Thursday, November 22, 2012

Crime Fiction Alphabet 2012

2012 was the first year I participated in the Crime Fiction Alphabet meme, sponsored by Kerrie at Mysteries in Paradise.

Looking over my posts for the meme at this time, I don't see a theme. I concentrated on authors I really like, but a few listed here are not my favorites. I think all the books I featured are interesting books, but not all of the books lived up to my expectations.

I don't rate books in my blog but I do when I put them on Goodreads. The books in this list that I rated as 5 stars are:

Spy Hook by Len Deighton
An Empty Death by Laura Wilson
Fer-de-Lance by Rex Stout
A Lily of the Field by John Lawton


Here are my posts ...

A is for Eric Ambler

B is for Robert Barnard

C is for The Cambridge Theorem by Tony Cape (a spy novel)

D is for Len Deighton (with a review of Spy Hook)

E is for An Empty Death by Laura Wilson
(the second novel in a mystery series set in World War II London)

F is for Fer-de-Lance by Rex Stout
(my favorite book by my favorite mystery author)

G is for Elizabeth George

H is for Cyril Hare
(with reviews of With a Bare Bodkin and An English Murder)

I is for The Information Officer by Mark Mills

J is for Sébastien Japrisot
(with a review of The Sleeping Car Murders, a very unusual mystery)

K is for Stuart M. Kaminsky
(with reviews of Death of a Russian Priest and Bullet for a Star)

L is for John Lawton
(with reviews of Flesh Wounds and A Lily of the Field)

M is for Charles McCarry

N is for Night at the Vulcan by Ngaio Marsh

O is for Anthony Oliver
(with a review of The Property of a Lady)

P is for Pardonable Lies by Jacqueline Winspear

Q is for A Quiet Flame by Philip Kerr

R is for Helen Reilly

S is for The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie by Alan Bradley

T is for The Tattoo Murder Case, a vintage mystery by Japanese author, Akimitsu Takagi

U is for Under World by Reginald Hill

V is for Philo Vance and S. S. Van Dine
(with a review of The Greene Murder Case)

W is for R. D. Wingfield
(with a review of A Touch of Frost)

X is for XPD by Len Deighton

Y is for The Yiddish Policemen's Union by Michael Chabon

Z is for Zombies of the Gene Pool by Sharyn McCrumb

Len Deighton is the only author I covered twice, and that is because it is hard to find a title or author for X, and because I just discovered him this year. I read nine books by Len Deighton this year. And hope to read three more this year, to finish off the Bernard Samson series.


6 comments:

Kerrie said...

Many thanks for contributing to the meme Tracy. Glad it was such an enjoyable experience for you.

Anonymous said...

Tracy - Thanks so much for summing this all up this way. I enjoyed your posts.

Prashant C. Trikannad said...

I have put some of these books on my to-read list and I definitely need to re-read some of Deighton's thrillers. I think I've read XPD but that might have been some twenty years ago. Thanks for the round-up, Tracy, it's an eclectic mix.

Sarah said...

Great kist Tracy. I have spy hook to read - I've read the first 3 and want to start this trilogy now. Glad you liked it. I will read your review when I have read the book.

Sergio (Tipping My Fedora) said...

Well done on completing the challenge TracyK - and some really great books there too as well as many that are completely new to me (which is even better!)

Katrina said...

I've only read Fer de Lance which I really liked and the Chabon, I want to give Reginald Hill a go soon, and I'm going to be looking for more by Ngaio Marsh. You've done well, especially with all those Deightons.