Well-crafted police procedurals in a fascinating location. The Shetland Islands are a group of islands north of Scotland, about as close to Norway as they are to Scotland, and the history and culture of the islands has elements of both countries.

Ann Cleeves has written several mystery series - probably the best known are her Inspector Ramsay and Vera Stanhope series, the latter of which has been made into a British TV series. So far, I've only read her Shetland series, but I intend to take a look at her other books at some point, since I like her writing quite well. She writes fully-fleshed believable characters, lyrical descriptions of place, and deftly plotted mysteries that engage to the end.

These are the titles in the Shetland Island series:

1. Raven Black (2006)
2. White Nights (2008)
3. Red Bones (2007)
4. Blue Lightning (2010)
5. Dead Water (2013)
6. Thin Air (2014)

I will check if her books are in my library. Since I am on the cusp of retirement I am trying to use the library more than Amazon or even Half Price Books. But my son gave me a Half Price gift card so I will be buying some books. Oh where or where can I put them.

so I have a choice of learning how to download an ebook from the library or getting them to send the print one over. I can't find on the library web site how to do ebooks. The only reader I have is Amazon's Kindle reader app for MAC.

I imagine that your librarian could help you over the phone - surely they get questions all the time about how to download e-books?

Either way you end up reading it, I hope you enjoy it!

I bought a couple of Blues guitar cds and found an Ann Cleeves book, The Mill on the Shore. It was published in 1994 of a series featuring Molly and George Palmer-Jones PIs.

Last edited Thu Jan 1, 2015, 09:40 AM - Edit history (1)

I am still reading The Color of Lightning by Paulette Jiles. Feels like 19th Century Texas/Oklahoma. I went from reading two books per week to reading one book every two weeks. Not good.

Mrs. Enthusiast is reading Die a Stranger by Steve Hamilton. She is loving this one.

Fantastic Fiction has a useful feature. On the author's page they have a section of books the author recommends. I have read several of the books recommended by Carl Hiaasen and Stephen King. I checked out the books recommended by Tana French. All the books recommended by Tana French sound worthy. We bought one— Tomorrow River by Lesley Kagen. Mrs. Enthusiast read Tomorrow River this past week and she can't wait for me to read it. Wow!

probably read it again. I don't know what this genre is called, but I think of it as Literary Western, in the same class with Lonesome Dove, and it is absolutely hands-down my favorite. If you know of others, please recommend.

I finally finished Alice Hoffman's The Museum of Extraordinary Things and really enjoyed it. I'm now about 1/4 into Anthony Doerr's All the Light We Cannot See. The writing is simply beautiful.

I recommended it to my cousin reader. The Color of Lightning might not be for everyone. But it was our kind of story.

Nice to hear from you. Have a Happy New Year!

I expect Mrs. Enthusiast will read it first. I am getting behind in my reading.

from the library today. It's 650+/- pages. I might have to renew it more than once.

I was just blown away by it.

THis book, The Mill on the Shore is not one of the Shetland Island series but it is very good. I'm returning to work for 1 day after a long vacation. I will check at the library of other Cleeves' books and if I can download a ebook on my MAC. Gotta keep learning.

I definitely want to look into her earlier works, myself. The Palmer-Jones series looks fun, The Mill on the Shore is #7 out of that series. I wonder if any of them are still available out of the library - that series was published between 1986 and 1996, so they may be hard to find outside of used book stores. You probably made a very lucky score!

I'm reading "I Am Pilgrim" by Terry Hayes.

So, what do you think of it? Would you care to comment on it?

It's pretty good so far, and I'm sure I'll finish it, even though it's fairly long. I had a few recommend it to me, and I had read some very, very positive reviews and comments about it. Some even called it the best book of 2014, but one sees that thrown around a lot. Lots of positive comments at amazon, goodreads, and other places. And, when I read that Jimmy Fallon said it was the best book he'd read since Gone Girl, well, I just had to check it out. Lol!
http://www.ew.com/ew/gallery/0,,20326356_20878810_30260659,00.html

but with the holidays I fell behind and it had to be returned to the library. I was really liking it!

are Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets and a romance by Sarah MacLean. I am very late to the Harry Potters, but I can see why they were so popular.

Sarah Addison Allen has a new book out this month, and I always enjoy her books. I'm also looking forward to the sequel to Red Rising by Pierce Brown.

My husband has been reading the Peter Grant series by Ben Aaronovitch. They are supernatural police novels. This is the first one:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0575097582/ref=s9_simh_gw_p14_d0_i6?pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_s=desktop-1&pf_rd_r=1R7ZVX9WFX01JQNAXX9Y&pf_rd_t=36701&pf_rd_p=1970559082&pf_rd_i=desktop