Books, books, and more books

Another Book Bub series involves a guy with an interesting career, Myron Bolitar. I had heard of the author, Harlan Coben, through a number of movie and television series made from his novels, the most famous being Tell No One, a 2006 French film that my son Sam and I both loved.  Deal Breaker. Book 1 This series stars Myron Bolitar, former intelligence agent and current sports agent. He’s a former basketball star whose injury just as he was going pro led him to an alternate career. Now he’s using his sports acumen to recruit athletes for his agency along with partners Win and Esperanza, each of whom have really fun back stories. Myron has just inked his first big client, a promising young quarterback. Dealing with an unscrupulous agent and a missing, presumed dead, girlfriend who resurfaces in quarterback Christian Steele’s life leads Myron to secrets, lies, and murders. A soft-core porn magazine is delivered to Steele, and one of the phone sex employee’s pictures is of his missi...

 Another Book Bub find is award-winning author Jean Kwok, who bases her novels on her amazing story of moving from Hong Kong as a child to growing up in New York City and finally moving to Amsterdam, currently living there with her husband and children.  Girl in Translation I have become a big fan of this author, whose amazing story is the basis for this, her first novel. Having come to New York City from China by way of Hong Kong and losing her father along the way, Kim and her mother are living in an “apartment” in a building owned by Aunt Paula, her mother’s older sister. Kim’s mom is supposed to work as a nanny for her sister’s children; however, that never happens, and she ends up working in her sister and husband’s clothing factory. And Kim must work there after school each day to help make ends meet. The aforementioned apartment is a vermin-infested place with no heat. No one else lives there but Kim and her mother. And then there’s the multi-transit commute from home t...

  Book Bub found me another interesting police procedural, this one set in bucolic southwest France. The author, a Scotsman who worked for The Guardian and later for UPI, lives part-time in this region of France. www.brunochiefofpolice.com Bruno, Chief of Police. Book 1. Martin Walker  The first novel introduces B enoît (Bruno) Courrèges, chief of police in St. Denis, a fictional village in the Perigord region of France. An old man of  Algerian ethnicity is found murdered in a horrible way — gutted with a swastika cut into his body. Bruno, the mayor, and the regional police force are involved in solving the crime, which at first makes no sense since Hamid was a decorated WWII hero. Inept officials almost create a riot, but Bruno’s common sense prevails even in  the face of an “unsolved” crime. Lots of delicious food and wine descriptions along the way — good read. The Dark Vineyard. Book 2. Martin Walker Here's the second book in the series. Bruno is called to invest...

 I wish I could remember how I found my first Louise Penny book, but I can’t, sad to say. She is now one of my favorite authors, and I even attended a book event for A Better Man in Washington, DC, in 2019. It was actually my first post-retirement adventure during the 2019-2020 school year. Oh, Canada, you have a gem in Ms. Penny.  Update!! https://deadline.com/2021/09/alfred-molina-amazon-three-pines-left-bank-1234826095/ Still Life. Book 1 This first novel introduces Armand Gamache and Jean-Guy Beauvoir, first and second in command in the homicide division of the Sûreté. They are called to the Brigadoon-esque village of Three Pines when the body of a blossoming artist, Jane Neal, is found shot by an arrow in the woods. Not on any map, Three Pines’s denizens include famous but foul-mouthed poet Ruth, married artists Peter and Clara, psychologist turned bookstore owner Myrna, and gay couple and bistro/b&b owners Gabri and Olivier. Gamache and his team work to solve the mu...