Sunday, October 17, 2010

Mailbox Monday-- The Wagon Backed Up & Did It Again



My favorite weekly meme is out and about. For the entire month of October you'll be able to find Mailbox Monday on She reads and reads. If taking a look at the books other people discovered in their mailboxes intrigues you, and if you'd like to participate, this just might be the meme for you. Thanks for hosting, Avis!

Last week I sent 4 books to new Paperback Swap (PBS) foster homes, and I received 9 new books-- mainly because I had a Bookcloseouts coupon burning a hole on my desk. I mean... what self-respecting bookaholic would be able to resist a coupon which states "Buy $35 worth of books and get $7 off"? I bought 9 books-- including 4 hardcovers-- for under $40 including shipping. As we say back home, you can't beat that with a stick!

Here's the rundown on what was in that box I found on my doorstep:

  1. Five Days in Summer by Kate Pepper. "Before the long drive home from vacation, Emily Parker made a quick run to the grocery store... and disappeared. But as her husband and a retired FBI profiler scour the Cape for her, Emily's thoughts are not on her own safety. Kept helpless in a madman's lair, she watches him prepare a five-day countdown that will bring him to his real victim-her seven-year-old son...."
  2. Fisherman's Bend by Linda Greenlaw. "Former Dade County, Fla., chief detective is seeking her roots and a slower pace of life in her coastal childhood hometown of Green Haven, Maine. Starting over as a marine investigator for an insurance company, Jane happens upon the body of alcoholic cod fisherman Nick Dow, who washes ashore with a crushed skull beneath the docks of the fish plant Jane means to assess. The state police don't suspect foul play, but she does. Chasing the murderer, Jane becomes an accidental stowaway aboard a boat that heads into a fierce storm at sea."
  3. Death Wore White by Jim Kelly. "At 5:15 pm Harvey Ellis was trapped - stranded in a line of eight cars by a blizzard on a Norfolk coast road. At 8:15 pm Harvey Ellis was dead - viciously stabbed at the wheel of his truck. For DI Peter Shaw and DS George Valentine it's only the start of an infuriating investigation. The crime scene is melting, and the murderer has vanished."
  4. Mystery Man by Colin Bateman. "He's the Man With No Name and the owner of No Alibis, a mystery bookshop in Belfast. But when a detective agency next door goes bust, the agency's clients start calling into his shop asking him to solve their cases. It's not as if there's any danger involved. It's an easy way to sell books to his gullible customers and Alison, the beautiful girl in the jewellery shop across the road, will surely be impressed. Except she's not -- because she can see the bigger picture. And when they break into the shuttered shop next door on a dare, they have their answer. Suddenly they're catapulted along a murder trail which leads them from small-time publishing to modern dance to Nazi concentration camps and serial killers...."
  5. Rural Britain Then & Now: A Celebration of the British Countryside Featuring Photographs from the Francis Frith Collection by Roger Hunt. "Francis Frith began to take his striking photographs of rural Britain in 1860. Over the next 50 years, he and his team of photographers took thousands of pictures capturing the special charm of the British countryside—its churches and castles, its quaint villages and rolling hills, its peaceful vistas and haunted ruins, as well as its unpretentious, hard-working people. Now, side-by-side with contemporary photos taken a century or more later, these images offer an evocative record of a century of social change, as well as vivid testimony to Britain’s enduring beauty."
  6. Sanctuary by Ken Bruen. "Soul-sick former Garda detective Jack Taylor is ready to move to America. Nearly everyone he ever cared about is dead. Former friends despise him. Even a letter from an apparent psycho threatening the lives of cops, a nun, a judge, and a child can’t change his plans. But when Ridge, his former partner, is diagnosed with cancer, he stays to support her: 'It’s God’s own vicious joke, the only woman I managed to keep in my life was gay.' Eventually, Taylor rouses himself to find the killer."
  7. The Blood Detective by Dan Waddell. "In a London cemetery, a man’s body is found. During the autopsy, the police discover the body has been marked with a string of letters and numbers that appears to be the code for a particular file in the Family Records Centre. To locate the file and unearth its relevance to the murder, police engage the services of Nigel Barnes, a professional genealogist. So begins the first installment of what one hopes will be a series featuring Barnes, a wily and likable amateur sleuth. This is journalist Waddell’s first novel, but it reads like it was written by a seasoned pro, sharply plotted and populated by three-dimensional people. The story is intricate, and readers will appreciate the care Waddell takes to incorporate Barnes’ profession into the mystery."
  8. Manna from Hades: A Cornish Mystery by Carola Dunn. "Eleanor Trewynn, a widow who traveled the world with her husband, is now living in Port Mabyn, a small Cornish fishing village, where she runs a secondhand store that supports a charity. Her niece, Megan Pencarrow, is a recently promoted detective sergeant now assigned to a local station. Unfortunately for Megan, her DI does not approve of women on the police force. He also does not like Megan’s aunt, who rather enjoys baiting him. When Eleanor and the vicar’s wife find the dead body of a scruffy-looking young man in the stockroom of the shop, Eleanor becomes involved in the investigation. Then, after some donated jewelry that they thought was paste turns out to be very expensive and stolen in a London robbery, everyone assumes that the two cases are related."
  9. Inspector Ghote's First Case by H.R.F. Keating. "Newly minted police inspector Ghote is summoned by Sir Rustom Engineer, the former Bombay police commissioner, to find out why the pregnant Iris Dawkins, who seemed the epitome of the contented young housewife, would shoot herself at the hill station of Mahableshwar. In uncovering the often sad facts of Dawkins's background, Ghote delicately navigates the minefields of touchy British officials, jealous and stupid subordinates, and frightened and obstructive servants while worrying about the impending arrival of his first child back home."
I think I've got all this book buying out of my system, and now that I have, I'd just about bet the farm that a ton of books from my Paperback Swap wish list will begin winging their way to my mailbox.

