Seattle Mystery Bookshop

Happy New Year!

Good riddence to 2009!!

Welcome 2010!!!

JB's list of Best Books read in 2009

In no particular order...

Josh Bazell, Beat the Reaper – funniest book I’ve read in years.

Brett Battles (all three: The Cleaner, The Deceived, Shadows of Betrayal) – a terrific new series with a character who is like no one else that I’ve read.

Jess Walter, The Financial Lives of Poets – cynically comical look at modern life and financial catastrophe

Steig Larsson (all three: The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, The Girl who Played with Fire, The Girl who Kicked the Hornets' Nest) – it is a crime and a shame that he died without having written 30 books, at least.

Mike Lawson, House Secrets – can’t get enough of DeMarco, Emma and the Speaker.

Jedediah Berry, Manual of Detection – strangest book of the year, but enchanting

George Pelecanos, The Turnaround – noir master, yes, but one of the rare white guys with soul.

Walter Mosley, The Night Falls – how can you not love a world-weary, middle-aged PI with 80,000 songs on his iPod?

Joe Gores, Spade & Archer- a perfect prequel to The Maltese Falcon, as if he channeled Hammett.

Philip Kerr, The One from the Other and A Quiet Flame – one of the great pleasures of the new Century is that there are new Berney Gunther novels.

Boston Teran, Creed of Violence – ruffians and killers with an oddly formal way of speaking! Great!

Cornelia Read, A Field of Darkness, The Crazy School, and Invisible Boy -- sorry I waited so long to read her, she’s a string of pearls in the rough.

Gillian Flynn, Dark Places – best of the year, good lord what a masterful piece of writing.

Jayne says Happy New Year, Seattle Mystery

Thanks for the fabulous signing for FIRED UP and Happy New Year.  Wow. Who knew 2010 would really get here?  Where are the flying cars? 

 I'll see you in April for BURNING LAMP. Thanks, again, for everything you've done to support my books. You guys are the best booksellers in the whole world!

--Jayne Ann Krentz

Fran’s Lists of Best Books of 2009

Best of local:

Robert Dugoni, Wrongful Death

Robert Ferrigno, Heart of the Assassin

Yasmine Galenorn, Bone Magic

Caitlin Kittredge, Street Magic

Mike Lawson, House Secrets

Kat Richardson, Vanished

Jess Walter, The Financial Lives of Poets

Best paperbacks:

Kelley Armstrong, Made to be Broken

Kathryn Fox, Bloodborn

Michelle Gagnon, Gatekeeper

Andi Marquette, all three

Joan Opyr, From Hell to Breakfast

Best new authors:

Brett Battles – all three

Josh Bazell, Beat the Reaper

Alan Bradley, Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie

Derek Haas, both of ‘em

Steig Larsson – everything. Wow.

Amy McKinnon, tethered

Christi Phillps, Devlin Diary

Spencer Quinn, Dog On It

Best of the Usual Suspects:

John Connelly, The Gates

Barry Eisler, Fault Line

Gillian Flynn, Dark Places

David Hewson, Dante’s Numbers

Susan Hill, Vows of Silence

Alex Kava, Black Friday

William Kent Krueger, Heaven’s Keep

David Morrell, Shimmer

Louise Ure, Liar’s Anonymous

Adele's Best Mysteries of 2009 List

Brett Battles, all three: The Cleaner, The Deceived and Shadow of Betrayal

Ann Cleeves, again all three: Raven Black, White Nights, and Red Bones

Michael Connelly, The Scarecrow

R. J. Ellory, A Quiet Belief in Angels - his debut!

Stieg Larsson, all three (!): The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, The Girl who Played with Fire and The Girl who Kicked the Hornet's Nest

Best of 2009 from Marie

The Samaritan, third in Omar Yussef Sirhan series by Matt Benyon Rees, eerily echoes breaking news stories, this time from Nablus.

The Dead of Winter, third in John Madden series by Rennie Airth, with haunting, elegant, powerful writing about 1944 London and rural England.

Buried Strangers, second in Brazilian chief investigator Mario Silva series by Leighton Gage, a cop who dirties his hands to solve violent crime.

The Case of the Missing Servant: A Vish Puri Mystery by Tarquin Hall skillfully guides perplexed Westerners through the seeming contradictions of contemporary India.

The Widow’s Revenge, 14th in Charlie Moon series by James D. Doss, with wonderful writing and gentle humor sustains a breakneck pace among Ute, Apache and Anglo cultures of southern Colorado.

Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie by Debut Dagger Award-winner Alan Bradley presents a precociously intelligent 1950s youngest daughter “to the manor born” with a penchant for chemistry.

The Silent Spirit, 14th in Arapaho lawyer Vickie Holden and John O’Malley, S.J. series by Margaret Coel, seamlessly uses split-time between 1920s movie making and contemporary reservation crime.

The Alpine Uproar, 21st in Emma Lord series by Mary Daheim, lacks all the right things: extraneous words, misleading clues, cloying characters, and implausible situations.

