JA Shrader

Greetings!

A quick review of my new resurgence in posting revealed that I never gave you the details of the Winter TBR (To Be Read) list!

Here you go!  Grab one of these at the library, bookstore, or Kindle and read with me!

Ian Rankin – Even Dogs in the Wild

Rebus comes out of retirement…to save his nemesis.

Detective Inspector Siobhan Clarke is feeling the heat. She’s investigating the death of a senior government prosecutor, David Minton, who has friends in high places. When one of their own is killed, the powers that be want answers fast. But Clarke is puzzled: if Minton died in a robbery as everyone thinks, why is nothing missing from his home? The answer may lie not in what was taken, but in what was left behind at the scene–an ominous note. 

Malcolm Fox is feeling useless. Shunned by his colleagues because of his past in the Complaints bureau, he’s been reassigned to a grunt detail, helping a surveillance team–one that trusts him even less than his own boss does–track a notorious Glasgow crime family. Helping Clarke with the Minton case is the only thing that makes Fox feel like a real cop. 

Newly minted civilian John Rebus is feeling restless. Being a cop is in his blood and he’s failing miserably at retirement. So when Clarke and Fox ask for his help, Rebus doesn’t need long to consider his options. But before he can get his bearings, a call comes from Rebus’s old nemesis–“Big Ger” Cafferty. Someone just fired a bullet through his front window–and sent him a note identical to Minton’s. The normally unflappable old gangster is on edge, but for the life of him Cafferty can’t figure out who he’s wronged. And the only man he trusts with his life is Rebus. 

As the cases collide, it’s up to Clarke, Fox, and Rebus to connect the dots and save their unlikely ally Cafferty, whose past harbors a shocking secret that implicates Minton’s friends in an unspeakable crime. Even Dogs in the Wild reunites crime fiction legend Ian Rankin’s greatest characters in an explosive story exploring the darkest corners of our desires.

Karla Hull – The Grievance Collectors: A Sip of Death

A glimpse into the dark underbelly of University life. 

         “An intriguing, suspenseful book with unexpected plot twists“

Murders, an active shooter, and sexual predators create a tangled web of danger on campus.  Dr. Bridget O’Leary becomes the Provost while still tormented by the recent murder of her husband, and soon learns that she can’t simply think her way out of the problems encountered at the university. She will need to add a gun to her administrative toolbox as she works with a university police officer, a city police detective, and a troubled student to solve the mystery of three unexplained deaths on campus.

        The Grievance Collectors: A Sip of Death is the first book in the series and it may remind you of events and characters from your own university experience. Every university has its dark secrets

Michael Orenduff – The Pot Thief Who Studied Pythagoras

Hubie Schuze must solve the case of a $25,000 pot theft—or he could be in deep trouble

A dealer of ancient Native American pottery, Hubert Schuze has spent years combing the public lands of New Mexico, digging for artwork that would otherwise remain buried. According to the US government, Hubie is a thief—but no act of Congress could stop him from doing what he loves. For decades, Hubie has worn the title of pot thief proudly. Outright burglary, though, is another story.
But an offer of $25,000 to lift a rare pot from a local museum proves too tempting for Hubie to refuse. When he sees how tightly the relic is guarded, he changes his mind, but the pot goes missing anyway. Soon a federal agent suspects that Hubie is the culprit. After things take a turn for the serious, Hubie knows he must find the real thief quickly, or risk cracking something more fragile than any pot—his skull.
The Pot Thief Who Studied Pythagoras is the 1st book in the Pot Thief Mysteries, but you may enjoy reading the series in any order.

Elizabeth George – A Banquet of Consequences

The unspoken secrets and buried lies of one family rise to the surface in Elizabeth George’s newest novel of crime, passion, and tragic history.

As Inspector Thomas Lynley investigates the London angle of an ever more darkly disturbing case, his partner, Barbara Havers, is looking behind the peaceful façade of country life to discover a twisted world of desire and deceit.

The suicide of William Goldacre is devastating to those left behind who will have to deal with its unintended consequences—could there be a link between the young man’s leap from a Dorset cliff and a horrific poisoning in Cambridge?

After various issues with her department, Barbara Havers is desperate to redeem herself. So when a past encounter gives her a connection to the unsolved Cambridge murder, Barbara begs Thomas Lynley to let her pursue the crime, knowing one mistake could mean the end of her career.

Full of shocks, intensity, and suspense from the first page to the last, A Banquet of Consequences reveals both Lynley and Havers under mounting pressure to solve a case both complicated and deeply disturbing.

Tim Ellis – The Kisses of an Enemy

 Due to a shortage of murders, Parish and Richards are asked to help out in the search for a missing eight year-old girl, but as usual things are never what they seem. 

