Best of the year lists are so difficult! I’ve given myself leeway to divide books into categories – cozy, historical, best all around – giving me a chance to spotlight more great reads. All of the reviews appear either on this website or over at Deadly Pleasures (or both). Deadly Pleasures also features my pared down top 10 list. Here are 30 great reads culled from the 100 or so books I read each year. My standard is simple – a book that stays with me long after I finish it, great writing, great characters. There are veterans and newbies here. Dive in!
Best Cozy
This was a super strong category this year, with some unusual and original reads and wonderful writing. I love Danielle Arceneaux‘s new series featuring cranky widow Glory Broussard, a Louisiana bookie with a bit of a hoarding problem and a flair for detection. In the second book, Glory Daze, Glory is pressed into solving the murder of her ex and somehow ends up making a scene at a Commodores cover band show at a nearby casino. Glory is a complete original. I’m also a big fan of newcomer Katarina Bivald, who won an Edgar for her first book, The Murders in Great Diddling, and happily, the second, Just Another Dead Author, was also delightful. She takes her main character, writer Berit Gardner, to a writing retreat in France that goes more than awry. I’m also love Elise Bryant‘s new series featuring single mom Mavis, one of the few African American mothers at her daughter Pearl’s school. The writing is sharp and funny, and The Game is Afoot is a total blast. Lynn Cahoon turned in a cool new series featuring dumped at the altar Meg, who returns to Bainbridge Island to work in her mom’s bookstore. In the series debut, An Amateur Sleuth’s Guide to Murder nails all the details of bookselling and island life, while giving the reader a sleuthing guide provided by none other than Nancy Drew. Delightful in every way. Susie Dent‘s clever novel of words, Guilty by Definition, follows a team who work in the office of a thinly disguised Oxford English Dictionary. The clues come by way of letters and words the team must unravel — you’ll learn a few new ones. Dent is a well known game show host in the UK and she turns her hand to writing seemingly effortlessly. Freya Sampson‘s yummy and oddly moving The Busybody Book Club utilizes two favorite cozy settings – a library and a book club – and weaves an inventive and emotionally resonant story of the librarian and various book club members unraveling the solution to a murder. Jesse Q. Sutanto‘s follow up to Vera Wong’s Unsolicited Advice for Murders finds her prickly, observant main character, Vera, unraveling another mystery ahead of the police, in the San Francisco set Vera Wong’s Guide to Snooping (on a Dead Man). Vera, two books in, is already a classic character. I loved Paula Sutton‘s leisurely debut, The Potting Shed Murder, which follows new to the village Daphne Brewster as she acclimates to Pudding Corner. Real life UK lifestyle maven Sutton (her instagram is well worth a follow if you are at all into British villages) seems to call on the shade of E.F. Benson as she creates a snarky yet gently observed village atmosphere with a nice mystery to boot. Wonderful first outing. I loved, loved, loved Peggy Townsend‘s The Botanist, which follows the neurodivergent Margaret, a scientist, as she unravels the death of her revered boss. Margaret loves her lab and she loves her plants, and she uses her skill with observation to unmask a murder. Charming and moving. Liza Tully‘s well conceived and written The World’s Greatest Detective and her Just Okay Assistant is a fresh take on the Holmes-Watson relationship, with the effortlessly chic and somewhat intimidating Aubrey Merritt taking on an eminently relatable assistant, Olivia Blunt. Between the two of them they solve a murder in an upstate New York resort. Fun.
Best Historical
These books are my go to, a total escape (well, not always total) from today’s reality. I like immersing myself in the problems and habits of another time, and the authors mentioned here are skillful at both character and plot, making these reads especially delicious. Cara Black‘s novel, Huguette, is set in post war France, though Huguette’s story takes the reader back to her incredibly painful war experiences, as well as her ultimate triumph. This is both redemptive and heartbreaking. Black seems to have perhaps actually lived in post war France, so authentic are the details and characters. Mariah Fredericks‘ dreamy, beautifully written The Girl in the Green Dress is set in 1920’s New York and follows an investigation by a real reporter and writer, Morris Markey, who through his connections to the literary world somehow finds himself involved with the Fitzgeralds, specifically Zelda. A melancholy and lovely book. Beth Lewis‘ epic The Rush is set in the hardscrabble Klondike in the 1890’s during the gold rush, and follows three different women as they navigate the man’s world of panning for gold as well as the town that springs up around it. Hard to put down. Allison Montclair is consistently excellent, and this year’s entry in the Sparks and Bainbridge series, An Excellent Thing in a Woman, takes a look at the nascent TV industry in late 1940’s London. As usual the plot is an absolute gem. This whole series – chef’s kiss. I also am a passionate reader of Harini Negendra‘s series set in 1920’s India. In this one, Into the Leopard’s Den, pregnant series heroine Kaveri travels to visit her husband in Coorg, unravelling several mysteries while she’s there, one of them the secret of the ghost leopard. These are wonderful books drenched in setting and written in a precise traditional style. Rob Osler‘s series kickoff, The Case of the Missing Maid, follows aspiring detective Harriet Morrow in turn of the century Chicago. As she’s new to the agency she’s assigned an “easy” case, finding a missing maid, with both women involved being mostly dismissed by the greater male culture. Harriet herself is a mere young woman, and the complainant is an older woman dismissed as hysterical. Harriet is also LGTBQ and trying to find her place in the world in many ways. She’s a terrific character, and the mystery is great too. I love Katie Tietjen‘s series set in post war Vermont, and the series heroine, Maple Bishop, has forged a living of sorts as a consultant to the police. She creates tiny crime scene nutshells which help her to think through a crime scene, and as it turns out, help the police as well. In this book, A Murder in Miniature, the case involves a fire and a visit to the big town of Boston where Maple settles some family matters. This is a wholly original series. In A Murderous Business, Cathy Pegau introduces another terrific LGBTQ character, Margot Harriman, who has inherited the family canning business in 1912 New York. It’s unusual in it’s focus on business – which is far from dull – and the mystery revolves around something going on behind the scenes at the cannery. Margot is a wonderful personality, and like Harriet in Rob Osler’s book, is finding herself as well as solving a crime. in The Mysterious Death of Junetta Plum, veteran Valerie Wilson Wesley takes on 1920’s Harlem as her main character, Harriet (named for Tubman) is invited to live with her cousin Junetta after the loss of almost her entire family. When she and her ward Lovey arrive in Harlem, Junetta is almost instantly murdered, and Harriet finds she’s Junetta’s heir. Unravelling Junetta’s business arrangements is almost as tricky as unravelling her death, but the strong and fearless Harriet manages to do both. This is a great look at a less explored time and place, and Wesley is a genius with character and making the reader feel for the people she’s created on the page. Finally, Darcie Wilde‘s new series kicks off with The Heir, a mystery featuring Queen Victoria when she was still a princess and still very much under her mother’s thumb. Wilde gets the history right and also creates wonderful characters in both Victoria and her maid, Jane, who helps her solve the murder presented to them. This is a delightful read. For extra fun, you can read my interview with Rob Osler here.