Am I complaining? What do you think?

I've shared my goodies, so now it's time to get out and about to see what all the other participants received!

24 comments:

  1. What a good haul you've got there Cathy, very responsible spending indeed. Death Wore White is a solid police procedural though you should have had it in time for summer - one of those books with blizzards in it that makes good reading when it's 110+ degrees as I know it gets in your neck of the woods (as it does here too). I thought Mystery Man was really, really funny and hope you get as much of a laugh as I did.

    I'm going to read The Blood Detective soon as it's the next book for my F2F bookclub and while I'm late to the Jack Taylor party so am not up to Sanctuary yet that one's on my 'to get' list

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  2. Wow, great list! Five Days in Summer sounds riveting!

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  3. Greenlaw and Dunn and more, oh my! Nice week.

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  4. Another nice week in books...happy reading.

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  5. They really know how to work us with those coupons, don't they? It looks like you found some great deals!

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  6. Nice list! Happy reading. My mailbox is at The Crowded Leaf.

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  7. I can't pass up a good book deal either! You did well! Enjoy!

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  8. Haha! That's how it works in our house too. Just when I'm feeling good about paring down the review pile more will show up, then paperbackswap or bookmooch books. And I love ever minute of it. :)

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  9. Bernadette-- Sounds like Death Wore White might wait until next summer! I think I bought Mystery Man on the basis of your review, as a matter of fact!

    Mary-- It certainly does!

    Beth-- Thanks!

    Serena-- Thanks!

    Kathy-- As long as the coupon works to my advantage and I've got the money.... :)

    Alayne-- Thanks for stopping by.

    Beth-- And they sent another one of those coupons in the box with this shipment---waaaaaaaaaaaaah!

    Alyce-- It's fun!

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  10. I keep seeing books by Bateman and wondering what they are like. I look forward to hearing more.

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  11. Hi Cathy,

    What some fantastic titles, I want them all!!

    I have a whole selection of the Frith books, they really are something.
    My husband is into photography and he just loves to browse the pictures in these books.
    Most of them I have picked up in charity shops, so they haven't cost me a fortune either.

    I also love the 'Mailbox Monday' header.

    Thanks for bringing your great blog to my attention, I shall be back to visit often

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  12. Even if I had never visited you before, I'd be able to tell from THIS mailbox that you're a mystery fan! What a ton of great books! Enjoy the reads!

    Julie @ Knitting and Sundries

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  13. Looks like you hit the jackpot. Interesting looking books...will wait to read your reviews to see if they go on my personal tbr bucket list.
    CMash

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  14. Wow, you got a lot of great books!

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  15. You got lots of great ones! Five Days in Summer sounds good. Enjoy!

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  16. Great list! Mystery Man looks particularly good to me; just checked and my library doesn't have it, so I've put it on my Bookmooch wishlist!

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  17. What a great list of books -- enjoy!

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  18. Rural Britain Then & Now sounds like a book I must have! (I'm interested in British history because I've been researching my family history and on my mum's side they all come from the U.K.) Enjoy all your books!

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  19. Vivienne-- Same here. I kept hearing about Bateman and finally decided to give one of his books a try.

    fiction-books-- I've been visiting yours! I wasn't a newcomer to the Frith book, and I've already been enjoying it.

    Julie-- Yes, my mailboxes do tend to give me away. ;)

    Cheryl-- Thanks for stopping by!

    Kate-- I can't wait to start reading them!

    Elysium-- Thanks, I will!

    Belle-- Hope you get it soon!

    DC-- Thanks!

    Avis-- My family comes from the UK: Yorkshire, Northumberland & the Highlands of Scotland.

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  20. Wow! You got some great books there! Enjoy them!

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  21. You certainly do love mysteries, and these sound perfect for you. Happy reading!

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  22. Aths-- I intend to! :)

    Anna-- Thanks!

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  23. Enjoy your books....Looking forward to reviews.

    Stopping by from shereadsandreads.

    Stop by to see my mailbox if you like:

    http://silversolara.blogspot.com

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  24. Elizabeth--Thanks for stopping by!

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Thank you for taking the time to make a comment. I really appreciate it!