6 December 2008

Crime fiction discoveries in 2008

Well, the year hasn't ended yet, but this "meme" that I've now seen around on at least 3 blogs took my fancy.

The idea is to
1) List the authors that were new to you this year, regardless of year of publication.
2) Bold the ones that were debuts (first novel, published in 2008)
3) Tag some people

To my surprise it wasn't as hard to do as I thought.
I discovered that 36 authors and 42 books qualified.
I've listed them in alphabetical order of the author, but included my rating so you can see what I thought of it. I've also linked each title to my review.
I'v also interpreted "debut" as first in the series, not necessarily first published in 2008

Megan Abbott, DIE A LITTLE, 3.7
Linwood Barclay, NO TIME TO SAY GOODBYE, 4.7
Brett Battles, THE CLEANER, 4.2
Laura Benedict, ISABELLA MOON, 4.3
Chelsea Cain, HEARTSICK, 4.5
Terry Carroll, SNOW CANDY, 4.4
Michael Chabon, THE YIDDISH POLICEMEN'S UNION, 4.2
Kate Charles, EVIL INTENT (Audio CD), 4.2
John Clanchy, VINCENZO'S GARDEN, 4
Lauren Crow, BYE BYE BABY, 4.2
Siobhan Dowd, THE LONDON EYE MYSTERY, 4.2
R.J. Ellory, A QUIET BELIEF IN ANGELS, 5
R.J. Ellory, CITY OF LIES, 4.3
Helen Fitzgerald, DEAD LOVELY, 4
Friedrich GLAUSER, THUMBPRINT, 4.6
Kevin Guilfoile, WICKER (aka CAST OF SHADOWS), 4.5
Marion Halligan, MURDER ON THE APRICOT COAST, 2.5
Timothy Hallinan, A NAIL THROUGH THE HEART, 4.7
Cora Harrison , MY LADY JUDGE, 3.8
Joan Hess, A HOLLY, JOLLY MURDER, 3.2
Susan Hill, THE VOWS OF SILENCE, 4.7
Susan Hill, THE PURE IN HEART, 4.7
Susan Hill, THE RISK OF DARKNESS, 4.7
Susan Hill, THE VARIOUS HAUNTS OF MEN, 4.6
Lesley Horton, DEVILS IN THE MIRROR, 4.5
Susan Kelly, THE LONE TRAVELLER, 4.3
Susan Kelly, LITTLE GIRL LOST, 4.2
Douglas Kennedy, THE WOMAN IN THE FIFTH, 3.9
Matthew Klein, CONNED (aka CON ED), 4.4
Mark Lalbeharry, THE SIMIAN CURVE, 4.1
Stieg Larrson, THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO, 4.8
Asa Larsson, THE SAVAGE ALTAR, 4.6
Lisa Lutz, THE SPELLMAN FILES, 4
RJ McDonnell, ROCK & ROLL HOMICIDE, 3.5
Brian McGilloway, GALLOWS LANE, 4.2
William McInnes, A MAN'S GOT TO HAVE A HOBBY, 4.4
Felicity Pulman, WILLOWS FOR WEEPING, 4.5
Vanda Symon, OVERKILL, 4.8
Janwillem van de Wetering, DEATH OF A HAWKER, 4.4
Fred Vargas, SEEKING WHOM HE MAY DEVOUR, 4.9
Fred Vargas, WASH THIS BLOOD CLEAN FROM MY HAND, 4.8
Fred Vargas, THIS NIGHT'S FOUL WORK, 4.6

Other places where I've seen this meme
The Rap Sheet
Observations from the Balcony
Detectives Beyond Borders
Crime Scraps
Pattinase
Petrona

What new-to-you authors have you read this year? If you want to take this meme and run with it, by all means do!

11 comments:

Peter Rozovsky said...

I've said before that I notice how each respondent to this meme has added his or her own wrinkle. Yours were ratings and reviews for each book. The variety makes this meme all the more interesting and probably useful as well. Already it has given me at least one idea for a new post, which I'll let you know about if it appears.
==============
Detectives Beyond Borders
“Because Murder Is More Fun Away From Home”
http://detectivesbeyondborders.blogspot.com/

Uriah Robinson said...

A great list and the rankings are extremely interesting.
More for the TBR pile!

Marg said...

I have read 80 new to me authors so far this year. Some of those were in short story anthologies, but I still counted them as new to me on my spreadsheet.

Kerrie said...

I was surprised that I had read so many new authors, and so many debut books. I realised half way through this post that perhaps I had gone a bit further than the original meme had required but then I'm a bit like that. (both in the mis-reading and in the going one step further) Anyway it was quite a satisfying task.

Anonymous said...

I am surprise to see that of all the authors you have listed, I have only 2 authors in my collection.

Janwillem van de Wetering but with different title.

and Linwood Barclay-No Time To Say Goodbye.I bought this book AFTER I read your positive review.Talk about the influence of review.

Kerrie said...

And did you enjoy NTTSG Lin? That's the important thing!

Logan Lamech said...

Thanks for the list, it's a good time of year for it.

Logan Lamech
www.eloquentbooks.com/LingeringPoets.html

Kerrie said...

You're very welcome Logan

Anonymous said...

Hi Kerrie,

I haven't got time to read Linwood Barclay book yet.So many books to read.:)

Susan said...

I'm just about to start Susan Hill's series, so I'm thrilled to see you rate it so highly - Geraniumcat in England does also. I've been reading Fred Vargas who is new to me, I just finished Wash this Blood Clean from My Hands and have to review it still. I just picked He Who Must Devour. I like how you rate each book you've read, and provide the link to the review. I'll let you know as soon as I've read The VArious Haunts of Men - I can't decide whether I'll be able to read it while on our trip to England or if i can wait until January. I think I'm going to use your post as starter list of books to try!! Well done, Kerrie.

Kerrie said...

Hang around this blog Susan - you'll never be lost for a suggestion of soemthing to read.

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