In the Friday Fatales posts that show up here now and again, Lois Karlin wrote an intriguing post about Dorothy L. Sayers, a fabulous writer of traditional mysteries. For many years I have belonged to the dorothyL list, which is a message board of sorts for readers of mystery fiction. Each December, many “dotties” post a list of the ten books they most enjoyed in the previous year. I always say I am going to share my favorites on dorothyL but I never have—until now and I thought I’d share it with all of you. You may recognize some of these titles from Forgotten Book Friday posts and others from Fresh Meat posts on Criminal Element.
1 Shadow Country by Peter Matthiessen is a huge (800 words) novel about the history of the Ten Thousand Islands and the Everglades in south Florida. The violence of the place and time, where murder was a casual method of solving disputes made this book un-put-downable for me.
2. A Small Hill to Die On by Elizabeth J. Duncan is the fourth book of the Penny Brannigan traditional mysteries set in Llanelen, Wales. Penny is a strong and independent woman, a Canadian ex-pat with the insatiable curiosity to solve any murder that comes her way. To be honest, I love the entire series.
3 Another series that I read faithfully is the Jane Lawless books by Ellen Hart. Restfor the Wicked is the twentieth book of the series and restaurateur Jane is also now a Private Investigator. The murder motive is more disturbing than what I expect from this series but the characters can’t be beat.
4. Green Darkness by Anya Seton is an old favorite that never gets old for me. I manage to read it every few years and enjoy it each time. And the crime part of the story is truly creepy.
5. Duped By Derivatives by Gail Farrelly. I really like Farrelly’s short fiction so I was delighted to find this book sitting on the shelf of my local library. Take a college economics professor and put her in a classy investment firm and of course it leads to murder.
6. The newest of the Sam McCain mystery novels, Bad Moon Rising is written by one of my very favorite authors, Ed Gorman. My great joy is that these novels progress in time beginning in the late 1950s, and Bad Moon Rising reflects the atmosphere of 1968 extremely well.
7. The Cat Sitter’s Pajamas is the seventh book in the Dixie Hemingway mysteries written by the late Blaize Clement. The scope of the mystery in this novel is larger than what the reader would expect to see in sleepy Siesta Key, Florida but it works beautifully. I am delighted that Blaize Clement’s son, John Clement has contracted to continue writing the series.
8. Death of A Schoolgirl, by Joanna Campbell Slan is the first of a new series featuring Jane Eyre as an amateur sleuth. A haunting murder set in an era where it is extremely difficult for women to assert their independence and yet no one could solve this murder but Jane.
9.Don’t Ever Get Old by Daniel Friedman is so entertaining. I guess the older I get the more I enjoy reading about a feisty retiree who won’t give up until the crime is solvedand I also felt kind of young as this particular retiree is a good twenty years older than I am.
10. A Teeny Bit of Trouble by Michael Lee West is both funny and heartwarming. Oh there are murders to be solved but the combination of southern charm and delicious recipes had me entranced from page one.
Happy New Year and here’s looking forward to another year of happy reading.
Terrie