t participated in this meme for so long that it has moved home a couple of times since then and it took me a while to track it down. I do hope that you don’t mind me stopping in every once in a while to share my reading schedule 🙂
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WHAT I AM READING NOW
“No Substitute For Murder” By Carolyn J. Rose
(Subbing Isn’t For Sissies #1)
Divorced from a philandering con man and downsized from her job as a talk radio show producer, Barbara Reed is desperate for money. She’s got a mortgage, a college loan, an aging car, and a ten-pound dog named Cheese Puff.
With her unemployment checks running out, she signs on as a high school substitute teacher and learns what stress is all about. When she finds history teacher Henry Stoddard strangled with his own outdated tie, her stress level soars into the red zone. Then she’s assigned to cover his classes.
Stoddard was a bully and a blackmailer. The list of suspects is a long one, and police put Barb at the top. When she discovers a second body, the noose of circumstantial evidence tightens.
With help from the showgirl widow of a reputed mobster, a trash-scavenging derelict, and members of the Cheese Puff Care and Comfort Committee, Barb struggles to keep a grip on her job, her sanity, and her freedom.
Notice: This mystery contains no vampires, werewolves, zombies, or space aliens. It was not tested on laboratory animals. It makes no claims to political correctness. Characters may not be fully clothed at all times.
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WHAT I READ LAST
“Rise Of The Iron Eagle” By Roy A. Teel, Jr.
The city of Los Angeles is no stranger to violence. It has both a colorful and grotesque history with it. Sheriff’s Homicide Detective Jim O’Brian and FBI Profiler Special Agent Steve Hoffman are also no strangers to the violence of the sprawling metropolis, but in the past decade something has changed. There’s a serial killer preying on other serial killers – some known by law enforcement, others well off radar. “The Iron Eagle,” a vigilante, extracts vengeance for the victims of Los Angeles’ serial killers. His methods are meticulous and his killings brutal. With each passing day, “The Iron Eagle” moves with impunity through the streets of Los Angeles in search of his prey. O’Brian and Hoffman create an elite task force with the sole purpose of catching “The Eagle” and bringing him to justice. But the deeper they delve, the more apparent it is that he may very well be one of their own. As the two men stare into the abyss of their search, the eyes of “The Iron Eagle” stare back.
Or a new breed of Justice?
WHAT I AIM TO READ NEXT
“House Of 8 Orchids” By James Thayer
In 1912, John Wade and his brother, William—children of the American consul—were kidnapped off the street in Chungking, China, and raised in the house of Eunuch Chang, the city’s master criminal.
Twenty-five years later, John is the eunuch’s most valuable ward, a trained assassin and swindler, and William has become a talented forger.
On the brink of World War II, China is in chaos. When William betrays Eunuch Chang and escapes to central China, a place of ferocious warlords and bandits, John begins a desperate search to save his brother, while Eunuch Chang hunts them both.
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LAST WEEK’S POSTS
‘First Lines’ – “The Devil’s Country” By Harry Hunsicker
‘Mailbox Monday’ – “Nightfall Bay” By Carolyn J. Rose
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LATEST REVIEW
“Last Step” By Gwyneth Williams
Review Here
How does a seemingly nice middle-class, middle-aged, professional woman come to be involved in murder in one country only to have it follow her back to another country?
Why does her eclectic mix of acquaintances and interests intrigue the police of these two nations so much?
What is it about their mother that, when called upon, her daughters are so willing to bend the rules?
Can friends be trusted?
An intercontinental intrigue that will have you laughing, sighing, and surprised by the end of it…..
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It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? is a place to meet up and share what you have been, are and about to be reading over the week. It’s a great post to organise yourself. It’s an opportunity to visit and comment, and er… add to that ever growing TBR pile! So welcome in everyone. This meme is now hosted by Kathryn at the Book Date.
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So happy that you tracked us down and found us! You are very welcome to join us whenever you can – there are no rules!! A murder mystery that makes you laugh has to be good!
Hi Kathryn,
Thanks for the warm welcome, I shall visit as often as possible.
