The sun is brighter and the days are longer and warmer. That long, harsh winter has faded into memory. And I have quite a mix of books to share with you this month. There are similarities and there are differences but every one of these is interesting in it's own right.
Miscellaneous
Finbar's Hotel - Dermot Bolger ($9.99 IR/$16.88*/$.50, copyright 1997, 273 pages, Trade Paperback)
I don't usually pick up short story collections but I did come across a couple over the last few months that
sounded interesting. This collection is actually Bolger's brainchild and he got 6 other Irish authors to go
along with him. The action (for want of a better word) takes place at a down-at-the-heels hotel in Dublin
over the course of one night. We get the middle-aged married man who'd just like to have something interesting happen to him.There's the art thief who prowls the halls, waiting for some buyers. There's a stereo-typical dying woman. A night manager who gets even with a tormentor from his past. There's triumph and tragedy. It's an interesting mix and they don't tell you who wrote which story (I only know Roddy Doyle so I was at a loss). It's a bit uneven, but I enjoyed it. (* The book was priced in Irish Pounds so I used a conversion rate for the copyright date.)
Series
The Bookwoman's Last Fling - John Dunning ($9.99/$3.99, copyright 2006, 507 pages, Paperback)
I found this on Thrift Books while looking for something else. It's another volume in the Cliff Janeway series. Here he's been hired to evaluate the books left by a deceased woman - a woman who's death is now in question. The books, however, are not the main focus here, just the motive. To find out what happened Cliff finds himself in the world of horse racing. Not the up-front stuff but the behind the scenes doings - the mucking of stables, the warm walking, etc.. There are a lot of red herrings, and I felt that the ending
was way too forced but Dunning does well by the host of characters that people this world. I liked it.
The Striker - Clive Cussler ($9.99/$.50, copyright 2013, 402 pages, Paperback)
Cussler is the James Patterson of action/adventure novels. He has several different series' going on (some
with co-authors), the most notable being the Dirk Pitt series. This book is from his Isaac Bell series.
Bell is a detective with the Van Dorn agency. The story is book ended by sections that take place in 1912, but the bulk of the book is set in 1902. Here Bell is tasked with finding out who's sabotaging mines in
West Virginia. He gets involved with the struggle between the miners and the mine owners (and it's easy
to see which side Cussler is on). The case turns out to be more complicated then it first seems, and
there are fights, explosions, and run away trains keeping the book moving along briskly. I enjoyed it.
Separate From The World - P. L. Gaus ($16.94**/4.50, copyright 2008, 201 pages, Trade Paperback)
This is part of a series set in a college town in Ohio and featuring a professor (Branden), a local preacher (Cal), and the sheriff (Bruce)- life long friends who get involved in different situations. What sets this series apart from similar, small town ones is the presence of a large, local Amish community. This book has a murder, then a suicide, and then a kidnapping. How they interconnect and how the Amish deal with things fill it out. At times the writing seems to be disjointed as if Gaus had left off in some places and when, he came back, started at a different place. But Gaus' treatment of the Amish kept me interested enough to keep going. All in all, I liked it. (** I couldn't find a price anywhere on the book so I got a cover price off of a discount book site that I frequent.)
Well, Summer's on it's way. Some indications are pointing to a real hot one this year. My advise? Crank up the air conditioning, grab a cold drink, and ........
Keep Reading.
