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Tag Archives: booklists
Reading Recommendations from Just Desserts group members – July 2019
At the July 25th, 2019 meeting of the Just Desserts mystery fiction discussion group, following the discussion of the assigned topic of the month (several of Donna Andrews’ “Meg Langslow” series), we held our monthly round robin in which all 15 attendees were able to share a few recommendations of what other books they’ve been reading recently.
Here’s the list of mystery and suspense books recommended by Just Desserts members in July 2019:
- Some Close Darkness by Charlie Donlea
- The Death of Mrs. Westaway by Ruth Ware
- Heart of Barkness by Spencer Quinn
- Blue Edge of Midnight by Jonathan King
- Backlash by Brad Thor
- Never Die Alone by Lisa Jackson – past author selection for Just Desserts
- Tony & Susan by Austin Wright
- (A Book of Bones by John Connolly – coming this fall) – past author selection for Just Desserts
- Murder in the White House by Margaret Truman – past author selection for Just Desserts
- The Gereon Rath series by Volker Kutscher
- The Hector Belascoara Shayne by Paco Ignacio Taibo II
- The Maze at Windermere by Gregory Blake Smith
- Whatdunits and More Whatdunits edited by Mike Resnick
- The entire Fletch series by Gregory McDonald
And here were some non-mystery titles some group members also recommended in July 2019:
- The three 2019 One Book – One Lincoln finalists: There There by Tommy Orange, The Great Believers by Rebecca Makkai, and The Faraway Brothers by Lauren Markham
- Star Trek Discovery season one on DVD
- The Warders series by Mary Calmes
- Doing Justice by Preet Bharara (on CD)
- The Treasure of the Sierra Madre by B. Traven
- Into Africa: The Epic Adventures of Stanley and Livingstone by Martin Dugard
- The Jell-O Girls: A Family History by Allie Rowbottom
- The Library Book by Susan Orlean
What mysteries have you been reading lately that you’d recommend?
Reading Recommendations in April from Just Desserts members
At the April 26th, 2018 meeting of the Just Desserts mystery fiction discussion group, following the discussion of the assigned topic of the month (the entire body of works by British mystery/suspense author Ruth Rendell), we held our monthly round robin in which all the attendees were able to share a few recommendations of what other books they’ve been reading recently.
First, here’s the list of Ruth Rendell mystery/suspense books discussed by Just Desserts members at our April 2018 meeting:
- The Babes in the Woods (audiobook)
- Dark Corners (2)
- From Doon With Death (3, including 1 as audiobook)
- The Girl Next Door (2)
- Harm Done
- In Sickness and in Health
- A Judgment in Stone
- Monster in the Box (2)
- Not in the Flesh (2)
- Piranha to Scurfy and Other Stories
- The St. Zita Society
- Secret House of Death
- Simisola
- 13 Steps Down
- The Tree of Hands
- The Vault (2)
- The Water’s Lovely
- various in the Inspector Wexford series
This meeting was audio-recorded, for eventual release through the libraries’ podcast series. This podcast episode finally became available in April 2020 — Click here to listen to the audio podcast recording of this meeting!
After our Rendell discussion, we had a few minutes for a general round robin. Here are the mystery and non-mystery titles recommended by Just Desserts members in April 2018:
- Amelia Peabody’s Egypt: A Companion by Elizabeth Peters
- Instinct on TV, tied loosely into Murder Games by James Patterson – past author selection for Just Desserts
- Bobby Kennedy: A Raging Spirit by Chris Matthews
- The Mrs. Pollifax series by Dorothy Gilman
- How to Wash a Cat by Rebecca Hale
- Lincoln in the Bardo by George Sanders
- News note: one group member announced that Margaret Coel is done with writing the Wind River series but will still be writing other things
- Orson Scott Card’s “Women of Genesis” series
- News note: One member mentioned coming across a promo for a “real person” mystery novel, due out in July, by Andrew Shaffer — Hope Never Dies, featuring Barack Obama and Joe Biden as no-long-in-the-oval-office mystery solvers (not yet on order for the libraries)
Because we didn’t have as much time for our general “round robins” discussion, please feel free to respond here on the blog to the following question: What mysteries have you been reading lately that you’d recommend?
Mystery recommendations from Just Desserts members – July 2012
Hey, mystery fans! Looking for something good to read?
