It is that time of winter when we prepare to say goodbye to yet another year. 2013 is almost over and ready to become a memory. (I may be jumping the gun by a couple of weeks, but heck, we see Christmas decorations in shopping malls right after Halloween, so I don't feel any sincere regret, besides, michelewln will be writing the diary just before the year actually ends.)
Before we do, I wanted to take a moment to list those mysteries that I most enjoyed in 2013. Unlike many, I don't keep a book journal (though I have tried) so I went back through the diaries that I have written this year to find some of my favorites. Others didn't quite make it into a MMM diary for various reasons, including the fact that they weren't mysteries. Like Redshirts by John Scalzi which was science fiction and while not really a mystery I did get to write about it for quarkstomper's weekly series.
Another was The Orphan Master's Son by Adam Johnson, which, though written in 2012, I only read this past summer. The Orphan Master's Son was one of those captivating books that take you far away from your own reality and allow you to experience life as you will never know it. Any doubt of the authenticity of its portrait of North Korea was eliminated by an article that appeared in the official North Korean News agency's report of the execution of Kim Jong Un's uncle. See pwoodford's diary, Saturday Bag of Hereditary Dictator Chips for more like this:
The article describes how the uncle insulted baby dictator Kim Jong Un by behaving "so arrogantly and insolently as unwillingly standing up from his seat and half-heartedly clapping"
Those who have read
The Orphan Master's Son will recognize the voice of the North Korean government.
Back to favorite mysteries of 2013; I'll tell you mine if you tell me yours. Assembling a list of the Top 10 or 10 Best books of the year is beyond my pay grade, but I can share a list of those that I enjoyed.
The best part of this gig is the opportunity to find authors that I have not previously read. This year in addition to John Scalzi and Adam Johnson, I discovered Hank Phillippi Ryan, Lawrence Block (yeah, I know), C. Hope Clark, John Burley, Julia-Spencer Fleming, David Mark and Tana French.
My favorite writer this year has to be Tana French. Her police procedurals set in Dublin and featuring the detectives of the Dublin Murder Squad were a delightful find. I actually read the last one, Broken Harbor, first, and then went back and read the three others: In the Woods, The Likeness, and Faithful Place. Her writing enchanted me and I love the way each novel highlights a different member of the squad. Youffraita wrote in the MMM comments last week:
Mystery fans get to loving their favorite sleuth, they want to read more about him/her: Conan Doyle trying to kill Sherlock is the classic example.
Doyle had to bring him back.
Nothing has changed in the century since then.
And she is right, which makes French's accomplishment all the more remarkable. Each French character is singular and unique. The fact that they are all detectives and are associated with the murder squad ties them together but they in no way resemble each other. Perhaps the fact that they remain present, even if background characters, in succeeding novels, feeds that affection that Youffraita wrote about.
The plots are complex, the themes are well developed and the prose is lyrical. You can read more about all of them here: Monday Murder Mystery: Tana French's Dublin.
There really isn't much to say about Lawrence Block except why did it take me so long to pick up one of his books. His Lawrence Scudder character reminded me strongly of my older brother and while I knew no one who is, or was, a hit man, John Keller, a "stamp collecting hit man of compassion and integrity" was more than I could resist.
And I am glad I didn't resist, because Lawrence Block took me on multiple walking tours of New York with a former police detective who now did favors for friends. Friends who may have had only a nodding acquaintance with the law. And John Keller's trips around the country were filled with some pretty strange but always entertaining glimpses of a delightfully twisted mind. (My favorite kind.)
And then there was Julia Spencer-Fleming and her tales of Miller's Kill Police Chief Russ Van Alstyne and Episcopal priest Clare Fergusson. The relationship between the two protagonists, one of whom is married, changes over time as the two opposites both attract and clash.
So those are a few of my favorite authors this year. Picking individual favorite books is a little harder.
- Broken Harbor by Tana French has to head up the list. I liked all of her works, but this one seemed to me to be richest in character and theme. They all deserve a second reading and I am counting on her newest (due out in 2014) to push me into a re-read of the others.
- Also high on the list is Stephen King's Joyland. A change of pace novel for the thriller/horror writer, Joyland is the name of an amusement park where our narrator worked in 1973. And where he mended a broken heart and investigated a murder that had happened years earlier. King manages the novel without ever having to rely on the supernatural, although one or more characters appear to have some psychic ability.
- I'm not sure which Lawrence Block novel would be my favorite, but it would probably be either A Drop of the Hard Stuff or Hit List.
- Picking a favorite Julia Spencer-Fleming is hard because they all seem to build on each other, but in addition to her latest, I enjoyed A Fountain Filled With Blood, which was the second in the series. By then we knew the main players, and the plotting and themes were more interesting to me than the first novel. I liked the place where Clare and Russ were in their relationship in that one. Although i haven't written about it yet, I liked the latest novel in the series as well.
- The intricate plotting and fast pace of Hank Phillippi Ryan's The Other Woman earns it a place on my favorites list. I am spending December with my step-daughter down in Buzzard's Bay, MA. Today we drove through Boston on our way to Maine and I couldn't help but crane my neck for a glimpse of some of the famous bridges that play a role in this novel.
- Suspect, by Robert Crais, is also high on my list for its unique and highly original voice of Maggie, the canine partner of LAPD officer Scott James.
- Also unique was Marcus Sakey's Billiance. Brilliance was another one of those books that leaves the reader wandering around in a "what if" universe for days after the conclusion.
So, those are some of mine. What are yours? Favorite authors and/or books or series. And, of course, why?
Readers & Book Lovers Series Schedule:
Tue Dec 17, 2013 at 2:44 PM PT: Thank you for the rescue that allowed so many to comment and list their favorite mysteries. It is a rich trove of books for the rest of the winter. And thank you everyone who has commented and help up build up such a huge list of recommendations for mystery readers!