{"id":8520,"date":"2020-09-29T08:00:00","date_gmt":"2020-09-29T12:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/vweisfeld.com\/?p=8520"},"modified":"2020-09-28T10:56:58","modified_gmt":"2020-09-28T14:56:58","slug":"reading-in-the-time-of-covid","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vweisfeld.com\/?p=8520","title":{"rendered":"Reading in the Time of Covid"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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A new approach to book reviews<\/strong>: In the past, I\u2019ve reviewed almost every book I\u2019ve read. My thought was that even a so-so review could be helpful to you. The aspects that bothered me might not be issues for you. And, if they are, then a lackluster review might save you the time and trouble of delving into a book you probably won’t like. Going forward from September 2020, I’m abandoning that approach. If you see a book here, it\u2019s because I do recommend it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Since my last book review post on April Fool\u2019s Day, I\u2019ve read at least 40 books and listened to a dozen more. Many of them were crime fiction, and full reviews on CrimeFictionLover.com are linked below. Click the book title for my Amazon affiliate link. Here\u2019s the first three among the very best, in print. Audio on Thursday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rules for Perfect Murders<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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In this entertaining novel, Peter Swanson has concocted the perfect plot for lovers of classic mysteries. Malcolm Kershaw, the widowed part-owner of Boston\u2019s Old Devils Bookstore wrote a blog post some years ago that described what he considered the best depictions of \u2018the perfect murder.\u2019 <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now, it seems, someone has taken up his challenge and is recreating those scenarios. Or are they? Is he a suspect or the next potential victim? Desperate for answers, he launches his own investigation and, as the pages fly by, you\u2019ll find there\u2019s more to this bibliophile than you may have assumed. Read my full review here<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Little Altar Boy<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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John Guzlowski\u2019s riveting new police procedural takes you back to the time before sustained pressure on the Catholic Church brought to light its widespread and systemic problem of child sexual abuse. It\u2019s the late 1960s, in the post-Christmas dark night of winter, and Chicago police detective Hank Purcell is at home, waiting for his 19-year-old daughter Margaret. She has new friends, new habits, and new attitudes, none of which make him happy. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hank and his partner are trying to resolve not one, but two compelling dilemmas: they\u2019re clearly outraged by the evidence of child abuse among the clergy, but, while they\u2019re trying to save the world\u2019s altar boys, what about Hank\u2019s own child, beset by a whole different class of predator? Hank\u2019s wife Hazel is a useful foil for the two detectives, pressing for handling Margaret\u2019s situation differently. But it seems there are no right answers; each course of action threatens consequences more chilling than the wind blasting off Lake Michigan. Full review here.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nine Tenths of the Law<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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This literary crime thriller by Claudia Hagadus Long is part treasure hunt, part family story, part romance, part tragic history woven together in a complicated plot through the strong voice of the story\u2019s sympathetic narrator, Zara Persil-Pendleton. At a Manhattan museum show, Zara and her sister Lilly spot a menorah the Nazis stole from their family many years before. Lilly wants it back. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The women embark on an ill-conceived plot to obtain it, which leads them into some sticky situations. At first these are awkward and funny, but gradually, they become potentially dangerous. Zara, with all her on-point observations and clever asides will keep you amused and interested. Long strikes a nice balance between describing Zara\u2019s inner conflicts and maintaining the action of the story. My Crime Fiction Lover review is here.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A new approach to book reviews: In the past, I\u2019ve reviewed almost every book I\u2019ve read. My thought was that even a so-so review could be helpful to you. The aspects that bothered me might not be issues for you. … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"Reading in the Time of Covid - murder, exploitation, theft--the characters in these books could use some social distancing!\n","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1335,52,311,632,126,1],"tags":[1727,1728,1729],"class_list":["post-8520","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-amateur-detective","category-crime","category-novel","category-police","category-reading-2","category-uncategorized","tag-claudia-hagadus","tag-john-guzlowski","tag-peter-swanson"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2NkiT-2dq","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/vweisfeld.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8520","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/vweisfeld.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/vweisfeld.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vweisfeld.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vweisfeld.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=8520"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/vweisfeld.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8520\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8525,"href":"https:\/\/vweisfeld.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8520\/revisions\/8525"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/vweisfeld.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=8520"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vweisfeld.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=8520"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vweisfeld.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=8520"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}