B is for BOOKS

Welcome back to ABC Wednesday's Round 17.  This week is brought to you by the letter B.

This week, I'd like to tell you about some great books I've read recently.  Since the school year is full of reading classics by the likes of Steinbeck, Hemingway, Dickens, Nabokov, and Shakespeare, I need to have my own type of "escape" literature.  For the past few years, I've been into the crime/mystery genre and have several series to recommend.

The first books in this genre that I read were written by Jo Nesbo, a Norwegian author and musician.  I've read all his books about Inspector Harry Hole, a tough detective working for Crime Squad and later with the National Criminal Investigation Service who struggles with alcoholism and works on solving crimes in authentic locations in Oslo and elsewhere, from Australia to the Congo Republic. Hole takes on seemingly unconnected cases, sometimes found to involve serial killers, bank robbers, gangsters or the establishment, but also spends a significant amount of time battling nightmares and his own demons.  I must emphasize that these books are enjoyed by women as well as men and aren't sleazy or anything like that.

I have also read several series in the crime/mystery genre written by British authors.  One is the series by Mark Billingham about Detective Inspector Tom Thorne, which was also a series that began in the UK in October, 2010, starring David Morrissey.  From what I've read about the TV series, I'm glad I read the books instead.  Billingham states, "As I write each new Thorne novel, I am determined that whatever is happening plot-wise, a new layer of the onion will be peeled away and reveal something about Tom Thorne that is surprising."  I can attest to that and highly recommend these books that are "un-put-down-able."

Finally, there is Peter James, an international crime thriller novelist who was born in Brighton, UK, and bases his DI Roy Grace murder mystery and thriller crime novels in this corner of the world.  They're riveting and include a little bit of romance for the detective inspector, whose wife disappeared years ago...will she ever reappear?  Read the books to find out.

There are more, but that's enough for now.  I'll save Henning Mankell's (Norway) and Amaldur Indridason's (Iceland) books for another week.  In the meantime, since being side-tracked again with a bum ankle, you can usually find me in my Adirondack-style chair on the front porch reading something!  It's nice to sit there and chat with neighbours as they come and go and let Tegan be out there with me to enjoy the lovely weather.  Until next time, thanks to Roger, our bestest administrator, to the beautiful Denise, the creator of ABCW, and the brilliant team who visit all the contributors.