Last-Month-of-the-Year COZIES TBR!

I'm just going to drop this here.  No details.  No explanation.  Other than I've slowed down reading from September to November, and am ready for some major end-of-the-year cozies.  Particularly those series I started last year and am now ready for the follow-ups.

Another J. D. Robb Golden in Death Pre-Order UPDATE

Did you guys get this email from St. Martin's Press regarding a pre-order bonus consisting of a necklace?  Oh yeah, in celebration of Golden in Death, book #50 in J. D. Robb's In Death series!  If not, let me share the images (thanks to St. Martin's Press for the download ease of them) as well as the link where you can grab one for yourself.  This is really neat, though.

According to the email, it's:

"In anticipation of Golden in Death , J.D. Robb's 50th In Death book, St. Martin's Press partnered up with Swarovski® to create a necklace that's as iconic as the series' kick-ass detective, Lieutenant Eve Dallas. This special, limited-edition necklace features Swarovski® crystals and was inspired by Roarke's beautiful gift to Eve, The Giant's Tear, and her NYPD badge, as pictured below."

You can pre-order the set of Golden in Death along with the necklace, exclusively HERE ON BOOKPALS' WEBSITE.

Golden in Death releases February 4th, 2020!

BWMW Reads ~ Author Terris McMahan Grimes's Two Theresa Galloway Books

Book #1 in Grimes's Theresa Galloway series:

Somebody Else's Child

"Theresa Galloway knows a call at three a.m. means trouble, especially when it's from her septuagenarian mother.  Mrs. Barkley, always keenly watching her deteriorating Sacramento neighborhood, phoned to report that something nasty was sure going on with an old friend next door.  And she was right.  Within hours the neighbor would be brutally murdered, and a little boy would be missing.  Theresa hates to admit it, but Mama usually does know best... until she insists Theresa has a better chance than the police to track down the killer and find the child."

Book #2 in Grimes's Theresa Galloway series:

Blood Will Tell

"Her mother said there'd be days like this, but today's shock of her life is the red-haired stranger who moved into her mother's Sacramento home, claiming to be her father's "love child."  Being an African-American career woman juggling a stressed-out husband, two kids, and a meddlesome mom who is a magnet for trouble is more than enough for Theresa–who needs a long-lost brother? 

But what really sends Theresa over the edge is when that very same young man is suddenly missing–and then turns up as a corpse."

A Peep Into J. D. Robb's In Death #51

I totally credit the website fantasticfiction.com for this (gurllll, I'm over there checking regularly).  I'll provide the link HERE.  Yet, in other words, apparently this is the 51st In Death entry coming in September of 2020.  Shadows in Death.

And you guys.  We still have the 50th entry, Golden in Death, releasing in February of 2020.  But I just learned the Barnes & Noble edition has bonus content.  The overview on the site state it as:

"This Barnes & Noble Exclusive Edition celebrates the 50th novel in J.D. Robb's In Death series with bonus content, including a personal essay from JD Robb's longtime editor and a quick look at every case in the series so far."

I'M GOING FOR THIS ONEEEEEEE AS MY PRE-ORDER!

Bless you, J. D. Robb.  Just... bless you.

Oh, yeah.  Remember to peep my selfie in the fan collage behind the dust-jacket of Golden in Death. :)

2020 Mystery Series Catching Up List

Hi, folks.  I wrote this list in Google Docs and just wanted to share it.  I have GOT to get these series under control.  With that said, while I won't say this listing is "tentative" I will stretch around when needed.  This is from just one single shelf–out of four.  I also want to focus on this list to see what's going to stick around and what isn't. 

2020 Mystery Series Catching Up List

1st BOOK SHELF

I’m making this list because I’m tired of myself starting a new series, while having series I already need to read hanging around my shelves.  

This list will be used to help me stay focused!  Other genres in-between will come as well.

Mrs. Murphy Series by Rita Mae Brown

Book #13: Cat’s Eyewitness

Book #14: Sour Puss

Book #15: Puss N’ Choots

Book #16: The Perrfect Murder

(The rest of the series I’ll check out from the library)

John Le’ Carre Smiley Spy Series

Book #3 The Spy Who Came Out of the Cold

Book #4 The Looking Glass War

Stand-Alone: A Small Town in Germany (This’ll be my first read)

Suzanne Arruda’s Cameron Del African Series

It is vital that I finish this series this year.  I only have five books left to read.  The last two I’ll have to order.  Nevertheless, I must finish this series in 2020.

Book# 3: The Serpent’s Daughter

Book #4: The Leopard’s Prey

Book #5: Treasure of the Golden Cheetah

(I have to order the following two for my personal library.  Will not do until I’m done with BOOK #5)

Book #6: The Crocodile’s Last Embrace

Book#7: Devil Dance

Elizabeth George’s Inspector Lynley Series

Book #3: Well-Schooled in Murder

I have to either order or check out the following books in this series.  I’m still in limbo about my approach with this series.  Maybe after I wrap up a few other series will I come back to this one.

