Lee Child recently received the the Diamond Dagger Achievement Award. See the article in The Guardian.

This award is given by the Crime Writers' Association for a Lifetime's Achievement.

Here's the series listed in order on Stop, You're Killing Me! with Jack Reacher, ex-military policeman in the USA:
First book: Killing Floor

The most recent: A Wanted Man # 17
Book description: Nebraska - and Jack Reacher, huge, hulking and with a freshly busted nose, is still trying to hitch a ride east to Virginia. He's picked up by three strangers - two men and a woman.
Immediately he knows they're all lying about something - and then they run into a police roadblock on the highway. But they get through. Because the three are innocent? Or because the three are now four?
Is Reacher a decoy?

## Related posts:
MBTB review of Bad Luck and Trouble # 11

MBTB review of 61 Hours # 14

A new Christmas mystery that I'm looking forward to reading:
The Twelve Clues of Christmas
by Rhys Bowen

# 6 with Lady Georgiana, minor royalty in 1930s England, in the Royal Spyness series

Here's what Publisher's Weekly had to say:
Set at Christmas-time 1933, Bowen's sixth whodunit featuring the irrepressible Lady Georgiana Rannoch may be her best yet. Despite her connections (albeit attenuated) to the Crown (she's 35th in the line of succession), Georgiana finds herself at the mercy of her brother's ghastly family. Escape comes just in time for the holidays when she answers an advert and is hired to help Lady Hawse-Gorzley with a large Christmas party at Hawse-Gorzley's home in Tiddleton-under-Lovey, Devonshire. Accompanied by the anti-Jeeves, her bumbling, if endearing, maid Queenie, Georgiana arrives in Tiddleton-Under-Lovey only to find that a series of apparently accidental deaths has begun to plague the rustic community. With one villager dying each day, the amateur sleuth suspects that the accidents are anything but....

Want more Christmas mysteries?
Christmas Mystery Book Selections by MysteryNet.com

The Mystery Lover's Bookshop Christmas Mysteries selections

and the wonderful extensive lists on Mystery Fanfare website:
Christmas Mysteries Authors A-D
Christmas Mysteries Authors E-H
Christmas Mysteries I-N
Christmas Mysteries Authors O-R
Christmas Mysteries Authors S-Z

Previous MBTB posts:
Want more Christmas mysteries 2011?

Christmas Mysteries 2011

Holiday Mystery Update 2010

posted by Sharon

Here's best link I've found for Hallowe'en mysteries:
Janet Rudolf's Mystery Fanfare Blog

Check out her post for October 25 for an extensive list of Hallowe'en Crime Fiction.

Here are a few spooky mysteries on the cozy side:
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Night of the Living Deed by E.J. Copperman

# 1 with Alison Kerby, a guesthouse owner with two unexpected guests (ghosts) in her newly acquired Jersey Shore Victorian, in the Haunted Guesthouse mysteries
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What's a Ghoul to Do by Victoria Laurie
# 1 with M.J. Holliday, a medium and ghostbuster, and her partner Gilley, in the Ghost Hunter mysteries
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Half Way to the Grave by Jeaniene Frost
# 1 with the Night Huntress
Half-vampire Catherine Crawfield is going after the undead with a vengeance, hoping that one of these deadbeats is her father—the one responsible for ruining her mother's life. Fantastic Fiction
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Grave Sight by Charlaine Harris
# 1 with Harper Connelly, a lightning survivor who can find bodies, and her stepbrother Tolliver, in Sarne, Arkansas
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For a harder edged Hallowe'en read, see a previous MBTB post:
Something Creepy for Halloween

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Want more? See this list using the key words "Halloween mystery fiction" in the online SILS catalogue.

posted by Sharon

Shelagh Rogers' Summer Mystery Book Panel :

Margaret Cannon's picks:
* Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn
When a woman goes missing on her fifth wedding anniversary, her diary reveals hidden turmoil in her marriage, while her husband, desperate to clear himself of suspicion, realizes that something more disturbing than murder may have occurred. NoveList

