Books of 2014

Happy New Year and welcome to my fourth annual New Year's Day Booklist!

 

I read a total of sixty-six books in 2014. Slightly more than half were audiobooks - I listen while driving to and from work - and the remainder are about evenly split between ebooks and books on paper. Most enjoyed? It's so very hard to choose! I absolutely loved Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel, The Lodger: A Novel by Louisa Treger, and We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves by Karen Joy Fowler. New to my best-loved mysteries list are Steve Burrows' series debut, A Siege of Bitterns: A Birder Murder Mystery, the Father Christmas Mystery series by C. C. Benison, and the Cait Morgan series by Cathy Ace. I'm eagerly anticipating more from all three authors. And speaking of anticipation, I'm positively itching to read more from Ben Aaronovitch, Susan Elia MacNeal, and Judith Kinghorn. Yes, 2015 is shaping up to be a very good reading year.



Just a few of the sixty-six...

Here's my complete 2014 list, in order of reading:

Murder in the Dark by Kerry Greenwood

Terms of Surrender by Sheila Seabrook

Murder in Thrall by Anne Cleeland

Manna from Hades by Carola Dunn

A Fatal Thaw by Dana Stabenow

Bryant and May Off the Rails by Christopher Fowler  

The Vault by Ruth Rendell 

A Red Herring Without Mustard (Flavia #3)  by Alan Bradley

Double Shot (Cue Ball Mystery #2) by Cindy Blackburn

A Serpent’s Tooth (Walt Longmire #9) by Craig Johnson

Sick of Shadows by Marion Chesney (aka M. C. Beaton)

Murder of the Bride by C.S. Challinor

Broken Homes by Ben Aaronovitch

Our Lady of Pain by C.S. Challinor

Rules of Murder by Julianna Deering

The Outcast Dead by Elly Griffiths

His Majesty’s Hope by Susan Elia MacNeal  

The Windermere Witness by Rebecca Tope 

I Am Half-Sick of Shadows (Flavia #4)  by Alan Bradley

The Memory of Lost Senses by Judith Kinghorn

Still Life by Louise Penny (re-read)

Fatal Grace by Louise Penny (re-read)

A Siege of Bitterns by Steve Burrows

A Colourful Death by Carola Dunn

The Cruelest Month by Louise Penny (re-read)

The Ambleside Alibi by Rebecca Tope      
A Rule Against Murder by Louise Penny (re-read)
Dying to Sin by Stephen Booth
Blood and Circuses by Kerry Greenwood
The Baker Street Translation by Michael Robertson
Fated (Alex Verus #1)  by Benedict Jacka
Brutal Telling by Louise Penny (re-read)
The Cornish Coast Murder by John Bude
The Valley of the Shadow by Carola Dunn
The Corpse With the Silver Tongue by Cathy Ace
An Expert in Murder by Nicola Upson
The Silkworm by Robert Galbraith (aka JK Rowling)
The Corpse With the Golden Nose by Cathy Ace
The Prime Minister’s Secret Agent by Susan Elia MacNeal  
A Quiet Kill by Janet Brons  
Murder Most Frothy – A Coffeehouse Mystery by Cleo Coyle
The Flight of the Silvers by Daniel Price
Speaking from Among the Bones (Flavia #5)  by Alan Bradley
Daggers and Men’s Smiles (Moretti and Falla #1) by Jill Downie
An Unwilling Accomplice (Bess) by Charles Todd
The Long Way Home by Louise Penny
Silver Totem of Shame by R.J. Harlick
The Signature of all Things by Elizabeth Gilbert
Unlikely Traitors by Clare Langley-Hawthorne
A Breach of Security by Susan Hill (Serrailler Short)
We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves by Karen Joy Fowler 
The White Tiger by Aravind Adiga
Dry Bones (aka Extraordinary People) (Enzo #1) by Peter May
Forever Dead: A Cordi O’Callaghan Mystery by Suzanne F. Kingsmill
A Demon Summer by G.M. Malliet
The Soul of Discretion by Susan Hill (Simon Serrailler Book 8)
Falcon’s Return by Rebecca K. O’Connor
The Lodger: A Novel by Louisa Treger
Gone West: A Daisy Dalrymple Mystery by Carola Dunn
Cold Mourning: A Stonechild and Rouleau Mystery by Brenda Chapman
Bryant and May: The Bleeding Heart by Christopher Fowler  
The Taxidermist’s Daughter by Kate Mosse
Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel
The Dead in Their Vaulted Arches (Flavia #6)  by Alan Bradley
The Cornish House  by Liz Fenwick
The Walker on the Cape (Sgt. Windflower Book 1) by Mike Martin

Ongoing: The Complete Journals of L. M. Montgomery, The PEI Years, 1889-1900, editors Mary Henley Rubio and Elizabeth Hillman Waterston. For me, this isn't a 'sit down and finish it' sort of book, rather I pick it up every once in a while to read a few entries. As a life-long Anne of Green Gables fan, I'm enjoying the personal glimpses into the author's life as a young girl.

