Pondering a Change…

When I first started this blog, my original intention was to help others discover truly great mysteries and thrillers.  As a very critical reviewer, I wanted to post only the best books in the genre.  However, I’m finding it difficult to post every week, simply because I haven’t read a truly great book in awhile.  Most books are mediocre and only the few excellent ones deserve to be mentioned here.  This means that I don’t write much until a book comes along and blows me away.

So now I’m wondering if I should post about all the books I read (or don’t finish), no matter whether they are great reads or not.

What do you think?  Should I keep the blog focused on the best of the best or everything I read?

New Additions to the IMBA’s Best Mysteries List?

In 2000 the Independent Mystery Booksellers Association looked back at a century of murder and compiled a list of the 100 Favorite Mysteries of the Century.  Booksellers, who belong to the association, submitted their favorite mysteries and the results were printed in Jim Huang’s paperback, 100 Favorite Mysteries of the Century. I’ve used the list as a guide, especially to make sure that I eventually read all the classics. Since no author appears more than once, it gives readers one title that IMBA deems the author’s best.  While I’ve read Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Agatha Christie, Dashiell Hammett, and Raymond Chandler, the list introduced me to authors that I hadn’t read before, like James Crumley and James Lee Burke.  I’m not finished reading all of the books on the list, but I intend to.

Even though the list is limited to books published in the 20th century, I wondered what books, published after 2000, deserve their place in this esteemed pantheon of “Best Mysteries”.  After much deliberation, and taking account the prolific number of superb books these authors have written, I believe the following three books should (and will) be on IMBA’s future “Best Mysteries” list.

Laural Lippman – What the Dead Know (She also deserves credit for her Tess Monaghan series)

Val McDermid – A Place of Execution

George Pelecanos – Right as Rain

What authors and books, since 2000, would YOU add?  Please comment below.

REVIEW: A Stolen Season by Steve Hamilton

Since the very first book in the series, A Cold Day in Paradise, I have been a huge fan of the Alex McKnight series.  Part of the reason is Steve Hamilton’s excellent, terse writing.  However, it’s the character of Alex McKnight that really intrigues me.  McKnight isn’t like all those “smart” P.I.s out there. He often makes stupid decisions, reacts impulsively, and uses brute force. Unfortunately, he always seems to think with his fists first.

This latest McKnight adventure sees Alex as happy as he’s ever been, and the reason is his girlfriend, Natalie Reynaud. As she goes undercover in Toronto to take down a gun smuggling ring, he constantly worries about her, even though they talk every night on the phone. When a boat collides at full-speed with some old bridge pilings, McKnight manages to save the occupants.  However, they’re not as grateful as one would think.  Then Natalie shows up in Paradise to surprise McKnight, only to be caught in the same web with the shady characters from the boat accident.

There’s raw emotion in the pages of this novel, and McKnight’s travels all over Michigan’s Upper Peninsula keep the plot moving along. There’s something about a cold, wintry mystery that I just love, and Hamilton delivers better than most.  (If you’ve never read an Alex McKnight novel, start at the beginning with A Cold Day in Paradise.  You won’t be disappointed.)

10 Favorite Authors I Look Forward to Reading in 2009

1- The Mystic Arts of Erasing All Signs of Death – Charlie Huston (Bought this hardback as soon as it was released in January)
2- The Reapers - John Connolly (Finally out in paperback in the UK, but released on April 28 in the US)
3 – The Renegades – T. Jefferson Parker (I’m currently reading L.A. Outlaws right now and loving it. Out now in hardback.)
4 – The Dead of Winter – Rennie Airth (His third John Madden mystery coming out in hardback on July 23)
5 – The Scarecrow – Michael Connelly (Connelly brings back Jack McEvoy on May 26 in hardback)
6 – Revelation – C.J. Sansom (Shardlake’s fourth adventure. Out now in hardback.)
7 -  The Way Home – George Pelecanos (Released in hardback on May 12.)
8 – The Last Child – John Hart (The author of Down River has become one of my favorite storytellers.  This one comes out on May 12th.)
9 – The Deceived – Brett Battles (Thoroughly enjoyed Battles’ first thriller. His second one finally comes out in paperback in June.)
10 – Gone Tomorrow – Lee Child (Another Jack Reacher adventure not to be missed on May 19.)