Review of 2007, Part II

Cutting it kind of late, but what the hell. Here's the reading news for me. I read a bunch of books and enjoyed them - I even interviewed people like Al Guthrie and Con Lehane and Jonathan Santlofer based on the novels I'd read. Tons of fun. Each of those three writers (oh and Megan Abbott, lest we forget) wrote great books. Then there was a book I really enjoyed, but never wrote about - not that the author was hurt by my laziness - Nick Stone wrote Mr. Clarinet and it was a great book I think.

There were others, no doubt, though not enough to make a top ten list of mysteries useful. I mean, for a top ten to be useful, you have to have read, say, 100 books. Nowhere near that, so I present my official top two list:

1. Accidents Waiting to Happen by Simon Wood

and

2. The Limehouse Text by Will Thomas.

I'd read a couple of other Thomas novels and they simply do not disappoint. Set in the time of Sherlock Holmes but to my mind so much more interesting than anything A.C. Doyle wrote. And I happen to like the Holmes stories. If you haven't read a Will Thomas novel, you are missing a joyride.

I had never read a Simon Wood novel, but I'd run into Simon at a couple of conventions and I knew he was well regarded. Then I saw his book as I was making my way through an airport headed for Alaska...I was headed there, not the airport. Anyway, I picked up his novel and was finished before I landed in Anchorage. An amazing story well told. I thought as I was finishing it that Jason Starr had something to worry about. I'm reading another Simon Wood novel now, and I think the only trouble Simon has is his name. I'd put an S at the end of it to avoid troubles.

Anyway, when it came to mystery reading, that's my list. Feel free to recommend other titles.