Nikki Bakker’s Virginia Kelly Series

(Will be completed with these three books)

Book #2: The Lavender House

Book #3: The Long Goodbye

Book #4: The Ultimate Exit Strategy

Charlotte Carter’s Nanette Hayes Series

(Will be completed with these two books)

Book #2: Rhode Island Read

Book #3: Drumsticks

Tanya Huff’s Torin Kerr Series

(Will be completed with these three books)

Book #1: An Ancient Peace

Book #2: A Peace Divided

Book #3: The Privilege of Peace

Tony Hillerman’s Joe Leaphorn/Jim Chee Series

(Really excited to continue forward in this series.  I will not buy the following 3-book collection UNTIL I finished the one I currently am up-to-date with)

Book #4: People of Darkness

Book #5: The Dark Wind

Book #6: The Ghostway

Elizabeth Peter’s Amelia Peabody Series

This is probably going to take the longest.  I have all the remaining books in this series, and they’re all long-winded reads.  But, if able, maybe I can finish this series in 2020.  It’s possible with nine books left.  One or two books a month, perhaps?

Book #13: Lord of the Silent

Book #14: The Golden One

Book #15: Children of the Storm

Book #16: Guardian of the Horizon

Book #17: The Serpent on the Crown

Book #18: Tomb of the Golden Bird

Book #19: A River in the Sky

Book #20: The Painted Queen

I will focus on these series for the time being.  That is before starting any new series.

CHOP IT UP: The Little Death by Michael Nava (Henry Dios Mystery #1)

Published in 1986, The Little Death is the first book in Michael Nava’s Henry Rio legal mystery series. Henry Rios is a gay, Latino public defender based out of San Jose. At the opening of The Little Death he acquires a case involving of a young socialite named Hugh Paris. Hugh has found himself arrested for being under the influenced of PCP as well as in possession of it. Which turned into an arrest and battery of an officer situation for him. During Rio’s prodding toward building Hugh's case, the two become lovers. Until Huge turns up dead underneath a bridge.

A budding companionship soured by death; with a few bizarre family-related clues in hand, Rio begins to question Hugh's death. And it's here where Rio unravels dark, generation-long secrets surrounding Hugh's family. These secrets involve the wealth and control behind the patriarchal governing of the Paris family. With, of course, many resulting family murders to unbury.

The character of Henry Rios is a direct reflection of the author, Michael Nava, himself. Both identify as gay. Both are Latino. And both are attorneys. All three landed me this book into my "trust" box. I knew the author was going to give it to me straight (no pun intended) from all three angles. Yet, the glowing reason I wanted to read this book was because of the gay lead element in a mystery series.

Let's Buy Some Newly Released Mystery Books!

Judge Me When I'm Wrong (A Charlie Mack Motown Mystery) by Cheryl A. Head

"When a guilt-ridden client has an unexpected change of heart, the Mack team’s careful preparation for his grand jury testimony is blown to smithereens. Now, Charlie and Gil must pull out all the stops to defend him from his new enemies and the estrangement of his father. Meanwhile, Charlie reports for jury duty and unwittingly begins to unravel a disturbing plan to alter the outcome of a crime lord’s conspiracy trial. Before she knows it, Charlie’s dangerous meddling lands a bull’s-eye squarely on the intersection of her personal and professional lives, putting all that she holds dear in jeopardy."

Motherless Child (An R. J. Franklin Mystery Book 2) by V. M. Burns

"When John Paul Rollins is murdered during his niece’s wedding reception, Detective RJ Franklin quickly realizes this case is going to be anything but routine. The list of people who wanted him dead includes just about everyone he’s ever known including the bride and groom. Can RJ put his personal feelings behind him and catch a killer?"

Bookmarked for Murder (Mystery Bookshop #5) VM Burns

"Amateur sleuth Samantha Washington’s shopping trip to Chicago takes a deadly detour when a man is murdered on her bus . . .

{Screws 'N' Bolts} On Lending Out Books

CHOP IT UP: Alibis & Angels by Olivia Matthews (Sister Lou Cozy Mystery #3)

CHOP IT UP: Peril & Prayer by Olivia Matthews (Sister Lou Cozy Mystery #2)

3 Mystery Book Romances I'm LOVING

{FauxCast} CHOP IT UP: Mum's the Word by Kate Collins

50 Pages a Day Keep the Good Reading... I Don't Know What Goes Here...

What’s on my reading plate after abandoning half of my October TBR?

SHELL GAME BY SARA PARETSKY

"When V.I. Warshawski gets word that her close friend and mentor Lotty Herschel’s nephew has become a murder suspect, the legendary detective will do everything to save him. The cops found Felix Herschel’s name and phone number on the unknown victim’s remains, but Felix insists he doesn’t know why. Soon Vic discovers that the dead man was obsessed with Middle Eastern archaeology—the first clue in a bewildering case. 

But the trouble multiplies when Vic’s long-lost niece, Reno, goes missing. Reno is harboring a secret that may cost her her life. V.I. can hear the clock ticking on her niece’s safety and is frantic in her efforts to find her. She won’t leave any stone unturned until these very personal cases are cleared—a complex investigation that will entangle the Russian mob, ISIS backers, rogue ICE agents, a nefarious corporation preying on the poor, and a shady network of stock scams and stolen antiquities stretching from Chicago to the East Indies and the Middle East."