All Around Best
These are the books that stayed with me all year. Some I read way back in January, one of them comes out the last day of this year. I always love S.J. Bennett’s books featuring Queen Elizabeth II, but A Death in Diamonds seemed extra resonant and extra clever, and takes the Queen back in time to 1957, when she was fairly new to the throne, and as Bennett posits it, to investigation. These books are absolute pure delight in every way. I’ve so enjoyed Amanda Flowers‘ series featuring Emily Dickinson and her maid, Willa, but I Died for Beauty is my favorite, set in Amherst during the winter of 1857. The setting and the relentless cold make Willa and Emily’s search for a lost child’s family all the more poignant. As a reader you really feel you are there – pull up a blanket and settle in. A List of Suspicious Things by Jennie Godfrey takes the reader back to 1970’s Yorkshire, when Margaret Thatcher was just elected Prime Minister, and the hunt is on for the Yorkshire Ripper. The main character is 12, so her investigations to find the Ripper via her lists probably aren’t going to solve the crime, but Godfrey’s depiction of an absolutely authentic 12 year old, her friendships, and of a very particular place and time is hard to forget – or put down. I love Elly Griffiths and avoided reading The Frozen People as it involves time travel, but this was a mistake. Griffiths vivid writing and totally original voice take the reader, via cold case officer Ali Dawson, back to 1850. She experiences Victorian England in a very realistic seeming way, and as she’s still in her same neighborhood, it’s especially freaky. When she gets back to the present she has another crime to solve involving family. This is a terrific read. I’ll just say Anthony Horowitz is a genius, and I was not disappointed when I picked up Marble Hall Murders, the third in his Magpie Murders series. In it, former editor Susan Ryeland is presented the opportunity to edit the last Atticus Pünd mystery, but the ghostwriter is an entitled jerk. In the mirror story line, Atticus Pünd is in 1955 France. Clever, hard to put down – perfection! If you love all that is traditional and golden age don’t miss it. Cara Hunter‘s thrillers are at the moment the smartest, most difficult to put down reads I can think of. Making a Killing is the follow up to Close to Home, which, if you haven’t read, you should read first. This one is an insanely good character study of a killer pieced together by the cops years after the crime in the first book. Unforgettable. I think my favorite read of the whole year might have been R.P. O’Donnell’s No Comfort for the Dead. Librarian Emma has returned home to County Cork after a failed career in the Garda in Dublin, and she’s enjoying her library but hears a crime and is eventually asked to help solve it by the victim’s father, because of her Garda experience. The writing here absolutely sings. The setting, the characters, the storm that powers the story forward – this is a lovely and well crafted read. I hope there are many more books to come from this talented writer. All I can say is – yay! – Julia Spencer-Fleming is back with At Midnight Comes the Cry. Priest Clare Fergusson and now retired police chief Russ Van Alstyne are the parents of a new baby, and get caught up in a search for a missing deputy who was undercover with a group of white supremacists in the snowy Adirondacks. I love these characters, I love Spencer-Fleming’s storytelling chops, and I could not put this book down. Welcome back! I’ve enjoyed Sarah Stewart Taylor‘s novels for years and this year’s book, Hunter’s Heart Ridge, the second in her series set in 1960’s Vermont, finds new Detective Franklin Warren solving what is almost a locked room mystery in a snowbound hunting club. The atmosphere, the characters, the beautiful writing – this book is a total stand out. Finally, newcomer Radha Vatsal turns in a memorable read set in 1907 New York City with No. 10 Doyers Street. Based loosely on real characters, reporter Archie Morley is trying to snag a story by following well known a Chinese Gangster called Mock Duck. He was a real person, but I know the emotion and detailed characters Vatsal creates on the page are all her own. The setting and the story are extremely specific, and the visit to 1907 New York is vividly written. This is a wonderful debut, and the character of Archie, a female journalist working against the male tide of the time, is original and memorable. For extra fun you can read my interview with R.P. O’Donnell here.
