Mystery/Thriller Reading Friends discussion

Murder by Other Means by John Scalzi. Book two in The Dispatcher series. Tony Valdez gets pulled into another investigation after he's caught in a bank robbery that goes bad (and weird) and people around him start turning up dead, permanently. Nice, fun series that I can listen to while working.

Warship by Joshua Dalzelle. Military SF. Another audiobook because it's free on Audible and the library's print copy was just badly formatted.

Anyways, first book in the Black Fleet Saga. Follows a captain named Jackson Wolfe as he's forced to fend off an alien vessel that seems intent on destroying human worlds, but with an unprepared crew. It was fun and exciting.

Travel by Bullet by Scalzi. The third Dispatcher audiobook. This one is set just after the pandemic and once again, Tony is pulled unwillingly into things he doesn't want to be apart of, this time involving shady billionaires and cryptocurrency. Hopefully Scalzi will be writing more entries to this series.

Too Late To Die by Bill Crider. The first book in the late Crider's Sheriff Dan Rhodes series. I've read a few of the other books years ago after finding them on a shelf at the local library and dug them. Alas, they've long since have been purged from the stacks.

In this one, Rhodes has to deal with first one murder, then a couple more, along with an case of potential police brutality by one of his deputies. None of this good for him with an election coming up.

Staying Alive by Maurice Bailey and Maralyn Bailey. A memoir detailing the Bailey's astounding 118 days adrift at sea in the Pacific Ocean after a wounded whale sank their boat.

I've read two survival memoirs (the other being And I Alone Survived by Lauren Elder) and I've come to one conclusion: people in the 1970s were just built different. Seriously, if I were stranded on top of a mountain after my plane crashed or my boat got sunk by freaking Moby Dick I would just, you know, die. I'm stubborn, but the Baileys and Elder elevate it to an art form.

Not a terrible month, aside from turning 40. Terrible mistake there, wish I hadn't done it.

JasonReads wrote: "Not a terrible month, aside from turning 40. Terrible mistake there, wish I hadn't done it...."
LOL. I remember turning 40. It was awful. And then I think I had the best decade of my life! Hang in there!

Jason, nice month. Count me in as a huge John Scalzi fan too. As for turning 40, it’s better than the alternatives, right? ;)

Ann wrote: "Jason, nice month. Count me in as a huge John Scalzi fan too. As for turning 40, it’s better than the alternatives, right? ;)"

Scalzi is hands-down one of, if not the most reliable of all the writers I've read. Whether I'm buying it or checking it out of the library, I don't have to worry about one of his books being a flop.

I loved the Dan Rhodes series! The only one I haven't read is the book released after his death. No comment on the age thing, because I'm coming up on a big one too.

I'm with you on the survival thing, Jason. 118 days adrift at sea?!? The very idea freaks me out, don't think I could read about it.

Happy birthday, LOL. It only gets better!