Selecting the top five books from the 34 I reviewed for Crime Fiction Lover this past year sounds at first like an impossible task. Probably because I’m selective about what I review, nearly every one of them has some interesting, entertaining, or nicely rendered aspects. Nevertheless, the following five rise above the others to be the best of the bunch.
5 – Correction Line by Craig Terlson
The writing of Canadian author Craig Terlson was previously unknown to me, and his deft crime thriller drew me in with its compelling characters. They aren’t bland or predictable. And as they chase around rural Western Canada in search of a miracle cure wanted by the mysterious criminal Dave, you’re never far from that fundamental question for mystery fiction: “What on earth happens next?” And his characters are such that you really care about the answer. Read the full review here.
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4 – What Doesn’t Kill Us by Ajay Close
Inspired by true events in the 1970s – the Yorkshire Ripper case and dismay over a bungled police investigation, which did not take the murders of sex workers seriously – this novel is a trip down memory lane and so much more. A houseful of feminists provides often witty critiques of the constabulary and heartfelt, deeply personal desire for reform. Half a century later, news reports regularly remind us that the kinds of prejudice against women that the feminists railed against persist in many guises and in many places. Read the full review here.
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3 – The Translator by Harriet Crawley
This is a worthy entry in the John Le Carré legacy sweepstakes, not available in the US until 2024. In this political thriller, translators (and former secret lovers) working for the UK and Russian governments learn about Russia’s plans to sever a transatlantic communications cable. If this event happens, it will be a catastrophe, and stopping it won’t be simple. Yet it’s only the start of the couple’s problems. Without revealing their personal relationship, they must also devise a way to get Marina and her son out of Russia before her treachery is revealed. Definitely edge-of-your-seat stuff. The full review is here.
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2 – The Teacher by Tim Sullivan
Pure entertainment here. This series by film and television screenwriter Tim Sullivan features Avon and Somerset detective George Cross, who’s somewhere on the autism spectrum. His partner understands him, but he baffles everyone else. Not one to give up on a case, Cross will nail those details down, even when told to desist, and even if it kills him (which it just might, someday). This doggedness makes him beloved of prosecutors, who like an airtight case, and the bane of his colleagues, who just want to close them out and move on. Humour and a compelling, if unlikely, hero. Read the full review here.
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1 – Precipice by Robert Harris
I’ve recommended this book to so many people! The story takes place during the critical days in the run-up to World War I and the war’s early period, when real-life British Prime Minister Henry Asquith carried on a (mostly) epistolary relationship with a woman 35 years his junior, Venetia Stanley. That someone with so many lives in his hands would be sidetracked by a juvenile romantic obsession is astonishing. Even more so when you consider the sheer number of his letters – 560, sometimes three or four a day – and the probable violations of the Official Secrets Act. Most shocking of all, though Venetia’s letters in Precipice are written by Robert Harris, Asquith’s lovelorn prose and divulging of war strategy are verbatim. Harris’s reputation as a first-rate historical thriller author is firmly intact here. Here’s the full review.
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