* Good As Dead by Mark Billingham
# 10 with Tom Thorne, a middle aged detective inspector in London, England
Detective Tom Thorne is forced to re-consider an old case when a greiving father takes one of Thorne's colleagues hostage and demands to know the truth about how his son died in prison from the man who put him away. NoveList First book: Sleepyhead

* Sail of Stone by Ake Edwardson
# 6 with Erik Winter, a jazz-loving Chief Inspector of police, in Gothenburg, Sweden
Gothenburg's Chief Inspector Erik Winter travels to Scotland in search of a missing man, aided there by an old friend from Scotland Yard. Back in Gothenburg, Afro-Swedish detective Aneta Djanali discovers how badly someone doesn't want her to find a missing woman when she herself is threatened. First book: Death Angels

JD Singh's picks:
* As The Crow Flies by Craig Johnson
# 8 with Walt Longmire, veteran sheriff in Absaroka County, Wyoming
When the site of his daughter's upcoming wedding burns down, Wyoming Sheriff Walt Longmire and his friend, Henry Standing Bear, witness the falling death of a young Crow woman and are recruited into an investigation. NoveList First book: The Cold Dish

* Red Means Run by Brad Smith
# 1 with Virgil Cain, a small-time rancher, and Claire Marchand, a homicide detective, in upstate New York
Virgil Cain is in prison for a murder he didn't commit and the only way he can clear his name is to escape and find the killer. NoveList

* The Professionals by Owen Laukkanen
Four friends and recent college graduates, caught in a terrible job market, turn to kidnapping to survive--until they kidnap the wrong man. NoveList

BONUS PICKS:
* Sharp Objects by Gillian Flynn
Words are like a road map to reporter Camille Preaker's troubled past. Fresh from a brief stay at a psych hospital, Camille's first assignment from the second-rate daily paper where she works brings her reluctantly back to her hometown to cover the murders of two preteen girls. Publisher's description

* The Cold Dish by Craig Johnson
# 1 with Walt Longmire, veteran sheriff in Absaroka County, Wyoming
After decades of peace between the white and Native American communities of early American Wyoming, a young man who was once convicted for raping a Cheyenne girl is found dead, prompting sheriff Walt Longmire, his deputy Victoria Moretti, and friend Henry Standing Bear to investigate. NoveList

PK Rangachari's picks:
* Savage Rage by Brent Pilkey
# 2 of the Rage series
Transferred to a sleepy neighbourhood of Toronto, Officer Jack Warren finds himself on the case of a criminal who has managed to stay one step ahead of the police. NoveList First book: Lethal Rage

* Kaleidoscope by Gail Bowen
# 13 with Joanne Kilbourn, a political science professor in Regina, Saskatchewan
Joanne Kilbourn has retired from her university teaching post, and anticipates a leisurely summer with her family. However, the night after she and Zack have dinner with one of his law firm's biggest clients, the developer Leland Hunter, Jo and Zack's house is blown up. Moving into a loft in a slum that Leland is starting to turn into an upscale area of condos and boutiques, they are caught up in his conflict with gangs and radicals opposed to his plan, including one of Joanne's former students. NoveList First book: Deadly Appearances

* Stray Bullets by Robert Rotenberg
# 3 with Detective Ari Greene and Officer Daniel Kennicott in Totonto, Ontario, Canada
Outside a busy downtown doughnut shop gunshots ring out and a young boy is critically hurt. Soon Detective Ari Greene is on scene. With grieving parents and a city hungry for justice, the pressure is on to convict the man accused of this horrible crime. Against this tidal wave of indignation, defense counsel Nancy Parish finds herself defending her oldest and most difficult client. NoveList First book: Old City Hall

This is also available as a podcast. Try this link on the CBC Books site.

This is one of my favourite lists of the year.

