I hope you’re enjoying the lists of favorite books as much as I am. Today, Kevin Tipple is sharing his top ten books of 2022. I know a few of my readers found Lesa’s Book Critiques because Kevin mentioned it on his blog, Kevin’s Corner. Here’s the link if you’d like to check it out, https://kevintipplescorner.blogspot.com/ . He’s so generous in sharing reviews and links to others’ websites and blogs. Thanks you, Kevin.

Enjoy Kevin’s list!

Lesa gave me the opportunity to appear here and offer you a favorite reads list. I very much appreciate the opportunity.

As always, the list below features my personal reading tastes. I tend to skip cozies and historicals —though I do have two on the list this year. I very much graduate towards westerns and police procedurals so, no surprise, I have them below. The books selected refer my personal tastes, biases, and all that jazz. I am not saying that these are the best books. I am stating that they were my favorites during the past year.

A Kind And Savage Place by Rick Helms is not something I would have sought out on my own. The author sent me the ARC for it and I was hooked in a few pages. This is a prequel to Six Mile Creek and others that are part of the Judd Wheeler series.  The book covers a period from 1942 to 1989 and though Judd Wheeler is in it, the book is about many others as society changes over time. It is incredibly complicated read and one that it is impossible to say much about without creating spoilers. Suffice it to say, it rocked my reading world. It was and is powerfully good.

Movieland by Lee Goldberg is the fourth book in the very good Eve Ronin series. My copy came by way of NetGalley. Sheriff’s Department Detectives Eve Ronin and Duncan “Donuts” Pavone are dispatched to Malibu Creek State Park on a homicide call. There is one victim deceased and a second victim in critical condition. This is a series that really should be read in order starting with Lost Hills.

Shifty’s Boys by Chris Offutt is the second read in the Mick Hardin series. It picks up a few weeks after The Killing Hills and opens begins with the local taxi driver, Albin, finding a body. Mick Harden is home on medical leave thanks to an IED attack that nearly killed him. It didn’t. His divorce and the pain pill addiction might. He needs something to occupy his mind. The fact that it was Barney, son of Mrs. Kissick, who was found dead, is about to be his project. While Mick and Mrs. Kissick, also known as “Shifty,” have history and were not on very good terms the last time they spoke, she needs help. She wants Mick because she knows that his being a military cop will come in handy as the local police are doing nothing to find his killer and have no leads or clues.

I have long been a fan of the Sherriff Hank Worth series by Claire Booth. The latest in in the series that should be read in order is, Dangerous Consequences: A Sheriff Hank Worth Mystery. The ripple effects of the last book among the rank and file continue while at the same time, there has been a huge rise in emergency cases at the local hospital. Sheriff Worth’s wife, Maggie McCleary, is a doctor and has been doing some investigating on her own. She identified at least ten cases of elderly patients who have to be treated in the last month for dehydration and other issues. All were tourists. All were part of various tour groups. Whether it is all a massive coincidence or something the Sheriff’s department as well as Branson City Police Department should be looking at, she does not know. She does now something is not right and she is worried. She came to Hank with her concerns and now they have a case to pursue.

I have also long been a fan of the Joe Gunther series by Archer Mayor. The latest one in this highly entertaining series is, Fall Guy: A Joe Gunther Novel. It opens in late winter with Joe Gunther, Field Force Commander of the Vermont Bureau of Investigation, summoned out to a scene where every conceivable law enforcement agency is already at in large numbers. They have a stolen Mercedes at the side of the road. They have a dead body. They have a lot of stolen stuff in the car. They also have six cell phones that were in the car. At least one of the phones has pornographic images of a young child on it and the pictures are clearly very recent. This is a complicated case and one that crosses state lines. While it is better to have read these in order, you could get away with reading this one first.

An Unforgiving Place: A National Park Mystery by Claire Kells picks up a few weeks after Vanishing Edge. On assignment in Denali National Park, Investigative Service Branch Special Agent Felicity Harland is sent to the Gates of the Artic National Park to investigate the discovery of two bodies. I recommend reading the prior book first as the author is building the ground floor of what should be a terrific series.

It is mid December 1935 as Funeral Train: A Dust Bowl Mystery by Laurie Loewenstein begins and life has been brutal in the panhandle of Oklahoma with the ongoing Dust Bowl and the Great Depression. The good people of Vermillion, Oklahoma, and the surrounding area are facing adversity on a daily basis and hanging on by their fingernails. A train derailment, a murder, and much more, has a huge impact on all in this excellent sequel to Death of A Rainmaker: A Dust Bowl Mystery.

Murder at the Jubilee Rally: A Samuel Craddock Mystery by Terry Shames opens with many of the locals less than thrilled with the coming event featuring motorcycle folks from all over. They won’t be happy about the murder either. The Samuel Craddock series set in South Texas is a great one. This should also be read in order, though you could get away with reading this first.

Anyone who really knows me knows that I love a good western. Larry D. Sweazy always makes that happen and did with Lost Mountain Pass. It is May 1988 and Judge Gordon Hadesworth and U.S. Deputy Marshall Sam “Trusty” Dawson plan to get out of town fast now that the three Darby brothers, Cleatus, Horace, and Rascal, are swinging slowly from the gallows and are most assuredly dead. First book of a series too.

A Hard Day for a Hangover by Darynda Jones is the third book in the series that began with A Bad Day For Sunshine. This is a series that must be read in order. Along with some personal stuff that has just happened here in book three, Sheriff Sunshine Vicram and her team have two missing people to find and a critically injured woman out at Copper Canyon. Rescuing her and then finding out what happened to her drives the novel forward alongside several complicated secondary story lines that have been playing out this entire series.

There you have it. Ten books to consider. More if you count the other books in the series as most of the reads listed are the latest installment in a series.

Enjoy the reads.

Kevin R. Tipple ©2023