Jo

When I’m not working, I like to follow the professional tennis matches on television or online at www.atptennis.com andwww.wtatour.com. The Tennis Channel has yet to appear in my area, so my best bet for watching tennis occurs when the Grand Slams are on regular cable tv channels.

January is the Australian Open - www.australianopen.org

May is the French Open - www.frenchopen.org

June is Wimbledon - www.wimbledon.org

August is the U.S. Open - www.usopen.org

When I’m at home and there’s no tennis on tv, the cats and I like to read mysteries - I don’t like them too bloody or too psycotic, so the vintage British authors are many times the ones I reach for. My favorites are Agatha Christie, Marjorie Allingham, Ngaio Marsh and Dorothy Sayer. Not British, but another all-time favorite isRex Stout.

Other authors on my re-read bookshelf include:

Tony Hillerman

Marsha Muller

Elizabeth Peters

Margaret Maron

Robert B. Parker

Nancy Pickard

Sara Paretsky

P. D. James

John Mortimer

Martin Cruz Smith

Mary Stewart

I recently discovered a couple of authors that I highly recommend -Iain Pears’ art history mysteries and Donna Leon’s Commissario Brunetti Venetian mysteries. The Iain Pears books are humorous and full of art history, while the characters and settings in the Donna Leon books are complex and atmospheric.

In addition, Spiro ordered me some books from the Sleuth of Baker Street bookstore in Toronto and I have been reading their newsletter looking for more recommendations. So far, I have tried the following new (to me) authors:

April Henry - Buried Diamonds - I’ll need to read another one before I decide about this author. The main character is interesting and this story was too.

Kirk Mitchell - Spirit Sickness - I really liked the 2 Native American characters. They remind me of the reasons I like Tony Hillerman’s Navaho mysteries, but these characters are maybe more complex. I will definitely look for more of these books.

Brent Monahan - The Sceptred Isle Club - not a winner. The main character meeting and working with Arthur Conan Doyle sounded interesting, but the sheriff did not feel real enough for me.

Andrea Camilleri - The Shape of Water - not a winner, either. I was hoping for another Commissario Brunetti and was disappointed.

Linda Fairstein - The Bone Vault - also disappointing. The main character is too perfect, everything works out too well for her. I liked the setting for this book, but won’t be tempted to read another one.

Ross Thomas - Midnight at Mac’s Place - I liked this one, although I am not sure I know why whodunit. This author is highly recommended by the bookstore staff, so I will probably try some more.