Top Ten Tuesday: My Favorite Heroes

 

Top Ten Tuesday is a fun weekly topic at That Artsy Reader Girl for lovers of books and lists, and I can't resist joining in from time to time. When I learned that, for this week, I could pick a previous topic that I'd missed, I jumped right in with both feet. You see, I missed My Favorite Heroes and when I visited the participants' blogs to read their lists, I was not happy that I'd missed the opportunity to play along. Now I can!

 

The following is my current list of heroes, most (but not all) from the world of crime fiction. An hour from now, I could undoubtedly make up a whole new list, but many of you know how that goes. You'll see as you progress that some of my choices aren't exactly what you might expect.

 

 

Miss Marple. As a woman of a certain age who loves mysteries and loves to knit and act like I'm not paying attention to what's going on around me, Miss Marple is a natural choice!

 

Fiona Griffiths. Harry Bingham's Welsh police detective with Cotard's Syndrome has burrowed her way into my mind and heart. Like many of the more standard heroes, she doesn't know when to quit... and she's quite brilliant at solving mysteries.

 

Madison Night is Diane Vallere's intrepid Dallas interior decorator specializing in mid-century modern design. She's had to overcome injury and radical changes to her personal life as well as her business. I love her determination and her creativity.

 

Harry Bosch. Michael Connelly's iconic LA homicide detective who has proven over and over that "Everybody counts, or nobody counts." I've loved him since the very first book in the series.

 

Wendall Thomas's Cyd Redondo, travel agent extraordinaire. Cyd's dedication to her clients, her love of wildlife, her Tupperware, and her Balenciaga bag make her a hero. She's a worthy successor to MacGyver and has a fantastic sense of humor.

 

Alex Kava's Ryder Creed is a hero. He does important work with law enforcement to find missing persons and to solve crimes-- and the icing on the cake to me is the fact that the fabulous dogs he trains are all rescues.

 

Marcellus, the giant Pacific octopus in Shelby Van Pelt's marvelous Remarkably Bright Creatures, proves that humans aren't the only intelligent, caring creatures on this planet that will go far, far out of their way to help their friends.

 

Young Native American woman Cash Blackbear has had to deal with so much in her short life that just surviving it all is enough to make her a hero. Watching the world open up to her in this series is an added bonus, and I look forward to Marcie Rendon telling us more.

 

Chet, one half of the Chet & Bernie private investigation duo created by Spencer Quinn, shows us all how important love and loyalty are to any hero worth their salt, regardless of fur coats or the number of legs they have.

 

Elizabeth Packard. One of the many gifts of reading is learning about the real-life heroes who have made our lives better. After reading Kate Moore's The Woman They Could Not Silence, I knew I could only dream of being as brave and determined as Elizabeth Packard.

 

I think you'll agree that my list was a bit unconventional in some of its choices, but that's what makes everyone's lists so much fun.

Top Ten Tuesday: Bookish People I'd Like to Meet

 

 

 

When I headed over to That Artsy Reader Girl and learned that this week's topic was bookish people I'd like to meet, I had to join in-- especially since it included authors, book characters, and just about anyone else who's related to our favorite field of BOOKS.

 

I'm really looking forward to checking out other participants' lists. You see, my list is weighted more toward fictional characters in my favorite genre of crime fiction, and there's a reason for that. I've been incredibly spoiled by living in close proximity to The Poisoned Pen Bookstore, and I've met almost every single one of my favorite authors (and then some) by attending live events. The ones I didn't meet at the bookstore, I met by attending Left Coast Crime back in 2016 when it was here in Phoenix. See what I mean? I am soooo lucky! 

 

So... who did make my list? Let's find out!

 

 

As you can tell by this photo that I took, I have met Nevada Barr, but I would love to meet her Park Ranger Extraordinaire, Anna Pigeon.

 

Of course, I'd have to meet Ann Cleeves' DCI Vera Stanhope and go for a ride in her Land Rover. I enjoy the TV series based on Cleeves' characters, and I was floored to learn that the actress who portrays Vera is 77 years old. I wish I were as well-preserved!

 

Val McDermid's DCI Karen Pirie is another favorite. Give me a brilliant, complicated, strong female copper any day-- especially if she's a stubborn Scot.

 

Who could resist a trip to Sicily to watch Andrea Camilleri's wily Inspector Salvo Montalbano in action-- especially when he knows all the best restaurants to go to after a hard day's crime solving?

 

This is the first book in another favorite series, Michael Stanley's Detective Kubu mysteries. Inspector David Bengu solves crimes in Botswana, and I'd love to be with him as he solves a crime as well as meet his family and perhaps see all the wildlife in that area. Definitely a chance to wear out some camera batteries, and since "Kubu" loves to eat, I'd get to sample some traditional food from the area. (Do you sense a theme developing here?)

