I have been reading as voraciously as ever during 2024 and completed 100 books on my Goodreads challenge by mid-December!
Most things I read were great, which I managed due to my cunning secret – if I’m not enjoying a book, I stop reading it. So many books, so little time, so I decided a few years ago to stop pouring that diminishin resource into books that gave me no pleasure.
Having said that, some books and writers were particularly outstanding! Some are old favourites, but others were a surprise!
So here are some of the books I loved best this year. Most, but not all, were published in 2024 – sometimes it takes a while to get around to a book!
Feel free to leave some recs of your own at the bottom of this post!
Crime fiction
Finchie: The Makings of Murder, RJ Murdoch – the author gave me this book at event this year and when I finally got to reading it – what a corker! It felt a bit like what would have happened if Raymond Chandler had been an Aussie. The eponymous Finchie drives the mean roads and is not himself mean but he is an opportunist. Sure, he’s responsible for a death or two, but they’re generally in self defence. Laconic, frequently funny, very outback Aussie and told at a cracking pace, it was one of the surprise choice reads of my year.
Death in the Spires, KJ Charles – I will read anything KJ Charles writes, which is mainly queer, diverse historical romance. HEr tales are rich in historical detail and textured personalities who have real obstacles to overcome to read their happy endings, not simple misunderstandings that could be cleared up if the idiots in question just talked. That makes her work very satisfying. It’s also clever, exciting and funny. But this is a crime novel! Which means it’s very much as brilliant as all her other work, but with a focus on the crime – an unsolved murder at a university which is being raked up all over again. Try this one, and I can almost guarantee you’ll go looking for more.
I also adored:
- The Fog, Brooke Hardwick (my interview with Brooke Hardwick)
- Girl Falling, Hayley Scrivenor (that ending is a killer!)
- Murder in Punch Lane, Jane Sullivan (my interview with Jane Sullivan)
- The Woman in the Library, Sulari Gentil
- The Best Way to Bury Your Husband, Alexia Casale (my review)
Horror
When Ghosts Call us Home, Katya de Becerra – I love Katya’s brand of YA horror, which often blends a level of coming of age or burgeoning romance in a setting of creeping horror and disturbing endings. Her latest book, They Watch From Below, is also fantastic, but the strange story of two siblings’ home-movie that became a horror classic (and whether the creepy stuff was real or staged) and the subsequent disappearance of the older sister keeps you on the edge throughout, as the younger one takes part in a recreation of the original. What’s real? What’s faked? Do the filmmakers even know?
The Dark Man, By Referral, and Less Pleasant Tales, Chuck McKenzie – Chuck’s story ‘The Dark Man, By Referral” featured in This Fresh Hell, which I co-edited with Katya de Becerra (and was nominated for a Ditmar). Chuck took that story, added several of his other fabulously creepy stories and published this collection. “The Dark Man, By Referral” was also recently listed in Ellen Datlow’s best horror of 2024, so yes, check it out!
Fantasy
Of Knives and Night Blooms and Time of the Cat, Tansy Rayner Roberts – Tansy is another perennial favourite, richly deserving of her multiple awards, and these two books this year represent both sides of her style. Of Knives and Night Blooms is a dark, gritty fantasy full of political machinations, complex relationships and intricate plotting . Time of the Cat is a light, fun-filled fantasy full of… complex relationships and intricate plotting, and of course time-travelling, talking cats. It has wonderful nods to things like Dr Who, Dark Shadows, The Avengers, any number of British SFF shows and even passing PG Wodehouse references!
The entire Wolfwere series, Dick Wybrow – my brother sent me a link on Facebook about the book Kane, featuring a wolfwere…. basically, a wolf who got bitten by a man and got turned human! Weird and hilarious things happen to him at the full moon. The five book series follows Kane (the wolfwere, now a six-foot-seven French Canadian ) and his friend Emelda as they track down those responsible for Kane’s condition to find a cure. I bought the first book because just the idea amused me, and I (if you’ll pardon the pun) wolfed down all 5 in quick succession. I’m now lining up Wybrow’s next series.
The Oxenbridge King, Christine Paice – The ghost of Richard III being pestered by a talking raven; a medieval monk trapped in a cellar; a man with a shed and a woman with a dress shop; a different man with a whole lot of social anxiety and a surprising hobby of spelunking… a very unlikely cast of characters that make a fresh, unexpected and very entertaining story of mystery and redemption. It’s described as “a love story, a meditation on what survives of us when we’re gone, and how, in the end, love and family is everything” and I loved it!!!
Other Fiction
Reimagining Ben, Panayotis Cacoyannis – Cacoyannis has a fascination for the intersections of truth, lies and perceptions of reality. (Read my review)
Non-fiction
Come, Tell Me How You Live, Agatha Christie – this memoir of Agatha’s time in the archeological fields with her second husband, Max Mallowan, is spritely, fascinating, informative, entertaining and the pace and tone are an intruiguing contrast to much of her crime writing. An insight into the woman and her life, and a lot of fun.
Colditz, Ben McIntyre – every Ben McIntyre history book (mostly of WWII) is a delight, with the detail and research always made accessible with humour and the exceptional descriptions of colourful characters with their fates in the balance. He wrote Operation Mincemeat, and I can recommend Agent Zigzag and The Spy and the Traitor too.
Spark: How Fanfiction and Fandom Can Set Your Creativity On Fire, ed. by Atlin Merrick – okay, so I have an essay in this one, but honestly I just fell in love with the whole book and its philosophy of the joy of creation for its own sake. It’s full of ideas for helping writers to find their spark! (Read my review)
So if you need some inspiration for your 2025 reading, here’s a place to start.
And let me know your recs too!!