These are some of the better mysteries I read this year. With the except of the three series at the end, I’ve noted only the books I particularly like. If you’d like to see all the books in the series, click on the author and you’ll see all the books listed in publication order at the top of the page.<\/p>\n
I read a lot of mysteries this year–more mysteries than fantasy at current count (this could change as I am currently tearing through the Mercy Thompson<\/a> series for the second time this year).<\/p>\n Most of the mystery I read was historical. For those who are particular about the historical mysteries, or just interested in reading about an unfamiliar era, I’ve noted the years in which the stories were set. (I recently started this, so if you go too far back in the archives, you won’t see the year(s).)<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Mystery<\/strong><\/p>\n Inspector Rebus<\/strong> Rebus is a fascinating character, with a past in the military before joining the Edinburgh police. He\u2019s a loner and has a sense of justice that doesn\u2019t always see following the rules as the best course of action. If you like police mysteries, this is a good introduction to Rebus. (I think the first story is one of the weaker ones, so don\u2019t judge Rebus on that story.)<\/p>\n I own this series mostly in paperback, and am hoping the ebooks go on sale soon so I can re-read them. <\/p>\n Inspector Montalbano<\/strong> If you are not familiar with Montalbano, then this short story collection, Montalbano\u2019s First Case and Other Stories<\/a><\/em>, would be an excellent place to start. It\u2019s in no way a complete collection (Andrea Camilleri is very prolific) but it gives you a good taste of the characters and the stories.<\/p>\n Some of my favorite exchanges in this series are between Montalbano and Cat. I especially like how Montalbano’s attitude towards Cat changes over the course of the series.<\/p>\n \u201cCatarella, I want you to do me a special, important favor.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cChief, when y\u2019ax me poissonally in poisson to do yiz a favor poissonally in poisson, yer doin\u2019 me a favor jess by axin\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n The baroque courtesies of Catarella.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n A Voice in the Night<\/a><\/em> (2012\/2016) Andrea Camilleri<\/a> translated by Stephen Sartarelli 8\/10 <\/p>\n Susanna Horenbout and John Parker<\/strong> I read all available books in this series, but this one I particularly liked. Susanna Horenbout is a Flemish painter sent by her father to the court of King Henry VIII to be his illuminator. John Parker is a trusted courtier of King Henry. Both were real historical figures about whom little is known, aside from their names and that they eventually married.<\/p>\n There is boinking in this series. <\/p>\n Regency London<\/strong> Giselle Barrington is the daughter of a folklorist with a fascination for cooking. After witnessing the murder of her father, she goes into hiding with the hopes she can pass on the message her father died for.<\/p>\n Although they are not historical characters, they are historically grounded, and the mystery was very good.<\/p>\n There is boinking in this series. <\/p>\n Lady Darby<\/strong> The first book was interesting, but didn\u2019t especially impress me. The succeeding books were much better done, and very enjoyable.<\/p>\n Lady Darby has spent the last year and a half hiding in Scotland with her sister and brother-in-law, after the death of her husband and the scandal that arose following that. Sebastian Gage is the son of a famous London inquiry agent. When a murder occurs, both Gage and Lady Darby look into the death\u2014Gage because of her father and Lady Darby because of her past scandal.<\/p>\n The mysteries here are particularly good. <\/p>\n Malcom & Suzanne Rannoch<\/strong> This is an interesting series that often jumps back and forth in time\u2014the books are written jumping through time, although most of the books stick to a single timeline. This book is latest in the timeline, and like all the books in the series, can be read without the previous books.<\/p>\n Malcolm and Suzanne are spies\u2014Malcolm for England and Suzanne for France. In this book, Malcolm knows of Suzanne\u2019s past, and they are continuing to work through the issues caused by this (and other) revelations. <\/p>\n Sebastian St. Cyr<\/strong> I picked up the first book in this series What Angels Fear<\/em><\/a> \u00a0back when it came out in 2005, and I\u2019ve pre-ordered every book in the series since then.<\/p>\n Sebastian St. Cyr, Viscount Devlin, is a young noble who returned from the Napoleonic wars far more bitter than when he left. A lot has happened to Sebastian since the start of the series, including a marriage and a child. I love this series, but you really should start at the beginning, for there are all kinds of revelations as the series progresses. <\/p>\n Kat Halloway<\/strong> Set in London in 1880.