Books of May and early June

I just realized that, having fallen out of the blogging habit, I am very far behind in recording my books. I'm bound to miss a few today, so tomorrow's post will probably have to include the clean-up.

Mysteries:
A Late Phoenix, His Burial Too, Henrietta Who, Some Die Eloquent, all by Catherine Aird - it's always nice to find a new-to-me author who has already published 20+ novels! These are English countryside mysteries, all starring the same essential cast, with unusually baroque plots. Lots of fun.
Witches Bane by Susan Wittig Albert - a modern mystery set in rural Texas. I was pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed the mystery and the heroine. I hope the love lasts through the rest of the series. (Note: this is actually #2 because the library didn't have #1 in stock.)
Duplicate Death, Death in the Stocks, Behold Here's Poison, No Wind of Blame, A Blunt Instrument, They Found Him Dead all by Georgette Heyer -I like her mysteries better than I like her romances, which means that I like her mysteries very much, indeed.
A Spider on the Stairs, Trick of the Mind, Village Affairs all by Cassandra Chan - while the books are long on dialogue and short on description, I really enjoyed all of them. They reminded me of early Martha Grimes, without the weird complications from the pubs. I accidentally read the series backward, as they became available at the library... now I only have to track down #1 to complete the set.

Fantasy and Science Fiction:
Septimus Heap #2: Flyte by Angie Sage - not as good as the first one; I haven't sought the rest of the series after reading this one, which probably says a good deal about how much I didn't enjoy it.
AI War: The Big Boost by Daniel Keys Moran - this was very enjoyable but not the jaw-dropping, work-stopping amazement that I had hoped it might be. It reads exactly like its predecessors. This is both a virtue (it's very funny) and a detriment (the character development sucks.)
Blood Oath by Christopher Farnsworth - a vampire who works for the president, and his rather hapless human aide. Good fun.

Non-fiction
The Ghost Map by Steven Berlin Johnson - the first 3/4 were a gripping description of the cholera outbreak in London; the last 1/4 slowed a bit, but overall this was a fantastic book.