Xena and Stick are seconded to the Kent & Essex Serious Crime Directorate and are put on stake-out outside an industrial unit waiting for a drug delivery. However, Xena gets bored on stake-outs and things quickly become something a lot more sinister when she decides that they should go and investigate.

Bronwyn books into the Beautiful You Cosmetic Surgery Clinic in London, but when she hacks into the system she is drugged and locked in the basement. Jerry, Shakin and Joe decide to find out what’s happened to her, but things quickly go from bad to worse – a lot worse.

JA Jance – Dance of the Bones

J.P. Beaumont and Brandon Walker, two ofNew York Timesbestselling author J. A. Jance’s most acclaimed series characters, join forces for the first time in one of the most suspenseful works of her career.

Years ago, Amos Warren, a prospector, was gunned down out in the desert and Sheriff Brandon Walker made the arrest in the case. Now, the retired Walker is called in when the alleged killer, John Lassiter, refuses to accept a plea deal that would release him from prison with time served. Lassiter wants Brandon and The Last Chance to find Amos’s “real” killer and clear his name.

Sixteen hundred miles to the north in Seattle, J.P. Beaumont is at loose ends after the Special Homicide Investigation Team, affectionately known as S.H.I.T., has been unexpectedly and completely disbanded. When Brandon discovers that there are links between Lassiter’s case and an unsolved case in Seattle, he comes to Beau for help.

Those two cases suddenly become hot when two young boys from the reservation, one of them with close ties to the Walker family, go missing. Can two seasoned cops, working together, decipher the missing pieces in time to keep them alive?

Greetings!

Well, there’s only sixteen days left to complete the Winter TBR list and, guess what? We’re not going to make it! So, just like last month we made an adjustment on Leap Day (February 29), I’ll adjust the Spring TBR to make sure it can be accomplished  by June 21.

Before delving into the Winter TBR progress, a brief note about upcoming travels.

Aija is pulling nanny duty in Boston right now, then she’ll make a short overnight to Baltimore to reunite Daniela and Eva with Alek, before finally returning to the warm climes of South Georgia. Next week, we’re both off to Cincinnati where I will be overseeing a recording session of two of my Christmas choral works, In the Bleak Midwinter and Balulalow, for inclusion on a Christmas CD to be released next year. After three days, we’ll return to Valdosta where I will be on Spring Break! I’ll be doing my annual jaunt down to Clearwater to catch three Phillie spring training games and check out the beach and cuisine of the Gulf coast. My next trip will be to Orlando for the Southern Regional Honors College Conference which I always find exhilarating! In April it’s more nanny chores for Aija and opera trips to Forth Worth (Daniela in JFK) and Pittsburgh (Alek in Rake’s Progress). In May you might find us in Chicago (Daniela in Three Cornered Hat), then in June it’s back to Cincinnati (Alek in Die Fledermaus). Finally, as the summer begins, the fam will once again gather here in our Georgia version of an Italian Villa for another brief vacay. Eva should be walking by then and it will be my goal to keep up with her!

Needless to say, it’s a great life thanks to our brilliant and talented children!

Now, let’s see how the Winter TBR is doing …

I started with Dance of the Bones by JA Jance. Jance has several protagonists all working simultaneously and every so often she has them meet up for a shared adventure. In this tome, my old friend J.P. Beaumont, retired from the Seattle PD works with Brandon Walker, retired Arizona Sheriff. I hadn’t read any of Jance’s books featuring Brandon Walker so this was a new direction for me. Beaumont, on the other hand, is a familiar character and I eagerly anticipated this new story. This tale is basically a cold case assigned to these two retirees who finally do get the right bad guys and release the wronged good guys. It takes place mostly in Arizona. Each chapter has a Native American prologue that I found difficult to assimilate into the ongoing plot. I would also have liked more Beaumont and less Walker, but that’s probably because Beaumont was more familiar. All in all, Dance of the Bones holds your attention, but the tempo of the action is not too quick. A chapter every night before nodding off to sleep is just about right! (No Amazon review from me yet.)

Next I read The Pot Thief Who Studies Pythagoras by Valdostan Michael Orenduff. Full disclosure: I am a friend and colleague with Orenduff’s wife as we both work and teach at Valdosta State University. Michael has a series ongoing featuring the pot thief Hubie Schuze, and this is the first in the series. This book is terrific. Orenduff shows to be a master of the first person narrative. I think he even has me convinced to give it a try with some of my efforts. Schuze is a marvelous character – a protagonist/theif with a good heart and a self-deprecating attitude that is endearing and yet interesting to the reader. The plot moves right along with short chapters/scenes and the plot twists are easy to follow. The method Hubie uses to abscond with a pot on display in the museum in Albuquerque is quite ingenious! I thoroughly enjoyed this book and welcome these characters into my family of personalities of whom I keep track through the years. Well done, Michael – let’s have coffee one of these days!

