Sybil's Summer Reading 2019

I’ve been doing a lot of reading this summer. Almost all fiction, which is unusual for me. In the past, I’ve split my reading pretty evenly between fiction and non-fiction. Part of the reason, I think, is that I have a stack of books I’ve gotten at various mystery conferences over the past few years and, well, I’m rather tired of having that large a stack that I haven’t read.

Here are my highlights from my reading so far:

I’ve been reading a lot of books by Camille Minichino. She writes under her own name as well as Ada Madison, Jean Flowers and Margaret Grace. I’ve been on panels with Camille and she is a delight. I also admire her. She got her PhD in Physics at a time when there weren’t many women in the field. Okay, there probably still aren’t very many women in the field. I’ve sampled all of her series and they are all great reads. My particular favorites, though, are her Sophie Knowles mystery series written as Ada Madison, featuring a mathematics professor, and her Postmistress mystery series written as Jean Flowers.

I’ve also been enjoying a lot of middle grade mysteries. Yeah, I know, I'm not the target demographic. Still, adults can enjoy them too! My favorites in the middle grade world are the Moon Base Alpha series. They are fun reads with a lot of interesting characters and situations that occur on the first moon base. I know I’m enjoying a book when I gasp as I’m reading and say no, no, no!

In the historical mystery area, I’ve enjoyed Heat Wave by Maureen Jennings, Art in the Blood by Bonnie MacBird and Dangerous to Know by Renee Patrick. Heat Wave is a new series for Jennings set in the 1930s. (She’s the author of the Murdoch Mystery series.) Art in the Blood is the first of a new Sherlock Holmes series. I bought it at the California Crime Writers Conference in June, largely based on the cover. Thoroughly enjoyed reading it. Dangerous to Know is set in the 1930s and features the famed costume designer Edith Head.

Probably my favorite of all though is The Skeleton Makes a Friend by Leigh Perry. I just love the Family Skeleton series, one of the few that I’d read over and over and over again.

There’s still more of summer left and I have a lot to read still. What have you been reading lately?

My Year In Books, 2017

It’s time for my annual reading wrap-up, although a little delayed.

In 2017 I read 81 books, 5 more than last year, most of them mysteries and non-fiction though I did branch out to some horror/ghost stories and general fiction.

2017 was the year I discovered Marla Cooper’s Kelsey McKenna Destination Wedding Mysteries as well as Emily James Maple Syrup Mysteries and continued my love affair with Alyssa Maxwell’s Gilded Newport Mystery series.

My two favorites in the traditional/cozy mystery category are The Elusive Elixir by Gigi Pandian and The Skeleton Paints a Picture by Leigh Perry.

They’re both great books (and series) with good characters, but what makes me love them the most are Dory, the living gargoyle in Gigi Pandian’s series, and Sid, the living skeleton, in Leigh Perry’s series. They have such wonderful personalities that I want Dory to come to my house and cook vegan food for me (yes, a gargoyle that’s a vegan chef!) and I want Sid to come over and watch movies with me. I love Sid so much that I named a skeleton in the book I’m currently finishing up after him.

I read a lot of interesting non-fiction this past year including The One-Cent Magenta by James Barron (who knew a stamp could be so fascinating?), One Summer: America, 1927 by Bill Bryson and The Lost City of Z by David Grann (more interesting than the movie).


I even read some general fiction, something I rarely do. A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles is my favorite in this category. I was surprised at how much I enjoyed it. I can see it as a film, one I’d watch repeatedly.

That’s my book wrap-up for the year. As usual, I have stacks of books around the house and a slew of them on my Kindle, waiting to be read, but I'm always looking for suggestions.

In other news: The audio versions of the first two books in my Aurora Anderson Mystery series (Fatal Brushstroke and Paint the Town Dead) are now available from Tantor Audio! They’re both read by the wonderful Vanessa Daniels. You can check them out here: Fatal Brushstroke  and Paint The Town Dead 

My Year in Books, 2016

It’s almost the end of the year. Time for my annual reading wrap up. I’ve always believed a writer should read as much as possible – both good and bad. You can learn a lot from reading both.

