Giles Blunt
ELEGY FOR APRIL By Benjamin Black (Henry Holt)
Gorgeously written, haunting plot, with the Irish setting perfectly rendered. Not to be missed.
THREE STATIONS By Martin Cruz Smith (Simon & Schuster)
Capitalism and corruption in modern Moscow lead to unspeakable crimes. The best of the superb Arkady Renko series.
CRIME MACHINE By Giles Blunt (Random House Canada)
Algonquin Bay detective John Cardinal returns in a richly plotted work by one of Canada's best mystery novelists.
THE GOOD SON By Michael Gruber (Henry Holt)
Unforgettable spy novel as an American hero tries to rescue his own mother from an Islamist terrorist group.
TRUTH By Peter Temple (Random House Canada)
Follow-up to the masterful The Broken Shore mingles Australian history, lore and myth with modern mystery.
THIRTEEN HOURS By Deon Meyer (Random House Canada)
An American teenaged tourist on the run from criminals in Cape Town. It's difficult to imagine a more complicated mystery in such a gorgeous setting.
THE PAST IS A FOREIGN COUNTRY By Gianrico Carofiglio (St. Martin's Minotaur)
Faust, updated to recent Italy. Superb characters, great setting, and the old plot still works beautifully.
BURY YOUR DEAD By Louise Penny (Sphere).
The sixth in the great Inspector Armand Gamache series takes Penny to a whole new level. All the charm of the Three Pines novels with a complex plot set in Quebec City.
IF THE DEAD NOT RISE By Philip Kerr (Putnam)
Bernie Gunther is back in a story split between Berlin in 1934 and Havana in 1954. Kerr is a master of period mystery and everything from slang to suiting is perfect in this novel.
STAR ISLAND By Carl Hiaasen (Knopf)
The smartest, funniest writer in crime fiction has a ditzy celebuteen and her entourage on the loose in Miami. Roll-on-the-floor laughs.
THE COAST ROAD By John Brady (McArthur & Company)
Latest in the marvellous Matt Minogue series takes us to Ireland after the crash. Eerily prescient, with an up-to-the-minute view of Ireland's financial meltdown..
THE REVERSAL By Michael Connelly (Little, Brown)
Harry Bosch and Lincoln Lawyer's Mickey Haller team up to hunt a merciless child-killer whose conviction has been overturned. The sense of evil is overwhelming.