{"id":845,"date":"2012-11-23T17:56:18","date_gmt":"2012-11-23T23:56:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/auntagathas.com\/aa\/?p=845"},"modified":"2012-11-25T18:59:45","modified_gmt":"2012-11-26T00:59:45","slug":"best-of-2012","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/auntagathas.com\/aa\/best-of-2012\/","title":{"rendered":"Best Of 2012"},"content":{"rendered":"

I love remembering back over the year to the books that gave me a thrill or a delightful character or a great story or a memorable setting or gorgeous prose \u2013 or all of these. It\u2019s always tough to winnow this list to 10 \u2013 I\u2019ve listed other titles at the end of this list that were also great.\u00a0 For the month of December 2012, we offer these titles, including the extra recommendations, at 15% off. \u00a0(Please contact us in order to receive the discount.) This list is alphabetical.<\/em><\/p>\n

No Mark Upon Her, <\/em>Deborah Crombie, William Morrow, $25.99. <\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/form>\n

\u201cThe shell rocked precariously as it took her weight.\u00a0 The movement reminded her, as it always did, that she sat on a sliver of carbon fiber narrower than her body, inches above the water and that only her skill and determination kept her fragile craft from the water\u2019s dark grasp.\u00a0 But fear was good.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

Crombie\u2019s thoughtful and suspenseful look at the Oxford rowing culture focuses on the disappearance of an Olympic caliber sculler, Becca Meredith, last seen out on the river.\u00a0 This is an excellent police procedural, centering on her series characters, Duncan Kincaid and Gemma James, but it\u2019s also a meditation on power, control and obsession.\u00a0 The fact that it\u2019s wrapped up in a great story just makes it more of a standout.<\/p>\n

Midnight in Peking, <\/em>Paul French, Penguin, $26.00. <\/strong><\/p>\n <\/form>\n

\u201cThe eastern section of old Peking has been dominated since the fifteenth century by a looming watchtower, built as part of the Tartar wall to protect the city from invaders.\u00a0 Known as the Fox Tower, it was believed to be haunted by fox spirits, a superstition that meant the place was deserted at night.\u00a0 After dark the area became the preserve of thousands of bats\u2026\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

This is a rare true crime addition to our list, an impossible to put down look at Peking in 1937, right before the Japanese invasion.\u00a0 The gruesome death of wild girl Pamela Werner is investigated but as the looming Japanese takeover becomes apparent the case is more or less dropped, to be pursued only by Pamela\u2019s grieving, obsessed and increasingly overlooked and ignored father.\u00a0 The outcome is so unbelievable it could only be true, and French\u2019s depiction of a society undergoing a brutal change is indelible.\u00a0 This is also a beautiful volume, lovely to hold, with fabulous endpapers, maps, and photographs.<\/p>\n

A Room Full of Bones, <\/em>Elly Griffiths, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, $26.00. <\/strong><\/p>\n <\/form>\n

\u201cThe coffin is definitely a health and safety hazard.\u00a0 It fills the entrance hall..The coffin\u2019s wooden sides are swollen and rotten and look likely to disgorge their contents in a singularly gruesome manner.\u00a0 Any visitors would find its presence unhelpful, not to say distressing.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

Can I just say without reservation that I love Elly Griffiths and Ruth Galloway, her archeologist detective?\u00a0 This may be my favorite in her now four book series, with Ruth called in to a local museum for the unveiling of the long interred bones of a bishop.\u00a0 The ceremony is ruined when the very recently dead museum curator is found instead, and Ruth is caught up in another archeological situation with complex family ties as well as archeological ones.\u00a0\u00a0 Griffiths writes with a light touch but her books have real resonance and meaning.\u00a0 This lively novel is a delight from beginning to end.<\/p>\n

Die a Stranger, <\/em>Steve Hamilton. Minotaur, $25.99.<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/form>\n

\u201cThe weather stayed picture perfect, like a consolation of pure sunlight on such a sad day.\u00a0 There wasn\u2019t a hint of trouble on the water.\u00a0 But of course the trouble was there, just below the surface\u2026No matter how beautiful the day, before you can do anything about it, without any warning at all.\u00a0 The storm will come.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

