Little Pixie

I certainly do - I really didn`t like `that thing ` either.

Aw, they`re so sweet !

Thanks for the heads-up ; I`ve seen the two Sebastian Bergman TV movies and had no idea they were adapted from books, so I`ll take a looksie at those. Sorry to see that you have to move house ; fingers crossed you find somewhere lovely.

It`s around 24C now and we`ve got more warnings of rain overnight; fingers crossed that Holland cools down soon. I downloaded a couple of books : Bruno, Chief of Police - Martin Walker ( UK 99p atm, US $1.56 ) - I`ve seen good things about this series, set in a small town in SW France. Also, A Murder of Quality - John Le Carre ( free atm in the UK ) - I`ve already read it, and I think it`s my favourite Le Carre - but it`s nice to get a digital copy.

I`ve got that one, and the previous one, still to read - glad they`ve finally done with `that thing`.

Those graphs look great, Gaia ; I particularly like the male/female protagonists and the genre ones. Congrats on getting so many books from the library, too.

Oof, how awful for all your animals. It`s now down to 21C but it`s 85% humidity, so it really doesn`t feel much better. Hopefully the predicted thunderstorms will help tonight.

28C ( 82 F) here. The cat has her own oscillating fan now, it`s so hot for the poor girl.

Do you have to do that finger-clicky thing whilst reading it ?!

You can find some good books that way; I think it makes you step out of your comfort zone.

Is it just the Amazon.com site that you can use ? I`ve got S1&2 on DVD, and I`ve seen the other seasons on TV - I really like the show, too. I don`t know if you`ve seen the author`s Twitter with the behind the scenes pics ? It says he`s working on the second book - hurray !

I`m in ! Shall be rereading the first two Deborah Harkness Discovery of Witches books and then the third, final one.

#108 Miss Zukas and the Stroke of Death - Jo Dereske Helma Zukas gets a phone call from her artist friend Ruth, who`s found a body in her garden. She rushes over there to carefully examine the body, before they call the police. Ruth becomes a suspect, so Helma is off detecting again. The murder happened during the build-up to the annual Snow-to-Surf ( skiing, crosscountry, cycling, canoeing, etc ) race, and Helma is drawn into participating in the 18 mile canoe section, putting herself at risk in the process. A nice read, with a disconcerting ending which I didn`t see coming.

Enjoy your books ! That Jane Eyre hardback does look good. BTW, I had no idea that Kathy Reichs` daughter was also an author ; have you read any of Kerry Reichs` other books or will this be the first one ? I found a fun interview here . I especially liked this bit...

Thanks Gaia. Oh ! I just downloaded the Death in Paradise book ;it`s a Kindle deal today.

I loved Carol Shield`s Larry`s Party; I thought it was beautifully crafted ( especially the bits about his tweed coat ). I`ve not heard of Dorothy Richardson, and I`m now intrigued - off to look for the first in the Pilgrimage series - thanks for the heads-up !

#102 Top O`the Mourning - Maddy Hunter Excerpt Great fun, even better than the first book in the series, Alpine for You. Emily, her Nana and other Ohio seniors , take a trip to Ireland . Staying in a haunted castle and with bodies turning up yet again, Emily has to solve a murder and contend with the arrival on the Tour of her boyfriend Etienne and her ex-husband Jack ( now called Jackie, after gender reassignment surgery ). It`s the sort of book that`s so funny, your nose makes unladylike snorty noises. #102 Painted Ladies - Robert B Parker Excerpt One of the last Spenser books in the series as written by the late, lamented Robert B Parker, before another author took over the series. Spenser - Boston PI - takes on the job of bodyguard to an unlikable Arts Professor, who`s tasked with exchanging a ransom for a painting. At the handover, all seems to go well ... until the painting explodes and kills the Professor. Spenser investigtaes, with much wise-cracking along the way. Sure, it`s formulaic, but it`s a really good formula. #104 Pasta Imperfect - Maddy Hunter The third of the Passport to Peril series and a bit of a disappointment. More characters are introduced so that one of them can be bumped off, and most of them aren`t drawn as vividly as Emily, Nana and other seniors from the first two books. There`s a good beginning and good ending, but a lot of it seems rather flat, even though it`s still readable enough and funny enough. #105 Prince of Fire - Daniel Silva The fifth of the Gabriel Allon series. Retired Mossad agent Gabriel is back in Venice working as an art restorer, when a bomb explodes in the Israeli Embassy in Rome. Tracking down the bombers, the police find a safehouse with a dossier on Gabriel and his work for Mossad. Forced to return to Israel, he puts together a team to stop a second bombing. There`s a lot of historical background ( which I found interesting, but if you`re already aware of it, it would slow down the action ). It`s a bit like a heist film, with the final 1/3 of the book an out-and-out thrill ride. #106 Miss Zukas and the Island Murders - Jo Dereske Miss Helma Zukas receives oddly threatening letters at the Library, reminding her that she promised to organise a 20th year reunion for her High School. Helma and Ruth sort out the reunion, basing it in a small island outside Washington State. Someone gets bumped off, and then the fog rolls in, bringing with it a powercut... It`s delightfully atmospheric, plus Helma is forced to adopt an injured cat, Boy Cat Zukas. #107 Death of a Tall Man - Frances and Richard Lockridge Published in 1949. A New York oculist is murdered, in a variation on a locked room mystery. Pam North, shopping in Manhattan, notices her friend Lt. Weigand`s police car rush past her and tells her taxi driver to follow. She phones her husband Jerry, telling him to turn up to the murder scene, too, and then we`re off on another North adventure, also starring Martini, the cat ( who has some sweet scenes all to herself and some amusing bits from her point-of-view ).

