Many authors use the city their books are set in as another character. Los Angeles is one of those cities. A city that plays such a tremendous part in the lives of the people who live there that it takes on a life of its own. The list of authors who have had Los Angeles bring life to their books includes Michael Connelly, James Ellroy, Walter Mosley, Raymond Chandler, Joe Ide, Faye and Jonathan Kellerman, Joseph Wambaugh, Timothy Hallinan to name just a few.

 

Reading right now:

Los Angeles author Rachel Howzell Hall is well known for her series about Los Angeles Homicide Detective Elouise Norton. Hall’s most recent book is a standalone called “And Now She’s Gone” which finds investigator Grayson Sykes attempting to find Isabel Lincoln who has disappeared. As they try to locate her, Sykes finds that Isabel has been keeping secrets from those closest to her. Sykes doesn’t know if she is missing or hiding, but has reason to believe that the man who hired her to find Sykes may actually be her killer.

On hold right now:

Michael Connelly finally has another Lincoln Lawyer novel coming out in November. “The Law of Innocence” is the sixth book in the Lincoln Lawyer series. This time around Mickey Haller is accused of murder after a former client is found dead in the truck of his car. I have been waiting a long time for another book in this series and cannot wait. I just wish they would produce more movies.

“The Snow Raven” by Connie Dial is the sixth book in the Josie Corsino mystery series. Narcotics Detective Josie Corsino and her partner’s lives and reputations are almost destroyed in their attempt to uncover a dirty cop who is selling cocaine on the mean streets of 1980’s Hollywood.

Other Mysterious Things:

If you haven’t read Raymond Chandler’s novels, read them now. They are amazing novels which have been made into some great movies. At the very least, read “The Big Sleep.” Other Los Angeles authors not to miss include Ross Macdonald, James M. Cain, Elmore Leonard, Jan Burke, and Dorothy B. Hughes. If you have watched HBO’s new series based on the Perry Mason books, you might want to read the books by Erle Stanley Gardner which took place in Los Angeles. Last but not least, I have over the years enjoyed Gar Anthony Haywood’s series with Los Angeles PI Aaron Gunner.

“In L.A. people don’t have time to stop; anywhere they have to go they go there in a car. The poorest man has a car in Los Angeles; he might not have a roof over his head but he has a car.”

—Walter Mosley, “Devil in a Blue Dress” (1990)

Times have changed since 1990. Now people have no home and no car.

 Trends in modern mystery fiction is a popular subject and even I look for those trends and try to figure out what is popular and what seems to be hot. If you are looking to break into writing fiction, however, I think that it is important to let that all go. If you are just going to write what everyone else is writing, it seems unlikely that you are really going to make it. Writing, like everything else, is about talent and individuality. Go with what works for you and hope that others are drawn to it as well. Look at Ruth Ware’s books which seem to combine the old with the new. Writers like Louise Penny are still writing popular police procedurals which many critics claim are going under. You have to be true to yourself so keep it real if you are trying to write a novel and if you are just reading try to look beyond just what is popular right now and you might find some hidden gems.

 

Reading right now:

Ruth Ware’s “One by One” pays homage to Agatha Christie’s “Ten Little Indians” to a great extent and it really works. A work retreat to a French ski resort goes terribly wrong when an avalanche cuts them off from the world and one by one the coworkers are being killed off. All of the guests work for a company that makes a popular music app that advertises itself as “Voyeurism for your ears.” The story is told through two characters, Liz and Erin, which makes you think that one of them must be the killer. Like most of Ware’s books it grabs your attention and doesn’t let go until you know everything. The first Ruth Ware book I read was “The Turn of the Key” and just like her latest novel she managed to combine the old with the new (a gothic feel with invasive technology). Her books inspire me to stay up all night.

 


On hold right now:

Recently two Canadian authors added to their popular series. In “The Unlocking Season” Gail Bowen adds her 19th book to the Joanne Kilbourn series. As a writer Joanne has been pulled into helping solve mysteries too often and in this latest novel, she is working on a script for a TV series with a co-author Roy Brodnitz when he is found dead while scouting locations for the series. The second Canadian author is Louise Penny who just added the 16^th book to her Chief Inspector Armand Gamache series called “All the Devils are Here.” After Armand’s billionaire godfather is critically injured, a key is found in his possession. Gamache tries to find what it unlocks only to discover secrets that he wishes he hadn’t uncovered.

