What’s Occupying My Thoughts

It’s Read an Ebook Week, which means all sorts of ebook freebies abound.  The MobileRead forums are great at filtering the slush pile, so to speak, but here’s a good one: Kelly Hunter‘s offering her self-published novella WISH for free.  It’s no secret that I fell in love with her books last year (possible understatement there), so this is a great chance to try her writing if you haven’t already.

While on the topic of Kelly Hunter, her April release CRACKING THE DATING CODE is up on the M&B website for purchase – the only reason I’m holding off is because of the disaster I had the last time I purchased directly from M&B.  I couldn’t download the books despite trying for ages – finally got a refund and repurchased at Amazon.  Gah.  I may cave though, and see if it’s different this time around.

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If you’re following my Goodreads updates, you may have noticed I’m a tad bit preoccupied with this new author.  Just a bit.  Okay, I have totally fallen for Andrea K Höst‘s stories, so much so I may go as far as actually writing a post about them shortly.  The Touchstone trilogy pushed all the right buttons for me, while STAINED GLASS MONSTERS was the sort of YA fantasy I’ve been missing for a while.

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Free short story called ONE HELL OF A RIDE from Seanan McGuire, set in her new InCryptid world – I can’t wait to get my hands on this.  Speaking of which, there are so many new releases this month that I want – it makes up for the drought that was January and February.

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And… new Amelia Peabody!  Still a way off, but from Elizabeth Peters‘ website:

And I have started the next book. Tentative title is The Painted Queen, though that may change. It takes place during the 1912-13 season (more “keeping track” of the other books in the series). Give you three guesses as to who she is. I can’t promise when it will be finished – the mind works a little slower as time goes on! – but, I hope to turn in a manuscript this spring.

I have no words to express how thrilled I am.

2010: Recap of My Reading Year Part 1

I’ve done an annual recap of books read for the past few years running – this time around, it’s taken a bit more than usual to start writing this (possibly tied to my general lack of blogging motivation this year, you think?).  But I like revisiting my reading year – both when writing the recap and also when re-reading them months later – so, well, here we go.

January

I read 11 books in January, and actually, looking at the list of books read, there were some very good ones to start off the year.  I finished Diana Gabaldon‘s “An Echo in the Bone”, mainly by dipping in and out over a period of several weeks, which in hindsight, was the best way to finish such a massive tome.  The story was so sprawling and epic that I’ve no memory as to what the book is about now, except that I enjoyed it immensely and it had a dratted cliffhanger ending.

As for new-to-me authors, I read Sean Kennedy‘s “Tigers and Devil” (m/m romance) after seeing it appear on so many Top Books of 2009 lists, and yes, that was totally well-deserved.  I loved the Australian setting and even got to grips with Australian Rules football – I think.   Steve Kluger‘s hilariously funny yet sweet “Almost Like Being in Love” (rec’d by Nath) was another hit.  And I read my first Sarah Dessen (YA contemporary), “The Truth About Forever”, which was very definitely not my last Dessen of the year.

February

14 books read during February – unfortunately, none really worked for me until the end of the month, when I read and loved both Jacqueline Carey‘s “Naamah’s Kiss” (the first in her latest Kushiel fantasy trilogy, which held me enthralled from beginning to end) and Mary Stewart‘s “Touch Not the Cat” (romantic suspense, and one of the few books I missed during my Stewart glom back in 2008).

I read a few more Dessens, but none really as good as TTAF.  And that was about it in terms of memorable reads.

March

Nine books read over the month, including two of Seanan McGuire‘s Toby Daye books, which takes my “Best New-to-Me Urban Fantasy Series of 2010″ trophy – I have to include the new-to-me caveat, as the first book came out in 2009, but got buried in the glut of new UF releases. When I finally got around to reading “Rosemary & Rue”, I was totally captivated and promptly followed up with the second book, “A Local Habitation”.  Ms McGuire’s Faerie/San Francisco world is incredibly refreshing and real, Toby is developing into a heroine you can properly get behind (character growth, I love you), and there is Tybalt.  The King of Cats.  Ahhh.

