I read an article that voiced something I’ve seen in so very many sub-cultures: the hatred of things once they become popular because popular can’t possibly be good.

I think music might give the best example, just because I can so clearly hear the things people said about so very many bands.

1. Oh, I love (obscure band). You haven’t heard of them?
2. I saw (now up and coming band) back when they first started.
3. Ugh. (Now popular band) totally sold out. I hate all their new stuff.

Yes, sometimes good bands put out lousy follow-up albums. Some artists change things up and so every album is different which means what you loved about one album may not be in a later album (See: Prince). But usually it was the same music and only popularity tainted it and made it unpalatable.

The same thing happens with books of course (hence the original article catching my attention).

The fantasy books (and mysteries) I love are typically looked down upon because they aren’t “serious literature”. I never believed that about fantasy, though I did look down upon romance novels for decades. However, that was due to my introduction to the genre, which was full of rape, and the fact that I just don’t care for boinking in books, and the romances I came across were full of it. (“UGH. They’re kissing again. Can we get back to the sword-fighting and cat burglary?”)

I eventually got over that, because there were so very many really good stories I was missing out on solely because they were kissing books, although I still skim the boinking bits to get back to the crime solving or whatever.

And of course the same happens with movies. If it’s popular we have to look down upon it for it cannot be “good”.

Whatever. Give me my explosions and car chases and you can watch whatever “artistic” stuff you want. And don’t even get me started about the bullshit that happens at cons with “fake gamers” and “you’re not a real fan if you don’t know every bit of minutia” crap that is almost always directed at females.

The fact is, hating things solely because they are popular doesn’t make you cooler or show better taste. It just means you’re an asshole.

There are plenty of books I’ve hated, and some genres of music I absolutely cannot stand. But the fact that I dislike something does not make it inherently bad, it just means I prefer other stuff. Sure I’ll still complain about how much I dislike opera and I flat out won’t read dystopias because they make me feel terrible. But if you like opera or dystopias: good for you!

If someone has found something that makes them happy, that is AWESOME! We need more happy in the world.

I like what I like. If you don’t agree with me, I’m delighted to discuss why “I hate all those high notes that sound like screeching”. Just don’t try to tell me something sucks solely because it’s popular. Because that’s elitist bullshit and I’m completely uninterested.

Hating Popular Books Does Not Make You Superior: A Lesson Learned

Finally got out to Coopers Rock.

Location: Coopers Rock State Forest
Trail: Advanced Ski Trail
Distance: 5.2 miles
Elevation: 1518-2226 feet (773 feet)

No snow. No flowers. But there was water.

We’re in that interstitial period where people like me who filed their taxes as soon as they could have already gotten their refunds, and the majority of everyone else are dragging their feet, waiting for the last minute.

I’ve discussed this before, but I have always been delighted to pay taxes.

I like paved streets and police and fire departments.

I like public education and after school programs.

I like knowing that families struggling can have a way to help put food on their tables.

I like the elderly and disabled having access to medical care and believe that health care is a right and that no one should have to die because they can’t afford it.

So I’m totally fine with taxes.

What I’m not ok with is how those taxes are paid. Why? Because a greater percentage of income is paid by the poor–those who are least able to afford it.

Here are the numbers for West Virginia:

The poorest 20% of the population pays 9.4% of their income in taxes. The richest 1% pay 7.4% of their income in taxes.

And to clarify, that is income–what money comes in–not existing wealth.

States without income taxes place a much higher tax burden on the poor than the rich.

Lack of income tax means high taxes for poorer households; low taxes for high-income households

What does this mean?

That people with second homes and golf course tee times are supported by service workers earning minimum wage.

That those with leisure are supported by those working multiple jobs.

If it was up to me, I’d enact a wealth tax. I’d shift the income tax burden from the poor and to the wealthy.

But of course coming from a poor state, I get almost no saw in any of those–the primaries are generally decided long before we vote, and out-of-state actors have an outsize influence on state politics.

But it doesn’t mean I’m not mad about it.

ITEP: Who Pays?

Violence against women has been an invisible epidemic pretty much forever. Even when we moved past “She must have provoked him” and “It takes two to make a fight” it still happens every day, across all classes. One quarter–25%–of all women will experience domestic violence.

So why do researchers focus on football players and soldiers when looking at the affects of repeated concussion? Most likely because these huge numbers of women are hidden. Women rarely talk about the violence perpetrated against them, for reasons of embarrassment but also of fear.

72% of all murder-suicides involve an intimate partner; 94% of the victims of these murder suicides are female.

Fear for their children. Fear for family members. Fear for themselves.

In 2017, 2,237 people were murdered by their intimate partners–a number that has been on the rise in recent years. Those murders didn’t just come out of left field–they generally come after violence and abuse and attempts by the victim to escape.

But because we don’t talk about these victims, because they are hidden in plain sight, researchers don’t even consider adding women to their research studies, even if their history of abuse has affected their health, income, and ability to work.

I have no answers or solutions, just a reminder that violence against women remains a problem in our society and our world. By forgetting about it, by allowing it to remain hidden, by allowing those who have been abused to feel shame and guilt and fear, we allow it to continue, and we fail to help those who have suffered not just the immediate bruises and broken bones and fear, but the long term affects of fear and trauma.

Research into athletes should continue, because they are the most obvious sufferers of repeated concussion, but researchers need to remember that their pool of candidates is far larger, and those who have suffered violence often don’t have the resources to help them deal with the long-term affects.

CTE Researchers Should Study Domestic Violence Survivors

National Statistics Domestic Violence Fact Sheet

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/12/us/domestic-violence-victims.html

Patrick Stewart: the legacy of domestic violence

First and foremost, you might want to read about Ace. Then you’ll probably wonder how Ace romance isn’t a contradiction. The above link may be helpeful in answering that as well.

There are not of explicit Ace spectrum romances, which is why I especially wanted to make note of them. In contemporary romances, there’s generally a discussion of being demi or ace, but in historicals you have to read between the lines. (No one today can say for certain, but my strong opinion is that Sherlock Holmes was ace and aro, so might clarify some things for you.)

The Lady’s Guide to Petticoats and Piracy by Mackenzi Lee

This is the sequel to The Gentleman’s Guide to Vice and Virtue and follows Felicity Montague, who wants to become a doctor. Unfortunately, women are not allowed to be doctors, and her attempts to go to medical school do not go well.

“I’m talking about menstruation, sir!” I shout in return.

It’s like I set the hall on fire, manifested a venomous snake from thin air, also set that snake on fire, and then threw it at the board. The men all erupt into protestations and a fair number of horrified gasps. I swear one of them actually swoons at the mention of womanly bleeding.

Felicity decides to travel to attend the wedding of her previous best friend, but nothing Felicity wants goes as expected, and she instead goes on an adventure.

Your beauty is not a tax you are required to pay to take up space in this world.

Absolutely no boinking here.

Rating: 9/10

His Quiet Agent, Merlin in the Library by Ada Maria Soto

Arthur works for The Agency and feels (rightly) that he’s going nowhere. In an attempt to at least have his supervisor know who he is, he ends up befriending the quietest and strangest person in the department.

Arthur looked over at The Alien. It was a Go Away sign, but it was a very specific type of go away sign; it was the kind that said ‘Look at Me Just for A Moment. I’m Weird. If you talk to me you’re going to decide I’m weird and not like me so let’s just save both of us the public discomfort of you feeling the need to reject me.’ He’d used that same trick in high school with copies of The Prince and Art of War. There might have also been some eyeliner involved. He could also remember being desperately lonely and wanting someone else’s weirdness to match with his.

This is a very sweet story, although we learn far more about Arthur than we do about Martin, which is completely fitting with the characters.

Absolutely no boinking here.

Rating: 8.5/10

Thaw by Elyse Springer

This is the sequel to Whiteout, but is definitely a stand-alone. Abigail is a librarian and loves her job. She is a little lonely (since she is single) but she does have friends who support her.

One night, attending a gala with her friend Nate, she meets a beautiful woman who seems to want to be friends with Abby, but Gabriella is so hot and cold, Abby isn’t always sure Gabriella even likes here.

She read the entire page, first with clinical detachment and then with a strange curiosity that was equal parts Why would anyone want to do that? and How does that even work?

When she did slide her phone into her back pocket, there was a sinking feeling in her stomach.

Could she do the things on that list? Sure. Did she want to? Yeah, if it was what Gabrielle wanted.

There is sexual content here, but it’s mostly off the page.

Rating: 8/10

Play It Again: A Slow Burn Romance by Aidan Wayne

This story is SO SO SO adorable!

Dovid and his sister Rachel are able to make their living as vloggers, with Rachel behind the camera and Dovid the face of the pair. Because Dovid is blind, he is very drawn to voices, so when Rachel finds Sam’s “Lets Play” channel, he plugs it and changes things drastically for both of them.