Steve Hamilton makes it look easy, but a book this tight, this brutal, this dark and this fine tuned is a masterwork of smooth, concise writing.\u00a0 This Alex outing involves the disappearance of his best pal Vinnie after his mother\u2019s death, and the reappearance of Vinnie\u2019s father.\u00a0 As Alex and Vinnie\u2019s father team up for a terrible chase all over Michigan hot on Vinnie\u2019s trail, this is also, as it happens, a book about friendship and kinship and how those ties are forged and held.\u00a0 One of the best in a stellar series.<\/p>\n

Available Dark, <\/em>Elizabeth Hand, Minotaur, $23.99.<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/form>\n

\u201cI caught a glimpse of myself in the dark window, a gaunt Valkyrie holding a spear taller than I was, teeth bared in a drunken grimace and eyes bloodshot from some redneck teenager\u2019s ADD medication.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cHey, ho, let\u2019s go\u201d, I said, and went.\u201d \u2013 description of Cass Neary in Generation Loss<\/em><\/p>\n

Elizabeth Hand has been a critically acclaimed and award winning fantasy\/horror writer for awhile.\u00a0 It\u2019s a definite win for our genre that, somewhat to her surprise, her 2007 book Generation Loss<\/em> turned out to be the first book in a mystery series,\u00a0 The most notable attraction of this year\u2019s Available Dark<\/em> is series protagonist Cass Neary, a foul mouthed, morally challenged, damaged survivor of the punk era who is reluctantly pulled from decades of near hibernation only to find herself in the middle of some seriously nasty stuff.\u00a0 But besides the compelling Cass, there\u2019s plenty of deft plot and setting, Scandinavian death metal music, snuff photographs, and pure evil as well as some pretty darn profound themes.\u00a0 It\u2019s weird to talk about \u201cdiscovering\u201d an author who has written as many books as Hand has, but she has to go down as one of my favorite finds of 2012.\u00a0 (Jamie)<\/em><\/p>\n

A Killing in the Hills, <\/em>Julia Keller, Minotaur, $24.99.<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/form>\n

\u201cShe flinched, trembled.\u00a0 This was the scene of a terrible crime, and the owl\u2019s cry was a warning.\u00a0 She did not return often, because there was nothing here.\u00a0 Only the past.\u00a0 And for that, she knew, she did not have to come back.\u00a0 Because the past traveled with her.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

I was talked into Julia\u2019s book by Hector DeJean at Minotaur, as I needed to fill a space at the Kerrytown BookFest last fall.\u00a0 However, I was blown away when I read this novel, featuring county prosecutor Belfa Elkins.\u00a0 When a mass shooting happens right in front of her teenage daughter at a fast food restaurant, Belfa is more than motivated to figure out what happened, and \u00a0as she unravels the crime, which is tied to drugs, family connections, friendships, and betrayal in a complicated mix, you can\u2019t stop reading.\u00a0 This crisply intelligent thriller is\u00a0 also a bravura look at Appalachia, warts and all.\u00a0 Belfa won\u2019t be easily forgotten either.\u00a0 This book calls to mind Sharyn McCrumb\u2019s early entries in her great Ballad series.\u00a0 Don\u2019t miss this fabulous debut.<\/p>\n

A Simple Murder, <\/em>Eleanor Kuhns, Minotaur, $24.99.<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/form>\n

\u201cSuddenly aware of his pounding heart and of the blood throbbing in his ears, Rees took several deep breaths.\u00a0 He forced himself to relax, listening to the lowing of the cattle and the faraway rooster crow. Gradually his thoughts scattered, and as the moon climbed into the sky he finally slept.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

