Our reviewers, Margaret Agnew, Vicki Kondelik, and Carla Schantz, have all shared their top 10 lists with me. If you’d like to know more about them, you can read about them here. All of them are accomplished women and passionate readers. I appreciate Margaret’s way with words, Vicki’s love of historical mysteries, and Carla’s passion for cozies. There’s lots here to add to your TBR piles! Full reviews can be found in most cases by searching the site, though Vicki has some classics on her list she didn’t review here. Carla’s list can be found in the forthcoming Best of Cozies post.
Margaret Agnew
The Late Mrs. Willoughby, Claudia Gray
The Last Remains, Elly Griffiths
Of Manners and Murder, Anastasia Hastings
Murder at a Scottish Wedding, Traci Hall
The Housekeepers, Alex Hay
Miss Morton and the Spirits of the Underworld, Catherine Lloyd
The Raven Thief, Gigi Pandian
Margaret did confess that her two favorites were Elly Griffith’s last Ruth Galloway book, The Last Remains, and Claudia Gray’s Jane Austen pastiche, The Late Mrs. Willoughby.
Vicki Kondelik
All the Queen’s Men, SJ Bennett, 2022.Murder in the Bastille, Cara Black, 2003.
Mastering the Art of French Murder, Colleen Cambridge, 2023.
Hallowe’en Party, Agatha Christie, 1969.
A Newlywed’s Guide to Fortune and Murder, Dianne Freeman, 2023.
Dance Hall of the Dead, Tony Hillerman, 1973.
A Bend of Light, Joy Jordan-Lake, 2022.
Murder at the Elms, Alyssa Maxwell, 2023.
Murder on Mistletoe Lane, Clara McKenna, 2023.
A Stolen Child, Sarah Stewart Taylor, 2023.
Usually my top 10 list leans heavily on historical mysteries, but this year it’s a mix of historical and contemporary (or near-contemporary). It includes two classics, Hallowe’en Party by Agatha Christie and Dance Hall of the Dead by Tony Hillerman, which I had somehow missed reading until now. They were meant to be contemporary, but might seem historical today. I loved the intricacy of Christie’s plot, which takes many twists and turns. I never guessed the killer until the end. Hillerman’s writing is outstanding, with his detailed descriptions of the Southwest and Navajo and Zuñi cultures.I also highly recommend SJ Bennett’s series which features Queen Elizabeth II as a detective. The books are set several years ago, when Prince Philip was still alive. This one in particular, All the Queen’s Men, was a favorite because of the references to one of my favorite artists, Artemisia Gentileschi.
I’ve been reading Cara Black’s series about Parisian private eye Aimée Leduc. Black takes the reader on a tour of Paris, with each book taking place in a different neighborhood. This one, Murder in the Bastille, was particularly compelling, as Aimée is blinded and has to deal with adjusting to her blindness while finding ways to do her job in spite of it. Luckily for Aimée, her blindness turns out to be temporary, although she doesn’t know it at the time. The series takes place in the 1990s, so some people might consider it historical, but I don’t. Aimée is a computer expert and makes extensive use of cell phones and the internet, so the series feels contemporary.
Sarah Stewart Taylor’s Maggie D’Arcy series is one of my favorite contemporary mystery series. Maggie, a former Long Island homicide detective, has moved to Dublin with her boyfriend and is now an Irish guard. She investigates the murder of a reality TV star and the kidnapping of the murdered woman’s child. The book left me wondering what will happen to Maggie next, but I’ve heard that the author has started another series. I hope this isn’t the last of Maggie’s adventures.
As for historical mysteries, I highly recommend two series set in early 20th century England: Dianne Freeman’s Countess of Harleigh series and Clara McKenna’s Stella and Lyndy series. On the surface they seem similar: both feature a newly-married couple who didn’t get married until several books into the series, both with a wealthy American woman and a British man. But they are quite different, with Freeman’s series taking place mostly in London and McKenna’s in the countryside, usually at a castle or manor house. Freeman’s series is more humorous than McKenna’s. Both are excellent.
New to me this year is Alyssa Maxwell’s Gilded Newport series, about a female reporter in 1890s Newport. I started in an unusual place, with the eleventh book, but I definitely want to read the others.I also loved Joy Jordan-Lake’s A Bend of Light, where the protagonist is a photographic analyst who returns to her village in Maine after World War II and uses her skills to solve a mystery. I loved the main character’s mentor. Some have described her as too good to be true, but I disagree. She did have a flawed past, as I recall.
Last but not least, I highly recommend a delightful new series by Colleen Cambridge, featuring Julia Child and her neighbor, a former Rosie the Riveter, in post-World War II Paris. I am looking forward to the next book!