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 the last of the Booklist lists, published in the 2012 Mystery Showcase issue.

This list is compiled from all the small press 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. Scroll down past the Top 10 list and the Top 5 Debut Crime Novels. The mini-reviews are by Booklist's Bill Ott.

Small Press Authors to Watch

Midnight Alley by Miles Corwin (2012)

First in Kind of Blue (2010) and now in Midnight Alley, Corwin’s series starring LAPD detective and former Israeli paratrooper Ash Levine has distinguished itself both for hold-your-breath action and thoughtful introspection.
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The Katyn Order by Douglas W. Jacobson (2011)

Jacobson’s riveting debut about Polish Resistance fighters in WWII deserves a place alongside Alan Furst and Philip Kerr at the top of the historical espionage genre. Set your Google Alerts on this guy.
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On Hallowed Ground by John Lantigua (2011)

Lantigua has been turning out rock-solid PI novels starring Miami sleuth Willie Cuesta for some years, but he’s never garnered the recognition he deserves. If contemporary takes on Chandler are your thing, don’t miss him. First book: Player's Vendetta
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Honors Due by Edward Cline (2011)

Readers who don’t know Chess Hanrahan, Cline’s book-loving New York gumshoe, need to fix that promptly. Through three books, Hanrahan, a guy who values literature, loves movies, and despises stupidity, has become one of the genre’s quirkiest, most entertaining sleuths.

Darkness Bids the Dead Goodbye by Gary McKinney (2011)

Sheriff Gavin Pruitt, of Elkhorn, Washington, is a former pot-smoking Deadhead turned small-town cop, and he’s a breath of fresh air (remember, he’s a former pot smoker) in the procedural field.

posted by Sharon

WHAT I'M READING NOW:
The Glass Room
by Ann Cleeves

British police procedural

Book # 5 with Vera Stanhope, a detective inspector in East Yorkshire, England

Description: DI Vera Stanhope is not one to make friends easily, but her hippy neighbours keep her well-supplied in homebrew and conversation so she has more tolerance for them than most. When one of them goes missing she feels duty-bound to find out what happened.

But her path leads her to more than a missing friend . . .

It’s an easy job to track the young woman down to the Writer’s House, a country retreat where aspiring authors gather to workshop and work through their novels. It gets complicated when a body is discovered and Vera’s neighbour is found with a knife in her hand.

First book: The Crow Trap

Read a review of The Glass Room on Eurocrime

This list is compiled from all the debut 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. Scroll down past the Top 10 list (see that MBTB post here)

Booklist's Top 5 Debut Crime Novels:

Dove Season by Johnny Shaw (2011)

Mix some Magnificent Seven–style violence with the freewheeling comedy of a “buddy picture,” and you get this caterwauling caper novel about a thirty-something drifter who returns to his hometown in Southern California’s Imperial Valley to visit his dying father and winds up going head-to-head with some nasty Mexican drug dealers.
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The Expats by Chris Pavone (2012)

Leaving her clandestine work with the CIA behind, Kate moves to Luxembourg with her banker husband. But something smells fishy. The blending of marital deception and espionage works brilliantly in this intricate, suspenseful, and stunningly assured first novel.
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Ranchero by Rick Gavin (2011)

Mississippi repo man Nick Reid sets out to reclaim a $20 TV and, instead, gets beaned with a shovel and has his mint 1969 Ranchero stolen. With his enforcer pal in tow, Nick sets off across the Delta to recover his ride. Pitch-perfect dialogue drives the galvanizing chase.
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Sister by Rosamund Lupton (2011)

Murder mystery? Psychological thriller? Medical-ethical exploration? Yes, but so much more, too. Attempting to determine if her sister, Tess, killed herself or was murdered, Beatrice composes a letter to Tess, expressing her puzzlement and tracking her investigation. Innovative narrative technique and remarkable suspense.
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Turn of Mind by Alice LaPlante (2011)

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.
This book was also on the Booklist's Top 10 Crime Novels of 2012
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## Related post: Booklist's Top 10 Crime Novels 0f 2012

posted by Sharon

WHAT I'M READING NOW:
The Ambitious City
by Scott Thornley

Canadian police procedural

Book # 2 with Macneice, a senior police detective, in the fictional city of Dundurn, Ontario

from Margaret Cannon's review: The star in this terrific tale is Dundurn, Ont., Scott Thornley’s thinly veiled Hamilton. It’s his home town; he knows the history, the topography and feel to his very bones, and that’s what makes this second book featuring Detective Superintendent MacNeice so good.

There are bodies galore. The plot begins with seven dead bikers, all carefully murdered and mutilated to prevent identification. Then there’s an international archeological team dredging up a pair of 1913 warships to make a tourist event out of the city’s harbour. MacNeice is summoned when the engineer in charge catches a glimpse of a Depression-era Packard in the drink, with two very old corpses and one ventriloquist’s dummy in the trunk. There are two newer corpses in cement pillars near the car. Finally, there are dead young women, obviously targeted by race.