I just looked at the vast array of different genres I have listed in one post! Although a good murder / mystery or psychological thriller will always be my true favourite, I have very eclectic reading tastes, so just about any book is fair game for my TBR pile!
Have a great week 🙂
Ooooh, I do like the sound of The House of 8 Orchids. Will be very interested to see what you think of that when you get to it.
Hi Cath,
I have to be honest and admit that I have had that particular book in my TBR pile for longer than I care to remember. I have run a couple of promotional posts for it over the past few months and James has written a really interesting guest post, which I hope to get published very soon. I’ll leave you a couple of links and you can get a better idea of whether you might enjoy the story or not.
https://www.fiction-books.biz/new-titles/new-on-the-shelf-at-fiction-books-this-week-88/
https://www.fiction-books.biz/first-lines/house-of-8-orchids-by-james-thayer/
Thanks for stopping by and have a good week 🙂
I have vague memories of seeing this meme in the past – I like it!
My (bookish) stats….
Last: Proxima by Stephen Baxter
Current: Ultima by Stephen Baxter
Next: The Red Queen by Philippa Gregory (probably)
Last Review: Proxima by Stephen Baxter
Hi Kelly,
This particular meme has moved home a couple of times since I last took part in it and to be honest, it was only because we had a free Sunday and I was able to spend a bit more time at the PC, that I decided to track down its present location and catch up with what was going on.
Ordinarily, I am lucky if I manage to scrape together a couple of posts a week, but I really would like to try and contribute more often, to a few of the other memes I used to visit.
The only Philippa Gregory books I have read, were from her very first “Wideacre” series, which was written back in the late 1980s. Whilst the three books were very historical in their nature, they weren’t actually set in court like her subsequent series were and that has somehow always put me off reading them, although I couldn’t tell you why exactly. I shall look forward to following your progress, should you start “The Red Queen” next.
Thanks for stopping by and Happy Reading 🙂
Welcome back! No Substitute for Murder sounds great. I’ll have to add it to my wishlist. Come see my week here. Happy reading!
Hi Kathy,
There are now 6 books in the “Subbing Isn’t For Sissies” series and although each one works perfectly well as a stand alone story, to get the low-down on Barbara and how she came to be taking a job “one notch above crash-test dummy”, reading this, the first installment, will set the scene nicely.
https://www.fiction-books.biz/first-lines/no-substitute-for-murder-by-carolyn-j-rose/
Above is a link to the first few lines of the book, just in case you want to take a sneak peek. Thanks for stopping by, it is great to catch up with you again 🙂
Cheese Puff? What kind of a name is that for a dog, she asks laughing.
I’m busy reading Hollow City, the second book in The Miss Peregrine’s Home For Peculiar Children series, which is proving to be every bit as good as the first book.
Hi Tracy,
From the book …
“Cheese Puff, Ten pounds of wild orange hair, shoe-button eyes and wagging tail.”
Much different from the pathetic looking stray which Barbara recounts finding.
I have never read ‘The Miss Peregrine’s Home For Peculiar Children’, although I did consider adding it to my list a couple of weeks back, when it was recommended once again by yet another fellow blogger. I then checked out ‘Hollow City’ at the same time and was not quite so captivated by the premise, so decided against bothering with either book.
I know how much you enjoyed the first book though, so I hope that ‘Hollow City’ is just as intriguing for you. I presume that you are going to go on and complete the trilogy with ‘Library Of Souls’?
Thanks for stopping by and Happy Reading 🙂
I just finished Jane Harper’s The Dry set in a drought-stricken town in Australia. It melds mysteries in the past and present and has an interesting cast of characters, many with secrets, something to prove, or something to live down. 5 stars
Hi Carolyn,
This one sounds really good, it could almost have been a storyline from your own pen?
Definitely one I want to read and an author I want to follow. Living in both countries and no doubt calling herself native to both, I wonder if Jane is going to continue writing stories with an Australian backdrop, or if she might decide to centre one or more of her future books, here in the UK.
Thanks for sharing the recommendation 🙂