Between Maisie Dobbs and Mr. Whicher, I've been thinking a lot about mysteries lately. I thoroughly enjoy the genre and would love to find a book of criticism or a 'history of' to read. I may have mentioned that there is a detective fiction course taught at the university where I work, and I was tempted to take it last summer, but it was an off-campus class and would have been too difficult to get to on the city bus. Still, I usually have plenty to keep me busy on my own. As a matter of fact I was contemplating which mysteries/crime novels I might want to read this year, and the result is...a list. Many of these have been mentioned before as they are all in my pile waiting to be read.
- Enter a Murderer, Ngaio Marsh - I'm really into that 'Golden Age' of mystery writers lately. I read her first Inspector Alleyn mystery last year and collected quite a few other books in the series at a library book sale.
- Death in the Fog, Mignon Eberhart - She is a Nebraska author, though I don't believe her books are set here (in the Midwest at least). I read that she was considered the American equivalent of Agatha Christie.
- The Vault, Peter Lovesey - I've read this author before, and this book sounds great--the mystery is set in Bath in where skeletal remains are found in an abbey cellar, which in the early 19th century belonged to the home Mary Shelley lived in as she was writing Frankenstein.
- Cover Her Face, P.D. James- This is the first Dalgliesh mystery.
- Streets of Babylon, Carina Burman - This mystery is translated from Swedish and set in Victorian London!
- Duplicate Death, Georgette Heyer- I have yet to try a mystery by Heyer, though I have enjoyed her Regency novels. I've heard some of her mysteries are being published here in the US this year.
- Nemesis, Jo Nesbo - Harry Hole. What more need I say?
- In the Woods, Tana French -Everyone has raved about this one, why haven't I picked it up yet??
- Have Mercy on Us All, Fred Vargas - This is up next!!
- Tomb of Zeus, Barbara Cleverly (also her Joe Sandilands mystery, Last Kashmiri Rose) - These are two different series--one about an amateur archaeologist and the other set in Raj India. Both sound appealing to me.
- Crime at the Black Dudley, Margery Allingham- This is the first Albert Campion mystery.
- Mark of the Lion, Suzanne Arruda - The heroine/sleuth in this was an ambulance driver in WWI. The mystery occurs later and is set in Africa.
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Grey Mask, Patricia Wentworth - Another 'Golden Age' cozy!
There's probably nothing really new on my list, which means I will find plenty new books to buy this year. Still, it's hard to narrow the choices down to just a few. Other names that came to mind--Elizabeth George, Denise Mina, Frank Tallis, Annette Meyers, Morag Joss, Laurie King, Frances Fyfield. Well, you saw those bins! Hopefully you'll be reading about a fair few of these here in the future.