Best Mystery & Crime Novels of 2014

This was another strong year for new books in the Mystery and Crime genre. These are the best books reviewed by this Blog in 2014:

The Drop by Dennis Lehane - A hard-edged crime story set on the bleak streets of South Boston. The rough, blue collar characters speak in terse, streetwise dialogue that reflects the worn hardness of the neighborhood around them. It all moves inexorably toward a violent end, as if the characters are hopelessly fated by their own warped natures.

The Burning Room by Michael Connelly - LAPD detective Harry Bosch is back in the latest novel in a highly popular continuing series. Bosch is his typical tenacious, maverick self as he digs into a politically charged cold case. The chemistry between the wily veteran Bosch and the new young partner he is training, Lucia Soto, brings added depth to the novel. A compelling, first rate police procedural.

Perfidia by James Ellroy - A lurid noir crime epic set in post-war Los Angeles, and a prequel to Ellroy's famed Black Dahlia-Big Nowhere-L.A. Confidential trilogy. This novel portrays an LAPD awash in corruption, dirty politics, and bone-splintering cop beat-downs. It's all written in Ellroy's trademark manic, machine gun style, and salted with sleazy Hollywood dirt. A wild whirlwind of a ride that just skirts the dark rim of craziness.

The Son by Jo Nesbo - A tale of revenge set in Oslo, Norway. An escaped prison inmate, a ghost-like figure known as The Son, goes after those responsible for the death of his policeman father. The cop tracking The Son is Simon Kefas, a balding, tired man nearing retirement and an unlikely hero. Offbeat and eerie at times, with a wrenching final plot twist.

Saints of the Shadow Bible by Ian Rankin - Inspector John Rebus of the Edinburgh, Scotland police returns from short lived retirement. He takes on an auto accident case that turns into a cover-up by powerful people. Rebus is at his gruff best with his tactless rudeness and deep-held cynicism. An intriguing plot puzzle for mystery readers.

Field of Prey by John Sandford - Minnesota State Police investigator Lucas Davenport pursues a grisly new serial killer case. The bodies of twenty young women are discovered in an old, buried cistern on a vacant farm. A killer has been at work for years and he's still living in one of the small towns in the area. A dark, relentless thriller that drives toward a brutal climax.

THE DROP by Dennis Lehane a Hard-Edged Crime Piece

The Drop by Dennis Lehane is a tough, grim crime story set on the hard-scrabble streets of south Boston. This short novel features rough, blue collar characters whose terse dialogue reflects the worn bleakness of the neighborhood around them.

Bob Saginowski is a bartender at a run down local bar. His older, bitter cousin Marv Stipler, a minor mobster, once owned the bar until the tougher Chechen mob took it away from him. The bar is now used as a money drop for the Chechens' illegal activities.

When the bar is robbed one night and the mob money stolen, the violent Chechens want answers from Bob and Marv. Another problem emerges for Bob when he finds an abused puppy in a trashcan and takes the dog home to care for it. Then a sociopath ex-con named Eric Deeds shows up and says the dog is his and he wants it back or else.

Once set in motion along these lines, the story moves inexorably toward violent events, as if its characters are hopelessly locked in by their own warped natures. The Drop is a fast reading, gripping tale that will be appreciated by those who like hard nosed crime fiction.

BEACH RATING: 4 palm Trees

Best Hard Boiled Crime Writers Out There

The hard boiled crime genre is a harsh, unsparing one populated with morally crippled characters, gritty street realism, and outbreaks of sudden, graphic violence. The genre's bloodlines run through the classic works of Jim Thompson, George V. Higgins, and James Ellroy.

Here are three of the best hard boiled crime writers working today:

 George Pelecanos - His novels are set in Washington D.C., but not in the world of big time politics. This world is one of working class streets, gang turf, and small time hoods with vicious ambitions. A series of novels feature streetwise former cop Derek Strange, beginning with Right As Rain. The author's recent novel The Cut introduces a new character, Spero Lucas, an Iraq war veteran and freelance investigator who will work for almost anyone, including local criminal types.

Pelecanos writes with a clean, razor-sharp style that seems to move with an effortless momentum through the hard-edged stories that he tells.

James Sallis - Author of the novel Drive and its sequel Driven, whose main character is known only as Driver. He works as a movie stunt driver and sometimes makes side money driving in robbery jobs for crime gangs. Sometimes, those jobs go bad.

The novels are brute, existentialist parables. Driver lives day-to-day. He defines himself only by his actions to survive in the moment, whatever that uncertain next moment may be, Stay alive, keep moving somewhere.

That restless, spontaneous movement is a metaphor for the character and for the novels themselves. Sallis writes with an ice-cold minimalism that embodies the bleak, violence-spotted road that Driver travels down.

Dennis Lehane - His work is set in the rough-edged blue collar neighborhoods of south Boston -- areas of worn brick tenements, raw red complexions, and shabby local bars filled with tired, embittered patrons. A petty crime act is only a step away for people who don't have much to begin with.

An ongoing series of novels features private eye Patrick Kensie and his partner, and later wife, Angela Gennaro. The series includes the classic Gone, Baby, Gone and its recent sequel Moonlight Mile.

Central to the novels is the sardonic narrative voice of Kensie and how changes in his new family situation with Gennaro and their small daughter affect his philosophy in facing the brutal violence he encounters in his work.