The Dark Horse, fifth in Sheriff Walt Longmire series by Craig Johnson, the confessed murderer of an arsonist who killed horses locked inside a barn doesn’t ring true for Walt.

Sister Pelagia and the White Bulldog by Boris Akunin, introduces a vivacious 19th century rural heroine as physically clumsy as she is mentally adroit with writing as scholarly as any classic Russian literature.

Janine’s Best of 2009 List

In no particular order…

Liars Anonymous, by Louise Ure ~ betrayal and redemption come at a high price…

The Stalin Epigram, by Robert Littell ~ a fictionalized but accurate account of the life & times of Russian poet Osip Mandelstam. Ties in nicely with - 

City of Thieves, by David Benioff ~ brilliant, simply brilliant!

Dark Paradise, by Lono Waiwaiole ~ loved the story, loved the construction of the story, very dark indeed!

Stardust, by Joseph Kanon ~ nobody does period pieces like Joe Kanon, McCarthy era Hollywood & political intrigue!

Columbus, by Derek Haas ~ an excellent sequel to last year’s Silver Bear

Still Life, A Fatal Grace, The Cruelest Month, A Rule Against Murder, The Brutal Telling ~ all by Louise Penny ~ I love this character driven series!

61 Hours, by Lee Child ~ the first of Lee’s two books being published in 2010, the best edge-of-your seat explosive thriller Child has written to date!

And Only to Deceive, The Poisoned Season, A Fatal Waltz, Tears of Pearl ~ the Lady Emily mysteries by Tasha Alexander ~ Victorian England captured perfectly

The Elegance of the Hedgehog, by Muriel Barbery ~ not a mystery, or is it?

Gretchen's Best Books of 2009

The Agency - Brian Freeman and Ali Gunn – Not a mystery, but co-authored by one of our favorite authors. And HILARIOUS.

The Last Child – John Hart – Exceptional writing, amazing story, a gut-wrencher.

Made To Be Broken – Kelly Armstrong – Hitwoman, resort owner, kick-ass girl all around.

Dark Places – Gillian Flynn – Need I say more?

Fifty Grand – Adrian McKinty – Hard hitting, beautiful writing, knife-edge characters.

Beat The Reaper – Josh Bazell – Everyone here loved this book, hit-man, er, doc, definition of snarky.

Die For You – Lisa Unger – Just basic, great story-telling with twists you don’t expect.

House Secrets – Mike Lawson – We love these books! Such human characters, amazing unfolding stories and fun politics.

Memory Collector – Meg Gardiner – A forensic anthropologist, a suspect with memory problems, rough characters.

A Bad Day For Sorry – Sophie Littlefield – A debut novel, full of sass and women taking things into their own hands.

Breathing Water – Timothy Hallinan – The third in this series – you need to fall in love with his family.

The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo – Steig Larsson - Duh!

Bill's List of Best Books of 2009

Josh Bazell, Beat the Reaper

Brett Battles, The Cleaner

Inger Wolfe, The Calling

Martin Limon, G. I. Bones

Donald E. Westlake, Get Real

Westlake writing as Richard Stark, The Black Ice Score

David Rosenfelt, New Tricks

Michael Connelly, The Scarecrow

Steven M. Forman, Boca Nights

Harry Dolan, Bad Things Happen

Independent Mystery Booksellers Association November 2009 Bestsellers

Hardcovers

1 – Michael Connelly, 9 Dragons, Little Brown

2 – Charlaine Harris, Grave Secret, Berkley

3 – Clive Cussler and Justin Scott, The Wrecker, Putnam

4 – David Baldacci, True Blue, Grand Central

5 – Steig Larsson, The Girl who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest, Quercus

6 - tie

John Connolly, The Gates, Atria

Carolyn Hart, Merry, Merry Ghost, Morrow

Greg Bear, Mariposa, Vanguard

Emily Arsenault, The Broken Teaglass, Delacorte

10 – Martin Limón, G.I. Bones, Soho

Softcovers

1 – Lorna Barrett, Bookplate Special, Berkley

2 – Steig Larsson, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, Vintage

3 – Donna Andrews, Six Geese A-Slaying, St. Martin’s

4 – P.D. James, The Private Patient, Vintage

5 – Carolyn Hart, Ghost at Work, Avon

6 – Susan Kandel, Dial H for Hitchcock, Harper

7 – Spencer Quinn, Dog On It, Atria

8 – Gail Carriger, Soulless, Orbit

9 – Maggie Sefton, Fleece Navidad, Berkley

10 – tie

Josh Bazell, Beat the Reaper, Back Bay

Keith Raffel, Smasher, Midnight Ink

Louise Penny, Still Life, St. Martin’s

Elaine Viets, The Fashion Hound Murder, Berkley

Sue Henry was here!

Sue Henry came in to sign her latest Maxie and Stretch novel, The End of the Road, and we compared notes on how cold it's been.  Considering she's from Alaska, she wasn't too impressed by our brief cold snap, which made perfect sense to us.

And she told us lots of great stories, including the one about the mistake in the dedication in The End of the Road.  If you'd like to know what itis, come on in and we'll tell you.  We bet, though, that you can figure it out!