I am now in the middle of The Grievance Collectors: A Sip of Death by another Valdosta State friend and colleague, Karla Hull. Dr. Hull was interim Provost at VSU when I was granted tenure, for which I will be eternally grateful! This is her first book and, wouldn’t you know, it’s about murders at a mid-sized southern university (hmmmmm). When the book was first published, everyone at the university was reading to see if they recognized any of the characters in the story! So far I’m intrigued by the plot, although it moves a bit slowly at the beginning (despite opening with the first murder on page one!). It seems like the corrupt professors are getting their comeuppances, and our heroine Provost seems to be successfully navigating the turbid waters of academia. I’m only about half way through it, I look forward to what is ahead. If there is a recognizable chubby old bald professor in the works, I’ll let you know. Great first book: I also want to do coffee with you, Karla!

Still on the Winter TBR list is Even Dogs in the Wild by Scotsman Ian Rankin (featuring retired detective John Rebus – there seems to be a theme in my reading!). Then we’ve got a continuation of the Thomas Lynley/Barbara Havers series with A Banquet of Consequences by Elizabeth George. Finally, one of favorite authors in one of his best series, Tim Ellis provides The Kisses of an Enemy featuring the continuing saga of Inspector Jed Parrish and his stepdaughter, detective constable Mary Richards.

I obviouslt can’t squeeze them all in by March 21, so, as I said above, we’ll make an adjustment in the spring list. I’d love you to read some of these with me and drop a comment or two in the reply space below. The azaleas are coming out here in the Azalea City and I wish you all the best for a glorious spring.

Check out the Music page tomorrow for music news!  -Jim

Greetings!

As I hitch my rather large frame to the blog wagon, I marvel at the fact that the last time I did this was January fifth! At first this was to be a weekly epistle, then monthly, and now I guess it is unintentionally quarterly. I’m afraid sloth rules!

It’s not like we’ve been dormant. After a Christmas season that saw the house overflowing with family, we did another of our famous “drive-by” overnight opera visits, flying into Phoenix to see Daniela as Carmen with Arizona Opera. She was spectacular as usual!

A few days later, as February dawned, we welcomed Alek, Daniela, and the amazing Eva to the house for a wonderful two weeks vacay. My granddaughter is obviously the most exciting and gorgeous creature on the face of the earth!

As the Valdosta time faded, the singers dispersed to Boston (Daniela for L’heure Espagnol with Dutoit and the Boston Symphony Orchestra) and Baltimore (Alek for Almaviva in Barbiere with Baltimore Opera). Meanwhile, Daniela is getting ready to be Jackie Kennedy Onassis in the world premiere of JFK with Fort Worth Opera and Alek is off to Pittsburgh Opera for Tom Rakewell in Stravinsky’s The Rake’s Progress. Of course, we’ll be attending both!

So – there’s so much news due to my tardiness in blogging that I’m going to separate the news items. I’ll use this home page to relate reading and writing items while I use the music page to highlight new ventures in that area (and there are some!). In a later post, I’ll be announcing a major career event, but probably not until April!

But I think I’ll start the reading and writing stuff with a fresh post, so stay tuned and keep checking this out. As always, I’ll see you ONLINE!  -Jim

Happy December!

Autumn has been incredibly busy with school and travel. Here are some of the highlights:

Travel/Opera

It was off to Philadelphia to be present for Alek’s first foray into a bit heavier fach as Alfredo in Verdi’s La Traviata. It was an excellent production and I thought Alek did a great job. Having sung this role myself, I know about its difficulties vocally, dramatically, and emotionally. It was my first time in the Academy of Music theater, noted as the oldest opera house in the country. I thought the acoustics were fine, the ambience vintage, and the seats (at least mine) very uncomfortable!

The performances happened to coincide with my fall break at VSU, so I had the opportunity to rent a car and drive northwest from Philly and visit my home town of Berwick on the banks of the lovely Susquehanna. After having lunch and walking through the unpretentious downtown district, I visited the graves of my parents. I spent the rest of the time driving around town and snapping some photos of my former residences, all still standing, but some with major renovations. The last time I was in Berwick was twenty-two years ago for my Father’s funeral. I recalled after that visit how much smaller everything seemed since the days of my youth. I had that same feeling again, although the borough has definitely reached the 21st century. It was very nice to visit my old haunts. I’m not sure if I will get back there again.

