I've just started reading "In the Woods". I started on the commute in to work this morning. I'm only about 15 pages into it, but I have to tell you right off - I sure wish I could write imagery like she can. I don't know yet about the story itself yet, but her ability to write a sentence is beautiful.

>>>>>I read 'T is for Trespassing' last week. I enjoy Sue Grafton books almost as much as (Stephanie Plum) Janet Evanovich books. Right before that I read Now and Then by Robert Parker. Another good one. I usually get them when they come out in paperback.
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>>>>I love Grafton's character, Kinsey. I think I sort of identify with her. When I was a kid, I wanted to be a detective.I read lots of detective books back then too. I always thought that would be the coolest job. So much so that, about 9 years ago, I got my son Adam into it, quite by accident. A new friend of mine was co-owner of a detective agency (he wasn't a PI, he just did the marketing) ... but they were looking for new investigators at the time and I hooked him up with Adam, who was 18 at the time and looking for work. They hired him and he's been a PI ever since. He's got his license now and works for himself.
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>>>>I know you've mentioned the Stephanie Plum books before, but I haven't gotten around to trying them yet. I also hear that Robert Parker's good ... one of these days I'll get around to it. Maybe I should just get on over to Amazon and order myself a few books. =0)
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>>>Here are a couple of good ones I have read lately and can recommend to both of you: "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" by Stieg Larrson and "In the Woods" by Tana French.
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>>I have "In the Woods" and I keep picking it up and meaning to read it, but for some reason, something else on one of my piles catches my eye and I end up reading that instead. On your say-so, I'll read it next.
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>I have already ordered her follow-up, which came out earlier this year and features some of the same characters. (Don't read anything about it before reading "In the Woods", though -- knowing which characters remain and which do not will probably tell you more than you want to know about the ending of "In the Woods").
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>UPDATE: Before we leave the topic of mysteries, here is the first paragraph of P.D. James's latest from the NY Times yesterday. Sounds like a good holiday read.
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>"The traditional comforts of the British country house mystery — puzzling plot, attractive setting, brainy detective, interesting characters — spill from P. D. James’s latest novel, THE PRIVATE PATIENT (Knopf, $25.95), like harvest bounty from a cornucopia. The locale, which always sets the tone and determines the content of James’s elegant storytelling, couldn’t be more conducive for a quiet murder: Cheverell Manor, a Tudor pile in the Dorset countryside, for generations a blueblood family seat but now the private home and exclusive clinic of the renowned plastic surgeon, Dr. George Chandler-Powell. Inviting a mystery lover into this historic residence, with its timbered great hall and grand staircase leading to treasure-filled upper rooms, is like whispering “Once upon a time . . . ” to a child."