Danielle Arceneaux

Best of 2023

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I was unable to limit my list to ten and present twelve titles this year, and the “also notables” at the end are excellent too.  My criteria is always a book that stayed with me and moved me throughout the year.  When I cast my mind back to reading these books the feeling of being captured by prose returns to my mind.  It’s such a magical experience – I think one hoped for by every reader – and sharing the books that provide that kind of reading experience is a real joy.  As will be obvious I have a real love for traditional detective work (Crombie, Cleeves, Griffiths, Stewart Taylor).  I also love the odd and memorable (Cotterill, Bennett) and I have a fondness for kick ass women (Allen, Lillie, Khan). I love a good gothic mystery (Goodman) and there are a couple of outstanding debuts: Danielle Arceneaux’s Glory Be and Michael Bennett’s Better the Blood.  Mysteries are finding a glorious diversity lately as illustrated here, with Muslim, Cherokee,  African American and Maori sleuths finding a voice. Full reviews can be found by searching the site, though with a few exceptions they are only to be found at Deadly Pleasures. read more

Danielle Arceneaux: Glory Be

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Glory Broussard #1

Great books are like a song.  They have a melody and a rhythm all their own, and envelop you in their reality.  Danielle Arceneaux’s debut novel, Glory Be, might be Patti LaBelle’s You Are My Friend. Glory, the heroine of the novel, is an older, heavier black woman living in LaFayette, Louisiana.  She’s a divorcee and fills her time with church, the local Red Hat Society, and heading to the coffee shop Sunday afternoons to run her business – she’s a bookie.  Her life is in chaos, and it’s not made any better when her best friend, Amity, is found dead, an apparent suicide.  Like many a mystery heroine before her, Glory is certain Amity’s death is not a suicide, and begins trying to prove it. read more