003, What’s On My Kindle App | Mystery and Thriller Novels I Want to Read
Hello, Book Lovers!
As suggested by the title, I’m going to dive into the depths of my Kindle app and share with you the mystery and thriller novels that are lurking and waiting to be read by me. Don’t worry; I’ve managed to narrow this list down to twelve books. While I’m talking about my Kindle app, I will also get a bit nerdy and discuss my organisational habits with you. I also plan to do an episode focused on what’s in my audible library, but I won’t share that next.
Why?
Because I realise that there will be several shows in a row focused on my reading habits and I want to start talking about books because this podcast is supposed to be a virtual book club. But first, I want to discuss my reading goal for 2020.
My Reading Goal
This year I plan to read 26 books. Yes, that’s significantly less than the 40 book goal from last year. I will increase this with the next 30 days, depending upon how many books I manage to read during this month. Now that I’ve shared that, I want to point out that I will not decrease the number of books I plan to read because that feels like cheating.
Last year I failed to reach my reading goal, and I would like to avoid that in the future. For those of you who are interested, I only managed to read 32 books. So, I’ve set a conservative goal with the intention of increasing it in the first months of the year. I have a tight publishing schedule this year, and I want to make sure the other goals around this are realistic. But, that’s enough about author life.
Without further ado, let’s get into my kindle app.
How I Organise My Kindle App
Within my Kindle, I organise my books according to categories. Some of the categories are quite obvious and make sense, whereas some will not. Before I get into explaining why I do this, I’m just going to run through the list of categories. But don’t worry; I’m not going to explain what’s in each of these collections. That would take 12 years.
The first collection is To Be Read, then I have Currently Reading, Read, and My Fiction Books; in here features my short story, the Lawn and Missing. And then I have a collection on Writing Craft and Screenwriting.
In this episode, I will be focusing on the books sitting in my currently-reading collection and not my TBR collection.
Why, you ask?
It’s all comes down to numbers. There are fifteen books in my currently-reading collection and ninety-four in my TBR collection. But, I’ll only be talking about twelve of those books because of those ones related to the crime, mystery, thriller, and suspense genres.
The Books in My Currently Reading Collection
At present, I’m reading several books at once. And, I don’t recommend this because you make slow progress. I’m reading a few books for different reasons. Some are publishing related which I will not share here because I want to write in that sub-genre one day. One of the books I’m reading is a collection of short stories. Again this is publishing related because I want to see how other writers end their short stories. While others are just because I’m addicted to the series.
Books I’m Currently Reading
So, these first three books in this little section are the books that I’m currently reading for the reasons I explained in the previous section of the podcast.
Book #1 – Don’t Tell Meg by Paul J. Teague
The first book is Don’t Tell Meg by Paul J. Teague*. This is a psychological thriller, and I’m at the 10% mark of the story, and I’m about to hit the moment where the character’s life falls apart. Quite interestingly, because it’s a psychological thriller, it’s written in the first person and in the past tense. I know, based on what the protagonist is telling me, these events have happened. In essence, I know he’s about to screw up his life; he’s about to make a decision that he’s looked back on and said, “Yeah, this is quite a stupid decision that I’ve made.” And I’m reading knowing he’s about to do something, and it’s, in a way, added a layer of suspense that was over above the layer of suspense that you’d expect in a psychological thriller.
Don’t Tell Meg is quite an interesting read. I don’t usually read stories written in the first person; usually, I read thrillers that are written in the third person point of view. But this book is a little different, not in a bad way; this book really does keep me on the edge of my seat, and I’ve had to put this book down to give myself breathing room because I was getting worked up over the story. As I read the book, I started to feel anxious or possibly upset, but you get it; I was a little too invested. So I took a break, and I have every intention of coming back to the book because I want to talk about Don’t Tell Meg on the Podcast and possibly interview the author.
You can tell that this is the first psychological thriller that I’ve read.
