What about books with small dogs and books without small dogs. We know where Crusie would go.

Hee! Yep, Block became the stuff of instant legend with that one. He just rocks.

I posted this elsewhere, and am adding it here, as well, because I need the info:

Italian speakers who (unlike me) do not stiffen like a corpse at gender-specific grammar, a question:

One dying man telling another man to, essentially "live on": Go, get out of here, I'm done for, you carry on for me: go, live.

The word that immediately came to mind there is "vivere".

In that context, male to male, am I using the right form?

ita, thing is, there's a ridiculous preponderance of cat-oriented mystery novels out there. The genre literally has its own sub-genre featuring cats; hell, if I do this Boston thing, I'll be doing it with Clea Simon, and her first mystery is called "Mew is for Murder".

there's a ridiculous preponderance of cat-oriented mystery novels out there

I know ... I was just riffing on a strange (and a bit annoying) repetitiveness the lady shows.

What about books with small dogs and books without small dogs. We know where Crusie would go.

Actually, Bet Me kind of threw me for a loop when it had a cat instead of a dog.

Actually, Bet Me kind of threw me for a loop when it had a cat instead of a dog.

There was one with a large dog that surprised me too. Such a rhythm.

I have actually heard some of the, like, Grafton books, called "softboiled" before, because they are a bit between...I think it might apply to Grafton, much as I like her. She mostly hints at the Sex and the Violence.Paretsky, imo, should sit at the same table with Hammett and Chandler. She goes after corruption and Holocaust gold scams...stuff like that. I admire her big canvas. I don't know how I missed Muller, except maybe I liked my mysteries softer then.

At least Crusie's small dogs aren't the major part of the story. I had to stop reading what's her name with the pub titles, after a couple in a row that all had the same small child and mysterious beautiful woman bewitching Jury.

I had to stop reading what's her name with the pub titles, after a couple in a row that all had the same small child and mysterious beautiful woman bewitching Jury.

Martha Grimes! Yes, there's always a cute kid in difficult circumstances somewhere who remind Jury of himself as an orphaned child, and there's generally a feisty elderly person. It got to the point where I just read them for Melrose Plant and Jury's actress neighbor. Not a good thing when the supporting cast is more interesting than the star.

I loved Grimes for the first few, and then she got repetitive and damned annoying.

The first one, though, had one of my alltime favourite lines in a mystery novel: Melrose Plant being offered a Sobranie and answering, no, thank you, I don't smoke crayons.