The Euro Crime Favourite Reads of 2013
I've asked
the recent contributors to Euro Crime
to choose their favourite European reads of 2013 and a total of 72 titles have
been submitted. The following favourites come from the lists submitted by: Mark
Bailey, Amanda Gillies, Raven Crime (aka JF), Terry Halligan, Lynn Harvey, Geoff
Jones, Michelle Peckham, Norman Price, Laura Root, Sarah Ward, Susan White and
myself. The breakdown by reviewer, with additional recommendations and any
additional comments they have made, can be found here.
Quotes are taken from the Euro Crime reviews, unless stated otherwise.
The most
mentioned titles
are:
3 votes:
The
Ghost Riders of Ordebec by Fred Vargas tr. Sian Reynolds
Vargas
has a genius for weaving a strand of the supernatural into her crime stories
without breaking faith with the credibility of her plot. In previous novels,
she's had readers almost believing in vampires, werewolves and ghosts, before
extracting a commonsensical explanation at the last moment.
THE GHOST
RIDERS OF ORDEBEC [] is no exception, with its evocation of a terrible legend
with the power to drive ordinary people to commit murder. Yet there is never any
doubt that this legend is being manipulated by a killer who's very much alive.
With a surfeit of suspects, can dreamy and distracted Jean-Baptiste sort the
clues from the red herrings? You'll be turning the pages to find out, but also
because Vargas has created a compelling world of characters that is simply
irresistible.
2
votes:
Pilgrim Soul by
Gordon Ferris
...an interesting brevity to the style of writing,
and particularly the dialogue that is somewhat reminiscent of the Chandler
novels (and the main hero, Philip Marlowe). I quickly became immersed in this
book, and very much enjoyed it, so much so that I've already started to read the
earlier books in the series. An intelligent, thought provoking story that I
thoroughly recommend.
An Officer and a Spy by Robert
Harris
An Officer and A Spy is a very fine novel full of great
characters, plot and atmosphere. Robert Harris has got inside the personality of
his protagonist, Georges Picquart, cleverly used the real life characters to
give an account of the real life events embellished with a dialogue that
reflects the atmosphere of Paris in that period....An Officer and A Spy
has more than enough action to keep the reader turning the pages. [from the Crime
Scraps review by Norman Price]
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