Recommended Reading: The Secret Place by Tana French

Looking for a good book for the weekend? Check out The Secret Place, another tale of the Dublin Murder Squad from Tana French.

In this outing, a new clue to an old murder falls into the hands of Dublin Detective Stephen Moran. The murder in question occurred on the grounds of St. Kilda's, an elite boarding school for girls; the victim was a 16-year old boy from a neighboring elite school for boys. Moran, who feels his career is stuck in the Cold Case squad, sees the clue as an opportunity to showcase his skills and possibly join the Murder Squad. The lead Murder Squad detective on the case, Antoinette Conway, sees the clue as an opportunity to solve the high profile case that is haunting her career. The pair have one day at St. Kilda's to effectively use the new information and crack the case open. Are the two detectives as wily as the teenagers they have to question?

The Secret Place is an entertaining read and my favorite Tana French book to date.  

Highly Recommended: Saints of the Shadow Bible by Ian Rankin

Inspector John Rebus is out of retirement and back on the Edinburgh police force in Saints of the Shadow Bible.  Returning to the job isn't easy.  On the one hand, the force has changed and finding a place for Rebus in the new order is difficult.  For example, he is now operating at a lower rank than when he retired, and people he used to supervise are now his superiors.

On the other hand, things one might have considered to be ancient history are getting dug up.  The police department's internal affairs investigators have begun looking into whether or not officers Rebus served with when he started on the job cut to many corners, or even committed murder.  Was Rebus involved? What does he know about possible police corruption?

What hasn't changed is that Rebus knows how to solve a case.  In between the internal affairs investigation and office politics, Rebus unravels an intriguing mystery that starts with a simple car crash and leads to bigger crimes with wider implications . . . and death.

This is a highly entertaining and absorbing police procedural.  It also weaves in interesting plot points concerning the upcoming vote in Scotland on whether or not Scotland should become independent and leave the United Kingdom.

Check out Saints of the Shadow Bible if you are looking for a great weekend read.

What are you reading this weekend?

This weekend I'm going to read Ian Rankin's Saints of the Shadow Bible. Rankin's past books featuring Edinburgh homicide detective John Rebus have been good, and Marilyn Stasio called Saints of the Shadow Bible a "terrific new procedural" in her New York Times column.  

So, that's what I'm into this weekend. You?

 

What are you reading this weekend?

I've finished reading Mohsin Hamid's excellent novel How to Get Filthy Rich in Rising Asia.  If you are looking for a weekend read, check it out.  The story is cast as a self-help book and follows the life, loves, and ambitions of an unnamed man, living in an unnamed country, as he makes his way in a new world order. A lively, engaging, and memorable story.  I now intend to go back and read the author's debut novel, The Reluctant Fundamentalist.

 

With that wrapped up, this weekend I'm turning to The Good Cop, which is the fourth installment in one of my favorite mystery series. The series is created by Brad Parks and features a protagonist named Carter Ross, an investigative reporter at the Newark Eagle-Examiner.  I love the tone of these books: mystery with a dash of levity.

That's what's on my reading agenda.  And you?