Thornley blends history into a really good cop-shop story as MacNeice and team hunt for clues and information. Read this and then look for the first MacNeice book, Erasing Memory.

from the review article "New in Crime Fiction: The Latest Thrillers and Mysteries" by Margaret Cannon Globe & Mail, May 18, 2012

The Sculptor
By Gregory Funaro

A ruthless serial killer known only as “the Sculptor” models his victims into Michelangelo’s famous sculptures

A serial killer calling himself the Sculptor, who reshapes his victims into replicas of works by Michelangelo, sends creepy messages to art historian Cathy Hildebrant. When it becomes clear that her book on Michelangelo's work is an inspiration for the murders, FBI special agent Sam Markham asks her help in figuring out when and where the killer will strike next, but the Sculptor easily evades their efforts and, with clumsy inevitability, traps Cathy and promises to make her his next victim… (Abridged description taken from Publisher’s Weekly)

MBTB review: I sooo was looking forward to this book for months and what a disappointment! I don’t know if I just wasn’t in the mood for it, or maybe they were rookie mistakes as this is Funaro’s first book. Either way, I’m hoping they get better because he does have some very creative ideas, they just didn’t come across the right way. He tries too hard to make this a thriller/mystery/romantic suspense/almost non-fiction piece that it kind of fell apart for all four categories. I love mysteries that have to do with art history, and I do appreciate background information regarding the pieces in question, but the “nonfiction” parts of this novel came across as very “textbookish” and quite frankly, uninteresting. The romance in the novel was almost comic and did not add anything to the storyline and the thrilling aspect of it was kind of slow going. The one thing I did appreciate are the parts of the story that were from the serial killer’s point of view. They always add to the story and give the reader a different perspective into the mind and motivations of the deranged killer.

There are better art thrillers/mysteries out there. Give Jonathan Santlofer a try—he is deliciously creepy and suspenseful and he includes some of this own artworks in the novel as well. A co-worker of mine has also suggested Nicholas Kilmer who I will be checking out in the near future.

I am going to give his second book “The Impaler” a try which acts as a prequel to “The Sculptor”. Hopefully I’ll enjoy it more.

Posted by Shiela

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.

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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

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* 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

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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.

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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.

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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)

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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

Afterwards by Rosamund Lupton

Novelist: From the author of the acclaimed bestseller Sister comes a gripping, thrilling story of a mother who will do anything to protect her child.....

Here's what the Booklist reveiw had to say:
/* Starred Review */ When her children’s school catches on fire, Grace runs headlong into the inferno, determined to rescue her 17-year-old daughter, Jenny. But both end up unconscious and in critical condition in the hospital. It’s there that the two find themselves unfettered from their bodies and able to travel the hospital hallways, where they learn that the fire was set deliberately and that Jenny was the target. Grace discovers a newfound appreciation for her sister-in-law, Sarah, a smart and determined detective whom Grace had previously thought to be cold and judgmental. As the gutsy Sarah homes in on the arsonist and provides Grace’s devastated husband with emotional support, Grace rues the fact that they were never really friends. Grace must also comfort her daughter, who can barely stand to look at her severely burned face and whose chances of survival are only 50/50. Lupton takes her readers on a totally harrowing ride as she melds a suspenseful procedural with an emotionally fraught family drama. Within a taut and sinuous narrative, heartbreak over a broken family vies with fear that the arsonist will return to complete the job of killing Jenny. Masterful pacing and a highly charged atmosphere combine to make this an exceptionally gripping read.

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If you like this book by Rosamund Lupton, NoveList recommends the following:

Started early, took my dog by Kate Atkinson
Tracy Waterhouse, a retired police detective leading a quiet life, makes a snap decision to relieve habitual offender Kelly Cross of a young child he's been dragging around town. Tracy soon learns her parental inexperience is actually the least of her problems, as much larger ones loom for her and her young charge. Meanwhile, detective Jackson Brodie embarks on a different sort of rescue--that of an abused dog. NoveList

Losing you by Nicci French
Preparing to leave for a vacation, Nina Landry awaits the return of her fifteen-year-old daughter, Charlie, who had spent the night at a friend's house, but Nina begins to worry when Charlie does not come home and no one takes the disappearance seriously. NoveList

The lovely bones by Alice Sebold
Looking down from heaven, 14-year-old Susie Salmon recounts her rape and murder and watches her family as they cope with their grief and "the lovely bones" growing around her absence. NoveList

* * *
This is a cross post from the Fiction Files blog.

posted by Sharon

WHAT I'M READING NOW:
Good as Dead
by Mark Billingham

British police procedural

Book # 10 with Tom Thorne, a middle aged detective inspector in London, England

Description: 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.

First book: Sleepyhead