In the interests of full disclosure - in addition to the 12 books depicted here, I downloaded a couple of short stories - Long Before the Fall from Gordon Brown, courtesy of Down and Out Books website and a short story from B. R. Stateham - Friday the Thirteenth from Near to the Knuckle website.
Blame Lawrence Block for offering a few FREEBIES on Amazon - a couple of Kit Tolliver shorts, a Chip Harrison short story, a Martin Ehrengraf short story and a novel he published many years ago under the pseudonym Anne Campbell Clark - Passport to Peril. (A romantic espionage thriller in the mode of Helen MacInnes!)
No-one in their right mind is going to turn down Lawrence Block items!
A few of these others turned up unannounced from publishers and were obviously welcomed. A couple I reckon, I was sent last year - maybe ARCS, so are duplicate copies and as such haven't expanded the library!
A couple were on my Amazon wishlist and popped up for FREE, during January, so I "bought" them.
A couple were made available by the publisher, and I could have refused-delayed-deferred but didn't.
The sum total of cash spend on books in the month was £0.00.
I was also offered 12 books from authors and publicists, including the same one twice - a couple of which seemed really good and turned them down. There might be hope for me yet!
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| Quirke mystery from the publisher - Penguin! |
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| Seventh Street Books! |
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| Ditto above - the fifth Sanuel Craddock mystery - loved the first four! |
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| Amazon FREEBIE on New Years Day! |
The story begins some forty-five years earlier in 1966 South East London, a time of cultural and sexual liberation. For two teenage sisters, Midge and Bridie Dolan, growing up in the Catholic community, the revolution couldn't be further from their lives than if it was happening on Mars.
All the two Motown-mad girls want to do is get to the Friday night dance at the Palais Royale, and if their older, wayward cousin Jimmy can give them a lift in his taxi cab, it looks like they'll get their chance to have their first night out at the popular nightclub - an infamous haunt for local gangs.
What begins as a rites-of-passage tale of two sisters soon takes a much darker tone, unaware this particular night will change their lives forever.
Set in an iconic period hailed as a golden era - for some, 'Our Trespasses' portrays how it might not have been so idyllic for those growing up in a harsher reality - and asks how far things have changed for those trying to navigate their path through tumultuous times. Whatever the decade, there will always be the good, the bad, and the rest of us.
A page-turning drama of redemption set in 1960's London.
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| Amazon FREEBIE from my wishlist! |
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| Another FREEBIE - from The Drifter Detective series! |
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| Another February book from Brash! |
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| Lawrence Block - Kit Tolliver short - rude and riotous - already enjoyed! |
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| Brash Books February offering! |
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| Got a FREE download after it won a Kindle Scout vote! |
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| Third book from Dietrich Kalteis - his second was January's book of the month! Courtesy of ECW Press. |
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| On my wish list and popped up as a January FREEBIE! |
Whatever its origins, the ceremony was held every year for hundreds of years until it was suspended by the authorities after the gruesome and mysterious death of a participant in the 1990 ceremony.
This is the story of the events surrounding that death. It is a story exposing the violence, bigotry and sectarianism that fester in the underbelly of small-town Scotland.
You've got some good additions there, Col. And I think you're absolutely right: who turns down a Lawrence Block freebie? I'll be interested in what you think of the Benjamin Black when you get to it. I've heard great things...and not so great things. I'll be keen to know where you fall.
ReplyDeleteI'm fairly sure I read a Quirke book a few years ago, but can't recall too much about it. Dublin in the 50s intrigues me. My parents were young adults at the time, growing up and getting married and starting a family.
DeleteGlad you've got my back regarding Lawrence Block! :-)
Col, it's nice to see that you go back to authors you read recently. I think it's a good idea to read the same author in succession.
ReplyDeleteThere are more than a few - Block, Kalteis - for starters that I don't think I would tire of reading.
DeleteSweazy and Shames I'm already sold on, and the Avery sounds good. The Burryman tradition was a feature of one of the Dandy Gilver books by Catriona McPherson, but something tells me that series isn't really on your radar...
ReplyDeleteI doubt I'll read anything by McPherson if I'm honest, but I'm intrigued by this one. Sweazy and Shames I hope to read soon!
DeleteI read the first Quirke mystery and did not care for it, but I may read more of them. Sometimes, once I have adjusted to the style, I can enjoy them more. I hope to read A Thousand Falling Crows, although maybe not until it shows up somewhere at a price I can afford. Even after the end of March, I am trying not to spend much on books and not add many books to my piles.
ReplyDeleteI know you enjoyed the first Sweazy book, so I hope you can try this one also - November sale? I have a few Quirke books, so am hopeful I enjoy them.
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