While in Philadelphia I got to spend quality time with the new love of my life, our first granddaughter, Evangelina (Eva). In mid-October, Eva was just four months old and already a seasoned traveler having undertaken flights to Houston, Leipzig, Germany, Boston, Philadelphia, and then San Francisco! Of course, she is the most gorgeous child on the face of the planet and I couldn’t help trying to figure out a way to put her in my suitcase to bring home with me! Alas, it was not to be!

After some days at home, the next opera trek found us flying off to San Francisco for lots of family festivities! We saw Daniela as Rosina in Rossini’s Barbiere, which is a signature role for her. As expected, she was magnificient and garnered excellent reviews. It was a redo of the same production that she starred in with Alek in a previous season. We had seen photos, but being in the theater was magic!

In San Francisco, we stayed at The Inn at the Opera which was literally right across the street from the War Memorial Opera House. While there, we ran into old friend Maestro Stephen Lord, Music Director for Opera Theater of St. Louis and former colleague of ours back in the 79s at Oberlin. He was in town to conduct a concert and it was great to visit for a fleeting second in the hallway!

The apartment for Alek, Daniela, and Eva was also just a short walk with only one hill (!) and situated above the famous Philz coffee shop (My favorite: Turkish coffee with a mint sprig). Needless to say – lots of walking, but lovely weather. We had pre-ordered a delivery of all the ingredients for Thanksgiving dinner and spent the day cooking and revelling. Of course, the center of attention was Eva who had grown by leaps and bounds since Philadelphia.

The next day, Alek made another career debut, this time in Wagner’s Die Meistersinger, singing the lyric tenor role of the apprentice, David. I don’t think of Alek as a Wagnerite, but the role is very good for him. Vocally it is fine and the youthful and comic demands play to his strengths. He is the king of “Tweets” on the Twitter thing. He is developing quite a following as he tweets during his off time in rehearsals and performances. Since the performance we saw was on “Black Friday,” his tweet was particularly appropriate: San Francisco Opera Black Friday Sale – Six Hours of Opera for the Price of Three! (Priceless)  And true! The curtain was at 6 pm and we left the theater just before midnight! Oh Richard … !

We spent our last day in SF hanging out entirely with Eva, giving Mom and Dad a date night – we were thrilled! They will all be coming to our home for eleven days at Christmas and we are ready and excited!

I’ll stop here because this seems to be turning into my next novel! I have more to relate, but I’ll wait a bit to post – hopefully not another month. Relative to the title of this edition, tomorrow is the last day of classes with voice juries and a final exam on Tuesday, then it’s Vacay time. The lights are up as is the tree! There’s more to do, but there’s a lot of joy on the way! I’ll probably speak to you before then, so enjoy the holiday season. Meanwhile, I’ll see you online!  -JAS

Greetings!

I’m still here! Incredibly busy through the middle of the semester. I will divide the news into a series of short(er) blogs. We’ll start with the Fall “To Be Read” (TBR) update. There are ten books to be read before December 21. I’m currently on number 4 – Jane Haddam’s Bleeding Hearts. If anyone is reading along, let me know. There’s lots to share about travel, opera, university, grandchild, choral music, etc. All that is for later – stay tuned! Meanwhile, here are my reviews for the first three books on the list. All can be found on Amazon.com. I would tell you to stay warm as winter approaches, but it was 83 today here in South Georgia! Cheers!  -JAS

Lee Child – Make Me

A Bit Formulaic But Who Cares – It’s Reacher!

It’s always a difficult wait for we Reacher-ites for the next saga to become available. We are never disappointed and “Make Me” certainly does not disappoint! The action leaps off the very first page with no preliminary verbiage. By the way, that’s the way we like it! Child sustains interest by incorporating several mysteries to contemplate, not the least of which is the name of the locale known as “Mother’s Rest.”

While this is a very satisfying read, particularly if you are up to date in the Reacher canon, there are some formulaic elements that sometimes give pause. Reacher randomly encounters a situation that ignites his code of ethics and requires his involvement. He hooks up with a strong female partner and experiences the requisite bedroom scene that has become another hallmark of the series. He is fascinated with technology, although sometimes not very good at it. He is tough – very tough, and he knows how to prevail in seemingly outnumbered situations.

In a noted departure from other tales in the series, Reacher does his familiar walk (or drive) into the sunset at the end, but this time not alone! Hmmm ,,,

All in all, this is a cracking good tome that will satisfy the desire for continued Reacheralia. You simply must read it! The final mystery of this latest Child opus is: When will we get the next installment?

Tim Ellis – Souls of the Dead

This Quirky Series Continues With Another Winner

I came to the Tom Gabriel series while waiting for the next Parrish & Richards book. Now I am hooked into two Tim Ellis series! While I’m not usually enamored by sc-fi elements in my reading selections, I am not bothered in the least by Tom Gabriel’s ability to see and communicate with dead people! It just seems to be part of the fascination of this remarkable character.

