All the Devils are Here - Louise Penny

 A great mystery- detective novel by Penny.  Set in Paris for a change.  Incredibly twisted plot that is full of surprises.  The focus is on the misdeeds and cover ups of large corporate powers, and also on the corrupts relationships between government, media and these large corporate powers.  

A Knife to the Heart - Barbara Nadel

 Another Inspector Ikmen novel.  Like John Rebus, he is aging.  His wife has passed away.  He is retired and feeling lost.  As usual the characterizations are good and it is nice to revisit some parts of Istanbul.

A Song for Dark Times - Ian Rankin

 Latest Rankin novel.  John Rebus has now been retired for a while and is aging noticeably - he actually moves out of his apartment because of difficulties with the stairs.  He is looking like an old man.  The focus this time is on the shady world of financing big development projects and also on the shocking land ownership situation in Scotland where a few people, more and more of them rich foreigners, own vast amounts of the country - I think the statistic is around 90%, but I could be a bit high there.  A leftover from the closing in of the commons and the expulsion of tenant farmers by noble land owners and clan chieftains in the late 18th and early 19th century.

A good read, but maybe not quite as good as many of the previous.  I wonder how much life is left in Rebus as a character...

Even the Dead - Benjamin Black

 As per usual

Holy Orders - Benjamin Black

 Same "forces of evil".  Same good guys...

A Death in Summer - Benjamin Black

 Much the same

The Lemur - Benjamin Black

Like all of Black's books, not bad.  Evokes an older Dublin.  Some Irish social criticism, but always the same - corrupt church in league with corrupt politicians and criminal gangs.  It is like the same book over and over with subtle plot changes.  Rankin's work is far more varied, and his characters are much more complex. 

However, they do pass the time. 

Elegy for April - Benjamin Black

 As usual.

Riccardino - Andrea Camilleri

 L'ultimo libro di Camilleri e anche della serie Montalbano.  Camilleri l'avevo scritto molti anni fa, ma insisteva che sarebbe stato pubblicato solo dopo il suo decesso.  Divertente come sempre ma con certi aspetti originali mai visti nei libri di Montalbano.  Il romanzo diventa un po' Pirandellesco nel senso che nel corso del romanzo c'è uno scambio di lettere e di telefonate tra il carattere Montalbano e l'autore Camilleri.  Montalbano è alla volta l'ispirazione per l'autore e anche la sua creazione.  Alla fine Montalbano si cancella letteralmente...

Mi sento un po' deluso che non ci sarà più libri con Montalbano.  

Il cuoco dell'Alcyon - Andrea Camilleri

 Un romanzo basato su le organizzazioni internazionale del mafia.  

Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead - Olga Tokarczuk

 Kind of a detective / murder mystery novel.  Really a rant against hunting as a hobby, and against the eating of meat in general.

Great title, but for me the book didn't live up to the title's potential.

A Better Man - Louise Penny

Latest Inspector Gamache novel.  Theme this time is spousal abuse within families.  Also, the stereotypes we use when judging others.
The recent Quebec floods are also worked into the structure of the book. 

Agent Running in the Field - John LeCarré

Another great book by this author.  The contemporary issues underlying this current book are both very topical and demonstrate more perception than current media or public awareness.
1 - how the English elite, and particularly the London financial system, has turned into an enabler for, and profits hugely from, vast sums of money coming out of criminal regimes and being parked for security in London banks and property.  Particularly from Eastern Europe.  Le Carré's point is that this lucrative relationship has started to colour and control England's diplomatic and international agenda.

2 - the possibility of a U.S. England alliance designed to destabilize and ultimately destroy the E.U. as an institution through fake news, provocations, support for far right groups.  This idea is highly plausible.  Brexiteers see the E.U. as a threat to their agenda.  Trump and the American Right see the E.U. as an economic and political threat in an arena where for the past fifty years they have controlled the playing field.  The Anglo socio-political world view - every man for themselves, wealth as a legitimizer of power - stands in opposition to the E.U.'s more socialist leanings.  Just as the West once stood as a stark contrast to the ugliness of the Soviet regime, Europe's more humane and inclusive politics stand in stark contrast to the growing social ugliness of the Anglo political world.  In a sense, the U.S. and England are now on the same side as Putin in relation to the E.U.   Another interesting little aside in the novel is the author's comment that Trump says the things about the E.U. that Putin can't say as he attempts to weasel his way deeper into the economics and politics of the region.

This is LeCarré's most disturbing book so far, from the point of view of issues he examines.  I suppose because the central conflict is entirely located within what would have formerly been seen as the Free World.  It suggests that, rather than having disappeared with the fall of the Soviet Union, the rot has in fact spread into Europe and the U.S..

In a House of Lies - Ian Rankin

Latest Rankin book.  Very good!  All kinds of stories woven together and crossing each other.   The denouement remains a mystery right until the end.  Rebus is even funnier and more ironic as he ages and speaks from retirement.  No real central issue or theme that I can see - except perhaps the perennial "bureaucratic process is no match for raw intelligence".

Land of the Blind - Barbara Nadel

Another crime/detective story by Nadel set in Istanbul.  An enjoyable read, as always.  Like a short visit to Istanbul.  Not the most sophisticated fiction, but still enjoyable.  And she certainly knows her Istanbul geography and history, as she uses it in her stories.

Kingdom of the Blind - Louise Penny

A sequel to most recent Gamache book about drug smuggling across the Quebec border.  This is an excellent book, moving between the peculiar peace of Three Pines and the underworld of Montreal's drug scene.  I think it is her best book so far. 

Un mese con Montalbano

Collezione divertente di più di 30 racconti da Camilleri.   Vale la pena di leggerli.  Si può vedere chiaramente il carattere simpatico e sagace di Montalbano di fronte all'umanità.  Alcuni dei racconti si può vedere come filmi nella seria di Montalbano del RAI.

Transcription - Kate Atkinson

A spy novel set during WW2 and the early years of the Cold War.  Loosely built around the double agent revelations that actually occurred in MI5 during the 50s and 60s.  Better written than the other book I tried by her.  The ending comes as quite a surprise, but mostly because there seems to be almost nothing hinting at in the course of the story.

La Première enquête de Maigret - George Simenon

Premier livre de Simenon et de Maigret.  Belle évocation des divers milieux de Paris du début du 20e siècle.  Un auteur qui élabore non seulement un mystère, mais qui aussi met en vue le monde social et le système de classes en opération à cette époque.
À en lire plus.

Glass Houses - Louise Penny

Her latest novel.  She seems to just keep getting better.  Topical foci this time:  police corruption (again) and drug smuggling.