Seattle Mystery Bookshop

JB's Best of 2011

It varies year to year whether it is difficult to come up with the ten ‘best books’ read in one year, or whether you can limit it to ten. Some years, you keep a list as the year goes on and what you thought would be on the list ends up dropping off as it is measured against others you read afterward. Some years you can’t get to ten; some years you plead with your colleagues to do their fifteen or twenty so you don’t look as if you’re the only one who can’t whittle their list. And some years everyone else has a book you loved on their list but you don't and it takes a while to figure out that it was on your last list because you read it early (that's why the Urban Waite wasn't on my list, or Winslow's Satori - they was on my 2010 list)... CRIMINY! Who knew bookselling could be so arduous!

Here, then, is my list of Best of 2011 in the rough order in which they were read – with one exception at the end:

Mike Lawson, House Divided (Atlantic Monthly)

Lawrence Block, A Drop of the Hard Stuff (Mulholland)

Daniel Woodrell, The Outlaw Album (Little Brown)

Scott Phillips, The Adjustment (Counterpoint)

Carol O’Connell, The Chalk Girl (Putnam)

Garry Disher, Wyatt (Soho)

Jeff Guinn, The Last Gunfight (Simon & Schuster)

George Pelecanos, The Cut (LittleBrown)

Lee Child, The Affair (Delacorte)

Thomas H. Cook, The Quest for Anna Klein (HMH)

John Connolly – all of his Charlie Parker books (it was a great way to spend the Fall!)

I said back in June that this would be the best book of the year and I can now report that my claim then held true –

Best Book of 2011: Peter Spiegelman, Thick as Thieves (Knopf)

Book I am most looking forward to in 2012: Gillian Flynn’s Gone Girl, coming out next June.

Adele's Best of 2011

In no particular order -

Jo Nesbo, The Snowman and The Leopard

Jussi Adler-Olsen – The Keeper of Lost Causes – This was my best new find of the year. A fantastic start to a new series!

Don Winslow – Satori

And because of Satori, Travanian – Shibumi

CJ Box – Back of Beyond and Cold Wind (I am reading the new Joe Pickett, Force of Nature due out in March. He just keeps on getting better!)

James Thompson – Lucifer’s Tears

Urban Waite – The Terror of Living (what a debut!)

Roslund and Hellstrom – Three Seconds (Cell8 will be out next week and it’s amazing!!!)

 Louise Penny – A Trick of the Light

Carol O’Connell – Chalk Girl (good enough to make me go back and re-read all the previous Mallorys for the 3rd time!)

Robert Crais – The Sentry (I admit it, as much as I like Elvis, I love Joe Pike!)

Janine's Best of 2011

Terror of Living, by Urban Waite - what's not to like about a book that is darker than dark???

Thick as Thieves, by Pete Spielgelman, amazing twists and turns!

Keeper of Lost Causes, by Jussi Adler-Olsen - I want more from this author, NOW!

Three Seconds and Cell 8, (an ARC), both by Roslund & Hellstrom, both incredibly brilliant!

Snow Angels and Lucifer's Tears, both by James Thompson - a Kentucky boy writes Finnish crime and does it well!

A Trick of the Light, by Louise Penny - she continues to blow me away with her beautiful prose!

Dark Men, by Derek Haas - FINALLY another Silver Bear book!

The Chalk Girl, by Carol O'Connell, the most heartbreaking Mallory yet, an ARC, due out in January, 2012.

Hit Girls, by Dreda Say Mitchell, this lady has such a voice!

The Affair, by Lee Child - my list is never complete without a Reacher book on it!

The Redbreast, Nemesis, The Devil's Star, The Snowman, The Redeemer ~ all by Jo Nesbo, all Harry Hole novels, and the only reason The Leopard isn't on this list is because I haven't read it yet!

I know. I know. More than ten. It is what it is. Get over it.

Fran's Best of 2011 List(s)

Anyone who's been around the shop for a year or two knows that my year-end "Best Of" list is never, ever just 10 books. This year is no exception. What can I say? I read a lot. I love my homework!  So, here we go. Once again, they're all alphabetized by author, and as always, I feel like I'm forgetting someone.

