Best Books 2010 | Publishers Weekly - Mystery : Publishers Weekly

The Man with the Baltic Stare

James Church (Minotaur)

Church audaciously sets his fourth Inspector O novel in 2016, when O must investigate a Macao prostitute's murder linked to the young man being groomed as the future leader of North Korea.

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Love Songs from a Shallow Grave

Colin Cotterill (Soho Crime)

The murders of three women, each with a dueling sword, preoccupy 73-year-old Laotian coroner Siri Paiboun in a mystery that has it all-a heroic protagonist, a challenging puzzle, and an exotic setting.

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Bleed a River Deep

Brian McGilloway (Minotaur)

Despite being suspended from the Garda for failing to prevent what could have been the fatal shooting of a visiting former U.S. senator, Irish Inspector Devlin persists in looking into a bank heist and other crimes in a mystery that explores the underside of the "Celtic Tiger."

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Bury Your Dead

Louise Penny (Minotaur)

Penny's gift for displaying heartbreak and hope in the same scene is just one of the many strengths of her sixth traditional mystery to feature French-Canadian Chief Insp. Armand Gamache.

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The Insane Train

Sheldon Russell (Minotaur)

Railroad security agent Hook Runyon must help transport a trainload of dangerous mental patients from California to Oklahoma in a rough-edged 1940s historical that evokes both Chandler and Hammett.

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The Red Door

Charles Todd (Morrow)

Scotland Yard inspector Ian Rutledge, a shell-shocked WWI veteran, looks into a missing missionary and a bludgeoning murder in a mystery that offers a tricky puzzle and incisive character portraits.

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