After a quiet August, my September went off. It was a month of cozy murders, clever detectives, and (just to keep me balanced) one sprawling generational epic. I think it was a month of murde,r rather than anything challenging, to counter balance my challenges at work - but regardless it was a great month.
Working backwards, I ended with The Frozen River by Ariel Lawhon, which I absolutely loved. It’s historical crime fiction at its slow-burn atmospheric best. Then came a run of classic and not-so-classic detective stories.
I finally met Lord Peter Wimsey Dorothy L. Sayers books Whose Body? Clouds of Witness and Unnatural Death (on audiobook, wonderfully narrated by Richard Meadows), and I was hooked. The narration really brought it alive.
Then I fell down a Maisie Dobbs rabbit hole. I read Maisie Dobbs and Birds of a Feather by Jacqueline Winspear. Both are thoughtful, quiet mysteries set in the shadow of World War I. Maisie is such a refreshing detective. She is introspective, kind, and methodical. I am going to read the whole series.
Australia made a strong showing too, with Everyone This Christmas Has a Secret by Benjamin Stevenson which was pure fun. Plus A Deadly Dispute by Amanda Hampson and Death on the Water by Kerry Greenwood (a Phryne Fisher audiobook). There’s something comforting about returning to witty dialogue, eccentric detectives, and tidy resolutions which I think was what I was looking for recently.
And then there was Pachinko by Min Jin Lee, the outlier of the month. Sweeping and serious.
I began the month with The Hallmarked Man by Robert Galbraith which was heavier and much longer than everything else I read, but still deeply satisfying. It’s probably what tipped the balance of the month from “cozy mystery” to “crime marathon.” I love this series, and while it isn't the best of the series (a little repetitive), I must say that I enjoyed that it was a little shorter than the others.
September was the month of murder and mystery, but also of comfort reading. It was a great reading month that got me out of my more recent funk.
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