The current reading stack is now so high I've done this photo from the top down, couldn't get it to fit in on any other angle with a phone camera and a pushy cat getting in the road. They're both out of control.
But I did manage to get some of the numbers down a bit last month, and in the process read / came across some really great books and added too many new ones. Somebody should ban me from the library. And bookshops. And NetGalley.
Unbury the Dead by Fiona Hardy is the one I'm currently reading. It's more on the mystery side of crime with a setup that is really intriguing, and some great, normal, capable, wonderful female characters.
Lyrebird by Jane Caro is another one that's a tad overdue for reading, but I'm dipping into it now and it's got one hell of a setup as well.
As is the case with The Pool by Hannah Tunnicliffe - overdue but most definitely not overlooked.
On the very funny side, I've nearly got a review for A Fly Under the Radar finished - but if you want a great tongue in cheek laugh from NZ then get hold of that one. Another interesting one from the Ngaio stakes was Black Silk and Sympathy - bit of a masterclass in not letting the research (which is expanded on in an author's note) get in the road of the story.
Another one I listened to that did something most unexpected was Dead Mile by Jo Furniss. Nearly finished the audio of this in one sitting - locked room style but on a motorway in England, gridlocked after a series of terrorist attacks. Review (as is always the case with me) is coming.
Also on the unexpected list has to go Miss Caroline Bingley, Private Detective by Kelly Gardiner and Shamini Kumar. I'm no Austen fan but even I could see how cleverly this was built on top of that world, giving a tricky character a platform to work on. Particularly one for the cosy fans, and definitely one for lovers of Austen's work.
On the acquisition front - there's a new book coming out by Sulari Gentill - Five Found Dead which looks like it could be fun, on the other side of the coin, the follow up to the gut-wrenching Auē, Kataraina by Becky Manawatu arrived filling me with anticipation and a slight sense of trepidation. The second Bookshop Detectives novel - Tea and Cake and Death by Gareth Ward and Louise Ward is also out. Another on the softer side, set in NZ.
Astute followers of the Last Fortnight's update might have noticed a number of Michel Bussi books listed - a favourite French author who, ridiculously, I'd gotten behind with reading. (Mind you the same could be said for Jo Nesbo and a heap of other favourite authors) but the library had a few of Bussi's works and now they are here. Which means that the reading stack is impossible, and I may have to give up sleeping.
Keep an eye out as well for the new Darcy Tindale book - Burning Mountain due out on 29th April, the new one from Nilima Rao - A Shipwreck in Fiji and from A.W. Hammond in his excellent post WWII series, The Moscow Defector. Just when you thought it was safe to take an evening off from the books, there's also a new one from the wonderful Margaret Hickey out in July - An Ill Wind and the latest from Joanna Jenkins, The Bluff out already, early in March.
Other than that, very sad news this week about the death of Ken Bruen - an author who wrote grey, black, deep black, dark black, dark noir and was a very favourite amongst the favourite authors of mine. Vale to an absolute giant.