Glen Davis is one of our regular participants on Thursdays for “What Are You Reading?” I always enjoy his comments about books. So, of course, I was looking forward to his summaries of his favorite books read in 2023. Thank you, Glen!

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This year, it seems I spent most of my reading time filling in various series. While I’m pretty much caught up on most of the series I read, it does make a Best Of list a little harder to make. I think I did better with the non-fiction this year.

Cozies

Wonton Terror by Vivien Chien:

So far, I’ve liked every book in this series, although I did not read them in order, not an uncommon occurrence for me.

This one starts with a summer festival many shopping centers have. There’s a show, booths selling everything under the sun, and food trucks. Perhaps one too many food trucks, as one of them explodes, killing the owner. Lana Lee investigates, and finds out all sorts of things she perhaps doesn’t really want to know. I read three of these this year, and this was the best of them.

Steeped in Malice by Vicki Delaney:

The protagonist of this novel owns a tea shop in Olde Cape Cod. When an entire tea set is demolished, she has to go antiquing for new tea sets. Apparently, there are a lot of cups broken in her line of work. She finds a very nice set, only to find several other people want it, and are unscrupulous in their efforts to get it. Eventually, there is a murder, and the owner is in as much danger as anybody for being the next to shuffle off this mortal coil. I’m not much for tea shops, but this one stood out from the pack.

Death by Smoothie by Laura LeVine:

Jaine Austen is short on cash when a lottery winner calls her up with a job rewriting his play based on the old cult sitcom, I Married a Zombie. One of her qualifications is that she found the murderer of one of the original stars. The play is abysmal, and making things worse is that an obnoxious woman with no acting talent has wormed her way into the starring role. We all know the penalty for being obnoxious in cozies is death, and so it is here. Jaine has to try to keep her job, rewrite the play, to make it almost passable, and find the murderer. Now I’d like to see an episode of the show!

Historical Fiction

Too Many Bullets by Max Allan Collins:

The latest, and possibly the last Nathan Heller mystery.

In this entry, Nathan Heller is a bodyguard for Robert Kennedy in 1968. Like all of his charges, Kennedy is assassinated. Heller, incensed, begins to investigate, and finds too many bullets, and too many suspects, among them the Los Angeles Police department and the CIA. 

With what seems to be a new wave of assassinations starting, and RFK Jr running for president, and already having a couple of attempts on his life, this one seemed more frightening than most horror books I’ve read lately.

World’s Greatest Sleuth! by Steve Hockensmith:

Brothers “Big Red” and “Old Red Almingmeyer are entered into a contest to find out who is the world’s greatest sleuth after the death of Sherlock Holmes at Reichenback Falls. Competing with detectives from France and England, the detectives roam all over the Chicago World’s Fair. Then someone is murdered for real, and everybody investigates that right alongside the contest’s mystery. A hilarious series.

Men’s Adventure

Springer’s Max Bet by W.L. Ripley:  

Cole Springer is getting a little bored in Aspen, when an old friend, sort of like Angel from Rockford Files was Jim Rockford’s “friend” comes to him with a problem. It seems he vouched for a gambler to a get him into a game with a Vegas gangster. Springer is persona non grata in Vegas, as he’s angered the police and other gangsters, but he has nothing better to do, plus the gambler is the step brother of his girlfriend. This gets him into conflict with two sets of gangsters, that want an artifact that they, and the boss of a cartel desire. Cole decides he wants to get his hands on it, and the game is on. Springer is something of a thinking man’s action hero.

Martial Arts Thriller

Last Breath by Scott Harrington:

When ninja instructor Trace Connor goes SCUBA diving, it’s the perfect opportunity for the Three Triad to try to kill him. The attempt fails, of course, and Trace goes after the Triad, despite the opposition of Chinese government, and his own ninja clan. It’s very exciting. I hope Harrington writes another this year.

Neo-Pulp

Fire Strike by Clive Cussler: 

Juan Cabrillo and The Oregon are doing the CIA a favor by trying to track down a missing Israeli agent. Turns out, said agent was trying to infiltrate a band of super powered mercenaries.

Western

Both westerns are featuring actors this year. 

Deuces Wild: A Western Adventure Novel by Scott McCrea

Tom Mix is marshal of Dewey Oklahoma when a card sharp is caught cheating and lynched. Someone starts killing the gamblers involved. Then Bat Masterson comes to town. Tom has to figure out who is doing the killing, before there are any more murders. Better than the Dean Martin/Robert Mitchum movie Five Card Stud with the same basic plot.

Mystery of the Murdered Bad Man by Darryle Purcell:

 It’s 1935 and Ken Maynard is in more trouble than usual. He’s been framed for murdering an actor specializing in villainous parts in westerns. Not only that, a former starlet is also missing. Curley Woods and Ken Maynard have to bust the frame and find the woman. Really exciting, but not exactly historically accurate.

Biography

Crazy Horse: The Strange Man of the Sioux by Mari Sandoz:

An excellent biography of the legendary chief, told form the Sioux perspective. Very well done. M. Scott Momaday would be proud, as it shows how Crazy Horse went from an odd kid, to a chief, to almost a demigod like figure today.

The Boys in the Boat by Daniel James Brown: 

A biography of a bunch of hardscrabble Washington youths who became the best rowing crew in the world despite all of the odds against. Shows the transcendent quality of sports. I hope the movie is as good as the book.

History

Native Nations: A Millennium In North America by Kathleen DuVal:

This is an attempt at a new sort of history of Native Americans, shows them as valid people, rather than helpless victims. She finds it a lot easier before 1492, but it is an excellent attempt to show Native Americans as fully human, with their own goals and views. One of the best histories of Native Americans I’ve read in a long time. 

Non-Fiction

Wine Folly: The Essential Guide to Wine by Madeline Puckett and Justin Hammock;

I don’t talk about it much here, but wine tasting is one of my other hobbies. This is definitely the best book about the subject I’ve read this year. It goes into almost every kind of wine, how it is made, and how it is different than other kinds of wine, and makes recommendations. If you are an oenophile, this is the book for you! 

Thank you, Glen. I liked the format you used for your Favorites. There’s something for everyone here!