A reliable pointer, more or less, to sparkling crime fiction, the Edgars, just announced, offer something for everyone, though I’ll only try one. Here are the winners:
- Blue Heaven by C.J. Box (Best Novel) – I’ve read a few in his Joe Pickett series without getting hooked; this is his first standalone
- The Foreigner by Francie Lin (Best First Novel) – set in Taiwan, the first mystery I can recall placed there
- China Lake by Meg Gardiner (Best Paperback Original) – a new author to me, this, her seventh, is said to be kinetically plotted; I’m intrigued enough to put it on the list
Others on the three short lists:
- Karin Alvtegen’s Missing - another Swedish author to hit the international market
- Sins of the Assassin by Robert Ferrigno – this is one fine author but the first in this futuristic, violent series, Prayers of the Assassin, wasn’t enjoyable at all
- The Price of Blood by Declan Hughes – an Irish PI series
- The Night Following by Morag Joss – English psychological suspense a la Rendell
- Lisa Lutz’s Curse of the Spellmans – Publishers Weekly tags it as a ‘lighthearted romp’
- The Kind One by Tom Epperson – Chandleresque ’30s noir, not to be confused with The Kindly Ones!
- Calumet City by Charlie Newton – I’ll be bold enough to claim this as the best of the bunch, a tough, dark and sweetly written rollercoaster
- Justin Peacock’s A Cure for Night – looks intriguing, a failed lawyer in Brooklyn
- The Prince of Bagram Prison by Alex Carr – the author is actually Jenny Siler, whose thrillers I’ve loved, but the Baghdad setting doesn’t attract me
- Money Shot by Christa Faust – stars a former porn star
- Enemy Combatant by Ed Gaffney – one Amazon reviewer suggests it’s a cross between Grisham and 24
- Tom Piccirilli’s The Cold Spot – noirish thriller