“Oh, well, actually, I found something very interesting to read? Although a bit… erm…”

“What? What is it?”

“Did you know there’s fanfiction about us?” Sam blurted out.

“What!” Dovid yelped. “You found that?”

It’s so sweet and there is no boinking.

Rating: 9/10

How to Be a Normal Person by TJ Klune

Gus is not neurotypical. He lives in a small town and runs the video store he inherited from his father and keeps to himself, although he does like some people, almost against his will.

He took the We Three Queens’ video card, charged them two bucks (even though it should have been four; he told them it was because they were regulars, and that was mostly true. It also was because he loved them deeply and didn’t know quite else how to say it.

Then, the hipster comes to town.

“Hey, followers. Second day in and I met Gustavo Tiberius and his ferret. Check it out. They both have pretty eyes. Blushing smiley face. L-O-L. Hashtag awesome. Hashtag presidential ferrets. Hashtag mountain town adventures. Hashtag—”

So Gus turns to the internet for advice.

That One Friend

We all have them. You know what I’m talking about. That One Friend. Yes, That One Friend who you love dearly and enjoy very much, but who can be a bit on the wild side. Their personality isn’t for everyone. What you might consider bubbly, others might potentially consider undesirable. Before you decide which of your friends is That One Friend, make sure you look inside yourself to make sure that you’re not That One Friend.

It’s a cute story and a funny story but it wasn’t particularly my jam.

There is no actual sex here, but there is a lot of talk about sex and sexuality.

Rating: 6.5/10

For Better or Worse by R. Cooper

Javi is a firefighter and demisexual and attracted to me, and the combination of those three things are not easy for him.

Everything looks like friendly teasing if you don’t know what sexual tension is. I get confused.”

The romance is slow, since neither character is sure how the other feels, and Javi is terrible at reading other people’s interest.

There is boinking here.

Rating: 7/10

The Rat-Catcher’s Daughter by K.J. Charles is an Ace/Ace romance.

Kissing people gave them the wrong idea, and it was hard to enjoy touching anyone when you were constantly wondering where they’d stick their hands.

It’s also a novella and probably far more interesting to people who have read Any Old Diamonds so I’m not sure I’d recommend it for someone who hasn’t read the previous story.
Rating: 7.5/10

A Gentleman’s Position is the third book in the Society of Gentlemen series, and my least favorite book in that series. It’s not bad, but I have issues with employer/employee romances, and although it wasn’t illegal (being the 1820s) it still kinda squicks me out.

Rating: 7/10

That Kind of Guy by Talia Hibbert

Rae is a divorcee who is something of an enigma to the town–something she enjoys since she’s herself and on her own for the first time in years.

Zack spent years wanting someone to love him and willing to accept sex as a substitute, but after a serious bout of depression he’s been reevaluating his life and come to the conclusion that he’s demisexual. Which is a major reevaluation, considering his reputation in town.

(N)ecessity was the mother of every skill Zach had. Growing up poor with a busy single parent and a missing older brother had led him to learn a lot of practical shit at a very young age. The hard way. And those skills had never been allowed to fade, because once someone identified you as useful, they’d always be around to… well, use you.

There is boinking here.

This is the third book in her Ravenswood series, and you don’t have to read the series in order, as I certainly didn’t.

Rating: 8/10

“Pack Up the Moon” by Angel Martinez is the third story in Family Matters.

Charon (yes, the Ferryman) is Ace, but he and Azeban (trickster god) discuss their desired and needs and compromise on how they can make their relationship work. There is sexual content in this story, and definitely in the first two stories.

Rating: 8.5/10

Uncommonly Tidy Poltergeists is a novella. Taro has won the lottery, but to avoid the insanity that normally comes with such a win, tells only his immediate family, and then decides to do what he’s always wanted–which is see the world. Unfortunately, he seems to have picked up a ghost and really would like someone to help him deal with it.

Taro is Ace and very used to being misunderstood and fairly resigned to being alone, but spending time with Jack (who is trying to solve his ghost issue) makes him wonder if he really has to be alone.

“Phillip’s an accountant. Or a snooty trust-fund baby. Why are you named after a root vegetable?”

Taro needed three tries to find his voice. “I’m not.”

“Taro? Big purple edible root. What poi’s made of?”

“Oh. No.” Taro finally had the presence of mind to shut the door. “I mean, yes to taro being a plant, but it’s short for Lautaro. My name, not the vegetable. And I was an accountant.”

There is some sexual content here.

Rating: 8/10

I’ve got a number of Ace romances on my wish list, but I am definitely looking for more so please give me any recommendations you have!

Categorical Books

After mystery, my favorite category when I was young was fantasy. I re-read The Hobbit just about every year, and in college it was fantasy that sucked me back into reading after I’d all but given it up for the usual college pursuits.

However, I haven’t read much straight-up fantasy in the past decade. Partially because I haven’t been in the mood for it, and partially because most fantasy series tend to be multiple tomes that require re-reading every time a new tome appears on the scene. But there are some books that I will go back to occasionally, for the comfort they bring.

Ellen Kushner‘s Swordspoint doesn’t have any magic, it just exists in a world that isn’t–and never was–our own. This is one of my comfort reads. The book I reach for when I need to escape our current reality.

The falling snow made it hard for him to see. The fight hadn’t winded him, but he was hot and sweaty, and he could feel his heart pounding in his chest. He ignored it, making for Riverside, where no one was likely to follow him.

He could have stayed, if he’d wanted to. The swordfight had been very impressive, and the party guests and its outcome would be talked about for weeks. But if he stayed, the swordsman knew that he would be offered wine, and rich pastry, and asked boring questions about his technique, and difficult questions about who had arranged the fight. He ran on.

Under his cloak, his shirt was spattered with blood, and the Watch would want to know what he was doing up on the Hill at this hour. It was their right to know; but his profession forbade him to answer, so he dodged around corners and caught his breath in doorways until he’d left the splendors of the Hill behind, working his way down through the city.

Terry Pratchett‘s Discworld is one that you’ve probably had recommend to you multiple times. Your really should listen, because he was an amazing author.

Very senior librarians…once they have proved themselves worthy by performing some valiant act of librarianship, are accepted into a secret order and are taught the raw arts of survival beyond the Shelves We Know. The Librarian was highly skilled in all of them, but what he was attempting now wouldn’t just get him thrown out of the Order but probably out of life itself.

OOK!

Steven Brust has to very distinct series both set in the same world. The Vlad Taltos series is noir in feel, with the main character who is an assassin and a smart ass. The Khaavren Romances are The Three Musketeers but with fantasy. The first is a page-turner while the second takes delight in word play.

The Serioli, who departed the area to avoid any of the unfortunate incidents that war can produce, left only the name for the place, which was “Ben,” meaning “ford” in their language. The Easterners called the place “Ben Ford,” or, in the Eastern tongue, “Ben gazlo.”

After ten years of fierce battle, the Imperial Army won a great victory on the spot, driving the Easterners well back into the mountains. The Dragonlords who had found the place, then, began calling it “Bengazlo Ford.” The Dragons, wishing to waste as little time on speech as possible, shortened this to Benglo Ford, or, in the tongue of the Dragon, which was still in use at the time, “Benglo ara.” Eventually, over the course of the millennia, the tongue of the Dragon fell out of use, and the North-western language gained preeminence, which rendered the location Bengloara Ford, which was eventually shortened to Bengloarafurd. The river crossing became the Bengloarafurd Ford, which name it held until after the Interregnum when the river was dredged and the Bengloarafurd Bridge was built.

Barry Hughart‘s Bridge of Birds is a fantastic historical tale with a main character is both wise man and trickster. And always a delight.

“In my humble village,” Master Li said sweetly, “we grow men so big that their upper lips lick the stars, while their lower lips nuzzle the earth.”

The thug thought about it. “And where are their bodies?”

“They are like you,” said Master Li. “All mouth.”

David Eddings‘s Belgariad was the series that returned me to reading fantasy. This is epic fantasy, with his two main series each having five books. The first series starts with the main chracter as a young boy, and we learn about the world as he does, discovering magic and amazement and horror and watch him grow and learn. It also has some of my all-time favorite characters.

“Always do the very best job you can,” he said on another occasion as he put a last few finishing touches with a file on the metal parts of a wagon tongue he was repairing.

“But that piece goes underneath,” Garion said. “No one will ever see it.”

“But I know it’s there,” Durnik said, still smoothing the metal. “If it isn’t done as well as I can do it, I’ll be ashamed every time I see this wagon go by-and I’ll see the wagon every day.”

‘I wish you’d stop using the word “steal.” Couldn’t we just say that we’re borrowing a boat?’