Eleanor Kuhns\u2019 first mystery set in 1796 and featuring traveling weaver Rees, is both a look at the then vital Shaker community, and at the world of post Revolutionary war America, with all the rapid change that comes with a post war culture.\u00a0 Rees is looking for his runaway teenage son; he finds him inside a Shaker community.\u00a0 The Shakers put Rees up and he takes a nearby weaving job, and stays when he\u2019s asked to look into the murder of a Shaker sister.\u00a0 This is a very traditional mystery, with an outsider detective, clues, and an actual summing up at the end.\u00a0 What makes it special is Ms. Kuhns\u2019 deft hand at characterization and her penetrating psychological insight, as well as a setting that\u2019s hard to forget.\u00a0 This is a wonderful debut.<\/p>\n

Sacrifice Fly, <\/em>Tim O\u2019Mara, Minotaur, $24.99.<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/form>\n

\u201cI knew before I pushed the bedroom door all the way open what I\u2019d find on the other side.\u00a0 I knew it would take me somewhere I\u2019d been before and hoped to never go again.\u00a0 I should have turned around and gone home.\u00a0 I opened the door anyway.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

What a kick ass debut novel \u2013 a new entry into the diminishing private eye field.\u00a0 O\u2019Mara\u2019s central character, Ray,\u00a0 is not actually a P.I. but a former cop who\u2019s now a teacher, and he has the righteous anger of any teacher when something happens to one of his best students.\u00a0 His student disappears and when Ray goes to look for him he finds instead the student\u2019s dead father.\u00a0 Ray is soon on the hunt with an over eager sidekick and the sometimes reluctant, sometimes grateful help of various members of the police department.\u00a0 O\u2019Mara creates a full universe inside one part of Brooklyn, crammed with memorable characters and a tight, well told story.\u00a0 More please, Mr. O\u2019Mara.<\/p>\n

Valley of Ashes, <\/em>Cornelia Read, Grand Central, $24.99.<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/form>\n

\u201cSorrow is always your own, offering no temptation to the fickle gods.\u00a0 Fucking joy, on the other hand? You might as well string your heart from the ceiling for use as a frat-party pi\u00f1ata.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

Some writers have the kind of voice that\u2019s so distinctive and so original it rattles around in your head long after you finish the book.\u00a0 Cornelia Read is just such a writer, and wherever she takes her character, Madeleine Dare, I\u2019m more than happy to follow.\u00a0 In this outing, Madeline has moved with her two toddler twin girls to unfamiliar Colorado, with a husband who is increasingly, and puzzlingly, distant.\u00a0 At the same time she gets a part time job writing restaurant reviews for the local paper, but it really takes her on a path following a series of local arsons, one in her neighborhood.\u00a0 The vivid reality Read brings to her pages may make a reader look up with a start when you realize you\u2019re not actually there with her.\u00a0 Funny, smart, sometimes heartbreaking, it\u2019s a mistake to miss a single word this woman writes.<\/p>\n

Before the Poison, <\/em>Peter Robinson, William Morrow, $25.99.<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/form>\n

\u201c\u2026Grace comported herself with great dignity throughout, and she never faltered in her steps or uttered a sound, except for a brief shudder and audible inhalation of breath when she first saw the rope.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

This is a ghost story, and it\u2019s a great one.\u00a0 A stand alone novel rather than one in Robinson\u2019s classic Inspector Banks series, this book follows \u00a0recent widower Chris to the depths of the English countryside.\u00a0 As he mourns his wife, he discovers that the house was owned during the war by a Dr. Ernest Fox, whose wife, Grace,\u00a0 was convicted of poisoning him.\u00a0 Haunted and obsessed by the shades of both his dead wife and the long dead Grace, Chris sets out to prove her innocence.\u00a0 This is a haunting story, and it\u2019s meant to get under your skin.\u00a0 Robinson brings in details of Grace\u2019s wartime experience and her marriage to Ernest that will make you as obsessed as he is to discover her guilt or innocence.\u00a0 Beautifully, precisely, and intelligently written, this is a lovely book.<\/p>\n