Booklist's Best Crime Novels 2012

This list is compiled from all the mysteries reviewed in Booklist between May 2011 and April 2012.
To see the list on the Booklist website with Bill Ott's introduction, click here. This is the Mystery Showcase issue. Also check the list of articles on the left side of the webpage. As far as I can tell, they are all available online.

* * *
Top 10
The mini-reviews are from Booklist

Angelmaker by Nick Harkaway

Joe Spork, a mild-mannered clockmaker in contemporary London, is trying to live down the legacy of his Mob-boss father when he finds himself forced to rebuild and then disarm a doomsday machine of unimagined power. A tour de force of Dickensian bravura and genre-bending splendor.

* * *
Bleed for Me by Michael Robotham

# 5 in a loosely connected series with Vincent Ruiz, a detective inspector and Joseph O’Loughlin, psychologist, in London, England
Psychologist Joe O’Loughlin finds a blood-soaked neighbor on his doorstep in Bath, England, and, attempting to help her, lands in a criminal investigation. Beautiful but understated prose; bright, funny, and touching characters; plotting that is both clever and well thought out—this one has it all.

First book: The Suspect

## Related post: MBTB review of Shatter # 4

* * *

* Blotto, Twinks, and the Dead Dowager Duchess by Simon Brett

# 2 with Blotto, the Honourable Devereux Lyminster, and his sister Twinks, in England in the 1920s
The privileged 1920s sibling pair of Blotto and his sister, Twinks, once again embarks on solving a mystery that drops into their laps. Brett is a devastating social critic and master of equally devastating physical characterization. This is the kind of book you’ll have to put down frequently, as you roar with laughter.

First book: Blotto, Twinks and the Ex-King's Daughter

* * *

The Devil She Knows by Bill Loehfelm

Tough, street-smart, but vulnerable cocktail waitress Maureen sees a politician in a compromising position and finds her life in danger. One of the most compelling characters to appear in crime fiction this year, Maureen drives a novel that is both suspenseful and remarkably textured.

* * *

Iron House by John Hart

Michael, a New York hit man who spent his early years in an orphanage, returns to North Carolina to settle scores. The present-time plot - Michael trying to carve a new life without endangering those he loves — makes a superb thriller on its own, but it’s what Hart does with the backstory that gives the novel its beyond-genre depth.

* * *

The Leopard by Jo Nesbo Translated by Don Bartlett

# 8 with Harry Hole, a police detective in Oslo, Norway
Just as we wonder if Nesbo finally has played out the theme of Oslo cop Harry Hole versus his demons, we are sucked in again, drawn by the specter of a good man undone by a bad world and a too-sensitive soul. Harry craves “an armored heart,” and we could use one, too, if we ever hope to turn away from the adventures of crime fiction’s most tortured hero.

First book: The Bat or The Bat Man (watch for this book to be published in North America in 2012)

* * *

Poison Flower By Thomas Perry

# 7 with Jane Whitefield, a Native American (Seneca) guide who helps people disappear, based in Deganawida, New York
Perry’s series heroine, Jane Whitefield, who helps people who have no other choice but to disappear, continues to be one of the most original and intriguing characters in contemporary crime fiction. This time, Jane’s streak appears to have run out, unless she can escape from the kidnappers who have abducted her.

First book: Vanishing Act

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Red Means Run by Brad Smith

Ex-con Virgil Cain is running a horse farm in upstate New York, trying to live quietly, when suddenly he is arrested for the murder of a slimy lawyer with whom he has a history. Mixing comedy, caper, and suspense in just the right proportions, Smith keeps the narrative cantering along at a comfortable pace, not so fast as to keep us from enjoying the banter but not so slow as to make us want to use the whip.

* * *

Turn of Mind by Alice LaPlante

Part literary novel, part thriller, LaPlante’s haunting debut traces the deterioration of orthopedic surgeon Jennifer White, who at 64 is suffering severe dementia and just might have killed her best friend. Masterfully written on multiple levels.