‘Did you plan to sail it back and return it when we’re finished with it?’

‘No. Not really.’

‘Then the proper word is “steal.” You’re the expert on ships and sailing; I’m the expert on theft.’

My TBR pile is excessive, yet looking for the perfect quote makes me want to re-read the entire series again.

Guy Gavriel Kay apparently spends years researching various cultures before he writes a fantasy loosely based upon that culture. He does not write quickly, but his books are things of beauty, to be savored rather than gulped down. I actually have to be in the mood to read slowly and thoroughly to read this books, but when I’m in that mood, there are escapes into amazing worlds.

She knows exactly what she wants to say in this letter, how many characters, how much ink she needs. You always grind a little more than you need, she has been taught (by her father). If you are forced to grind again, in order to finish, the texture at the end of your writing will be different from the beginning, a flaw.

She sets the ink stick down. Lifts the brush in her right hand. Dips it in the ink. She is using the rabbit’s-hair brush for this letter: it makes the most precise characters. Sheep’s hair is more bold, but though she needs the letter to seem confident of its virtue, it is still a plea.

She sits as she must sit. She adopts the Pillowed-Wrist Position, left hand under right wrist, supporting it. Her characters are to be small, exact, not large and assertive (for which she’d have used Raised-Wrist Position). The letter will be in formal hand. Of course it will.

A writer’s brush is a warrior’s bow, the letters it shapes are arrows that must hit the mark on the page. The calligrapher is an archer, or a general on a battlefield. Someone wrote that long ago. She feels that way this morning. She is at war.

Patricia C. Wrede writes mostly YA, which is possibly why I’ve been good with it–not many tomes here. Frontier Magic is probably one of my favorite series written in the past er…. 15 years. (Yikes.) It’s the story of a Eff, whose twin is a seventh son of a seventh son. But Eff is a thirteenth child, so many unkind family members have told her she is bad luck.

It seemed wrong to me that all the doctors and magicians should put so much work into trying to keep me alive, when if they’d known I was a thirteenth child and bound to turn evil in a few years, they wouldn’t have lifted a finger.

But it’s the world building as much as Eff’s story that is the draw here. It’s a world with magic, where the US hasn’t been conquered past the Mississippi because of the wild and dangerous magical creatures there.

Also, there is lots of science.

“Gathering base data is just as important as making entirely new observations. More important, sometimes; you can’t tell whether something’s changed if you don’t know what it was like to begin with.”

She also wrote Kate & Cecelia with Carol Stevermer which is a epistolary fantasy and just plain delightful.

And speaking of science, Marie Brennan‘s A Natural History of Dragons is the scientific fantasy I never knew I needed, and once I discovered it I couldn’t get enough.

Crawling in a dress, for those gentlemen who have never had occasion to try it, is an exercise in frustration, all but guaranteed to produce feelings of homicidal annoyance in the crawler.

It is so real and matter of fact about the things that so much of fantasy glosses over, and that just makes it all the more delightful.

I must warn you that this inconvenient fact of our sex is one of the most vexatious aspects of being a lady adventurer. Unless you contrive to suppress your courses through pregnancy— which, of course, imposes its own limitations— or through strenuous exercise and privation, you will have to handle this necessity in many circumstances that are far from ideal. Including some, I fear, where the smell of fresh blood is a positive danger.

Mackenzi Lee is another YA writer and is just barely fantasy in the first book, although the second book most definitely has fantastic creatures. I initially had a hard time liking the main character of the first book, because he comes across as irresponsible, but you quickly discover that his drinks to escape and for all he is a wealthy lord and heir, his life is not and has not been easy.

I want to run away right then but there’s just Percy in the cabin and water on either side, and the person I most want to run away from is me.

I am better than the worst things I’ve done.

Garth Nix is yet another YA fantasy series, about a young woman who must take over her inherited position of necromancer who takes care of the restless dead. This is another girl centered fantasy (my favorite) where Sabriel uses her wits and her skills to resolve the issues. I’ve given this book to a LOT of small people in my life.

And now for something completely different: Thieves’ World edited by Lynn Abbey and Robert Asprin is pretty much the opposite of everything else in this post. It’s dark and ugly and horrible things happen and almost none of the characters are likable. Yet I will be sucked in and re-read the whole thing and regret nothing.

It’s written by a variety of authors, so the books can be uneven, and every character seemingly competes to be more underhanded and cruel. But it’s a heck of a ride.

Also, it has some amazing passages. Such as this one written from the point of view of a dog.

For a moment she couldn’t see where the tall one was. Then the horses separated, and Tyr whimpered and sniffed the air. She caught the tall one’s scent. But to her horror it did something she had never smelled it do before: it cooled. It thinned, and vanished, and turned to meat.

No matter how many times I read this series, that passage is always a blow to the chest.

I don’t read very much straight-up fantasy anymore, but if it’s good I can read just a single book I’ll consider it.

Categorical Books

I probably have a slightly different definition of urban fantasy than most people. What I place into this category rarely has vampires and werewolves, and generally doesn’t have boinking. The magic tends to be more subtle (but not always) and the characters are rarely of the superhero category.

Sometimes they’re just stories where the people are magical or perhaps just don’t live in our reality (past or present).

I love Charles de Lint‘s writing. I came across Dreams Underfoot probably not long after it was published, and have eagerly snatched up all his anthologies and most of his books since that point. Most of his short stories are set in Newford, an imaginary northern town, and each story is a glimpse at one or more of the characters who live there: Geordie and Christie, Jilly, The Professor, Meran & Cerin, Sophie, the Crow Girls. So very many marvelous characters who over the years have shown us glimpses into their lives.

Aside from crafting amazing short stories, Charles de Lint has an amazing way of writing female characters. He also writes often about characters who have been badly hurt by the world, yet still have hope and love for the world.

Ellen carried a piece of string in her pocket, with four complicated knots tied into it, but no matter how often she undid one, she still had to wait for her winds like anyone else. She knew that strings to catch and call up the wind were only real in stories, but she liked thinking that maybe, just once, a bit of magic could tiptoe out of a tale and step into the real world.

They work because they make us concentrate so completely that the magic has to pay attention to us. It’s like communion and singing hymns in church. People really do get closer to God because they’re focusing on these rituals and no longer listening to that constant dialogue that goes on inside their heads.”

Maggie Stiefvater‘s Raven Boys series is YA, and it is AMAZING.

Let’s start with the fact that the character I kinda dislike in the first book is my absolute favorite by the end of the series. The series is about magic and love and growth and learning and pretty much all the things that go into being a teenager When you are shaking your head at these teenagers you still deeply love them. Even as you are yelling at them to stop making stupid mistakes, you understand why they are making those mistakes (mostly).

It’s beautiful and magical and all the things.

Blue turned it slowly to read each side: hyacinthus, celea. One side was blank.

Gansey pointed to each side for her. “Latin, Coptic, Sanskrit, something we don’t know, and … this is supposed to be Greek. Isn’t that funny that it’s blank?”

Derisively, Ronan said, “No. The ancient Greeks didn’t have a word for blue.” Everyone at the table looked at him.

“What the hell, Ronan?” said Adam.

“It’s hard to imagine,” Gansey mused, “how this evidently successful classical education never seems to make it into your school papers.”

“They never ask the right questions,” Ronan replied.

Also, the audio version is perfectly done.

Some (although not all) of Neil Gaiman‘s books qualify to me as urban fantasy, but to me American Gods and Anansi Boys are in this category. There is so much going on in the world just out of our sight, that it would strike amazement and wonder and horror if we caught a glimpse.

I feel like there are few humans who have not heard of American Gods at this point, but I also very much liked Fat Charlie’s story in Anansi Boys.

Shadow’s telephone rang.

“Yeah?” he said.

“That’s no way to answer the phone,” growled Wednesday.

“When I get my telephone connected I’ll answer it politely,” said Shadow.

Like Charles de Lint, Nina Kiriki Hoffman writes amazing short stories. I’d read many of her stories in various anthologies before I came across A Fistful of Sky. That story remains one of my favorite for the characters and the growth and how Gypsum comes into her own powers and learns to both love herself and stand up for herself.

Like the other books on this list, there is magic just under the surface of our world that few people can see, but like everything else, magic is neither inherently good or evil, it is what people make of it. It aggravates me that A Fistful of Sky is out of print, because there are so many girls in my life I want to give this to once they’re a few years older.

“Quit being such a martyr. Do something mean.”

I checked the clock. About twenty minutes after eleven. I couldn’t do math with minutes! But whatever I dropped on her, it would last until around six-thirty, say. “Do you have any plans for this afternoon?”

“Stop stalling!”

“Ultimate Fashion Sense!” I yelled.