Also Notable<\/strong><\/p>\n

Tana French\u2019s beautifully written, wrenching Broken Harbor; <\/em>Gillian Flynn\u2019s impossible to put down Gone Girl; <\/em>Tabish Khair\u2019s delicate and brilliant Victorian mystery, The Thing About Thugs; <\/em>Louise Penny\u2019s locked room mystery, set in a monastery, The Beautiful Mystery; <\/em>William Kent Krueger\u2019s look at friendship (good and bad), Trickster\u2019s Point; <\/em>D.E. Johnson\u2019s third Detroit mystery set in the Eloise mental hospital, Detroit Breakdown; <\/em> Bryan Gruley\u2019s wrenching story of his main character\u2019s relationship with his mother, The Skeleton Box; <\/em> and Laura Lippman\u2019s beautifully written, perceptive and suspenseful And When She Was Good.<\/em><\/p>\n

Staff & Customer Faves<\/strong><\/p>\n

Always fun to see what the commonalities are here \u2013 one missing that was kind of the \u201cbook of the year\u201d is Gillian Flynn\u2019s <\/em>Gone Girl.\u00a0 It\u2019s well worth a look.\u00a0 But here\u2019s what many of you liked in common:\u00a0 Louise Penny\u2019s <\/em>The Beautiful Mystery; Deborah Crombie\u2019s <\/em>No Mark Upon Her; Elly Griffith\u2019s <\/em>A Room Full of Bones; Cornelia Read\u2019s <\/em>Valley of Ashes; S.J. Watson\u2019s <\/em>Before I Go to Sleep; Graham Moore\u2019s <\/em>The Sherlockian; Kwei Quartey\u2019s <\/em>Children of the Street, as well as various Tasha Alexander titles. <\/em><\/p>\n

Marty Cignetti<\/strong>, Ace Assistant: As the Crow Flies, <\/em>Craig Johnson; Prague Fatale, <\/em>Philip Kerr; Ronin\u2019s Mistress, <\/em>Laura Joh Rowland; The Shirt on His Back, <\/em>Barbara Hambly; The Fires of the Gods, <\/em>I.J. Parker; Kill My Darling, <\/em>Cynthia Harrod-Eagles.<\/p>\n

Dianne Thomas<\/strong>, via Facebook:\u00a0 rediscovery of Agatha Christie\u2019s Murder in Retrospect<\/em><\/p>\n

Linda Kimmel<\/strong>, Ann Arbor: A Room Full of Bones, <\/em>Elly Griffiths; The Girl is Trouble, <\/em>Kathryn Miller Haines; Grandad, There\u2019s a Head on the Beach, <\/em>Colin Cotterill; No Mark Upon Her, <\/em>Deborah Crombie; Mr. Churchill\u2019s Secretary & Princess Elizabeth\u2019s Spy, <\/em>Susan Elia MacNeal; The Beautiful Mystery, <\/em>Louise Penny; Valley of Ashes, <\/em>Cornelia Read; Death in a Floating City, <\/em>Tasha Alexander.<\/p>\n

Roxie Weaver<\/strong>, South Lyon: And When She Was Good, <\/em>Laura Lippman; The Skeleton Box, <\/em>Bryan Gruley; Die a Stranger, <\/em>Steve Hamilton; Trickster\u2019s Point, <\/em>William Kent Krueger; Taken, <\/em>Robert Crais; Wanted Man, <\/em>Lee Child; Racketeer, <\/em>John Grisham; Forgotten, <\/em>David Baldacci; Affairs of Steak, <\/em>Julie Hyzy; Cold Vengeance, <\/em>Douglas Preston & Lincoln Child.<\/p>\n

Tori Booker<\/strong>, Ann Arbor:\u00a0 The Sherlockian, <\/em>Graham Moore; Before I go to Sleep, <\/em>S.J. Watson; Wicked Autumn, <\/em>G.M. Malliet; Children of the Street, <\/em>Kwei Quartey.<\/p>\n

