The Windsor Knot by SJ Bennett

On July 28, 2022 By Rick McIn booksLeave a comment

A cute idea.

Queen Elizabeth II secretly solves crimes while carrying out her royal duties.

It is the early spring of 2016 and Queen Elizabeth is at Windsor Castle in advance of her 90th birthday celebrations. But the preparations are interrupted by the shocking and untimely death of a guest in one of the Castle bedrooms. The scene leads some to think the young Russian pianist strangled himself, yet a badly tied knot leads MI5 to suspect foul play.
When they begin to question the Household’s most loyal servants, Her Majesty knows they’re looking in the wrong place. …
Away from the public eye and unbeknownst to her closest friends and advisers, she has the most brilliant skill for solving crimes. …
Amazon

The Island by Adrian McKinty

On July 27, 2022July 26, 2022 By Rick McIn booksLeave a comment

Adrian McKinty is an excellent author, under appreciated until his 2019 hit book The Chain.

An Uber driver at the time, the film option earned McKinty $1.5 million

The Island (2022) is intense.

Hulu has acquired the rights to develop The Island as a limited TV series.

After moving from a small country town to Seattle, Heather Baxter marries Tom, a widowed doctor with a young son and teenage daughter. …
When they discover remote Dutch Island, off-limits to outside visitors, the family talks their way onto the ferry, taking a chance on an adventure far from the reach of iPhones and Instagram.
But as soon as they set foot on the island, which is run by a tightly knit clan of locals, everything feels wrong. Then a shocking accident propels the Baxters from an unsettling situation into an absolute nightmare. …

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

Salvation of a Saint by Keigo Higashino

On July 26, 2022July 18, 2022 By Rick McIn booksLeave a comment

Book #2 of the English translations of his Detective Galileo series.

Police are frustrated trying to solve the murder of a businessman in his own home.

Poison.

Was the mistress? Or the rejected wife? Or someone else.

Finally they call in a genius — Manabu Yukawa, a university physics professor who’s something like a Japanese Sherlock Holmes. His nickname is Detective Galileo.

Slow paced, like book #1 in the series – Devotion of Suspect X.

Yet I was never bored in either book. The professor is a fascinating character. And the slow burn feels authentically Japanese.

Here’s how Yukawa was cast in one TV adaptation.

Kaoru Utsumi, a rookie female detective, is wonderful too.

Vancouverism

On July 25, 2022July 24, 2022 By Rick McIn travelLeave a comment

Rockin’ informed me of Vancouverism:

… an urban planning and architectural phenomenon in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.
… high-rise residential towers
… reliance on mass public transit
… green park spaces … preserving view corridors

Vancouverism developed in part as a product of Vancouver’s geographical context. Wedged between the sea, mountains and the border with the United States, there was not much room to expand as the city grew.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

Prodigal Daughter by Jeffrey Archer

On July 24, 2022July 18, 2022 By Rick McIn booksLeave a comment

The Prodigal Daughter by Jeffrey Archer (1982) is the story of Florentyna Rosnovski, the daughter of Abel Rosnovski of Archer’s Kane and Abel.

Florentyna becomes the first female president of the USA in this book.

Archer got the inspiration for Florentyna’s political life from the elections of Golda Meir, Margaret Thatcher and Indira Gandhi.

A good story. One of Archer’s most popular.

Click PLAY or watch the author introduce the book on YouTube.

WHY Travel?

On July 23, 2022July 18, 2022 By Rick McIn philosophy, travelLeave a comment

I took a year off after High School. A gap year.

And I’m glad I did.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

Arrived Norway … 🤨

On July 22, 2022July 22, 2022 By Rick McIn cycling, travelLeave a comment

I wanted to start my planned Bikepacking trip through Norway and (possibly / hopefully) Faroe Islands and Iceland on July 22, 2022.

Surprisingly, I made it to Tromsø, way far north of the Arctic Circle? 😀

Barely. Heathrow was a disaster.

BUT my bike is still in London. Who knows how long it will take to get to remote Tromsø.

Meanwhile …

The Disappeared by C.J. Box

On July 22, 2022July 18, 2022 By Rick McIn booksLeave a comment

This one didn’t work for me.

The plot thread with the Brit celebrity didn’t add anything to the story.

Many big fans of Joe Pickett weren’t impressed with the 2018 book.

Wyoming’s new governor isn’t sure what to make of Joe Pickett, but he has a job for him that is extremely delicate. A prominent British businesswoman never came home from the high-end guest ranch she was visiting, and the British Embassy is pressing hard. …
At the same time, his friend Nate Romanowski has asked Joe to intervene with the feds on behalf of an issue passionately felt by falconers, but inexplicably being blocked. It seems like a matter of lesser importance to Joe right now, but the more he digs into both cases, the more someone is trying to stop him. Is it because of the missing woman or the falconers? Or are they somehow connected?
CJBox.net

Manitou Canyon by William Kent Krueger

On July 21, 2022July 20, 2022 By Rick McIn booksLeave a comment

This one is quite good — even if the plot is farfetched. 😀

… a man camping in Minnesota’s Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness goes missing.
As the official search ends with no recovery in sight, Cork is asked by the man’s family to stay on the case. Although the wedding (his daughter’s) is fast approaching and the weather looks threatening, he accepts and returns to that vast wilderness.
As the sky darkens and the days pass, Cork’s family anxiously awaits his return. Finally certain that something has gone terribly wrong, they fly by floatplane to the lake where the missing man was last seen. Locating Cork’s campsite, they find no sign of him. They do find blood, however. A lot of it. …
williamkentkrueger.com