Bill's Best of 2012 (Fiction)

For the past 13 years I have listed my best of the year. The choices reflect the year when the books were read by me. They are not always the year the book was published.

My headings reflect my mix of reading, fiction and non-fiction, and an arbitrary personal category, most interesting, for books that I liked beyond the traditional categories. This year all of the fiction read was mystery fiction. This post will set out my fiction picks. On Friday I will have my other picks.

During the year I read 57 books which is an average reading year for me.

FICTION–

1.) The Suspect by L.R. Wright – The first book in the Karl Alberg series set in Sechelt on the Sunshine Coast of British Columbia was my favourite fiction of 2012. Written in 1985 the book opens with 80 year old George Wilcox reflecting on his murder of his fellow elderly neighbour, Carlyle Burke, and deciding not to confess and see if the RCMP can find the evidence to charge and convict him. I have also read the second book in the series, Sleep While I Sing, and am looking forward to reading more mysteries involving Alberg.

2.) Kaleidoscope by Gail Bowen – The 13^th book in the Joanne Kilbourn Shreeve series written by Saskatchewan author, Bowen, sees Joanne retiring but not to a quiet life of ease with paraplegic lawyer husband, Zack Shreeve. After their garage is bombed they move into a condo owned by a wealthy Regina developer. When he is killed Joanne delves into the complexities of property development, municipal politics and urban Indian issues as she searches out the killer. It is Bowen’s 4th book on to make Bill’s Best. The earlier books were Burying Ariel in 2000, The Endless Knot in 2007, The Brutal Heart in 2008.

3.) Trackers by Deon Meyer – A brilliant South African thriller that features at least 26 different types of tracking. Set in Capetown Lemmer is a professional tracker while Milla Strachan, a 40 year old housewife, leaving a loveless marriage is an amateur tracker. Meyer also provided some interesting answers to questions concerning the book and his writing.

3.) Blessed Are the Dead by Malla Nunn – Another book set in South Africa. In the early 1950’s Detective Sergeant Emmanuel Cooper and his African Detective Constable Samuel Shabalala are called from Durban into the countryside on the edge of the Drakensberg Mountains to investigate the death of a young woman. It is a vivid exploration of life in apartheid South Africa and an excellent mystery.

Kerrie Smith at her excellent blog, Mysteries in Paradise, is compiling a collection of 2012 Best lists. Please take a virtual trip down to Australia. There are lots of interesting lists.