Other Mysterious Things:

Unfortunately, “Troubled Blood” by Robert Galbraith (J. K. Rowling) has become a little controversial. In this day and age, it doesn’t take much for that to happen. I have mixed feelings about reviews and critics. I think sometimes that reviewers spend too much time being negative just because it is easier to be hateful than helpful. Critics don’t just tell you about a book or movie to draw you in to see if you might be interested, they often condemn the movie or book and ruin something for you that you might have actually enjoyed. They make you second guess your taste. We are all different and enjoy different types of movies and books. We should be allowed to enjoy what we enjoy and put it aside if we think it is inappropriate or it just doesn’t match our personal taste. Life is way too short to get caught up in unnecessary drama so if something sounds like it is your taste read it or watch it and just enjoy.

Debut novels are always fascinating because we are all waiting for the next big bestselling author and read them in the hope that this is the one. It is also interesting to see if the novel is following modern trends or maybe breaking through with something original. Right now publishers seem to be willing to put more money into new authors in the hope that they will have the next break-out book. There are times when a first book gets so much money behind it that it does take off, but without great word of mouth it can run out of popularity quickly. Many times it isn’t an author’s first book that really takes off but maybe the second or third book that suddenly makes that author join the ranks of bestselling authors. Every month sees new authors trying to make an impact and here are just a few recent debuts.

Reading right now:

“The Monsters We Make” by Kali White takes place in the 1980s in suburbia where young boys are being molested and killed. This novel looks back on a time in America where allegations against a daycare center had Americans in the grip of hysteria regarding sex abuse crimes against children. This novel is based on a real life case of abductions of paperboys in Des Moines, Iowa. If the book had been written in the 1980s, the police would probably save the day. Since it has been written in 2020 in a time when police procedural books are not as popular as they once were, the police are useless and every other adult fails the young boys who are being molested and disappeared. I don’t want to say too much more about this book because I don’t want to give away too much of the plot. Let’s just say that this book is really well-written, surprising, and suspenseful. (Need help: see CDC website https://www.cdc.gov/violenceprevention/childabuseandneglect/childsexualabuse.html)

 

On hold right now:

The new debut novel from Avery Bishop “Girl Gone Mad” is a twisty thriller about the horrors of bullying. The Harpies, a middle school clique of six popular girls, bullied a classmate and swore never to tell the truth about their part in Grace’s tragic story. Fourteen years later, the bullies have grown up and one-by-one are dying under mysterious circumstances. Either Grace is back for revenge or someone in their group is getting even for her.

“Murder at Hotel 1911” by Audrey Keown is not only a debut novel but the first in a new series. Ivy Nicholas is an hotel clerk with a tendency to have panic attacks. She is an unlikely hero until one of the guests drops dead from a shellfish allergy and her friend who happens to be the hotel’s chef is accused of being careless and giving the guest something he knew she was allergic to. Ivy steps in to try to find out what really happened because she knows George would never make such a mistake.

Once again “For Whom the Book Tolls” by Laura Gail Black is a debut novel and the first in a new series. This Antique Bookshop mystery series centers around Jenna Quinn who finds her uncle murdered in his antique book store and finds herself his primary beneficiary. The million dollars he leaves her seems like a prime motive to local police so Jenna must try to find who really killed her uncle before she ends up in jail forever.

Maggie Blackburn’s first novel is also the first in her new Beach Reads mystery series called “Little Bookshop of Murder.” As Summer Merriweather’s career goes under she inherits a beach-side bookshop from her Mother who dies unexpectedly. As Summer tries to settle the estate, she discovers threatening notes that were left for her Mother and suspects murder. Obviously she cannot leave without finding out what really happened to her Mother.

Other Mysterious Things:

I have found myself reading more cozies since the pandemic, but this month sees some very dark debut novels coming out filled with revenge, child abuse, family drama, and even racist cults. Since I just finished “The Monsters We Make” and really enjoyed it, I am going to toss in a few of these more hardcore debut mysteries just in case you want a little more thrills in your life. Stephanie Buelens “An Inconvenient Woman” which centers around Claire Fontaine’s discovery that her ex-husband is getting married again to a woman with a teenage daughter. Claire suspects that her ex abused her daughter and attempts to stop the marriage.  “Sins of the Bees” by Annie Lampman follows the lives of two women who are involved in a doomsday cult. “The Stepdaughter” by Georgina Cross is not surprisingly about a stepmother who is suspected in the death of her stepdaughter, but she suspects that her husband is involved.