Apart from that, I read my first Jennifer Echols, “Going Too Far” – more YA contemporary!  It was good – strong characterisation, compelling believable romance – and I wanted more.

April

I was back up to 11 books this month (as an aside, I’m surprised I was reading as much as I’ve been over the months) and it was a good one.

I loved Lisa Lutz‘s “The Spellmans Strike Again”, the latest madcap adventure in The Spellman Files books and oh-so-satisfying (character growth!), and also Patricia Briggs‘ “Silver Borne” (I have not read a lacklustre Mercy Thompson book yet).  And Jim Butcher‘s latest Dresden Files book, “Changes”, was great storytelling, as always.  Elizabeth Peters released a new Amelia Peabody (I have no words to describe how much I was anticipating this one) and while it was not one of the best Peabody books, it was just so good to revisit the whole cast of characters again.  Finally, a new-to-me author this month was Sarah A Hoyt and her “Darkship Thieves” (which Janicu has just reviewed), which was an excellent blend of space opera and romance.

Probably a good time to stop – next post, the next four months…

Books for April

I have been rather remiss in not posting this earlier, but better late than never, and it is still April…

Here are the new releases for April that are on my To Buy list (and in most cases, have already been bought and read):

 

Elizabeth Peters’ “A River in the Sky” (historical mystery): I posted about this last week when my copy arrived and I did a little dance of glee.

The latest book in the Amelia Peabody series is set chronologically before “The Falcon in the Portal”, which is one of my favourites in the series due to ermm… various romantic entanglements, shall we say?  For a change, “A River in the Sky” is not set in Egypt; instead Amelia & co are in Palestine, and while this expanded their adventures to a new locale, it also meant that I missed some of the familiar settings and characters.  All in all though, I enjoyed revisiting the Peabody family, and can only keep my fingers crossed that there is yet another installment in this series.

Out now US, April 29 UK (excerpt here)

 

Kelley Armstrong’s “Tales of the Otherworld” (urban fantasy): Another April release I have already bought, this time during my failed attempt at attending a signing.

This book collects a few more of the short stories Ms Armstrong previously published for free on her website, with all proceeds going to her chosen charity, World Literacy of Canada. I think I’ve previously read most, if not all, of these online, but it was nice to have them in a single book.  There is also a new Eve story, which appealed to me, seeing Eve is one of my favourite characters.  I would say that this collection is more for long-time fans as opposed to new readers, because of their origin as online freebies – the stories have been aimed at filling in the background of the main characters and therefore can feel somewhat open-ended if you haven’t read the full-length books.

Out now (no excerpts, but more free shorts here)

 

Sharon Lee & Steve Miller’s “Saltation” (SF):  The second in a duology (the first is “Fledgling”), which covers events only alluded to in the main Liaden storyline.  These two books are somewhat unique, as the authors serialised both online in return for reader donations, prior to selling both books to Baen.

I bought this during my little Baen ebook haul a couple of weeks back, and while I liked (and read in one sitting), I have to add a caveat that this is probably not a book for readers new to the Liaden universe, which is a shame, because I remember thinking that its prequel, “Fledgling”, was a perfect jumping-off point.  There were one too many references to off-screen (off-page?) events which would only make sense if you had read the previous books, and there is a bit of a cliff-hanger ending as the book brings you right up to the same point as the main storyline.

Oh, and I have to add a cover note: for a Baen cover, this isn’t half-bad.  I have just finished reading another Baen book that I really really liked, but had a cover that did it no favours.

Out now (excerpt here – a whole nine chapters of it)

 

Jim Butcher’s “Changes” (urban fantasy): A new Dresden Files book and yet another April release I have already read, which must make it some sort of record.

“Changes” was hyped as a turning point for the entire series, and when the first line of the book was revealed, it looked as though that would be the case.  Verdict?  As with all of his books (okay, most – I still haven’t managed to get through the first three books of this series yet), this was a good, solid fun read – he is an excellent storyteller.  However, I continue to find Harry’s love life (or what passes for it) somewhat two-dimensional; his friendships are wonderfully strong, yet his romantic relationships fail to move me.  If that changes, this would be up there as one of my all-time favourite UF series.