So far this year I've read 76 books (13 of them non-fiction, all but 3 of the rest crime fiction of one variety or another). There’s still a few days left in the year. I suspect I’ll get another 2 or 3 read.

During the year, I visited old friends and discovered new ones. In the old friends category, I finished off the Pennyfoot Hotel series by Kate Kingsbury, read another of Steve Hockensmith’s Holmes on the Range mysteries, and spent some time with Aunt Dimity. And I got to read another great story in the League of Literary Ladies series by Kylie Logan, And Then There Were Nuns.

2016 was the year I finally read a Lee Child book (61 Hours) and loved it. Yes, I know, everyone else has already read a Jack Reacher story. Better late than never... It was also the year I read all of the Family Skeleton mysteries by Leigh Perry (loved, loved, loved them all) and all of the Book Club Mystery series by Laura DiSilverio (also great fun).

The biggest surprises for me this year were how much I loved Ordinary Grace by William Kent Krueger. What a beautifully written story, though sad! And how captivating I found The Devil in the Marshalsea by Antonia Hodgson.

My favorite nonfiction book of the year is a toss up between Val McDermid’s Forensics: The Anatomy of Crime and Lingo: Around Europe in Sixty Languages.

I still have stacks of books around the house and a slew of them on my Kindle, waiting to be read, but I'm always looking for something new to read. What books did you enjoy reading this past year? Any suggestions for me?

I hope all of your holidays are happy and that you have a wonderful new year. See you in 2017!

My Year in Books

As is the case with most writers (though I’ve recently learned not all), I like to read. Unfortunately, I don’t get to read as much as I’d like. Last year, I was curious about just how many books I read in a year so I kept track.

First, the statistics. Grand total of 76 books read. Not bad. My “worst” month was April when I only read 2 books. I had a book deadline at the end of that month so I didn’t have much time. My best month was November when I read 9. Of the books I read, 18 were non-fiction and 58 fiction. Of the fiction books, 46 were mysteries, 2 general fiction, 4 YA, 3 children’s, and 3 science fiction. 24 of the mysteries were historical.

Here are some of the books I particularly enjoyed this past year.

First, The Lost Army of Cambyses by Paul Sussman. Sussman wrote 3 books in the Yusuf Khalifa series that mix archaeology with mystery until he passed away suddenly in 2012. I’m interested in archaeology and have been studying Ancient Egyptian and Coptic for over a decade so this was of particular interest for me.

On the non-fiction end, there’s In the Garden of Beasts: Love, Terror, and an American family in Hitler’s Berlin by Erik Larson. It’s a portrait of Hitler’s Berlin in the early years of his reign told through the story of the first American ambassador to Hitler’s Germany and his family. I found this particularly interesting because I read it right after visiting the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C. A lot of the exhibits dealt with those early years.

On the cozy end, I discovered Kylie Logan this past year. Her League of Literary Ladies Mysteries were some of my favorite reads this past year, particularly The Legend of Sleepy Harlow. And Button Holed, the first in her Button Box Mysteries, was also a favorite read of the year.

On the historical mysteries end, my favorites were the Matthew Shardlake series by C. J. Sansom and the Thomas Treviot series by D. K. Wilson. Both are set in Tudor England, a time period that has interested me since I was in junior high.

I’m looking forward to reading more great books in the coming year. The following are some of those on my TBR pile.

A Skeleton in the Family by Leigh Perry. I couldn’t resist this one. A mystery with a “living” skeleton in the story. Yep, a skeleton's an actual character.

This non-fiction book was recently brought to my attention: Lingo: Around Europe in Sixty Languages.

What about you all? What books did you particularly enjoy in 2015? What books are you looking forward to reading this coming year?