Waiting on Wednesday (48)

"Waiting On" Wednesday is a weekly event, hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine, that spotlights upcoming releases that we're eagerly anticipating. So here's a thing I'm looking forward to: The Late Scholar, by Jill Paton Walsh (17 June 2014).

Peter Wimsey is pleased to discover that along with a Dukedom he has inherited the duties of 'visitor' at an Oxford college.When the fellows appeal to him to resolve a dispute, he and Harriet set off happily to spend some time in Oxford. But the dispute turns out to be embittered. The voting is evenly balanced between two passionate parties - evenly balanced, that is, until several of the fellows unexpectedly die.The Warden has a casting vote, but the Warden has disappeared.  And the causes of death of the deceased fellows bear an uncanny resemblance to the murder methods in Peter's past cases - methods that Harriet has used in her published novels.

*****

As fanfic goes, these novels are pretty great. Paton Walsh has a great ear for the period, and makes her characters really seem like they would fit into any of the original novels by Sayers. I've enjoyed all three of her ventures into Wimseyana, and the last most of all; so I'm anxious to get my hands on this one.

Waiting on Wednesday (47)

"Waiting On" Wednesday is a weekly event, hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine, that spotlights upcoming releases that we're eagerly anticipating. So here's a thing I'm looking forward to: Blood Red, by Mercedes Lackey (3 June 2014).

Ten years ago, Gretchen Schwarzwald was orphaned by an evil Earth Master who wanted her parents' land and killed them all with the werewolves he created. She was rescued by a Fire Master, a member of the Woodsman's Lodge, and taught how to use her own Fire Powers. Now another werewolf pack is ravaging Exmoor, and she has come from the Schwarzwald--the Black Forest of Germany--to help London's White Lodge eradicate it and find and destroy the Elemental Master behind it.

*****

I always enjoy this series. I generally like them a bit better when I have to work a little to figure out which fairy tale she's riffing on, and here we're told right up front that it's Little Red Riding Hood; but at least it looks like Gretchen is already a competent mage, so this won't be yet another variation on the theme of "young woman finds out she has magic and must learn to use it," the way the last several entries have been.

Waiting on Wednesday (46)

"Waiting On" Wednesday is a weekly event, hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine, that spotlights upcoming releases that we're eagerly anticipating. So here's a thing I've been looking forward to for a long time: Skin Game, by Jim Butcher (27 May 2014).

Harry Dresden, Chicago's only professional wizard, is about to have a very bad day. As Winter Knight to the Queen of Air and Darkness, Harry never knows what the scheming Mab might want him to do. Usually, it’s something awful.

He doesn’t know the half of it…

Mab has just traded Harry’s skills to pay off one of her debts. And now he must help a group of supernatural villains—led by one of Harry’s most dreaded and despised enemies, Nicodemus Archleone—to break into the highest-security vault in town, so that they can then access the highest-security vault in the Nevernever. Worse, Dresden suspects that there is another game afoot that no one is talking about. And he's dead certain that Nicodemus has no intention of allowing any of his crew to survive the experience. Especially Harry.

*****

This is Book 15 in a projected 20 or so, to be followed up by what the author promises will be an "apocalyptic trilogy" (because everybody like apocalyptic trilogies, amirite?) to cap off the series. So we're well into the part of the series where things have already gotten pretty bad but are still getting worse, and not yet to the part where we might begin to see some glimmers of a resolution. 

Still, it's always fun (for the reader, anyway) to watch Harry Dresden have a bad day.

Waiting on Wednesday (45)

"Waiting On" Wednesday is a weekly event, hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine, that spotlights upcoming releases that we're eagerly anticipating. So here's a thing I'm looking forward to: Fatal Enquiry, by Will Thomas (13 May 2014).

Some years ago, Cyrus Barker matched wits with Sebastian Nightwine, an aristocrat and sociopath, and in exposing his evil, sent Nightwine fleeing to hide from justice somewhere in the far corners of the earth. The last thing Barker ever expected was to encounter Nightwine again - but the British government, believing they need Nightwine's help, has granted him immunity for his past crimes, and brought him back to London. Nightwine, however, has more on his mind than redemption - and as Barker and Llewellyn set out to uncover and thwart Nightwine's real scheme, they find themselves in the gravest danger of their lives.

*****

I really liked all the books in this series, and I was afraid he'd stopped writing them. But after a gap of six years from the last installment, here's a new one! Highly recommended for fans of Sherlock Holmes, especially those like me who feel that most modern stories using Holmes and Watson don't get the characters quite right; these novels avoid that problem by using different characters in a similar setting.

Waiting on Wednesday (44)

"Waiting On" Wednesday is a weekly event, hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine, that spotlights upcoming releases that we're eagerly anticipating. So here's a thing I find I'm looking forward to: Ragtime Cowboys, by Loren D. Estleman (6 May 2014.)

Los Angeles, 1921: Ex-Pinkerton Charlie Siringo is living in quiet retirement when Wyatt Earp knocks on his door and asks him to track down his missing horse. What begins as horse thievery turns into a deeper mystery as Siringo and another ex-Pinkerton, the young Dashiell Hammett, follow clues that take them from the streets of Los Angeles to Jack London's farm, until they discover a conspiracy masterminded by the notorious and powerful Joseph P. Kennedy. From beginning to end, these ragtime cowboys chase the truth in this compelling tale of the Old West and early Hollywood.

*****

I'm not usually a big reader of Westerns, though I got through most of Louis L'Amour one summer in college; but I love stories like this, which show the icons of the Wild West living on well into the 20th century. This one seems to have a lot more going on than a missing horse, and sounds like a lot of fun.