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Best of...
Best of 2005The Burning of Rachel Hayes, Doug Allyn, Five Star, $25.95.
The Devil's Own Rag Doll, Mitchell Bartoy, St. Martin's Minotaur, $23.95.
In the Company of Liars, David Ellis, Putnam, $24.95.
The plot is put together like a stopwatch, and as you read forward, you can't wait to see what this talented author has in store for you. The story of a famous author whose life has been blown apart by circumstances pretty much beyond her control is then defined by the way she and her family react to them, and the dark undercurrents of terrorism and FBI agents trying to catch up with events. I wanted to flip the book back to the beginning and start over the minute I finished it. A favorite customer, Lisa Arnsdorf, felt the same way, and also placed this book at the top of her list. Ellis is mostly known for his legal thrillers - he won an Edgar for his very first book, Line of Vision - and while this book has generous dollops of legal detail, this is more of a straight thriller. Thrillers don't get any smarter or better than In the Company of Liars. Grave Sight, Charlaine Harris, Berkley Prime Crime, $23.95.
The Iron Girl, Ellen Hart, St. Martin's, $24.95.
The Villa of Mysteries, David Hewson, Dell, $6.99.
Mercy Falls, William Kent Krueger, Atria, $24.00.
To the Power of Three, Laura Lippman, William Morrow, $24.95.
A Killing Rain, P.J. Parrish, Pinnacle, $6.99.
Judgment of the Grave, Sarah Stewart Taylor, St. Martin's, $24.95.
Best of the RestDisordered Minds by Minette Walters (Berkley, $10.00) came out so long ago (I actually read the British edition) I forgot to include it on my "top 10" list but without a doubt it's a powerful, beautifully written, complex novel that deserves more than one reading. And favorite debut? - I just came to it late - Michael Koryta's terrific P.I. novel, Tonight I Said Goodbye (St. Martin's, $21.95). This is definitely a new author to keep your eye on, or just read this one - it's wonderful. Barbara Cleverly's delightful and delicious The Palace Tiger (Carroll & Graf, $23.95), set in 1920's India, is packed with plot and details about life among the maharanees. If you are a fan of the British mystery, don't miss Full Dark House (Bantam, $6.99) by Christopher Fowler, a complex story told against the backdrop of the London blitz. And finally, Denise Hamilton goes from strength to strength with her fourth novel, Savage Garden (Scribner's, $22.00), an insightful character study of a troubled Latina actress and her killer. And most improved: J.A. Konrath's sophomore effort, Bloody Mary, a nice balance of pacing and emotion in his fledgling police series set in Chicago.  Marty, Ace Assistant: Ice Run, Steve Hamilton; Blood Hollow, William Kent Krueger; Dead
Water, Barbara Hambly; and The Winter Queen, Boris Akunin.  |
Last year I ran into Doug at Bouchercon; he told me he had a new book out that I would really like. He was right -
The Burning of Rachel Hayes, set in Northern Michigan, is haunted by the fires caused by the lumber industry in the
19th century, and by the spirit of one farm wife, Rachel Hayes, whose bones the central character finds in the first scene.
Allyn's story telling skills are almost peerless; he wastes no words in this concise story about a down on his luck
veterinarian recently out of prison who is trying to rebuild his life. It's filled with memorable vignettes about greyhounds,
wells, fires, and near miss encounters. Some of them are still vivid to me months after reading this wonderful book; it's a
real treat to discover and enjoy a story this good.
This first novel set in 1940's Detroit - simmering with racial hatred - is beautifully written and deeply disturbing.
Bartoy's everyman Detective, Pete Caudhill, has lost an eye and a brother to WWII, and back in Detroit can hardly muster
interest or even words to deal with his life as it unfolds. Caudhill isn't the white knight/hero, ahead of the reader at
every step - he's the regular guy who's figuring things out about as fast as you are. The racial tensions, magnified by
the numbers of workers streaming to Detroit for good jobs during the War, are intense, and the book ends with a race riot.
Pete is changed in the course of the story, but not too much; it seems more like a natural progression rather than forced
character development. Bartoy has definitely set his Detective off on a memorable journey; here's to wishing him continued
success.
I know this is an alphabetical list but when I read my advance copy of this novel last fall, I was knocked out by this book,
and still am. It's far and away one of the most polished and mature books I read all year, not to mention one of the more
compelling page turners. The story is told completely backwards, which on the face of it would seem anticlimactic, but in
Ellis' more than capable hands, becomes an instrument of further suspense.
This novel is so unusual and at the same time so matter of factly told that it's easy to accept the special skills of Harper
Connelly. Harper was hit by lightening as an adolescent and ever since has not only been able to find hidden dead bodies,
but she can tell exactly how they died, as she is "with" them at the moment of their deaths. This is a skill frequently
useful to the police and Harper and her brother, Tolliver, find themselves in the tiny town of Sarne in the Ozarks trying
to discover the truth behind an apparent murder/suicide. Of course there's more to the story, but Harper is often shunned
by the very people who hire her (she creeps them out) and finding out what really happened as she and her brother get drawn
deeper and deeper into the story is fraught with difficulty. Harris' economical and strong narrative skills, as well as her
deft hand at characterizations, make this first in a series book a stand out.