* * *

Wyatt by Garry Disher
# 7 with Wyatt, a bank robber in Melbourne, Australia
Wyatt Wareen, a coolheaded, taciturn, unsentimental thief with a code, gets double-crossed on a jewel heist and sets out to send a message. An old-style holdup man uncomfortable with technology, Wyatt may be a man out of time, but crime fiction this good is timeless.

First book: Kickback

posted by Sharon

WHAT I'M READING NOW:
As The Crow Flies by Craig Johnson

Book # 8 with Walt Longmire, veteran sheriff in Absaroka County, Wyoming

Here's what the Booklist review had to say:
After scaling the heights — both literally and metaphorically — in Hell Is Empty, Wyoming sheriff Walt Longmire comes back to earth. With Henry Standing Bear, Walt is supposed to be making preparations for his daughter Cady’s upcoming wedding on the Cheyenne reservation. But plans are complicated when the two friends see a woman and her baby tumble off a cliff at a potential site for the ceremony. The suspect-rich investigation partners Longmire with the new tribal chief of police, Lolo Long, an Iraq War vet whose hard-charging ways endanger her and those around her. Johnson wisely moderates the tone here—you can’t shoot the moon in every book of a long-running series—but all the elements his fans love are present: lively characters, easy banter, and, of course, a touch of the supernatural. In early books, Walt was less sure of himself, but, in his eighth adventure, it makes sense that he’s now the one “giving sheriff lessons.” This book fits the hand like a well-worn glove.

First book: The Cold Dish

I noticed that the May 19 Globe & Mail Books Section was a special Mystery Issue.

Here are the links:
Clued in: 12 mystery masters name their favourites
Mystery Masters include Michael Connelly, Gail Bowen and Peter Robinson.

Mark Kingwell's essay The Mystery of Mysteries: What Keeps Us Reading (title in the paper edition: Life. Death. Guilt. Innocence. It's all intellectual baseball)

New in crime fiction: The latest thrillers and mysteries - Reviews by Margaret Cannon

One of Margaret Cannon's picks:

Walking into the Ocean by David Whellams

What’s summer without a solid British thriller? Ottawa author David Whellams’s debut features retired Scotland Yard Chief Inspector Peter Cammon, in a story that starts on the cliffs of Dorset and then travels to the hills of Malta. On the way, a simple domestic murder-suicide morphs into a chase for a relentless serial killer. This is the first of a series: Peter Cammon could become another Detective Chief Inspector Alan Banks. (Margaret Cannon's review)

posted by Sharon

I drop in on the blog Lesa's Book Critiques every couple weeks. Lesa reviews mainly mystery fiction. I always find a few titles to add to my To Be Read list.
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Check out Lesa's review of One Book in the Grave by Kate Carlisle

One Book in the Grave SILS holdings

Book # 5 with Brooklyn Wainwright, a rare book expert in San Francisco, California, in the Bibliophile mysteries

Description: Brooklyn's chance to restore a rare first edition of Beauty and the Beast seems a fairytale come true — until she realizes the book last belonged to an old friend of hers. Ten years ago, Max Adams, a renowned, brawny papermaker, fell in love with a stunning beauty, Emily, and gave her the copy of Beauty and the Beast as a symbol of their love. Soon afterward, he died in a car crash, and Brooklyn has always suspected his possessive ex-girlfriend and her jealous beau.

Now she decides to find out who sold the book and return it to its rightful owner—Emily. She believes a rare book dealer can assist her, but when she arrives at his shop, she finds him murdered. Is it possible the same couple who may have killed Daniel is now after his edition of Beauty and the Beast? With the help of her handsome boyfriend, Derek Stone, Brooklyn must unravel the murder plot—before she ends up in a plot herself... from from author Kate Carlisle's website

First book: Homicide in Hardcover

posted by Sharon

WHAT I'M READING NOW:
The Retribution by Val McDermid

Book # 5 with Dr. Tony Hill, a forensic psychologist and criminal profiler, and Carol Jordan, a Detective Chief Inspector, based in fictional Bradfield, in northern England

Description: The Retribution finds clinical psychologist Tony Hill and detective Carol Jordan struggling to survive and recapture celebrity sociopath Jack Vance, who has broken out of prison with the intention of exacting violent revenge. NoveList

First book: The Mermaids Singing

CBC Radio's The Next Chapter - Peter Behrens aired on December 19, hosted by Shelagh Rogers.

