Reading Recommendations

Not too long ago, I read a book called Moriarty by Anthony Horowitz. It led me to read a few of his other books. In this first blog, I wrote about it:

I did read his Sherlock Holmes book, which I really enjoyed. Here is the blog about that:

I have come to really enjoy Anthony Horowitz’s books a lot. I have especially enjoyed his Hawthorne/Horowitz novels. They are very Sherlock Holmes/Dr. Watson-ish in that Horowitz is the Watson character and Hawthorne is the Holmes character. They are very well written murder mysteries. I started with the first book – The Word is Murder. Next in the series is The Sentence is Death.

That was followed by A Line To Kill.

I just finished that one and so far, it was my favorite.

I ordered the fourth book in the series from the library, but it hadn’t come in yet, so I grabbed another one of his books. The Magpie Murders.

This was an interesting read. It begins with a woman publisher who is handed a book from an author. She states that the book changed her life. In order for the reader to understand why, you read the book. So it is a book within a book. The catch is that the final chapters to the author’s book are missing. The author dies and the publisher sets out to find them and the things she discovers are all very familiar to what she read. The way things all come together was actually neat and satisfying.

(Personal note: I was kind of happy that I actually guessed the murderer correctly!)

The fourth Hawthorne book (above) is now in my possession and I will read after I finish the one I am currently reading. I hope it will be as exciting as the ones I have read from him already. I plan on reading more of his stuff for sure.

Turning Pages

I often question whether I should post about books I read. Then I remember that more often than not, I only read that book because some blogger I follow posted about it!

Now I understand that just because someone praises a book doesn’t mean I will enjoy it. If, however, it sounds like something I find interesting, I will pick it up. That’s what happened with the latest book I just finished.

I don’t recall who suggested it, but the title caught my attention. As a fan of Sherlock Holmes, I recognized the name of his arch nemesis. Sure, enough, that is who the title is referring to.

I found out after I had the local library order it for me that he has actually been commissioned by the estate of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle to write a new Sherlock Holmes mystery. It was called House of Silk (which I have on order from the library now).

Moriarty takes place after Holmes and Moriarty are “killed” at Reichenbach Falls. A Pinkerton Security man arrives to investigate something connected with Moriarty. He meets a man from Scotland Yard who is working a case closely connected with him too.

At any rate, Sherlock is mentioned in the book, but is not a character. It did not take away from a good story. I found it entertaining enough to not only order the Sherlock Holmes story from the library, but to pick up another one of the author’s books. I am reading that one right now.

It starts with a woman who walks into a funeral home and pays for and plans her entire funeral. Six hours later she is murdered. That was enough to hook me. I just started it, but so far I am enjoying it.

I hope that the Sherlock story will be as good as Moriarty. You never know what you are going to get when you have a new author writing for a familiar character.

In the past that has worked. I enjoyed the new Columbo novels, the new Perry Mason stories, and hope the Sherlock one is just as good.

We’ll see….