Am in the middle

of a detective story fest, the books bought from a number of places. I'm unused to having such a variety of options for obtaining my reading matter.

Started with Stieg Larsson's Millenium Trilogy a month or so back. Had been reluctant to lay out over $100 to buy the three books, but found them discounted to roughly halfprice at a local department store. Quite liked the first of them, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, but found the later two a bit hard to get through.

From Sweden to the U.K., V.L. McDermid, the initials, rather than the better known Val, used for the series featuring journalist/sleuth Lindsay Gordon. A couple of books found in the remainder bin at the local newsagent. Much more the traditional English detective story than her Tony Hill, Wire in the Blood etc., books which I rank as some of the best crime stories ever written.

Put an order in on Amazon for the latest John Sandford & Laurie R. King books, plus the second-latest Graham Hurley novel.

Picked up a first novel by a, to me, unknown author,Theresa Monsour at the annual Bookfest, a secondhand booksale run to raise funds for the local branch of a charity. In the acknowledgements section Monsour thanks her "mentor" John Camp, who just happens to be better known as the John Sandford who provides a recommendation on the back of the book. Enough reason for me to buy the book. Enjoyed it, went searching for more, found she's only written three, one a year from 2003 to 2005. Nothing since. Managed to track down the other two in the new & used section of Amazon.

(A side note. Only bought two books this year at Bookfest—the other was Italo Calvino's If on a Winter's Night A Traveller—but they benefited by the 1000 or so books I purged from my shelves a couple of months before & donated to them.)

Bought a book by Gregg Hurwitz at the local secondhand bookstore. Had read & enjoyed his two most recent books; discovered, when I purged my shelves, that I also had his The Kill Clause which I'd forgotten about but promptly reread. Same protagonist in that as in the most recent purchase. Found a third in the series at Amazon at the same time I was searching for Monsour. Have also noted Hurwitz' name in the production credits for V which I've been watching lately.

Spent the time post-Larsson/McDermid/Monsour & waiting for the first lot of Amazon books to arrive by rereading Stuart MacBride. Scottish, writes about Aberdeen, good but quite bloody. Had finished the first four, broke off to read the John Sandford which arrived. Then one of the nose-guards (?) on my glasses broke off. So off to the optometrist in the morning which happens to be in the same shopping complex as the main bookshop in these parts. Found on their shelves what would be called a cornucopia of new books hereabouts, exited with the latest Jeffrey Deaver, the latest Michael Koryta, &, in a touch of synchronicity, the latest Stuart MacBride.

Finished the Sandford, read the Deaver, reread the fifth MacBride—continuity is important to me—& then read the new one.

The second Monsour book arrived. Read that. Then moved on to the Graham Hurley. Finished that this afternoon. Started on the second in the Hurwitz series.

Still have Koryta & Laurie R. King to read. Plus the third Hurwitz. & then there's the third & final book by Theresa Monsour which still has to arrive. Plus I think I'll order in the latest Graham Hurley book in hardback since the paperback isn't due out until January of next year.

The amazing thing is I've enjoyed nearly everything I've read. As I said earlier, I was a bit disappointed with the later Larsson, & the McDermid books were workmanlike rather than inspired, but, overall, a good solid bloc of good solid detective stories.

Now to go hunting for the latest James Lee Burke which I'm sure isn't far away.