I’ve been a grumpy old crime-fiction reader this year, often disappointed by highly touted novels that I thought fell flat.
I won’t list them here but I’m growing weary of mainstream reviewers going orgasmic over books by mainstream authors who are mailing it in. Sometimes I feel vindicated when reviewers on Amazon or Goodreads agree with my assessment. Sometimes I find that readers agree with the reviewers, and I wonder if I’m being too critical or missing something.
In any case, I’ve found a few crime novels this year that I really loved, and they’re presented in the list below. There’s no common element. I loved the wit shown by Vicki Grant and Brian Anderson, the consistency of George Pelecanos and Tana French, and the ability of Linwood Barclay and Caitlin Mullen to simply keep the pages turning.
Here they are, just in time for Christmas:
These Are the Fireworks
Vicki Grant
Grant obviously spent a lot of time plotting out this story about the eccentric Fforde family, which features a surprising plot and great characters. The three Fforde sisters always believed their parents had a loving marriage – until their father dies in mysterious circumstances and their mother turns into a total party girl. What really makes this novel wonderful is the author's wit and vivacious prose. Just read the first chapter to see what I mean. The scenes in The Big House are inspired.
Click here to find out why readers are raving about The Haight Mystery Series.
The Keeper
Tana French
When the New York Times published its list of the top 50 thrillers of the 21st century, four were written by French – in spite of the unfashionable length of her novels. She’s lost none of her gusto nor her word count with The Keeper (496 pages). In the final installment in the Cal Hooper trilogy, the Irish village of Ardnakelty is thrown into turmoil when a sweet-natured young woman goes missing and turns up dead. Everyone suspects that the wealthy family of her fiancé is somehow involved. The story is engaging, the characters are wonderful and the prose is magnificent.
Ragged in the Rain
Brian Anderson
Brian Anderson is one helluva novelist! He's five books into his Lyle Dahms series and the writing is still fresh and funny, the plots compelling, the characters well drawn and vibrant. When his best friend’s sister vanishes with a man known for his drug habit, Minneapolis private investigator Lyle Dahms heads to Seattle to bring her home. I really loved Anderson’s portrayal of his home town of Seattle, which brought back a lot of great memories of that wonderful city. Bring on Book 6.
Not a Word
Linwood Barclay
Barclay sure keeps the pages turning. And that’s why I’ve included his latest novel in this list. The pace is galloping from the outset as the hero Reece finds his parents dead in bed in an apparent murder-suicide perpetrated by his father. Though he soon learns that not all is as it seems at the crime scene. There are twists aplenty in this page-turner. But the novel suffers from a few problems: too many coincidences and questionable motives by key characters.
Heather
Caitlin Mullen
HEATHER is a gripping novel that's really hard to put down. I found it over-written in places, but Mullen used her emotional surges to bring out the torment of her main characters. It centers on rookie police chief Callie Hauser making an arrest that resurrects details from a heartbreaking cold case. Hauser has no idea how much her own family is involved with the cold case. The plot is complicated without being confusing. Mullen nicely ties up all loose ends in her elegant denouement.
The Blue Flame
George P. Pelecanos
Pelecanos is one of the best police procedural writers around, having worked as a writer on The Wire with David Simon. It's fantastic to see him return with THE BLUE FLAME. Private investigator Derek Strange – whose neon sign blares STRANGE INVESTIGATIONS – is hired by a flashy defense attorney to provide an alibi for an accused murderer. This economically written novel quickly develops both plot and characters to pleasing degrees. As you would expect with a Pelecanos novel, the descriptions (especially of vehicles and weapons) are precise and enriching. There are no great twists in solving the crimes, but it's still a really good PI novel.
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Hi. I’m Peter Moreira and my latest novel is the technothriller Presidio Biotech. I’m also also the author of The Haight Mystery Series — retro mystery novels set in San Francisco in the late 1960s. Go to my home page to join my mailing list and receive a free prequel novella.
