What is everyone reading at the moment?

Thanks for the tip Marko! I've never read a Dick Francis novel, but I'm looking forward to trying one soon.

Huge fan here of Nero Wolfe. In fact, have a number of Rex Stout first editions. Somewhat different sensibility compared to Margery Allingham -- very American compared to British--  and Stout was a far better writer (and plotter).  Not quite such a big fan of Dick Francis but they are certainly well done.  If I were to suggest another writer after Stout, it would actually probably be Ross MacDonald who is sadly overlooked these days (and whose books became somewhat formulaic unlike Stout or, say, Raymond Chandler).

Thanks, Lesser. I've never tried a Lew Archer mystery, but I'm going to add a few to my queue now that you mention Ross Macdonald. I just came off a Dashiell Hammett binge. Loved his Continental Op stories. Had to limit myself to one a night. Now that they're done, I've been looking for some more hardboiled fiction. Macdonald just might hit the spot.

More to add to my reading pile.

Huge fan here of Nero Wolfe. In fact, have a number of Rex Stout first editions. Somewhat different sensibility compared to Margery Allingham -- very American compared to British--  and Stout was a far better writer (and plotter).  Not quite such a big fan of Dick Francis but they are certainly well done.  If I were to suggest another writer after Stout, it would actually probably be Ross MacDonald who is sadly overlooked these days (and whose books became somewhat formulaic unlike Stout or, say, Raymond Chandler).

Thanks, Lesser. I've never tried a Lew Archer mystery, but I'm going to add a few to my queue now that you mention Ross Macdonald. I just came off a Dashiell Hammett binge. Loved his Continental Op stories. Had to limit myself to one a night. Now that they're done, I've been looking for some more hardboiled fiction. Macdonald just might hit the spot.

More to add to my reading pile.

Great. Try MacDonald. If you liked Hammett and Stout, I’d think Archer will be good as well. Also evocative of the time and place - LA and environs just a bit later
- 50’s and into the 60’s.

Thanks, Lesser. I've never tried a Lew Archer mystery, but I'm going to add a few to my queue now that you mention Ross Macdonald. I just came off a Dashiell Hammett binge. Loved his Continental Op stories. Had to limit myself to one a night. Now that they're done, I've been looking for some more hardboiled fiction. Macdonald just might hit the spot.

More to add to my reading pile.

Great. Try MacDonald. If you liked Hammett and Stout, I’d think Archer will be good as well. Also evocative of the time and place - LA and environs just a bit later
- 50’s and into the 60’s.

Thanks, I appreciate the tips. I don’t really enjoy novels set in present time frame. Too much tech, too much communication. It’s like a basketball game where the coach won’t shut up and micromanaged his players. Let them use their skill and wits. 

Have you read the John D. MacDonald Travis McGee series? Those are fun. Also a blast from the past 1950s and 60s Florida.  I think they’re still in print but you can always find them in used bookstores.

More to add to my reading pile.

Great. Try MacDonald. If you liked Hammett and Stout, I’d think Archer will be good as well. Also evocative of the time and place - LA and environs just a bit later
- 50’s and into the 60’s.

Thanks, I appreciate the tips. I don’t really enjoy novels set in present time frame. Too much tech, too much communication. It’s like a basketball game where the coach won’t shut up and micromanaged his players. Let them use their skill and wits. 

Have you read the John D. MacDonald Travis McGee series? Those are fun. Also a blast from the past 1950s and 60s Florida.  I think they’re still in print but you can always find them in used bookstores.

Yes, certainly have read those.  Re-read one or two a few months ago.  They're fun, yes; to my taste, not as good as the other folks we've been discussing, though.

More to add to my reading pile.

Great. Try MacDonald. If you liked Hammett and Stout, I’d think Archer will be good as well. Also evocative of the time and place - LA and environs just a bit later
- 50’s and into the 60’s.

Thanks, I appreciate the tips. I don’t really enjoy novels set in present time frame. Too much tech, too much communication. It’s like a basketball game where the coach won’t shut up and micromanaged his players. Let them use their skill and wits. 

Have you read the John D. MacDonald Travis McGee series? Those are fun. Also a blast from the past 1950s and 60s Florida.  I think they’re still in print but you can always find them in used bookstores.

It’s funny you mention the tech issues. A friend and I were discussing how current tech solves so many issues of the past instantly, eliminating any neeed for twisting problems and plots. As a result, many new shows and movies seem to be set in the recent past (pre-smart devices).

Great. Try MacDonald. If you liked Hammett and Stout, I’d think Archer will be good as well. Also evocative of the time and place - LA and environs just a bit later
- 50’s and into the 60’s.

Thanks, I appreciate the tips. I don’t really enjoy novels set in present time frame. Too much tech, too much communication. It’s like a basketball game where the coach won’t shut up and micromanaged his players. Let them use their skill and wits. 

Have you read the John D. MacDonald Travis McGee series? Those are fun. Also a blast from the past 1950s and 60s Florida.  I think they’re still in print but you can always find them in used bookstores.

It’s funny you mention the tech issues. A friend and I were discussing how current tech solves so many issues of the past instantly, eliminating any neeed for twisting problems and plots. As a result, many new shows and movies seem to be set in the recent past (pre-smart devices).

Yes. Everything is easier and compressed. My wife and I watch “gritty British crime dramas” and the number of times the CCTV almost singlehandedly solves the crime is annoying. Not on Shetland. No tech on that little outpost.

I have been a huge fan of Peter Grainger's DC Smith series. Amazon Kindle and Audible. Set in current day England.

https://www.amazon.com/A-DC-Smith-Invest...B0749Y8GKQ

This is a Kindle Unlimited book so I got it at no extra cost.  On Goodreads it received only 3.67 stars out of 5 so I wasn't expecting too much.  However, I am now about 20% into the book and I am finding it quite engrossing.  Written in the first person from the point of view of several people, as well as chat room conversations, it feels as if I'm part of the story as opposed to an outsider looking in.  Unless the story goes south in a hurry I would certainly give it more than 3.67 stars.

Learning about people 

I discovered this book on BookBub thinking it was new.  However, the copyright is actually 2008 so it has been around for a bit.  The premise intrigued me and I enjoyed the author's style of writing.  I was hooked from the very beginning and while I don't think it would be everyone's cup of tea I enjoyed it so much that I have just downloaded her second book onto my Kobo e-reader.

While I suppose it could be classified as a coming of age Young Adult book, I saw so much more in it.  I'm definitely looking forward to that second book of Ms. Tinti's, The Twelve Lives of Samuel Hawley.