All Good Things...

by Abir

Some Book Recommendations

 

Morning.

 

Some time back, I was asked by a bunch of wonderful writers to join them in writing a blog post every fortnight on all matters crime fiction. I was honoured to say yes, and since then (almost) without fail, come rain or shine or global pandemic, I’ve produced a post, sometimes topical but a lot of the time, just me ranting at the publishing industry or life in general. It’s been a wonderful experience and probably the most disciplined thing I’ve ever done. In contrast, I keep meaning to do another dispatch of my own newsletter, but I’ve been putting it off for two years.

 

Five years have passed since my first post on this blog, and while it’s been an absolute pleasure being part of this wonderful team, I feel now is the time to move on and let a fresh Criminal Mind take over. I have made some wonderful friends here and I hope to pop up now and again as guest (if the rest of the Minds will still have me!).

 

So this is my last regular post, and it’s a nice way to finish: a list of some of the books I’ve enjoyed the most over the last year. It’s not a ‘Best Of’ list – because that implies that my choices have any definitive weight, and regular readers of my blog posts will know that nothing I say ever carries any weight.

 

So let’s get to it.

 

2023 has been a good year in terms of reading for me. I’ve been lucky enough to read some absolute crackers, some by authors who’ve been among my favourites for years and others who are new to me.

Past Lying – Val McDermid

The fiendishly clever Past Lying sees a much-anticipated return of McDermid's DCI Karen Pirie. A student’s disappearance seems to mimic the unfinished plot of an author’s manuscript. This is a tale about the perfect crime and centres on crime a couple of mystery writers and a crime which may or may not have been turned into the draft of a novel. It’s a real insight into the world of the Scottish crime writing fraternity, liberally sprinkled with real authors as well as the fictional ones.  A lot of the fun is guessing who is who. McDermid is a legend, still at the top of her game and an inspiration to so many of us.

 

The Last Dance - Mark Billingham

There are some writers you wish weren’t so bloody brilliant. Very few possess the gift of being able to keep you on the edge of your seat while simultaneously making you laugh out loud. Unfortunately for the rest of us, Mark Billingham is one such writer. The Last Dance introduces us to his latest creations, detectives Declan Miller and Sara Xiu, perfectly drawn, perfectly flawed characters, investigating a double murder in Blackpool, the Vegas of the English North West. Fresh, funny, fantastic, this is the sickeningly talented Billingham at his best.

 

The Trees – Percival Everett

This was recommended to me by a friend and it was wonderful. Set mainly in the Deep South, it’s the satirical tale of white men, the descendants of those involved in lynchings, being found murdered, with the same dead black men turning up next to them. It’s powerful, it’s funny, it challenges our views on what constitutes justice and it deserves to be read by everyone.

 

The Little Rebel – Jerome Leroy

The account of a  terror attack on a school in unnamed city in the west of France, The Little Rebel is a satirical look at modern French society and issues of immigration and radicalisation of a forgotten underclass. In the hands of a less accomplished writer, this would be a difficult task, but Leroy is a master and he takes a scalpel to the subject matter. Insightful and beautiful, more of Leroy’s work needs to be translated into English.

 

Tenth of December by George Saunders

A collection of short stories by the US writer and Booker Prize winner, which examine modern day, polarised, malaise filled America in a way that only Saunders can. He has a gift for getting inside the head of his characters in a way that is impossible to resist and which forces you to care about them. I had to stop reading at one point because I became too invested in one of the characters and had this feeling that something bad was about to happen to him. Powerful, funny and poignant.

 

The House of Whispers – Anna Mazzola

Set on the eve of the second world war, in a country descending into the madness of racial purity, The House of Whispers tells the tale of Eva, a young pianist hiding more than one secret amidst the crushing conformity and paranoia of Il Duce’s Italy. When Eva finds herself falling in love with widower Dante, she enters a world where mysterious forces lurk no longer just outside, but within the very walls of his house. Powerful, spine-tingling and beautifully penned, this is gothic historical fiction at its very best and cements Mazzola as one of its most talented exponents.

 

The Square of Sevens – Laura Shepherd Robinson

What can I tell you about Laura Shepherd-Robinson? She is a writer of such immense talent that I’m sure she’s going to be one of the biggest names in historical crime fiction over the next few decades. Her first two novels, Blood and Sugar, and Daughters of Night were hugely impressive books. The Square of Sevens is better still. It’s the tale of Red, the daughter of a Cornish fortune-teller, who travels with her father making a living predicting fortunes using the ancient method: the Square of Sevens. When her father suddenly dies, Red becomes the ward of a gentleman scholar who introduces her to Georgian High-Society. Not only is this a wonderfully told story, Shepherd-Robinson’s mastery of historical detail is encyclopaedic, immersing you in the world of Georgian England. This book is phenomenal.

 

The Secret Hours – Mick Herron

Too many people are showing love for Mick Herron. This pains me, mainly because he is a good friend and the two of us have spent several years taking the piss out of each other. This is becoming increasingly difficult now that he is a literary god and beloved of all. It gives me absolutely no pleasure to tell you that The Secret Hours is his best work to date. A standalone-novel, though still part of the Slough House canon and providing some of the backstory to the corpulent head of the slow horses, Jackson Lamb, it’s more cerebral and less action focussed than most of the Slough House books but maintains Herron’s singular wit. Herron is a uniquely talented writer, and, it hurts me to say, one of the nicest, most generous people in the world of crime fiction. A true gentleman. Read his books.

 

 

 

So that’s it. It’s been a pleasure and an honour writing for this blog over the last few years, but as they say, all good things must come to an end. I wish you all health and happiness for 2024 and the future.

 

Happy reading!