In “Souls of the Dead,” Ellis revisits characters and locale from the previous book to achieve some closure to that unfinished tale. He also weaves a new mystery into the mix as side-kick Butterfly takes on a new case on her own. Ellis skillfully moves his camera back and forth on these parallel developments as Gabriel tries to manage events from afar.

One of the main attractions of this series is the locale descriptions provided by Ellis as he takes us from St. Augustine, Florida to New York City, to the swamps of Georgia. As with the Parrish & Richards series, the dialog is energized through wonderful sarcasm and interesting interplay among all the carefully delineated characters.

As always, I suggest you start the series at the beginning, but you won’t be disappointed even if you start with No. 3. Kudos to Tim Ellis for providing us with such a rich tapestry of plots, twists, and quirky characters.

Sue Grafton – X

A Delightful Cozy As The End Of The Alphabet Looms!

It seems like it’s been a long time between Milhone episodes. However, Kinsey is still the same loveable, girly PI stumbling onto a case where perhaps none existed! Once she takes the gig, the twists and turns come flying in. The cast of regular characters remains the same. The paradigm that Grafton has created is familiar and helps to turn this series into somewhat of a succession of “cozies,” Still, Grafton, writing in the first person through Kinsey’s eyes, manages to maintain our interest through the labrynth of situations.

What’s really fun is the series of “gotcha” moments where the reader might say “I didn’t see that coming!” All this makes sense because when writing in the first person, we only know what Kinsey knows. Without a variety of points of view or the benefit of an omniscient narrator, we experience the events in real time along with Kinsey. As difficult as first person writing is, Grafton accomplishes it masterfully! Finally, while I usually advocate reading a series in order from the beginning, the stories of the Milhone alphabet series really can stand on their own. Meanwhile, let’s all place bets on the titles for “Y” and “Z!” Hey – how about Zamboni!

Welcome to the launch of the 2015 Fall To Be Read list!

Hello everyone!

As you saw in my previous post, the summer list finished with Blood on the Sand, the second book in a trilogy of medieval historical fiction by the brilliant Michael Jecks. Here’s my Amazon review:

For Jecks’ fans, “Fields of Glory” tested our mettle to see if there was Jecksian life after Simon and Baldwin. We carefully put our toes in the Vintaine water and decided that everything was fine. But now, with “Blood on the Sand,” we are totally convinced! The Jecks magic has emerged in all its splendor! This book is literally the definition of a “page turner” that is impossible to put down! When you decide to open this book, set aside a quiet weekend because you will be binge reading! Fripper and his men wend their way through the siege of Calais with English pluck and aplomb! Bodies are strewn everywhere! In somewhat of a departure for this brilliant author, a bucolic ending serves to make us wonder what will fill the last tome in the trilogy. Undoubtably this is a must read!

But now, it’s on to the 2015 Fall TBR list. We’ve got until about the 21st of December and I’ve chosen eleven mystery/thrillers to curl up with in front of the wonderful fall fireplace festivals. One caveat – I read books in order of publication, so with an ongoing series, these selections represent where I am in the chronology. Most of these can work as a stand-alone (that’s what the authors and publishers want you to believe!). However, I find the character relationships and development to be so much more interesting and vivid if you follow them right from the beginning. One more thing: I do 99.9% of my reading for fun on my Kindle app on my iPhone 6. I have my entire library attached to my belt or in my pocket at all times and I can often steal an hour here and there to jump into some sleuth’s paradigm!

Having said that, here is the 2015 Fall TBR List (fanfare)! I hope you will join me and read along. You might even reply to a post, or make a suggestion from your own personal reading list. Anyway, here we go …

(This is a long list – go get a cup of coffee …)

Lee Child – Make Me (Jack Reacher)

“Why is this town called Mother’s Rest?” That’s all Reacher wants to know. But no one will tell him. It’s a tiny place hidden in a thousand square miles of wheat fields, with a railroad stop, and sullen and watchful people, and a worried woman named Michelle Chang, who mistakes him for someone else: her missing partner in a private investigation she thinks must have started small and then turned lethal.  

Reacher has no particular place to go, and all the time in the world to get there, and there’s something about Chang . . . so he teams up with her and starts to ask around. He thinks: How bad can this thing be? But before long he’s plunged into a desperate race through LA, Chicago, Phoenix, and San Francisco, and through the hidden parts of the internet, up against thugs and assassins every step of the way—right back to where he started, in Mother’s Rest, where he must confront the worst nightmare he could imagine.

Walking away would have been easier. But as always, Reacher’s rule is: If you want me to stop, you’re going to have to make me.