The Mystery Book Panel segment of that episode recommended books that are sure to cut the holiday treacle.

Margaret Cannon's picks:

The Affair by Lee Child
Action/adventure/investigator

Book # 16 with Jack Reacher, ex-military policeman in the USA

Summary: Child’s compelling 16th thriller featuring incorruptible vigilante Jack Reacher rewinds the clock to 1997 when Reacher was still a military cop and working on the case that led to his eventual break with the Army. Reacher must figure out whether the shocking murder of 27-year-old Janice May Chapman in Carter Crossing, Miss., has any connection with nearby Fort Kelham, where Army Rangers are trained. . . . Publisher's Weekly

If you haven't started this series yet, read The Affair as a prequel to the first book, Killing Floor

First book: Killing Floor

## Related posts:
MBTB review of Bad Luck and Trouble # 11

MBTB review of 61 Hours # 14

* * *

Feast Day of Fools by James Lee Burke

Book # 3 with Hack Holland, a hard-drinking lawyer, Korean War POW, progressive Democrat, now a sheriff, in Texas

Summary: Interviewing an alcoholic Native American who witnessed a murder along the Texas-Mexico border, Sheriff Hack Holland and his deputy, Sam Tibbs, recognize the work of serial killer Preacher Jack Collins in an investigation that is assisted by the enigmatic Anton Ling.

First book: Lay Down My Sword and Shield

* * *

A Trick of the Light by Louise Penny

Book # 7 with Armand Gamache, Chief Inspector of the Sûreté du Québec, in the village of Three Pines, in southern Quebec

Summary: Artist Clara Morrow is about to have a prestigious show of her paintings when her childhood friend is found murdered, and Chief Inspector Gamache, the head of homicide at the Sûreté du Québec, is called to investigate.

First book: Still Life

## Related post: MBTB review of Still Life # 1

* * *

JD Singh's picks:

I'll See You in My Dreams by William Deverell

Book # 5 with Arthur Beauchamp, a scholarly, self-doubting lawyer retired as a hobbyist farmer on Garibaldi Island, off the coast of British Columbia

Publisher's Weekly /* Starred Review */ Deverell's excellent fifth novel featuring lawyer Arthur Beauchamp finds him retired on Garibaldi Island near Vancouver — and still haunted by his first murder trial. In 1962, he defended Gabriel Swift, a Cheakamus native charged with killing Dermot Mulligan, who ironically was Beauchamp's mentor and classics tutor at university. Excerpts from A Thirst for Justice, a biography of Beauchamp by one Wentworth Chance, counterpoint the vivid picture of the disastrous trial, in which the naïve young Beauchamp had to contend with corrupt policemen, a skilled special prosecutor, and a problematic defendant. Fifty years later, the same case may provide the capstone to his long career. . . .

First book: Trial of Passion

* * *

Twelve Drummers Drumming by C.C. Benison

Book # 1 with Father Tom Christmas, a widower with a 9-year-old daughter, and the new vicar in Thornford Regis, a picturesque village in England

Summary: Father Tom Christmas--recent widower and now single father--is the new vicar of the English village of Thornford Regis. He soon realizes that the idyllic village is not the refuge he'd hoped for when the nineteen-year-old daughter of the choir director is murdered and one of his parishioners appears to be the killer.

