Just finished Folly by Laurie R. King. Mystery/suspense about a woman who may or may not be crazy moving out to an island to rebuild the house that her great uncle built -- and that mysteriously burned down -- 70 years before. The way King describes and treats depression and psychosis is pretty incredible, and it's a hard book to put down. Check it out.

King also writes the Mary Russell and Kate Martinelli series (Serieses? Sirei? Sireae? You get the idea). The first is a sequence of books that imagines that Sherlock Holmes, after retiring, finds his soulmate and perfect detecting partner in Mary Russell, a brilliant teenage girl. The Beekeeper's Apprentice is the first of the series. Check them out, they're great fun.

The Kate Martinelli books are a bit darker -- Martinelli is a San Francisco cop dealing with some pretty gruesome crimes. A Grave Talent is the first of that series.

In other news, completely unrelated news, Newton is apparently bent on making many of my friends nervous. First he sent Mary a blank message, then mocked Rich about Battlebots. If you get a message from him, fear not: He's mostly harmless, and just bored. I won't let him know where any of you live.

So, how's work, Newton? Passive aggressive or aggressive aggressive? And are you enjoying the fame and notoriety of appearing in a ... ok, probably sparsely read blog? let me know if the paparazzi start hounding you.