It's that time of year again, time to tally up the books I read in 2021. In 2020 I read 77 books and in 2021 I read a total of 79 books: 53 mysteries, 20 "regular" fiction, 4 non-fiction and 3 re-reads as part of the Lymond Bookclub.
I had good intentions for 2021 to blog quarterly about the books I read. I only managed to do it for the first quarter. Click the link if you want to read that post where I write a little bit more than in this post about the books I read.
In the coming year I'd like to get back to reading more "regular" fiction. I love mysteries but hopefully I won't need as much comfort reading in 2022.
On to the books ...
Mysteries
Mysteries continue to be my favorite genre writing. They provide a good escape for me and are usually a fast read. I particularly like a good mystery series because it is often like revisiting old friends. In 2021, there were a number of new books I read that were parts of a continuing series I had started in the past. That was fun. I also discovered a number of new series that I plan to keep up with in the future.
I've broken them down by "Continuing Series" and "New Series" below.
Mysteries - Continuing Series
One of my favorite series writers, Charles Todd, provided me with three books this year. Charles Todd is the name of a mother-son writing duo. They write two different series set in the same "universe" - England during and after the First World War. The Inspector Rutledge series starts immediately after the War. The detective is a Scotland Yard detective who is trying to hide his PTSD. The Bess Crawford series has, up until now, taken place during the War where Bess has worked as a nurse in a field hospital. She's an amateur detective in the classic sense - cases just fall into her lap. That series has now progressed past the end of the War and Bess needs to figure out what to do with her life. I really like both series but, on the whole, prefer the Inspector Rutledge series. Unfortunately, I learned at the end of the year that the mother in the writing duo passed away this year. I hope the son can continue both series.
- A Hanging at Dawn: A Bess Crawford Short Story . I'm not much for short stories but I like Charles Todd so I read this. We finally get to learn why Simon worships Bess’s mother. The story wasn't enough to support a novel but I would have preferred that it had been included in a novel.
- A Fatal Lie. This was an Inspector Rutledge mystery involving murder on an aquaduct in the north of England and a missing child. Unlike other Charles Todd books, I felt like they didn't really know how to end this one. The mystery was solved but there was a (human) thread hanging at the end. Maybe it will get wrapped up in a future book.
- An Irish Hostage. Bess Crawford goes to a wedding in Ireland. I liked the change of scenery (Bess has mostly been in France on the Western Front as a nurse or at home in England). I also am hopeful that Bess's personal story will move forward now that the war is over.
I also was fortunate that I was able to read two (!) further installments in Amy Stewart's Miss Kopp series. This series is also set in the general World War I era, but this time in the United States. Stewart has based the series on some real sisters who lived during that time and at the end of each book she tells you what was based on fact and what she had to make up.
- Dear Miss Kopp. WWI is ongoing and Norma is in France with her pigeons, making a friend called Aggie and solving a mystery. Constance is working for "the Bureau" and Fleurette is entertaining the troops stateside and acquiring a parrot. A lot of this book is epistolary - and I always enjoy epistolary novels.
- Miss Kopp Investigates. The War is over and Norma is now home. But in this book Fleurette takes front and center stage as the investigator - which was a surprise. At first I didn't know if I liked that idea, but I did warm to it.
Tana French released a new book this year: The Searcher. This time she moved away from Dublin and the murder squad and set the story in western Ireland. The main character was an American ex cop. It wasn't much of a mystery - I guessed who did it immediately. But the real mystery to me is: Why would anyone want to live in western Ireland? Even though I didn't think much of the mystery she is such an excellent writer that I do recommend it.
I had previously read two mysteries in a series by Abir Mukharjee, set in India and I enjoyed them. This year I searched out other books in the series. The series is known as the Wyndham/Banerjee series and is set during the 1920's in India during the British Raj. Wyndham is a hard bitten English policeman (although I always hear Humphrey Bogart's voice in my head) and Banerjee is his Indian associate. I enjoy this series although each book takes a while to get going. The three that I read this year are:
- Smoke and Ashes.
- Death in the East.
- The Shadows of Men.
Last year my find of the year was CS Harris and her Sebastien St. Cyr mysteries. (I highly recommend that series.) She had a new one out this year: What the Devil Knows. It was just as good as the rest of the series and had an ending that has left me wondering how it will be explained in the next book. I can't recommend this series enough.
I've been reading a series by Andrew Taylor set during the Restoration in England (a period I don't know much about) called the Marwood and Lovett Series. Marwood is the man and he works for the government. Lovett is a woman and she is (surprisingly) an architect. The great fire of London has recently destroyed the city but of course the male architects get most of that work. A new installment was released this year: The Royal Secret. I continue to enjoy learning about the period, but also continue to think this author doesn’t understand women very well. But I recommend the series anyway.
One of my favorite series is Jacqueline Winspear's Maisie Dobbs series. This year's installment was The Consequences of Fear. I’m not much into WWII, but I liked the behind-the-scenes look at war intelligence. And the murder mystery was good. I just wish she had kept Maisie in the 1920s.
