Vermillion Drift by William Kent Krueger

Another excellent murder mystery.

When the Department of Energy puts an underground iron mine on its short list of potential sites for storage of nuclear waste, a barrage of protest erupts in Tamarack County, Minnesota, and Cork is hired as a security consultant.

Deep in the mine during his first day on the job, Cork stumbles across a secret room that contains the remains of six murder victims. Five appear to be nearly half a century old—connected to what the media once dubbed “The Vanishings,” a series of unsolved disappearances in the summer of 1964, when Cork’s father was sheriff in Tamarack County.

But the sixth has been dead less than a week.

What’s worse, two of the bodies—including the most recent victim—were killed using Cork’s own gun, one handed down to him from his father. …

williamkentkrueger.com

Belfast – Kenneth Branagh

I’ve always had mixed feelings about Kenneth Branagh — brilliant, but sometimes too self-important.

But his recent semi-autobiographical film is fantastic.

Belfast is a 2021 British coming-of-age drama film written and directed by Kenneth Branagh. …

Branagh’s “most personal film“, follows a young boy’s childhood in BelfastNorthern Ireland, at the beginning of The Troubles in 1969. …

The film received seven nominations at the 94th Academy Awards, including Best Picture, winning for Best Original Screenplay. …

The film chronicles the life of a working-class Ulster Protestant family from the perspective of their nine-year-old son Buddy during The Troubles

Wikipedia

Jude Hill as Buddy is by far my favourite character.

Ciarán Hinds as “Pop”, Buddy’s grandfather, is wonderful too.

Jamie Dornan and Caitríona Balfe are fantastic as Buddy’s parents. Caitríona so beautiful.

Judy Dench, of course.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

Tour Divide 2022 POSTPONED 🤨

I was hoping to cycle out of Banff in June 2022. START on the Tour Divide with the pros.

Ride to Montana. Do some hiking.

Then cycle to visit friends in Idaho.

But getting my NEW TOOTH installed in Lisbon, Portugal took longer than anticipated. I’ll be adventuring in Europe May / June 2022 instead of riding Montana.

HOPEFULLY I’ll be there for Tour Divide 2023.

Click to see a larger version of the Tour Divide map by Aussie Alex Hotchin.

Click for larger version

Red Knife by William Kent Krueger

Cork O’Connor, now a Private Investigator, paints a picture of racial conflict in rural America, as well as a sensitive look at the secrets we keep from even those closest to us and the destructive nature of all that is left unsaid between fathers and sons, husbands and wives, friends and lovers.

Of the series so far, this is the book I enjoyed least.

It’s too complicated. Too violent.

Gundamentalist Americans make insane mistakes yet the author seems to have nothing against guns — aside from Cork moving his own weapons away to safe keeping.

A school shooting thrown into the mix too.

I Want Augmented Reality

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.

Over My Dead Body by Jeffrey Archer (2021)

Archer is age-82 as I post.

His most recent series features detective William Warwick.

Over My Dead Body is book #4. Quite good, as usual.

Archer considers himself a story teller, not a writer.

He’s proud that his books have little profanity, violence or sex — yet are entertaining.

In London, the Metropolitan Police have set up a new Unsolved Murders Unit – a cold case squad – to catch the criminals nobody else can. Four victims. Four cases. All killers poised to strike again.

In Geneva, millionaire art collector Miles Faulkner – convicted of forgery and theft – was pronounced dead two months ago. So why is his unscrupulous lawyer still representing a dead client? And who is the mysterious man his widow is planning to marry?

On board luxury cruise liner The Alden, a wealthy clientele have signed up the for opulence and glamour of a trans-Atlantic voyage. But the battle for power at the heart of a wealthy dynasty is about to turn to murder.

And at the heart of all three investigations lies Detective Chief Inspector William Warwick, rising star of the Met. …

jeffreyarcher.com

Peter McKinnon making COFFEE

Since I began getting serious about video editing, this is one work of art that I keep going back to watch. Again. And again.

Magic.

And the science behind the magic.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

Hi is painstaking.

Click PLAY or watch the behind the scene on YouTube.

Heaven’s Keep by William Kent Krueger

Intrepid hero Cork O’Connor faces the most harrowing mission of his life when a charter plane carrying his wife, Jo, goes missing in a snowstorm over the Wyoming Rockies. 

Months after the tragedy, two women show up on Cork’s doorstep with evidence that the pilot of Jo’s plane was not the man he claimed to be.

… Agreeing to investigate, Cork travels to Wyoming, where he battles the interference of local law enforcement who may be on the take, the open hostility of the Northern Arapaho, who have much to lose if the truth is known, and the continuing attempts on his life by assassins who shadow his every move.

At the center of all the danger and deception lies the possibility that Jo’s disappearance was not the end of her, that somewhere along the labyrinthine path of his search, maybe even in the broad shadow of Heaven’s Keep itself, Cork will find her alive and waiting for him.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

The Lincoln Lawyer – season 1

The Lincoln Lawyer is attorney Mickey Haller, half-brother of Michael Connelly’s mainstay character Detective Hieronymus “Harry” Bosch.

I like the Mickey Haller character, but not as much as Bosch himself.

They appear together in some novels.

Matthew McConaughey played Haller in the excellent 2011 movie adaptation.

Manuel Garcia-Rulfo is Mickey in the 2022 TV adaptation. MUCH different than McConaughey.

My favourite in the TV show is Becki Newton as Lorna Crain, Haller’s 2nd wife and office manager.

I also like Krista Warner as Hayley, Mickey’s teenage daughter. She’s very natural and believable.

Though reviews have been mixed, I quite enjoyed the acting and the plot lines.

The ending is strong. I’m confident season 2 will get the green light.

I’ve never been much of a fan of courtroom procedurals. BUT both this series and the book I was reading — Full Disclosure by Beverley McLachlin — both have cases with tunnel vision. The police assumed from the beginning that husband killed wife.