Before this year's awards season kicks off, I'm introducing Aunt Agatha's Best of the Decade List. I'm also doing my list now because I've seen a couple of other lists which irritated me—they didn't have my favorite books on them! I also don't want to detract from my annual year end Top 10 list (most of these books were on those lists, of course).My criteria were: great story, great characters, and prose that stands out because it's lovely or crisp or accomplished. Also, these are books I'd say that anyone could enjoy reading more than once. I have read several of these two or three times already. And across the board I noticed that they are very specific in their settings, to the enrichment of every other aspect of the book. Note: this list uses the actual publication date.
2000 Peter Lovesey, The Reaper.
If there's a more deft or vivid example of the perfect art of storytelling, I'd love to see it.
This wry and clever look at an Anglican priest who kills his bishop, whose crimes only accelerate
as the story progresses, is worth reading at least twice, at least once for Lovesey's crisp prose.
(This book is criminally out of print).
2001 Dennis Lehane, Mystic River.
One of the greatest crime novels ever, as far as I'm concerned. Lehane's book looks at the
intertwined lives of three childhood friends and how an early tragedy impacts all of them in different
ways, it's also a very specific look at Boston and a beautiful and heartbreaking character study.
2002 Julia Spencer-Fleming, In the Bleak Midwinter.
A game changer, in my opinion—how good can a traditional mystery be, and how contemporary?
Very, very good, as it turns out, and very contemporary. This first look at the life of Claire
Fergusson, an Episcopal priest yearning for the married police chief, is a knockout. Nicely balancing
concepts of rational thought, justice, and following the laws of the spirit versus following the laws
of the state, Spencer-Fleming made it look easy by wrapping it in a wonderful story.
2003 Steve Hamilton, Blood is the Sky.
Hamilton hit this one out of the park—he brought his passion for Northern Michigan to bear
on his tale of series character Alex McKnight helping his friend Vinnie to find his missing brother.
The story is a non stop thrill ride, but along the way are some not unmeaningful thoughts on friendship,
culture, and kinship. The setting and the relationship between Alex and Vinnie make this novel a standout.
2004 Michael Koryta, Tonight I Said Goodbye.
Another game changer. How good can a PI novel be? How memorable? How moving? Koryta made it
look easy in his seamless, perfect debut novel with series character Lincoln Perry, a P.I. for the 21st
Century. The ending is a knockout.
2005 Louise Penny, Still Life.
Yet another game changer. This novel movingly nudges the traditional mystery into the 21st century,
while still affectionately embracing some of the past tropes of a great tradition: the British Village
mystery. This is set in Canada, but Louise is a descendant nevertheless of Sayers, Christie, and James.
Her beautiful prose and way with character make the form her very own.
2006 Nancy Pickard, The Virgin of Small Plains.
This wonderful knitting together of a past crime and the traumas of childhood brought into the present
is told in the context of small town Kansas, illuminated by the presence of the mysterious "Virgin" and
the natural wonders of tornadoes and storms on the prairie. The writing, the setting, the character
development, as well as the lovely metaphor infusing the story with mystery make this a great read and
a wonderful novel.
2007 Laura Lippman, What the Dead Know.
Lippman was always a wonderful writer, but when she set her hand to stand alone novels, she really
hit her stride. This haunting story of two long missing sisters is heartbreaking, and heartbreakingly
complicated when one of them appears to come back to life. The matter of fact way the story is told,
and the detail of the lives of the characters illuminating it, are absolute perfection, as is the detail
of Baltimore.
2008 William Kent Krueger, Red Knife.
All of Krueger's Cork O'Connor novels are pretty wonderful, but this one's examination of violence
and various degrees of complicity in it are absolutely memorable, meaningful, and thoughtfully told.
By this point in the series, Cork is an established character, but Krueger brings even more to the table
by putting him in between the white community and the Native American one. The real beauty is that the
story, with its somewhat heavy themes, is never heavy handed.
2009 S.J. Bolton, Awakening.
This memorable and original read is all the things a great book should be: vivid, well told, full of
terrific characters and a teeny bit over the top. Snakes over run a small town, and only reclusive,
disfigured vet Clara can help resolve the mystery (and get the snakes the heck out of everyone's houses).
A bit of a ghost story, a twisted village mystery, and an incredible setting make this one a book to set
aside for the re-reading pile.
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