The Ian Rankin I read (Black and Blue)… I had to keep reminding myself this was Scotland, not the US. I kept feeling the gritty atmosphere was in North America. Don’t know if I’ll read another immediately. They need a different sort of mood.

Then I read Reginald Hill’s Arms and the Women. Had a sort of surreal atmosphere, but on the whole, I enjoyed it. Ellie gets a bit more sympathique.

Read Ruth Rendell‘s From Doon with Death, her first Wexford mystery. On Ravelry someone was saying she likes to read series in order, but on reading this, I feel quite happy not to have come upon it first. The characters seem as though they haven’t grown into their skin yet. Reading Wolf to the Slaughter now, and the impression continues. I agree that as the years (and books) pass, people change, and it might be that Rendell deliberately changed them (“grew” them). But Wexford in the latter book sounds like Andy Dalziel, not the mellow man I usually picture him as, plus he isn’t even a Yorkshireman 😉

Stephen Fry’s got a blog now and it needs concentration and a clear mind. Erika alerted me to it, I still haven’t made up my mind whether I should subscribe to it or not. My attention span isn’t what it used to be… His “blessays” are long and intellectual.