The Circle -- Peter Lovesey

Colleen Mondor, you STINKER.  The last thing I need is a new author to read, and what do you give me? 

A new author to read.

The Circle (and I suspect, Peter Lovesey in general) is the perfect choice for those of us who have read every single Agatha Christie book six times over and still go back for more.

It's also a fun one for book nerds:  The mystery revolves around the murder of a publisher.  All of the suspects?  Members of a writer's group.  It's the kind of mystery where you change your mind about who you suspect every three pages.

Snappy dialogue, eccentric characters, red herrings, excellent quotations* and jabs at the industry abound.

Wicked fun.

*Chapter 19:  Anyway, [poetry] is not the most important thing in life, is it?  Frankly, I'd much rather lie in a hot bath sucking boiled sweets and reading Agatha Christie, which is just exactly what I intend to do as soon as I get home.

Dylan Thomas, quoted by Joan Wyndham in Love is Blue (1986)

Comments

[Colleen]

I'm so glad you liked it - and did you see the ending coming cause I sure didn't! I'm so glad Soho Crime is out there; they really publish some of the best mysteries.

[Leila]

I know, I'm going to have to get a catalog.

And I didn't see it coming -- I did suspect the person, but then STUFF HAPPENED, so I was totally wrong. It was so much fun.

[Cindy]

This is freaky - I've been reading your blog for a few months getting ideas for my almost 13 going on 20 daughter. I log on today and you mention the ADULT book I am reading now. Freaky. I've been a Lovesey fan for some time. His standalones and Peter Diamond series are both good.

As for your YA suggestions, my daughter and I have enjoyed several of your suggestions. Once she hit middle school, books like the Clique series consumed her time. Not that I mind her ready those (I read one myself), but I wanted to give her more choices. She LOVED the Riordan books (I was worried they would be a little young for her). She likes Meg Cabot, so AVALON HIGH was a big hit. She loved the UGLIES trilogy.

Anyway, thanks for the good suggestions.

[Leila]

I'm really going to have to read more Lovesey. I really, really enjoyed The Circle.

Awesome. This is going to be a good day. Thanks, Cindy!

[Sarah]

Leila, YOU are a stinker. Now I have to read this as well, since I still feel empty when I fruitlessly search the Christie shelves over and over, hoping I've missed one somewhere. It's a regular stinker chain...me blaming you blaming Colleen!

[cindy]

You're welcome! Hope to finish The Circle tonight. Although I also started Looking for Alaska last night.....

Cindy

[Leila]

Sarah, is it wrong that it just makes me happy to be a stinker?

And Cindy, let me know about what you think about Alaska. It was my suggestion (hypothetical, of course -- I am only a powerful person in my imagination) for a more modern book to replace A Separate Peace on school summer reading lists. (Oddly enough, I've noticed that the Kennebunk High reading list has done exactly that -- removed ASP and added LFA, so maybe they're tapping into my brainwaves or something.)

Regardless of how you feel about Alaska, though, do try his new one -- An Abundance of Katherines -- I adored it.