I met up with my mystery book group this week to discuss Voices by Arnaldur Indridason, and we also had a book exchange. Before I tell you about the books I got in the exchange, I’ll tell you about Voices.
This is the third book in the Inspector Erlendur series and it takes place at an elegant hotel in Reykjavik right before Christmas. The doorman, who also happens to be the hotel Santa, is found dead in his room. Who would want to kill him?
As with the other two books I’ve read in the series the author does a great job at characterization. You really get to know the Inspector and what haunts him so. There is one bit that I didn’t like as much and that’s the secondary story line about another case the detectives are following. I felt like that took me away from the main story. Still, this is a wonderful series and I’m looking forward to the fourth book, The Draining Lake, which was recently published in the States. Anyway, here’s my review.
Now, the exchange was tons of fun. I still don’t know how I came out with more books than what I took but I won’t argue with that. Here are my goodies:
- Agatha Raisin and the Fairies of Fryfam by M.C. Beaton
- The House of Gaian by Anne Bishop
- The Invisible Ring by Anne Bishop
- Queen of the Darkness by Anne Bishop
- Still Life with Chickens by Catherine Goldhammer
- The King is Dead by Jim Lewis
- The Onion Girl by Charles De Lint
- The Janissary Tree by Jason Goodwin
I’m most excited about The Onion Girl and The Janissary Tree as I’ve read some good reviews of those books by some of my book blogger friends. I’ve not tried anything by the other authors and while most of the books are a bit different from my typical reads, I thought why not check them out.
Oh yes, and now I need to get a hold of The Butcher’s Theater by Jonathan Kellerman as that is our reading selection for January.
Voices sounds very good, Iliana! I’ll have to check that out, thanks!
Ooh, so you’ve got Anne Bishop’s and Charles De Lint’s books! I’ve these as well and they’ve been sitting on my pile for like ages! I need to read them soon! 😉
yay, you got some Anne Bishop 😀 I read The Onion Girl earlier this year and it was good, but the fact that it was my first Newford book made me enjoy it less than I think I would have otherwise.
Wow — what a fun book group meeting! I’ve never read Indridason, but he sounds very interesting; I’ll have to keep my eyes open for his books.
What fun! I look forward to reading your reviews on your new books.
Yeah.
Melody – I love his thrillers. Very literary and the setting really manages to transport you to another place! 🙂
Nymeth – I think you were the reason I had Onion Girl on my radar 🙂 I think I’m going to save my Bishop books for the Once Upon a Time challenge!
Dorothy W. – He is. I read a recent review that compared his writing to Rankin’s and I would agree. They give you a lot more than just a mystery. It might be a good one for your group to check out!
Isabel – We had a really good time. It’s nice to have found a good group to join and they’ve been very welcoming so that’s cool 🙂
I’m reading Jason Goodwin’s sequel to The Janissary Tree, The Snake Stone. I met Jason at a conference in October and he’s a really nice guy (he looks like a sort of cross between Hugh Grant and Harry Potter) so I decided to try his book. Definitely not disappointed. I think you’ll like it. It won the Edgar Award for best novel a couple of years ago.
Yep, that sounds like a good book 🙂
But wow! this book exchange got u some nice titles.. hope yu enjoy them All 🙂
what a great idea for a book club…book exchanging..fabulous idea.
Karen – Hope you are doing great! Oh I’m so glad to hear that about Janissary Tree. It sounds really interesting so I’m looking forward to it 🙂
Veens – Isn’t that cool? I’m so glad I found this book group!
Serena – We did that at another book group at one time. It’s great. Not only is it just fun to see what other members read but then you get free books 🙂
Good for you to buy a nice new stack of books! And I really need to read Indridason too.