Reading the Detectives discussion

As we come towards the end of the year, what were your favourite reads of 2022?

A few questions you may want to think about... (no need to answer all of them, just those you want to!)

Which mysteries/crime books that you read with the group did you enjoy the most?

Which personal crime/mystery reads did you enjoy the most?

Which authors do you want to read more of?

What were your favourite non-mystery/detective books in 2022?

What were your least favourite books this year?

Do you have any reading resolutions for 2023?

I'll get us started off...

Which mysteries/crime books that you read with the group did you enjoy the most?

My favourite read with the group this year has to be Malice Aforethought by Francis Iles aka Anthony Berkeley, one of our challenge reads. I also really enjoyed another challenge book, The Missing Partners by Henry Wade.

Which personal crime/mystery reads did you enjoy the most?

I enjoyed Post After Post-Mortem: An Oxfordshire Mystery by E.C.R. Lorac, about an eccentric family full of writers, Suicide Excepted by Cyril Hare which was very clever and hard to put down, and the audible book of Death at Breakfast by John Rhode, a gripping Golden Age tale.

My favourite mystery by a current writer was The Satapur Moonstone by Sujata Massey, the second in the Perveen Mistry series about a young Indian lawyer in the 1920s. I also have book 3 and am looking forward to that one. The Perveen Mistry books are also beautifully produced and I love the whole experience of reading them!

Which authors do you want to read more of?

There are so many. I want to read more by Anthony Berkeley, John Rhode, and many of the authors published by British Library and Dean Street Press. I was excited to see that more titles by Moray Dalton are being published by DSP next year - she is one of the many that I've really enjoyed discovering.

What were your favourite non-mystery/detective books in 2022?

I really liked Eileen: The Making of George Orwell by Sylvia Topp, a long biography of Eileen Blair, Orwell's first wife, who was very interesting in her own right and worked in PR for the Ministry of Food during World War Two. I also finally read the classic Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe, which is just as brilliant as everyone had told me it was.

What were your least favourite books this year?

I mainly gave up on anything that I didn't really like. I was disappointed by The Rations Challenge: Forty Days of Feasting in a Wartime Kitchen by Claud Fullwood. I thought this would go into detail about her spending 40 days living on wartime rations, but in fact it turned out to be republished blog posts which I think were probably aimed at her fellow church members, and included a lot of rather vague advice, such as inviting people you don't know round for lunch.

Do you have any reading resolutions for 2023?

The main one is to continue enjoying my reading. I've mainly read quite light books in the last few months, as life has been busy, and realistically this is likely to continue in 2023, but I hope to fit in a few more demanding titles too.

My absolute favourite is Dorothy Sayers. I have read them all three times this year.However I have recently found Winspears 'Maisie Dobbs' and so far have read the final three, Nos 15.16 and 17 Set inthe early part of WW2. she conveys the atmosphere of those days perfectly - I experienced the blitz in the Midlands so I do know what it was like! Her books are very much different from the 'normal' run of detective fiction, relatively slow moving but gripping and involved. I shall buy more of her earlier ones set around WW1 and between the wars although much cheaper onKindle are still fairly expensive for me

I got around to hardly any of the group or buddy reads here over the past year, so my resolution is to read more GA mysteries in 2023. (The wartime Michael Innes books we read made my worst list, but I’m looking forward to getting into the postwar novels.)

Many of my favorite books of 2022 were rereads such as The Enchanted April and Lolly Willowes. But first-time reads that especially impressed me were Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin.

Sorry, I was composing an answer but lost it! I’ll be briefer this time - of our 2022 challenge, I enjoyed revisiting Christie, Sayers, and the new Cyril Hare, with Francis Pettigrew. I’m glad we’re continuing to read him.

My personal favorites this year are historical mystery series I enjoy, C.S. Harris’ St. Cyr series (Regency era), Allison Montclair’s Sparks and Bainbridge series (London, post-WWII), and the currently set Bryant & May series. I’ve also continued reading ECR Lorac, a GA author discovered through this group in the last few years.