That is one of my favorite things EVER.

Jane Lindskold has written straight up fantasy, but her urban fantasy is what I like best. Child of a Rainless Year is my favorite of her stories, and is unusual in so many ways–the first of which is that for much of the story the main character is a middle aged woman. She’s not beautiful. She’s not rich. She knows of nothing special about herself, yet she ends up taking a journey of self-discovery and learning that she herself is more than she every could have imagined.

Sometimes we need beauty and grandeur to inspire us to be the best we can be— to remind us of what humans are capable of when they turn their minds to something beyond the purely practical. We have the capacity for art, for beauty. I think we should use it.”

Lish McBride has two YA series both of which I really liked. Hold Me Closer Necromancer is about (wait for it) a necromancer. Firebug is about a teenage girl who is a firestarter and an enforcer for the Coterie–even though she’s rather just go to school and be a teen.

Lock stopped and crossed his arms, giving us a look that Ez and I knew well.

“Did we forget to do our homework?” Ezra whispered in my ear.

“Neither of you read the file, did you?” Lock said accusingly.

“I skimmed it.” I said. “Something about collecting money, blah blah blah.” “

I looked at the pictures,” Ezra added.

“There weren’t any pictures.”

This is a favorite category, and I am always looking for more books here, but it’s also a tricky category and I think a lot of these different from supernatural fantasy only by a feeling on my part.

Categorical Books

This isn’t one of my favorite categories, but there are some very good books here that I like despite all the boinking. So assume that everything here is chock full of boinking, and that I liked these books despite all the boinking. (If you like boinking books, your list here is certainly going to be much longer.)

Nicole Peeler‘s Jane True series has fae and other magical creatures living hidden in our world. Jane doesn’t know she has a supernatural heritage, she just thinks she’s a bit of a weirdo who stands out in her small town.

I wiped my nose on his shirt. I was snotty from crying and he was already filthy. It wasn’t ideal but he was holding me so tight I couldn’t move my arms.

“Did you just wipe your nose on me?” he asked, finally. His voice was tight with various emotions, but “oh no you didn’t” had clawed it’s way to the top of the list.

“Maybe,” I mumbled, peering up at him.

Marjorie Liu‘s Dirk & Steele series is about people who work for a secret supernatural agency and the people they rescue (and fall in love with). Each book focuses on a member of the agency and during an operation they end up finding their true love, which conquers all. The characters appear in each other stories (they are a team) and each book in the series is a stand alone (I know for certain because I read the books in the order I found them.)

K.J. Charles has written a ton of M/M romance, but her Charm of Magpies series (and the books tied into it) I particularly like. There is fascinating world building (it’s set in Victorian England). All her books have strong, well-developed characters, and there is often an underlying mystery or external problem to be resolved, and they’re just fun. I also recommend the related short stories, especially A Queer Trade which has 1) two characters who are poor and 2) one character who is black (in Victorian England), which is something I really hadn’t come across anywhere else.

Merrick came in with a bundle. “I beg your pardon,” he began, and then recoiled at his master’s appearance. “What happened to you?”

“Blame Leo. She bled all over me.”

“That’s the Hawkes and Cheney suit!” said Merrick, outraged. “I’ll never get that stain out.”

“I’ll bleed more carefully next time,” Leonora assured him.

C.E. Murphy has written a lot of different things, some of which I’ve loved, and some that I just haven’t been able to get into. Her Negotiator series has a human woman accidentally become involved with the Old Races. Her Magic and Manners book is a lovely historical romance, only with magic, and I adored it.

“We do not forgive people because they are worthy, Papa. We forgive them because we love them, and because it gives us peace within ourselves to do so.”

Jeaniene Frost‘s vampire series (Kat & Bones, Vlad & Leila) are as much paranormal romances as they are supernatural fantasy, but I think they belong here for the world building. And the dialog. One of the things I particularly like about this series is that once Kat & Bones get their issues worked out, they commit to each other and are a team. The Vlad & Leila series was a little more aggravating, primarily because the books tended to end without a lot of resolution. Plus, Vlad is often a jerk.

“Don’t hurt her, she didn’t mean anything by it,” Marty said at once, moving to stand between me and Vlad. I wasn’t about to let him take more abuse, especially on my behalf, so I tried to angle myself in front of Marty. He kept sidestepping me with that damn vampiric speed until it looked like we were engaged in some sort of strange dance.

Gail Carriger is a little more complicated. I loved the first book in her Alexia Tarabotti series, was MEH about the third and incandescently mad about the third. She has a parallel series that I want to read because I’ve had friends who like it. But Blameless made me so mad I have been super hesitant.

Categorical Books

My brain has a clear delineation between supernatural fantasy and urban fantasy. If it has werewolves and vampires it’s probably supernatural fantasy. If the magic and creatures are more subtle, and the stories are exploratory rather than full of ass kicking, it’s urban fantasy.

Sergei Lukyanenko‘s Night Watch series is one I’ve re-read multiple times, and enjoyed whether I was reading or listening. Because it’s Russian, it’s very different from what I’ve read elsewhere, and there is a constant struggle between the dark and the light–all of which is complicated many times over. There is so much I love about this series I don’t even know where to start, other than it will suck me in no matter what kind of mood I’m in.

“We’re not supermen in red and blue cloaks who work alone. We’re just employees. The police of the Twilight world.”

You know what they say? A Siberian isn’t someone who doesn’t feel the cold, he’s someone who’s warmly dressed!

I’d somehow forgotten about Tim Pratt‘s Marla Mason series and just now discovered there are books I have definitely not read. Marla Mason is a witch and guardian of her city of Felport, but there is a lot going on underneath and behind all that.

Daniel José Older has two series that fall in my category of supernatural fantasy. The Shadowshaper series, which is YA, and the Bone Street Rumba series, which is NOT YA, and another favorite series I’ve read in the past decade. It’s set in NYC and full of ghosts and otherworldly creatures and deals directly with being brown in a white world and how that tends to work out (not so well) but the characters are so very much more than the limitations that society has placed upon them. And the stories are just fun and lovely.

‘Simpático’ is the best word for him. It means ‘nice’ in English, but nice is such a pathetic word. Nice. It just lives and dies in one breath. Simpático is a whole story unto itself. It has panache.

The eight-year-old giggles every time her abuelo picks up a card. Her laughter rises to a joyous cackle and she crows, “Uno!” The old man fusses with his mustache, furrows his brow, and then picks a card. And then another. “Chingada madre,” he mutters as the laughter continues unabated across the table. “Mierda.” Finally, he puts down one with a sigh and the girl gets real serious, scrunches up her face, and draws a card, then slams it down, yells, “Uno!” again, and resumes laughing.

Patricia Briggs‘s two big series focus on werewolves, although there are other magical creatures (including vampires). The world building is amazing, and Mercy is a favorite protagonist, because she doesn’t have the powers most around her do, but she still has no quit. Between Mercy’s series and Alpha & Omega, a LOT of work went into the world building and politics, which is pretty amazing. She also writes strong supporting characters that often wander off for their own stories. (Ben in particular has a very good story arc).

“What I can’t fix is that the program won’t run unless the password is permanently set to PASSWORD and the username is permanently TEST. Since I’m working on databases that hold the US governmental secrets of the last hundred years, you’ll understand that is not acceptable.”

There was a long silence. Then Rajeev said, very carefully “Someone hard-coded the passwords.”

“That’s what I’m seeing,” agreed Ben blandly.

Ilona Andrews has written several series I classified as supernatural fantasy, while some of their other series I classify as paranormal romance (supernatural fantasy with more boinking). The Kate Daniels series is set in Atlanta after magic has destroyed much of the world as we know it. Magic comes and goes in waves, and when magic is up technology doesn’t work and vice versa. Kate is the daughter of a magical warlord and has been in hiding from him her entire life. She has powers inherited from her father, but using those powers would pretty much alert her father to her existence so he could kill her.

Faith Hunter‘s Jane Yellowrock series has been running for a decade now, and it’s been an auto-pre-order for me since the first book. Jane is (to her knowledge) the only of her kind left alive, and she uses her skills to take out rogue vampires, but the more she learns both about herself and about the vampires, the more complicated the situation becomes. One of my favorite parts of this series the the found family aspect. It doesn’t really kick in until later books, but once is does, I adore it. It’s full of strong and unique characters that I really like (and enjoy even when I don’t like them).

Beast perked up at the description of the food. Gator. Human killed gator? Human man is good hunter! Hungry for gator. And the picture she sent me was a whole gator, snout, teeth, feet, claws, tail, skin, and all, crusty with batter. I chuckled and sent her a more likely mental picture. Inside she huffed with disappointment.

He raised his brows. “Doesn’t like Mithrans, I take it?”