I’ve been waiting for this for a long time. My son, the tenor, got me hooked on Reacher (not the Tom Cruise version, however) and now I am committed. The problem with catching up to an author is you have to wait so long for the new opus! Well, it’s here and I can’t wait! This is a perfect start to the list!

Tim Ellis – Souls of the Dead (Tom Gabriel)

Tom Gabriel is asked by Giuseppe to go back to Staten Island and find out who killed his friend – the bag lady – Horty. No sooner does he begin investigating her murder, than a sniper tries to kill him. He is soon trying to keep one step ahead of the shooter as he follows the clues Horty left for someone to find.

Rae goes to a dying woman’s house to listen to a strange story about abducted women over fifty years, and the clues to those abductions being left in the woman’s head by a man every five years. As soon as she begins following the clues, she realises the story is true.

Tim Ellis is very prolific, writing several books in multiple series’ each year. I read his Parrish & Richards series and the Tom Gabriel series. This is the latest Tom Gabriel, a retired cop turned private eye. It’s a mystery/thriller with a twist and a bit quirky – you see, Tom Gabriel talks to dead people! Enough said – read it!

Sue Grafton – X (Kinsey Milhone)

Sue Grafton’s X: Perhaps her darkest and most chilling novel, it features a remorseless serial killer who leaves no trace of his crimes. Once again breaking the rules and establishing new paths, Grafton wastes little time identifying this sociopath. The test is whether Kinsey can prove her case against him before she becomes his next victim.

This is the  alphabet soup of mystery series’! How many authors wish they had thought of this concept? Just two more to go (y and z) – then what? Grafton makes Kinsey unique and she was the first female sleuth that I committed to read.

Jane Haddam – Bleeding Hearts (Gregor Demarkian)

Former FBI agent Gregor Demarkian races against time to prevent a Valentine’s Day murder that would keep the perpetrator of a long-unsolved crime secret forever.

I love this vintage series! I guess because Gregor Demarkian is retired (read: old), a little overweight, and lives in Philadelphia. At this point in the series, Haddam is still doing her holiday mysteries which was a cute concept, but eventually she abandons it. This one focuses on Valentine’s Day. Perhaps I should have left it for the winter TBR list, but I’m curious to see how the storyline unfolds. Of interest is that Demarkian supposedly started the FBI’s behavioral unit that is featured on TV’s Criminal Minds! Mandy Patinkin would be a great Demarkian.

Cynthia Harrod-Eagles – Game Over (Bill Slider)

When ex-BBC correspondent Ed Stonax is found dead, the last thing Detective Inspector Slider needs to complicate his life is the reappearance of an old enemy issuing death threats. Trevor Bates, aka The Needle, is on the loose and trying to kill him, and with a high-profile murder to solve, Slider must try to find a spare moment to marry Joanna before their baby is born and stay alive long enough to do it. The eleventh Bill Slider Mystery finds the everyman hero grappling with corruption in high places as two old cases come back to haunt him.

Again, one of my favorite series’! In the first book in this series,  an opera  conductor is the victim! Profound, right? I was immediately hooked! Also, Slider’s girl friend is a professional violinist and her world sometimes figures in the mystery. CH-E’s plot twists are usually very clever if a bit on the intellectual side. Give it a try!

Anne Hillerman – Rock with Wings (Leaphorn & Chee)

Doing a good deed for a relative offers the perfect opportunity for Sergeant Jim Chee and his wife, Officer Bernie Manuelito, to get away from the daily grind of police work. But two cases will call them back from their short vacation and separate them—one near Shiprock, and the other at iconic Monument Valley.

Chee follows a series of seemingly random and cryptic clues that lead to a missing woman, a coldblooded thug, and a mysterious mound of dirt and rocks that could be a gravesite. Bernie has her hands full managing the fallout from a drug bust gone wrong, uncovering the origins of a fire in the middle of nowhere, and looking into an ambitious solar energy development with long-ranging consequences for Navajo land.

Under the guidance of their mentor, retired Lieutenant Joe Leaphorn, Bernie and Chee will navigate unexpected obstacles and confront the greatest challenge yet to their skills, commitment, and courage.

Anne Hillerman has done a wonderful job of breathing life anew into her father’s characters as they battle the bad guys on the res! Bernie gets a little more airtime,  but it’s all good. If, like me,  you’ve spent any time in Santa Fe, you’ll love the descriptions of the landscape! Also, great insight into native American customs and culture!

Donna Leon – The Golden Egg (Commissario Guido Brunetti)

In The Golden Egg, as the first leaves of autumn begin to fall, Vice Questore Patta asks Brunetti to look into a minor shop-keeping violation committed by the mayor’s future daughter-in-law. Brunetti has no interest in helping his boss amass political favors, but he has little choice but to comply.