Books read : 94 TBR 795 New Books Bought : 125 Total Cost : £ 353.89 Books Ordered : Miss Zukas and the Raven`s dance - Jo Dereske £2.81 Out of Circulation - Jo Dereske £2.81 Never nosh a matzo ball - Sharon Kahn £2.81 Miss Zukas and the Island Murders - Jo Dereske £2.81 Miss Zukas and the Stroke of Death - Jo Dereske £2.81 Untidy Murder - Frances and Richard Lockridge £7.03 Killing the Goose - Frances and Richard Lockridge £9.96 I`d ordered this one before, but they sent the wrong book ( a psychology book, which they told me to keep and gave me a refund, too - I finally managed to find another copy which didn`t cost £20+ ) Once the last two books arrive, I`ll have the full set of Mr and Mrs North mysteries ( 26 books ). Hurray ! While I don`t count Kindle books as ` real` books, I did download the Immortal Collection recently, when it was down to 99p. I read the excerpt and was intrigued by it. And more books - Living with a Wild God - Barbara Ehrenreich The Ladies Auxiliary - Tova mirvis Pilgrimage Vol.1 - Dorothy Richardson Marjorie Morningstar - Herman Wouk £11.71 altogther. Books read : 107 TBR 793 New Books Bought : 129 Total Cost : £ 365.60

Daniel Silva I don`t know if you`d like these, Steve. The Kill Artist is the first of the Gabriel Allon series ( they`re big on research into Middle Eastern issues ).

I haven`t read those other two ; shall see if they`re hiding on a bookshelf somewhere.

Have you read Dan Brown`s Deception Point ? Ooh, that Mayday books looks fun.

I was looking for some funny mysteries recently and ended up googling ` authors like Donna Andrews ` and `books like Alpine for You` - and got some good results. I don`t know if you`d already tried that with your authors ? For instance, ` authors like Patrick Lee ` gets you some GoodReads and Librarything lists. Oh, and I found if I searched on my Kindle Fire, which uses Bing, I got a different set of results which threw up some goodies.

I went and saw The Ipcress File in the cinema a few years ago when they did a new print of it for some anniversary - even better on a big screen, and I`d seen it a bunch of times already. The Harry Palmer character is good fun. Do get the trilogies at some point - read them in order, that`s a must - since thinking about them yesterday, I`m thinking of a re-read myself. I don`t think the Quiller books really need to be read in order, but the Quiller Memorandum is a good`un and was made into a film with George Segal. Running Blind was made by the Beeb into a TV film in the late 70`s - it made such an impression on me, that I searched for years for the book ( with a vague` this happened in it and I don`t know the title` search criteria ). I`ve read a couple of them - The General`s Daughter and Up Country - both excellent - and I have the first three in his John Corey series ( got them through The Book People, super cheaply ) . Erm, they`re not the sort of thing you`d want your maiden aunt to read, but he tells a cracking story with stand-out characters.

If you`re thinking of Len Deighton, try his trilogies ( 9 books in all, the first in the series is Berlin Match ) - I think they`re the best spy thrillers I`ve read - believable hero and some jaw-dropping twists along the way - there`s one you really won`t see coming..... There`s also Desmond Bagley - Running Blind - a 70`s thriller set in Iceland - a bit dated but a fun read. Oh, and Adam Hall`s Quiller books - great fun.

Those new ones look a bit Dune-ish, rather than Little House on the Nebula.