Book List 2012 Part V: Mysteries

A lot of the books I read this year were mysteries. I enjoy the excitement of trying to solve the mysteries myself, and I get so involved that I usually finish the book in a day or two. This part looks short, but it's because I grouped the mysteries by series. You don't really want to read 19 entries about the same character, do you?

Mystery Books That I Read in 2012:

The Harry Hole Series (The Devil's Star, The Redeemer, Leopard, Snowman)

My dad got me started on the Icelandic/Nordic/Dane/etc. mysteries. It started with The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, and it's still going strong. These mysteries tend to feature a flawed, middle-aged male character. Jo Nesbø creates beautifully complicated plots (but not complicated enough that you can't follow them). The hardest part is keeping track of all the foreign names! The lastest Harry Hole novel is on my book shelf, waiting to be read...

Stephanie Plum Series (One for the Money, Two for the Dough, Three to Get Deadly, Four to Score, High Five, Hot Six, Seven Up, Hard Eight, To The Nines, Ten Big Ones, Eleven on Top, Twelve Sharp, Lean Mean Thirteen, Fearless Fourteen, Finger Lickin' Fifteen, Sizzling Sixteen, Smokin' Seventeen, Explosive Eighteen, Notorious Nineteen)

 I love these books. They are short, witty and have great plots. I started reading the series after receiving one as a gift, and I couldn't stop. The first book was made into a movie, but I was disappointed with it. The humor of the characters didn't come through, and Ranger was not nearly as hot as I imagined!

Vish Puri Mysteries (The Case of the Missing Servant, The Case of the Man Who Died Laughing)

I chose these because the covers looked nice. They are good mysteries, but they remind me of Holmes. The main character will do a bunch of stuff without explaining his motives, and then randomly solve the case in a way that makes it difficult (if not impossible) for the reader to know what's coming. Still, they were fun reads.

The Keeper of Lost Causes (Department Q #1)

This book. It's a typical northern European mystery: Struggling middle-aged male character, etc. But this was possibly the best mystery I read all year. I'm soooo impatient for the next books to be translated into English!

Heat Wave (Nikki Heat #1)

I'm a fan of Nathan Fillion. It started when my friend got me hooked on Castle, and continued when I discovered Firefly. This book is "written" by Rick Castle, the character on Fillion's tv show. It was pretty bad. Really bad. Please don't read this book. Just watch the tv show!

The Hangman's Daughter Series (The Hangman's Daughter, The Dark Monk)

I first read these because they were free to borrow on my kindle. They are set in Bavaria in the 1600s, which makes them different. It was interesting to read about daily life back then, and I believe some of the names and places are based on the author's family tree.

Southern Vampire Mystery Series (aka Sookie Stackhouse Series, aka the books True Blood is based on!) (Dead Until Dark, Living Dead in Dallas, Club Dead, Dead to the World, Dead as a Doornail, Definitely Dead, Altogether Dead, From Dead to Worse, Dead and Gone, Dead in the Family, Dead Reckoning)

I confess, I am a fan of True Blood. I know it's a ridiculous show, but it's a guilty pleasure. It's fun to read the books: The first season followed the first book quite closely. But from there, the show started going in its own direction. The next few seasons did loosely follow the books. They aren't close enough that seeing the show ruined the books though!