“Not fond of anyone one but military boys.”

“I fought in the Civil War. Does that count?”

“Confederate?”

“No.”

“I’d keep it to yourself, then,”

Drew Hayes‘s Fred, the Vampire Accountant series is probably one of the best supernatural series I’ve read in a decade. It’s exactly what it says on the tin, and is utterly delightful.

I recorded my journeys in the hopes that, should another being find themselves utterly depressed at the humdrum personality still saddling their supernatural frame, they might find solace in knowing they are not the only one to have felt that way.

Carrie Vaughn‘s Kitty the Werewolf series has it’s ups and downs, but it also has some of my favorite short stories set in any of these fictional worlds. Kitty is a late-night DJ who is eventually outed as a werewolf. There’s obviously a lot more to it than that, but that’s the gist of it. I like the earlier books much better, but I do like that Kitty eventually ends up in a solid and supportive marriage that remains solid and supportive through the series.

One of my favorite characters from the series is the vampire Rick, who had been a conquistator when he was turned.

Free will was part of God’s plan. What better way to damn the sinful than to let them choose sin over righteousness? But he had not chosen this. Had he? Had something in his past directed him to this moment? To this curse?

Then couldn’t he choose to walk away from this path?

If you want monsters, then Rob Thurman Cal and Nico series is for you. But there are big problems here, the biggest of which is that she published a penultimate book that ended on a cliffhanger–and then published the final book. I have actually not read the last published book because I had a terrible feeling about where it was going, and I’m glad I did, because I really REALLY hate cliffhangers. That said, although the books are about monsters, the series is really a love story between two brothers, and how they have survived. It often goes lots of dark places, but Cal is such a sarcastic, obnoxious twit who is a tremendous pain in the ass, it’s hard not to love him–especially when you catch glimpses of what his brother sees in him.

“You should try literature that contains words of more than two syllables, little brother. You might just learn something.”

“‘Voluptuous’ has more than two syllables.” Turning the book right side up, I scanned the page. “So does ‘nymphomaniac,’” I added.

M.L. Brennan‘s Generation V series is one I particularly liked, because I was fascinating by her vampire mythos and world building. There are so very many traditions upon which to build vampires, I love seeing something different.

Also, kitsune.

“Are you always hungry ?” Hosting Suzume was already proving to be a drain on my wallet, and I winced.

“I’m a fox, Fort. We’re opportunistic predators.”

C. C. Hunter‘s Shadowfall series is YA and has a LOT of angst (because teenagers) but has some very good world building, and also has very strong friendships between the characters. (There’s also angst and bicker, because teens, but the solid friendships are very nice).

This is a category where I have started and then abandoned a LOT of series. I know what I want, but the series never quite lives up to what I want it to be.

Categorical Books

This may be my favorite category of books. I love mysteries and I love fantasy, so combining the two is all, “you got your chocolate in my peanut butter” levels of goodness.

I’m going to split these into two categories: our world where magic is hidden, and like our world except there is magic.

We’ll start with one of my current favorites: Ben Aaronovitch‘s Rivers of London series. This is a police procedural where a secret department exists to keep the supernatural hidden and under control. And it is full of procedure; Peter Grant loves to complain about many ridiculous rules and regulations there are, and also about 21st century policing speak, which is a DELIGHT. Peter is very much NOT super hero material. He’s very smart, but he is also very easily distracted, which quite often gets him into trouble. Also, the narration by Kobna Holdbrook-Smith makes me swoon.

“You can’t die of jazz,” said Dr. Walid. “Can you?”

I thought of Fats Navarro, Billie Holiday, and Charlie parker who, when he died, was mistaken by a coroner for a man twice his real age.

“You know,” I said, “I think you’ll find you can.”

Paul Cornell‘s Shadow Police series is one of the more amazing supernatural mysteries I’d read in a long time. It is really REALLY dark and a lot of terrible things happen, but I really REALLY wish he’d write another book in the series. This is an ensemble story, shifting POV back and forth between the various characters, and initially I had trouble keeping track of who was who (especially since two characters were undercover cops) but I did get it sorted and tore through each book. But this IS really dark, so it may well not be for everyone.

“Don’t ever be afraid of the responsibility of offering an opinion.”

Charlie Adhara Big Bad Wolf is an LGBT series where the main character is a human who has been moved to the BSI–the law enforcement group that deals with werewolf crime and keeping werewolves secret. He was transferred there after surviving a werewolf attack, and ends up partnered with a werewolf. They two are looking for a possible serial killer and have to deal with their very different world views AND a strong attraction. This is definitely a boinking book, but the mystery is good, I liked the characters, and the world building is excellent.

The public could never know about werewolves, though. That was one of the few things the BSI and the Trust agreed on. The panic, the prejudice, the senseless violence that would surely come if the truth was revealed.

Nicole Kimberling‘s Grilled Cheese and Goblins is an LGBT procedural where the main character is a supernatural food inspector. That’s one of the things I liked best about these collection of stories / novellas: that the main character is not in a job you ever think about, yet that is important. There is boinking here, so take that into consideration if boinking isn’t your thing.

On the day that Gunther had moved in with Keith, she had taken Keith aside and pressed a small spiral notebook into his hand. Written on the pages were her precious, famous and well-guarded recipes for goblin favorites such as Cracked Hot-Pepper Marrow Bones, Sheep Skull Surprise (the surprise turned out to be extra eyeballs sewn into the sheep’s mouth), and Goblin-style Pig Trotters, which were traditionally served raw in a bowl of vinegar, and garnished with whole bulbs of garlic cut crosswise and seared on the edge of a heated scimitar. On the first page of the notebook she’d made a special note that Gunther, like all goblins, was sensitive to salt and could only abide the smallest amount on special occasions. Then she’d drawn a little, anatomically-correct heart.

Lisa Shearin‘s SPI Files is another book where a secret agency exists to monitor and police the supernatural world that remains hidden from most of humanity. The heroine, Mac, is a seer in the NYC office, and although she has a rare skill, she is almost always the weakest member at any scene (since she has no other strengths or abilities). Her recognition of that weakness is one of my favorite things about her (and the series) since she has to work around her limitations. This series is on the lighter side as far as tone, but the mysteries are interesting and the characters are wonderful.

Being able to clear a line of beer cans from an old washer would never save anyone’s life, and I’d never actually heard of a deer taking a hunter hostage and using him as a shield while being hoisted into a helicopter. So I could hit a target. Big deal. That didn’t teach me when to shoot, when to hold my fire; or if I did shoot, the why and how of that decision, a split-second choice that could mean life or death for another SPI agent, me, or a friend who was in the right place but at the worst time.

Simon R. Green‘s Nightside series is most definitely not for everyone. But if it is your thing, then it is REALLY your thing. John Taylor is a PI that specializes in finding things–and staying the hell out of Nightside, where nightmares live and it is always three AM. But he’s drawn back in and over the course of the series discovers who has been trying to kill him since he was a child, who his mother is, and perhaps just what Nightside is. (hint: nothing good.) There is a lot of awful stuff, but it is so over the top ridiculous very little of it bothers me. Mostly because the majority of people in the Nightside are there voluntarily.

Next door to the brothel was a dark and spooky little shop selling reliquaries–the bones of saints, fragments of the True Cross, and the like. Special offer that week was apparently the skull of John the Baptist. Next to it was a smaller skull, labelled JOHN THE BAPTIST AS A CHILD.

Daniel O’Malley books The Rook and Stiletto are set mostly in London, and are another series where a secret agency polices the supernatural–or rather, the unnatural, since most of the characters have unique skills and talents that are not replicable. The main character awakens with no memory of who she is or how she ended up surrounded by dead bodies, so the story is her discovering not just who tried to kill her, but how to manage her position in this supernatural agency she remembers nothing about. I’ve read and listened to those multiple times, it’s so delightful.

Dear You,

The body you are wearing used to be mine. The scar on the inner left thigh is there because I fell out of a tree and impaled my leg at the age of nine. The filling in the far left tooth on the top is a result of my avoiding the dentist for four years. But you probably care little about this body’s past. After all, I’m writing this letter for you to read in the future. Perhaps you are wondering why anyone would do such a thing. The answer is both simple and complicated. The simple answer is because I knew it would be necessary.

The complicated answer could take a little more time.

Do you know the name of the body you are in? It’s Myfanwy. Myfanwy Alice Thomas. I would say that it’s my name, but you’ve got the body now, so I suppose you’ll be using it.

P.N. Elrod‘s Vampire Files series is one I really wish was available in electronic format. It’s set in the 1930s and reads like a noir detective series, but with one of the detectives being a vampire. It’s a fun series, but good luck getting your hands on the various books.

