I had a mystery book panic tonight. I’m up to date on almost all the prominent mystery writers I love – Cleeves, Mosely, P.D. James, Etc. I am hungry for new faces, voices, plots, and styles. Few writers have topped the best English mystery writers, great detectives and stories are in the British DNA thanks to Agatha Christie.
Today, a part holiday, I got a bit panicky. Some books are on the way, some I’ve devoured, and I’ve been on a ferocious reading tear lately. We are blessed here to have the fantastic Battenkill Books, as good a bookstore as I’ve ever known – I know a lot – and they have a vast mystery selection. But they are out of my favorites, and I am out of my favorites.
Books are a kind of oxygen for me. I need them.
I have to pinch myself when I go into Battenkill Books. Connie Brooks, the owner, has done the impossible.
The bookstore is always crowded; the store is doing better than ever in this small upstate New York village. I can’t explain it, it wasn’t supposed to happen, but I can surely enjoy it and appreciate it. The staff is all like family, only much better.
I told Maria it was time I explored some new writers, and I called Heather at the bookstore this afternoon after blogging and said I was in trouble; I was desperate.
Heather is ever patient and helpful, and unflappable. “Goodness, come on over,” she said, “I’m sure I can find something for you.”
I showed up an hour later, and Heather was ready for me; she had a pile of books she had taken out of shelves for me and was prepared with a description of each of them at the buzz about. “These are some new ones for you; some are new, and some are established writers I know you haven’t tried,” she told me.
Heather was as good as her word. I bought two of the three she had piled up. The first was City Under One Roof, a first novel set in Alaska, written by screenwriter Iris Yamashita. It’s set in Alaska, in a small building where 205 people live together all year. (A great Christie setup). A foot and a hand have floated ashore, and new detective mystery hero Cara Kennedy arrives.
She is on assignment from the Anchorage police department responsible for investigating serious crimes in this strange, isolated community. The two-person town police department is way over its head.
Her husband and son were killed on a hiking trip a year, and a raging storm has just shut down the three-mile tunnel that connects the town from the outside world. The killer is almost certainly in the building. I’m in. She’s trapped there for a while.
I think I will spend some time in the coming years with Detective Cara Kennedy of the Anchorage Police.
The second book I bought is Fox Creek, a mystery by veteran mystery writer William Kent Krueger who I’ve heard about for years but never read before. This book is set in the deep woods of Minnesota, one woman is missing, and some people are being hunted in the wild. Retired Sheriff Cork O’Connor is a good and honest man who is committed to good.
The investigator is in his blood, so are the woods, and he is rumored to be fearless.
The reviews are almost all raves. I know nothing beyond the first ten pages; they were terrific and gripping.
I’m grateful to heather. I’ll spend much of tonight with Cara Kennedy.
The third book I bought is Roses In The Mountain Of A Lion by Bushra Rehman. I got it for Maria; it’s right up her alley. It’s about two young women from Queens – one American-born, the other Pakistani, and their friendship as they grow older; they are admitted into one of New York City’s most famous high schools and suddenly fall in love with the horror of their parents.
It feels like a touching novel about love and acceptance.
One must choose between her family and her future.
We are so fortunate to have Battenkill Books in our town, and I have some good reading to do. A new Mosely is on the way, and so is a new (reissued) Inspector Morse by Colin Dexter, who is no longer alive.
I don’t normally recommend books and mysteries aren’t my “go to” but I enjoy mysteries by Jane Harper. Her stories are set in Australia. I always watch for her next release.
Thanks Karen, that sounds very promising, I appreciate it..
Love Jane Harper!
I hope you change your mind and read Spare. I found it honest and very heartfelt. It doesn’t matter how privileged people seem. They are still human with the same feelings. I grew up in a working class neighborhood in San Francisco in the fifties and sixties without many material things. My father was sick and my mother worked in a factory to support us. I still could understand why the book needed to be written. It’s better not to judge a book by its cover. Thank you for your tme.
Thanks, J E, I appreciate your honesty, and I am glad you enjoyed the book. I’m not spending $36, so Harry can whine about his privacy while talking about his frostbitten penis and offering cruel and personal tidbits about his family for money. Not for me. I can’t think of a single reason why I need to read this book or what it has to do with me in any way He’s got his blood money; he doesn’t need more from me. Time to move on. I do appreciate your writing me, and I respect your request. I’m not sure what this has to do with your mother working in a factory. Harry got $20 million dollars to write that book; he’s not working in a factory. So did mine. He has the right to judge it, and I have the right not to want to read it. I’ve heard and read a lot about it. Enough for me.
I’m a big British mystery spy / spy novel fan myself, have you tried the “Thursday murder club” books by Richard Osman? They’re my latest rays of sunshine, heartfelt, humorous, and clever. I highly recommend. I’m putting all you’re new books on my list, I love hearing what you’re reading as I’m always hungry for more books.
Yes thanks I’ve loved and reviewed all of them great fun
Jon- you mention getting a new inspector morse book. Could you clue me in about it. It was my understanding that Colin Dexter died in 2017 and their would be no more Morse books.
Thanks.
Jill, Dexter is dead, as you know…the bookstore is ordering me a new issue or two..
I have only recently become a fan of mystery novels and my favorites are by Louise Penny. Her Inspector Gamache series is intriguing and comforting. Have you tried those?
Thank you for your list. I am saving it to explore other mystery writers when I am next searching for a new book.
Glad that you have discovered William Kent Kruger. There are 19 books in the series beginning with Iron Lake. He wrote most of his books at a coffee shop in St Paul MN.
I think you should read Ordinary Grace by Krueger after you finish Fox Creek. It is a stand alone novel, one that I have read two or three times and recommended to many others. In my opinion it is stunning and thoughtful.
Thanks Michael
Have you read The Sentence, by Louise Erdrich? I love how she depicts the world of the bookstore and its customers.
I did read that one, a beautiful book
I never seem to be drawn to mysteries, but now you have piqued my interest. I did read the collaboration mystery from Louise Penney and Hillary Clinton, and really enjoyed it. I’ll have to look at some of your suggestions.
On a totally different vein, I just finished reading a novel through my university’s alumni book club. It’s by a first-time young novelist and was quite good. It’s called The Reading List, and deals with a small, struggling library in England, but follows along with your them of struggling book stores. The characters in the story become interconnected through a mysterious reading list found in the back of one of the library books.
I’ll add my suggestion: Brick Lane, by Monica Ali. It’s not exactly a mystery, but is the story of a Bangladeshi woman whose arranged marriage to an older man takes her to London, where she must learn to adapt and merge her past life with her new one. It’s about growth and change and is a hard book to put down.
I love many of the same series that you have mentioned in the past and am always interested in finding new authors/detectives. A friend just introduced me to Elly Griffiths. Her heroine is Ruth Galloway, a “schlumpy” archaeologist. Have read the first three in the series and really enjoyed them. https://ellygriffiths.co.uk/my-books/the-ruth-galloway-novels/
I’ll put my two cents in. Tana French. I’ve read several of her books, and they’re uniformly excellent.
I love this chance to read about book recommendations!!! Thank you. As for me, I’ve been enjoying the character, Rushmore McKensie, through a wonderful series by David Housewright! Really enjoying and recommending these.
Thanks, Robin, I appreciate the recommendation, I’m getting a lot of good ones..Who writes the Rushmore McKensie series?