* * *

The House of Silk by Anthony Horowitz

Summary: With approval from the estate of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, a best-selling novelist and Sherlock Holmes expert brings the greatest detective in literary history back to life on Baker Street for the first time since 1930.
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* * *

The Bayou Trilogy: Under the bright lights, Muscle for the wing, and The ones you do by Daniel Woodrell

Publisher's Weekly: Collected in a single volume for the first time, Woodrell's three stellar novels featuring Detective Rene Shade, an ex-boxer turned cop, provide entree into the Louisiana swamp town of Saint Bruno, a place where "tempers went on the prowl and relief was driving a hard bargain." Woodrell injects Shade's life and various cases with both humor and brutal violence. . . . There's poetry in Woodrell's mayhem, each novel - and scene-full of gritty and memorable Cajun details.

* * *
PK Rangachari's picks:

I Am Half-Sick of Shadows by Alan Bradley

Book # 4 with Flavia de Luce, an 11-year old sleuth and aspiring chemist in 1950, in the small village of Bishop’s Lacey, England

Summary: Colonel de Luce rents his beloved estate of Buckshaw to a film company. They will be shooting a movie over the Christmas holidays with a reclusive star. She is widely despised, so it is to no one's surprise when she turns up murdered, strangled by a length of film from one of her own movies! With a blizzard raging outside and Buckshaw locked in, the house is full of suspects. But Flavia de Luce is more than ready to put aside her investigations into the existence of Father Christmas to solve this yuletide country-house murder. NoveList

## Related post: MBTB mini-review of I Am Half-Sick of Shadows

First book: The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie

* * *

Pigeon English by Stephen Kelman

Publisher's Weekly: Kelman's debut novel is a well-tuned if simplistic portrait of a kid's life in the housing projects of London. After 11-year-old Harri, whose family has immigrated from Ghana, sees a classmate lying dead on the sidewalk one night, Harri and his buddy, Dean Griffin, set out to solve the murder, looking for the murder weapon, interviewing suspects, and gathering evidence. But the strength of this novel is not its murder mystery; rather, it's in hearing all Harri's thoughts as he falls in love, talks to his baby sister, or expresses himself in his own idiosyncratic language. The street-talk slang that Harri uses-boring things take "donkey hours" and Nike Air trainers are "bo-styles"-is crisp and mirthful, the perfect match to his at once naive and revealing views on things like religion and race. The main flaw is also a feature: Harri's a very well-drawn 11-year-old, and no matter how cute he and his worldview are, it's sometimes tempting to want to pat him on the head and send him along his way.

* * *

Turn of Mind by Alice LaPlante

Summary: A retired orthopedic surgeon, Dr. Jennifer White is in the early stages of dementia when she is accused of murdering her neighbour and life-long friend Amanda. Jennifer is the prime suspect, but she doesn't know if she committed the crime.

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(check here for podcast information for The Next Chapter - Peter Behrens aired on December 19)

posted by Sharon

WHAT I'M READING NOW:
Tag Man
by Archer Mayor

American police procedural

Book # 22 with Joe Gunther, police detective in Brattleboro, Vermont

Booklist review says: At the close of Red Herring (2010), Joe Gunther walked away from his job as head of the Vermont Bureau of Investigation. He was bereft because his lover had been killed by an assassin, and he wasn’t sure he could return to work. At the same time, his driven, misanthropic subordinate, Willy Kunkle, learned that he would soon be a father. As Tag Man begins, Joe is still sidelined, and some of Willy’s rougher edges have been smoothed by his infant daughter. Then both Joe and Willy’s attention is caught by an unusual man who breaks into Brattleboro’s most opulent homes, stealing nothing but always leaving a post-it note that says simply, “Tag.” But the Tag Man’s break-ins—in addition to renewing Joe’s commitment to his work—trigger a circuitous series of crimes and events that make for great reading. Richly drawn characters and a delightful sense of place are hallmarks of Mayor’s superb procedurals, and they are both in evidence in this fine addition to the series.

First book: Open Season

## Related post: MBTB mini-review of The Price of Malice # 20

Here's Mystery Fanfare's 2011 Christmas mystery list (up to the letter H, so far).

