Ghost apartments

About two blocks from where I live in Spain are these apartments. In my head, I call them ghost apartments. Our entire neighborhood "urbanización" in Spain was built in 2006-2008 brand new from empty ground.

Many of you may recall that the economy got a bit dicey in the late 2000s. This hit Spain a bit earlier due to some overbuilding with some EU funds and well, some other government policies forcing certain standards. Time stood still for a lot of places here including these apartments.

Out my kitchen window I can see an entire square block that the electric boxes, streets, curbs, were all put in, but no houses. Right next to these apartments is a full kids play area and park walkways.

I would love to get a look inside these. From the exterior, they look fully finished but not a single soul has lived in them ever. Probably not a good scenario for any paranormal occurrences. For me it's the ghost of a building. A place completely constructed but never used. I'd love to see if it is 100% finished, appliances and everything or just a shell.

Our entire neighborhood infrastructure was put in place all those years ago and is barely utilized. When we moved into our house a year ago, it was about 7 years old. It had never been lived in, ever. Brand new but with peeling paint because there'd never been heating or cooling. Also a clogged plumbing system on one half of the house from construction debris! No one knew that either.

So now, the economy is beginning to turn up again, quite a bit slower than the USA, but instead of those apartments being advertised, rented, or sold, new ones are being built a few streets in the other direction. I can only imagine there's a bankruptcy thing going on somewhere or the empty buildings in our neighborhood (town homes and apartment blocks) are in a no man's land between owners and banks.

I suppose I have a nosy streak (like my book character Blanche?). I like to know what's inside and behind closed windows and doors. My folks used to drive us around at night for the pleasure of peeking into the lit windows of a mansioned neighborhood near where we lived. It started very young for me, I guess!

Is there somewhere you want to get a look at?

Here's a link to another earlier blog about trespassing in a place that my curiosity couldn't resist!

My reads of 2016

I'm a bit late posting these this year. I've never binged one series before like I did the Charles Todd books in WW I - that was fun and it was hard not to keep talking about the era since I was reading so much. Continued the audio book mix and made room for some books outside my normal mystery genre too. What were favorite reads last year?

1. The professor, Charlotte Bronte, ***, ebook

2. Look Twice, Lisa Scottaline, PA, Philly, ebook, ***.5

3. An impartial witness, Charles Todd, WWI mystery, ebook library, ****

4. A bitter truth, Charles Todd, WWI, mystery uk, ebok library, ****

5. An Unmarked grave, Charles Todd, WWI  mystery UK, ebook library, ****

6. A Question of Honor, Charles Todd, WWI, mystery UK, France, ebook library, ****

7. The 100 year old man who climbed out the window and disappeared, Jonas Jonasson, Sweden and many others, audio, ***.5, if not for political side trips 4 stars. caper.

8. An unwilling accomplice, Charles Todd, wwI mostly inside UK this time, **** library

9. The maharani's pearls, Charles Todd, bess crawford,  short story , library. 

10. Blood work, Michael Connelly, LA region current day, ***.5, audiobook 

11.  The Icarus Deception: how high will you fly?, nonfiction, library audio. ****

12. A Pattern of Lies, Charles Todd, Bess Crawford WW I, library ebook. ***p

13. Essentialism,  the disciplined pursuit of less, Greg  McKeown,  Library ebook, nonfiction 

14. In a cold dark place, Greg Olsen, Emily Canon series, Washington  state, audiobook. ****

15. Go set a watchman, Harper Lee, Macomb, Georgia, 1960s, audiobook, library

16.  Todo esta tranquilo, Mary Higgins Clark, Carol Higgins Clark, modern NH, ebook in Spanish, won't try English translated to Spanish anymore. ***

17. Dog Tags, David Rosenfelt, fiction NJ, audio ***

18. Furiously Happy, Jenny Lawson, nonfiction depression and anxiety issues, audio, ***

19. The Daughter, Jane Shemilt, uk modern day, not exactly mystery but sort of, 3.5* well written but didn't feel the ending and that pulled back my rating. 

20. The Tourist, Olen Steinhauer, *** espionage so lots of places in the world modern day. Audiobook 

21. The wild inside, Christine Carbo, glacier national park, mystery, audio, ***

22. And then there were none, Agatha Christie, soldier island uk, 1930s ebook, *****

23. Seated with Christ, living freely in a culture of comparison, heather holleman, nonfiction. Very simple and well written. *****

24.  Four seasons in Rome, twins, insomnia, and the biggest funeral in the history of the world, Anthony Doerr, travelogue, library****

25. The Tiger in the Smoke, Margery Allingham,  London mostly post WWIi, published 1952, paperbook, ****

26. Best Kept Secrets, Jeffrey Archer, UK post WW II, series, I accidentally picked up the middle of a series, audiobook, library. ***

27. Cold sassy tree, Olive Ann Burns, Georgia 1906, fiction, ****

28. The Whole Truth, David Baldacci, Europe modern day, fiction, paperbook, ****

29. Death du Jour, Kathy Reichs, Montreal and North Carolina, mystery fiction modern, paper book. ***

30. Vanish, Tess Gerritson, Boston modern day, mystery, paper book, ****

31. The Shining, Stephen King, 70s, Colorado, audio library book. *** because of my taste. Very good writing of course, but hurry up and do the killing feeling. Maybe I knew too much of the story.

32. A Sun burned Country, Bill Bryson, Australia travelogue, audio read by the author, library. **** I did laugh out loud at times

33 The Case of the Man who Died Laughing, the files of Vish Puri, detective, by Tarquin Hall, modern India, fiction mystery. Ebook mystery fiction, *****

34. The Careful Use of Compliments, Isabel Dalhoise book, by Alexander McCall Smith, Scotland  fiction  ebook library ***, well written 3 stars is just due to my taste.

35.The Good Earth, by Pearl Buck, China pre-revolution, drama, audiobooks ****

36.Rage, by Zygmunt Miloszewski, Poland Warmia area, contemporary fiction, ebook, ****

37.   Amnesia, g. H. Ephron ****, Boston, recent

38. The Butterfly Garden, Dot Hutchinson, *****, current day, fbi investigation, maybe one of the creepiest things I've read in a long time.
 39. The Expats, Chris Pavone, Luxembourg, Paris, audiobook library. **** espionage. I really enjoyed the expat aspects of this book.

40. The Emperor of Ocean Park, by Stephen L. Carter, modern day New England and D.C. Literary mystery. Ebook. ***.5 very well written but more of a literary feel than compelling mystery, we chased something the whole book only to let it go.
41. The Princess Diarist, Carrie Fisher, autobiographical, audiobook. ***.5 She read it herself. Quick easy read. She died a couple weeks after I listened to her voice for six hours so it was like I knew her. 42. The last witness, Joel Goldman, Kansas City, ebook. ***
43. One day after, by William Forstchen, today/post apocalyptic North Carolina. audiobook, *** not amazing writing, too much info dumping but a fascinating and haunting premise.
44. As you wish, by Cary Elwes, audiobook, reflections from actors and crew on princess bride movie****
45. The Bee keepers apprentice, Laurie b. King, a derivative of Sherlock Holmes, audiobook, *****
46. The Whistler by John Grisham, Florida fiction, audiobook, finished on Jan 1, 2017 ***