Reviews: Mystery Read-A-Thon Recap

Today's Mystery read-a-thon was lots of fun. I managed to complete two books, Michael Connelly's Scarecrow and On What Grounds, the first of the coffeehouse series by Cleo Coyle. I'm half-way thru a third one, the Mint Julep Murders by Carolyn Hart. I'll finish that one tomorrow. I'd never read anything by Michael Connelly before, but that hole in my reading is going to be filled sooner rather than later. The Scarecrow had me on the edge of my chair throughout. As is probably apparent, I am a heavy internet user, and this story about bad people's ability to track, and manipulate data in the virtual world is as scary as anything Stephen King ever wrote. He almost had me pulling the plug on my laptop. It is stunningly plotted, with wonderful characters, and lots of action. A really good read. My sister pointed out the coffeehouse series to me. I am more addicted to coffee than I am to reading, if that is believable. So I really enjoyed meeting the heroine Clare Cosi, her ex-mother in law, and several other fun characters in this opening round of what promises to be a coffee loving clone of Goldi in Diane Mott Davidson's books, or Joanne Fluke's Hannah Swenson. I love them all but I'm not sure I could handle a steady diet of any of them (pardon the culinary pun.) They're all just fun reads to have around when you're in the mood for something delicious, interesting, but not too taxing. Notice I didn't say 'not too fattening' because they're all worth it just for the recipes. Finally, I'm already a fan of Carolyn Hart's Death of Demand series, but haven't read any in almost a year. Our heroine Annie Darling is embroiled again in another murder. Can't wait to see who dunnit. It was great fun to sit back today and read and listen (I did Scarecrow in audio while I kept my eye on the Red Sox and then grilled outside on a glorious Maine early summer Sunday.) I'm not sure I'm reading for another 12 hour marathon in the near future, but all the books were enjoyable, and it was a great excuse to bury my nose in them.