Mysteries! Behold!

I have not posted in a while, but I have not been idle. Honest! My only excuse is that I've been reading.

There. Are you Happy? I've been AWOL for you, dear reader.

Har.

I actually had a windfall of books that were given to me by a friend. Mysteries for the most part. Here are three.

P is for Peril and S is for Silence by Sue Grafton.

P was my first "Kinsey" mystery. Even as part of a series, and a very very long running one at that, if I'm any judge (I'm pretty sure that Ms. Grafton started the whole series with the letter A. Just a hunch.), I was pleased to see that each book was, in and of itself, a separate entity.

The writing was good, the pages kept turning. I really liked P is for Peril, so I eagerly picked up the other Sue Grafton windfall book, S is for Silence...

The writing on this one seemed slightly maturer. The mystery involved was slightly darker and more sinister... and... it had had the benefit of being a really old mystery to solve. Almost mouldy, really.

Like any connaisseur of wine knows, wine that is left in a darkened cave too long can leave a sour taste in your mouth.

I'm not saying that Sue Grafton's writing had soured. In fact, I would have to say the opposite. What was sour was the way the story turned for the protagonists, what happened and how desperately long it took to get to the bottom of what happened.

Ugh. I still get shivers at the idea.

Stellar book.

Next up was a Clive Cussler book: Blue Gold. I'd never read a Clive Cussler book but had heard raves from colleagues.

Now I have to wonder if it wasn't simply raving [mad].

I'm not saying that this man is not an excellent writer. He's published a lot of books and he certainly has his fan base. All I'm saying is that anyone who uses "High Octane Brew" or "Steaming Java" to describe coffee, has got my bid as being one of those manly man sort of writers and not really my cup of tea (and yes, I do drink coffee!).

I had a hard time taking him seriously and there were a number of times where I stopped and said to myself, "the sentence would have been much nicer if it had been written this way or that way..." Never a good sign.

Add to that, that the characters were flip and smart assy in dangerous situations.

And, as if that wasn't enough, there was an evil genius.

The story itself was interesting enough to carry the writing but I'm not sure if I'll give Clive Cussler another go.

Hélas.