What a delight it was was when I discovered there was another Phryne Fisher mystery. I thought Kerry Greenwood had given up writing them. Death in Daylesford is the latest and she hasn't lost her touch. The books are slightly different than the television series but just as enjoyable.
Elly Griffiths published another installment in the Ruth Galloway series: The Night Hawks. I was a little worried because I was starting to get tired of Ruth always having to be "saved" (most of the time against her will, but still .... ) But Elly Griffiths went in another direction this time. Thankfully.
Catriona McPherson released another in the Dandy Gilver series: The Mirror Dance. This one had a death involving a Punch and Judy show. These are very light, cozy mysteries set in Scotland. I like the location so I keep reading them.
I read the latest Lindsey Davis Flavia Albia book A Comedy of Terrors. I'm a long term fan of Lindsey Davis and her Roman mysteries but the last few have mostly fallen flat for me. This one was slightly better but the plot was confusing. I continue to like Flavia Albia, and love the setting, but wish she moved the plot a little more slowly. She's also developed a habit of telling and not showing that I find off putting.
I felt a bit of the same ambivalence about Louise Penny's latest Gamache novel: The Madness of Crowds. Part of the problem is that she acknowledges the pandemic and the year of lockdown in the novel but the book assumes that now everything is back to normal. And it isn't. And the premise was a little far fetched (although in this day and age, nothing is really far fetched I guess.) But I did love that she mentioned Olive and Mabel (see below). And it was nice to visit Three Pines again.
One of my favorite series last year was by Alis Hawkins. It is set in Wales and involving a partially blind coroner named Harry Probert-Lloyd. I read the latest this year: Not One of Us. I enjoyed it as much as the others in the series.
Finally, I had previously tried a couple of books by Alex Grecian in his murder squad series. I couldn't remember why I hadn't continued reading this series. But after reading two more, I found that I just don't enjoy his style and I don't plan to read any more:
- The Black Country
- The Devil’s Workshop
Mysteries - New Series.
Some of the most enjoyable books I read this year were by Richard Osman. They are set in a British retirement community where senior citizens entertain themselves by trying to solve cold cases. When a real mystery presents itself, they are in heaven. And the local constabulary has to admit they are pretty good at it. If these books haven't already been optioned to provide a television series for Judy Dench, Maggie Smith, Bill Nye and the rest of the elderly British acting community, I don't know why. So far two have been written and I recommend them both (but read them in order):
- The Thursday Murder Club.
- The Man Who Died Twice.
I so enjoyed the Abir Mukharjee series (see above) that I was delighted to find another series set in India in the 1920's, this time by Sujata Massey. The lead detective is a woman solicitor - the first woman solicitor in India. This gives her access to some of the secluded Indian women who won't meet with men but need an investigator. There are currently three in the series and I read them all:
- The Widows of Malabar Hill.
- The Satapur Moonstone.
- The Bombay Prince
The "biggest" author I discovered this year in terms of the number of his books that I read is William Kent Krueger. I am somewhat ambivalent about the books. I LOVE that they are set up near the boundary waters in Minnesota, an area I am very familiar with. I generally like the characters and the plots are pretty good. But he does rely a bit too much on the "magic Indian' meme and that bothers me. Also, I sometimes feel the characters are in service of the plot rather than the plot revealing character. But that didn't stop me from reading all the books in his Cork O'Connor mystery series through the summer and really enjoying the setting:
- Iron Lake
- Boundary Waters
- Purgatory Ridge
- Blood Hollow
- Mercy Falls
- Copper River
- Thunder Bay
- Red Knife
- Heaven’s Keep
- Vermillion Drift
- Northwest Angle
- Trickster’s Point
- Tamarack County
- Windigo Island
- Manitou Canyon
- Sulfur Springs
- Desolation Mountain
- Lightning Strike
In addition, to the Cork O'Conner series, he wrote a stand alone book that I also read: This Tender Land. This involved an Indian School and Huck Finn-like trip down the Mississippi from Minnesota to St. Louis.
I enjoy the CS Harris Sebastien St. Cyr series so much (see above) that I was thrilled to discover another series set in the same general time period. This one is known as the Wrexford and Quill series and is by Andrea Penrose. They aren't quite as good as the Sebastian St. Cyr series but they are still very enjoyable.
- Murder on Black Swan Lane
- Murder at Half-Moon Gate
- Murder at Kensington Palace
- Murder at Queen’s Landing
- Murder at the Royal Botanic Gardens
Another great find for me this year was Paula Munier's Mercy Carr series. Mercy is a former soldier home with PTSD. Her dog Elvis, a former bomb sniffing dog, also has PTSD. But they team up with Troy Warner, a US fish and game warden, and his dog Suzie Bear to solve some crimes. The location is the Vermont woods. So many parts of these books made me smile - especially the dogs.
- A Borrowing of Bones
- Blind Search
- The Hiding Place
The Mountains Wild by Sarah Stewart Taylor was a book I read for my book club. We had a good discussion about it. I see that it is a series (?) which somewhat surprises me. I liked the writer's style. So I would definitely read something else by her.
