There are 8 books in the Inspector Kurt Wallander series, starting with Faceless Killers.

Set in Sweden.

Man Who Smiled is #4 — easily the best so far.

After killing a man in the line of duty (in The White Lioness), Inspector Kurt Wallander finds himself spiralling into an alcohol-fuelled depression.

He has just decided to leave the police when an old friend, Sten Torstensson, asks him to secretly investigate the recent death of his father in a car accident.

At first Kurt dismisses his friend’s suspicions as unlikely, but then Sten is found murdered in exactly the same manner as a Norwegian businessman shortly before.

Against his previous judgement, Kurt returns to work to investigate what he is convinced is a case of double murder.

Wikipedia

Seems this is the 51st book in the series. ✍️

HOW is Nora Roberts able to write so much?

She works 8 hours a day. Every day. Day after day. Sometimes writing 3 books in a series simultaneously.

Lt. Eve Dallas is a tough NY cop sometime in the future.

This book STARTS WITH A MURDER. Very quickly we learn Lorcan Cobbe was the hit man.

Eve’s husband knew Cobbe when they were hoodlum kids. And the killer seems to want to hang around to kill them both.

Book’s not bad.

Clive Cussler died last year. Age-88.

Fast Ice was published March 2021. Co-author Graham Brown.

18th book in the NUMA (the National Underwater and Marine Agency) series.

This is the first Cussler book I’ve read and can’t claim it’s good.

BUT I did find the plot fascinating.

In the early days of World War II, the infamous German Luftwaffe embark upon an expedition to Antarctica, hoping to set up a military base to support their goal of world domination. Though the military outpost never comes to fruition, what the Nazis find on the icy continent indeed proves dangerous…and will have implications far into the future. 

In the present day, Kurt Austin and his assistant Joe Zavala embark for the freezing edge of the world after a former NUMA colleague disappears in Antarctica. While there, they discover a photo of the Luftwaffe expedition of 1939 and are drawn into a decades-old conspiracy. Even as they confront perilous waters and frigid temperatures, they are also are up against a terrifying man-made weapon – a fast-growing ice that could usher in a new Ice Age.

Pitted against a determined madman and a monstrous storm, Kurt and the NUMA team must unravel the Nazi-era plot in order to save the globe from a freeze that would bury it once and for all. 

Audible

Wow.

I don’t know what to say.

The novel is set in a dystopian future in which some children are genetically-engineered (“lifted”) for enhanced academic ability.

As schooling is provided entirely at home by on-screen tutors, opportunities for socialization are limited and parents who can afford it often buy their children androids as companions.

The book is narrated by one such Artificial Friend (AF) called Klara. Although exceptionally intelligent and observant, Klara’s knowledge of the world is limited. …

This is his 8th novel. But my first Ishiguro.

Very skillful.

Publishers Weekly praised the “rich inner reflections” of Ishiguro’s protagonist, writing, “Klara’s quiet but astute observations of human nature land with profound gravity.” ^[6]

In her review for The New York Times, Radhika Jones notes that Klara and the Sun returns to the theme of The Remains of the Day as “Ishiguro gives voice to: not the human, but the clone; not the lord, but the servant. 

In a positive review, Cherwell described Ishiguro’s novel as characterised by “elegance and poise”, praising the narrator Klara as “a memorable first-person narrative voice, simultaneously robotic and infantile, scrupulous yet naïve.”  ^[8]

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

This is the first book to feature Will Robie, a highly skilled U.S. government assassin.  (2012)

Non-stop action.

Silly plot.

But I actually enjoyed it.

Two wildly different women—one a grifter, the other an heiress—are brought together by the scam of a lifetime.

janellebrown.com

Good book. Fascinating plot.

2020 technologies like Instagram, GPS and digital video cameras critical to the story.

Recommended — though it is too long. Rather than telling the same incident from two different perspectives, more skillful would have been to briefly REACT from the other person’s point of view.

FREE from your public library is best for sure.

I use the IOS Libby app, though there are others that are similar.

I’m with Calgary Public Library quite happy with the selection. I can get almost any book I want — though sometimes I’m on the waiting list for a couple of months.

I gave my library a big donation in 2020 as I was using the service more than ever.

Audible.com by Amazon is the market leader.

I’ve bought hundreds of books over the years. They have a better selection than my library and there’s no waiting.

That said — I’m thinking of cancelling Audible next time round. Prices have never gone down and they’ve not innovated much in all the years I’ve been paying my subscription.

IF dying to get an audiobook right away in future, I’ll simply buy it.

I tried Scribd. Didn’t like it enough.

MIGHT try Audiobooks.com, another Audible competitor. But it’s the same price, same benefits, so I’ll probably cancel after my free trial. AND I hear unused credits expire in only three months. No go.

A beginner’s guide to listening to audiobooks