As promised, I’m going to use Thursday and Friday to post lists of favorites from those who regularly comment on Thursday’s What Are You Reading? post. If you’re looking for this week’s contest, check the previous post. I’ll still host the giveaways on Fridays.

Today, thanks to Grace Koshida for sending her list. Readers are welcome to comment on Grace’s choices, or tell us what you’re reading. I’m savoring Vanishing Ireland. “Short-listed for the Eason’s Irish Published Book of the Year Award 2007, Vanishing Ireland is a unique collection of portrait interviews looking at the dying ways and traditions of Irish life and taking us back to an Ireland virtually unrecognisable today.”

But, you’re really here to find out what Grace loved in 2017. Thank you, Grace.



*****

Favourite
reads of 2017 (Grace Koshida, Ottawa, Canada)
My
2017 list has been compiled:  I read 180
books, mostly mysteries, and I enjoyed reading books by 59 new authors.  My top 12 (ok baker’s dozen) covers a range
of mystery sub-genres (thriller, suspense, PI, cozy) and there are selections
from both established authors and debut writers.
Field of
Graves
by J. T. EllisonA prequel that has Nashville homicide detective Lt. Taylor
Jackson, medical examiner Samantha Owens and troubled FBI profiler Dr. Baldwin working
together for the first time in a thrilling race to s
top a madman trying to create his own end-of-days
apocalypse.
UNSUB by Meg GardinerA riveting psychological thriller inspired by the
never-caught Zodiac Killer.  Rookie
detective Caitlyn Hendrix is determined to apprehend the serial murderer known
as the Prophet who destroyed her family and terrorized the Bay Area twenty
years earlier.
This is the first book in
the UNSUB series for this underappreciated author. 
Day of
Secrets
by Daryl Wood Gerber.  Better known for her cozy mystery series, Gerber writes a stand-alone
thriller featuring former naval officer turned history professor Chase
Day.  Day gets a phone call from his
supposedly long-dead mother and then goes
to find her shot and dying at their former family home.  It’s then a frantic race to save his long-missing
father and uncover a bunch of deadly secrets.

The Second
Life of Nick Mason 
by
Steve Hamilton. 
Nick Mason is released from prison after
serving only five years of his 25-year
sentence for felony murder of a federal agent. Mason’s early release was
arranged by Darius Cole, another prisoner who is still running his own crime
operation in Chicago from his jail cell. Mason exchanges one form of
imprisonment for another when he is forced to work for Cole.
  A thrilling first book in a new
series by the author of the Alex McKnight PI mysteries.

Purple Palette for Murder by R. J. Harlick.  Called the “queen of Canadian wilderness fiction”, Harlick’s mystery
series is set in the wilds of Canada with an underlying native theme.  Her
traumatized protagonist Meg Harris is forced to leave the safety of her Quebec cabin
to travel to the remote Northwest Territories when her stepdaughter Teth’aa is brutally
attacked and Meg’s husband Eric Odjik is arrested for killing a man.  Breathtaking descriptions of the remote
Arctic wilderness are combined with a well-plotted story revolving around secrets, lies, and mysteries centered
around some torn pieces of embroidery depicting purple flowers.

 

Orphan X by Gregg Hurwitz.  Brought up as a child in the “Orphan Program”, Evan
Smoak has some formidable skills as a top=notch assassin.  But when the orphan program is disbanded,
Smoak (Orphan X) uses his unique skills to help people in need as the Nowhere
Man until he realizes someone is now hunting him. 
This is the first book in The Nowhere Man thriller
series.
IQ by Joe Ide.  With Isaiah Quintabe (IQ), debut author Ide has
created a truly unique protagonist.  A
loner and a high school dropout, IQ uses his fierce intelligence to work as an
unofficial PI in his East Long Beach neighborhood.  A rap mogul whose life is in danger hires IQ who
investigates and encounters a vengeful ex-wife, a crew of notorious cutthroats,
a monstrous attack dog, and a crazy hit man.
Rupture* by Ragnar JonassonThe
northern town of Siglufjordur is under quarantine due to a viral outbreak.  While housebound, police detective Ari Thor
agrees to look into a cold case from the 1950s with the help of news reporter
Isrun who is based in Reykjavik. 
Meanwhile, a stalker is terrorizing a family and things escalate when a
child goes missing.  The multiple
storylines intersect and diverge but come together in the end.  This atmospheric mystery is the fourth book
in the Dark Iceland series (categorized as both traditional mystery and Nordic
Noir. 

*Not
sure when it will be published in North America. 

The Good Byline
by Jill Orr. 
In this hilarious debut mystery, Riley Ellison is asked by the family to
write the obituary of childhood friend Jordan James for the local
newspaper.  Riley agrees but since she has
long lost touch with Jordan, she decides to do some research into Jordan’s current
life and quickly becomes convinced that her journalist friend did not kill
herself.  Orr also includes enlightening
quotes from real world obituary writers throughout the text as well as separate
chapters that highlight Riley’s online dating challenges.

Glass Houses by Louise Penny.  A menacing
cloaked figure arrives in Three Pines and the villagers are affected by its unwavering
presence on the village green.  Alternating chapters focus on a murder trial
in Montreal the following summer with Gamache on the witness stand.  The link between the two storylines is slowly
revealed.
 
I like that Penny
does not stick to the same police procedural formula and is not afraid to try
something new to keep her award-winning Gamache series (book #13) fresh.

 

Burning Bright by Nick Petrie.  Marine Lt. Peter
Ash seeks peace and quiet among the towering northern California redwoods to
deal with his severe PTSD.  But the dense
forest and fog cause his claustrophobia to buzz and spark.  While stumbling upon a grizzly bear, Ash ends
up finding something strange: some climbing ropes leading to a hanging platform
high up in the giant tree canopy, and a young woman named June Cassidy on the
run.  Peter’s unique skills are put to
the test to save both himself and June from the gunmen searching for her.  I liked Petrie’s debut THE DRIFTER and there
is no sophomore slump with this second book.

 

Fox Hunter by Zoe Sharp.  British Special
Forces soldier-turned-bodyguard Charlie Fox is finally back.  Charlie’s bosses send her to Iraq to find her
former lover Sean Meyer who may be pursuing a personal vendetta as indicated by
the butchered body of a private security contractor.  The backstory to Charlie’s abrupt end to her
military career and the fate of her fellow soldiers is key to this thriller.

Duplicity by Ingrid Thoft.   Fina Ludlow is a feisty,
misfit Boston PI working for her family’s law firm.  Fina
is asked by her father
to investigate a possible cult-type

church, one in which his former girlfriend’s
daughter is about to donate land worth a considerable amount of money. Meanwhile,
the return of eldest brother Rand sets in motion an explosive showdown in the
Ludlow family that rocks Fina’s world.
  The
themes of duplicity, faith, loyalty and family are examined throughout this excellent
fourth book in the Fina Ludlow PI series.
 

*****

I don’t know about you, but I found a couple on this list that are still on my
TBR pile, but moving up thanks to these reviews. And, I found three that I’ve
already read. I also don’t know why the formatting of some of the titles is a little different.
We’ll blame Blogger.

What about you? Tell us what jumps out at you from Grace’s list, or tell us
what you’re reading now. We all enjoy chatting about books!