Careful Use of Compliments: An Isabel Dalhousie by Alexander McCall Smith

Isabel is now a mother, Charlies, her newborn son, presents her with a myriad wonders of a new life. Her lover, Jamie presents her with an intriguing proposal: marriage. In the midst of all this, she receives a disturbing letter announcing that she has been ousted as editor of the Review of Applied Ethics by the ambitious Professor Dove. None of these things, however, in any way diminishes Isabel's curiosity. And when she attends an art auction, she finds an irresistible puzzle: two paintings attributed to a now-deceased artist appear on the market at the same time, and both of them exhibit some unusual characteristics. Are these paintings forgeries? This proves to be sufficient fodder for Isabel's inquisitiveness. So she begins an investigation... and soon finds herself diverging from her philosophical musings about fatherhood onto a path that leads her into the mysteries of the art world and the soul of an artist.

I quite enjoy this unusual philosopher.  Alexander McCall Smith is one of my favorite writers and I find all his series so different from each other. He really makes the city of Edinburgh come to life.   this series is not for everyone as it is not a traditional mystery but more of a philosophical look at life and relationships.

Hangman by Louise Penny

Novella featuring Chief Inspector Armand Gamache and doesn't really seem to be a part of the 3 Pines Mystery series.

Gamache is brought into a suspected suicide but his gut tells him something differently.  the body is discovered by a runner who does call the police but makes no effort to see if the person is really dead or not.  Plus after examination there is no way that the dead man could have climbed the tree to kill himself.  But most curious is when they go to the Bed and Breakfast where both the dead man and the runner are staying the dead man is using a name of a famous Canadian hangman.  In his room they find a suicide letter and while it was proven that it was written by the man Gamache just knows he didn't hang himself but was helped.

When they discover the actual identity of the dead man it gets even more interested as he had survived having his car hit by a car of drunk teens.  Both his wife and child were killed but the teens were unhurt and it could never be proven who was actually driving the car so no charges were pressed against them.  More than 20 years later 2 of the teens have been killed by hanging so Gamache supspects that the dead man has been hunting the surviving teens to serve his justice but maybe they got him first.

Interesting side-note, the author wrote this novella for a programme called GoodReads Canada, which was created by national literacy organizations to publish books aimed at emerging adult readers. It is written at a grade 3 level, but for adults. Very clear, very simple. Not really the most complex plot or style, for obvious reasons.

I really enjoy Louise Penny as she has such a lovely way of describing people and situations and really finds the psychological part of the mystery.  I wish more of these were available via Kindle through the library but this one is the only one so far.  So I'll have to read the rest in traditional book form. 

Wicked Business by Janet Evanovich

Lizzy Tucker’s once normal life as a pastry chef in Salem, Massachusetts, turns upside down as she battles both sinister forces and an inconvenient attraction to her unnaturally talented but off-limits partner, Diesel.

When Harvard University English Professor and dyed-in-the wool romantic Gilbert Reedy is mysteriously murdered and thrown off his fourth-floor balcony, Lizzy and Diesel take up his twenty-year quest for the Luxuria Stone, an ancient relic believed by some to be infused with the power of lust. Following clues contained in a cryptic nineteenth-century book of sonnets, Lizzy and Diesel tear through Boston catacombs, government buildings, and multimillion-dollar residences. On their way they’ll leave behind a trail of robbed graves, public disturbances, and general mayhem.

Diesel’s black sheep cousin, Gerwulf Grimoire also wants the Stone. His motives are far from pure, and what he plans on doing with the treasure, no one knows… but Lizzy Tucker fears she’s in his crosshairs. Never far and always watching, Grimoire has a growing, vested interest in the cupcake-baker-turned-finder-of-lost-things. As does another dangerous and dark opponent in the hunt – a devotee of lawlessness and chaos, known only as Anarchy.

Treasures will be sought, and the power of lust will be unmistakable as Lizzy and Diesel attempt to stay ahead of Anarchy, Grimoire, and his medieval minion, Hatchet, in this ancient game of twisted riddles and high-stakes hide-and-seek.

This is a fun offshoot of the Stephanie Plum books - Diesel was part of the "Between the Numbers" books.  So it is fun to see him get his own series, I enjoy Lizzy but wish we saw more from Diesel's point of view as Lizzy is very much like Stephanie except instead of having a hamster she has Diesel's pet monkey and instead of being a bounty-hunter she hunts for missing artifacts (namly the 7 deadly sins) - this one is Lust.

Pompeii by Robert Harris

This fictionalized account of Pompeii is told from the eyes of Marcus Attilius Primus, an upstanding Roman engineer rushes to repair an aqueduct in the shadow of Mount Vesuvius, which, in A.D. 79, is getting ready to blow its top. Young Marcus Attilius Primus becomes the aquarius of the great Aqua Augusta when its former chief engineer disappears after 20 years on the job. When water flow to the coastal town of Misenum is interrupted, Attilius convinces the admiral of the Roman fleet-the scholar Pliny the Elder-to give him a fast ship to Pompeii, where he finds the source of the problem in a burst sluiceway.

Attilius meets Corelia, the defiant daughter of a vile real estate speculator, who supplies him with documents implicating her father and Attilius's predecessor in a water embezzlement scheme. Attilius has bigger worries, though: a climb up Vesuvius reveals that an eruption is imminent. Before he can warn anyone, he's ambushed by the double-crossing foreman of his team, Corvax, and a furious chase ensues. As the volcano spews hot ash, Attilius fights his way back to Pompeii in an attempt to rescue Corelia.

It took me awhile to really get into this book as I found the politics a bit mundain.  But I didn't expect to find such suspense as the novel literally tells the story 48 hours before the demise of Pompeii.  It has been on a my reading list for several years now and I'm glad that I finally got to it.  This is not for the faint of heart as there are some very graphic violence and torture scenes that I had to skim through.

Ice princess by Camilla Läckberg; translated from Swedish

Returning to the Swedish coastal town of Fjallbacka, biographer Erica Falck to sort through her deceased parents' belongings and work on her next book. But this is not the same hometown she grew up in. Summer tourists are turning the former fishing village into a thriving resort, and Erica's controlling brother-in-law is pressuring her to cash in by selling the family home. Erica is struggling with her childhood memories as she tries to come to term with her abupt parents death.

The apparent suicide of childhood friend Alexandra Wijkner contributes to Erica's grief. Once inseparable, they drifted apart before Alex's family abruptly moved away, and Erica feels compelled to write a novel about why the beautiful Alex would kill herself.  During the investigation she meets police detective Patrick who she knew growing up.  The initial meeting quicky developes into a passionate affair. 

The story is somewhat complicated as we see many different points of view that provide some red heerings.  A very compleling mystery series set in cold country of Sweden, which during Phoenix hot summers is refreshing.