The Other Two … follows two floundering millennial siblings who must grapple with their 13-year-old brother’s overnight fame.
A gay aspiring actor, Cary (Drew Tarver), and his sister Brooke (Heléne Yorke), a former professional dancer …
Chase Dubek (a.k.a. ChaseDreams), a teen pop sensation who’s declared as the “Next Big White Kid” (Bieber) in music after his homemade music video, “I Wanna Marry U at Recess,” went viral on YouTube.
Grainger self-publishes. Kindle and Audio only, as I post.
I highly recommend the DC Smith Investigation Series;
Book 1: An Accidental Death: A DC Smith Investigation
Book 2: But for the Grace: A DC Smith Investigation
Book 3: Luck and Judgement: A DC Smith Investigation
Book 4: Persons of Interest: A DC Smith Investigation
Book 5: In This Bright Future: A DC Smith Investigation
Book 6: The Rags of Time: A DC Smith Investigation
Those are the first six of 10 up to 2023. Grainger recommends you read them in series as the characters evolve. Smith keeps trying to retire.
DC Smith is one of my favourite characters in fiction. Super competent. Very funny. Dry British humour.
These are police procedurals with no profanity, sex, nor much violence.
In the peace and tranquillity of the woods at Pinehills on a Saturday afternoon, a mobile phone begins to ring. The phone belongs to DC Smith and it isn’t unusual that the call is from Kings Lake Central police station; what is unusual is the fact that he seems to be the subject of an investigation rather than taking part in one.
What can the links be between a prisoner’s violent death in another county, the disappearance of two teenagers and the highest profile case in Kings Lake for many years?
As Smith and his team begin to untangle the threads, one thing becomes clear – they are dealing with some of the most dangerous people that they have yet encountered.
Statues are stupid. I’d vote against paying for the installation of any.
Decorative urban art pieces are … better.
My friends have always mocked Calgary for being the WORST city of this size for urban art.
Of hundreds of pieces around the city of 1.35 million I can only recall a few I like.
In 2012 this sculpture was installed to celebrate First Nations of Treaty 7 and the Stampede.
Designed to look like a half teepee, the semi-circlular sculpture depicts historic iconography that represents the Kainai, Piikani, Siksika, Nakoda and Tsuut’ina.
I’ve tried a number of Nesbø books now — but just can’t get into them.
Norwegian police officer Harry Hole — (an alcoholic) — is sent to Sydney, Australia to serve as an attaché for the Australian police’s investigation into the murder of a young female Norwegian girl …
Hole is assisted by Aboriginal colleague Andrew Kensington; together they find out that they are dealing with a serial killer who strangles blonde women. …
As I was going to be out of town on Alberta election day — May 29, 2023 — I voted by mail. Early.
And It was easy to vote by mail. I could write in the candidate running in my riding, or the Party.
I was voting against the unelected premier Danielle Smith as she’s untrustworthy and a rightwing whacko. The NDP is the only alternative that MIGHT form the next government so I voted for Rachel Notley.
IF unelected whacko Danielle Smith manages to lose in historically conservative Alberta, she’ll certainly claim a BIG LIE as she’s a fan of Trump and DeSantis.
Critics love this TV series for its originality and courage.
Frontal nudity.
But I find it embarrassingly weird for weird sake at times.
In season 3 the most compelling character is Scott Glenn as Kevin Garvey, Justin Theroux‘s (Kevin Garvey) father. He’s great. Very believable.
Inexplicably, the show moves from Texas to Australia a week before the seventh anniversary of the Sudden Departure when 2% of the world’s population had disappeared without explanation.
Season 3 does have some super memorable scenes. I’ll never forget the hotel room book burning in episode four. Film students need study how that was done.
This is a show that’s impossible to end — wrapping up all the loose ends. Yet the finale was one of the best scenes of all. Well done.
Overall, however — I’d say season 3 is weakest. IF you wanted to watch this show at all, season 1 would be best.
It’s #2 of Mick Herron‘s Slough House series, which have been adapted for the Slow Horses TV series.
I’d say the TV show is better than the book — but they are both good.
London’s Slough House is where the washed-up MI5 spies go to while away what’s left of their failed careers. The “slow horses,” as they’re called, have all disgraced themselves in some way to get relegated here. Maybe they messed up an op badly and can’t be trusted anymore. Maybe they got in the way of an ambitious colleague and had the rug yanked out from under them. …
Now the slow horses have a chance at redemption.
An old Cold War-era spy is found dead on a bus outside Oxford, far from his usual haunts. The despicable, irascible Jackson Lamb is convinced Dickie Bow was murdered.
As the agents dig into their fallen comrade’s circumstances, they uncover a shadowy tangle of ancient Cold War secrets that seem to lead back to a man named Alexander Popov, who is either a Soviet bogeyman or the most dangerous man in the world.
How many more people will have to die to keep those secrets buried?
Another excellent Deaver book (2018). Plenty of surprises.
In the early hours of a quiet, weekend morning in Manhattan’s Diamond District, a brutal triple murder shocks the city. Lincoln Rhyme and Amelia Sachs quickly take the case.
Curiously, the killer has left behind a half-million dollars’ worth of gems at the murder scene, a jewelry store on 47th street. As more crimes follow, it becomes clear that the killer’s target is not gems, but engaged couples themselves. …
… the Promiser makes a dangerous mistake: leaving behind an innocent witness, Vimal Lahori, a talented young diamond cutter, who can help Rhyme and Sachs blow the lid off the case.
They must track down Vimal before the killer can correct his fatal error. …
An endearing Canadian sitcom based in Newfoundland.
It’s based on the school days of comedian Mark Critch who’s age-48. I’m quite a bit older but still get nostalgic over some of the news stories of the day featured in the show.
Critch plays his father (Mike Critch) in the series, while child actor Benjamin Evan Ainsworth plays the young Critch.
Malcolm McDowellis a treat as Patrick “Pop” Critch, Mark’s grandfather. Turns out he once worked running Rum for Al Capone during prohibition. 😀
Rick McCharles 