I love a good mystery. Detective, cozy, historical, police procedural, I enjoy them all. Thrillers less so, because I dislike being scared.
Since I started keeping track, a third of the books I’ve read have been mysteries, although sometimes the mystery is the secondary element to a fantasy setting or a romance. Much as you know you’re going to get an HEA in a romance, in a mystery you’re pretty sure there will be resolution in the end, and at least know the perpetrator, even if they don’t necessarily end up in prison.
This is the genre where I have the most authors on auto-buy–and where I am likely to read a new book in a series as soon as I receive it.
In fact, every single book on this list is part of a series. That’s not to say there aren’t great stand-alone mysteries, but with a series you’re already familiar with the characters and the setting, so they’re perfect for easing into when you don’t necessarily have a lot of bandwidth.
And with that, here are my favorite mysteries of the past year.
~ 8.5/10 ~
Calypso, Corpses, and Cooking (2022) (A Caribbean Kitchen Mystery)
by Raquel V. Reyes
[Cozy, Food]
This is the follow up to Mango, Mambo, and Murder and I had been waiting expectantly for it. Miriam Quiñones-Smith and her husband and son have returned to their hometown where Miriam has struggled with finding a job in her field (food anthropology) and her (terrible) mother-in-law.
She has gotten a regular slot on the Spanish-speaking TV channel hosting a weekly cooking/food history show, and also involved in murder.
I absolutely adore the food anthropology bits.
The Celtic pagan tradition of feeding the dead was not unlike the Mexican Dia de los Muertos practice of taking your relative’s favorite meal to their grave site. The Japanese did something similar during the Buddhist Obon festival.
The Missing Page (2022) (Page & Sommers)
by Cat Sebastian
[Historical, LGBT, Romance*]
Set in England in 1948.
This is the sequel to Hither, Page which is about two men who served in the second world war—one as a surgeon and one as a spy. Both struggle to deal with what they saw and did in the war, and also their relationship—which is illegal.
James has been called to Cornwall for the reading of his uncle’s will
The more Leo thought about it, the less he liked it. Leo had read this detective story and he had seen the film and knew that when you made the heirs gather together, they immediately started putting exotic poisons into one another’s tea. They simply couldn’t help themselves.
I am often annoyed by stories where the couple doesn’t talk to each other about things that bother them, but in historicals—where the relationship is illegal—it makes sense that neither partner knows how to talk about their feelings and needs in a relationship.
~ 8/10 ~
Lindenshaw Mysteries by Charlie Cochrane
A Carriage of Misjustice (2020), Lock, Stock and Peril (2022)
[Cozy, LGBT]
I love a good cozy. This series features a police officer and a school teacher who fall in love in the first book, and have a solid relationship going forward, which is something else I love. I find will-they-won’t-they annoying and will often quit a series when the main character ends every book with a relationship on solid footing, and opens the next with the couple on the skids.
Because one of the main characters is a police officer, it actually makes sense there would be multiple murders (despite their living in a small town) but I adore that they recognize the cozy-book situation where there are often a ridiculous number of murders around a main character.
While matters hadn’t quite become as bad as one of those television series where the amateur detective was dealing with death in their vicinity on a weekly basis, it did feel like the universe was having a laugh.
— A Carriage of Misjustice
The Best Corpse for the Job (2014), Jury of One (2016), Two Feet Under (2018), Old Sins (2019)
Purloined Poinsettia (2022) (Motts Cold Case Mystery)
by Dahlia Donovan
[Cozy, LGBT]
Motts is Ace and is on the spectrum, which makes this a unique book in many ways, all of which I like.
This book ends the story arc with the murder of Motts childhood best friend being solved, so although each book can be read as a stand-alone, if you are interested in that specific cold case, you will want to start at the first book.
Poisoned Primrose, Pierced Peony, Pickled Petunia
Body at Buccaneer’s Bay (2021) (Secrets and Scrabble)
by Josh Lanyon
[Cozy, LGBT]
Ellery moved to Pirate’s Cove after he inherited his great aunt’s home and book store, and decides to try to make a living there.
This is another LGBT cozy that gently pokes fun at the genre.