I’ve been pursuing a personal reading challenge to read one nonfiction book a month, and tried to choose carefully, titles I’d had on my TBR pile for a long time, and had been reviewed as “great introduction to this” or “perfect for lay audience”, etc. I’ve read some wonderful, enjoyable history and science books, mainly, and plan to continue in 2023 as a personal challenge. I’d also like to read more fiction from the last century, and as two of my other groups have that focus, I look forward to that, as well as the wonderful challenge our mods have cooked up for us here!

Like Judy, I mainly gave up on books I didn’t like, and will be better about that this year - too many good books I want to read, if I’m not hooked with the first 50 pages or so, chuck it and move on!

1. Which mysteries/crime books that you read with the group did you enjoy the most?

The Francis Pettigrew books, Maigret, Michael Gilbert, Sarah Caudwell, Catherine Aird, Donna Leon and Slough House.

2. Which personal crime/mystery reads did you enjoy the most?

Continuations of series ended up being my favorites, but a couple of standout stand alones were The Maid, Harlem Shuffle and State of Terror. I also discovered The Clutter Corpse which will lead me to the author's many other series.

3. What were your favorite non-mystery/detective books in 2022?

Otherlands: A Journey Through Earth's Extinct Worlds, Travels with George: In Search of Washington and His Legacy, Fuzz: When Nature Breaks the Law, Act of Oblivion and a wonderful audio book, Did Ye Hear Mammy Died? A Memoir.

4. What were your least favorite books this year?

There were several I didn't finish ...

5. Do you have any reading resolutions?

I have had a couple for a few years: read at least 12 non-fiction books and 24 that I own. It used to be 12 owned books, but I often buy more than that and I was making no progress. I really need to up it once again.

Sandy wrote: "1. Which mysteries/crime books that you read with the group did you enjoy the most?

The Francis Pettigrew books, Maigret, Michael Gilbert, Sarah Caudwell, Catherine Aird, Donna Leon and Slough Hou..."

Oh, Otherlands: A Journey Through Earth's Extinct Worlds and Travels with George: In Search of Washington and His Legacy were two of my favorite nonfiction titles! I want to read more by these two writers, along with John Julius Norwich, just finished his very enjoyable A History of France - love his writing style.

Addition:
4. What were your least favorite books this year?

Two (of several) unfinished books were Roseana, from this group, and one that is making many of the 'best' lists: Killers of a Certain Age.

Susan in NC wrote: "Sandy wrote: "1. Which mysteries/crime books that you read with the group did you enjoy the most?

The Francis Pettigrew books, Maigret, Michael Gilbert, Sarah Caudwell, Catherine Aird, Donna Leon ..."

I could use a history of France. I put aside an historical novel because I didn't know enough of the background. Thanks for the recommendation.

Sandy wrote: "Susan in NC wrote: "Sandy wrote: "1. Which mysteries/crime books that you read with the group did you enjoy the most?

The Francis Pettigrew books, Maigret, Michael Gilbert, Sarah Caudwell, Catheri..."

You bet! The latest St Cyr mystery was set in Paris as the Bourbons were returning to the French throne, and Napoleon was escaping from Elba. The author (C.S. Harris) made all of the historical characters and situations so interesting, I wanted to learn more. That’s what prompted me to read the Norwich history- I saw Susan’s review, and read others that made it sound enjoyable for the lay reader.

Sandy wrote: "I have had a couple for a few years: read at least 12 non-fiction books and 24 that I own. It used to be 12 owned books, but I often buy more than that and I was making no progress. I really need to up it once again."

Great idea, Sandy. I need to think about a resolution like this - there are so many books on my shelves and my Kindle that I haven't read yet...

Same, here!

Which personal crime/mystery reads did you enjoy?

This year I listened to and enjoyed 9 of the 11 Detective Aurelio Zen audiobooks set in Italy by Michael Dibdin. Half way through the series I sadly read that Dibdin died at only 60 years of age with the last novel in the series being published posthumously.

