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Mystery Reviewer Oline Cogdill's Top Ten List
Some excellent crime fiction was published during 2009 – novels that don't just entertain but serve as social commentary.
While it's become almost a cliché to praise Michael Connelly's novels, this year he wrote two compelling novels. And since each is equally good, he ties for first place — with himself. Of the some 200-plus novels I read last year, these are my favorites.
1. (tie) The Scarecrow. Michael Connelly. Little, Brown. An action-laden plot tackles the embattled newspaper industry, work ethics, integrity and pride in a job well done, even if that employment is ending.
1. Nine Dragons. Michael Connelly. Little, Brown. L.A. police detective Harry Bosch's personal and professional lives overlap as the story depicts a man learning to become a father, serves as a travel guide to Hong Kong's back streets and provides an in-depth look at L.A.'s Asian community.
3. A Darker Domain. Val McDermid. Harper. The historical coal mining strike of the 1980s that changed many Scottish towns provides the background for a powerful modern tale about people abandoned by those they trust the most.
4. Life Sentences. Laura Lippman. Morrow. A fresh look at relationships filtered through the prism of memories, racism, economics and jealousy as illustrated by a memoir writer who got everything wrong.
5. The Last Child. John Hart. Minotaur. A town's sinister secrets are exposed in this complex tale of broken families, despair and hope. "The last child" is a sullen 13-year-old hunting for his missing twin sister.
6. The Hidden Man. David Ellis. Putnam. Edgar winner Ellis' first series is off to an excellent start as a down-on-his-luck attorney defends an old friend who killed the man suspected of murdering his sister more than 26 years ago. A strong tale about fragile people on the edge.
7. Ravens. George Dawes Green. Grand Central Publishing. After 14 years, Green is back with a terrifying and funny cautionary tale about a family that wins the lottery and grifters determined to steal their money. Green cashes in on the themes of greed, power, loyalty and a sense of entitlement in the unpredictable story.
8. The Tourist. Olen Steinhauer. Minotaur. Most spy novels deal with the intricacies of the job, but what happens when a former CIA field agent transitions to upstanding father and husband -- but can't shake the soul-crushing aftermath of violence?
9. Darling Jim. Christian Moerk. Holt. Mythology, Arthurian legend, fairy tales, noir and horror come together in this tale of an aunt, her nieces and their fatal attraction to a chasismatic itinerant Irish storyteller.
10. Devil's Garden. Ace Atkins. Putnam. Using the real manslaughter trial of silent film comic Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle in 1921, this meticulously researched historical insightfully deals with celebrities, media power, dirty politics, voyeurism and the thrill early movies brought audiences.
— Mystery fiction reviewer and blogger Oline Cogdill,
read more of her reviews at:
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/offthepage
or http://www.mysteryscenemag.com/msblog
Grapes of Wrath" by John Steinbeck
Steinbeck's classic is a must read. It is a reminder of where we have been and how far we have come. For many of us, this was required reading during our school years and we read it because we HAD to. Now, read it to enjoy the story. You might be surprised. :)
— Pat
"The Lost Recipe for Happiness" by Barbara O'Neal
This book is a romance that revolves around restaurants. Elena is a chef and Julian a celebrity owner. Elena has some ghosts — literally and figuratively to deal with before she can accept happiness. What makes this book special, though, is not the plot but the writing. Barbara O'Neal is also Barbara Samuel and her writing style is descriptive in the best sense of the word. She sees the world around her with all of her senses and coveys that vividly to thereader. I look at the world around me with new eyes after reading one of her books.
— Janet
‘‘Diamondhead’’ by Patrick Robinson
Diamondhead is the latest thriller from author Patrick Robinson and the name of a lethal new anti-tank missile deemed so dangerous the U.N. has labeled its use “an international crime against humanity.” That won’t deter French industrialist and politician Henri Foche who may even step up production after he is elected president. Navy SEAL Mack Bedford knows firsthand Diamondhead’s devastation, having seen it kill his fellow soldiers on the battlefield. His vengeance for their deaths leads to his court martial and dismissal from the Navy. Back home, Diamondhead’s production may force a shipyard that builds warships to shut down. The majority of the residents in Mack’s small Maine town owe their living to the shipyard. To stop Diamondhead and save the town, a plan is hatched to assassinate Foche before he can get into office. Mack has an even more personal reason to accept the assignment — he’ll use the money for an experimental operation for his sick son.Mack’s traipsing across Europe to kill Foche has echoes of The Jackal in this larger-than-life action tale. Diamondhead is strongest when Patrick Robinson, author of eight thrillers and co-author of the nonfiction bestseller Lone Survivor, concentrates on the action-packed scenes. Diamondhead shows the brutality of war in battlefield scenes that won’t soon be forgotten.
