Link to our Facebook Page
Link to our Instagram Page
Link to our X Page
Link to our Youtube Page

Tag Archives: book discussion

July 2013 reading recommendations from Just Desserts members

Just Desserts Logo 225Here is the list of reading recommendations from the July 2013 Just Desserts mystery fiction discussion group meeting. After discussing our book-of-the-month, the group did a round robin, asking members to say what they’d been reading lately that they’d recommend.

Here is the list of titles that were hot with this mystery-savvy bunch of readers in July:

MYSTERIES/THRILLERS/SUSPENSE

  • Rule of Four by Ian Caldwell (on CD)
  • A Wanted Man by Lee Child (on CD) [a past Just Desserts selected author]
  • Good People by Ewart Hutton
  • The Golden Egg by Donna Leon [a past Just Desserts selected author]
  • Creepers by David Morrell
  • The Husband and four others by Dean Koontz
  • Catch Me by Lisa Gardner [a forthcoming Just Desserts selected author]
  • Death Angel by Linda Fairstein
  • Niceville by Carsten Stroud
  • Her Last Breath by Linda Castillo
  • Live Wire by Harlan Coben [a past Just Desserts selected author]
  • A Serpent’s Tooth by Craig Johnson [a past Just Desserts selected author]
  • Several books in the bibliophile mystery series by Kate Carlisle
  • Six Years by Harlan Coben [a past Just Desserts selected author]
  • Bones are Forever by Kathy Reich [a past Just Desserts selected author]
  • The 12th of Never by James Patterson
  • Luther, seasons 1 and 2 on DVD
  • Curtain by Agatha Christie
  • The Cookbook Conspiracy by Kate Carlisle
  • Redeemer by Jo Nesbo
  • The Dan Shamble zombie mystery series by Kevin J. Anderson
  • The Needlecraft mystery series by Monica Ferris
  • The Chocolate Chip Cookie Murder by Joanne Fluke [our August Just Desserts selection!]
  • The Monkey’s Raincoat by Robert Crais [a past Just Desserts selected author]
  • The Cat, the Mill and the Murder by Leann Sweeney
  • Murder is a Fine Art by David Morrell
  • Inferno by Dan Brown
  • Mystery Scene magazine — link goes to the official website for the magazine; the libraries do not subscribe to this magazine at this time
  • Mayhem at the Orient Express by Kylie Logan
  • Covert Affairs, seasons 1 and 2 on DVD

NON-MYSTERIES

  • Trident K9 Warriors by Michael Ritland
  • Dan Gets a Minivan by Dan Zevin
  • Started Early, Took My Dog by Kate Atkinson
  • The Round House by Louise Erdrich (including book-on-CD) [a 2013 One Book – One Lincoln finalist]
  • The Sandcastle Girls by Chris Bohjalian (including book- on-CD) [a 2013 One Book – One Lincoln finalist]
  • The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry by Rachel Joyce [a 2013 One Book – One Lincoln finalist]
  • Clara and Mr. Tiffany by Susan Vreeland
  • The Union Street Bakery by Mary Ellen Taylor
  • (an unidentified book about the Ratcliffe Highway Murders in British history)
  • The Supremes at Earl’s All You Can Eat by Edward Kelsey Moore

What you been reading lately that you’d recommend?

Robert Crais’ “The Sentry”

Just Desserts Logo 225sentryWhen the Just Desserts mystery fiction discussion group met on July 25, 2013, 17 of us enjoyed discussing the 2011 novel The Sentry by Robert Crais, part of his Elvis Cole/Joe Pike series.

Whether or not you attended the actual meeting, you are  welcome to share your own thoughts and opinions about this book in a reply comment to this blog post, below.

For additional reminders about upcoming Just Desserts meetings and/or other announcements of interest to mystery  fans, don’t forget to sign up for the Just Desserts e-mail list. Or, if you’re logged into your account on Facebook, you can visit the Events page for the Lincoln City Libraries, and mark whether or not you plan to attend upcoming sessions of Just Desserts – this is a great way for you to help us promote this engaging discussion group! Our selections for future meetings are usually posted there months in advance.

What do you think of The Sentry by Robert Crais?

Join us next on August 29th at the South Branch Library for discussion of Joanne Fluke’s The Chocolate Chip Cookie Murder!

Tess Gerritsen’s “The Keepsake”

Just Desserts Logo 225keepsakeWhen the Just Desserts mystery fiction discussion group met on June 27th, 2013, 16 of us discussed the 2008 novel The Keepsake by Tess Gerritsen, one of her Rizzoli & Isles mystery thrillers, which inspired the TNT television series of the same name.

Whether or not you attended the actual meeting, you are  welcome to share your own thoughts and opinions about this book in a reply comment to this blog post, below.