Mystery Books Pet Peeves: Friends, Family & Pets Edition

Keeping the Sister Lou Momentum Going With Her Final Case, Alibis & Angels

"With the Lenten season fast approaching, Sister Louise “Lou” LaSalle looks forward to a final day of indulgence before giving up her favorite sweets. But one Briar Coast resident won’t get the chance to repent. Opal Lorrie, the mayor’s director of finance, was just found in the parking lot of the Board of Ed--with a broken neck. 

The sheriff’s deputies are calling the apparent slip-and-fall a freak accident. But Opal was driving her boss’s car and wearing her boss’s red wool coat. Mayor Heather Stanley has been receiving threatening letters and is clearly the real target. Offering her sanctuary could put the Congregation of the Sisters of St. Hermione of Ephesus at risk, but how can Sister Lou turn her back on a neighbor in need? Aided by her loyal sleuthing partners—her well-connected nephew Chris and reporter Shari Henson—Sister Lou must confront the mayor’s myriad detractors during this critical election year. And as the first day of April nears, it’s up to her to unmask an unrepentant killer who has everyone fooled."

Having recently read book two in Olivia Matthews’s Sister Lou cozy series, Peril & Prayer, I've decided to wrap up the series as a whole. I’m having a “what the hee-haw let’s read the third and final book while the gas is on” moment. And one must indulge such impulses. Besides, this has been a year of settling old debts with my favorite lane of reading: black women crime writers. And by “debts” I mean wrapping up many of the series I’ve been reading on and off again throughout the years. As, of course, seen in my August 2019 TBR.

Where Has this Interview with Mrs. Sue Grafton BEEN for SIX Years!?

{FauxCast} CHOP IT UP: Abby Cooper, Psychic Eye by Victoria Laurie

More Hillerman with a Good Ole Jim Chee Collection

What I got in the mail yesterday! Yay! Finding Hillerman's three-Leaphorn-books-in-one collection at the FotL sale last weekend got me thirsting. So I had to order the follow-up collection containing the next three books in the Leaphorn series. Yet, People of Darkness (book 4), The Dark Wind (book 5) and The Ghost way (book 6) introduce Hillerman’s other Native American detective, Jim Chee. Which was always fine and cool with me, but...

...I was always curious why the first three books were Leaphorn-led. Then how the following three books were for Hillerman's Jim Chee detective. Later down the series the two become a team. Still what was behind this move? In this video, the late Hillerman breaks down why the difference.

I can see myself grabbing these Jim Chee stories now. I can taste it now. Navajo reservations. Native American culture. A murder mystery with mystic themes. Setting. Setting. Setting. And, well, this is what I’ve been craving.

The Irresistible 25-Cent Friends of the Library Sale This Weekend

The timing couldn’t be more than perfect. I spent the latter of Saturday morning prowling around the public library’s 25-cent book sale. Who could resist? Who does resist? Plus, earlier that morning, I returned a few new releases and detoxed a shelf. So why not see what one can pick up for 25-cent? :)

Contents Under Pressure is the first book in Edna Buchanan’s Miami-based crime reporter, Britt Montero, mystery series. I had it for years in mass market; spotted this hardcover, and made the exchange.

More male crime writers are on my reading agenda. Having never read a Le Carra British spy novel, this three-book collection seems fitting. The Spy Who Came in from the Cold is the third book in Le Carra’s Smiley series. While The Looking Glass War is the 4th. A Small Town in Germany is a stand-alone. These books released in the ’60s. Another edge of interest and joy for something new to taste.

I could have screamed when I spotted this book containing the first three books in Tony Hillerman’s Joe Leaphorn series. I checked out an exact copy from my library back in June, and read each story back-to-back in less than a week. Matter-of-fact, I read the first book, The Blessing Way, in less than five hours. So when I saw this at the sale for 25-cent, I snatched it and held it close for my personal library. Now I need to get the follow-up omnibus collection to continue Leaphorn’s stories. My excitement for finding this particular book is an understatement.

While I looked around at the sale, nothing else really caught my attention.  So I left it at this.  Adding the Hillerman book to my personal library was worth it all! Serendipity at its finest!

When I Buy a New Release That's Not Working...

...THIS HAPPENS...

1. Reputable author (in my eyes) has a new release; a stand-alone from her usual crime fiction series, though still a thriller/mystery

2. About 60 pages in to a vanilla story with a vanilla cast to a vanilla formula to a vanilla (instant) romance

3.  After being burned by another reputable-in-my-eyes author this year

4.  This is WHY I ALWAYS keep my receipt in the back of the book

She's out of here.  I don't care if Tess Gerritsen wrote this book.  I learned my lesson last month reading a stand-alone book from Nevada Barr.  Absolutely NO more stand-alone books from my favorite mystery authors.  From now on, either we're sticking with his or her series or not sticking at all.