more Regency mystery...

Finally read the second Tracy Grant mystery, Beneath a Silent Moon, starring Charles and Melanie Fraser.  I think I preferred the first book, but I don't really remember it all that well.  This one got a bit convoluted, and I, for one, have some problems sometimes with British books, particularly the Regency-era ones, because I get confused by the names - everyone has a first name, a last name, a title...  It was fun enough, though, and good for a cold, snowy day when I stayed home and mostly just slept and ate stew.  Not sure what is next on the list - strangely, I got NO books for Christmas, which has to be a first.  Of course, I have literally shelves-full of books I've bought and books I've borrowed from the library, but nothing's jumping out at me.  Which is maybe a good thing, since I REALLY need to clean my apartment today, rather than just sleep and read and eat...like, yesterday.  It was magical, but time to get back to real life.


Oh - and was just picking up and found A Vengeful Longing, by R.N. Morris, on the coffee table, under a pile of magazines and other books (including Dick Minear's latest offering!!!) - I think I read it at the same time as the Chevalier book? Don't really remember now, but I think I finished it and then moved on to Perdido Street.  In any case, I really enjoyed it.  It's the second, I believe, in the "St. Petersburg Mystery" series, starring Dostoyevsky's detective from Crime and Punishment (so freaking amazing), Porfiry Petrovich.  I remember I saw it on the outside bargain table at the Harvard Bookstore, and almost grabbed it, but then remembered I should really be spending my money on Christmas presents, so I held off until I could check Hollis, and sure enough, the library had it.  I'm wondering now if they didn't have the earlier book (A Gentle Axe), because I don't know why I wouldn't have started with that one...
I don't think it mattered all that much, but there were several references to events that happened prior to the opening of the book, and I wasn't sure if they were meant to be a bit mysterious, or if I would have understood them if I had read the first book.  In any case, I thought the writing was great: well-drawn, nuanced characters, that you get to know a little, but also stay at arm's length; wonderfully descriptive settings, with evocative details - the persistent flies buzzing throughout the story's hot, foetid summer were a great touch!