For additional reminders about upcoming Just Desserts meetings and/or other announcements of interest to mystery  fans, don’t forget to sign up for the Just Desserts e-mail list. Or, if you’re logged into your account on Facebook, you can visit the Events page for the Lincoln City Libraries, and mark whether or not you plan to attend upcoming sessions of Just Desserts – this is a great way for you to help us promote this engaging discussion group! Our selections for future meetings are usually posted there months in advance.

What do you think of The Keepsake by Tess Gerritsen?

Just Desserts: The Results of our May 2013 “Series Share”

Just Desserts Logo 225In May, the Just Desserts mystery fiction discussion group sponsored by the libraries conducted an experiment. Instead of all the participants reading the same exact book and meeting to discuss it, all interested attendees were asked to read the 1st or 2nd book in ANY new mystery series (preferably a “Cozy” or “Amateur Detective” series) that has launched within just the past couple of years.

seriesshareAt our meeting, we went around the table, and each Just Desserts member was given a couple of minutes to describe the major characters, settings, style and tone of the series they sampled, plus to offer up their opinion as to whether or not they’d recommend the series.

In the list below, in no order whatsoever, we provide the titles and authors for each series sampled. We also offer up the Just Desserts reviewer’s opinions — LIKED, DISLIKED or SO-SO!

  • Killer Librarian by Mary Lou Kirwin — SO-SO
  • The Baker Street Letters by Michael Robertson — LIKED
  • Rogue Island by Bruce DeSilva — LIKED
  • Cat Trick by Sofie Kelly — DISLIKED
  • That Old Flame of Mine by J.J. Cook — SO-SO
  • The Tale of the Tip Off by Rita Mae Brown — LIKED
  • Grace Under Pressure by Julie Hyzy — LIKED
  • The Long Quiche Goodbye by Avery Aames — LIKED
  • Crashed by Timothy Hallinan — LIKED
  • Books Can be Deceiving, Due or Die, and Book, Line and Sinker by Jenn McKinlay — LIKED
  • The Christie Curse by Victoria Abbott — LIKED
  • Alive by Loren Estleman — LIKED
  • Still Life with Crows by Lincoln Child and Douglas Preston — LIKED
  • Whack and Roll and Shake, Murder and Roll by Gail Oust — LIKED
  • Peach Pies and Alibis and Pies and Prejudice by Ellery Adams — DISLIKED
  • Death by the Dozen, Going, Going, Ganache and Buttercream Bumpoff, all by Jenn McKinlay — LIKED
  • The Last Wool and Testament by Molly Macrae — LIKED
  • Tender Mercy of Roses by Anna Michaels — LIKED
  • A Deal to Die For and 50% Off Murder by Josie Belle (a.k.a. Jen McKinley) — LIKED
  • In Plain Sight by Lorena McCourtney — LIKED
  • Gone by Mo Hayder — LIKED
  • Ritual by Mo Hayder — SO-SO
  • The October Killings and Those Who Love Night by Wessel Ebersohn — SO-SO
  • Deadly Politics by Maggie Sefton — LIKED, though it was poorly edited – lots of typos
  • Just Desserts by Mary Daheim — SO-SO
  • Helsinki White and/or Helsinki Blood by Jack Thompson — LIKED
  • The Inspector and Silence by Hakan Nesser — SO-SO

Books that didn’t quite fit our criteria for the series share meeting:

  • Waiting to Be Heard by Amanda Knox
  • Aunt Dimity and the Lost Prince by Nancy Atherton
  • Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil by John Berendt
  • Honeymoon by James Patterson
  • Calico Joe by John Grisham
  • Clara and Mr. Tiffany by Susan Vreeland
  • The Artist (DVD)
  • Thereby Hangs a Tail by Spencer Quinn
  • The Submission (a One Book One Lincoln 2012 finalist)
  • The Art of Fielding by Chad Harbach
  • Where’d You Go, Bernadette? by Maria Semple

Members of Just Desserts also wanted to share the following information of possible interest to fellow mystery readers:

The “All Seward Reads Together” selection for 2013 is Doc by Mary Doria Russell

Author Marie Bostwick will be appearing at Quilt Nebraska, at Concordia University in Seward, on July 27th.

David Baldacci’s “The Camel Club”

Just Desserts Logo 225camelclub2When the Just Desserts mystery fiction discussion group met in February, we discussed David Baldacci’s novel, The Camel Club.

This book was discussed at the Just Desserts meeting on February 28, 2013. Whether or not you attended the actual meeting, you are welcome to share your own thoughts and opinions about this book (and series) in a reply comment to this blog post, below.

For additional reminders about upcoming Just Desserts meetings and/or other announcements of interest to mystery fans, don’t forget to sign up for the Just Desserts e-mail list. Or, if you’re logged into your account on Facebook, you can visit the Events page for the Lincoln City Libraries, and mark whether or not you plan to attend upcoming sessions of Just Desserts! Our selections for future meetings are usually posted there months in advance.

What do you think of The Camel Club by Baldacci?