Book #2 – The Coelho Medallion by Kevin Tumlinson
The second book on that list is The Coelho Medallion by Kevin Tumlinson*, and it’s an archaeological thriller. This particular book is actually a re-read. Again, my reason for reading this a second time is because I want to write an archaeological thriller. As I read each chapter, I’m making notes based on what’s going on in the story. I am to do this with five other similar stories. After that, the plan is to look back and analyse the books so I can get a grasp of what’s expected from this genre. So far, I’m at the twenty percent mark in the book. The Coelho Medallion is non-stop action from start to finish. I’m reading this in an ebook and audio. For those of you who are interested, check out the official book review from my initial reading by clicking here.
Book #3 – The Titanic Secret by Clive Cussler and Jack Du Brul
The last book in this section is The Titanic Secret by Clive Cussler and Jack Du Brul*. And, its book number eleven in the Isaac Bell series. It starts in the present day with an underwater discovery by Dirk Pitt, another character from a different series by Clive Cussler.
During the discovery, Pitt references a diary written by Bell, and thus the story is transported back into 1912. At the time of this recording, I was ninety-two percent of the way through the story. I actually finished reading or listening to the audiobook while I was uploading the podcast, and I’m still trying to pick my face up off the floor—the ending took me by surprise. Because this story sits in the action and adventure or archaeological thriller sub-genres, you’re taken on a journey to multiple destinations. So far, the story has taken me from Central City to Denver to the Paris Metro Tunnels, and towards Southampton in the UK. I’m reading this by my favourite way of reading which is Kindle whisper-sync for voice.
Archaeological Thrillers
All the books in this archaeological thriller category have been previously mentioned in the previous episode, so I won’t go into too much detail about these books here.
Book #1 – The Spear of Atlantis by Andy McDermott
The first book in this category is The Spear of Atlantis by Andy McDermott*, and it’s book fourteen in the Wilde/chase series. I plan to read this book with Kindle whisper-sync for voice.
Book #2 – The Midas Legacy by Andy McDermott
I’m super excited to read this second book, which is The Midas Legacy by Andy McDermott*. This book is number twelve in the Wilde/Chase series. And, like the previous novel, I plan to read this with Kindle whisper-sync for voice. You’re sensing a pattern here, aren’t you?
Book #3 – The Lost Library by A. M. Dean
The last book in this section is The Lost Library by A. M. Dean*. And I’m happy to report this book is part of a series—I’m super excited to get into this new series of thrillers. This book is about, well, I’m hoping, it’s about the discovery of the lost library of Alexandria. I plan to read this book with Kindle whisper-sync for voice.
Mystery Novels
In this section, you’ll find books within the mystery genre. I’ve decided to break top the mystery genre into two parts because I have a few books that are considered Cozy Mysteries. These novels probably have a bit of violence, blood, and gore. I thought I’d mention that just in case that type of this doesn’t float your boat.
Book #1 – Death on the River by Clare Chase
The first book in this section is Death on the River by Clare Chase*. This is book two in the Tara Thorpe Cozy Mystery series. I’ve read the second book, and to be honest, even though it has got no violence and other stuff, it’s still quite gritty and not a traditional cozy mystery, which is why I’ve added this book here. I plan to read this book with Kindle whisper-sync for voice.
Book #2 – The Vicarage Murder by Faith Martin
The second book is The Vicarage Murder by Faith Martin*, and it’s book one in the Monica Noble Detective series. Martin’s series features an amateur detective who happens to be the vicar’s wife. It’s set in an idyllic English village. At this point, it’s probably good to point out that it’s not marketed as a cozy mystery, possibly because it might contain a bit of gore. But I’m not sure because I haven’t read the book yet.
Eventually, I plan to create a wrap-up episode on the podcast where I talk about the book I’ve read so far, and in that episode, I will talk about this book and whether it a cozy or not. Nevertheless, I don’t think it is because I’m getting the impression that maybe Monica Noble discovered a body. That’s obvious because the title is a little spoiler-y.
Book #3 – The Flower Show Murder by Faith Martin
The final book in this section is The Flower Show Murder by Faith Martin*, and it’s book two in the Monica Noble Detective series. What I’m finding a little fascinating about this series is called “Monica Noble Detective.” As I pointed out earlier, she’s a vicar’s wife, so she’s an amateur detective, so this makes me wonder whether Monica sets up a P.I. agency. So, she might be a vicar’s wife with a P.I. agency. Now, that’s an interesting premise.