Local Authors

Robert Dugoni -- Murder One (Touchstone)

Larry Karp -- A Perilous Conception (Poisoned Press)

Mike Lawson -- House Divided (Atlantic Press)

Boyd Morrison -- The Ark (Simon & Schuster)

Kat Richardson – Downpour (Roc)

Chevy Stevens -- Never Knowing (St. Martins)

Urban Waite -- The Terror of Living (Little Brown)

 

From the Rest of the World

Steven Arnston -- The Wikkeling (Penguin)

Rebecca Cantrell -- all three of her Hanna Vogel series

Ernest Cline --  Ready Player One (Crown)

John Connolly -- The Infernals AND The Burning Soul (both Atria)

Gary Corby -- The Ionia Sanction (Minotaur)

Lindsey Davis – Nemesis (Minotaur)

Deborah Harkness -- A Discovery of Witches (Penguin)

Jonathan Hayes -- Precious Blood AND Hard Death (both Harper)

William Kent Krueger -- Northwest Angle (Atria)

Rebecca Makkai -- The Borrower (Viking)

Val McDermid – The Retribution (Atlantic Press) Signing January 24th

M. J. McGrath -- White Heat (Viking)

Carol O'Connell -- the entire Mallory series

Peter Spiegelman – Thick as Thieves (Knopf)

Kelli Stanley -- The Curse Maker AND City of Secrets (both Minotaur)

Neal Stephenson – Reamde (Harper)

Daniel Woodrell -- The Outlaw Album (Little Brown)

 

Paperback Originals

D. D. Barant -- Better Off Undead (St. Martins)

Patricia Briggs -- everything

J. T. Ellison -- Where The Dead Lie (Mira)

Yasmine Galenorn -- Night Veil AND Courting Darkness (Berkeley)

Boyd Morrison – Catalyst (Pocket)

Joan Opyr -- Shaken and Stirred (Bywater)

Cherie Priest – Hellbent (Random House)

Amanda Valentino and Melissa Kantor -- The Amanda Project (Harper)

BILL’S TOP 10 BOOKS READ IN 2011

Two absolutely outstanding performances:

        House Divided, Mike Lawson

        The Informant, Thomas Perry

An outstanding debut:

        The Terror of Living, Urban Waite

Repeat performances by favorite authors:

        The Affair, Lee Child

        The Fifth Witness, Michael Connelly

        A Perilous Conception, Larry Karp

        In the Garden of Beasts, Erik Larson

        Deadly Edge, Donald Westlake writing as Richard Stark

        Getting Off, Lawrence Block writing as Jill Emerson

A new discovery:

        Something for Nothing, David Anthony

~Bill

Love Mysteries? Love Wilderness? Come Along with Me…

I believe that most of us who live in the west have a deep appreciation for our dramatic landscapes. We are blessed to have vast areas of canyons, mountains, forests, deserts, and shorelines protected as public lands for all of us to enjoy. I am an outdoor gal who spends a lot of time in those public lands—I hike, snowshoe, and kayak in our national parks and forests, as well as exploring the amazing state and county parks we have here in Washington. So it's only natural that I would choose to set my mysteries in the public lands I love. These are rich environments for stories, with their intrinsic conflicts of humans versus nature and wildlife, those who seek to exploit resources versus those who seek to conserve them, and their complex histories of mining and settlement by both Native Americans and pioneers.

But I'm not a park ranger. I'm a writer, a private investigator, and a former multimedia editor at Microsoft. My outdoor adventures come together with my experiences of creating plots and investigating cases in my protagonist, Summer "Sam" Westin, who has a degree in wildlife biology but is forced to eke out a living as a blogger writing about environmental issues and outdoor sports.

The first mystery in my series—Endangered—takes place in the spectacular high plateaus and canyons of Utah. The second is set on the scenic Olympic Peninsula in Washington State. The third—well, I'm not going to say because I'm still working on it, but there's a lot of salt water involved. If you've ever hiked a trail or paddled down a river or simply fallen in love with an incredible view of mountains or ocean, I guarantee you'll like my new mystery series.

Thank you, Seattle Mystery Bookshop, for hosting me to sign my book. And for all of those who didn't make it to the signing, the bookshop still has signed copies of Endangered in stock. Stop in, chat with the friendly staff there, buy a book, and join Sam and me on our adventures in the wild.

-- Pamela Beason