S.A.Cosby: My Darkest Prayer, Headline 9781472299109, paperback 

Nathan Waymaker is a character in this Southern noir crime novel that I immediately took to and S.A. Cosby a new crime writer I seem late in discovering. 

Living in his cousins funeral home working as an undertaker, Nathan also has a former life as a sheriff' deputy and marine to show for, qualifications for a job as an investigator which come in handy when asked by parishoners to look into the sudden death of their minister which his old police mates are keen to sweep under the rug. Enter the daughter of the minister, a porn actress, Nathan readily  "befriends" to overcome her non existing grief.

I loved the character of this maladjusted investigator/undertaker and S.A. Cosby's terrific writing. Just downloaded "Razorblade Tears" and look forward to more of his writing ....

" Fourteen Days" a collaborative novel by Margaret Atwood and  other writers, 9781784745455, Vintage/ Penguin Random House, February 2024

Thanks to a netgalley,   I was able to read this unusual, terrific,  collaborative novel,  written during lockdown of the pandemic by a whole cast of well known authors such as Celeste Ng, John Grisham, Tess Gerritsen, Erica Jong, Dave Eggers, Sylvia Day, Tommy Orange , Margaret Atwood to name just a few. 

 The story lends itself perfectly to the project: set in New York during the pandemic,  the tenants of a run down building gather each evening for fourteen days on the roof top, equipped with booze and other provisions, taking turns in telling each other stories, viewing each other suspiciously. . No one knows whether the stories are real or made up by the narrator. The chief protagonist is the super of the building, a young woman who finds notes left by her predecessor about the peculiarities of aĺl the tenants, inclusive imaginative names and apartment numbers. The book reminded me a little of a kinkier version of 1001 nights, it is great fun to read, not at all bleak even if some stories are on the darker side. 

The epilogue provides the names of the authors who has written which chapter.