Summer Reading--Part 3

I did not intend to have a part three, but I have a somewhat limited attention span (ADD) except when it comes to reading and this blogging takes time so today I will finish my summer reading program because I have to get the books back to the library.

Besides historical reading ( a fact with which I have bombarded you in past blogs), my preferred reading is of other cultures and lands, either historical or contemporary.  This is one of the reasons Soho is one of my favorite publishers.  No one does other-culture mysteries like Soho.  One of my favorite authors is Cara Black of the Paris mysteries.  One day I will do an entire blog on Soho mysteries.

The Case of the Missing Servant (Simon & Schuster; 2010) by Tarquin Hall is the first in the series of the Indian detective, Vish Puri, Most Private Investigator.  The book reads much like The Number #1 Detective Agency series of Alexander McCall Smith.  Vish Puri likes his food and there is much about Indian food in the story.  Fortunately, a glossary is included in the back though I did find it kind of irritating going back and forth since there were quite a few words I did not know and had to keep looking up.  But better that than no glossary at all.  It is definitely a cosy mystery, maybe a little too cosy for me. The second volume in the series is out, The Case of the Man Who Died Laughing and though it is not at the top of my list, I may read it eventually.

Recently post-apartheid South Africa is the setting of the Deon Meyer mystery series.  I read Dead Before Dying (Little, Brown), the first in the Mat Joubert series but the third to be published in the United States.  I believe he writes in Arikaans so it is necessary for the novels to be translated which often delays foreign publication.  I was not grabbed immediately but, once again, when I have time I may try another one.  The reviews on it were very good.

One of the most wonderful things about the public library is one can browse the shelfs and find books written in all time periods.  Doing such, I found a jewel.  After all the reading I have done, I am still amazed when I find an author I have never heard of with a whole slew of titles.  Anna Clarke (1919-2004) is such an author.  I read The Mystery Lady (Doubleday Crime Club; 1986).  If you love good old-fashioned page-turning crime club mysteries with a bit of intellect, Clarke is one of the authors for you.  Usually, I am somewhat fanatical about reading books in a series in the order in which they were published, but I quickly discovered that would take some doing with Anna Clarke so I just counted myself lucky that I had encountered her at all.  One of these days I may decide to investigate all of her titles in order.

In the meantime, I have much hot-off-the-press ereading (and hardbacks) to catch up on after my summer  of the library.  Thanks to Totts for recommending it.