Some recent reads

Mostly mysteries as I binged this summer.

Bart Ehrman, The Triumph Of Christianity
Ehrman is always worth reading. I found this a bit less interesting than his others, but I have read a few books on this topic.

Cornell Woolrich, The Bride Wore Black
Frankly a disappointment. I preferred the movie, and the other book of his I have read, I Married a Dead Man.

William DeAndrea Killed on the Rocks
A fun impossible crime novel from the 80s. The solution is simple but the book is engaging, so I have another of his in queue.

The Book Of Why, Judea Pearl. Causality and statistics. I need to reread this, and one of his texts. But I think this is most likely going to be book of the year.

Megan Abbott, Die a Little
A letdown after Queenpin.

Martin Edwards, Gallows Court
A modern writer channels his inner Edgar Wallace. Think Fantomas as well. A lot of fun.

Harriet Rutland, Bleeding Hooks
A long out of print mystery from the Golden Age. Not difficult but a really pleasant read.

Richard Stark, The Black Ice Score
One of the weaker Parkers but still readable. Those new to Parker should read the Sour Lemon Score, Deadly Edge, or the Rare Coin Score.

John Russell Fearn, Except For One Thing
An inverted Colombo style mystery from 1947. A decent book.

Dan Jones, The Templars.
A history. A bit too detailed in places but Jones is always good at context and narrative.

Alice Arisugawa, The Moai Island Puzzle
A recent Japanese Puzzle mystery written as an explicit homage to Ellery Queen. Most mystery bloggers really liked this, but I wasn’t wild about it.

S Shimada, The Tokyo Zodiac Murders
Another modern Japanese Puzzle mystery, but this one is brilliant.

John Dickson Carr, The Man Who Could Not Shudder
The best Carrs are excellent. This is dreadful.

John Dickson Carr, The Case of the Constant Suicides
A reread. One of Carr's best books. Suicides in a tower, or were they?

John Dickson Carr, The Crooked Hinge
Another seemingly impossible crime. This is one of Carr's most audacious puzzles, and opinion is split. I liked it, and it fooled me completely.

Richard Hull, Murder Isn’t Easy
A very clever if not very difficult murder mystery. Not as good as his Murder of my Aunt, but quite good nonetheless.

Freeman Wills Crofts, Mystery in the Channel
A solid example of the dogged investigator murder mystery. Excellent use and evocation of 5he setting, and decent enough as a mystery. I have another couple on tap before I decide on Crofts.

John Rhode, Death in the Tunnel
Another dogged investigator from the 20s. Dogged. Dogged, very dogged. I have another Rhode in queue, but won’t be getting to it for a while.

Dashiell Hammett, Red Harvest
Fifth time for this. A masterpiece.

Dashiell Hammett, The Dain Curse
Second time for this, Hammett's weakest novel. Still worth reading but only after all the others, and some of the stories.

Agatha Christie, Murder on the Orient Express
Second time reading this. Lots of fun. It holds up, though of course no longer puzzles or surprises.

Ellery Queen The Greek Coffin Mystery
I loved this 40 years ago. It did not hold up to a rereading. Not remotely.

S Kolhatkar, Black Edge
A page turner about a real insider trading case. Recommended.

Ryan Holiday, Conpiracy
About Peter Thiel taking down Gawker. Too much extraneous stuff from Holiday. Fascinating article stretched into a book.

Maurice Druon, The Accursed Kings
A series of six historical novels about the fall of the house of Capet. Immensely fun page turners.

Adam Hochschild, Bury the Chains
A history of the British anti slavery movement. A good book but: too many asides, too much on rebellions in French territory, too much of Hochschild telling one what to think. It would have been better at 2/3 the length.