Manabu Yukawa, the physicist known as “Detective Galileo“, is speaking at a small coastal town on whether or not to approve an underwater mining operation.

The night after the tense panel discussion, one of the resort’s guests is found dead on the seashore at the base of the local cliffs. The local police at first believe it was a simple accident-that he wandered over the edge while walking on unfamiliar territory in the middle of the night. But when they discover that the victim was a former policeman and that the cause of death was carbon monoxide poisoning, they begin to suspect he was murdered, and his body tossed off the cliff to misdirect the police. …

Amazon

This time the police don’t ask Yukawa for help. But he decides to solve the crime on his own.

As always, there are subtle and surprising twists and turns.

This book was adapted into a film.

Click PLAY or watch a trailer on YouTube.

Instead of doing Wordle online once a day, I downloaded a free app and have now done the challenge thousands of times. It’s relaxing.

I used the same strategy every time:

1. ADIEU
2. PORTS

All the vowels — but not “Y”. (I consider going WINGY if it seems a Y might be needed.)

I usually get a good idea of the word at that point. And next guess a word

If not, I go FLOCK or FILCH or FLUKE or FLUNK or some variation.

Most often I can solve it on the 4th guess.

Each time I’ve failed after 6 guesses with the ADIEU / PORTS start I write down the word.

The only words I’ve failed on twice are EERIE AND ENJOY. My brain seems to block words starting with E.

Here are the other words I’ve missed once. Sometimes due to laziness or lack of concentration.

style, humor, raise, relax, kills, maker, visit, maybe, wages, abyss , beard, dikes, years, along, exile, urged, ovary, gaily, gates, media,  shone, cacao, array, robot, gonna, imply, ought, occur, bowed, faces, snoop, eerie, candy, handy, boxer, hedge, stays, outdo, madam, judge, comma, rigid, schwa, grows, hears, hobby, wings, sands, valve, lyric, myths, texts, table

Grisham’s 2022 book is actual 3 novellas:

• “Homecoming” 
• “Strawberry Moon” 
• “Sparring Partners”

Great story telling, as always.

I’d say Strawberry Moon is the best insight to Death Row I’ve ever seen.

The “Sparring Partners” Malloy brothers, Kirk and Rusty, two successful young lawyers who inherited a once prosperous firm when its founder, their father, was sent to prison.

All good.

According to the back of this book, Keigo Higashino is the “ bestselling and most widely read novelist in Japan.”

Only SOME of his books have been translated into English, however.

Malice is the first book in the Detective Kaga series.

Famous novelist Kunihiko Hidaka is brutally murdered days before he is relocating from Japan to Vancouver.

He is found in a locked room of his home by his wife and best friend, Osamu Nonoguchi.

Police Detective Kyoichiro Kaga sets out to solve the baffling case, playing cat and mouse with an always present and cunning killer.

It’s slow paced. Thoughtful. Very Japanese.

The murderer is revealed early. Most of the book is Kaga methodically revealing the truth.

Recommended.

I didn’t particularly like Coldplay until I saw them LIVE in Glasgow.

That turned me into a big fan.

Chris Martin. is great as frontman.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

Our hero, D.C. Smith, had a mysterious past.

In the 5th book of the excellent series we learn of his role as a mole for British Intelligence during The Troubles in Northern Ireland.

Again, it’s Smith’s humour that makes this book so entertaining.

30 years later he returns on a personal holiday after being asked to find where the bones of an IRA friend had been buried.

The family wants closure.

Unfortunately, the IRA twice tried to kill Smith once it was revealed he was a snitch. And decades later there are some who want to finish the job.

Peter Grainger self-published for Amazon Kindle to start. And even today goes unrecognized as one of the top murder mystery authors alive.

Highly recommended.

During a houseboat vacation on the remote Lake of the Woods, a violent gale sweeps through unexpectedly, stranding Cork and his daughter, Jenny, on a devastated island where the wind has ushered in a force far darker and more deadly than any storm.

Amid the wreckage, Cork and Jenny discover the body of a teenage girl. She wasn’t killed by the storm, however; she’d been bound and tortured before she died. Nearby, underneath a tangle of branches, they also find a baby boy, hungry and dehydrated, but still very much alive. Powerful forces intent on securing the child pursue them to the isolated Northwest Angle …

Amazon

The Northwest Angle is a small piece of the USA completely surrounded by Canada and Lake of the Woods.

I can’t recall hearing anything about Braga in the past. BUT it’s a very nice & relaxing tourist city. Most of the attractions walkable.

… population of 193,333 …

… an important stop on the Portuguese Way path of the Road of St James. 

The highlight for me was outside town. The Sanctuary of Bom Jesus do Monte, a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Good Jesus of the Mount.

Traditionally, religious pilgrims climbed 571 steps up the zigzag stairs on their knees. On the way are scenes of the Passion of Christ.

I stayed on my feet.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by BestHike.com (@besthikevisuals)

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by BestHike.com (@besthikevisuals)

Click PLAY or get a glimpse on YouTube.

Google teased a future version of their A.R. glasses recently.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

I would certainly appreciate something like that technology.

Click PLAY or watch a trailer for the movie ANON on YouTube. It’s wild A.R.

An award winning Crime Book of the Year, Entry Island is excellent.

Detective Sime Mackenzie travels as part of an eight-officer investigation team. Sime’s destination lies in the Gulf of St. Lawrence.

Only two kilometres wide and three long, Entry Island is home to a population of around 130 inhabitants – the wealthiest of which has just been discovered murdered in his home.

The investigation itself appears little more than a formality. The evidence points to a crime of passion: the victim’s wife the vengeful culprit. But for Sime the investigation is turned on its head when he comes face to face with the prime suspect, and is convinced that he knows her – even though they have never met. …

MayPeter.com