Then Brunetti’s wife, Paola, comes to him with a request of her own. The mentally handicapped man who worked at their dry cleaner has just died of a sleeping pill overdose, and Paola loathes the idea that he lived and died without anyone noticing him, or helping him. Brunetti begins to investigate the death and is surprised when he finds nothing on the man: no birth certificate, no passport, no driver’s license, no credit cards. As far as the Italian government is concerned, he never existed. Stranger still, the dead man’s mother refuses to speak to the police, and assures Brunetti that her son’s identification papers were stolen in a burglary.

As secrets unravel, Brunetti suspects that the Lembos, an aristocratic family, might be somehow connected to the death. But why would anyone want this sweet, simple-minded man dead?

Unfortunately, I won’t be going to Venice next summer as planned! The Georgia Ambassadors tour had to be cancelled (boo!). However, I’ve been there enough times that Leon’s writing really comes alive for me. Brunetti is a complex, albeit very interesting, character and detective. Again, Leon’s plots are usually on the intellectual side, but very fulfilling as the story unravels! Hop into my gondola and let’s go! O sole mio, anyone?

Archer Mayor – St. Alban’s Fire (Joe Gunther)

The latest installment in Mayor’s classic Joe Gunther series finds the intrepid detective and his team in scorching pursuit of a serial arsonist.

This series is a great palette cleanser after the intricate plots of some of the above – not that Mayor’s stories aren’t complex – but this is good old New England charm at it’s best. The series has a vintage gumshoe feel to it, but it’s contemporary enough to pull the reader in. Mayor’s varied background allows him to explore some rather unique issues instead of the usual, “here’s a body/catch the killer” standard. For instance, in this one, it looks like we’re going after an arsonist! I’m there!

Les Roberts – The Ashtabula Hat Trick (Milan Jacovich)

The people of Queenstown, Ohio, don’t take kindly to strangers. But they have no choice in the matter after a man’s body is found in a local park, pants unzipped and stabbed through the heart―and a second man’s body turns up days later, his head bashed in. Local law enforcement needs help with the town’s first-ever murder investigation.

Private investigator Milan Jacovich (pronounced MY-lan YOCK-ovitch) tags along when his main squeeze, Cleveland homicide detective Tobe Blaine, is dispatched to rural Ashtabula County to handle the case.

Word travels fast in the small town, and the mixed-race couple receives a cold welcome. The motel manager doesn’t like their looks, the coroner conveniently forgets key details, and patrons at the local watering hole flaunt their disrespect for Tobe’s out-of-town badge and her skin color.

Milan enlists his young assistant, Kevin “K.O.” O’Bannion, to glean information from the town’s teens, who tell tales of their parents’ fervent devotion to their local pastor, an outspoken bigot. Did homophobia factor in the murders?

Looming over the case is nearby Conneaut prison―privately run, overcrowded, and rumored to employ some questionable methods (as well as many local residents). Inside its walls, a powerful convict known as “The Prophet” just might have the information Tobe and Milan need to solve the case―if they can get him to talk.

Queenstown might only be an hour’s drive from Cleveland, but Milan, Tobe, and K.O. find themselves strangers in a strange land. They also soon find themselves neck-deep in serious trouble.

Sorry for the long description! Les Roberts and Milan Jacovich are both near and dear to my heart. We lived for seventeen years in Cleveland and reading Roberts allows us to go back for occasional visits. Plus, it’s hard not to like PI Milan Jacovich. I thought the series had come to an end (Like me, Les is a senior citizen!), so imagine my thrill when I saw a new book! Roberts has a comfortable prose style like putting on an old pair of shoes. His characters are well-drawn and the plot twists keep you flipping those pages. Most of all, read this to get an authentic glimpse of a great city!

Peter Robinson – Past Reason Hated (Inspector Alan Banks)

From New York Times bestselling and Edgar Award-winning author Peter Robinson comes this gripping thriller—in the tradition of Louise Penny and Elizabeth George—set in a picturesque Yorkshire village during the upcoming Christmas season…but one of its residents will not be celebrating this holiday.

Chief Inspector Alan Banks knows that secrecy can sometimes prove fatal, and secrets were the driving force behind Caroline Hartley’s life…and death.

She was a beautiful enigma, brutally stabbed in her own home three days prior to Christmas. Leaving her past behind for a forbidden love affair, she mystified more than a few. And now she is dead, clothed only in her unshared mysteries and her blood.

In this season of giving and forgiving, Banks is eager to absolve the innocent of their sins. But that must wait until the many facets of a perplexing puzzle are exposed and the dark circle of his investigation finally closes…and when a killer makes the next move.