Ellen Hart keeps getting better and better; and fans of the "traditional" mystery who haven't discovered her yet are
missing a bet. The books also pack an emotional punch, few of them with a bigger wallop than The Iron Girl. Hart's
sensible heroine, Jane Lawless, is usually at the center of a crisis; this time the crisis swirls around her memories of
her dead partner, Christine. As Jane prepares for a new life with a new partner, she finally goes through boxes of
Christine's things and find among them a gun, which flummoxes her, because she hadn't even known Christine knew how to use
a gun. As Jane unravels the mystery, which involves a wealthy and extremely dysfunctional family, she also unravels the
mysteries of Christine. This novel is moving, compelling, and well-written; Ellen Hart is way underrated!
One of the innumerable good things about mysteries is their ability to make the reader a world traveler without moving an
inch. The second novel in Hewson's series, The Villa of Mysteries takes place in Rome and presents a large cast of
expertly drawn characters immersed in a series of crimes with roots in both the ancient and recent past. Rather than
concentrating on a single detective, Hewson puts us in the heads of many characters, both good and bad. At first I was
worried that the large canvas and meticulous set-up would result (as it so often does these days) in a bloated, overlong
book, but in Hewson's expert hands the plot engine quickly achieves compression and races to a thrilling conclusion that
manages to deliver unexpected revelations to (literally) the last word. Hewson's masterful, multifaceted characterizations,
evocative portrayal of a Rome honeycombed with dark ruins and haunted by history, and tightly wound plot make this book a
real winner, a find for anyone who wants to do a little armchair traveling or to simply read a fine mystery. (Jamie)
What would be a top 10 list without a Cork O'Connor book? This one, an emotional journey for Cork that starts with the
shooting of his deputy (he's Sheriff of Aurora , Minnesota, again) and ends with an ex-boyfriend of his wife's turning up
when his brother is murdered in Aurora. The ex has never gotten over Jo, Cork's wife; and highly evolved as Cork may be
it still causes some problems. When violence erupts into the O'Connor's personal life, Cork gets his family out of town,
and it puts Jo smack into the path of the old boyfriend. Lightly modeled on F. Scott Fitzgerald's masterpiece, The Great
Gatsby, Krueger's book is more than an interesting update, it has the kind of wonderful writing, emotional depth and
character development readers have come to expect from this talented writer. And because the ending is a cliffhanger, next
September's Copper River probably can't come quickly enough for most readers.
While I am a Tess Monaghan fan, I joined the Lippman ranks backward: I read Every Secret Thing and was totally hooked
by this writer's skill at depicting character in the midst of a gripping story. Like Every Secret Thing, To the
Power of Three is a standalone, with Lippman taking on the hot topic of a high school shooting, and it's her approach
that's unusual. While I have gotten tired of writers saying that Jane Austen is their favorite writer, before I read this
novel I had recently re-read Emma. Austen's development of character is completely three dimensional; so is Lippman's.
Sometimes you know things about the characters they will never know themselves, but by being completely immersed in their
environment, you as reader have a total picture. When I read Jane Austen, I feel like I am in "Austen world"; when I read
Laura Lippman, I feel like I am in "Lippman world", where her three high school girls, Perri, Kat and Josie come totally
alive. My sister told me she didn't like this book because it was too dark; and it's true, in Jane Austen novels, people
hardly ever get shot in the high school restroom. Trying to forget about these characters is just about impossible though;
this is a moving and well written novel that shouldn't be missed by anyone.
One of the best P.I. series around, these hard boiled, well written books by two sisters center around Louis Kincaid, an
African American ex-cop, now working as a P.I. in Florida. There's really no need (though it would be a shame to miss them)
to have read all the rest of the books in the series to enjoy A Killing Rain; this novel hits the ground running and
doesn't let up. It's the kind of long book that seems short and that you look forward to picking up at the end of the day.
In this installment, Louis' perhaps girlfriend's son is kidnaped by his father and disappears; the father turns up again,
but not the son. Louis goes into full warrior mode to find the boy, who's a terrific character, and his disappearance changes
the lives of all the adults who are worrying about him or looking for him. While this is a hard boiled series, written by
sisters disguised by initials, I'm not sure I'd ever believe the books were written by a man, because the relationships are
so nuanced and so fully explored, in the way a woman writes about them. To me, it makes it one of the more enjoyable P.I
series around, and indeed the Parrishes have been nominated for both an Edgar and several Shamus awards, so they are
definitely appreciated. The plain fact is, these are terrific books, and any fan of a good read could do worse than to
pick one up and take it home pronto.
Every reader I've introduced to Sarah Stewart Taylor's Sweeney St.George mysteries is seriously hooked. And why not? If
there is a better idea out there for a mystery series - an academic heroine with a juicy family background who specializes
in gravestone art - I've yet to hear it. Managing to believably combine the actual skills of her heroine in now three novels
with the business of solving mysteries, Sweeney has become allies with a local detective and in this installment ends up
with him in Concord, Massachusetts. Concord, dripping with history, is a perfect place for Sweeney to study gravestones on
a semester off, and it also happens to be where her friendly detective ends up looking for a mysterious dead body. Sweeney
also accidentally meets a dying 12 year old in the graveyard, and he's the emotional link that ties this complex, beautifully
written novel together. Stewart Taylor's gifts of vivid storytelling, gripping characters and lovely prose are a knockout
combination.