Liz Williams‘s Detective Inspector Chen series is set in a world that is mostly like ours, but with slightly more advanced technologies, and direct connections between earth and heaven and hell. Except that it’s the Buddhist heaven and hell, which makes it all the more fascinating. Chen is on the outs with his patron goddess, and has a lovely life who remains mostly hidden from public. These stories are very different from anything else I’ve read, and I like them very much.

The trouble with Hell, Zhu Irzh reflected bitterly, was not so much the palpable miasma of evil (with which he was, after all, ingrained) but the bureaucracy.

Jaye Wells Prospero’s War is set in world parallel to ours, only with magic. Kate Prospero is a cop who grew up cooking dirty magic, and now works for the police helping stamp out dangerous and illegal spells. The world building and mystery aren’t quite as strong on this series, but the books are still enjoyable.

“Ah c’mon. I didn’t do nothin’.”

I raised a brow. “You flashed a weapon at an officer.”

“Ah man! I didn’t know you was a cop. Thought you was just an uppity bitch.”

“As it happens, I’m both. Do not move.”

Mark del Franco‘s Connor Grey and Laura Blackstone are in a world where faerie has merged with “our world” and it’s a problem for all involved. Connor Gray was a powerful druid until an attack left him unable to use most of his powers. I really liked the world building here, and I wonder why the author just stopped writing, because it was an interesting series doing things I wasn’t reading anywhere else.

Justin Gustainis‘s Occult Crimes Unit series is a bit on the darker side. Stan Markowski is a detective in Scranton’s Supernatural Crimes Investigation Unit, and he and his partner look into crimes not just by witches and vampires, but also committed against supernatural creatures. This series also has some really horrible covers but some great characters.

I once asked a warlock why spells contain all those “thee”s and “thou”s, and other stuff that nobody says anymore.

“When it comes to theory, no one is more conservative or fundamentalist as a magician,” he’d told me. “It would make Southern Baptists look wild, by comparison. Lots of the spells in use today were first translated into English in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, when people did talk like that. The belief is, if a spell works, you don’t mess with it, even to update the language. You’d never know what effect even the smallest change would have – until it was too late.”

Angel Martinez‘s Offbeat Crimes series is an LGBT supernatural police series and it has some of my favorite world building I’ve come across in recent years. She also does an excellent job writing strong characters–enough to the point that I didn’t care for one of the books because the main character irritated the crap out of me. There is a LOT of boinking here, but if you can deal with that, it’s a very fun series.

“Should get an Odo bucket,” Vikash murmured.

“A what?”

Kyle chuckled into his coffee. “Seriously, Carr? You never watched Deep Space Nine?

Glen Cook‘s Garrett, P.I. series is set in a straight up fantasy world, with dwarves and elves etc. I’ve only read a few books in this series, mostly because that’s all I could find. This is also on my TBRR / TBR pile

I read several books in Mario Acevedo Felix Gomez series and although I didn’t dislike them, I didn’t like them enough to keep reading.

I read quite a few of Jim ButcherDresden Files books, but a cliffhanger ending clarified that I probably had been done with the series a couple books prior.

Before you mention it, I did NOT like J.D. Robb naked series.

As this is one of my favorite genres (sub genres?) I’ll welcome all recommendations, because this is My Catnip.

Categorical Books

My love of private eyes led me to police procedural, and I found I loved them. I really like the fact that police and agents have to follow rules and do lots of paper work. It just feels so much more realistic to me than. Don’t get me wrong, I love unrealistic things–I ADORE fantasy–but if something is supposed to be reality based, then I want it TO BE reality based. (Quickest way to make me rant about a book, is to get facts wrong.)

Andrea Camilleri‘s Inspector Salvo Montalbano is set in Southern Italy. Camilleri died last year, so I expected there will be a few more books (because they have to be translated they’re always a couple years behind) and I think the he wrote a final book that was to be published after he died. The thing to know about this series is that Salvo can be a complete asshole. And he is sometimes ridiculous. But I quickly fell in love with the area and especially the loving descriptions of the food, and eventually I got used to him being a jerk and just accepted that’s how he was. (1994-2019)

He stopped in front of the restaurant where he’d gone the last time he was in Mazara. He gobbled up a saute of clams in breadcrumbs, a heaping dish of spaghetti with white clam sauce, a roast turbot with oregano and caramelized lemon, and he topped it all off with a bitter chocolate timbale in orange sauce. When it was all over he stood up, went into the kitchen, and shook the chef’s hand without saying a word, deeply moved.

John Burdett the Sonchai Jitpleecheep is set in Bangkok, Thailand and was quite unlike anything else I’d read at the time. How casual Sonchai is about the corruption astounds me every time I read one of these books, and I thought it might be exaggerated, and then I read some books set in Italy and decided, probably not. (2003-2016)

To make a good death is to proceed gracefully into a better body and a better life. The consequences of a bad death are hard to look at. You will not make a good death is a power curse; it makes Fuck you sound like a benediction.

Donna Leon‘s Commissario Guido Brunetti set in Venice, Italy and is written in English by a non-native Italian. Like the Montalbano books, food and place are major characters in the series, and the books make me wish I could have seen Venice 50 or 60 years ago. Even the weak books in this series are still enjoyable, although some of the later books are definitely not up to the quality of the earlier books. (1992-)

A single flight of stairs lay off to the right, and he began to climb, noting with pleasure the slight concavity that hundreds of years of use had hollowed out of each step. He liked the way the declivity forced him to walk up the centre of the staircase.

Karin Fossum‘s Inspector Konrad Sejer is set in Norway. I read through all he books I had and then feel off when I stopped reading mysteries for awhile, and a re-read and continuing on is on my TBR. (1996-)

He wants to do everything perfectly, and he’s so afraid of making a mistake that he has ended up unable to do anything at all.

Ian Rankin‘s Inspector Rebus series is set in Scotland and although Rebus officially retired in 2007, there have been several books set after his retirement. I keep wanting to re-read this series, but obviously need to start my re-read at book two or three, because the first book is darker than I’ve been in the mood for. Rebus’ relationship with alcohol is a major character in the story, since his drinking isn’t portrayed in the way you see in noir. (1987-~2007) The Malcolm Fox series I didn’t like quite as well, mostly because, well, he isn’t Rebus. (2009-)

He had half a dozen tickets lying around, any one of which could be his fortune. He quite liked the notion that he might have won a million and not know it; preferred it, in fact, to the idea of actually having the million in his bank account. What would he do with a million pounds? Same as he’d do with fifty thou– self-destruct.

Only faster.

Henning Mankell‘s Kurt Wallander is set in Scandanavia and I admit that I only read some of the books in this series. I should go back and read others, but, well, there’s that giant TBR. The final book was very good. (1996-2009)

He thought that his work was basically nothing more than a poorly paid test of endurance. He was being paid to endure this.

Arnaldur Indridason‘s Inspector Erlendur series set in Iceland and is an amazing series. Like several other books on this list, place is a character, and despite how dark and dreary it is often described, I really want to visit Iceland. Erlendur is a depressed and miserable cop, but he’s very good at what he does, and has great compassion towards the victims he deals with, which is one of the things that kept me reading. If you read one series on this list, I recommend this one. (2000-2010)

Spring and summer were not Erlendur’s seasons. Too bright. Too frivolous. He wanted heavy, dark winters.

Christopher Fowler‘s Bryant & May series is set in London and is everything a police procedural should NOT be. But the two elderly detectives are so absolutely delightful you can’t help but watch in fascination as they go completely off the damned rails Every. Single. Time. This is another series I need to get caught up on. (2003-)

‘Mr Bryant is so old that most of his lifetim subscriptions have run out.’ Leslie Faraday, the increasingly portly liasion officer at the Home Office, poked about on his biscut tray looking for a Custard Cream. ‘He’s only alive because it’s illegal to kill him.’

Kathy Reichs Tempe Brennan is a forensic anthropologist for the Montreal police. I loved this series until very abruptly I was OVER it. My problem was seven books of Tempe and Andrew Ryan unable to make up their mind about their relationship. I just got SO irritated by it I was done with the series.(1997-)

J.A. Jance J.P. Beaumont Mysteries (1985-) and Joanna Brady Mysteries (1993-) Both of these are series I really enjoyed, and then I stopped being in the mood for mysteries for a couple years and never got back into them. Both series are on my TBR pile.

Layla Reyne‘s Agents Irish and Whiskey series are another LGBT romance (with boinking) but the mysteries were very good, and I think I tore through all three books in as many days. One of the characters is a widower, and one of the mysteries is looking into the car accident that killed his husband and partner and put him out on medical leave for months. I’m sitting on the first book of a different series, because my brain insists it can’t be as good as this series and I’ll be disappointed. (My brain is usually wrong about these things, just so you know.)