— Mystery fiction reviewer and blogger Oline Cogdill,
read more of her reviews at:
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/offthepage
or http://www.mysteryscenemag.com/msblog
"The God of Animals" by Aryn Kyle
I just finished this book and felt it covered so many emotions as you witness a 12-year-old girl struggle with her relationships with troubled parents, a sister, grandparents, friends, a teacher, a horse and even the horse boarders as she is growing up on a horse farm. Every character was interesting and very human so this book was a real page turner. As a bonus, I learned a lot about horse training. This is a first novel from this author and would be a good selection for a book club discussion.
— Mary Beth
Moloka'i by Alan Brennert
This story of surviving leprosy is set turn-of-the-20th-century in Hawaii. While it's fiction, it offers a good historical perspective of the time period.
— Alice
"The Scarecrow" by Michael Connelly
Like the works of Raymond Chandler and Ross MacDonald, Michael Connelly’s novels are both timeless and a reflection of their specific decade. Any of these three authors’ books could have taken place in any era, but also are steeped in the time they were written.
In his 20th novel, Connelly’s action-laden plot tackles downsized newspaper staffs, the embattled newspaper industry and the rise of the Internet. The Scarecrow also works as a tale about work ethics, integrity and pride in a job well done, even if that employment is ending.
Connelly, a former newspaper reporter, gives a multi-faceted view of how newspaper struggles are affecting the industry as a whole as well as individual staffers and the readers.
But The Scarecrow is not a treatise on the newspaper business. It is rip-roaring crime fiction that hits the ground running and doesn’t let up until the finale.
Connelly is one of the most, if not the most, consistent of today’s crime fiction writers. A true heir to Chandler, Connelly’s work never disappoints. The Scarecrow ranks high among Connelly’s best work.
Los Angeles Times crime reporter Jack McEvoy is about to feel the effects of downsizing. Jack, who made his debut in Connelly’s standalone The Poet (1996), has been given his two weeks’ notice to wrap up assignments and to train his fresh out of J-school replacement. But Jack is determined not to go gently into that good night with just his desk’s contents crammed in a box. Jack is a reporter and he wants to continue to be a reporter until his last day at work. He especially wants a big story.
Jack thinks he’s found that scoop in what may be the wrongful arrest of a teenage drug dealer accused of murdering an exotic dancer. It’s one of the lifelong desires of most crime reporters – and usually an urban myth – that their story can prove someone’s innocence. Jack may actually have stumbled across the real thing as he comes to believe that the teen’s confession was coerced. But Jack may have stumbled on an even bigger story of a low-profile serial killer.
— Mystery fiction reviewer and blogger Oline Cogdill,
read more of her reviews at:
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/offthepage
or http://www.mysteryscenemag.com/msblog
The Story of Edgar Sawtelle by David Wroblewski
Oh, where to begin? This 570-page story follows Edgar Sawtelle, a mute (but not deaf) teen who is a third-generation dog trainer of a specialized breed known as Sawtelles. Set in the early 20th century, we watch Edgar from birth through adolesence, when he deals with a tragic loss and imagines — rightly or wrongly — that his paternal uncle is to blame. Wroblewski manages to embue Edgar's dogs with the subtle human qualities every dog lover has projected onto his own pet. Supposedly, it took Wroblewski 18 years to write this book — his first — but its successful debut has prompted him to take up writing full time and both a prequel and a sequel to this book are in the works. This book is beautifully written and the characters are so well developed you feel as though you've known them for years. You can read the first chapter of The Story of Edgar Sawtelle here: http://g-ecx.images-amazon.com/images/G/01/books/harper-gms/EdgarSawtelleChapter1.pdf.
— Sandi
"The Renegades" by T. Jefferson Parker
T. Jefferson Parker doesn’t normally write series. But in his 16th novel, Parker returns to Charlie Hood, a young sheriff’s deputy forced into a coming of age passage in 2008's superb L.A. Outlaws.
A different kind of outlaw surfaces in The Renegades, an excellent view of crime, conscience and maturity. With a strong focus on characters and their motivation, Parker delivers a gripping thriller that combines the tenets of the western novel with the mystery genre.
Charlie relishes his new assignment in Antelope Valley, north of L.A., “the new frontier . . . in high desert, ferociously hot and cold, and dry” where “the cities are booming but not quite prosperous.” He doesn’t mind that this is “the Siberia” of the sheriff’s department, and eventually he wants to be back in the L.A. force. But after his role in helping to tag a corrupt lawman, he just wants “to forget and not be seen.”
A loner who likes to prowl the dark roads, Charlie doesn’t have a choice when he is assigned a partner, Terry Laws. But on a routine call, Terry is gunned down in the front seat of their patrol car. To help track down the killer, Charlie joins forces with Internal Affairs. It doesn’t take him long to find the cracks in Terry’s seemingly perfect ways.
— Mystery fiction reviewer and blogger Oline Cogdill,
read more of her reviews at:
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/offthepage
or http://www.mysteryscenemag.com/msblog