First up in 2015:

Audiobook: Garden Spells by Sarah Addison Allen
Kindle: The Body on the T by Mike Martin
Paper: I can't decide! Something from my tottering TBR pile.


What were your most memorable reads of 2014? Recommendations are always welcome because there's no such thing as too many books!
 

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Books of 2013

Happy New Year! It's time for my third annual New Year's Day Booklist. I finished reading sixty-one books in 2013, caught up with some 'old friends' and discovered some wonderful new authors and series.

a few highlights from 2013

Here's the complete list, in order of reading:

Cambridge Blue by Alison Bruce
The Siren by Alison Bruce
Death of a Cozy Writer by G.M. Malliet
Away by Jane Urquhart
Dying Fall by Elly Griffiths
The Calling by Alison Bruce
Six Metres of Pavement by Farzana Doctor
A Share in Death by Deborah Crombie
Necessary as Blood by Deborah Crombie
A Double Death on the Black Isle  by A. D. Scott
On What Grounds – A Coffeehouse Mystery by Cleo Coyle
The Sound of Broken Glass by Deborah Crombie
Leaving Everything Most Loved by Jacqueline Winspear
Royal Flush: A Royal Spyness Mystery  by Rhys Bowen
More than Sorrow by Vicki Delaney
Royal Blood: A Royal Spyness Mystery  by Rhys Bowen
Rack, Ruin and Murder by Ann Granger
Death of a Dancer (aka A Dangerous Affair) by Caro Peacock
The Silence by Alison Bruce
A Place of Secrets by Rachel Hore
Jack the Ripper: And the women whose lives he took by Susan McNicoll         
Princess Elizabeth’s Spy by Susan Elia MacNeal         
The Cure by Athol Dickson
Inferno by Dan Brown
Naughty in Nice: A Royal Spyness Mystery  by Rhys Bowen
Wool by Hugh Howey
Bryant and May and the Invisible Code by Christopher Fowler  
Giving up the Ghost by Mary Logue
Bolero by Joanie McDonell
The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman
In the Shadow of the Glacier by Vicki Delany
Latte Trouble – A Coffeehouse Mystery by Cleo Coyle
Walking into the Ocean by David Whellams
The Cuckoo’s Calling by Robert Galbraith (aka JK Rowling)
Wiped Out by Barbara Colley
The Backs by Alison Bruce
The Last Summer by Judith Kinghorn
The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie by Alan Bradley
Proof of Guilt (Inspector Ian Rutledge Mystery) by Charles Todd
Always Remember by Sheila Seabrook
How the Light Gets In by Louise Penny
Room with a Clue, Pennyfoot Hotel Mystery #1 by Kate Kingsbury
The Weed that Strings the Hangman’s Bag by Alan Bradley
The House at Riverton by Kate Morton
A Cold Day for Murder (Kate Shugak #1) by Dana Stabenow
Blue Monday by Nicci French
No Corners for the Devil by Olive Etchells
Shadows in the Cotswolds by Rebecca Tope
Playing with Poison (Cue Ball Mystery #1) by Cindy Blackburn
Pagan Spring by G.M. Malliet
Heirs and Graces: A Royal Spyness Mystery by Rhys Bowen
Full Dark House by Christopher Fowler 
Bricks and Mortality by Ann Granger    
Unnatural Habits by Kerry Greenwood
Do Not Disturb, Pennyfoot Hotel Mystery #2 by Kate Kingsbury
Twelve Drummers Drumming by C.C. Benison               
Eleven Pipers Piping by C.C. Benison               
Ten Lords A-Leaping by C.C. Benison               
Longbourn by Jo Baker
Beneath the Abbey Wall  by A. D. Scott
Valley of the Lost by Vicki Delany


First up for 2014:
On the Kobo Mini: Terms of Surrender by Sheila Seabrook
On Kindle for iPad: A Fatal Thaw (Kate Shugak #2) by Dana Stabenow
On Audible: Murder in the Dark by Kerry Greenwood
And on good old-fashioned paper: Manna from Hades by Carola Dunn

What were your most memorable reads of 2013? Recommendations always welcome because there's no such thing as too many books.

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