I haven't been keeping up with documenting books I've read on here.

(Part of it is that I've been STARTING lots of things but not FINISHING them...I'm kind of stalled in The American Senator because I know it's going to turn unhappy very soon - John Morton ("The Paragon") is going to die, and Mary Masters is going to realize that she has no one to marry (having turned away Larry Twentyman and having concluded that Reginald Morton is to far above her in class that it's not worth even trying), and the horrid Arabella Trefoil is going to manage to get her way and force Lord Rufford to marry her, and they're both going to be miserable. I tend to stall out in books when I hit one of those "horror movie" moments - you know, where you're screaming at the character, "No! Don't go in the basement!" but you know they're going to do it anyway and it's going to be bad).

But over the past few weeks I've finished three, all mysteries.

First is another Hamish Macbeth mystery, "Death of a Poison Pen." I've decided that this series is good to while away time spent on the train or time stuck waiting somewhere but...I'm not really that in love with it. I get annoyed at how the women act in many of the books - they're all so desperate and they all seem to think they can "tame" Macbeth (who is apparently happy to go to bed with them without actually committing to anyone). And I admit I'm kind of annoyed at Macbeth - he's kind of a cad in some ways.

But I like the Scottish setting. And I enjoy the village eccentrics - who actually featured less in this story. (It's the tale of people receiving hateful letters from some mystery person - leading to an apparent suicide, and lots of broken trust, and other agonies).

The second is "The Silver Pigs" by Lindsay Davis. This is the first Marcus Didius Falco mystery. You'd think that a hard-boiled style would not work in an Ancient Roman setting - but it does. Works very well, in fact - the book was very entertaining. And you learn bits and pieces of Roman history along the way. (I was not aware that, ahem, "chamber lye" was used to bleach cloth, and that the owners of laundries had big pee-pots set out for "contributions" from customers or passers-by). It's the story of intrigue - young girl shows up with some important information, Falco winds up trying to unravel a plot against the Emperor (even though he is a strict republican and hates the excesses tied to the idea of there being an Emperor). He travels to Britain and winds up as a slave in the silver mines for a while, in the name of gathering intel.

It's a very rich dense book and I admit I got a bit lost around the concept of the "pigs" - apparently silver was shipped as an admixture with lead? And some of the "pigs" were richer than others.

But at any rate - it's an entertaining book.

The third book is also set in Italy - but in Venice, not Rome. (And in the modern day). It's another of the Commissario Brunetti mysteries - (Oh, cripes, I'm going to have to go look up the title. I never remember these things...)

"Death and Judgment." One of the problems is that the titles are vague enough they're hard to remember (also hard to remember which ones I already HAVE, in one case I bought a duplicate and had to return it).

I enjoy the Brunetti mysteries even though they deal with pretty tough subject matter. A lot of it is very topical - the last one I read dealt with undocumented foreign workers and blood diamonds. (This being Italy, most of the undocumented workers discussed were from North Africa). There is a certain amount of brutality involved, but in some ways, the modern world can be a pretty brutal place.

This book starts off with a truck accident in which a large number of young Eastern European women (who were riding in the back of the truck...shades the situation here where, every summer, the cops catch some trucker transporting undocumented workers in the back of his semi...and a lot of them wind up near death because it can get over 120* in the back of a semi). Then there are a couple of seemingly-unrelated murders of a lawyer and an accountant.

It ultimately leads to the sex trade (I can't say much more without spoiling too much).

Yes, it is kind of difficult subject matter - not exactly soothing before-bed reading. And yet, in a way, Brunetti's reactions - his anger at the injustice, his additional anger at a government that's just as happy to whitewash over what's happening - somehow makes it better. (And the fact that he, and the lovely Sra. Elettra, are able to somewhat bend the rules to get information needed to actually solve the crime).

Also, I like the fact that we get to "see" Brunetti's rambles around Venice (one of the real reasons I read the books - never have been there, probably never will go there, but I enjoy imagining what it looks like). I enjoy the Italy-specific things, like the gelato stands. And I enjoy his interactions with his family - unlike some detectives, he HAS a family and he LOVES his family (his wife, Paola, a university professor; his son, Raffi - off at university in this installment; his daughter, Chiara). Even though they disagree and sometimes argue, there's still that underlying love and respect. (And it's fun to eavesdrop on them around the dinner table, and to read about all the great food).

Right now, I just started "The Spy Who Came in from the Cold." It promises to be a hard-to-put-down book.