Nonfiction
In recent years I have not read much non-fiction. This year I read only four:
- Olive, Mabel & Me by Andrew Cotter. The dogs that got us through lockdown.
- I Want to be Where the Normal People Are by Rachel Bloom. I'm a Rachel Bloom fan and I could hear her voice as I read (although this is one of the few books I've ever read where I thought maybe I would have enjoyed the audio book.)
- Caste: The Origins of our Discontents by Isabel Wilkerson. Good anecdotes. Good metaphors. Non-rigorous in its arguments. Same annoying style as her last book. Not sorry I read it.
- Atlas of the Heart by Brene Brown. I always think there is going to be more to the Brene Brown books than there ends up being. But a lot of food for thought in it.
General Fiction
Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austin. This was a book club pick and a re-read for me. Good as usual.
The Egypt Game by Zilpha Keatley Snyder. This was also a re-read. This is a YA book (although I don't think the term "YA" existed back when it was written.) I enjoyed this book very much when I was middle school age. I enjoyed it just as much as an adult. If you have middle school aged kids you should pick it up.
The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse. By Charles Mackesy. This was a Christmas gift last year. A lovely little book that was just what I needed at the beginning of the year.
The Blue by Nancy Bilyeau. Set in the 1700's and involving the making of porcelain with blue designs (apparently something very difficult at the time). Lots of exposition about porcelain and blue. The first person narration required that the heroine be somewhat dumb - which I found annoying. I was really looking forward to reading this book and was disappointed I did not like it more.
Mexican Gothic by Sylvia Moreno-Garcia. A weird book involving a strange family, a strange house, and ... fungus. I thought it didn't really hang together.
Outlawed by Anna North. An alternate history of the Hole in the Wall Gang. Not really the type of story I'm usually interested in, but I enjoyed it.
The Narrowboat Summer by Anne Youngson. Delightful little story about two strangers who help an older woman by taking her narrowboat from London to Chester in Wales for repair while she undergoes cancer treatment.
Before we Were Yours by Lisa Wingate. I had a hard time getting into this book mostly because it takes place in two different time periods. The story was interesting but I kept getting pulled out of it when the time period would switch.
Infinite Country by Patricia Engel. Because it was about Colombia which I have visited I was interested in reading it. But I didn’t like the writing style: There was a lot of telling, not showing. But much food for thought about immigrants.
Dream Girl by Laura Lipmann. Kind of a new take on Stephen King's Misery. Laura Lippman and I must be about the same age because I always recognize cultural things from my past in her books. I always enjoy her books and this one was no different.
The Lost Apothecary by Sarah Penner. Another time switching story. I thought the premise that a shop from hundreds of years ago could be found intact in modern London was absurd.
North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell. I found this book to be soooo boring. Unions strikes; unpleasant people. Is there a different Elizabeth Gaskell book I should read?
Hamnet by Maggie O’Farrell. One of my favorite books of the year. Shakespeare really did have a son named Hamnet who died. Did that affect his writing of Hamlet - a play about fathers and sons? And who was Anne Hathaway, really? This novel tries to answer those questions. I thought the writing was beautiful and the characterizations were also beautiful. The plot moves slowly so if you need a lot of plot you may not like it.
The Appraisal by Anna Porter. This was a thriller involving the appraisal of art. The fact that I don't remember much about it should tell you something.
Arsenic and Adobo by Mia P Manansala. I should probably have put this with mysteries. It was light reading. A good "pool" read - if I went to the pool. Kind of a mix of a rom-com and a mystery. Involves lots of food. Don't read it when you are hungry.
The Boston Girl by Anita Diamant. This was a coming of age story about a Jewish girl in Boston in the early 20th century. The elderly woman is telling her story to her granddaughter. I enjoyed this.
The Horseman by Tim Pears. This book has been in my NOOK for a number of years so I finally read it. It is a first book in a trilogy. The story of a young boy living on an estate with his family and how he is responsible for them being banished. The prose is spare but the imagery is dense. Despite that, I don't think I'll read the other books.
Rubbernecker by Belinda Bauer. This was a big surprise to me. I didn't expect to enjoy it so much. The main character has Aspergers and wants to learn anatomy to understand why his dad died but in the end solves the mystery of the death of the cadaver his group is working on. Again, maybe I should have listed this as a mystery. I recommend this.
The Sentence by Louise Erdrich. The very best book I read this year - so good I want to re-read it. It is a ghost story, a story of the pandemic, a story about how hard it is to run a book shop, a story about the George Floyd protests and much more. Louise Erdrich is one of my favorite authors and she did not disappoint this time.
The Lymond Book Club
One of the best things that happened during the pandemic was a YouTube series called The Lymond Book Club - a group of three friends who were slowly reading and discussing The Lymond Chronicles. I read along with them:
- The Disorderly Knights
- Pawn in Frankincense
- The Ringed Castle
Although I listened to the discussion of Checkmate, I was too busy to read along (to my chagrin). I hope they come back and discuss King Hereafter.
