Here's the first book I've finished reading during my recuperation:
A Crafty Killing is Lorraine Bartlett's first in her new Victoria Square Mystery series. It's in the cozy mystery genre - amateur protagonist, no violence on the page - and works wonderfully. Katie Bonner finds herself manager of Artisans Alley in Victoria Square, a fictional village in New York State, after her husband dies and his business partner shows up dead. She ends up figuring out the murder and improving the business prospects for Artisans Alley at the same time. The book is published by Berkley Prime Crime. As usual, Lorraine paints colorful, fleshed-out characters, places us in a delightful and sometimes spooky setting, and tells a great story. This promises to be series that leaves you eager for the next installment.
Lorra
ine also writes as Lorna Barrett. She has a very successful series -- that is, NYT Bestseller-kind of success -- the Booktown Mysteries, also published by Berkley. I've read all the currently published volumes and can't wait to read the next. And she has her Jeff Resnick series under the name LL Bartlett, which I haven't gotten to yet.
Lorraine's a busy woman - did I also mention she blogs daily at Dazed and Confused? I recommend anything she's written.
In my regular life, I don't make enough time to read unless I'm on vacation. What, how can you not read, you might ask. Oh sure, I read, in between commuting, working, exercising, cooking, and spending a little time with my dearly beloved. I read the daily Boston Globe, the weekly Ipswich Chronicle, and the New Yorker, especially when I get to the gym and prop it up on the elliptical strider.Books? I'm lucky if I finish one novel per week.Now that I'm home full time with a back healing from major surgery, severe warnings that I'm not to lift, bend, or twist, and energy only for slow strolls up and down my street, I finally have time to read as much as I want to. My stack of To-Be-Read books from mystery writer friends is gradually shrinking. I have books on request from the library. I even have the time and space to read a non-fiction book. I usually read non-fiction essays only in the New Yorker. And when a friend asked if I'd read the draft of her family history, I could freely say, "I'd love to," instead of worrying that I'd never find the time.
This is a gift! I'm going to share the gift with you by chronicling here what I'm reading, and plan include a short review of each book. It's still hard to sit at the computer for very long, so I'll try to do one book per day.
Stay tuned for the following:
- A Crafty Killing by Lorraine Barlett
- Come and Find Me by Hallie Ephron
- The Scent of Rain and Lightning by Nancy Pickard
- The Girl I left Behind by Judith Nies
- Who Wrote the Book of Death? by Steve Liskow
- A Single Deadly Truth by John Urban
If you've read any of these, please leave a comment and let me know what you thought.
A Crafty Killing is Lorraine Bartlett's first in her new Victoria Square Mystery series. It's in the cozy mystery genre - amateur protagonist, no violence on the page - and works wonderfully. Katie Bonner finds herself manager of Artisans Alley in Victoria Square, a fictional village in New York State, after her husband dies and his business partner shows up dead. She ends up figuring out the murder and improving the business prospects for Artisans Alley at the same time. The book is published by Berkley Prime Crime. As usual, Lorraine paints colorful, fleshed-out characters, places us in a delightful and sometimes spooky setting, and tells a great story. This promises to be series that leaves you eager for the next installment. 
ine also writes as Lorna Barrett. She has a very successful series -- that is, NYT Bestseller-kind of success -- the Booktown Mysteries, also published by Berkley. I've read all the currently published volumes and can't wait to read the next. And she has her Jeff Resnick series under the name LL Bartlett, which I haven't gotten to yet. 