Out now (excerpt here)

 

Jo Beverley’s “The Secret Duke” (historical romance): Oh look, an April release I haven’t yet bought.  Not for lack of trying, I was trying to find it in ebook format, but haven’t had any luck.

You know how the most fascinating characters are usually saved for the last book?  Well, this is the third book of Ms Beverley’s Secret trilogy, and in the previous two books (“A Lady’s Secret” and “The Secret Wedding”), I have been intrigued by the Duke of Ithorne, who is the focus of this story.  This book is also part of her Malloren family series, which is set in Georgian times – I probably sound like a broken record by now, but I adore Georgian-set historicals.  And Jo Beverley excels in bringing historical settings alive in her romances.

Out now (excerpt here)

 

Finally, two April releases I may get: Mary Jo Putney’s latest historical romance, “Never Less than a Lady”, a maybe only because I haven’t yet read the first Lost Lords book – I really need to get around to it.

And the mystery anthology “Crimes by Moonlight”, edited by Charlaine Harris, and containing a “Sookieverse story”, i.e. a story set in her Sookie Stackhouse world, but not featuring Sookie herself.  I want, not just for the Harris story, but also because the lineup and theme sounds great, however, it’s a hardcover so I will probably practise patience!

Utter Glee

The new Elizabeth Peters arrived in my post today – and I have the whole weekend to savour it.

“A River in the Sky” is an Amelia Peabody book, and ever since I found out there would be a new book, I have been counting down the days.  It has been a whole four years since the last one came out, and I was pretty much resigned to never ever having a new Peabody to read again. 

I caved and ordered the US edition (left), because it’s out a whole three weeks earlier than the UK version (which is released April 29).  It is probably a good thing I don’t care much about having a matched set of books – my Amelia Peabody books are a lovely mix of US and UK (both old and new) hardbacks and paperbacks. 

It’s the inside that really counts.  And I have a mad irrational love for this series.

New Amelia Peabody!

Not exactly breaking news, but Elizabeth Peters’ website is announcing a new Amelia Peabody book “River in the Sky” to be released April 2010.

After some frantic Googling, here’s a blurb courtesy of Simpleng Kaligayahan:

Still banned from exploring the Valley of the Kings, Egyptologist Radcliffe Emerson and his intrepid amateur sleuth wife Amelia are spending a peaceful summer at their home in England. One day, the Emersons are visited by two men: Major John Morley and the Reverend Plato Pangopolous. The former wants to mount an expedition to the Holy Land; the latter is a Greek cleric on the lunatic fringe of Biblical scholarship. These two men have arrived for the same purpose: they both want Radcliffe and Amelia’s help on a daring mission to locate the fabled Ark of the Covenant!

I could not be more excited.  So… the new Megan Whalen Turner in March, a new Peabody in April, and a new Vorkosigan book in November. 

Happy days.

ETA:  Another blurb, this time with a date, courtesy of Constable & Robinson:

1910. Having brought Egypt firmly under her thumb, Amelia Peabody turns her attention to a harder challenge: Palestine, a province of the crumbling, corrupt Ottoman Empire and the Holy Land of three religions. Hearing that Morley, an English adventurer, has raised money to mount an expedition to search for the vanished treasures of the Temple in Jerusalem, Emerson and Amelia are persuaded to go after him in order to prevent a catastrophically inept excavation and the possibility of armed protest by the infuriated members of all three religions who view the Dome of the Rock as sacred. The War Office is concerned about increasing German influence in Palestine and insists that Morley is secretly working for German intelligence. Emerson doesn’t believe it, but could he be mistaken?