There is a long tradition of brilliant English mystery novelists: Agatha Christie, Author Conan Doyle, P.D. James, Ruth Rendell, Anthony Horowitz, Lee Child, Val McDermid, Wilkie Collins, and so many other greats. We are lucky that quite a few of these amazing English authors have books that just came out or are coming out soon. We are also lucky because even dead authors continue to have new books coming out for instance notice on this list a new Hercule Poirot novel. While these were originally written by Agatha Christie, Sophie Hannah has picked up the series and continues to bring Hercule to life.

 

Reading right now:

Sally Spencer’s “Daughters of Darkness” is the third book in her Jennie Redhead mystery series.  Jennie Redhead is a Private Investigator who is hired to investigate the brutal death of anthropologist Grace Stockton who died in Oxford. With no leads to follow, the police investigation is at a standstill so Stockton’s daughter gets Redhead involved and that involvement becomes an exploration of Stockton’s past.

 

On hold right now:

It somehow seems unfair that J. K. Rowling not only managed to write one of the greatest children’s series of all times, but is now writing a truly great mystery series for adults under the name Robert Galbraith. The fifth book in the series arrives in mid-September and is called “Troubled Blood.” The first book in the series was “The Cuckoo’s Calling” and introduced Private Detective Cormoran Strike to the world. In the latest book, Strike is visiting family in Cornwall when he is hired to solve a cold case that involves finding a woman who went missing in 1974. The cold case heats up quickly and brings Strike and his partner Robin Ellacott into the sights of a serial killer.

There is no doubt that Ann Cleeves is a major force in the world of English mystery novelists and her latest comes out tomorrow. “The Darkest Evening” is the ninth book in her Vera Stanhope series. Detective Chief Inspector Stanhope stumbles on a toddler strapped in an abandoned car during a blizzard and is forced to take shelter in a stately country manor where there is a party going on and a woman dead in the snow. There is no doubt that this has all the hallmarks of a great English mystery.

It is possible that you may not have yet discovered M. L. Huie’s historical mystery series because the first in the series only came out in January and the second in the series is coming out tomorrow (“Spitfire”). The main character in this historical mystery series is Livy Nash, a British spy in World War II. Unfortunately for Livy, the start of the second novel finds that the war has ended and she is bored to death writing an advice column for ladies. In a sanity saving piece of luck, Livy meets Ian Fleming who supports her trip to France to find the person who killed the man she loved. Livy finds many changes in France’s alliances and finds she may not be able to trust her old contacts.

Anthony Horowitz has a new mystery coming out in November. If you haven’t read the first book in the Magpie Murders series start with “Magpie” and hang on until you can get “Moonflower Murders.” This series centers around Susan Ryeland who started out in “Magpie” as a publisher/editor finding clues in a mystery author’s novel to a real-life mystery. In the second novel, she has retired to a Greek Island with her boyfriend only to find retirement not what she expected. When she runs into an English couple, they tell her that their daughter went missing right after reading a crime novel that Susan edited. She quickly returns to England to explore the connection. Horowitz writes amazing and unusual mysteries so I cannot wait to get my hands on this one.

Speaking of great mystery authors, Lee Child’s 25^th Jack Reacher novel comes out in October. I never get tired of Reacher I imagine because you never know what kind of trouble he is going to get involved with on the road. Lee Child is writing this novel with his brother Andrew Child who has written mystery books under the name Andrew Grant. In “The Sentinel,” Reacher gets off the bus in a small town outside Nashville, Tennessee only to find the town under a cyber attack (looks like they need a hero).

Other Mysterious Things:

“The Killings at Kingfisher Hill” by Sophie Hannah is the fourth book in her continuation of Agatha Christie’s Hercule Poirot series. Proof once more that great mystery author’s never die, nor do their greatest characters. Probably the most prolific example of this involves Sherlock Holmes and the multitude of novels written in and around this character. Even this year Laurie R. King’s latest in her Mary Russel and Holmes series came out. James Lovegrove’s latest book in his Sherlock Holmes series comes out in October and is called “Sherlock Holmes and the Beast of the Stapletons.” Even Anthony Horowitz has written Sherlock Holmes books. With Agatha Christie as the bestselling fiction novelist of all time and so much interest in past and present British authors, it looks like English mystery authors will continue to be a dominate force in the industry.