Sunday Summary: 5 July 2015

Yesterday marked the beginning of the third week of the summer-long COYER Challenge. It also was day one of the Red, White and Blue read-a-thon, the first of five COYER read-a-thons. Originally designed to encourage readers to focus on the freebies and review books that tend to accumulate in the eReader (hence the name Clean Out Your E-Reader), this summer's event allows reading of *any* books, electronic, audio, or printed on paper. So far, I've completed 7 books in this challenge.

Since only owned books count toward the COYER Challenge, the library books I had on hand are just extras. I have entered into a number of year-long challenges, and in order to keep up with those, I will be getting some additional books from the library throughout the summer.

Where I've been reading

I'm just returning home from a week-long Road Trip! We drove from our home in Texas to Las Vegas to deliver our granddaughter back to her mother after a lovely six-week visit with her family here in Texas. Then we took off for Canyon de Chelly in Arizona and on to Cortez, Colorado. From Cortez, we traveled to Los Alamos in New Mexico, and spent an afternoon at the Bradbury Science Museum, learning more about the establishment of the laboratory and the Manhattan Project during World War II. Finally, it was time to return to our home. We spent at least four hours each day in the car—time that I mostly spent reading. (Well, I dozed some of the time.)

 

What I've been reading: Completed this week

Format: eBook
Source: borrowed from library via Overdrive
Completed: 29 June

★★★☆☆

Salvation in Death is the second book of four in the omnibus of In Death mysteries that I borrowed from the library. With the loan expiring on Monday, I had to press forward to read as many of the books as I can. I'll renew it if it's available, but I can't count on it.

In the midst of a funeral Mass, Father Miguel Flores drops dead after drinking cyanide-laced wine. Lieutenant Eve Dallas and her partner Detective Peabody are assigned the case and it falls to them to find out not only who did it and how, but more importantly, WHY.

After 27 volumes in this long-running series, the characters are well established and their own stories evolve as Eve and her homicide squad solve another murder. I love the way the personal story lines run through several episodes, providing an on-going continuity. Right now it's the upcoming wedding of Louise and Charles and the bridal shower that Eve has agreed to host. All-in-all, another solid addition to the series.

Format: eBook
Source: eGalley ARC from Penguin First to Read
Completed: 30 June

★★★☆☆

What do you think when you see an “X”? Maybe X marks the spot? Or X-ing out (crossing out) something? In X, Kinsey Millhone is hired to locate a young man recently released from prison. She later discovers that the woman who claimed to be his birth mother was lying, and she winds up in the middle of a bitter domestic dispute.

I was totally surprised and so happy to receive an e-mail from Penguin Group letting me know that I had been selected to receive an advanced reader copy of X, the twenty-fourth book in Sue Grafton's Alphabet Mysteries through their First to Read program. I'm simply thrilled!

COYER book #4

Format: eBook
Source: Gift from Kiri, September 2014
Completed: 2 July

★★★☆☆

Oh my gosh. These stories just get funnier and funnier.

Within The Treble Wore Trouble, the reader will find the usual murder mystery, along with a new choral piece for Lent, and another terrible noir mystery from the pen of Hayden Konig. Hayden Konig, chief of police, organist/choir master, and would-be author is at it again. This time he must solve a kidnapping when young Rahab Archibald FabergéDupont, infant evangelist, is taken from his crib and a $75,000 ransom demanded. Although Rahab was recovered, the kidnappers got away. Then there's the mysterious murder. (Always one of these in the Liturgical Mysteries. The per capita murder rate in St. Germaine must be the highest in the state.)

COYER book #5

Format: eBook
Source: Purchased from Amazon, March 2010
Completed: 3 July

★★★☆☆

I've read another episode of the Elm Creek Quilters series. Two of the founding members of the Elm Creek Quilters are leaving Waterford; Summer is heading to Chicago for graduate school and Judy has accepted a teaching position at University of Pennsylvania. The Winding Ways Quilt tells the stories of the Elm Creek Quiters as newly hired Gretchen and Anna join the staff of the quilting camp.

In Circle of Quilters, the reader was introduced to a number of new characters as interviews were held to find replacements for Judy and Summer.

COYER book #6

Format: eBook
Source: Purchased from Amazon, March 2010
Completed: 3 July

★★★☆☆

This is the second In Death book I read this week. I'm catching up with the series after a long break. Promises in Death picks up right after the end of the previous book. Eve is still dreading the bridal shower for Louise. She's called in to investigate a murder and discovers that the victim, Amarylis Coltraine, is a cop who was killed with her own weapon. The case becomes personal since Ammy had been seeing Chief Medical Examiner Morris.

I do have to say that I'm enjoying these books so much. I don't know why I let such a long time elapse before I picked up the next episode. (I read Creation in Death in 2012, and then returned to the series last month with Strangers in Death.)

COYER book #7

What I've been reading: In progress

The Secret Abyss is the second book in the Jack Mason Adventures, or A Steampunk Detective series. If you don't remember, Jack is an orphan who has been apprenticed to Ignatius Doyle, an eccentric London detective. Now, in this second outing, Jack, Ignatius, and Scarlett travel from London to New York, in pursuit of the arch-criminal the Chameleon. Here they uncover a plot that will bring the nation to the brink of catastrophe. Can Jack track down the Chameleon in time? And just what is the mysterious whip of fire?

In the previous volume of the Kris Longknife saga, Kris faced down hostile aliens and most of the ships in her fleet are destroyed. So, with multiple planetary governments clamoring for her head, she's sent to a backwater planet to run routine patrols. But, Kris is not content to behave herself, so soon she's on the run, hunted by military and civilian authorities.

This is the first book for the Red, White, and Blue read-a-thon.

This Week on the Blog

1. Review: The Lost Concerto
2. Stacking the Shelves (39)

 

I'm pleased to be linking up with The Sunday Post, hosted by Kimba @ The Caffeinated Book Reviewer.

 

The Sunday Post is a weekly meme hosted @ Caffeinated Book Reviewer. It’s a chance to share news~ A post to recap the past week on the blog, showcase books and things received. Share news about what is coming up on the blog for the week ahead.

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