Let’s go to England for Christmas – what could be better? When your holiday vacay arrives, curl up by the fire, get a couple or more fingers of Oban single malt and lose yourself in the winter beauty of the Yorkshire countryside! I really enjoy the Banks series. I wish we had more TV episodes to watch. It’s fun to realize that the actor, Stephen Tomkinson, who does a great job as Banks in the TV series, was also the young priest starring in the fabulous Irish classic, Ballykissangel!

Well friends, if you’ve made it to here, you are indeed a book-reading saint! I’m going to read these books in the order I’ve listed them here. I invite you to join me. All are available on Kindle and most at good prices. There are some excellent releases coming in the next few months, so I think the Winter list will be excellent as well.

In another blog post I will keep you abreast of the other Shrader goings-ons. We’re looking forward to opera jaunts to Leipzig (Aija), Boston, (Aija), Philadelphia (both), and San Francisco (both). If you want to know more about the opera singers, Alek Shrader and Daniela Mack, google them, or check out their schedules on operabase. As for the other household members, Valda and Moxie are both in fine fettle and enjoying the cooler weather even here in South Georgia. I would be remiss if I didn’t mention the new love of all our lives, Evangelina Violet, AKA Eva. Granddaughters are absolutely the best!

Sorry for the lengthiness! Please reply, respond, like, share, etc.  I hope to see you ONLINE!  Cheers!  -Jim

Hello everyone!

It’s the end of summer and the summer TBR list has been completed. I finished up with the medieval thriller Blood on the Sand by brilliant author Michael Jecks! If, like me, you’re a  mystery/thriller devotee, I hope you took the time to explore some of these titles. Here’s what I read during the summer of 2015:

MC Beaton – Death of a Liar (Constable Hamish MacBeth – Scotland)
Marjorie Eccles – An Accidental Shroud (Inspector Gil Mayo – England)
Tim Ellis – Fragments of the Dead (Parish & Richards – Englend)
Tim Ellis – Whispers of the Dead (Tom Gabriel, PI – St. Augustine, FL)
Jane Haddam – Festival of Death (Gregor Demarkian – Philadelphia, PA)
Cynthia Harrod-Eagles – Dear Departed (Inspector Bill Slider – England)
JA Jance – Remains of Innocence (Sheriff Joanna Brady – Bisbee, AZ)
Peter Robinson – The Hanging Valley (Inspector Alan Banks – Yorkshire, England)
Donna Leon – Beastly Things (Commissario Guido Brunetti – Venice, Italy)
Archer Mayor – The Surrogate Thief (Lieutenant Joe Gunther – Brattleboro, VT)
Janwillem Van de Wettering – Hard Rain (Grijpstra & De Gier)
Martin Walker – The Crowded Grave (Bruno Coureges, Chief of Police – St. Denis, France)
Michael Jecks – Blood on the Sand (Fripper Berenger and his Vintaine – Calais, France)

It was a great reading summer between Santa Fe and Valdosta as well as the long plane rides in between! Since I finished a bit early and it wasn’t quite fall yet, I started on a “tweener” reading The Einstein Prophesy by Robert Masello. I’m not quite done with it yet, so it’s delaying the launch of my fall TBR list, but it’s a very good read. It’s a work of historical fiction taking place in 1944 and, yes, Albert Einstein is a prominent character, although not the protagonist. It’s a very interesting blend of the occult with the appearance of demons from ancient Egypt, the race with the Nazis for the atomic bomb, and an ancient archaeological discovery. You might think of it as Indiana Jones and The DaVinci Code. Anyway, I’m enjoying it, but I’m anxious to get started on the fall list. It starts with the new Jack Reacher title, Make Me!

Nothing much more to report. Creative activity has all but stopped due to school duties. I seem to be on a plethora of committees each with a significant workload that was due “yesterday.” And then, of course, online classes require the constant reading of 300-500 word essays. So the two novels are parked midstream and the composing ideas are just that – ideas!

The fam is off performing: Daniela in Leipzig (Aija went along as Eva’s nanny!), Alek in Philadelphia for his first Alfredo (Traviata). Holidays and school breaks will find us in Philadelphia and San Francisco. Aija and I did manage a “daycation” to Jeckyll Island on Labor Day. Valda, Moxie, and I are here in the deep south holding down the fort!

It’s been a long time since the last blog post. Chalk that one up to the start of school! Please reply, respond, share, like, subscribe, and any other way you can let me know that somebody out there reads this!

I’ll follow this post with another launching the fall TBR list. I hope you’ll read with me and stay tuned for further adventures! Meanwhile, maybe I’ll see you ONLINE!  Cheers!  -Jim