And here's a another extensive online list of Christmas mysteries:
Christmas Mystery Reading Ideas

These books aren't necessarily in the Saskatchewan Library system - type the title into the SILS catalogue to check.

One I read a couple years ago is on both of these lists:
The Fleet Street Murders by Charles Finch

Book # 3 with Charles Lenox, gentleman sleuth in 1860s London

Summary: Celebrating the 1866 holiday season at the side of his fiancé, amateur sleuth Charles Lenox is drawn into the double-homicide case of two reporters, an investigation that is complicated by a police ruling that the killings are unrelated. NoveList

First book: A Beautiful Blue Death

posted by Sharon

WHAT I'M READING NOW:
The Drop
by Michael Connelly

American police procedural

Book # 17 with Harry Bosch, a homicide detective in Los Angeles, California

Summary: LAPD detective Harry Bosch simultaneously investigates a killer who has been operating undetected for thirty years and a political conspiracy that has its origins in his police department.

First book: Black Echo

## Related post: MBTB review of Nine Dragons # 15

Booklist's Best Crime Novels of 2011 are taken from all books reviewed in the review magazine Booklist between May 2010 and April 2011. Click on the link to read Bill Ott's essay about the best crime novels of the year.

Sorry I missing this list when it was published on May 1, but I find these lists such a good source of great reading, I thought it was worth blogging about.

Here's the first half - watch for the second half (Top 10 Best First Crime Novels, coming soon)

Top 10

The Anniversary Man. By R. J. Ellory (2010)

NYPD Detective Ray Irving—overworked, underpaid, and absolutely dedicated to his job—risks his sense of ethics and, ultimately, his life to track down a serial killer who is imitating the crimes of some of the worst monsters in history. Entirely free of formula, Ellory’s breakthrough procedural should give him the kind of acclaim in the U.S. that he enjoys in his native Britain.
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Bury Your Dead. By Louis Penny (2010)

Book # 6 with Armand Gamache, Chief Inspector of the Sûreté du Québec, in the village of Three Pines, in southern Quebec

Penny’s sixth Armande Gamache novel is her best yet, a true tour de force of storytelling. Juggling three freestanding but subtly intertwined stories, Penny moves seamlessly from present to past as Gamache, the chief inspector of the Sûreté du Quebec, investigates a murder in Quebec City, tries to determine if he jailed the wrong man in an earlier case, and struggles with his memories of a third case that went horribly wrong. Penny hits every note perfectly in what is one of the most elaborately constructed mysteries in years.

First book: Still Life

* * *


Crooked Letter, Crooked Letter. By Tom Franklin (2010)

Silas and Larry, two poor kids in 1970s Mississippi, were close until they drifted apart after Larry’s date disappeared one night and never returned. Now, 20 years later, Silas is the new town constable, and another girl disappears in similar circumstances. Edgar winner Franklin delivers luminous prose and a cast of unforgettable characters in this moody, masterful mix of crime and literary fiction.
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Gone. By Mo Hayder (2011)

Book # 5 with Jack Caffery, a troubled police detective in London, England

In this fifth riveting entry in Hayder’s series starring haunted homicide detective Jack Caffery, the disappearance of an 11-year-old girl leaves police playing catch-up against an adversary who seems to anticipate all their moves. The meticulously crafted plot is heightened by Hayder’s skillful evocation of mood in this utterly gripping thriller.

First book: Birdman
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Painted Ladies. By Robert B. Parker (2010)

Book # 38 with Spenser, an ex-boxer, ex-state cop turned private eye, in Boston, Massachusetts

Are we honoring the late Parker’s career here or is this really one of his best books in its own right? Well, both. His penultimate Spenser novel captures all the charm of the landmark series. The iconic Boston PI can still nail a person’s foibles on first meeting, still whip up a gourmet meal in a few minutes, still dispatch the thugs who haunt his office and his home, and still do it all while maintaining a fierce love of Susan Silverman and English poetry. Parker was one of the first to show us that a hard-boiled hero doesn’t have to frown all the time, and we’ve been smiling along with Spenser ever since.

