January 2010

April 24, 2010 - Four out of the seven mystery novels I read back in January stick in the mind as very good reads, all by authors with a track record of excellence. Michael Stanley's The Second Death of Goodluck Tinubu: A Detective Kubu Mystery is the two-person team's second set in Botswana. With more conventional police force characters, albeit with a Batswana particularity, this police procedural series probably won't rival the No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency series in popularity. But it does deserve wide readership.

Also reliable for good writing and local flavor are Sara Peretsky in Chicago (Hardball) and John Lescoart, in San Francisco (A Plague of Secrets). Joseph Kanon's Stardust recreates Hollywood of the McCarthy period, with side glances at World War II Europe.

Michael Gregorio takes us back to early 19th century Prussia under French occupation, in A Visible Darkness, while Brent Ghelfi features a contemporary (and hyper-violent) Russia and Chechnya in Volk's Shadow. Both are part of series that are well-written and create convincing fictional atmospheres, although I am not sure whether they would ring true to those more familiar with their milieu than I am.