I’ve just been on (yet another) spending spree, adding new
books to my e-library. The best and worst thing about e-books is that you can
buy them at any time. Never again will I experience the dread that comes in the
middle of another sleepless night when you turn the last page of the only
unread novel in the house. All hail technology. However, that is not the point.
This blog is about the books I’ve been reading. Here are some of my favourite
mystery novels of recent weeks.
MJ McGrath
Edie Kigatuk series
Edie Kigatuk series
White Heat
The
Boy in the Snow
The Bone Seeker
This series is a delight. The protagonist, Edie Kiglatuk, is
an Inuit woman who teams up with the “Lemming Police”, Derek Pallister. In
between stories about hunting and the skills needed to survive in the frozen
north of Canada, McGrath presents us with traditionally-plotted murder
mysteries. Some years ago, I read my way through the Kate Shugak mysteries by
Dana Stabenow. They were fun, but the McGrath series is even better.
Matthew Blakstag
Fallen
Angel
Sockpuppet
Anyone with an online persona will find this series
engrossing. Blakstag knows the online world well and uses the language of
the digital resident, so you’ll need to be Web-savvy to keep up with the
vocabulary. For the rest of you: Google is your friend. The best part about finding these two books is that there are at least two more to come. Great fun for those who
use social media.
Adrian McKinty
Sean Duffy series
Sean Duffy series
The cold,
cold ground
I hear the sirens in the street
In the morning I’ll be gone
Gun
Street Girl
Rain Dogs
Police at the station and they don’t look friendly
This month, I read the most recent in this series. I've listed all of McKinty's Duffy books, because once you've read one, you'll want to read them all. In the series, you’ll meet Sean Duffy. Sean, a member of
the Royal Ulster Constabulary, lives in the dark world of 1980s Belfast, where
he checks under his car regularly for mercury tilt switch bombs, negotiates the
labyrinthine politics of Carrickfergus in Northern Ireland, and – against all
odds – solves crimes. These books are beautifully written.