My Best Reads of the Year

The theme of last month’s blog was reading and this month I’ve decided to share some of the novels I’ve read in 2024 that I really enjoyed. Looking at the bedside shelves, I realise that selecting only a half dozen is going to be a difficult decision.

I’m quite a late convert to Richard Osman’s laugh-out-loud Thursday Murder Club novels. I love everything about them especially each of the odd-ball mix of characters. My favourite is Joyce – she grows more astute with each novel. They meet everything I want in a cosy crime mystery – a puzzle to unravel, a fast-paced plot with lots of red-herrings that keeps you guessing to the end (aka Agatha Christie’s classic whodunits) scintillating dialogue but not without its own pathos all delivered in an easy style. I even reread Book 1 after I’d finished ‘The Last Devil to Die’.

 

I’m sure lovers of Richard Osborne’s humorous style will enjoy Ian Moore’s novels featuring Richard Ainsworth, a middle-aged English man who has relocated to the Loire Valley to run a B&B. Far from wanting to involve himself getting to the bottom of the mysterious events in his own establishment, it’s the murder of his favourite hen that compels him to take action.

 

I’m lucky enough to be a reader for Mystery People (click on the link) – For writers and readers of mystery – Mystery People – and I always look forward to the monthly ezine. I’ve discovered a great many authors who have become firm favourites that I might not have otherwise come across including Joy Ellis, Elly Griffiths, Judith Cutler, Clare Chase, Rebecca Tope, Fiona Vetch Smith and Tom Benjamin.

 

This year I’ve read two of Clare Chase’s novels – the latest in her Ruth Mallow series and I particularly enjoyed the first in her new Antique Store Detective series which follows new antique shop owner Bella Winter’s attempts to find the killer of local historian Professor Oliver Barton little realising it will take her into a world of buried treasure and illegal smuggling.

 

Another favourite author is Rebeca Tope. Trouble in the Cotswolds is the latest of her Cotswolds Mysteries featuring house-sitter Thea Osborne. Thea’s plans for a quiet Christmas house-sitting in the off the beaten track village of Stanton west of Stow-on-the-Wold are quickly overturned when she finds herself caught up in the death of local businessman, Douglas Callender, who was electrocuted in his bath.

 

Elly Griffiths is another prolific writer with several mystery series. I’ve read two or three of her books this year including her latest The Last Word. Local writer, Melody Charmers, is found dead. Her family believe she was murdered and Natalka, a Ukrainian refugee, and eighty-year-old Edwin who run a detective agency swing into action. Edwin is a delightful character and he and Natalka’s boyfriend, ex-monk, Benedict, are my favourite characters in this easy-read mystery.

 

One of my top favourite writers is Fiona Vetch Smith who deserves to be much better known. I’ve been a fan since I read her first Poppy novel and was lucky enough to interview her for Mystery People. Her historical novels that harp back to the Golden Age fiction are brilliantly researched and long after finishing each book, you’ll finding yourself pondering on the various social issues that are raised. Her historial research is spot on and you can fully immerce yourself in that 1920s/1930s period. I snapped up a copy of her latest book, The Pyramid Murders, and not just because it’s set in Egypt – the location of the novel I’m currently writing – but because I’m captivated by her style and feisty protagonist.

 

Tom Benjamin’s The Last Testament in Bologna is the fifth in his series featuring English detective David Leister working in his father-in-law’s agency in the city. I confess I am an avid follower of Formular One motor racing, and this novel takes us behind the scenes to a world where rivalries don’t stop on the track and result in murder. What I love about this series are the brilliant writing, the development of the many characters in this extended family and Benjamin’s ability to portray a feeling of the real Bologna – it’s steamy, summer heat, it’s crowded streets well off the beat of the city’s major tourist quarter. Not a quick read – you’ll want to stop and ponder over his descriptions and his clever use of language.

 

Don’t forget to let us know your favourite reads of the year in the comments box below and help us to find new authors to fall in love with.

Christmas is almost upon us and I’m planning to offer all my loyal readers a present as a token of my sincere thanks for all your support. If you haven’t received your copy of a Death to Far – a stand-alone holiday mystery set in the Galapagos Islands – within a couple of weeks don’t forget to check your junk file.