2. Finished The Snake Stone, number two in the Inspector Yashim series. Goodwin has sensaplace down pat; if only I knew the place he has a sense of better. (Istanbul, FWIW.) I have vol three and will start it soon just to see if there's always a beautiful married woman that Yashim beds. And how, one wonders? Eunuchs, even those castrated fairly late, are not known for their staying power. Some people's priorities, I tell you: "no one will want to read it without a romantic plot and a sex scene, so eunuch or not, a romantic plot and a sex scene is what we get."
3. Possibly just the presence of London coppers, but Mieville's Kraken is the first of Aaronovitch's recs that has the same appeal as his own books. Alas it's *Mieville*, whom I will trust as I do adders fanged.