Reading List from Just Desserts “Anthology” meeting – January 2017

Friday, 27 January 2017 12:30

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At the January 26^th, 2017 meeting of the Just Desserts mystery fiction discussion group, the theme of the monthly meeting was “Mystery Anthologies and Short Story Collections”. First, we had a round robin in which each attendee shared comments about whichever Anthology or Collection they had read for the month, then we had a second round robin in which all 15 attendees were able to share recommendations of other books they’ve been reading recently.

Here were the Anthologies/Collections read by group members specifically for the January 2017 meeting:

• FaceOff, edited by David Baldacci
• In Sunlight and in Shadow, edited by Lawrence Block
• The Big Book of Christmas Mysteries, edited by Otto Penzler
• Killer Year, edited by Lee Child
• Big Foot Stole My Wife, by Joan Hess writing as Joan Hadley
• Books to Die For, edited by John Connolly
• The Mistletoe Murder, posthumous collection by P.D. James
• A Treasury of Great Mysteries, edited by Howard Haycraft and John Beecroft
• Manhattan Mayhem, edited by Mary Higgins Clark
• BookShots
• The Best American Mystery Stories – 2015 edition, edited by James Patterson
• The Nine Mile Walk, collection by Harry Kemelman
• Ellery Queen’s Anthology, Spring/Summer 1976 Vol. 31
• Into the Mummy’s Tomb, edited by John Richard Stephens
• Creature Cozies, edited by Jill M. Morgan

Here’s the list of mystery books recommended by Just Desserts members in January 2017:

• The Associates of Sherlock Holmes, edited by George Mann
• Echoes of Sherlock Holmes, edited by Laurie R. King and Leslie S. Klinger
• The Whistler by John Grisham
• The Innocent by Taylor Stevens
• Memory Man by David Baldacci – a past title/author selection for Just Desserts
• Night School by Lee Child – past author selection for Just Desserts [multiple readers this month!]
• Escape Clause by John Sandford – a past title/author selection for Just Desserts
• A Free Man of Color by Barbara Hambly – a past title/author selection for Just Desserts
• Double Shot by Diane Mott Davidson – a past title/author selection for Just Desserts
• Insidious and Nemesis, both by Catherine Coulter
• The Velvet Claw, Erle Stanely Gardner’s very first mystery
• The Wrong Side of Goodbye by Michael Connelly – a past title/author selection for Just Desserts
• Chaos, and others by Patricia Cornwell – a past title/author selection for Just Desserts
• Written Off by E.J. Copperman
• A Rule Against Murder and A Great Reckoning (both on audio) by Louise Penny
• The Agatha Christie Book Club by C.A. Larmer
• The Xibalba Murders and others by Lyn Hamilton
• Killer Smile by Lisa Scottoline – a past author selection for Just Desserts
• My Italian Bulldozer (on audio) by Alexander McCall-Smith  – a past author selection for Just Desserts

And here were some non-mystery titles some group members recommended in January 2017:

• I’ll Take You There by Wally Lamb
• The Sleepwalker by Chris Bohjalian
• The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead
• The Sword of Shannara and The Elfstones of Shannara by Terry Brooks
• The Princess Diarist (on audio) by Carrie Fisher

What mysteries have you been reading lately that you’d recommend?