Top Ten New-to-me Authors in 2022

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl. This week's topic is a Freebie (any topic). I missed last week's topic, which was New-to-Me Authors I Discovered in 2022. So that is what I am doing this week for my Freebie.

I was surprised to find that I read books by 43 new-to-me authors in 2022. I only read 88 books in 2022, and some were by the same authors, thus over half the authors I read were new-to-me. 

Since I had so many to pick from, I decided to focus on authors who I want to read more books by OR I thought their writing was very special.

My list is in order by the date I read them.

Elizabeth Strout

I have only read one book by Elizabeth Strout, Olive Kitteridge, a book of linked short stories. Most of the short stories were depressing but I thought that the writing and the characters were excellent, and I want to read more books by her.

Richard Osman

Richard Osman is an English television presenter and novelist. His debut novel, The Thursday Murder Club, was published in 2020. I read all three books in that series in 2022, and loved them all. My favorite was The Man Who Died Twice.

Matt Haig

The Midnight Library was my first book by Matt Haig.  I liked his writing, and I will read Haig's other books on my shelves (and my husband's).

Molly Clavering

Because of Sam by Molly Clavering is a lovely postwar story set in a village in Scotland, written in 1954. See Cath's review at Read-Warbler.  

John Burdett

Bangkok 8 by John Burdett is the first book in a crime fiction series set in Thailand. The main character is a Thai policeman, Sonchai Jitpleecheep. I had had this book on my shelves for 15 years and now I hope to read more of them.

T. E. Kinsey

The Lady Hardcastle Mysteries are historical fiction, set in the early 1900's. Lady Hardcastle (Emily) and her maid Florence Armstrong solve mysteries while living in the English countryside. I was attracted by the idea of a lady and her maid solving mysteries, and I liked the first one so well I read two more. This is another series recommended by Cath at Read-Warbler. 

Ted Wood

Dead in the Water by Ted Wood, published in 1983, is the first book in a ten book crime fiction series starring Reid Bennett. The book has a great Canadian setting, in a small town on the water, and one of the best characters is Bennett's dog Sam.

Stef Penney

I read The Tenderness of Wolves for my Canadian Reading Challenge. The story is set in 1867, primarily in a small settlement in the Northern Territory. This is a historical mystery, but the crime and the investigation are not the primary aspect of the story.

Elspeth Barker

This is the only author on this list that I will not be able to read further books by. Elspeth Barker's only novel was O Caledonia, published in 1991. This book is short, about 190 pages long, set in Scotland in the 1950s.  It is a sad but beautiful story  of a young girl, part of a large family, who doesn't fit in anywhere.

 

Mariah Fredericks

A Death of No Importance by Mariah Fredericks is a historical mystery set in 1910 New York. It is the story of a young woman who works as a lady's maid for the two daughters of a rich family and the first in a series of four books. I want to read more of that series and see where it takes the character.

Let me know if you have read any of these authors and have recommendations for further reading.

Bangkok 8: John Burdett

This is the first book in a series of six books set in Thailand. The main character is a Thai policeman, Sonchai Jitpleecheep. In the opening scene, his partner (and life-long friend) is killed on the job, and Sonchai has vowed revenge. He narrates the story and I really like the voice it is told in. The story covers some challenging topics: transsexualism, prostitution, drugs and alcoholism. 

The book was told from the point of view of a Buddhist Thai policeman, and I wasn't sure how much the writer actually knew about that and how much was his own invention. He does comment on that in an Author's note at the beginning. I also enjoyed the look at a very different culture. This story was published in 2003, so I don't know how much things have changed in nearly 20 years. 

Sonchai's mother was a prostitute and Sonchai's father was an American soldier who was in Thailand during the Vietnam War. Occasionally Sonchai recounts his and his mother's experiences with some of her long-time lovers. They spent time with one of them in Germany and another in France. I enjoyed those segments especially. His relationship with his mother was also well done.

The book is written in present tense. I used to strongly dislike the use of present tense in a novel, but this one did not bother me at all. The book also has very short chapters, 52 chapters in a book with 315 pages. I love short chapters. Much easier to read a book with short chapters than one with 30 - 50 page chapters.

I was immersed in the book while reading it, and liked the style of writing. And that is what I look for in a book. For a book with such a downer beginning and the coverage of very serious topics, it had a surprisingly upbeat ending.

For other information I will point you to two articles at Crimereads: 

Far-flung Thrillers for World Travelers and 

Bangkok's Expat Crime Fiction Scene is Booming

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Publisher:   Alfred A. Knopf, 2003 
Length:       315 pages
Format:       Hardcover
Series:        Sonchai Jitpleecheep
Setting:       Bangkok, Thailand
Genre:        Mystery
Source:       On my TBR for at least 15 years.