Had become a bit jaded with the descriptions of the use of DNA testing, police databases, electron microscopes and mobile phone tracking to solve crimes in the latest crime novels. These methods make it all seem a bit too easy to catch the villain. Therefore I turned to the good old fashioned Commissioner Maigret series written by Georges Simeon with the first novel published in 1931. In total there are 75 novels in the series and so there are plenty more for me to look forward to.

Which authors do you want to read more of?
In no particular order:
- Georges Simenon
- Andrea Camilleri
- Elmore Leonard
- Arnaldur Indriðason

What were your least favourite books this year?

The Late Show by Michael Connelly. I found the protagonist Detective Ballard to be too unlikeable. I didn’t think the ends justified the means when she was breaking basic police procedures, lying to colleagues, trespass and hacking a police database.

Do you have any reading resolutions for 2023?
I want to read some good Finnish crime novels next year. If you have any suggestions let me know.

@sean Leena Lehtolainen is a good option for Finnish crime. I've enjoyed the first two books I read in her series.

Thanks Carolien, I’ll check her out

Favorite mysteries read in 2022:
With a Bare Bodkin by Cyril Hare
A Six-Letter Word for Death by Patricia Moyes
Inspector French's Greatest Case by Freeman Wills Crofts.

Favorite non-traditional "spy novel" listened to for the third time:
Transcription by Kate Atkinson, performed exquisitely by Fenella Woolgar.

Favorite of several Dickens' books listened to in 2022:
Nicholas Nickleby performed by Simon Vance.

Best mystery series started to be continued in 2023:
Her Majesty the Queen Investigates series by S.J. Bennett,
Inspector French series by Freeman Wills Crofts,
Tommy Hambledon series by Manning Coles,
Jim Qwilleran series by Lilian Jackson Braun.

Reviewing my 2022 books was a great exercise and reminded me of some authors I want to revisit in 2023!

Joanne wrote: "Favorite mysteries read in 2022:
With a Bare Bodkin by Cyril Hare
A Six-Letter Word for Death by Patricia Moyes
[book:Inspector French'..."

I also started, and plan to continue, Her Majesty the Queen Investigates series by S.J. Bennett. Hopefully the author doesn't feel it is disrespectful.

Which mysteries/crime books that you read with the group did you enjoy the most?
In the challenge I most enjoyed Tragedy at Law and am pleased to have discovered Cyril Hare. I also really liked the Maigret and Bobby Owen series reads - from a rather ordinary beginning, Bobby Owen has become a bit of a favourite!

Which personal crime/mystery reads did you enjoy the most?
Along with thousands of others, I found the Richard Osman Thursday Murder Club books were great fun. At completely the other end of the scale, I enjoyed discovering the dark quirky books of Will Carver. And Five Minds by Guy Morpuss was a great thriller.

Which authors do you want to read more of?
This year I really want to get back to some of the series I’ve partially completed - Montalbano, Bernie Gunther, Ruth Galloway, Harry Hole etc.

What were your favourite non-mystery/detective books in 2022?
Even though I’m not a fan of comic books, I loved The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay by Michael Chabon for its panoramic view of 1940s/50s US history.

What were your least favourite books this year?
I didn’t have any DNF or real duds this year, but I was disappointed with The Light of Day by Graham Swift. I still want to read Waterland though.

Do you have any reading resolutions for 2023?
I’m definitely going to read more non- fiction and am aiming for 2 books each month. I’m also going to read more books that I already own, and read more on impulse rather than planning too much.

Personal crime/mystery reads I enjoyed the most: The House of Silk by Anthony Horowitz, The Woodcutter by Reginald Hill, The Seven Dials Mystery by Agatha Christie and Police at The Funeral by Margery Allingham

Authors I want to read more of: Agatha Christie, Dorothy L Sayers, Josephine Tey, Ngaio Marsh, Margery Allingham, Anthony Berkeley

Favourite non-mystery/detective books in 2022: The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck, Bleak House by Charles Dickens

Reading resolutions for 2023: Want to read more classic crime fiction, especially from the Golden Age of Detective Fiction