Are you suffering through a heat wave? I sympathize; ours came in June and now the beloved rainy season has come to cool things off. Afternoons are still very warm, but mornings and evenings are cool, often with a spectacular light show at two in the morning. By seven, everything will be dry. Usually. This year the weather really can’t be trusted: the rainy season started two weeks late, and it hasn’t broken any records, at least not yet. Quite wimpy, so far. But you never know. Some years it floods; some years the lake doesn’t fill. Either way, the extreme heat is gone for now, and we are happy here in Chapala.
Reading
I’m slogging through Surveillance & Undercover Investigation by Art Buckwalter. It’s very serious and dry—even less interesting than reading about forensic accounting. I love true PI stories, but this textbook stuff is going to take a while.
I’m also re-reading a Dennis Lehane novel, A Drink Before the War. I admire his insider knowledge of Boston neighborhoods and characters, but the PI story is outdated IMO. I love noir but this novel feels so 1970s, even though it was written in the 90s. The MC toughs out being beat up, shot, no hospitals, doctors, help, way too independent and invincible. I still admire how Lehane captures Boston, though.
Listening
I just finished listening to a Lynley novel, Something to Hide, by Elizabeth George. This is a terrific novel. First of all, the story takes place in an immigrant community, which George handles believably—at least to me, a white woman. The narrator, Simon Vance, does a convincing job of voicing men, women, adults, teenagers, and everyone. All kinds of accents, as well. Just wonderful. We also visit Winston Nkata’s family home, where some loving, non-possessive family scenes take place.
Watching
Shetland on BritBox.
I’m hopelessly addicted to this series, although it was better at first when the writers stayed with Ann Cleeves’s plot. Now it’s somewhat repetitive and increasingly outlandish. Soon Jimmy Perez is going to run out of people on that island to alienate. Here’s what I can’t figure out: Why are the lead investigators so often men who can’t control their anger? I mean, really?
