Mastics-Moriches-Shirley Community Library Reader Advisory Blog: Police

The Stone Wife by Peter Lovesey is the newest book in Lovesey's police procedurals featuring Chief Superintendent Peter Diamond. When a competitive bidding war for a rare carved stone is interrupted by three masked men who kill the highest bidder, Peter Diamond and his team investigate the carving's mystical origins while Ingeborg goes undercover to learn about the murder weapon.

"If you've never encountered Diamond before, this is a good place to start (you'll be able to pick up on the hints of his past sorrows and run-ins with colleagues)." (Booklist Review)

Fans of P.D. James, Elizabeth George, and Michael Connelly may also like this series (according to NoveList.)

Want to read the series from the beginning? Here are the previously published titles in the Peter Diamond Mystery series listed in reading order and available at the library:

The Last
Detective (1991)

Diamond Solitaire
(1992)

The Summons
(1995)

Bloodhounds
(1996)

Upon a Dark
Night (1997)

The Vault
(2000)

Diamond Dust
(2002)

The House
Sitter (2003)

The Secret
Hangman (2007)

Skeleton
Hill (2009)

Stagestruck
(2011)

Cop to Corpse
(2012)

The Tooth
Tattoo (2013)

A serial killer is targeting Oslo police officers; is Harry Hole still alive?

Police

The Oslo Crime Squad hunts for the serial killer responsible for the torture and murder of police officers staged at the scenes of earlier unsolved crimes. Author Jo Nesbo's (The Redeemer; The Phantom) newest mystery presents an entire school of red herrings as readers try to discern who is the villain, who is the next victim, and what happened to Harry Hole. In Police, a stalker/student with a peripheral connection to an earlier case diverts attention from the investigation while obstruction by the politically connected chief of police and his vicious henchman hinders the detectives in their desperate chase to stop the murderer(s) before another colleague is harmed.

Followers of the Harry Hole (pronounced Hoo·la) series will want to read this book for both the resolution to the end of a previous novel, The Phantom, and the development of an old antagonist. Though Nesbo's police procedurals have become increasingly violent and heavy on coincidences, crime fiction readers will enjoy the high level of suspense that is sustained throughout as more questions are raised than answered before the startling conclusion is reached. (Library Journal Reviews)

Being Mortal by Atul Gawande

Genre: Adult Non-Fiction
Rating: 5 out of 5

"Being Mortal is about the limitations of what modern medicine can provide for people as their lives draw to a close. Gawande argues that the objective of medicine should not merely be treatment and survival; medical care should also ensure dignity in death and having control over one's final moments. He argues that instead of aggressively fighting the inescapable realities of aging, we should ask the hard questions of ourselves and our loved ones -- What makes life worth living? When should we try to extend our lives, and when should we choose a better quality of our remaining days over extending their quantity?

This book is difficult to read. Not because of the way Gawande writes -- his style is highly engaging, and he never lapses into excessively scientific jargon or overly simplistic explanations -- but because of the tough subject matter. Gawande draws on his own experiences as a doctor and peppers his book with honest and humane stories of his patients, friends, and family; the stories he tells make the book more accessible, and also more heartbreaking. (And that's not a bad thing.)

No one likes to think about their loved ones', or their own, impending mortality. But it's important to have these hard conversations, because as Gawande says, "endings matter." - Amanda

Newest Release in the Peter Diamond Mystery Series

New Installment in Harry Hole Crime Series