Tag / Nita Prose

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Prolific Authors – Three Books

It is time once again to take a look at the authors I have read the most, dating back to high school.  This year, I’m once again on pace to set a new record for books read in a year, so I thought it would be nice to take a deeper dive into those books I’ve read through August of this year. Since our last check-in, I’ve read an additional 114 books, so there should be some movement over the past two years.  Without further ado, it’s time to take another look and see if my “favorite” authors have changed much over the years.  We continue today with the 21 authors I’ve read three times, one more than two years ago.

Kevin J. Anderson

Last read in the 20th century, he’s responsible for three of the X-Files books on my shelf.

Fredrik Backman

This Swedish author has become a recent favorite, showing up once a year prior to last year, with more to come, I’m sure.

The 22 Murders of Madison May – Max Barry

Max Barry

After a 17-year break, Barry returned to my attention in 2024 with The 22 Murders of Madison May.

Adam Carolla

The former comedian and current right-wing nutjob managed to get me to read three of his podcast regurgitations before being driven away.

Bill Carter

The former media reporter for the New York Times delivered three behind the scenes looks at the television industry, including the transition from Johnny Carson to Jay Leno and from Jay Leno to Conan O’Brien and back again.

Supreme Justice – Max Allan Collins

Max Allan Collins

Author of all entries of the Reeder and Rogers trilogy.

Keith R.A. DeCandido

Two Buffy the Vampire Slayer novels and a Spider-Man novel make up his works.

Diane Duane

A 23-year absence was broken in 2023 thanks to Intellivore, an entry in the Star Trek: The Next Generation series.

The Fireman – Joe Hill

Joe Hill

The son of Stephen King crossed my path again following a seven-year break.

Luke Jennings

The basis of the television show Killing Eve, Jennings’ trilogy takes a wildly different path.

David Lagercrantz

Stieg Larsson

Stieg Larsson wrote the first three entries in the story of Lisbeth Salander.  Following his death, David Lagercrantz continued the series with three entries of his own.

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Book 35 (of 52) – The Maid’s Secret

The Maid’s Secret – Nita Prose

When a television treasure hunting show comes to the hotel, Molly Gray finds out that a decorative egg given to her is worth millions.  When the egg disappears following the auction, she once again finds herself in the middle of a mystery, the keys to which may be in a diary her gram kept detailing her hidden childhood.

Nita Prose wraps up her Molly the Maid trilogy with The Maid’s Secret.  After a slow start, I got into this one, moving back and forth between the two timelines and picking up the hints that led to the ultimate revelations.  I’m not sure what is next for Prose, but I’ll keep an eye out.

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Book 6 (of 52) – The Mystery Guest

The Mystery Guest – Nina Prose

A few years after her previous encounter with law enforcement, hotel maid Molly Gray once again finds herself in the middle of a mystery when a reclusive mystery writer is murdered at the hotel. Working with the police this time, she uses her peculiar skills to put together clues the police never discovered and helps discover the murderer.

Nita Prose follows up her debut novel, The Maid, with The Mystery Guest, continuing the adventures of her neuro-divergent maid.  I found myself enjoying this entry more than I did the first, so Prose is moving in the right direction.  Since this was just released in November, I assume I have quite some time before I need to decide if I want to go back for a third go-around.

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2022: The Year In Books

As we wrap up 2022, my second full year of remote working, I managed to surpass my previous records by completing a whopping 55 books, an increase of one book over last year and my second consecutive year completing the 52 books in 52 weeks challenge.  I surpassed last year’s total with a mere three days remaining in 2022.  I read (or listened) to 19,328 pages, by far my highest total of all time and only the third time I’ve passed 10,000.

Of those books, fifteen were non-fiction and, of the remaining 40 novels, only two were tied to a TV show, either as the source material or as a tie-in.  None of the books came out of my dwindling “to-read” drawer, with 44 e-books and three audiobooks.  I continued to take advantage of my library card, which helped me procure 37 of the books I consumed throughout the year.

A little more than half of the books I read this year were by authors I had read before. The 31 authors that I read for the first this year were:

Adam Nedeff Kelsey McKinney Simone St. James Laura Dave
Jeff Warren Carlye Adler Matt Paxton Jordan Michael Smith
Alyssa Milano Alex Finlay Taylor Jenkins Reid Emily Ratajkowski
Samantha Downing Dave Grohl Mary Lynn Rajskub Stephanie Perkins
Michael Schur Joseph Henrich V.E. Schwab Brianna Madia
Jimmy Piersall Richard Whittingham Richard Osman Colleen Hoover
Jenette McCurdy Sally Rooney Josh Malerman Alice Sebold
Katie Mack Penn Jillette Elin Hilderbrand Nita Prose

Alex Finlay, Simone St. James, Karin Slaughter, Megan Goldin, Jeffery Deaver, and Richard Osman were the only authors that I read multiple titles from during 2022.

16 of the books I read were released this year, while only two of them were released last century, with the oldest first published in 1953.

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Book 55 (of 52) – The Maid

The Maid – Nita Prose

When a hotel guest is found dead in his bed, all evidence seems to point towards the neuro-divergent maid who found him.  When she is charged with murder, her friends rally around her and help put in place a plan to go after the real bad guys.

The Maid, the debut novel from Nita Prose, was an interesting read.  It came to my attention as the winner of Best Mystery and Thriller in the Goodreads Choice Awards for 2022 and, while it wasn’t bad, it wasn’t that great.  It wasn’t even the best of the three nominated novels that I’ve already read.  Now again, it wasn’t a bad book.  It just wasn’t all it was cracked up to be.