This year brought readers a rich array of mystery fiction with involving plots and believable characters. Here are my picks for the year's best mystery fiction. Happy reading.
FAVORITE NOVELS
1. "Bluebird, Bluebird" by Attica Locke; Mullholland Books. An African-American Texas Ranger's investigation into the deaths of a black man and a white woman unflinchingly illustrates the intersection of race and justice in an insular Texas community. Locke, a writer and producer for the Fox drama "Empire," packs the excellent "Bluebird, Bluebird" with complicated, believable characters whose motives often are tied up in the complex morass of history and family.
2. "The Blinds" by Adam Sternbergh.; Ecco/HarperCollins. An imaginative idea about prison: Place the most violent murderers in an unescapable town and, as a kicker, wipe their memories clean. "The Blinds" expertly melds the thriller with the western, adding a soupcon of medical science fiction while paying a bit of homage to Jim Thompson's novels "The Getaway" and "Pop. 1280."
3. "He Said/She Said" by Erin Kelly; Minotaur. The backdrop of viewing solar eclipses makes for an unusual innovative story. Plenty of lore about the thrill of seeing an eclipse imbues "He Said/She Said," which also serves as a psychological thriller about a marriage, obsessions, secrets and how rape is viewed.
4. "Watch Me Disappear" by Janelle Brown; Random/Spiegel & Grau. Billie Flanagan's disappearance a year ago left the household in shambles with bills piling up and her husband, Jonathan, and teenage daughter Olive lacking the energy to even buy food or do laundry. An incisive view of how grief seeps into each aspect of a person's life, including financial. The family wonders just how well they knew Billie, who frequently took solo trips.
5. "The Marsh King's Daughter" by Karen Dionne; Putnam. A fresh plot delves into the emotional landscape of Helena Pelletier, whose mother was kidnapped and held captive in a remote cabin, where Helena was born three years later. To the world, her father was a monster, but Helena knew him only as her dad who taught her survival skills. Her secret past is revealed when her father escapes from prison.
6. "Wonder Valley" by Ivy Pochoda; Ecco. A large cast of characters and unconventional storytelling fuels this compassionate look at the displaced who long for a connection with another.
7. "Insidious Intent" by Val McDermid; Grove/Atlantic. McDermid's 10th novel about Det. Chief Insp. Carol Jordan and profiler Tony Hill delivers an incisive British police procedural. But equally important is the relationship between Carol and Tony. "Insidious Intent" takes such a turn both in plot and character development that McDermid adds a plea to readers and critics not to give away the ending.
8. "The Late Show" and "Two Kinds of Truth" by Michael Connelly; Mullholland Books. A year with two Michael Connelly novels is time for celebration. "The Late Show" launches a new series about Det. Renee Ballard, a tenacious investigator assigned to the midnight shift as punishment for filing sexual harassment charges against her former boss. Harry Bosch is back in "Two Kinds of Truth." The now-retired LAPD detective, who works as a volunteer with the tiny San Fernando Police Department, juggles two cases. An execution murder pulls Harry and the department into the world of a crime syndicate that specializes in prescription opioids. A new DNA test from a case Harry investigated 30 years ago seems to reveal that evidence was planted to convict a man now on death row.
9. "Blame" by Jeff Abbott; Grand Central. Teenager Jane Norton lost her memory and her boyfriend because of a car crash in which she was driving. Now someone is targeting those connected to the accident.
10. "The Fallen" by Ace Atkins; Putnam. Atkins' seventh novel looks at recent veterans returning home as Mississippi sheriff Quinn Colson grapples with a series of bank robberies and the disappearance of two teenage girls no one cares about.
11. "Y Is for Yesterday" by Sue Grafton; Putnam. Just one more novel to go in Grafton's series about private detective Kinsey Millhone. The series is not fading into the background, but going out with even deeper plots and more intense characterizations than when Kinsey first came on the scene 35 years ago.
12. "The Good Daughter" by Karin Slaughter; Morrow. The aftermath of their mother's murder 28 years ago resurfaces for two estranged sisters when a shooting occurs in their former middle school.
13. "The Roanoke Girls" by Amy Engel; Crown. Everyone in a small Kansas town envies those Roanoke girls, spoiled by their grandparents who are benefactors to the town. But that rambling house hides myriad secrets.
14. "Vicious Circle" by C.J. Box; Putnam, and "Paradise Valley" by C. J. Box; Minotaur. A double dose of C.J. Box this year. "Vicious Circle" looks at the cycle of revenge, violence and hate that Wyoming game warden Joe Pickett tries to keep from his family. "Paradise Valley" is an excellent finale to Box's frightening "Highway Quartet" novels, which focus on the hunt for a serial killer who works as a long-haul trucker.
15. "Righteous" by Joe Ide; Mullholland Books. Isaiah "IQ" Quintabe's reputation for channeling Sherlock Holmes is tested when his late brother's girlfriend wants him to find her half-sister with a gambling addiction. The second entry in the series delves into what has shaped this young African-American man as the character matures.
DEBUTS
(in alphabetical order)
"The Last Mrs. Parrish" by Liv Constantine; Harper. An amoral woman's manipulations to become the next Mrs. Parrish lead to a deliciously twisty tale that never slows.
"Little Deaths" by Emma Flint; Hachette. Misogyny and gossip swirl in a 1965 working-class neighborhood when a single mother's children go missing.
"The Driver" by Hart Hanson; Dutton. A nimbly plotted tale about a Los Angeles limousine driver who hires wounded veterans, who, like him, are trying to adjust to civilian life.
"The Freedom Broker" by K.J. Howe; Quercus. A top kidnap and rescue expert's global investigation into a high-profile kidnapping leads to an unresolved crime in her own family.
"The Lost Ones" by Sheena Kamal; William Morrow. Set in Vancouver, the enigmatic Nora Watts's mad skills at finding people and exposing liars lead to an unexpected examination of her own past as well as a look at the treatment of Canada's indigenous people.
"Bonfire" by Krysten Ritter; Crown Archetype. Actress Krysten Ritter ignites a first-rate mystery when a Chicago attorney makes an uneasy return to the Indiana hometown where she was sadistically bullied to investigate a corporation that owns the town and may be destroying it.
"The Vanishing Season" by Joanna Schaffhausen; Minotaur. Each day Ellery Hathaway chooses to be a survivor, not the only living victim of a serial killer. Now a cop in a small Massachusetts town, Ellery fears she may be targeted again.
SHORT STORY COLLECTION
"Not Safe After Dark and Other Stories" by Peter Robinson; Morrow. A new edition of Robinson's 20 exquisite short stories is perfect for fans and new readers. Most of the stories are making their U.S. debut, and three feature Yorkshire Inspector Alan Banks. The haunting "Missing in Action" about a boy's disappearance and mob mentality during WWII won the Edgar Award.