<\/p>\n Kat is a cook for Sir Lionel Leigh-Bradbury, and better than he deserves, but since he allows her an unusual numbers of days off, she is fine with the situation. They mystery is good, and I especially liked Kat. <\/p>\n I tore through several series–some completely through from start to finish–so rather than listing the books and ratings, I just listed them all in order. If you click through to the author page you can find my reviews on the individual books (and any other books written by that author).<\/p>\n The Sister Fidelma<\/strong> series by Peter Tremayne<\/a> This is a series I own most of in paperback, and am trying to find on sale as eBooks so I can re-read them. Peter Tremayne was the pseudonym for the scholar Peter Berresford Ellis, and the books are full of historical tidbits, many of which are surprising to the modern reader.<\/p>\n Clergy, even bishops, took spouses; even the religious of houses, whether mixed or not, could have wives and husbands, under Brehon law and custom. But the position of an abbot and abbess was in a different category for they were usually bound to celibacy.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n \u2018Easter?\u2019<\/p>\n \u2018The Saxons have accepted most of our teaching of Christian faith but as for the Paschal feast they insist on naming it after their pagan goddess of fertility, Eostre, whose rituals fall at the time of the Spring equinox.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n The mysteries in the first two books are fine, but improve (IIRC) over the course of the series. <\/p>\n The Brother Cadfael<\/strong> series by Ellis Peters<\/a> Brother Cadfael is a Welsh Benedictine monk and herbalist living in Shrewsbury, on the Welsh border. He lived a full life as a crusader before he came to take his vows, which makes him far more worldly that many others in his abbey. This series intertwines the fictional characters of the abbey with the historical events of the English Civil War between factions of Maud and Stephen.<\/p>\n The mysteries are good, but what I like best is brother Cadfael.<\/p>\n Meet every man as you find him, for we\u2019re all made the same under habit or robe or rags.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n (L)eave agonising too much over your sins, black as they are, there isn\u2019t a confessor in the land who hasn\u2019t heard worse and never turned a hair. It\u2019s a kind of arrogance to be so certain you\u2019re past redemption.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n What you yourself did, that you may rue, and confess, and do penance for, to your soul\u2019s content, but you may not lift another man\u2019s sins from his shoulders, or usurp God\u2019s right to be the only judge.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n There is no one who cannot be hated, against whatever odds. Nor anyone who cannot be loved, against all reason.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n A Morbid Taste for Bones<\/a><\/em> (1977), One Corpse Too Many<\/a><\/em> (1979), Monk\u2019s Hood<\/a><\/em> (1980), The Leper of Saint Giles<\/a><\/em> (1981), The Virgin in the Ice<\/a><\/em> (1982), The Sanctuary Sparrow<\/a><\/em> (1983), The Devil\u2019s Novice<\/a><\/em> (1983), Dead Man\u2019s Ransom<\/a><\/em> (1984), The Pilgrim of Hate<\/a><\/em> (1984), An Excellent Mystery<\/a><\/em> (1985), The Raven in the Foregate<\/a><\/em> (1986), The Rose Rent<\/a><\/em> (1986), The Hermit of Eyton Forest<\/a><\/em> (1987), The Confession of Brother Haluin<\/a><\/em> (1988), The Heretic\u2019s Apprentice<\/a><\/em> (1989), The Potter\u2019s Field<\/a><\/em> (1989), The Summer of the Danes<\/a><\/em> (1991), The Holy Thief<\/a><\/em> (1992)<\/p>\n <\/p>\n The Owen Archer<\/strong> series by Candace Robb<\/a> Owen Archer was the Captain of the Duke of Lancaster\u2019s archers until he lost an eye, after which he became the Duke\u2019s spy. After the Duke\u2019s death, he takes a position for John Thoresby, Lord Chancellor of England and Archbishop of York. The first book is all from Owen\u2019s POV, but the following books (with the exception of A Gift of Sanctuary<\/a><\/em>) splits POV between Owen and Lucie Wilton, the apothecary of the first book.<\/p>\n There are both fictional and historical characters throughout this series, and the author tried to be as true to both the historical characters and the time as she could. Lucie is a Master Apothecary not because women in such positions were common, but because the town needed her services and the Archbishop owed them a favor.\u00a0 It is these historical bits that most fascinate me.<\/p>\n \u201cLucie examined her, Tom. Got her hands in all that blood. What will that do to the child, Lucie looking at all that blood? And the horror of it all?\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n \u2018With each visitation of the pestilence folk have become more inventive with their precautions. A wealthy merchant asked yesterday for enough crushed diamonds to strew round his bed and cut Death\u2019s feet to shreds.