What Made Me Buy
Part of the reason why I added the last two books into my shopping cart was the fact that the series had a vicars wife as a protagonist. I’m looking to do a mini-series on the podcast feature books with main characters who are not spies, CIA agents, ex-military, or police officers. So, books featuring every day characters with ordinary jobs solving crimes. I guess you could say those books have a vigilante justice vibe, like Jack Reacher. As you can see in the video, I love Jack Reacher. The first instalment in that series will actually be the next podcast episode, which will be released in two weeks time.
Just in case you’re interested, I will do a bookshelf tour at some point and show you what’s on my bookshelves. So, keep your eyes peeled for that one.
Cozy Mystery Novels
I realise part of the reason why I divided up the mystery section was due to the differences in sub-genre but, I also thought there were more books than this; but there’s only two.
Book #1 – Murder at the Wedding by M. A. Comley
The first book in the cozy mystery section is Murder at the Wedding by M. A. Comely*. And it is book one in the Carmel Cove Cozy Mystery series with the main character P.I. Ruth Morgan. Just like, many of the other books on this list, I plan on reading it with Kindle Whisper-sync for voice. The reason why I added this book to my cart was the cover. It’s simply beautiful. On top of that, I got the audiobook for a weird price. It was an extra £3.47.
Book #2 – Gore in the Garden: A Collection of Cozy Mystery Short Stories by Shelley Dawn Siddall
The second book in this section is a collection of short stories called Gore in the Garden by Shelley Dawn Siddall*. I found this book after an author mentioned publishing it in a Facebook group that was purely for authors. I checked out the cover, and it looked great, so in it went. The other reason why I pressed the buy button was I want to see how other authors write short stories, so I could learn and become a better short story writer.
Thriller Books
I only have one book in the thriller category this time, and it’s a short story written by Lee Child called Too Much Time*. I wanted to read this book as a precursor to the collection of Jack Reacher short stories. There’s a part of me that curious about how Lee Child writes a short story which is what prompted me to buy this one. All of these Jack Reacher short stories occur before he waltzed into town in The Killing Floor, which is the first Jack Reacher novel. In these stories, you get a glimpse of what Jack Reacher was like and how he becomes the man he is in the main series. It’s super intriguing. So, it turns out that I’ve already read this short story because it’s part of the collection titled No Middle Name, and I’m 70% of the way through that hardback.
Concluding Thoughts
So, that concludes my first ever what’s on my kindle episode. I guess my question for you is, do you like to read on a Kindle device or Kindle app? If so, what’s on it? And, how do you organise your kindle? While I’m asking lots of questions do you have a reading goal for 2020? Let me know by sharing your thoughts in the comments section below.
The Facebook Group
Or, if you’re this way inclined, I’ve just set up a Facebook Group for this podcast, so come on over and join in on the discussion after the show. The Facebook group is called The Book Nerd Reader Club. I started it because I thought it would be easier to create discussion on Facebook than under a blog post. For the sake of transparency, the Facebook group is so new that it’s just me in the group at the moment. I know it super embarrassing but I’m all alone. For some reason, I think of Home alone when I say that.
Thank you for listening and happy reading, everybody.
With love,
Amelia xx
* DISCLAIMER: This blog post contains affiliate links, which means if you click on one of the product links, I’ll receive a small commission. The commission helps support the blog and allows us to continue to make content like this. Thank you for the support. 🙂
I’m Amelia. I write mystery and thriller novels under the pen name A. D. Hay and I’m the author of Missing the first book in the James Lalonde series. I’m the host of the Book Nerd Podcast and The Authorpreneur Podcast. Right now, I’m editing my soon to be published mystery novels, The Candidate, Duplicity, 24 Hours, and Immunity. When I’m not writing, hosting my podcasts or coaching aspiring authors, I love to travel around Europe with my Husband Roland, drink tea, and eat pizza.