First book: The Godwulf Manuscript
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***

The Snowman. By Jo Nesbø. Tr. by Don Bartlett (2011)

Book # 4 with Harry Hole, a police detective in Oslo, Norway

Norway’s maverick detective Harry Hole is back in this fourth installment of Nesbo’s uniformly outstanding series. A new case puts Harry on the track of another serial killer, and once again his obsessive approach to crime-solving puts him at odds with his peers. Nesbo layers the suspense skillfully, deftly mixing scenes from the investigation with glimpses into Harry’s always compelling personal life. With the conclusion of Henning Mankell’s Kurt Wallander series, the Harry Hole novels now assume the top spot in the Scandinavian crime-fiction universe.

First book: The Redbreast
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***

Spiral. By Paul McEuen (2011)

Cornell physicist McEuen, writing his first novel in his “spare time,” may have created the most engrossing thriller of the year. With the murder of an 85-year-old physicist, it’s left to one of his colleagues, the victim’s granddaughter, and her nine-year-old son to thwart a complex scheme to launch the “most devastating terrorist attack in human history.” McEuen offers lucid disquisitions on science; posits that “synthetic biology” will surpass silicon microelectronics as the next big technological wave; and, remarkably, he makes these ideas accessible to the average thriller fan.

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***

Started Early, Took My Dog. By Kate Atkinson (2011)

Book # 4 with Jackson Brodie, an ex-cop, ex-husband, and private investigator, in the UK

In the latest entry in Atkinson’s brilliant Jackson Brodie series, the semiretired detective is touring abbeys in northern England, but soon enough he becomes involved in several interrelated cases, one of which concerns a police detective who has rescued a child from a prostitute by paying cash for her. Her odyssey as a new parent, relayed with tenderness and wry wit, must be one of the grandest love affairs in crime fiction. For its singular melding of radiant humor and dark deeds, this is must-reading for fans of literary crime fiction.

First book: Case Histories
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***

The Terrorist. By Peter Steiner (2010)

Book # 3 with Louis Morgon, a Middle East policy expert dismissed from the CIA, taking refuge in France

American expat Louis Morgon’s retirement in a Loire Valley village is upset by cancer and by the life he left decades before. The former CIA agent has helped a young Algerian boy get a scholarship, but now the boy has been deposited in a secret prison. Weakened by cancer, Louis must uncover valuable information about al-Qaeda that he can trade for the boy’s release. The Terrorist is a deeply human story of a man in the last years of his life, who, unexpectedly, has again found love but who is sucked back into a cynical, dangerous milieu he abhors. An espionage gem with strong echoes of Greene and le Carré.

First book: A French Country Murder

***

The Troubled Man. By Henning Mankell. Tr. by Laurie Thompson (2011)

Book # 10 with Kurt Wallander, an inspector in Ystad, Sweden

The final volume in Mankell’s Kurt Wallander series represents a landmark moment in the genre. As Wallander strives to find his daughter-in-law’s disappeared father, he launches another, more poignant investigation into his own past. This is a deeply melancholy novel, but Mankell, sweeping gracefully between reflections on international politics and meditations on the inevitable arc of human life, never lets his story become engulfed by darkness. Always a reticent man, Wallander shows an intensity of emotion here, a last gasp of felt life, which is both moving and oddly inspiring.

First book: Faceless Killers

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series descriptions from Stop, You're Killing Me!

posted by Sharon

WHAT I'M READING NOW:

Hell is Empty
by Craig Johnson

Book # 7 with Walt Longmire, veteran sheriff in Absaroka County, Wyoming

Summary: Well-read and world-weary, Sheriff Walt Longmire has been maintaining order in Wyoming's Absaroka County for more than 30 years, but in this riveting seventh outing, he is pushed to his limits as he braves a frozen inferno to capture an escaped murderer.NoveList

First book: The Cold Dish