The Hungry Detective

Well here we are. For 2008 it is all over but the shoutin'. I have decided to keep my 'Best of' list to a petite three titles. I will call it the The Given Day Memorial List of 2008. I struggled long and hard with the decision to strike the Lehane book from the list. On another day I would put it on this list, but in the end I felt it would be stretching the boundaries of Crime Fiction too far to include it here. It is a great book. A wonderful book and you should read it. I was a bit dismayed to discover how few 2008 releases I did read. As of right now I have read 41 books. Only 38% were released this year. I need to up that number in 2009 with a primary goal of reading all 2009 releases in the calendar year. After the top three, I have included one additional book. This book is the best book, excluding 2008 releases, I read this year. The Given Day Memorial List of 2008 Mr. Chercover had this spot locked a while go. I knew about half way through that this was going to be...

Yesterday, The Hungry Detective had to get up early to shovel the driveway. I would have the intern handle this menially task but he is planning a pagan Winter Solstice party. In any case, it seemed like a good day to look forward to a few books that will be releasing in the coming months. Dead or Alive - Michael McGarrity (December 26) Book 12 of the Kevin Kearney series. Many, many times I have said how much I enjoy this guy's work. Glad another one is on the way. With Tony Hillerman now riding that old Appaloosa in the sky, I assure you that Michael McGarrity will cure your hankering for Southwestern Mystery. The Chalk Circle Man - Fred Vargas (January 6) Yet another complicated release history. The Chalk Circle Man is Vargas's first book to feature her rumpled creation, Commissaire Adamsberg. A closer check reveals this may only be a Canadian release. The Mystic Arts of Erasing All Signs of Death - Charlie Huston (Jan 13) Great title. Great Cover. What's the book a...

The end of the year is nigh, and there are a few books left to read. I have been focusing on 2008 releases for the last month... month and half, and I am about to call it quits. I am past the half way point on The Black Dove , and after that I will gut, clean and kill Michael Connelly's and Robert Crais's 2008 entries. I tend to read both authors very quickly, so I think I'll be able close out 2008 with Easy Rawlins's swan song, Blonde Faith . The Hungry Detective will be visiting Walnut Creek, California for Christmas, and the second Wallander book will accompany me. No matter what around the new year I'll be taking a break from reading... just a couple weeks. The beginning of the year will see me knock off a few more of the Ross Macdonald books that have been purchased.. but not blogged about... in the recent weeks. In anticipation of creating a 'best of' list I publish the list of all the books I read this year. Books in red were released in the US...

The Given Day - Dennis Lehane The Hungry Detective was there at the beginning. I read A Drink Before the War before the world cracked the first pages of Mystic River 5 or 6 years later. The Kenzie and Gennaro books built a legion of Lehane fans, but I suspect that Mystic River, Shutter Island, and The Given Day out sell the K+G books. Easily. 2 to 1? 3 to 1? So I have had a strange relationship with the non-series books. When someone mentions how much they like Mystic River or Shutter Island I reflexively respond by saying "You should read Gone, Baby, Gone." An admittedly a snobby way of turning up my nose at those books as not the real Dennis Lehane. Silly, but Pat and Angie are my friends and I want them to be your friends too. The people in Mystic River and Shutter Island are generally, but not all, unpleasant to the extent that I was happy to say goodbye to them once the last word was read and the book closed. Great stuff to be sure, but one night stands definitely. The G...