“You’ll need to distract them long enough for me to upload the monitoring program.”

“How do you propose I do that?”

“Ask them to repeat everything in plain English. It’s damn annoying.”

Josh Lanyon has written several LGBT law enforcement books, all of which have a lot of boinking. But the All’s Fair and Dangerous Ground series were all very well done, and both worked around my major problem with some a lot of law enforcement romances: fraternization policies.

It’s not what you want for your child, you know?” He had no idea.

He neither had, nor wanted, children, and his own parents had been completely accepting of his sexuality. Choosing a career in law enforcement was the thing that had driven his father to threaten disowning him.

Faye Kellerman Decker & Lazarus (1986-) I tore through a bunch of these books one after the other and then needed a break and never got back to them.

So I do love police procedurals, and have a ton that I need to go back and re-read / restart. The problem is that some of these series are SO long, it’s a daunting task. Despite that, got anything to recommend?

Categorical Books

For obvious reasons, I hold a special place in my heart for private investigators. (Sherlock Holmes! Miss Marple!)

It doesn’t matter if the investigator is a PI in a smoke filled office or a little old lady keeping an eye on her neighbors, I love it when people get nosy and figure things out.

I have to start this list with Robert B. Parker‘s Spenser series. Set in Boston, Spenser is a private eye who eventually develops a long term relationship with Susan Silverman, and frequently works with Hawk on cases where he needs extra muscle. My introduction to Spenser was with the audio version of Small Vices and I immediately fell in love and started working my way through the series, grabbing whatever books I could find at the used book store.

Some books were excellent, some I found aggravating. But it was a very rare book that I didn’t thoroughly enjoy. However, I fell off reading the series in the early 2000s, and haven’t finished the rest of the series. I tried some of his other series, but never got into them. (1973-2011)

Robert Crais‘s PI Elvis Cole felt very much like Spenser in his first book, but quickly developed his own personality. He’s often assisted by Joe Pike, who eventually gets his own books, although most frequently the two work together. Set in southern California (1987-)

Two guys came in from the L.A. County Medical Examiners Office, but neither of them looked like Jack Klugman.

I copied her address along with her phone number and put the (phone) book back in its case, still complete, still immaculate. Jim Rockford would’ve ripped out the page, but Jim Rockford was an asshole.

Randy Wayne White‘s Doc Ford has retired from working for the government” and is happily running a biological supply company and dabbling as a marine biologist in Florida. I started reading this series when I broke my ankle and then moved onto something else and never got back to it. (1990-)

Dana Stabenow‘s Kate Shugak is set in Alaska and I have a strange history reading this series. First, I started the series at Midnight Come Again and decided not to go back and read he prior books, because her significant other is killed in the book prior to that, and I just can’t. I then gobbled up everything until the publication of Bad Blood at which point my head exploded and I haven’t trusted her to pick up another book, since that book ended with Kate and her dog possibly dead, and no word for a couple years as to whether there was going to be another book. Aside from that, I did love the series. I didn’t enjoy her Liam Campbell series anywhere near as much. (1992-)

FOUR BROTHERS, FOUR MEN born one each year for four sequential years, before their parents figured out how babies were made and Took Steps. They were named, in order, Matthew, Mark, Luke and Peter, because their mother refused to burden a child with the homonym for toilet, upon which her loud, rowdy and profane brother had just congratulated her. Her husband, a faithful Presbyterian who disliked his brother-in-law anyway, remonstrated that this upset the gospellian design decided on before the birth of their first son, but she remained obstinate. They compromised on Peter, upon being informed of which her brother then spake aloud and at length on euphemisms for male genitalia, until Peter’s father had more than words with his brother-in-law in the alley out back of the Ahtna General Hospital. A faithful Presbyterian, he wasn’t a pacifist.

Andrew M. Greely‘s Blackie Ryan is set in Chicago and is close to the definition of a cosy. Blackie Ryan is a parish priest and the majority of his books focus on forgiveness and redemption. (1985-2008)

Diane Mott Davidson Goldy the Caterer Mysteries are set in Colorado and the main character is a caterer. I feel off reading this series, and although I’ve tried to re-start it, I haven’t been able to get back into it. (1990-)

Elizabeth Peters‘s Jacqueline Kirby is a very short series that I really enjoyed, even though it took me forever to eventually find all four books in the series. Jacqueline Kirby is a romance writer who unexpectedly solves mysteries. Considering that the first book was written in 1972 it almost feels like an historical. (1972-1989)

“That’s one of the advantages of middle age. You don’t have to pretend you’re cultured.”

Julie Anne Lindsey‘s Geek Girl Mysteries are a delight. The main character runs an IT department–as well as helping run her grandmother’s company–and accidentally gets involved in murder mysteries. Mia is a twin, loves dressing up for ren faires and cons and is just a DELIGHT. (2015-2016)

Are you upset because your brother is outside and knows you stayed here last night?”

He snarled. “Aren’t you?”

I made a show of checking my watch. “Nope. It says here this isn’t 1955 anymore, and I’m a grown-ass woman.”

Josh Lanyon writes LGBT mysteries, both series Adrien English (2000-2016) and Holmes & Moriarity (2009-2018) as well as several stand-alone mysteries. All of these books have boinking, and I don’t really recommend starting with the Adrien English series. I tend to prefer her stand-alones, and also a lot of crap tends to happen to Adrien. I highly recommend Come Unto These Yellow Sands and Murder Takes the High Road if you’re looking for a stand-alone and are ok with boinking.

The house was an original Craftsman bungalow. It had been in terrible shape when Taylor bought it two years previously. Actually, it was still in terrible shape, but Taylor was renovating it, one room at a time, in his spare hours.

C.S. Poe‘s Winter & Snow is set in NYC. The main character is an antiques dealer, and his partner is a cop, but Sebastian is definitely the sleuth in this series. This is an LGBT book and has a fair amount of boinking. Also, the mysteries can get a little ridiculous, but I like Sebastian so much I end up being ok with it. (2016-2019)

Clothes shopping was stressful for me. Department stores were so bright, and there was apparently a concept of clashing colors. My idea of adding new options to my wardrobe was heading out to secondhand shops with Pop, letting him grab a dozen items in dark colors he says won’t hurt anyone’s eyes if I mix and match, then we’re out in ten minutes.

I read Lisa Lutz Spellman Files soon after it was published, and mean to read the next book and… never got around to it. (2007-2014)

F. Paul Wilson‘s Repairman Jack may or may not fit better onto a fantasy list, but some of the books don’t have supernatural elements. This is another series I started and never finished and haven’t gotten back into. (1984-)

You’ll notice some big series are missing. I’ve never been able to get into Sara Paretsky‘s V.I. Warshawski, and although I could read Sue Grafton’s Kinsey Milhone series, they just never drew me in the way other series have.

So what’cha got for me? Anything I’m missing and definitely need to read?

Though it is possible I’ve read it and just wasn’t into it, so you can peruse the author list here.

Categorical Books

I first discovered historical mysteries through books that were written as contemporaries: Sir Arthur Conan Doyle‘s Sherlock Holmes, and Agatha Christie‘s Miss Marple mysteries.

Around this time I also found (literally found, in the house we moved into) Ian Flemings James Bond series (1950s and 60s). (Would I enjoy them today? I’m terrified to find out so I haven’t re-read them.)

I just checked, and I received The Complete Sherlock Holmes when I was 12, and I regularly re-read the series. (I haven’t reviewed it because writing a review for each story seems daunting, and a review for the entire series would just be I LOVE THIS.)

Another “contemporary” series I loved is Georgette Heyer Inspector Hannasyde series. There’s something I love about seeing a time through the eyes of those who were living in it.

But most of the historical mysteries have been written in the modern day looking back into the past. And most of what I adore tends to have been thoroughly researched. (You want me to love your book? Give me a bibliography at the end.) So here are some of my favorite historical mystery series. If you click on an author you can see my reviews for all the books in the series–you’ll notice that for some of these books my ratings go up and down across the series, and that for some books my ratings change over time and after re-reads.

Peter Tremayne: Sister Fidelma is a religieuse and legal advocat in 7th century Ireland. Grandmom and I both loved this series, and I’ve been slowly finding electronic copies of the books to re-read (and finish the series).

Ellis Peters‘s Brother Cadfael series, set in England & Wales in the 1130s and 1140s. Brother Cadfael is Welsh Benedictine monk and herbalist who spent his young crusading. He is a fascinating character and every single book has something I love. I still haven’t read the last two book, because then the series will be truly over for me.

(L)eave agonising too much over your sins, black as they are, there isn’t a confessor in the land who hasn’t heard worse and never turned a hair. It’s a kind of arrogance to be so certain you’re past redemption.”

