What Fiction are you reading this week, June 29, 2025?

[hermetic]

I'm reading Heartbreak Hotel by Jonathan Kellerman. An Alex Delaware mystery from 2017. I haven't read any Kellerman for a while so this is good. I'm having to read large print books now so my choices are getting limited.

Listening to The House on Prytania by Karen White. A paranormal mystery. The second book in the Royal Street series, but it can be read as a stand-alone. New Orleans has a lot of ghosts. Some might be able to help solve an old crime. Good fun.

So, everybody's talking about celebrating this week. I think Friday, instead of fireworks, we should have a funeral. I sure don't feel like celebrating.

Stay safe out there.

[Scrivener7]

1. Just finished The September House by Carissa Orlando. Pretty good, and a bit different. I thought the

ending would be disappointing, but it wasn't exactly what I thought it would be.

Listening to Reykjavik by Ragnar Jonasson. Because I'm a sucker for an Icelandic mystery.

[hermetic]

2. I like the sound of that..

"Just when you thought you'd seen everything a haunted house novel could do, The September House comes along and delivers an eerie, darkly funny, and emotionally grounded book.."

And I enjoy a good Icelandic mystery, too.

[Polly Hennessey]

3. Reading David Rosenfelt's, Bury the Lead. Love it when Andy and Sam 'song talk' to each other. Too funny.

Also reading, Susan Hill’s, The Shadows in the Street. A Simon Serrailler mystery.

[hermetic]

4. I'm a big Rosenfelt fan.

[Scrivener7]

7. Oooh! Susan Hill! Forgot about her, and I need a new book!

[txwhitedove]

9. Rosenfelt is a new author to me, and now have 2 of his books on library hold. Thanks.

[cbabe]

5. What I call potato chip books: easy snack on a summer day.

Den of iniquity/ J A Jance

A JP Beaumont title. Hunting a serial killer just as Covid hits. Interesting to read in hindsight when characters have no idea what Covid will do.

Battle mountain/ C J Box

Gathering of US elite power brokers at an isolated retreat targeted by domestic terrorists. Nate and Geronimo hunt the bad guys. Actually hard not to hope the terrorists win.

Kingpin/Mike Lawson

Billionaire real estate tycoon always slips away from consequences for his many crimes. Until Joe shows up.

[hermetic]

6. Tasty stuff

[rsdsharp]

8. I finished Don't Forget Me, Little Bessie by James Lee Burke.

I’m now reading Boy’s Own Starship by Christopher G. Nuttall. This popped up on Kindle Unlimited. I thought it sounded like a YA similar to Heinlein’s Rocket Ship Galileo or The Rolling Stones. Two young teenage boys buy a junkyard freighter, outfit it for space, and convince their guardian older sister to accompany them as they go on an interstellar trading trip.

It’s not really written as a YA, although it’s only 114 pages. It does have strong Heinlein overtones; not only The Rolling Stones, but Citizen of the Galaxy in that the protagonist’s rich parents disappeared while traveling in space, and because they name their ship Max Jones. They acknowledge this is a name from one of their favorite books, and Max Jones is the protagonist of Starman Jones.

This is (at least so far) light reading that I’ll finish this afternoon.

[yellowdogintexas]

10. Wrapped up Garden of Beasts and just finished a re-read of

Reborn: A Southern Paranormal Gothic Novel (The Serendipitous Curse Book 1) by Aiden James and Lisa Collicut

In the heart of Savannah, Georgia, lies the Solomon Brandt Plantation, a spanking piece of suburban sprawl with a sordid past.

When an amnesiac bearing this cursed name stumbles into town, he’s immediately drawn to the haunted antebellum and also to a Hoodoo practitioner who converses with spirits—and to her gorgeous green-eyed niece, Desiree McClinton. A descendant of the Brandt slaves, Desiree sparks emotions in Solomon—the likes of which he’s never known.

On the one hand, Solomon wants to know his hidden secrets—but curses run deep, and he’s not entirely sure he’s prepared for the horrid truth.

But when crippling night terrors begin seeping into real life, threatening his budding relationship with Desiree, Solomon is determined to save the hearts―and lives―of the women he cherishes most.

But will the bloodthirsty Solomon of ages past reign once more in the modern era? Can a tainted soul truly be redeemed?

I had read this some time ago and discovered that I had acquired books 2 and 3. It was long enough ago that reading book 1 again was just fine.

Aiden James tells a good story; I have read several of his books.