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Blog archive

December 2024

November 2024

Event of Remembrance
11/22/2024

Phishing Scams: What You Need to Know
11/22/2024

Pupusas Family Style: Another Adventurous Dining Winner
11/22/2024

Celebrating the Holidays
11/21/2024

Genealogy Group: Discovering Our Pasts
11/21/2024

Nathan Wolford – From Tragedy to Ministry
11/21/2024

Pasadena Village Board of Directors: A Brief Overview
11/21/2024

President's Message
11/21/2024

The Day of the Dead (Dia de muertos)/ Mexican Culture/Community
11/21/2024

Vintage Celebration: Aging Like a Fine Wine
11/21/2024

Review of Racism in Our Local Past
11/20/2024

Creative Juices Flow in The Village
11/19/2024

Checking In by Ed Rinderle
11/15/2024

Eagle Poem by Joy Harjo
11/15/2024

I Shall Forget You Presently, My Dear (Sonnet IV) by Edna St. Vincent Millay
11/15/2024

Pictures From Brueghel by William Carlos Williams
11/15/2024

October 2024

ARBORIST WALK: NOT FOR TREE HUGGERS ONLY!
10/29/2024

Bill Wishner: Visual Hunter
10/29/2024

Can a Village Group Fix Our Healthcare System?
10/29/2024

Community Board Directors Strengthen Village Board
10/29/2024

Connecting with Village Connections: The A, B, C, & D’s of Medicare @ 65+
10/29/2024

Grief is a Journey: Two Paths Taken
10/29/2024

Message from the President
10/29/2024

Promoting Informed & Involved Voters
10/29/2024

What Will Be Your Legacy?
10/29/2024

1619, Approaching the Election...
10/27/2024

Beyond and Within the Village - A Star is Born
10/17/2024

Happiness by Priscilla Leonard
10/11/2024

Those Winter Sundays by Robert Hayden
10/11/2024

Unpainted Door by Louise Gluck
10/11/2024

In the Evening by Billy Collins
10/10/2024

Wild Geese by Mary Oliver
10/10/2024

Betty Kilby, A Family History
10/01/2024

Betty Kilby, A Family History
10/01/2024

Betty Kilby, A Family History
10/01/2024

September 2024

August 2024

1619 Wide Ranging Interests
08/19/2024

1619 Wide Ranging Interests
08/19/2024

First Anniversary
08/19/2024

Alexandra Leaving by Leonard Cohen
08/16/2024

Muse des Beaux Arts by W. H. Auden
08/16/2024

The God Abandons Antony by Constantinos P. Cavafy
08/16/2024

Ch – Ch – Ch –Changes
08/15/2024

Cultural Activities Team offers an ‘embarrassment of riches’
08/15/2024

Engaging in Pasadena Village
08/15/2024

Future Housing Options
08/15/2024

Message from the President
08/15/2024

There Are Authors Among Us
08/15/2024

Villagers Welcome New Members at the Tournament Park Picnic
08/15/2024

Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night by Dylan Thomas
08/14/2024

A narrow Fellow in the Grass by Emily Dickinson
08/13/2024

Haikus
08/13/2024

One Art by Elizabeth Bishop
08/13/2024

Poem 20 by Pablo Neruda
08/13/2024

Still I Rise by Maya Angelou
08/13/2024

Trees by Joyce Kilmer
08/13/2024

July 2024

June 2024

May 2024

Emergency Preparedness: Are You Ready?
05/28/2024

Farewell from the 2023/24 Social Work Interns
05/28/2024

Gina on the Horizon
05/28/2024

Mark Your Calendars for the Healthy Aging Research California Virtual Summit
05/28/2024

Meet Our New Development Associate
05/28/2024

Putting the Strategic Plan into Practice
05/28/2024

Washington Park: Pasadena’s Rediscovered Gem
05/28/2024

Introducing Civil Rights Discussions
05/22/2024

Rumor of Humor #2416
05/14/2024

Rumor of Humor #2417
05/14/2024

Rumor of Humor #2417
05/14/2024

Rumor of Humor #2418
05/14/2024

Springtime Visitors
05/07/2024

Freezing for a Good Cause – Credit, That Is
05/02/2024

No Discussion Meeting on May 3rd
05/02/2024

An Apparently Normal Person Author Presentation and Book-signing
05/01/2024

Flintridge Center: Pasadena Village’s Neighbor That Changes Lives
05/01/2024

Pasadena Celebrates Older Americans Month 2024
05/01/2024

The 2024 Pasadena Village Volunteer Appreciation Lunch
05/01/2024

Woman of the Year: Katy Townsend
05/01/2024

April 2024

March 2024

February 2024

January 2024

Featured Author: Val McDermid

By Ms Vyk
Posted: 08/24/2020
Tags:
If you like your crime fiction violent, gritty, and gruesome with plenty of torture thrown in for good measure then have I got the author for you!

International best seller Val McDermid  is a renowned author with over 32  books under her pen. She has won several awards and is described as “Britain’s reigning Queen of Crime.”  Her books mostly fall into four series, with most helmed by female lead detectives. There are standalone books as well as nonfiction books about forensics. She is, to say the least, a prolific writer who knows the dark and smarmy side of human nature.

I’ve gotten hooked on the Carol Jordan/Tony Hill book series. She’s the lead detective and he’s the psychological profiler, and both are part of an elite “murder squad” of a police department in South Yorkshire, England. I have zipped through THE RETRIBUTION, CROSS AND BURN, SPLINTER THE SILENCE AND INSIDIOUS INTENT in less than 14 days. They are that compulsively readable and hard to put down.  Yes, I’ve lost sleep reading deep into the night. While I did not start at the beginning of the series it was easy enough to “catch up” with the main characters and background references.

What makes reading this author so addictive?  First, her excellent writing style.  McDermid knows how to turn a phrase.  Her vocabulary is refreshingly extensive. She is elegantly crisp with her prose and she does not clutter the page with needless and endless exposition.

Secondly, her complex characters come alive on the page. Her team is comprised of colleagues with individual quirks and conflicts, emotional depth and intelligence, tangled relationships and personalities that hold your interest. They are compassionate about the victims of the hideous crimes they investigate. Consequently, you, as a reader, are drawn in to care about the team and what happens to and with them during the course of each book.
 
Thirdly, the murder plots are intricate as well as atrocious. They are not only violent but also viciously disturbing and demented. The murderers themselves are deranged yet cunning and self-righteous with their points of view.  The storylines veer from stalking, internet trolling to arsonists to wedding crashers with more than a little hint of feminism thrown in for good measure.

A plethora of crime, mystery, thriller and suspense books are out there to choose from. The genre is jam packed. But if you’re looking for taut, smart, riveting, edge-of-your seat story telling you won’t go wrong choosing a Val McDermid novel. But be warned: you will undoubtedly lose some sleep.

Ms. Vyk

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