Books I've Read This Week, Vol. I, Issue 6

In my last column (two weeks ago!) I was working on Philippa Gregory's second book in the saga of the Laceys, The Favored Child. I liked it okay, but not as much as the third book, Meridon, definitely the best of the three. I like it when books end with people getting what they deserve.

Next was James Patterson's Women's Murder Club, Books 1–4: 1st to Die, 2nd Chance, 3rd Degree, and 4th of July. These are classic cop mysteries with girl power. They all take place in and around San Francisco and I was surprised how many reseach mistakes were made about the City. Describing a traffic jam at Market and Powell, when everyone knows there's no such intersection because Powell becomes cable cars only after Ellis. And referring to the San Francisco airport as SFI when you'd never hear anyone say anything but SFO. However, I was able to perservere through those small distractions and really enjoyed all four of them. I'm on hold for his latest one, The 5th Horseman.

The Secret of the Pink Carnation is the first book by Laura Wittig about aristocratic spying during the English wars with the French at the turn of the nineteeth century. I read the sequel, The Masque of the Black Tulip (see BIRTW, I:2) before this one and regretted it. Especially as it appears to come right after the first (in the modern story anyway). I think I preferred the first one, not only because I like reading things in order, but because there's more modern story in the second one which made the book more confusing in general. I'd really like to read more of this kind of book since it combined some of my favorite things to read about: spying, history, mystery and romance.

As I forgot to put a book in my bag this morning, I'm not in the middle of any fiction. I am still lurching my way through the travel books though. Hopefully I will have finished at least one the next time you check in with Books I've Read This Week.