Mailbox Monday-- Down to a Trickle

My favorite weekly meme is on tour. For the entire month of November you'll be able to find Mailbox Monday on Knitting and Sundries. 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, Julie!

I've been busy making Christmas ornaments and doing a bit of work on the blog (mostly behind-the-scenes sorts of things), so it's been rather quiet on the book front. If a few hadn't come through on my Paperback Swap (PBS) wish list, I would've been bookless last week-- something that's unheard of. I sent 2 books to new Paperback Swap foster homes and received 3. Here's the scoop on the three books I received:

Dying Fall by Judith Cutler (PBS). "Sophie Rivers has a job she enjoys, a satisfying life and a close circle of friends. Then things go suddenly wrong; one of her students is murdered on college premises, and her best friend George meets a tragic end which everyone believes to be an accident - everyone, that is, except Sophie." Judith Cutler has been one of my favorite crime fiction writers for several years now, but her books are difficult to find over here in the US. I'm always thrilled when I can get my hands on one!

The Arsenic Labyrinth by Martin Edwards (PBS). "DCI Hannah Scarlett returns to crack open another cold case. Ten years after the disappearance of a local woman, Emma Bestwick, a stranger comes to the Lake District and offers up tantalizing clues that could lead to a solution to the mystery. Meanwhile, historian Daniel Kind is researching the life of John Ruskin, the nineteenth-century poet, art critic, and philosopher. As usual, Scarlett's mystery and Kind's research intersect, this time at the Arsenic Labyrinth, a group of mining tunnels built by friends of Ruskin that could hold the answer to Emma's disappearance. And let's not forget the mysterious stranger: villain or concerned citizen? The Scarlett-Kind novels rely heavily on their beautiful Lake District setting, but Edwards never lets the atmosphere outshine the stories." Another excellent series and writer that can be difficult to obtain. Once again, I'm tickled at getting this book!

Shadow Pass by Sam Eastland (LibraryThing Early Reviewer Program). "It is 1939. The world stands on the brink of Armageddon. In the Soviet Union, years of revolution, fear and persecution have left the country unprepared to face the onslaught of Nazi Germany. For the coming battles, Stalin has placed his hopes on a 30-ton steel monster, known to its inventors as the T-34 tank, and, the 'Red Coffin' to those men who will soon be using it. But the design is not yet complete. And when Colonel Nagorski, the weapon's secretive and eccentric architect, is found murdered, Stalin sends for Pekkala, his most trusted investigator. Stalin is convinced that a sinister group calling itself the White Guild, made up of former soldiers of the Tsar, intend to bring about a German invasion before the Red Coffin is ready. While Soviet engineers struggle to complete the design of the tank, Pekkala must track down the White Guild and expose their plans to propel Germany and Russia into conflict." Looks like this one is being published in the UK as The Red Coffin, so be careful!

That's it for this week. Now it's time for me to start roaming the Internet, checking out the other participants' goodies. This is fun!