Aline Clayton-Carroll<\/strong>, Ann Arbor:\u00a0 A Bitter Truth, <\/em>Charles Todd; Naughty in Nice, <\/em>Rhys Bowen; Audition for Murder, <\/em>P.M. Carlson; Season of Darkness, <\/em>Maureen Jennings; Before the Poison, <\/em>Peter Robinson; Case Histories, <\/em>Kate Atkinson; Agatha Raisin and the Haunted House, <\/em>M.C. Beaton; Murder in the Bastille, <\/em>Cara Black; Blood on the Tongue, <\/em>Stephen Booth.<\/p>\n

Vicki Kondolik<\/strong>, Ann Arbor:\u00a0 A Poisoned Season, <\/em>Tasha Alexander: The Wrong Hill to Die on, <\/em>Casey Donis; Killed at the Whim of a Hat, <\/em>Colin Cotterill; Carnival for the Dead, <\/em>David Hewson; Classified as Murder, <\/em>Miranda James; Garment of Shadows, <\/em>Laurie R. King; The Beautiful Mystery, <\/em>Louise Penny; A Plague of Lies, <\/em>Judith Rock; Ghost Hero, <\/em>S.J. Rozan; The Queen\u2019s Gambit, <\/em>Diane A.S. Stuckart.<\/p>\n

Shelagh Davis<\/strong>, Brighton:\u00a0 The Affair & The Wanted Man, <\/em>Lee Child; No Mark Upon Her, <\/em>Deborah Crombie; The House at Sea\u2019s End & A Room Full of Bones, <\/em>Elly Griffiths; The Curse of the Jade Lily, <\/em>David Housewright; Death Comes to Pemberly, <\/em>P.D. James; The Beautiful Mystery, <\/em>Louise Penny; The Other Woman, <\/em>Hank Phillippi Ryan; Elegy for Eddie, <\/em>Jacqueline Winspear.<\/p>\n

Lisa Arnsdorf<\/strong>, Hawaii:\u00a0 Unknown, <\/em>Mari Jungstedt; White Lioness, <\/em>Henning Mankell; Children of the Street, <\/em>Kwei Quartey; The House at Sea\u2019s End, <\/em>Elly Griffiths; The Likeness, <\/em>Tana French; The Two Deaths of Daniel Hayes, <\/em>Marcus Sakey; A Poisoned Season, <\/em>Tasha Alexander; The Surgeon, <\/em>Tess Gerritsen; The Sherlockian, <\/em>Graham Moore; Night of the Living Deed, <\/em>E.J. Cooperman; Moscow Rules; Before I Go to Sleep, <\/em>S.J. Watson.<\/p>\n

Angel Connors<\/strong>, Jackson: A Beautiful Mystery, <\/em>Louise Penny; I Am Half Sick of Shadows, <\/em>Alan Bradley.<\/p>\n

Vani Katta<\/strong>, Ann Arbor: Gone for Good, <\/em>Harlan Coben.<\/p>\n

Jan Burgess<\/strong>, Ann Arbor:\u00a0 A Simple Murder, <\/em>Eleanor Kuhns; The Coroner\u2019s Lunch, <\/em>Colin Cotterill.<\/p>\n

Maureen Mulligan<\/strong>, via Facebook: Junkyard Dogs, <\/em>Craig Johnson.<\/p>\n

Ariel Zeitlin Cooke<\/strong>, via Facebook: Broken Harbor, <\/em>Tana French; Valley of Ashes, <\/em>Cornelia Read.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I love remembering back over the year to the books that gave me a thrill or a delightful character or a great story or a memorable setting or gorgeous prose \u2013 or all of these. It\u2019s always tough to winnow this list to 10 \u2013 I\u2019ve listed other titles at the end of this list … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-845","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-best-of"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/auntagathas.com\/aa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/845","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/auntagathas.com\/aa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/auntagathas.com\/aa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/auntagathas.com\/aa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/auntagathas.com\/aa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=845"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/auntagathas.com\/aa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/845\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1208,"href":"https:\/\/auntagathas.com\/aa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/845\/revisions\/1208"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/auntagathas.com\/aa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=845"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/auntagathas.com\/aa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=845"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/auntagathas.com\/aa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=845"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}