In the meantime, their son Ramses has been working on a dig at Samaria, north of Jerusalem, where he encounters an unusual party of travellers. One is a female German archaeologist, and the other a mysterious man of unknown nationality and unknown past. Ramses’s insatiable curiosity leads him to a startling discovery about the pair. He must now pass the information on to his parents in Jerusalem – but only if he can get there alive…

So, if the date is correct on this one, the new book is set between the events of “The Ape who Guards the Balance” and “The Falcon at the Portal”.  I was hoping for one following the events of “Tomb of the Golden Bird”, but I will very happily settle for this!

Re-Read Challenge: Elizabeth Peters’ “The Mummy Case”

I made the deadline this month!  Just.

Right, after umm-ing and ahh-ing about the choice of books, I went for an Amelia Peabody book.  Despite only stumbling onto this series relatively recently (I read the first one just over two years ago, and the first book “Crocodile on the Sandbank” was written back in 1975), I love love love this series.  I cannot describe how much I adore the Amelia books.  It is one of my all-time favourite series.  Ever.

In case you haven’t read any of these books yet (in which case, what are you waiting for?!), these are mysteries set in turn-of-the-century Egypt.  Amelia, her husband Emerson, her son Ramses, and other family members are keen archaeologists, who manage to embroil themselves in mysteries and mayhem during their annual excavations.  And yes, there is a strong romance element in these books.

I chose “The Mummy Case”, because this is the first book where Ramses (Amelia and Emerson’s son) plays a large part – and I am completely infatuated with Ramses.  This is the first time I’ve re-read TMC since finishing the Peabody series, and it was interesting to revisit these characters early on in their family life.  I wonder if Ms Peters knew where she was going to take these characters in later books when she wrote the early ones?

These books are written in Amelia’s POV, journal-style (though in later ones, Ramses and others’ POV are also included), and Amelia is on fire in this book.  Her relationship with Ramses is forefront in this one, with her attempts to conceal her pride in her son (even in her personal journal) hilarious.  And I love her matter-of-factness about things; this is a typical paragraph:

[Ramses] was also alarmingly precocious.  A lady of my acquaintance used that term to me, after Ramses, aged four, had treated her to a lecture on the proper method of excavating a compost heap (hers, in point of fact). (Her gardener was extremely abusive.)  When I replied that in my opinion, the adjective was ill-chosen, she believed me to be offended.  What I meant was the word was inadequate. “Catastrophically precocious” would have been nearer the mark. (p.6)

The running joke in this book is Emerson’s reproaches to Amelia for being undemonstrative towards Ramses, but after one of the final scenes, I don’t think he will ever accuse her of being unmaternal again!

As always, Ms Peters brings late 19th-century Egypt to life.  There is one scene when Amelia and Emerson set out to a rendezvous with a possible villain in the midst of the old city at night – incredibly atmospheric and wonderfully suspenseful.  Ms Peters’ love and knowledge of Egypt shine through in her writing and always make me want to visit Egypt – this is an example:

[The pyramids of Dahshoor] are built of white limestone, and this snowy covering exhibits bewitching changes of tint, according to the quality of light – a mazy gold at sunset, a ghostly translucent pallor under the glow of the moon.  Now, at a little past noon, the towering structures shone dazzlingly white against the deep blue of the sky. (p.132)

Ahhh… there is so much I loved about this book that I have no idea how I’m going to cover it all.  The chaos that follows young Ramses despite his parents’ best efforts, Amelia’s passion for pyramids, Emerson’s insistence that he doesn’t want to get tangled up in mysteries (hah!), the multiplying mummy cases…

Oh yes, and the ending in this book is brilliant.  Without giving too much away, Amelia and Emerson end up in what seems like a hopeless situation (and I do mean hopeless), and how Ms Peters resolves it and the aftermath is incredibly funny.

“The Mummy Case” is packed with hilarious scenes, Egyptian detail, characters that capture your heart, and a plot full of twists and turns.  This is a wonderful installment in the Amelia Peabody series, and I’m glad I chose to re-read it for this challenge.  In fact, I’ll probably continue on to the others now.

