My favorite books on how the sleuth will set you free

This unique story intelligently and creatively brings the reader a true story with both fictional and actual characters from 1920s New Orleans, including one of jazz's greatest icons, Louis Armstrong. I learned a lot about early twentieth-century New Orleans and an account of a real-life serial killer that plagued the citizenry for a nightmarish one-and-a-half-year period of time. Admittedly, there are graphic descriptions of the serial killer’s evil deeds that you may prefer to skip over, but that will neither detract from the flow of the storyline nor create any confusion.

As a fan of jazz music, and a fan of engaging crime stories, fact or fiction, The Axeman’s Jazz took me on a journey back in time to 1920’s New Orleans, complete with colorful physical descriptions of both the city, the people, and the music. This seemingly could have been a fun whodunit fictional novel, so the fact that it’s actually a story based on fact, and a wildly unique one at that, certainly puts this book as a highly recommended crime story for this list. 

This is a beauty of a page turner about an agoraphobic who drinks bottles of wine, overindulges in her prescribed pill allotment, and who comes to think that she witnesses a murder while looking through her camera lens into the home of the family next door. But will anyone believe her based on her current mind altering habits? Finn is to be commended for her obvious research into agoraphobia. This brings a realism that is both necessary and intriguing. On the surface, one might think this is a re-do of Alfred Hitchcock's Rear Window, but Finn's story is quite different.

For those of us who enjoy a good whondunit thriller, we each of have our own reasons why we’re drawn into this popular genre. For me, one of the aspects that places one story over another is when a subject matter, the protagonist in this case, has a personality trait that is both complex and sympathetic, involving research on the author’s part to make that character credible. Finn’s descriptions of what an agoraphobiac endures is excellent while she simulataneously keeps the reader guessing as to what the heck is going on. 

Historical fiction is a genre that I often turn to when searching for the next book to read. Eric Larson brings us a masterful story about an obsessive architect and a brilliantly deceptive serial killer during America's highly creative yet oft-times frightening pre-20th Century society—with the Chicago World's Fair as the main focus. I found myself lost in Larson’s literary time machine of the incredible chaos from that period of Chicago’s history. You’ll read about many famous names and their inventions, which is an added bonus.

I was once again transported back in time to a factual crime drama that occurred in another major American city—this time, Chicago. Once again, it’s a story of the attempt to find a serial killer and the multi-layered consequences that took place during this fantastically exciting yet simultaneously tragic period of time in the city’s history. As the reader of the story, I was educated about what inventions originated from that World’s Fair in the 1920s that have been around me my entire life, while also reading a thrilling story of trying to find an elusive serial killer. 

Steadman needed to offer the reader a believable character in terms of who she is in relation to the storyline. In this case, the protagonist is a clinical psychologist who is tasked with putting the pieces of information together to find out who the mysterious man is that was found wandering on the beach. The man doesn't know either, and is at a loss to explain how he wound up on the beach in the first place.  But it’s not just a ‘simple’ case of amnesia because that would be too simple a diagnosis. The buildup to the eventual discovery, leading to the surprising and climactic ending, made this a fun read for me. 

Authors who are able to combine elements of a mysterious character and an intriguing storyline that carries you through the action of a unique concept is a winning formula for whodunits or just good mysteries of any sort. In my novel that was my goal as well. I wanted to create an engaging mystery while simultaneously introducing memorable characters. If successful, whether it be me, or authors like Catherine Steadman, the synergy of those two combined elements offer a better opporunty to enhance the reader’s enjoyment.

Scientific cloning fears come to life and the possible consequences of that dynamic? The protagonist, a geneticist, makes a startling and extremely consequential discovery and away we go. The story is a combination of science, crime drama, and bad guy intrigue that keeps the reader wondering how things will play out in terms of experiments and mysterious, secretive plots. Follett offers an array of engaging characters that left me pulling for some and proverbially punching others. As with the other Ken Follett novels I’ve read, the man does his research which offers educational elements as a bonus without it interfering with the flow. And the ending is a beauty. 

Questions about who we really are in terms of ourselves and maybe, just maybe, a cloned twin ‘out there’ who apparently isn’t the nice person you are? Why and how could that be? Creative ideas such as this, from the imagination of great storytellers like Ken Follet, inspire me to summon the most from what I can offer as an author. My philosophy as a writer is straight forward: Would I enjoy my own novels? Authors like Ken Follet, of whom I have great admiration, sets a standard for great storytelling and necessary research. As long a I can say I did the best I could and, using the sports term, ‘I left it all on the field,’ then I can be proud of my effort.