A bloody mess of reading

 Murder was the name of the game in the five books I read this past month. Seems the reading has been going in spurts, like blood from an artery, and I most recently hit the carotid.

It began with "Blood Feud" - a Robert B. Parker book written by Mike Lupica. Parker died in 2010 but various authors have picked up his Spenser series and carried it on (never end a sentence with a preposition.) Not sure how that works but I suppose they have some deal with the estate and most seem to do a good job with it. Gave this one a 6 on the Haugenometer.

Then was "Bloody Genius" - the 12th and most recent book in the Virgil Flower series by John Sandford. It was set on the University of Minnesota campus amid some feuding professors. I gave it a 7-.

Followed that with another Sandford book, "Righteous Prey" - the 32nd and most recent in the Lucas Davenport series. It was the ol' vigilante group killing people they felt had done bad things trope, but still good. A 7.

Then I went where I'd never gone before and read a book by Gu Byeong-Mo, a South Korean author. Her book, "The Old Woman With the Knife," was apparently a "sensation" in South Korea, but not so much in the Haugen house. Fortunately, it was translated into English, since my Korean is a bit rusty. The old woman is an assassin who, much like me, is beginning to feel the aches and pains and general slowing down with age. It was wordy, the plot seemed forced and under developed, but I finished it and gave it a 5. Gotta say, though, it was the best book by a South Korean I've ever read.

Then I cleansed the palate with another Robert B. Parker book - "Bad Business." This one was written in 2004 while he was still alive, though it doesn't appear that's a necessity for him. His main character, Spenser, is always a hoot. Gave it a 6+.

I'm only at 22 books for the year, one of my poorer showings, so I'll have to keep the blood flowing if I'm going to get back into respectable territory.