 

 

This is the first book in Martin Walker's wonderful series set in the south of France. I want to walk along the streets of St. Denis with Chief of Police Bruno Courrèges. I want to meet everyone and to watch a crime being solved... and I want Bruno to cook for me. (Definitely a theme here, eh?)

 

And now for the authors whose books I love but whom I haven't met. Yet. All of them are based in the UK.

 

 

 

William Shaw

 

Aline Templeton

 

Elly Griffiths

 

Kate Ellis

 

Well, that's my list. Now it's time to check out all the others!

Top Ten Tuesday: New-to-Me Authors I Discovered in 2022

 

 

What self-respecting book blogger could ignore That Artsy Reader Girl's Top Ten Tuesday topic of New-to-Me Authors I Discovered in 2022? Certainly not me!

After going through the list of the books I read last year, the following ten authors jumped right out at me. I've listed them in alphabetical order with links to their websites. Now it's time for me to check out everyone else's lists!

Ellen Byron

Jack Gatland

Kate Moore

Harini Nagendra

Chris Offutt

Nita Prose

Marcie R. Rendon

Shelby Van Pelt

Pip Williams

Matt Witten

 

Did any of my choices make your own lists? Do tell!

Top Ten Tuesday: Favorite Books of 2022

 

 

 

Although I keep a running list of my favorite reads each year (you can read them all here), I decided to share ten of my fifteen "best reads" on Top Ten Tuesday at That Artsy Reader Girl. The only problem was in winnowing my list down to ten!

 

Let's see which ones made the painful cut. You'll notice that, although my blog tends to focus on crime fiction, half of my choices are not from that genre. The books are listed in the order in which they were read, and I've provided a link to my review of each below the book's cover.

The Woman They Could Not Silence

Halsey's Typhoon

Murder on the Red River

The Self-Made Widow

Remarkably Bright Creatures

Back to the Garden

The Stolen Hours

Horse

The Dictionary of Lost Words

Bleeding Heart Yard

Top Ten Tuesday: Series I'd Like to Catch Up On

 

 

 

I love a good series! So much so that I've often said my epitaph should read "I've started reading 857 series. I finished 71 of them." When I saw that this week's topic at the home of Top Ten Tuesday, That Artsy Reader Girl, was "Series I'd Like to Start/Catch Up On/Finish", I knew I'd have plenty to choose from.

 

So... I took a stroll down my TBR shelves (I have five six-foot-tall bookcases dedicated to my TBR stash), and these are the ones I chose for my list. It may surprise you that-- although my blog primarily focuses on crime fiction-- not all the series I want to catch up on are mysteries. Shocker, eh? 

 

My top ten is listed in alphabetical order by the author's last name. Let's see which ones made the cut.

 

 

I really enjoy Rhys Bowen's lighthearted historical series, Her Royal Spyness, in which Lady Georgiana Rannoch (34th in line to the throne) travels all over 1930s Europe, usually on an errand for the Queen. I'm listening to Naughty in Nice now, and it does keep a smile on my face.

 

I was very impressed with the first book of Rebecca Cantrell's series set in 1930s Germany featuring crime reporter Hannah Vogel. It's just a four-book series, and the other three are sitting on the shelf staring at me. Must. Read. Faster.

 

Margaret Coel's Wind River mystery series featuring Jesuit priest Father John O'Malley and Arapaho attorney Vicky Holden is another favorite. Coel did for the Arapaho what Hillerman did for the Navajo in her long-running series.

 

Rachel Howzell Hall's four-book series about Black LA homicide detective Elouise "Lou" Norton (known as "Lockjaw") is one I definitely need to get back to!

 

Cynthia Harrod-Eagles' Morland Dynasty series is not only not a mystery series, it's one I've been following since the 1980s! The series follows one family living outside York, England from the time of Richard III to the 1930s. The author shows how the manor house changes over the centuries as well as the rise and fall of the Morland family fortunes. Quite a feat of storytelling!

 

I love Kava's Ryder Creed series for the fast-paced stories but mostly for Creed and his top notch pack of search-and-rescue dogs that he trained from the strays abandoned at the end of his driveway.

 

 

Val McDermid's Karen Pirie police procedural series set in Scotland is another favorite, and it's now been turned into a TV series.

 

I love the wit and humor of Stuart Pawson's top cop, Charlie Priest.

 

The first book in Nancy E. Turner's Sarah Agnes Prine series, These Is My Words, is a book I loved so much that it's still one that I recommend most often. I've put off reading the other books in the series because I'm afraid they won't live up to the first-- even though I've been told by several other readers that they do. Silly me, eh?

Anne Zouroudi's series featuring the mysterious investigator Hermes Diaktoros travels throughout rural Greece, and I've enjoyed it so much that I really should buckle down and finish it!

I do have to admit that I think the main reason why I haven't caught up with these series is that I know how good they are, so I'm putting them in reserve for when I need a guaranteed Good Read. Do any of you do the same thing? I hope I'm not alone!