Four books for the crime/mystery fan

by Dietrich Kalteis

First off, I’d like to say thanks to the group for inviting me to join in. I’ve been checking out 

7 Criminal Minds for some time, and I’m honored to be included alongside such a talented bunch, most of whom I know personally, and the rest I’m looking forward to getting to know here. 

And I’ll be here every other Wednesday.

To answer this week’s question, I went over the novels I read over this past year, and here are four favorites I’d like to recommend for the crime/mystery readers on your list.

The first one’s Don Winslow’s thriller The Cartel. A sequel to The Power of the Dog, this one’s a hard-hitting, epic tale set amid the Mexican drug war raging north and south of the border. One of the best novels of the year. 

Dead is Dead by John Lansing is a real page turner and the third installment in the Jack Bertolino series after Blond Cargo and The Devil’s Necktie. It’s perfect for the crime or mystery fan who appreciates pace and terrific subplots that weave into a smart and complex tale with characters that are pop-off-the page real. Lansing gives us the kind of book that’s hard to put down.

 

One to Count Cadence was James Crumley’s first novel, first published in ninety-four. It’s a quirky anti-war story about Sergeant Krummel and his crew of drunken misfits who mostly raise hell in an effort to combat boredom on their base in the Philippines. When they’re all shipped to Vietnam, they face some real hell. It’s powerful, heart-felt and funny, and well worth a read.

 

A Little More Free by John McFetridge is the second in his Montreal series. An engaging story that offers an authentic recreation of events from Montreal’s past. With his easy style, McFetridge takes the reader on a journey that brushes up against murder and real-life incidents like the infamous Blue Bird Cafe fire and the robbery at the Museum of Fine Art. And cleverly woven throughout the story are the games of the ’72 Canada-U.S.S.R Hockey Summit which add to the novel’s realism.