What I've Been Reading Wednesday

[thisbluespirit]

What I've Finished Reading

Sorcerer to the Crown by Zen Cho, which I continued to enjoy. It's very good, but very light (it doesn't feel as if it ought to be 400 pages in both the good and less good way), but I'd certainly be keen to read more, and I did like it a lot. (Thanks for the poke in the right direction, aralias!)

I then read The Affair of the Mutilated Mink by James Anderson, a loving Golden Age murder pastiche down to the last detail, with some overt winks to the genre. One of the characters reports having had a conversation with Lord Wimsey over their last murder, and when they have to send for Scotland Yard, they hope in vain for Roderick Alleyn or John Appleby. Naturally, because copyright is a thing, they get St Clair Allgood, who is not all his reputation cracked up to be, and, as Inspector Wilkins notes, "He's not in the same class as Mr Appleby or Mr Alleyn." My favourite bit though was when Wilkins complains that, having gone into the police in the country, he never expected to plagued by such a crime wave among the upper classes, leading to inconvenient promotions. I'll have to look out for the other two, as it was good fun. I'm only surprised nobody ran into Bertie Wooster or someone as well, because the Earl is clearly a nod to Blandings, rather than the Golden Age of Crime.

I finished off Desolation Island, which got pretty exciting before the end, too. I also picked up Valley of the Shadow. part of a different Carola Dunn series, these more recent, and set in 1960s/70s Cornwall, which was also easy and enjoyable.

Also [redacted] for Yuletide purposes.


What I'm Reading Now

I am now not-reading the next Aubrey-Maturin (until I am reading it), The Fortune of War and Tracing Your London Ancestors by Jonathan Oates, a useful overview for a person with multiple London ancestors.

Plus, some more [redacted] for Yuletide.


What I'm Reading Next

I picked up another of the Carola Dunn Cornwall mysteries series, Manna From Hades, so most likely that, in between not-reading Aubrey-Maturin. Maybe at some point, I'll read the next Gothic horror installment in the collection as well.

Comments

[persiflage_1]

I just had the joy of re-reading Rosemary Kirstein's 'The Steerswoman' series (4 so far with 2 more that are supposed to follow but have been 'pending' for 2 years so far). The fourth ends on a cliffhanger so I wouldn't necessarily recommend unless you don't mind waiting indefinitely for the rest!

But I have Amazon gift certs to spend for my birthday so I expect my Kindle to be awash with new books all over again shortly!

[thisbluespirit]

But I have Amazon gift certs to spend for my birthday so I expect my Kindle to be awash with new books all over again shortly!

Yay, that is definitely a good b'day present. Enjoy!

If I put The Steerswoman on my list, I expect it'd be finished by the time I read it, which could work out. :-D

[persiflage_1]

Thank you, I will!

Heh, well that depends on how many more years it takes the author to actually finish them - I follow her on Twitter but she hasn't mentioned writing them for ages. I did gently ask her this week how matters stood but so far she hasn't responded to the tweet...

[thisbluespirit]

Tell her it's your birthday! I'm sure she'll hurry it up and get it done by the end of the day. ;-D

[persiflage_1]

LOL Sure...

[pedanther]

She mentioned writing on her blog a week ago. She didn't explicitly say it was the Steerswoman series she was working on, but the topic at hand was "working through twisty structural problems", so I think it probably was.

[persiflage_1]

Fingers crossed!

[ravenskyewalker]

Ahh, I love the Steerswoman series. I hope Kirstein actually gets more written/published.

[persiflage_1]

Me too!!

[liadt]

Fun week! I'm glad you have enjoyed some light reading. I haven't, I've got one mentioning being burnt at the stake on the summary to wade through. That's the last time I read summaries except for UC.

Those Yuletide books sound amazing;p

[thisbluespirit]

LOL, no, it's been three weeks since I last did a Reading post! But not a bad selection of books over that time at all, no. :-)

And if the summary advertises being burnt at the stake, you've no one to blame but yourself if you insist on reading it.

[osprey_archer]

The Affair of the Mutilated Mink sounds delightful. I too would hope for Roderick Alleyn to investigate if I were somehow involved in a murder! Unless of course I were the murderer.

[thisbluespirit]

I too would hope for Roderick Alleyn to investigate if I were somehow involved in a murder! Unless of course I were the murderer.

Indeed! I'm not so convinced that I'd want John Appleby, but at least if he turned up, you could guarantee shenanigans ahead of the sort that Alleyn would despair of.

[dimity_blue]

"The Affair of the Mutilated Mink by James Anderson"

That sounds really good. *adds all 3 to her 'buy these books' list.

[thisbluespirit]

I haven't come across the other two, but I certainly found this one entertaining!

[sovay]

My favourite bit though was when Wilkins complains that, having gone into the police in the country, he never expected to plagued by such a crime wave among the upper classes, leading to inconvenient promotions.

That's charming.

[thisbluespirit]

"When I joined the force, I never saw myself out of the uniformed branch - perhaps a sergeant, at best. And in a peaceful place like Westshire, thought that poachers and the odd petty thief would be the extent of my contact with criminal types. But who could have anticipated the crime wave that's broken out among the English upper classes in recent years?"

:-D

[swordznsorcery]

[redacted] must be a really good book, to warrant reading it twice. Who wrote it?

[justice_turtle]

[Incognito], I should think. ^_^

[thisbluespirit]

[redacted]. ;-p

[aralias]

glad you enjoyed it!

[thisbluespirit]

I did! I mean, I had it on the list already, but timing is everything! :-)