Thank you, Glen, for sending us your list of favorite books read in 2024. I look forward to your comments every Thursday because I always find something to smile at in your pithy remarks. Thanks for sharing this list with us.

This year, for whatever reason, I decided to try to catch up on all the series I dedicatedly read. As a result, I didn’t really read anything new and groundbreaking, but on the other hand, I’m all caught up on most of the series.  Still, I won some books on goodreads, and received some more via trades and library book sales I wouldn’t have read otherwise. While most of these books are mysteries, I’ll start with a short list of books in other genres.

Kid’s Fantasy

The Mice of Dumpler by Chris Weld: In a city of anthropomorphized mice, the knights ride dogs into battle. When weasels attack, a boy is riding a dog at a festival. The dog runs to the battle, but the boy has no weapons and doesn’t know how to fight. Should he join the fight anyway?

This is a fun kids’ book, without any real violence.

Martial Arts Thriller

Dawn of the Black Sun by Timo Burnham; A young man raised in a fishing village is the only survivor when ruffians massacre the village. Wandering around, he meets a kung fu master, who teaches him a few things. They make their way to the temple, where the youth must pass a test to get into the training program, despite having only a few weeks of tutelage. Very much like something Gordon Liu might have starred in during the 70’s.

Horror

Colonial Nightmare by David Vining; A 21 year old George Washington is called to deliver a letter to a French fort located in the wilderness during the run up to the French and Indian War. He is accompanied by an experienced frontiersman and some Iroquois Indians along the way. They encounter something the Indians call a Manitou, but really could be…anything. The thing is horrifying and ancient and is killing off the members of the expedition, and the French in the fort, and whomever else it encounters. It reminded me somewhat of the movie Predator, but George Washington doesn’t have a chopper. Very chilling.

Biography

Becky Lynch: The Man-Not Your Average Girl by Rebecca Quin; Becky Lynch, one of the most successful professional wrestlers of her generation outlines her journey from Ireland to the WWE Women’s World Champion and goes into her latest chapter as the wife of several time Men’s World Champion and mother of her daughter. It’s a lot like other wrestling biographies, but the female perspective makes it really stand out.

Men’s Adventure

Biker Cop: Hippie Terror Thrill-Kill Cult by Paul Russ; During the 70’s Men’s Adventure Boom, a lot of the books promised a concept that seemed like a great idea, only to bungle the execution and write a boring book in a short, forgotten, series. Chopper Cop was one of those series, seeming to promise a thrill ride combining rock and roll, bikers, and sex and violence. None of that happened. This book’s goal is provide what the earlier books should have given us, and it really delivers. Hippies are randomly killing tourists for no special reason. Leaving a calling card nobody can translate. The Biker Cop, caught between the cops and the counter culture gets on the case. There’s all the things people wanted to read about in the 70’s. You can almost see the avocado green refrigerators and the ferns.

Espionage

Shadow of Doubt by Brad Thor; Thor found his groove again, as this book, based on a true incident of the Russians infiltrating the French government, is great from cover to cover. A defector in Norway, moles galore, and Scott Harvath wasting wimps gives us a book much better than those from the last two or three years. 

Now for the 

Mysteries

These are in several subgenres, so there should be something for everybody.

Peking Duck and Cover by Vivien Chien; It’s Chinese New Year, and the Asian Plaza is having a big celebration, complete with a Lion Dance. One of the dancers is murdered, in front of the Mayor and the Press. The police are under a lot of pressure. For once, all of Lana Li’s friends and family want her to investigate, to save the Plaza. With all this help, she almost doesn’t know what to do! A clever way to change the circumstances, but not the setting. I’d put this in the top tier of current cozy series.

A Curse in Kyoto by SJ Cullen; A posh British girl, and a salt of the Earth Japanese boy try to find out what is going on, when a ghost is seen at their school, and a genius coder friend disappears. It’s all well done and creepy, like the best of the Hardy Boys/Nancy Drew mysteries, and they don’t fall in love, Thank Goodness.

The Disappearing Donor by Susan Madon; When two priceless paintings disappear from her museum, the facility’s chief fund raiser decides to investigate. The mystery is very well done, and there’s a lot of info about raising funds for giant foundations. While that’s not my bailiwick, the author certainly made it interesting.

Blue Green: Fans Against The Empire by Richard Wall; In the Byzantium, they had their equivalent of soccer hooligans: Chariot racing thugs. A man who was once involved with that activity is blackmailed into being dragged back in, to solve a murder and clean up the racket. He uncovers a vast conspiracy, surrounded by other conspiracies. All very Byzantine.

Dying for a Decoration by Cindy Samples; Laurel McKay is a PI without a case, when a local crank hires her to find out who is stealing his decorative reindeer. It seems like nothing, but then the client is assaulted and left for dead. She investigates, while being guilted into performing in the local production of Elf. Also, her nonagenarian Grandmother has a boytoy boyfriend, and she doesn’t think the guy is after Grannie’s body. I hope for another book by Samples soon. 

Thank you, Glen.