Val McDermid
Two Christmas Mystery Short Story Anthologies
Festive Tasks Master Update Post HERE Festive Tasks, Door 21 — Good Luck Charms and Traditions: Read a book from the fantasy genre, or one with something on the cover that refers to “luck”. Festive Tasks, Door 24 — Cherished Memories: Read a book with a split timeline, one that takes place in the present […]
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May 2021 Reading Recap
Still a lot of work on the back end of the blog, including on my “featured authors” pages (see the right column on the main Literature page and the introduction of my April 2021 recap post). So, contrary to plans, still no new posts in my alphabet blogging series in May. However, the time-consuming back end […]
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Val McDermid: Still Life
After Ann Cleeves’s Red Bones, another May 2021 armchair visit to Scotland; though this time to Edinburgh — with brief but significant excursions to the English Midlands, Ireland and Paris, that is. (France yet again, too — after I had already read Agatha Christie’s Mystery of the Blue Train, Georges Simenon’s Maigret’s Holiday, and Arthur […]
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Snakes and Ladders, 2020 Edition – TA’s Master Tracking Post: DONE!
Tracking courtesy of Charlie and Sunny, as always, of course! SPACES AND DICE ROLLS 1. Author is a woman — Patricia Wentworth: Pilgrim’s Rest (finished April 1, 2020) 2. Genre: mystery 3. Set in the twentieth century 4. Published in 2019 5. Published in 2018 6. Title has a color word in it 7. Author’s last […]
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Val McDermid: Broken Ground
So what happened at the end there, Val? Why that infernal rush? Did you suddenly become aware that you were on your way towards producing a minor brick, or did your publisher tell you to cut it short? There we were, sailing nicely along in the usual 4-stars-or-higher bracket into which this series typically falls […]
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Please pick my final Snakes & Ladders book! — UPDATED: Decision time.
Looks like we have a winner! So, Val McDermid’s fifth Karen Pirie book it is … I am really glad that every book I listed collected votes, though (and it was a close race between the two top contenders for quite a while) — needless to say, I intend to get to all of […]
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Please pick my final Snakes & Ladders book!
NOTE: Clicking on the image will take you to the actual poll. To avoid double counting, please use only the polling site to vote (i.e., don’t also tell me in your comments which books you’re voting for). Thank you! To see the results, click HERE. Original post: ThemisAthena.booklikes.com/post/2321902/please-pick-my-final-snakes-ladders-book
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Six Favorite Scottish Writers
24 Festive Tasks: Door 12 – St. Andrew’s Day, Task 1: Tell us: Who is your favorite Scottish (or Scots-born / -descendant) writer? Six favorite Scottish writers: Arthur Conan Doyle: Elementary. Robert Louis Stevenson: For Kidnapped alone — though his Edinburgh Picturesque Notes, even 150 years after their first publication, remain one of the […]
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So I had to go to the bookstore today …
… because I needed a “design your own” blank-page calendar to create a birthday present for my mom, and one of the large local bookstores happens to be my go-to place to get such a thing. (I create a calendar as a BD present for my mom every year.) Obviously, this being a bookstore, it […]
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Halloween Bingo 2019 PreParty — Question for 08/09 (Day 9): Book Suggestions for the New Squares? Part 1: “Paint It Black”
Today’s prompt is for favorite horror reads; that not being much of my thing (outside, perhaps, the gothic classics and anything more edifying or funny rather than scary), I think I’m going to leave that prompt to Char, Bark’s Books (aka Bark at the Ghouls), and the site’s other horror fans. Instead, I’m going to […]
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My KYD Reads … or: Harry Potter, and What Else I read in March 2018
A big thank you to Moonlight Reader for yet another fun, inventive BookLikes game! I had a wonderful time, while also advancing — though with decidedly fewer new reads than I’d origianlly been planning — my two main reading goals for this year (classic crime fiction and books written by women). Harry Potter – The […]
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Val McDermid: The Distant Echo
Holy moly, how did I ever miss this book until now?! Even more so since the Karen Pirie series is actually my favorite series by Val McDermid … OK, Pirie herself has little more than a walk-on role here; we’re talking absolute beginning of her career, and the focus is decidedly not on her but […]
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Kill Your Darlings – Team MbD / Lillelara / TA: Summary of the Team’s Additional Cards & Points Claimed
Lillelara: Severus Snape as a victim from the red game play. Book read: Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. => 10 points Green Dragon Pub as a crime scene from the yellow game play. Book read: Cocaine Blues. => 10 points => 20 extra points Themis-Athena: Val McDermid: The Distant Echo => Suspect: Arthur […]
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Kill Your Darlings – Team MbD / Lillelara / TA: Claiming Additional Cards
Since we solved all crimes in the green rounds, I’ve read and listened to the above books, for which I’m claiming extra cards on behalf of Team MbD / Lillelara / TA as follows: Val McDermid: The Distant Echo => Suspect: Arthur Conan Doyle (genre: mystery) – Red Round => 10 points Agatha […]
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16 Tasks of the Festive Season: Final Tally
The Markers: Stack of Books: Books read Red Bows and Ribbons: Other Tasks completed Joker cards used: The Squares, Books and Other Tasks: Square 1: November 1st: All Saints Day / Día de los Muertos & Calan Gaeaf Book themes for Día de Muertos and All Saint’s Day: A book that […]
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A Cornucopia of Holiday Stories
Turns out I already knew five of the ten stories in this anthology: Ellis Peters’s The Trinity Cat Julian Symons’s The Santa Claus Club Ian Rankin’s No Sanity Clause G.K. Chesterton’s The Dagger With Wings and Marjorie Bowen’s Cambric Tea. So I skipped those (though I do really like the stories by Ellis Peters, Julian […]
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16 Tasks of the Festive Season: Updates / Blackout
I’ve yet to read at least one book for some of the squares, but I’ve completed a minimum of either one book or one task for all of the squares, and in several cases, more. The Markers: Stack of Books: Books read Red Bows and Ribbons: Other Tasks completed […]
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2017: Favorite and Least Favorite Books of the Year
16 Tasks of the Festive Season: Square 10 – Pancha Ganapti – and Square 12 – Festivus Tasks for Pancha Ganapati: Post about your 5 favourite books this year and why you appreciated them so much. Tasks for Festivus: […] –OR– Perform the Airing of Grievances: name 5 books you’ve read this year that have […]
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16 Tasks of the Festive Season: Updates
I’ll be tracking my completed books, tasks, and points comprehensively here. The Markers: Stack of Books: Books read Red Bows and Ribbons: Other Tasks completed The Squares, Books and Other Tasks: Square 1: November 1st: All Saints Day / Día de los Muertos & Calan Gaeaf Book themes for Día de Muertos and […]
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Val McDermid: Forensics
Investigative Journalism and True Crime Writing Masquerading as Science I had long rants going through my head on pretty much every page of this book while I was reading, but bottom line, it just doesn’t deserve the attention of my detailing them. I like McDermid’s crime fiction (most of it, anyway) and I’d very much […]
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