“Uh, you live in Pirate’s Cove, right? That quaint New England village with a homicide rate second only to Cabot’s Cove?”
There is a romance that builds slowly over several books, and starts with a friendship between the two characters.
Each of these books works as a stand-alone, so you don’t have to read them in order if you don’t want to.
The Mystery of the Spirits (2021) (Snow & Winter)
by C.S. Poe
[LGBT *]
This is one of my favorite series going. Sebastian owns an antique store and has a form of complete color-blindness that renders him legally blind, even if he does have vision. As I noted when discussing covers, this series always renders Sebastian as he would see himself: grayscale and washed out.
Sebastian eventually marries Calvin, a police officer who struggles with PTSD from his military service.
One of the things I like best about this series is Calvin’s story arc.
His military service had forever changed who Calvin was as a man. But two years ago he couldn’t even admit to himself that he had a serious problem. A year ago he could hardly say, “I have therapy tonight.” Instead, he’d say, “I’m seeing Dr. Chambers tonight.” So yes, he’d cried at the recollection, he’d allowed that loss in the past to affect his decision-making in the current, but he’d also willingly told me that story. It was huge progress.
Each book should work as a stand-alone, but the relationship does build over the course of the series, so you might want to start with the first book The Mystery of Nevermore.
Riccardino (2020/2021) (Inspector Montalbano)
by Andrea Camilleri translated by Stephen Sartarelli
[Police]
This is the final Montalbano book, and was written years before Camilleri’s death, given to his editor to publish after his death, and then revised when Camilleri lived longer than he was expecting to, and continued to write.
Montalbano suddenly felt extremely agitated. Some years back he’d had the brilliant idea to tell a local writer the story of a case he’d conducted, and the guy had immediately spun it into a novel. Since hardly anyone reads anymore in Italy, nothing came of it. And so, being unable to say no to that tremendous pain-in-the-ass of a man, he’d gone ahead and told him about a second case, and then a third and a fourth, which the author then wrote up in his way, using an invented language and working from his imagination.
Do. Not. Start. Here.
The individual books work as stand-alones, but this is the conclusion to the series and should be read as such.
I will miss all the lovingly described meals Montalbano ate.
The first book in the series is The Shape of Water (1994/2002) but after the third book you can pretty much jump around the series.
A Sanctuary for Soulden (2021) (The Lords of Bucknall Club)
by J.A. Rock and Lisa Henry
[Historical, LGBT, Romance*]
Set in an alternate England in the early 1800s.
This is a series of interwoven but stand alone mysteries set in an alternate England where same sex marraiges were allowed.
In 1783, the Marriage Act Amendment was introduced in England to allow marriages between same-sex couples. This was done to strengthen the law of primogeniture and to encourage childless unions in younger sons and daughters of the peerage, as an excess of lesser heirs might prove burdensome to a thinly spread inheritance.
This is book four of the series, but they can easily be read in any order, and skipping books is also fine. I read the second book, A Case for Christmas before this one, and never read book one and three.
The cover and description make the story sound fluffy and silly, so be aware there are dark themes, from grief to PTSD.
“My father wears a set of false teeth. Expensive things, wondrously made. Do you know what they call them? Waterloo teeth. I asked him once if he ever wondered if it was my brother’s teeth rattling around in his skull now.”
The mysteries are interesting and I particularly like the way the grief and the PTSD were addressed (that is, they were addressed realistically).
Murder Under Her Skin (2021) (Pentecost and Parker)
by Stephen Spotswood
[Historical, LGBT]
Set in NYC and rural VA in 1946.
The sequel to Fortune Favors the Dead finds Will enjoying becoming a private investigator and her work with Ms Pentetcost. However, a call from her old boss at the circus draws her back into that world as she tries to discover who murdered her friend.
With no blood pumping through it, Ruby’s flesh had gone the sickly pale of the dead. Without that rosy background glow, the ink of her tattoos stood out brilliantly, floating on top of her skin like leaves on a pond.
I like the characters in this series, but also the time period, and the peeks at how life was for those who were on the fringes of society.