At the Just Desserts mystery fiction discussion group meeting on July 26th, after our book discussion, we spent time doing a round robin at the table, giving all attendees an opportunity to share what they’ve been reading lately. Here’s what was popular in July 2012 with this mystery-savvy group:
MYSTERIES or THRILLERS
- The Return of the Dancing Master by Henning Mankell
- The works of John Sandford
- The works of Tom Clancy, particularly The Sum of All Fears
- Cold Harbor by Jack Higgins
- Free Fire and Bloodhunt by C.J. Box
- Point of Impact and others by Stephen Hunter
- Knit One Kill Two by Maggie Sefton
- Spin a Wicked Web by Cricket McRae
- Secrets to the Grave by Tami Hoag
- Dragonwell Dead by Laura Childs
- Dead Men Can’t Crochet by Betty Hechtman
- I Am Half Sick of Shadows by Alan Bradley
- The Last Days by Joel Rosenberg
- Out of the Shadows by Kay Hooper, part of her Bishop/Special Crimes series
- Wicked Business by Janet Evanovich
- Defending Jacob by William Landay
- Gun Games by Faye Kellerman
- Dead Scared by S.J. Bolton
- Snagged by Carol Higgins Clark
- Lost in a Good Book by Jasper Fforde
- The Sisters Brothers by Patrick DeWitt
- Sleeping Beauty by Ross MacDonald
- The Lew Archer series by Ross MacDonald
- The Shane Scully series by Stephen J. Cannell
- The Jesse Stone, and Sunny Randall series by Robert B. Parker
- Stay Close by Harlan Coben
- The Cinnamon Roll Murders by Joanne Fluke
- The Bad Hair Day series by Nancy J. Cohen
- Day of Atonement by Faye Kellerman
- The Andy Carpenter series by David Rosenfelt
- The works of Margaret Coel
- The works of C.J. Box
- The works of Emily Brightwell
- The works of J.A. Jance
- The Magic Bullet by Larry Millett
- Sea Change by Karen White
- The works of Suzanne Arruda
- The works of Val McDermid
- The works of Donna Leon
- The works of Deborah Crombie
NON-MYSTERIES
- Bleak House by Charles Dickens
- The works of Stephen King
- The Submission by Laura Waldman, one of the One Book – One Lincoln finalists
- The Devil in the White City by Erik Larson, one of the past One Book – One Lincoln selections
- Destiny of the Republic by Candice Millard, one of the One Book – One Lincoln finalists
- Freedom by Jonathan Franzen
What mysteries have you been reading lately that you would recommend?
Mystery recommendations from Just Desserts members – April 2012
Hey, mystery fans! Looking for something good to read?
At the April 26th Just Desserts meeting, after discussing our monthly “assigned” book, we did a round robin at the table, asking attendees to share what mysteries they’d been reading lately that they felt they could recommend.
Here’s a list of the books that were hot last month with this mystery-savvy crowd:
- A Trick of the Light by Louise Penny (part of the Inspector Gamache series, used previously for Just Desserts)
- Crunch Time by Diane Mott Davidson (part of the Goldie the Caterer series, used previously for Just Desserts)
- The Beekeeper’s Apprentice by Laurie King, an author used previously for Just Desserts
- Major Pettigrew’s Last Stand by Helen Simonson
- D.C. Dead, Short Straw and Strategic Moves by Stuart Woods
- Hotwire by Alex Kava
- The Closer on DVD
- Brute Strength by Susan Conant
- The works of Suzanne Arruda, an author being used for next month’s Just Desserts
- Bad Boy by Peter Robinson
- The works of Margaret Coel, an author used previously for Just Desserts
- Left for Dead by J.A. Jance
- Heart of a Killer by David Rosenfelt
- Flash and Bones by Kathy Reichs (part of the Temperence Brennan series, used previously for Just Desserts)
- I Am Half Sick of Shadows by Alan Bradley (part of the Flavia de Luce series, used previously for Just Desserts)
- The works of Margaret Truman, an author used previously for Just Desserts
- The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon
- The Stephanie Plum books by Janet Evanovich, also in Book-on-CD format
- Red Mist by Patricia Cornwell
- Crawlspace by Sarah Graves (part of the Jacobia Tiptree series, used previously for Just Desserts)
- The works of Leann Sweeney, including The Cat the Professor and the Poison and The Cat the Lady and the Liar
- The Boy in the Suitcase by Lene Kaaberbol and Agnete Friis
- Where Memories Lie by Debra Crombie
Non-Mysteries recommended by group members:
- The Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet by Jamie Ford
- Lasser’s Tax Guide
- Paco: The Cat Meowed in Space by Homer Hickam
- You’re Not Doing It Right! by Michael Ian Black
So, what mysteries have you been reading that you’d recommend?
Mystery recommendations from Just Desserts members – March 2012
Hey, mystery fans! Looking for something good to read?
At the March 29th Just Desserts meeting, after discussing our monthly “assigned” book, we did a round robin at the table, asking attendees to share what mysteries they’d been reading lately that they felt they could recommend.
Here’s a list of the books that were hot last month with this mystery-savvy crowd:
- A Rule Against Murder by Louise Penny
- A Trick of the Light by Louise Penny
- The Dog Who Knew Too Much and others in the Bernie and Chet series by Spencer Quinn
- The works of Donna Leon
- The Sudoku Lady vs. The Puzzle Lady by Parnell Hall
- The Scarecrow and others by Michael Connelly
- Crunch Time by Diane Mott Davidson
- In Harm’s Way by Ridley Pearson
- The Criminal by Jim Thompson
- Heartland by David Wiltse – a former reading selection of the Just Desserts group
- The Winter of Frankie Machine by Don Winslow
- The Beekeeper’s Apprentice by Laurie King
- Defending Jacob by William Landay
- Though Not Dead by Dana Stabenow
- Fools Puzzle by Earlene Fowler
- Major Pettigrew’s Last Stand by Helen Simonson
- Privileged Witness and others by Rebecca Forster
- D.C. Dead by Stuart Woods
- The Line by Olga Grushin
- Brute Strength by Susan Conant
- Black Friday by Alex Kava
- The Insidious Fu Manchu by Sax Roman
- Broken by Karin Slaughter
- The Devil’s Food Cake Murders by Joanne Fluke
- Rebel Island by Rick Riordan
- Faceless Killers by Henning Mankell
- A Poisoned Season by Tasha Alexander
- Where Memories Lie by Debra Crombie
Non-Mysteries recommended by group members:
- Miss Morrison by Mari Sandoz
- Thunder Dog by Michael Hingson
- Heart 411 by Marc Gillinov
- The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot
- What Teachers Make by Taylor Mali
So, what mysteries have you been reading that you’d recommend?