Monday, September 12, 2011

Hello Out There!

Cops and robbers. Murderers and victims. PIs and clients. Lawyers and defendants. Judges and juries. Mystery characters are opponents, opposites and approximates.  

And that brings us to us. We're the bloggers and you're the blogged. (Blogged? Ouch, sorry.) We'd like to blur the distinction between us. We're not the only ones with the skinny about good crime fiction. Nothing gives us more pleasure than suggesting books (except reading, of course), but our noses are always to the ground, sniffing out new info. So come on, be our confidential informants. Who are your favorite authors? Books? Characters? Mystery subgenre? Disagree with someone's opinion about a book? How do you store your books? Where do you read? How much do you read before giving up? How much in a week? Do you peek at the ending? 

I want to let you in on a secret. You don't see everything involving our blog. Our blog program doesn't diplay your URL but you appear to us as pageviews by country. Because we don't know which country will appear next, this naturally leads us to make predictions. And predictions lead us to making bets on the visitors to Read Me Deadly. 

I bet you didn't know we were betting on you (and all without cheating!): Next European. Least expected country. First Central American. Georgette lost points because her Italy sauntered in after my France. (Merci de mon ami!) My New Zealander loitered (And I was begging you to hurry!), but The Philippines sprinted and made up for it. China's arrival scored big points for Periphera. We all cheered for Nepal, Barbados, Colombia, South Korea, Romania and Belgium. Ireland, Russia, Australia, Germany, Croatia, The Netherlands and Switzerland. Sister Mary is still waiting for Monaco (Someone hand that poor woman a book to read while she waits), and Maltese Falcon for Singapore. I'm told my long-shot country will not appear. (And I'll never tell what it is.)

We wonder if Brazil, Thailand and Greece are our writer friends. (If so, we're lucky to have you; if not, we're happy to meet you.) We love seeing our Mexican and Canadian neighbors and, of course, our fellow Americans.

If we haven't acknowledged you, we're sorry. (Some of the countries have disappeared from our screens.) No matter where you're from we're delighted you're here with us on Read Me Deadly.

Now, here in comments or on the 3rd Degree page, we'd love to hear about the great books you've been reading. Or what you're looking forward to or saving for a special occasion. Are you having trouble deciding what to read next? Tomorrow Georgette will advise you to turn book selection over to fate.

P.S.  Hong Kong! Yeeeeessss! Thank you, I score points!  Georgette

9 comments:

  1. All righty. recent good ones. Hallinan's Queen of Patpong. Strong sense of place, nice plot. E. Leonard's Cat Chaser. Not a razzle dazzle plot but dialogue & characters worth it. He writes like his characters talk. I like his La Brava and Out of Sight best. Anybody read Deon Meyer? 13 Hours is pretty darn good. Steve H.

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  2. I always have trouble picking what to read next! On the mystery front, I'm thinking I'll be starting Jussi Adler-Olsen's The Keeper of Lost Causes very soon. I've heard good things about it and it sounds interesting, so I'm hoping it'll be a good choice.

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  3. Cool Repentance by Antonia Fraser, a civilized book with a clever plot. Sara Paretsky's Hardshot is brilliant. I love her protag.
    Tried but couldn't get into Lovesey's Cribb and Thackery. Nothing wrong with them just not for me.
    Now reading Mistress of the Art of Death by Ariana Franklin. I'm enjoying it so far.
    Steve H, how about Leonard's Glitz? Great villain and likable cop with a love interest.
    Becky, me too. Fate? Pull a book off the shelf while blindfolded?
    Eileen

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  4. Sorry I'm not Monaco, round up James Bond. Lee Child's Bad Luck and Trouble, not as good as his earlier Reachers. I looked up Thirteen Hours. Thanks for the tip, looks good. Tom G

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  5. I'm going to try a Louise Penny.

    My last--Silhouette in Scarlet by Elizabeth Peters. I prefer her Amelia Peabody books but this Vicky Bliss was ok.

    My non-mystery reading is A.S. Byatt's Possession. I like it a lot.

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  6. Eileen, I can certainly recommend Ariana Franklin. A woman physician in medieval times was a pretty rare creature, and if you think she will be allowed to return home after the first book, think again!

    Tom G., I'm very sorry you aren't in Monaco, too. If you go, would you take me?

    I just finished G.M. Malliet's Wicked Autumn, a spoof on golden age mysteries. The protagonist is an ex-MI5 agent turned vicar. Good story with a nasty and unusual method of death.

    Um, Della, China showed up first, so you owe me a virtual lunch.

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  7. Now wait a minute, Periphera. Your China showed up before my prediction but my other countries aren't doing too badly. So far I guess I owe the tip on the lunch.

    Steve H, I also liked Hallinan's Queen of Patpong. I haven't read Cat Chaser but I agree with both you and Eileen on Leonard's other books (Glitz, La Brava and Out of Sight). Leonard's books have changed in the last 10 years and they're not as hard edged. I haven't tried Djibouti. Anybody?

    Becky, I've been eying Jussi Adler-Olsen's The Keeper of Lost Causes too. I need to get to it. It's getting a lot of attention.

    Eileen, I like Sara Paretsky. I haven't read her latest, Body Work. Have you?

    I loved Byatt's Possession, Anonymous, and I'm happy you mentioned it.

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  8. Periphera, Ariana Franklin is always a favorite of mine and that GM Maillet sounds like wicked fun!

    Della, I'll have to let you know how it is. I lied, though, and started reading Sorry by Zoran Drvenkar. It was a toss up, but I figured if Sorry drew me in, it was a shorter read and I could probably get to them both this week.

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  9. Becky, what you describe happens to me all the time. Sometimes I put down the book I'm reading in bed, and the next day I select something else. It's so riveting that I take it to bed and read it until I'm finished.

    There are occasions I can't find a book I'm reading so I'm forced to read something else. Other times my mood indicates a book I'm reading won't be read because I need more, or less, excitement. Maybe I'm hungry and an author who writes tantalizingly about food is more than I can take. This includes Nicholas Freeling, whose books are set in Amsterdam and spend so much attention to mealtimes; Leonardo Padura, whose Mario Conde often has to skip meals and then obsesses about finding the perfect cup of coffee or receives complaining calls from his partner's mother, who cajoles him into coming over for dinner by talk that send me rampaging into the kitchen; and Virginia Rich, whose traditional mysteries feature Mrs. Eugenia Potter, a woman born in the kitchen with a spoon in one hand and a pot in the other. Georges Simenon's Mrs. Maigret was not born in the kitchen, and her husband's chronic hunger makes my stomach growl in empathy.

    I bet we're not the only two people who walk across the room to pick up one book and another book hops into our hands instead.

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