\u2019<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Yet some things remain the same.<\/p>\n \u2018Do not leave,\u2019 Phillippa said as Lucie began to walk away. \u2018I am relieved to have spoken of it. But I do not remember\u2014 oh Lucie, it is the cruellest curse, to be witless one day, lucid the next. It is as if I have been sleepwalking and everyone has witnessed my foolishness. All look at me with such pity\u2014 and fear that they, too, might come to this end if they live so long as I have. It is horrible. Horrible.\u2019 Her jaw was set in anger and frustration.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n The Apothecary Rose<\/a><\/em> (1993), The Lady Chapel<\/a><\/em> (1994), The Nun\u2019s Tale<\/a><\/em> (1995), The King\u2019s Bishop<\/a><\/em> (1996), The Riddle of St. Leonard\u2019s<\/a><\/em> (1997), A Gift of Sanctuary<\/a><\/em> (1998), A Spy for the Redeemer<\/a><\/em> (2002), The Cross-Legged Knight<\/a><\/em> (2006), The Guilt of Innocents<\/a><\/em> (2006), A Vigil of Spies<\/a><\/em> (2008)<\/p>\n If you click through any of the Amazon links and buy something, it’ll get me hapenny or so, which will eventually let me buy another book.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" These are some of the better mysteries I read this year. With the except of the three series at the end, I’ve noted only the books I particularly like. If you’d like to see all the books in the series, click on the author and you’ll see all the books listed in publication order at […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":true,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[2,1090],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-13020","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-books-reading","category-years-favorites"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pefxA-3o0","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/notreally\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13020","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/notreally\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/notreally\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/notreally\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/notreally\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13020"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/notreally\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13020\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19636,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/notreally\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13020\/revisions\/19636"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/notreally\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13020"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/notreally\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13020"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/notreally\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13020"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nThis is a collection of all the Rebus stories, including a couple written just for this volume.<\/p>\n
\nThe Beat Goes On: The Complete Rebus Stories<\/a><\/em> (2015) Ian Rankin<\/a>\u00a0: 9\/10<\/strong><\/p>\n
\nI adore Inspector Montalbano, even though in real life I might be tempted to punch him.<\/p>\n
\nMontalbano\u2019s First Case and Other Stories<\/a><\/em> (2008\/ 2016) Andrea Camilleri<\/a> translated by Stephen Sartarelli\u00a0: 8\/10<\/strong><\/p>\n
\nSet in England in 1525<\/p>\n
\nIn a Treacherous Court<\/a><\/em> (2011) Michelle Diener<\/a>\u00a0: 8\/10<\/strong><\/p>\n
\nSet in London in 1812.<\/p>\n
\nBanquet of Lies<\/a><\/em> (2013) Michelle Diener<\/a>\u00a0: 9\/10<\/strong><\/p>\n
\nSet in Scotland, England, and Ireland 1830-1831<\/p>\n
\nMortal Arts<\/a><\/em> (2013) Anna Lee Huber<\/a>\u00a0: 8\/10<\/strong>
\nA Grave Matter<\/a><\/em> (2014) Anna Lee Huber<\/a>\u00a0: 8\/10<\/strong>
\nA Study in Death<\/a><\/em> (2015) Anna Lee Huber\u00a0: 8\/10<\/strong>
\nAs Death Draws Near<\/a> <\/em>(2016) Anna Lee Huber<\/a>\u00a0: 8\/10<\/strong><\/p>\n
\nSet in London in 1818<\/p>\n
\nLondon Gambit<\/a> <\/em>(2016) Tracy Grant<\/a>\u00a0: 8\/10<\/strong><\/p>\n
\nSet in England in 1813.<\/p>\n
\nWhen Falcons Fall<\/a><\/em> (2016) C.S. Harris<\/a>\u00a0: 8.5\/10<\/strong><\/p>\n
\nI started the Captain Lacey series and abandoned it several books in. Theoretically there are supposed to be more Kat Halloway mysteries coming, but I haven\u2019t seen one yet.<\/p>\n
\nA Soup\u00e7on of Poison<\/a><\/em> (2015) Ashley Gardener\u00a0: 8.5\/10<\/strong><\/p>\n
\nSet in England and Ireland in 664-<\/p>\n
\nAbsolution By Murder<\/a><\/em> (1994), Shroud for the Archbishop<\/a><\/em> (1995)<\/p>\n
\nThis series is set in England and Wales from 1137 to 1144.<\/p>\n
\nThis series is set in England and Wales from 1363 to 1373.<\/p>\n