Candace Robb‘s Owen Archer series, set in England (mostly) in the mid 1300s. I am currently re-reading this series and enjoying it. Owen has been Captain of Archers and the Duke of Lancaster’s man until he lost an eye, at which point he becomes a spy for the Duke. After the Duke’s death, Owen takes on a position with John Thoresby, Lord Chancellor of England and Archbishop of York. The other main character in this series is Lucie Wilton, master Apothecary. I love the characters and all the historical bits in this series.

In his mind he felt as if he’d been looking at her upside down all his life, and suddenly he’d been righted and saw that she was the very opposite of all he’d believed her to be. He tried to retrieve his old love, but her smell, her cruelty, her lies kept crowding his head.

I picked up the first book in C.S. Harris‘s Sebastian St Cyr series when I fell in love with the cover. Set in Great Britain in the Napoleonic era, Sebastian was a third son who joined the army but had to return when he unexpectedly became the heir. The first book sees Sebastian accused of murder, but with the second book, there are multiple long-running story arcs that develop all the characters in the series. Grandmom also loved this series.

“Tell me what you need me to do,” he said, “and I’ll do it.”

He felt her hands tremble in his. “Sit and talk to me, will you? Most of my acquaintances seem to assume that I’ve either dosed myself senseless with laudanum, or that since this is third experience with widowhood then I must be taking it comfortably in stride. I can’t decide which is more insulting.”

Bruce Alexander‘s Sir John Fielding series is set in England set in the mid 1700s. The main character is Jeremy Proctor, an orphan taken in my Sir John Fielding, and gets involved in the cases of the Bow Street Magistrate. Grandmom really loved this series, and I really want to re-read this series, but it’s not all available in electronic format AND I loaned the first book of the series to someone and have no idea who.

Michelle Diener‘s Susanna Horenbout and John Parker series set in England in 1525, which is about two actual historical figures one of whom is the king’s illuminator. Also her Regency London series set in 1811 and 1812 which are historical mystery / romances. Both series have boinking.

“If I hadn’t seen yer there with me own eyes, painting it, I’d never believe ’twas a woman done it.”

The landlord meant it as praise, but suddenly exhausted, drained of all energy, Susanna was not able to summon even a weak smile at the insult.

I stumbled across Diana Gabaldon‘s Lord John in a collection of fantasy novellas and almost immediately fell in love. Set in the 1750s, Lord John is major in the British Army, in the unit commanded by his brother. Lord John is a gay man at a time when sodomy could be punished with the death penalty, and one of the things I adore about this series is the amount of research she did into the molly houses and the language used by gay men at that time. But first and foremost they are good stories. (NOTE: I have not read and will not read the Outlander series because I DESPISE time travel stories.) There is some boinking here.

(L)ove that sacrificed honor was less honest than simple lust, and degraded those who professed to glory in it.

Tracy Grant‘s Malcom & Suzanne Rannoch series jumps about in time during the Napoleonic era with the different books, which works fine, and lets you read the series in any order you can find them. Suzanne is / was a French spy and Malcolm a spy for England. They are a married couple, and in the earlier books, Malcolm has no idea she spies for Napolean. Many later books in the series deal with their struggle after he discovers she was an agent (not to mention all the other disconcerting surprises). The Lescaut Quartet, also set in Europe during the Napoleonic era are romances before mysteries, but the mysteries are very good, and I’ve re-read them several times. (There is boinking here.)

“If I imply you’re nursing her that will be sure to deflect questions. Amazing how squeamish that can make some people—including many of the gentlemen who don’t think twice about looking down one’s bodice when one isn’t feeding a baby.”

Madeleine E. Robins‘s Sarah Tolerance series set in England in the 1810s. Sarah is a fallen woman, but instead of becoming a prostitute, or a mistress (or a madame like her aunt) she becomes an inquiry agent.

Anna Lee Huber Lady Darby series (Scotland and England in the 1830s) is about a window who has been shunned by society because it was discovered she drew the pictures for her late husband’s anatomy books, and so everyone assumes she was a willing participant (she was not). The Verity Kent series (set in England post The Great War) is about a widow struggling after her husband was lost in the war, and the mystery of what happened to him. I like this one a little less well, but for the most part I’ve enjoyed everything she’s written.

She thrived on conflict. The bigger the reaction she got out of you, the more it pleased her. And the more likely she was to continue goading you. The swiftest way to beat her at her own game was to refuse to engage, be it with anger or discomfiture.

Alissa Johnson‘s Thief-Takers series is another historical mystery / romance and this one is full of boinking, despite all the boinking I adore the characters and the stories. Plus, the third book has a heroine with disability that causes much of the misunderstanding between the two. Set in England in the 1870s.

T.F. Banks Memoirs of a Bow Street Runner set in Victorian England is a two book series written by Sean Russell and Ian Dennis.

Jane Steen‘s Lady Helena Investigates set in England in 1881 is about a woman trying to learn about her husband’s death while also trying to assert some independence from her family.

(D)eepest mourning should be carried out with the mirrors covered, you know. You’re not supposed to be looking at yourself and considering who you are.

Charles Todd (a mother and son writing pair) have two series set around The Great War. The Bess Crawford is a nursing sister who is often on the front hospitals, and comes across deaths that don’t seem due to battle. It amazes me how frequently soldiers and nursing sisters return to England for leave and then head right back to battle. The Inspector Ian Rutledge series is set after the war is about a police inspector who is trying to hide the fact he is shell shocked while trying to be a police inspector.

“Tell me something. Why is everyone so determined to believe Wilton is innocent?”

Surprised, Davies said, “He’s a war hero isn’t he? Admired by the King and a friend of the Prince of Wales. He’s visited Sandringham, been received by Queen Mary herself! A man like that doesn’t go around killing people!”

With a wry downturn of his lips, Rutledge silently asked, How did he win his medals, you fool, if not by being so very damned good at killing?

Will Thomas‘s Barker & Llewelyn series set in the 1880s in London, about a private inquiry agent and the young man he takes on as his assistance. I really enjoy learning about Barker’s past, and how he developed the various skills that led him to his profession as an inquiry agent.

A wooden chair on casters was pulled up to the desk, a chair which had been worn down by the seat of (character)’s trousers for years but would be worn down no farther.

Alan Bradley‘s Flavia de Luce series set in England in the 1950s is about a precocious girl whose family lives in genteel poverty and who regularly gets into trouble because she sticks her nose where it doesn’t belong. She also loves chemistry. I haven’t read the last several books in this series.

I.J. Parker‘s Akitada series, set in 11th century Japan. For many of the books I like the setting more than the mysteries.

Caleb Carr‘s The Alienist is probably one everyone is familiar with, and one of the few historicals I’ve enjoyed set in the US.

Series that I have abandoned but mean to get back to:
Laura Joh Rowland‘s Sano Ichiro series.
Stefanie Pintoff‘s Simon Ziele series.
David Liss Benjamin Weaver series.

Series I have read but did NOT love and/or abandoned and won’t go back to:
Victoria Thompson‘s Gaslight mysteries (I actually might retry this series).
Sherry Thomas‘s Lady Sherlock series (it’s complicated and I am more that willing to discuss it).
Sheri Cobb South‘s John Pickett series.
Deanna Raybourn‘s Lady Julia Gray series, although I am still borrowing this Veronica Speedwell series from the library as it comes out.
Elizabeth Peters‘s Vicki Bliss series.
Andrea Penrose‘s Lady Arianna Hadley series.
Michael Jecks Knights Templar series.
Ashley Gardner‘s Captain Lacey series.
Charles Finch‘s Charles Lennox series.

OK, so what have y’all got for me?

Categorical Books

The world is getting me down, so I’m going to try to write some about a topic that makes me happy: books.

I’m going to break it down by categories, and I will TOTALLY be looking for recommendations, because Amazon’s recommendations are useless (as are goodreads) and most of the book blogs I follow (and book podcasts I listen to) are about new and upcoming books.

I will say that Book Riot’s Get Book Podcast is good for coming across recommendations, but those recommendations are for whatever people have written in to ask for (“Amanda and Jenn discuss alternate history novels, more murder, culturally diverse romance, and more in this week’s episode of Get Booked.”) but often I want a recommendation for the specific genre I’m in the mood for Right Now.

I’ll be adding to this reference post as I go. How many posts will I write? No idea. Until I get bored or run out of categories or just decide to spend the rest of the year under the covers curled up reading.

Historical Mysteries
Categorical Books: PI Mysteries
Categorical Mysteries: Police Procedurals
Categorical Books: Supernatural Mysteries
Categorical Books: Supernatural Fantasy
Categorical Books: Paranormal Romance
Categorical Books: Urban Fantasy
Categorical Books: Fantasy
Categorical Books: Ace Romances