Friday Flashback: List #4: 7 Mysteries from Authors Who Are Still Alive

I decided to start doing Friday Flashbacks in case you missed some earlier posts the first time around. You're busy; I understand.

You know that great feeling of finishing a very satisfying book? And you immediately think, "Yes, please, I'd like more of that," so you read other things by the same author, and then before you know it, you've read everything by the author, and you know there won't be any more because the author is dead? Yeah, that happens to me a lot.

So! Here are some enjoyable mystery novels by living authors. There's still the danger you'll catch up with their output, but at least you can hope for more from them.


1. Case Histories, by Kate Atkinson (Rec. #3): Private investigator Jackson Brodie makes a strong debut.

2. The Reaper, by Peter Lovesey (Rec. #21): A parish priest is not all he should be --- and is quite unrepentant about it.

3. Dreaming of the Bones, by Deborah Crombie (Rec. #55): Police inspectors Duncan Kincaid and Gemma James get caught up in a complicated investigation that begins with a cold case.

4. One Good Turn, by Kate Atkinson (Rec. #69): Jackson Brodie returns in a kaleidoscopic story that starts with road rage and ends with a hitman.

5. The Face of a Stranger, by Anne Perry (Rec. #91): A police detective loses his memory in Victorian London.

6. The Good Children, by Kate Wilhelm (Rec. #111): Four children become sudden orphans and try to keep it a secret.

7. Smilla's Sense of Snow, by Peter Høeg (Rec. #150): A young boy falls to his death in Denmark.

[Originally posted 7/19/11.]