Louis L'Amour, Milo Talon. A western mystery! A tangled, twisted web that had me completely confused and frustrated and glued to the book until I finished it. Something fresh and new from Mr. L'Amour, who rarely fails to satisfy.
Anne Perry, Ashworth Hall. A little too political and conspiracy-theory-riddled for me, and I felt the denouement lacked clarity and was a bit unsatisfying. Also, I thought Charlotte's whole subplot was a distracting tangent that she would not have gone on ... but I liked the focus on the secondary characters and several of the subplots.
L.M. Montgomery, Anne's House of Dreams. I don't believe I've read this one since Matthew died, and I found the latter half of the book more meaningful than I used to. It's a bit more Anne-focused than many of the other books of the series, and the supporting characters are interesting and well-drawn.
Martin H. Greenberg, ed., Murder Most Confederate. Well, this was a disappointment. I was excited to read it, thinking I might get some interesting ideas for a book I've been toying with, and since I like a good mystery, was hoping there would be a few. Across the board, these stories were just dreadful. Some were poorly written (either way too purple in the prose or simply riddled with bad grammar), many were poorly researched (apparently knowledge of the period wasn't a prerequisite to publish in the book), others were simply unimaginative (one whole story was lifted directly from real life without only the feeblest attempt to disguise it), and, worst of all - very few of them were actually murders! Many were supernatural-esque, others were the trials of war, and only a few had any hint of mystery. SUCH a disappointment.
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