1990 – I discovered William G. Tapply’s Brady Coyne and Elizabeth was born! A great year!

I started to keep track of the books that I read  in 1988. I kept record of themin   A Book Lover’s Journal  and wrote short blurbs about the books. Here is a list of the 54 books that I read in 1990. That’s the most books read of any year, since I’ve   kept records! Reviewing the list, I see that it was the year I discovered William G Tapply’s Brady Coyne. After reading  Dead Winter, the eighth book in the series, which was released in 1989, I quickly went back and read the prior seven books! Tapply wrote…

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From the Archives: Book 33 of 2011 Lassiter by Paul Levine ….

Through the years two of my favorite mystery series are the Jake Lassiter and the Solomon and Lord series both from Paul Levine. I haven’t read a book of his since 2011, when I read Lassiter. Here’s the review I wrote about it back when I finished the book. Tonight as I was re-posting this review I went to Levine’s page at Amazon and I see that books 9 and 10 in the Jake Lassiter series are both available at Amazon for only $3.99 each!! What a steal! Now I only have to find time to read them!!!! Anyway here is…

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After a Great Read – Bad Things Happen by Harry Dolan – I can’t wait to begin Very Bad Man!

A couple of Saturday’s ago, I was browsing through the books at Barnes & Noble and I came across The Last Dead Girl, Book # 3 in the David Loogan series written by Harry Dolan. On the dust jacket of the book I read that Stephen King called Dolan’s book Bad Things Happen   “a “great fing book“! When I came home, I went to my local libraries website and requested the book. I was captivated by the book from the opening sentence, the pages flew by and it quickly became Book 29 of 2014, and I agree with Mr King…

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Kathleen Mallory #11- It Happens in the Dark – Carol O’Connell

In Kathleen Mallory, author Carol O’Connell has created one of the most distinctive characters in the mystery and thriller genre. Mallory is …. described by her creator as a sociopath. Emotionally scarred as a 6-year-old after she witnessed the murder of her mother in a small Louisiana town, Mallory flees to New York City, where she lives as a street child. She is caught trying to steal by police officer Louis Markowitz, who takes her home and becomes her foster father. From age 10, Kathy, a “baby sociopath,” grows up surrounded by Markowitz and his colorful circle of friends, including…

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Karin Slaughter’s Cop Town – Atlanta – 1974 – A Wild Ride!

The first Karin Slaughter book that I read was Kisscut, which is book #2 in Karin’s Grant County series. After finishing the book; I immediately went out and found Book #1  Blindsighted and read it probably faster than Kisscut. Since then I have read every book she has written which includes both the Grant County and the Will Trent series, which are now intertwined! Cop Town is Karin’s first stand alone novel and for her first book she went back  40 years and recreated wonderfully the  feel of a changing Atlanta in 1974. My wife and I lived in Athens, Georgia…

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Patrick Lee – Runner – Sam Dryden #1 – I’m ready for Book #2 – Now Patrick!

Sam Dryden has retired after being an Army Ranger, a Delta, and spending five years doing off-the-book black ops with an elite team.t In Runner ,(Book 18 of 2014) the first book of the Dryden series by Patrick Lee, he has to use all his skill and cunning to keep young Rachael Grant alive.  Sam literally runs into Rachael when insomnia forces him out for a middle of the night run, and well, Rachael is on the run too only in Rachael’s case she has a passel of  military men after her using a lot of high-tech gadgetry, with one aim…

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Book 14 of 2014 – Crissa Stone # 2 – Kings of Midnight by Wallace Stroby

So yes, as listed under Currently Reading on my webpage, I am still reading Subversives!  I am now more than 65% of the way through the book, Reagan  just became governor of California, so the battles rages more fiercely! But while reading that, I am still reading mysteries, and just finished Book 14 for 2014, Kings of Midnight from Wallace Stroby. Kings of Midnight is the second book in the Crissa Stone series, and  in it , Crissa, the criminal you root for, is battling to recover,  some of the millions, that now dead mob boss Joey Dios hid from…

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Book 11 of 2014 – NYPD Puzzle (Puzzle Lady #15) – Parnell Hall – (plus a video from Parnell)

Through the years one of my favorite mystery series has been Parnell Hall’s Stanley Hasting mysteries. Looking at my Goodreads bookshelf I see, that there are 18 books in the series. and I have read all but one of them!! (Note to self read Caper- damn I thought I did??) That is not the case with Hall’s Puzzle Lady series, there are 15 books in that series, of which I have read 3.(1,8,&15) No. 15 is NYPD Puzzle and it is book 11 for 2014….

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Book 10 of 2014 – Stone Cold – C J Box

Some writers take many pages to hook you and reel you into the story. In the latest Joe Pickett novel, C.J. Box does it in the first paragraph of the book!! When Nate Romanowski pushes a drift boat in to the Bighorn River and sets sail down river toward the mansion of the man he is going to kill!! Now if this is the first book of the series, you may just like Box’s descriptive prose, but if you’ve read a few of the books or in my case all but one of the fourteen books in the series, you said to yourself “Nate is going to murder someone!” Whoa, this is not going to end well! See Nate is the shadowy friend of Joe and his family, and always seems to arrive on the scene when Joe needs him the most, but he is also on the run from the Feds. Can this be why?? So starts Book 10 for 2014, Stone Cold from C J Box….

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Book No. 8 of 2014 – Wallace Stroby’s Cold Shot to the Heart (Crissa Stone #1)

Oh Boy! I finally read a book quickly and increased this years book’s read total all the way to eight!! (He says with a sarcastic sneer on his face and tone in his voice). The book was Cold Shot to the Heart and is book #1 in the Crissa Stone series from Long Branch, New Jersey native Wallace Stroby. They always say that you should write about what you know and what would a former writer for the Newark Star-Ledger know better mob related crime! (typed with Jon Stewart’s mob voice ringing in my ears!)

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