A Perilous Perspective (2022) (Lady Darby Mystery)
by Anna Lee Huber
[Historical]
Set in Scotland in 1832
The Lady Darby series begins with Kiera something of an outcast, because after the death of her husband it is discovered she was forced to do the art for his anatomy book–with source material sourced from resurrection men. Her past allows Kiera to look at bodies with detatchment, and notice when things are not as they should be–in art and in bodies.
If the forger had been able to replicate Van Dyck’s style and technique more exactly, I think I would have been less upset, for then they would have at least exhibited skill equal to that of Van Dyck, or nearly so. I was no prig. I appreciated talent wherever it appeared. But to pass off this mediocre effort as the work of a master was frankly infuriating.
Although Kiera and her now husband, Sebastian, do work as private inquiry agents, she has begun to again take comissions are a portratist.
I found this book much better than the previous, mostly because I found the birth scene at the end of A Wicked Conceit to be incredibly annoying and over-the-top ridiculous.
Theoretically these books should stand on their own, however, the development of the relationship between Kiera and Sebastian is an overarching story arc.
These are books I am pretty sure Grandmom would have loved.
The first book is The Anatomist’s Wife (2012) and that’s probably where you should begin.
An Impossible Impostor (2022) (Veronica Speedwell)
by Deanna Raybourn
[Historical]
Set in England in 1900.
This series is a bit of a romp, in a delightful way. Victoria is an unrepentant blue stocking and adventuress, and insists upon behaving as she pleases–although she typically finds it far easier to do so outside of England.
She also likes speaking her mind.
“I do not like the way he speaks to his sister and I certainly do not like the way he speaks of his grandmother’s companion— Anjali, I believe he said. He talks of her as though she were some useful thing to be loaned— a book or a horse.”
“Don’t be ridiculous,” Stoker said absently. “That sort of man would never loan a horse.”
Each book has a stand-alone mystery, but as with the Lady Darby series, the relationship between Victoria and Stoker develops over the course of the series. The first book is A Perilous Undertaking
Lady Odelia’s Secret (2022) (Lady Helena Investigates)
by Jane Steen
[Historical]
Set in England in 1882.
This is the sequel to Lady Helena Investigates and finds Helena slowly reaching the end of her mourning period.
Here, Helena is drawn into events around her sister.
I took the paper from her. “‘ How long will you get away with it, you—’” I stopped reading. “Good heavens, I’ve never actually seen that word written down.”
To be clear, this story unfolds slowly, and is not one of action and adventure, so it’s definitely a cozy rather than a thriller.
I really like this series, and hope I don’t have to wait four more years for the next book in the series.
The Secret of Bow Lane (2022) (Kat Holloway)
by Ashley Gardner
[Historical]
Set in England in 1882
Mrs Halloway is a cook, but has been drawn into several mysteries, first from a murder that occurred in a house where she was working and then, sometimes, through her association with her beau, Daniel.
Although each book in the series is a stand-alone mystery, there is a significant amount of character development not just of Kat, but of those around her, from her assistant to the young lady of the house.
“I doubt Mr. Thanos would instigate any goings-on,” I said. “But very well, I take your point. If Mrs. Bywater heard they met alone in her house, she’d be incensed.”
“Maybe he’d have to marry her,” Tess put in happily. “That would be wonderful. Stay downstairs, Mrs. H., and let them kiss if they like.”
I look forward to every new entry in this series.
A Soupçon of Poison (2015), Death Below Stairs (2018)
A Bride’s Guide to Marriage and Murder (2022) (Countess of Harleigh Mystery)
by Dianne Freeman
[Cozy, Historical]
Set in London in 1900.
This is another series where I look forward to a new book coming out every year. There is nothing specific that stands out, it is just that the stories are fun, and pull me in and keep me engaged.
Also, the main character’s sense of humor.
“His own wife?” George looked ill.
“Wives have been known to murder their husbands.”
He clutched at his chest. “And you tell me this on our wedding night?”
I made a dismissive motion. “You probably have nothing to worry about.”
“Probably?” His voice rose on the last syllable.
A Lady’s Guide to Etiquette and Murder (2018)
- LGBT: 7
- Historical: 8
- Romance: 1
The Books of 2022: Yearly Reading Roundup
The Books of 2022: Mystery Covers
Somewhat anti-climatic after my end-of-the-year roundup, but here it is anyway: the books I read in December.
