The winter months prove to be a fertile time for reading new mysteries for entertainment and escapism during proscribed vacations or cold days at home. Fortunately, those looking for books to give to others or who just want to treat themselves will find several lovely options from this year's crop of books.
Some of the selections are cozy mysteries set in Virginian wine country while others take place among culinary delights in the Far East. Sweden’s winter is represented as is the coldness of Dublin’s streets after a murder is committed. The Midwest finds its treasures as well, in a book that reveals the rural heart of an early twentieth century playground for the rich and infamous.
Here are a few gems from 2010, perfect for gift-giving for readers who delight in language, story development and a keen element of surprise.
Investigative Thrillers
Declan Hughes’ City of Lost Girls brings modern Dublin to life in a lyrical, violent investigative thriller centering on the disappearance of three young women working as film extras. Full of striking imagery, Hughes beautifully combines the characters’ backgrounds in a way that adds to the plot rather than slowing down the action.
Bringing the action to the United States, Joseph Heywood’s Shadow of the Wolf Tree delves into the special Michigan culture balancing Native American rituals with present-day needs. Michigan Department of Natural Resources Detective Grady Service conducts his investigations in the Upper Peninsula while surrounded by self-reliant characters with high standards for accepting others.
Michael Kortya’s thriller So Cold the River recounts the efforts of a discouraged cinematographer who encounters supernatural elements in a modern mystery with reminders of the astonishing (and recently restored) West Baden Springs Resort and its colorful early twentieth century past of mobsters, actors, and the wealthy. Kortya nails the atmosphere with the lovely descriptions of the Southern Indiana hills and valleys surrounding the resort and deftly weaves the history of the area’s poor and the wealthy visitors together.
The Ice Princess by Camilla Lackberg provides the perfect frigid ambience for a winter mystery but the weather proves to be just the right backdrop in this intense, well-written thriller about a woman searching for information on why her childhood best friend just committed suicide.
Patricia Duncker’s The Strange Case of the Composer and His Judge embodies an innate quietness which makes its secrets that much more startling. The Judge’s character maintains her unusual air of mystery in the midst of character revelations, making her one of the most extraordinary characters in modern mysteries even as she investigates the fairly common subject of modern religious cults.
The Inspector Singh series by Shamini Flint celebrates Asian cuisine, culture and traditional detective work while still facing the modern troubles of terrorism, mistaken identities and ever-present crime which encroach on the grumpy Sikh detective’s territory. In Inspector Singh Investigates: A Bali Conspiracy Most Foul, the turban-clad Inspector Singh once more calls to mind an Asian Hercule Poirot while making his startling observations of others even while sadly internalizing how others see him.
Period Mysteries with Singular Characters
The Weed That Strings the Hangman’s Bag by Alan Bradley is a quiet mid-century murder mystery set in an English town that produced a singular 11 year-old girl whose quirky observations and precocious humor sets the tone.
A. D. Scott’s A Small Death in the Great Glen takes place in mid-century Scotland in the story of a small town in the midst of social change while still suffering the ramifications of World War II. Brilliantly told through the eyes of the local newspaper staff, this new series evokes Alexander McCall Smith while still offering plenty of originality.
In the latest Bess Crawford mystery, Charles Todd’s An Impartial Witness returns to the midst of World War I in which an exhausted English nurse becomes entangled with a wealthy family’s substantial store of secrets, spurring her to find out why her patient’s wife was unceremoniously murdered.
Cozies Perfect for Curling Up
Ellen Crosby’s Viognier Vendetta retains the series’ penchant for character development and helpful background information, making this one of the most enjoyable cozy series. Set in Virginia’s wine country only a short distance from Washington, D.C., amateur sleuth Lucie Montgomery’s personality ages well over the series, adding suspense not only regarding the investigations but also about the beloved characters who make up her world.
Bailey Ruth Raeburn’s third return from the dead in Carolyn Hart’s Ghost in Trouble allows the fashionable redhead to return to her beloved Oklahoma town to protect an old enemy from being murdered. As an emissary from Heaven, Bailey Ruth is surprisingly bad at following the rules, but very good at getting to the heart of the matter.
Excellent Mysteries and Intense Investigative Thrillers
While none of these are centered around winter holidays such as Christmas or Hanukkah, readers are sure to find something in this list that will entertain, surprise or even change them, making them a great gift at a time when indoor activities reign supreme.
Publishing Information
- Bradley, Alan. The Weed That Strings the Hangman’s Bag. New York, NY: Delacorte Press, 2010.
- Crosby, Ellen. The Viognier Vendetta. New York, NY: Scribner, 2010.
- Duncker, Patricia. The Strange Case of the Composer and His Judge. New York, NY: Bloomsbury, USA, 2010.
- Flint, Shamini. Inspector Singh Investigates: A Bali Conspiracy Most Foul. London, England: Piatkus, 2009.
- Hart, Carolyn. Ghost in Trouble. New York, NY: William Morrow, 2010.
- Heywood, Joseph. Shadow of the Wolf Tree. New York NY: Lyons Press, 2010.
- Hughes, Declan. City of Lost Girls. New York: HarperCollins Publishers, 2010.
- Kortya, Michael. So Cold the River. New York, NY: Little, Brown, and Co., 2010
- Lackberg, Camilla. The Ice Princess. New York, NY: Pegasus Books, 2010.
- Scott, A. D. A Small Death in the Great Glen. New York, NY: Atria, 2010.
Bonnye Good - Bonnye Busbice Good received an Editor's Choice award for her article on Your Historic Home's Interior Design Secrets and has also written ...
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