The Globe and Mail

I’LL SEE YOU IN MY DREAMS

By William Deverell, McClelland & Stewart

The fifth and finest of the excellent Arthur Beauchamp series is a trip to Canada’s not-so-fine past.

A TRICK OF THE LIGHT

By Louise Penny, Minotaur

This tightly plotted story takes Quebec’s Chief Inspector Armand Gamache to new heights. Penny’s best ever.

A DEATH IN SUMMER

By Benjamin Black, Henry Holt

This Dublin-based novel (by John Banville writing as Black) is a master class on how to construct a mystery and create characters.

TURN OF MIND

By Alice LaPlante, Bond Street

A top surgeon, victim of dementia, may be a murderer. A marvellous debut.

AN UNCERTAIN PLACE

By Fred Vargas, Vintage

Commissaire Adamsberg goes to London and back in this brilliantly constructed mystery. The best Vargas.

THE TROUBLED MAN

By Henning Mankell, Knopf Canada

The final novel in the great Kurt Wallander series is unforgettable.

THE OCTOBER KILLINGS

By Wessel Ebersohn, Minotaur

Psychiatrist Yudel Gordon returns after 20 years. A terrific novel of the new South Africa.

DEAD ZERO

By Stephen Hunter, Simon & Schuster

Bob Lee Swagger goes to Afghanistan to stop a rogue CIA agent from assassinating a politician. One of the best action authors writing.

THE AFFAIR

By Lee Child, Delacorte

The backstory from Jack Reacher’s days in the U.S. Army’s military police, and the very best Reacher novel.

FEAST DAY OF FOOLS

By James Lee Burke, Simon & Schuster

Western meets mystery as Sheriff Hackberry Holland tries to save lives on the Mexican border.

FIELD GREY

By Philip Kerr, Quercus

Bernie Gunther fills in the gaps in his Berlin life. A superb historical novel, with edge.