McGrath, Blakstag, and McKinty

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

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

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.