Back cover blurb:

The irascible husband of Victorian Egyptologist Amelia Peabody is living up to his reputation as ‘The Father of Curses’.  Denied permission to dig at the Pyramids of Dahshoor, Emerson is awarded instead the ‘Pyramids’ of Mazghunah – countless mounds of rubble in the middle of nowhere.  Nothing in this barren spot seems of any interest – but then a murder in Cairo changes all of that.  The dead man was an antiques dealer, killed in his shop, so when a sinister-looking Egyptian spotted at the crime scene turns up in Mazghunah, Amelia can’t resist following his trail.  At the same time she has to keep an eagle eye on her wayward son Ramses and his elegant and calculating cat and look into the mysterious disappearance of a mummy case…

The Second Quarter of 2008

In my January-March wrap up, I forgot to mention the major book-related event in January – I got my Sony Reader.  And Catherine Asaro’s “The Ruby Dice” was the first ebook I read on it.  It’s funny how that sticks in my mind.  I think the first 50 or so pages, my main thoughts were “Wow, I can actually read books on this thing” and “I hope I don’t break it”.  And then it became a non-issue and I forgot I was reading an ebook.  So yes, love love love my Sony Reader.

Anyway, continuing my rambling review of 2008…

 

April

Karen Chance’s “Embrace the Night” (UF) was one of my Top Five releases of 2008, with the other standout read being Eva Ibbotson’s “A Company of Swans” (YA romance, or at least it’s shelved in the YA section).  I’ve adored all the Ibbotson novels I’ve read to date, and this was no exception.  Lyrical writing, beautiful settings and characters she makes you care about. 

I also read the fifth book in Elizabeth Peters’ Vicky Bliss series “Night Train to Memphis” (mystery).  Ahh… John Smythe.  While I still love Amelia Peabody more, I totally understood why Vicky fans were jumping with joy at the prospect of a new VB book coming out later in the year.

Three other books I really liked were Lois McMaster Bujold’s “Passages” (fantasy, Book 3 of the Sharing Knife series), Barbara Michaels’ “Patriot’s Dream” (mystery), and Ann Aguirre’s “Grimspace” (SF romance).  The Barbara Michaels was unusual because it had two linked stories set in different timelines, one during the American Revolution and the other in contemporary times – while I loved the history focus, I didn’t think they intertwined with each other very well.

 

May

Two author gloms during this month, the first being Diana Peterfreund’s Secret Society Girl series, which I’ve already mentioned ad nauseum.  So I will restrain myself here.  Though does it qualify as a official glom if there were only two books in the author’s backlist at the time of said glom?

The second author was Mary Stewart (romantic suspense) and this definitely qualifies as a proper glom with me reading six Stewarts in May alone.  I finally decided to find out why so many bloggers love her novels, and gosh, I fell hard.  “Nine Coaches Waiting” became my favourite Stewart, until displaced by “The Ivy Tree” a month later.  I’m so fickle.

Anyway, between these two authors, I didn’t read much else during May – oh, I really liked Ilona Andrews’ “Magic Burns” (UF, Book 2 in the Kate Daniels series).  Which quite surprised me (in a good way!), because I hadn’t loved the first book in this series.  But I enjoyed MB, and can’t wait for the third.  I’m glad I like these books because – and this is going to sound really shallow – I like the covers for this series.  Heh.

 

June

And in June, I read a lot.  20 books in total – I’m not sure where I found the time actually.  Especially seeing Wimbledon was on at the same time.  Oh yeah, I remember now, it was a rather quiet time at work.  How things change.

I continued reading Mary Stewart’s backlist, five books this month including the aforementioned “The Ivy Tree”.  So good.  Even though I cheated and skipped ahead to the ending.  I know.  Curiosity killed the cat and all that.

Other standouts: Jacqueline Carey’s “Kushiel’s Mercy” (fantasy, Book 3 in the Imriel trilogy), a perfect ending to Imriel’s story.  I’m not quite sure how to describe it, but all I have to do it to read the opening lines of her books, and the way she writes, the cadence of her sentences, they instantly draw me into her world.  And I discovered Josh Lanyon’s Adrien English books (mystery / m/m romance) – he’s one of the best new-to-me writers I came across this year.  I love his writing and he has me totally invested in Adrien and Jake’s relationship.

