Want to talk about the books you're reading?

This blog is very different from my usual writings, which tend to be in the realm of business. But I'm excited about this new space and I hope it will make me lots of new reading pals.

Here's why I am starting the blog. I love mystery novels—everything from the classic English "whodunnit" in the style of Agatha Christie to the hard-boiled detective stories of folks like Robert B. Parker, the whimsical "Cat who" stories of Lilian Jackson Braun and almost everything in between. I'm also a big fan of thrillers of a certain type. I say that because I don't like lots of blood and gore, and I don't like violence for its own sake, but I like to be kept up late a night because I can't put the book down. Authors that do that for me include Robert Ludlum, Lee Childs and Harlan Coben. The other genre I call adventure stories, and one of my favourite series in this category is the Amelia Peabody stories from Elizabeth Peters.

Long ago I used to work in a company where there were quite a few of us mystery/thriller/adventure readers, and we all loved to exchange views about what we liked and what we were reading, and add more titles to our "must read" lists. Somehow I don't have many people in my circle now who like to do that, or at least not a bunch who get together very often. And I miss that.

I went on the Internet to see if I could find a blog or community already established, but I was disappointed. When I searched on terms like "mystery novel" I'd get a posting or a site that mentioned the words, but they weren't really devoted to discussions about mystery novels. So finally I decided to start my own—and here I am.

I don't know how many folks will read this, but I'll do my best to build the readership so that there will be lots of comments and chat about the books we've read and loved, or read and hated, are currently reading or plan to read. Obviously I'm the only one who can put up new posts, but I do want your comments. If you want to start a new book topic, just post a comment to the last one, and I'll put up the post that will open up the discussion. And if you like the blog, please do tell your friends who like these types of books about it so that they can join us too.

Well that's it for my first post, just to let you know why I'm doing this. Next time I'll write about a book or author that's on my favourites list.