Recent Reading - 2021

Click the occasional spoiler buttons only if you wish to see plot-revealing material.

2021-12-01
Daughter of the Morning Star
322 pages
Johnson, CraigCraig Johnson

Walt Longmire and his friend Henry Standing Bear are across the border in Montana, far enough from Absaroka County, Wyoming to be out of Walt's jurisdiction, but invited to help the local Northern Cheyenne tribal sheriff protect the star basketball player of the Lady Morning Star tribal team. She has been getting threatening notes just like the ones her older sister did before she went missing a year ago.
Highly Recommended

2021-11-27
Blood Meridian
368 pages
McCarthy, CormacCormac McCarthy

Rough men moved the front edge of the western expansion in the territories which became the United States. McCarthy attempts to represent some of them in gritty details, not so much a story as a gathering of events which display the brutality of the westward expansion. I cannot say I enjoyed reading this book. There is nothing idyllic about it. There is no moment when a crooning cowboy breaks into song. No, it's just harsh.
Recommended (but with an 'aquired taste' caution)

2021-07-30
Ocean Prey
423 pages
Sandford, JohnJohn Sandford

Drugs, death, deception and diving mark this story of US Marshall Lucas Davenport. Virgil Flowers joins in as part of the deception.
Highly Recommended

2021-06-18
Angel of the Overpass
304 pages
Maguire, SeananSeanan Maguire

With the malign Crossroads dead and gone, it is high time for Rose Marshall, "the fantom prom date" to finally deal with the man who killed her, Bobby Cross. Actions, even for ghosts, have consequences.
Highly Recommended

2021-05-27
The Sentinel
351 pages
Child, Lee and AndrewLee and Andrew Child

Reacher pauses briefly in Nashville before heading out again. Chance, as it often does, interrupts his travel plans. So does an obvious ambush. Good Samaritan, Reacher steps in, only to get involved in the town's larger troubles..
Highly Recommended

2021-05-15
Fugitive Telemetry
107 pages
Wells, MarthaMartha Wells

A self-directed SecUnit isn't comfortable because almost nobody is comfortable when he's around. And when a body is found on Preservation Station, Murderbot (few use that scary name, but he likes it) is pulled into more discomfort, trying to track down the cause of death and those who caused it. Too much exposure for comfort.
Recommended

2021-05-13
The Dispatcher
64 pages
Scalzi, JohnJohn Scalzi

A dispatcher goes missing, leaving blood behind. It means he's not been murdered or he'd be at home, naked, in his bed, safe. The police enlist Tony, another dispatcher to help track him down.
Highly Recommended

2021-05-11
The Dispatcher: Murder by Other Means
110 pages
Scalzi, JohnJohn Scalzi

Dying isn't what it used to be. Tony does not know why or even how it works, but he is a dispatcher, a person who legally murders others so they don't actually die for good. It's a job, if not a pleasant one.

Unfortunately, I read this 'second' volume first. I'll remedy that immediately.
Highly Recommended

2021-05-03
Great Kitchens of the Midwest
269 pages
Stradal, J. RyanJ. Ryan Stradal

Great cooking is from the heart. Sometimes it gets recognized, but sometimes it is wildly successful and brings fame to the cook.
Highly Recommended

2021-04-27
The Lager Queen of Minnesota
287 pages
Stradal, J. RyanJ. Ryan Stradal

Beer is at the center of the lives of this midwestern family, though it does not actually bring them together. Fascinating and Delicious characters fill this book.
Highest Recommendation

2021-04-21
Every Heart a Doorway
127 pages
McGuire, SeananSeanan McGuire

Eleanor West’s Home for Wayward Children is simultaneously a shelter, an asylum, a school, and a waypoint for the children whose "real" world is not this one.
Highly Recommended

2021-04-15
Beneath the Sugar Sky
128 pages
McGuire, SeananSeanan McGuire

Stranded, away from their dream worlds by locked doors they can't find, students at the school are being killed. Death isn't anybody's chosen doorway.
Recommended

2021-04-08
Lights Out
97 pages
Ames, DanDan Ames

If you don't remember who you are, how can you be dead?
Recommended

2021-04-05
The Murders of Molly Southbourne
66 pages
Thompson, TadeTade Thompson

Molly bleeds and then there's a molly who will try to kill Molly. It happens again and again.
Highly Recommended

2021-03-31
Roadside Magic: Gallow and Ragged Book 2
312 pages
Saintcrow, LilithLilith Saintcrow

Be smart. Stay out of the clutches of Summer and as far from the knights and hounds of Unwinter as you possibly can. Still, there's no sure way to be safe, trying to walk the narrow line between opposing factions of the Siddhe.
Recommended

2021-03-19
Trailer Trash Fae: Gallow and Ragged Book 1
309 pages
Saintcrow, LilithLilith Saintcrow

Step safely, turn full circles, both sunward and back, breathe four in and four out. These are things a Half Siddhe just "knows" to do. Forgetful ones do not survive. Robin Ragged knows all too well the dangers of being careless...or worse, imagining being carefree. Summer isn't always benign and not when that fickle queen of the Siddhe has Robin set on a task in the mortals' world.
Recommended

2021-03-09
The Last Witchfinder
526 pages
Morrow, JamesJames Morrow

Newtonian physics meets head on against demonology in this historical novel. Jennet Stearne grows into the role of a natural philosopher as she battles against her father and brother who seek to find and condemn witches. England and the American colonies provide the stage for this sweeping 18th century story.
Highly Recommended

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Authors List

This year's authors in alphabetical order with duplicates removed.
It may not be very useful to anyone, but was good for ongoing JavaScript practice.
How it was done (in part)