The last year saw the release of a variety of great Mystery and Crime reads. These are the best novels of the year that were reviewed by this blog:
The Wanted - By Robert Crais. Private eye Elvis Cole is back, along with his California cool style and his classic yellow Corvette. A worried Los Angeles mother hires Cole to investigate her teenage son's activities, fearing he's into drug use. But it turns out the kid is into things a lot more dangerous than that.
The Disappeared - By C.J. Box. Wyoming state game warden Joe Pickett returns in the popular Crime series set against a rugged Western landscape backdrop. A British tourist vanishes after her stay at an upscale local dude ranch. As Joe digs into the mystery, he comes up against a powerful wind power utility that may be involved.
Twisted Prey - By John Sandford. Another bullet-paced thriller featuring U.S. Marshal Lucas Davenport. A assassination attempt is made on a U.S. Senator on a lonely forest road. When Lucas investigates, he faces a cold blooded sociopath with political ambitions, who masterminds several murders in order to further her own Senate campaign.
The Dry - By Jane Harper. Set in the barren Outback of Australia, where a small town is suffering from an endless drought and reeling from a horrific local crime. Federal Police Agent Aaron Falk tries to unravel the mystery of why a local farmer would kill his family and then himself. Or did he?
The Witch Elm - By Tana French. An engrossing psychological mystery in which fate and coincidence play twisted roles in the course of fatal events. A young man is the victim of a brutal attack that leaves him with a serious head injury. Then he becomes a suspect in a murder case from years earlier.
Dark Sacred Night - By Michael Connelly. This police procedural teams former LAPD detective Harry Bosch with current LAPD night shift detective Renee Ballard. Bosch and Ballard cross paths on a cold case involving the murder of a teenage girl by an unknown predator who may still be out there. The two cops agree to pool their efforts to find the killer.
The Disappeared - By C.J. Box. Wyoming state game warden Joe Pickett returns in the popular Crime series set against a rugged Western landscape backdrop. A British tourist vanishes after her stay at an upscale local dude ranch. As Joe digs into the mystery, he comes up against a powerful wind power utility that may be involved.
Twisted Prey - By John Sandford. Another bullet-paced thriller featuring U.S. Marshal Lucas Davenport. A assassination attempt is made on a U.S. Senator on a lonely forest road. When Lucas investigates, he faces a cold blooded sociopath with political ambitions, who masterminds several murders in order to further her own Senate campaign.
The Dry - By Jane Harper. Set in the barren Outback of Australia, where a small town is suffering from an endless drought and reeling from a horrific local crime. Federal Police Agent Aaron Falk tries to unravel the mystery of why a local farmer would kill his family and then himself. Or did he?
The Witch Elm - By Tana French. An engrossing psychological mystery in which fate and coincidence play twisted roles in the course of fatal events. A young man is the victim of a brutal attack that leaves him with a serious head injury. Then he becomes a suspect in a murder case from years earlier.
Dark Sacred Night - By Michael Connelly. This police procedural teams former LAPD detective Harry Bosch with current LAPD night shift detective Renee Ballard. Bosch and Ballard cross paths on a cold case involving the murder of a teenage girl by an unknown predator who may still be out there. The two cops agree to pool their efforts to find the killer.
