Read it or Weep

As ever, my list heavily reflects my fondness for classic crime novels.  However, a pleasant surprise this year was the addition of a new mystery series that explicitly plays by the Golden Age rules in a fun, modern way.  I read less science fiction and fantasy this year, but what I read was excellent and has helped round out my list.  

I am always interested in seeing what others are reading and enjoying, so I will once again expand my list to share a few honorable mentions.

10.  The Etymologicon: A Circular Stroll Through the Hidden Connections of the English Language – Mark Forsyth

I’m actually still listening to this audiobook, but it’s been great so far.  It is like listening to a bizarre word association game.  Forsyth seamlessly transitions without pause from one interesting word to another, making etymological and cultural connections between words as he goes.  It is utterly fascinating, and I will almost certainly retain none of the information.

9. Berta Isla – Javier Marías

I am going to call this a spy novel because that genre is more in my comfort zone than literary domestic fiction.  However, this isn’t a high-octane thriller filled with tradecraft.  Instead, the focus is on the relationship between Tomas Nevinson and Berta Isla and how a life of secret and split loyalties impacts their lives.

8.  The Village of Eight Graves (Detective Kosuke Kindaichi, #3) – Seishi Yokomizo

I am thankful that Pushkin Vertigo continues to publish excellent translations of classic crime fiction from across the world.  I am particularly fond of this series, which was first published in 1940s Japan.  Set in postwar Japan, each mystery has been elaborately crafted and adheres to the Golden Age rules. 

7. Everyone on This Train Is a Suspect (Ernest Cunningham, #2) – Benjamin Stevenson

Stevenson’s Ernest Cunningham series has been truly enjoyable.  Modeled after Golden Age detective fiction, the narrator clearly defines the traditional “fair play” rules straight away.  While red herrings and other cleverness abound, the reader will have all the information the narrator has at the time he has it, and the reader is guaranteed that there will be no surprise twins, magic, or more than one hidden passage!  The second in the series is my favorite, but that may change since I have just picked up the Christmas special novella.

6. Howl’s Moving Castle  – Diana Wynne Jones

This story was charming and wonderful.  It is impossible not to fall in love with Sophie, Howl, and, most of all, Calcifer. 

5. The Reluctant Fundamentalist – Hamid, Mohsin

This documents a single evening’s one-sided conversation in a Pakistani cafe between an unnamed American and Changez, a Princeton-educated Pakistani man who became disillusioned with America following 9/11.  Changez’s is a fascinating perspective and so different than what I am used to.

4. The Mimicking of Known Successes (The Investigations of Mossa and Pleiti, #1) – Malka Ann Older

In this new cozy sci-fi detective romance series set above Jupiter after humans were forced to abandon Earth due to ecological destruction, Mossa reconnects with her ex, Pleiti, during a missing persons investigation. Jupiter makes for a damp, foggy, atmospheric setting balanced by ample scones and hot tea. 

3. The Big Clock – Fearing, Kenneth

Post-war 1940s New York noir.  Newsman George Stroud takes his boss’s girlfriend out for a drink one evening before returning home to his family in the suburbs.  As George drops her off near her apartment, he sees her meet up with a figure just outside her door.  The next day, she is found dead in her apartment, and George’s employer assigns him to find out who dropped her off that evening and what they saw.  George’s plate is cleared of all other work, and he’s given carte blanche to focus on his only priority – to leave no stone unturned until he has found the mystery man.  Can George escape from becoming a patsy as he tightens the noose around his own neck?

2. The Blade Itself (The First Law, #1) – Joe Abercrombie

While I believe this often falls into the subgenre “grimdark” fantasy because it is violent and cynical, it was also funny and felt at times like a frolic through the wreckage.  There are no heroes in this world, and characters continually disappoint you just as you begin to relate and believe in them

1. Point Zero – Seichō Matsumoto

Immediately following their honeymoon, Teiko’s new husband, who she’s married through an arrangement, travels to Kanazawa to tie up loose ends in his old job before returning to Toyko, starting his new position, and settling into his new life with Teiko.  However, when he doesn’t return on the anticipated date or in the following days, Teiko sets off to Kanazawa to investigate his disappearance.  Set in 1958-post-American Occupation Japan, this made for a fascinating and unique read.

Honorable Mentions