 

So in the first half of the year, I read 83 books altogether.  It doesn’t feel like it, but I appear to have had more A reads during the first half of the year compared to the second.  I think November and December were good reading months for me, and the more recent reads are sticking in my mind.

The First Quarter of 2008

Okay, I’ve been wondering how to go about doing this, and I think I’m going to start off with a month-by-month review, based on notes made in my trusty reading spreadsheet. 

 

January

Highlights for me were Patricia Briggs’ “Iron Kissed” (urban fantasy), Eileen Wilks’ “Night Season” (urban fantasy) and Catherine Asaro’s “The Ruby Dice” (science fiction).  Now the first probably has had the most air-time (or is that blog-time), but I have much love for the other two as well. 

“Night Season” is the fourth book in Ms Wilks’ Lupi series – yes, werewolves as well, but so not Mercy Thompson.  Instead you have an equally kickass heroine in Lily Yu, a homicide detective, and a very alpha hero in Rule, the werewolf prince with a rather complicated family.

“The Ruby Dice” is the latest in Ms Asaro’s Skolian Empire series, and one that had me holding my breath up to the very end.  A very satisfying read.  If you’re a SF/Romance fan, you have to try this series.

I read 11 books in January, which was around average for me.  This included three Elizabeth Peters’ books (mystery, all standalone), so I was polishing off the rest of her backlist.

 

February 

Moving on to February, standouts for me were Julie Hyzy’s “State of the Onion” (cosy mystery), Nalini Singh’s “Mine to Possess” (paranormal romance), and Barbara Michaels’ “Stitches in Time” (mystery).

Ms Hyzy’s book was an impulse buy in a bookstore, and one that paid off in spades.  I really really liked – and moaned about the fact that not only was it the first in her White House Chef series, it was also her first cosy mystery.  Sigh.  I did note at that time that she had written a few suspense novels, which I still haven’t tracked down *checks The Book Depository and finds out that “Deadly Interest” is retailing for £20* umm… maybe not.

“Mine to Possess” was Clay and Tally’s story in Ms Singh’s Psy/Changeling series – one of the things I like most about this series is the worldbuilding and how the overall story arc is developing.

I continued reading Barbara Michaels a.k.a Elizabeth Peters backlist and “Stitches in Time” was a very spooky read.  This is loosely-linked to “Ammie, Come Home” and “Shattered Silk” – I think I preferred “Shattered Silk” best out of the three.

10 books read in total during February, but not a fantastic reading month.  I read Maria Snyder’s “Magic Study”, which *whispers* reinforced the fact that her books aren’t for me despite the overwhelmingly positive reviews elsewhere, Alexandra Potter’s “Me and Mr Darcy” my I-know-I-don’t-care-for-chicklit-so-why-do-I actually-buy-them purchase, and “My Big Fat Supernatural Honeymoon” anthology, where I only really liked three or so of the short stories (Kelley Armstrong, Jim Butcher, and PN Elrod’s).

 

March

And then March – Keishon kicked off the TBR Day challenge and I started with Lois McMaster Bujold’s “Legacy”, which I loved.  This was the first blogland challenge I’ve participated in, mainly because I’m rather lazy and anything requiring me being organised normally ends in dismal failure.  But having viewed my TBR pile with horror at the beginning of the year, I decided anything that would make me read from my TBR pile would be a good thing.  And it was – it not only made me read books I already had, it made me post about them.  I daresay without this challenge, I would have been pretty rubbish at actually writing any reviews.

I also loved Deanna Raybourn’s “Silent in the Grave” (historical mystery), which I finally picked up after reading numerous recs.  This book totally wins my best opening line award for 2008: “To say that I met Nicholas Brisbane over my husband’s dead body is not entirely accurate. Edward, it should be noted, was still twitching upon the floor.”

