These were my favorite books of the year…
The Last Devil To Die
from the publisher: The gang’s search leads them into the antiques business, where the tricks of the trade are as old as the objects themselves. As they encounter drug dealers, art forgers, and online fraudsters—as well as heartache close to home—Elizabeth, Joyce, Ron, and Ibrahim have no idea whom to trust.
This has been my favorite of the amazing series. Not sure how Osman keeps besting himself, but he has.
Publisher: Pamela Dorman Books (September 19, 2023)
Language: English
Hardcover: 368 pages
ISBN-10: 0593299426
One Puzzling Afternoon
from the publisher: It is 1951, and at number six Sycamore Street fifteen-year-old Edie Green is lonely. Living with her eccentric mother and her mother’s new boyfriend, she is desperate for something to shake her from her dull, isolated life. Then Lucy goes missing. Now in 2018, Edie is eighty-four and still living in the same small town, when one afternoon she glimpses Lucy Theddle, still looking the same as she did at fifteen. Her family write it off as one of her many mix ups, there’s a lot Edie gets confused about these days. But Edie knows she’s the key to finding Lucy.
It is clever without being TOO clever, and the solution is satisfying without being twee.
Read via NetGalley.
Publisher: Sourcebooks Landmark (October 3, 2023)
Language: English
Paperback: 368 pages
ISBN-10: 1728287162
An English Murder
from the publisher: A country house murder mystery classic, as a party find themselves snowed-in on Christmas Eve with a murderer among them… The snow is thick, the phone line is down, and no one is getting in or out of Warbeck Hall. All is set for a lovely Christmas, with friends and family gathered round the fire, except as the bells chime midnight, a murder is committed. But who is responsible?
Yes, this is a set-up like any classic murder mystery but this was very fresh. No moldering has-beens here. And I’m now reading a collection of Cyril Hare’s detective stories. Consider me a fan.
Publisher: Faber & Faber; New edition (November 2, 2017)
Language: English
Paperback: 240 pages
ISBN-10: 0571339018
The Puzzle of Blackstone Lodge
from the publisher: A dazzling mystery peopled by clerics and medics; reporters and rogues, Blackstone Fell explores the shadowy borderlands between spiritual and scientific; between sanity and madness; and between virtue and deadly sin.
Read my review of two more Rachel Savernake mysteries.
Read via NetGalley.
Publisher: Poisoned Pen Press (August 1, 2023)
Language: English
Paperback : 400 pages
ISBN-10: 1728271045
Lady Caroline Lamb
Fraser sweeps the reader along with her to the unbelievable parties, to experience the societal pressure, to see indelible brilliance at the moment it was born. Importantly, she give Lady Caroline Lamb a voice, however desperate, and agency. She is not a pathetic, wispy thing. She is deeply emotional and deeply troubled, but she is not without purpose.
Read my full review.
My thanks to Pegasus Books for the advanced copy.
Publisher: Pegasus Books (June 6, 2023)
Language: English
Hardcover: 224 pages
ISBN-10: 1639364056
Ghost Slayers
I’m a huge fan of the British Library “Tales of the Weird” series and I was truly riveted by these tales, both for the adventure of the story but also the possibility of multiple explanations. They display philosophical ideas and thought experiments in the shape of an entertaining story.
Read my full review.
My thanks to Thomas at British Library Publishing for the review copy.
Publisher: British Library Publishing
Language: English
Paperback: 288 pages
ISBN-10: 0712354166
Dead Famous: An Unexpected History of Celebrity from Bronze Age to Silver Screen
from the publisher: In this ambitious history, that spans the Bronze Age to the coming of Hollywood’s Golden Age, Greg Jenner assembles a vibrant cast of over 125 actors, singers, dancers, sportspeople, freaks, demigods, ruffians, and more, in search of celebrity’s historical roots.
I’m a huge fan of Jenner’s podcast “You’re Dead to Me” and his writing is equally as funny and insightful.
Publisher: Weidenfeld & Nicolson (March 1, 2022)
Language: English
Paperback: 416 pages
ISBN-10: 1780225660
1923 – The Mystery of Lot 212
This book is truly readable for anyone who likes a good wander down a rabbit hole. The reader need never have seen a moment of a cycle race to enjoy it — although it may make you want to tune in next year and raise a glass to the ones who rode before.
My thanks to Bloomsbury for the review copy. Read via NetGalley.
Publisher: Bloomsbury Sport (August 22, 2023)
Language: English
Hardcover: 288 pages
ISBN-10: 1399401548