We’re departing for Nashville and Bouchercon 2024 tomorrow and I
already have a couple dinners scheduled with old friends. Well, they’re young in spirit, but old in that they’ve been friends for a very long time. They
provide amusement and lively conversations and it’s always great to see them at
Bouchercon. In addition to the crime fiction world we talk about family,
travels, and anything else that’s happened since the last time we talked. This
will be a highlight of the trip.
Last time I listed the books I’d read over the past year that are
award-nominated. I have, however, read quite a number of crime fiction novels
that didn’t quite make it onto the award nominee list, but to me were of high
quality. I discovered a couple of them at last year’s Bouchercon, either at a
panel or a timely recommendation from a friend (thank you, George).
RESURRECTON WALK by Michael Connelly I certainly didn’t have to
discover. I devour every Connelly novel as soon as it’s released. They are consistently
high-quality stories with original plots that make reading them a joy.
RESURRECTION WALK, a Mickey Haller story, with plenty of assistance from Harry
Bosch, was no exception.
I discovered D.V. Bishop, a New Zealand author, on a panel at
Bouchercon 2023. RITUAL OF FIRE is his third novel in the Cesare Aldo series
set in Renaissance Florence. It was a barnburner of a novel that would be of
interest to anyone who appreciates historical crime fiction.
I don’t know that I’ve read a crime fiction book set in Bern, or
anywhere in Switzerland for that matter. If you haven’t. but would like to, you
could do worse than starting with PESTICIDE by Kim Hays. This is a police
procedural revolving around the investigation of two separate murders that
leads the investigations by detectives Giuliana Linder and Renzo Donatelli to a
nexus of a single basis for the crimes. A “will they or won’t they” tension
arises between the couple as they try to stay focused on their cases. Tense and
compelling storytelling makes me hungry for more from Kim Hayes.
I really jumped into my post-Bouchercon reading with both feet and read
quite a few quality mysteries, one after the other. CALIFORNIA BEAR by Duane
Swierczynski, BEWARE THE WOMAN by Megan Abbott, AN AEGEAN APRIL by Jeffrey
Siger, INVISIBLE COUNTRY by Annamarie Alfieri, and SLEEPLESS CITY by Reed
Farrel Coleman were hot reads as the evenings began to cool in suburban
Maryland.
A little nonfiction is always a pleasant palate cleanser after numerous
novels of crime and murder. I selected Donna Leon’s wonderful WANDERING THROUGH
LIFE: A MEMOIR as she relates stories of her youth, her adventures in China and
Saudi Arabia teaching, and her years in her beloved Venice, looking back from
her 80-year-old self.
One of my more expansive crime fiction experiences this past year was watching
a course through The Great Courses Plus (formerly Wondrium) called MYSTERY AND SUSPENSE
FICTION. Dr. David Schmid of the University at Buffalo, the State University of
New York, in 36 lectures, presents the origins of crime fiction using three
giants of the genre: Edgar Allan Poe, Arthur Conan Doyle, and Agatha Christie.
He examines the development and growth of the genre from the gothic novel to
the dime novel to the many subgenres representing a rich rainbow of choices for
the reader today. While I was frustrated a bit by Schmid sticking to a few
representative authors, sometimes relating the same information from one
lecture to the next, the overall value of this course in generating interest to
research more myself was inestimable. Highly recommended.
The rest of the year offered some quality crime fiction reading too. These reads of mine indicate how broad and deep our crime fiction community is with fantastic storytellers: HUNTED by Abir Mukherjee, THE LONG CALL by Ann Cleeves, AN INSTANCE OF THE FINGERPOST by Iain Pears, THE FLANDERS PANEL by Arturo Reverte-Perez, THE PUZZLE OF BLACKSTONE LODGE by Martin Edwards, FOGGED OFF by Wendall Thomas, AT ANY COST by Jeffrey Siger, and CRADLE OF THE DEEP by Dietrich Kalteis.
Till next time.