I read Elizabeth Moon’s fifth and final book in her Vatta’s War series “Victory Conditions” (military SF) and thought it was easily the best in the series.  I also very much liked Jo Beverley’s “A Lady’s Secret” (historical romance) and JD Robb a.k.a Nora Roberts’ “Innocent in Death” (futuristic mystery), both part of long-running series, with the latter probably longer than most.

I read 15 books in total during March, and re-reading the list of books I read makes me smile, so it was a good month.

 

Much longer than I thought this would be – and nine months left to go!

You Can Never Have Too Many Books…

I’m still around three-quarters of the way through Stephenie Meyer’s “Breaking Dawn” (am rather entertained despite the rather jaw-dropping storyline – more on this later), but yesterday was release day for some books I’ve been anticipating…

Elizabeth Peters’ “The Laughter of Dead Kings” (mystery): The long-awaited Vicky Bliss is out!  Definitely the next book I’m reading.

Ann Aguirre’s “Wanderlust” (SF romance): Ms Aguirre is running a contest – go buy her book in the next week or so, and enter to win $200 of free books.

“Enchantment Place” (fantasy):  An anthology edited by Denise Little – the theme being magical malls where you can buy anything.  I’m a sucker for these anthologies, even though I can’t remember the last time I read a short story and thought “must go read that author”.  I don’t think I’m a short story kind of person.  But yeah, couldn’t resist.

Richelle Mead’s “Storm Born” (urban fantasy):  Another release I missed off my August list (I did think it was looking a bit sparse).  I like Ms Mead’s Succubus series and this is the first book in a new series.  Err… no idea what it’s about, but am willing to give it a go!

Jayne Castle’s “Dark Light” (futuristic romance):  The last of the August releases I was planning to get.  I’ve done pretty well this month!

 

ETA: Slightly misleading post, I meant to say the Peters, Aguirre, and Castle books were released this week.  The other two are slightly older releases (still August ones though, I think!) that I bought as well.  And I also forgot to say that I got them at BooksOnBoard using the promo code New_R3lease – this gets you 25% off the purchase price for new releases August 25th to September 30th, and is valid until this Friday!

It’s Almost Here…

My “New Vicky Bliss!” entry tends to be one of the most popular posts on my blog for some reason.  Probably partly due to the fact that Ms Peters has a minimal web presence – I can’t remember the last time her website was updated! 

According to Amazon, “The Laughter of Dead Kings” will be released here in the UK a month later (Sept 25) than the US (August 26).  Bah.  I may get the ebook version because I don’t think I can hold out for one whole month.

Meanwhile, the back cover blurb is:

For the first time in more than a decade, New York Times bestselling Grand Master Elizabeth Peters brings beautiful, brainy Vicky Bliss back into the spotlight for one last investigation. But this time the peerless art historian and sleuth will be detecting in Amelia Peabody territory, searching for solutions to more than one heinous offense in the ever-shifting sands of Egypt’s mysterious Valley of the Kings.

Who stole one of Egypt’s most priceless treasures? That is the question that haunts the authorities after a distinguished British gentleman with an upper-crust accent cons his way past a security guard and escapes into the desert carrying a world-famous, one-of-a-kind historic relic. But the Egyptian authorities and Interpol believe they know the identity of the culprit. The brazen crime bears all the earmarks of the work of one “Sir John Smythe,” the suave and dangerously charming international art thief who is, in fact, John Tregarth, the longtime significant other of Vicky Bliss. But John swears he is retired—not to mention innocent—and he vows to clear his name by hunting down the true criminal.

Vicky’s faith in her man’s integrity leaves her no choice but to take a hiatus from her position at a leading Munich museum and set out for the Middle East. Vicky’s employer, the eminent Herr Doktor Anton Z. Schmidt, rotund gourmand and insatiable adventurer, decides to join the entourage.

But dark days and myriad dangers await them in this land of intriguing antiquity. Each uncovered clue seems to raise even more questions for the intrepid Vicky—the most troubling being, Where is John going during his increasingly frequent and unexplained absences? And the stakes are elevated considerably when a ransom note arrives accompanied by a grisly memento intended to speed up negotiations—because now it appears that murder most foul has been added to the equation.