Treachery In Death - J.D. Robb

Roarke and Eve.

Nothing else I need to say really. Anyone who reads this series knows that there's never an off book.

This time around Eve's after bad cops - always hard to clean one's own house. Look for a special Mavis moment where she goes back to her old bad habits with Eve's permission. And a very scary scene involving Peabody, which had my palms sweating.

This is my favourite series ever. I want more, more, more...and I hate having to wait for each new one.

Monthly Wish List - May

I can never remember which books in a series I'm up to, or which books coming out soon I want, so I figure if I update here once a month and actually write it down, maybe I won't have to rely on my terrible memory or the millions of little scrap pieces of paper in my handbag.

Out Now
Simon R Green - Deathstalker: Rebellion (on order)
Harlan Coben - Live Wire (Myron book, out May 12 here)
Jim Butcher - Changes

July 2011
Jim Butcher - Ghost Story

September 2011
J.D. Robb - New York to Dallas (it's an In Death book)

October 2011
Rick Riordan - The Son of Neptune

November 2011
Michael Connelly - The Drop

Daggerspell - Katherine Kerr

Every now and then when I feel the need revisit old characters I love, I re-read a series. This is about my 5th go around with this one.

Katherine Kerr's Deverry books have always been a favourite. The characters souls are reborn when they die so you never really lose any favourites, they just become a slightly different version of themselves.

Daggerspell is the book that began it all. Book 1 of Act 1. It's been fun being back with Rhodry, Jill, Nevyn and Cullyn as well as their previous incantations.

Apart from the souls being reborn twist, the Deverry books are classic old-style high fantasy. There are elves, dwarfs (well one so far), kings, lords, sword fighting, magic and unwanted pregnancies...and much later, there'll be dragons. Good vs Evil.

love it!

Caught - Harlan Coben

Harlan Coben is another one of those authors who got famous with a really great series and then started writing stand alone stuff, that while great, never quite measures up for true series fans like me.

Caught is one of those stand alone books - BUT, there were a couple of times when the main character contacted Win. Win is one of my absolute favourite bad good guys ever. I really wish there was more of him in this book, but I guess I'll just have to wait until I can get my hands on the latest in the Myron Bolitar series.

This is one of those stories with characters who straddle the line between good and bad. Innocent people have crap things done to them and bad guys don't always get caught. Much like real life.

Coben's an auto-buy for me and as usual, he didn't disappoint.

The Lost Hero - Rick Riordan

So, who else was freaking out when they thought the Percy Jackson books were all finished? I was bummed when Rick Riordan started a new series with Egyptian gods. Before I could get off my butt and give them a shot, I discovered The Lost Hero. Wahoo - back to the greek gods where he belongs.

I started falling in love with greek mythology when Zena, Warrior Princess and Hercules The Legendary Journeys came out on tv. Of course I was young then and didn't realize how much amazing literature the shows were based on. Fifteen years later, I've come a long way with my reading on the subject.

A lot of YA books really are only for kids, but Riordan manages to write stories that appeal to young and old alike (sheesh that sounded cliche, but it's really true). I love them. I grudgingly let my #2 kid keep them on the bookshelf in his room, but I'm the one who gets to read them first.

Anyway - The Lost Hero was great. I was worried since Percy isn't in it but really he doesn't need to be, and it looks as if he's going to be in the next one, which I can't wait to get my hands on.

The Fifth Witness - Michael Connelly

It took me a while to forgive Michael Connelly for deviating from his Harry Bosch books in to the world of Mickey Haller. I didn't even pick up the Lincoln Lawyer until late last year. Now, of course, I'm just as addicted to this series as I am to the Bosch books.

The Fifth Witness sees Haller expand from his lincoln to an actual office and acquiring an associate to join his team. This book really throws the series in a new direction and I like the way that most of it is going.

One thing that annoys me is Maggie's incessant need to see Haller as a bad guy just because he's doing his job. Despite the jokes about bad defence lawyers etc., they are a necessity of the system and those doing their jobs aren't necessarily evil. I really DON'T want them to get back together because I think she should be able to love him for ALL of who he is. I certainly don't mind if he switches sides of the fence to the prosecution table, but getting back together with his ex should not depend on that.

I'll be looking forward to the next book in this series, although I'm quite glad it's a Bosch book up next for Connelly.

Deathstalker - Simon R Green

Wowza. I don't know where to start. I started reading Simon R Green's Nightside books 3 or 4 years ago and quickly became addicted. The problem is he can't write them fast enough for me to keep up. So I took to the bookshelves and found that before the Nightside, he was actually quite famous for a sci-fi series called Deathstalker. The first book is also called Deathstalker.

I don't read a ton of straight sci-fi. Either they annoy me and I don't finish, or if I do finish they haven't gripped me enough to wade through the next in a series.

With this book, immediately upon finishing I took off for my local Borders to find book 2. Unfortunately they didn't' have it so I've had to order online - check back in a couple of weeks when I finally have it. What I did do was buy books 3 and 4. Again - I never do this. I always buy one book at a time in case a series tanks. But I don't believe this one will.

I loved the characters - all of them, even the "baddies", most of whom aren't really that bad. I loved the world, the aliens, the story, the tech. Awesome book.

More, more, more.

Gone - Jonathan Kellerman

I started reading Jonathan Kellerman's Alex Deleware novels around 1994. I quickly caught up on those I'd missed and then bought each new one as it was released. For some reason he dropped off my auto-buy list about 6 years ago. So now I'm discovering a whole lot more of these books that I so used to enjoy.

Gone is a pretty typical episode in the series - great story, interesting crime, some real life truths from the mouth of Milo. That said, it's definitely not one of the best or probably even in the top 10.

I don't know why this series appeals to me so much. I think the fact that Kellerman's take on relationships is so much more realistic than most - the constant changing and working on them to keep things fresh. I also love his twist on the gay best friend cliche. Milo is definitely not your typical gay character or a typical cop character.

Grave Secret - Charlaine Harris

I have to admit, I'm kind of disappointed, not in the book itself, but in what it represents. I've really been enjoying this series, but Grave Secret ended with not only the wrap up of the current book's mystery, but also the series mystery. This generally means the author is ending the series.

Bummer.

Maybe readers couldn't handle the somewhat unconventional relationship of Harper and her step-brother, but HELLO - Flowers in the Attic anyone. Way worse. It's not as if it hasn't been done before. Personally I think it was handled really well. I never got the ick factor at all.

But maybe Charlaine Harris is concentrating on her Sookie Stackhouse series since that's the one turned into the tv series - True Blood. I've always liked that series, too. In fact I have loved every single book this author has ever written. So really, I can't wait to see what kind of series she's going to start next.

But I'll miss Harper.

Moonlight Mile - Dennis Lehane

Before Dennis Lehane got famous with his breakout novels turned to movies, Mystic River and Shutter Island, he wrote a very good little series about a couple of PIs called Patrick Kenzie and Angie Genaro. As each book came out, I fell in love with those characters to the point that I cried at the end of Prayers for Rain because it was apparently to be the last one.

I was among many fans who lamented the loss of a great series and begged the author to bring it back. Now, after more than ten years, he finally publishes Moonlight Mile. This is a book that will have previous fans jumping for joy while at the same time quite obviously closes the door on the series for good...but in a satisfying way.

It was so nice to revisit with Patrick, Angie and Bubba. For me, this series will always beat out Lehane's stand alone novels.