Mysteries set in my adopted home state of Vermont
Submitted by cmonster on Fri, 01/16/2004 - 13:22
Tags:
- Land Kills - Nat Brandt
- Cold Comfort - Don Bredes
- The Gore - Joseph A Citro: I had a hard time getting through this one, simply because the characters were so unsympathetic that I did not care if they lived or died.
- Guardian Angels - Joseph A Citro
- Lake Monsters - Joseph A Citro
- Shadow Child - Joseph A Citro
- Grave Consequences: A Tish McWhinny Mystery - Barbara Comfort
- A Pair for the Queen - Barbara Comfort
- Elusive Quarry - Barbara Comfort
- Phoebe's Knee: A Tish McWhinny Mystery - Barbara Comfort
- The Cashmere Kid: A Tish McWhinny Mystery - Barbara Comfort
- Vermont Village Murder - Barbara Comfort
- Fatal Cure - Robin Cook
- The Secret Papers of Julia Templeton - Peter Cooper
- As the Sparks Fly Upward - Gloria Dank
- Track of the Zombie (A Hardy Boys Mystery) - Franklin W Dixon
- Silent No More - Myrna Eriksen
- A Stillness in Bethlehem - Jane Haddam
- Body in the Snowdrift - Katherine Hall
- Beulah Hill - William Heffernan
- Lake Effect - William Jaspersohn: I can't put my finger on exactly why I liked this book, but it had a lot to do with how well the author used Vermont as a character unto itself. Good tension, interesting characters. Three stars.
- Slippery Slopes and Other Deadly Things - Harriet Klausner
- Smuggler's Notch - Joseph Koenig
- Casting in Dead Water - David Leitz: Good use of location as a character, but maybe made the Northeast Kingdom a little too sympathetic and accessible. Great explanation of the tension between environmentalism and economy.
- Dying to Fly Fish: A Max Addams Fly-Fishing Mystery - David Leitz: Less skilled use of location as a character than in Casting in Dead Water and no characters that are in any way sympathetic. However, more fly fishing information than you can shake a trout at. Eh.
- Fly-Fishing Can Be Fatal (A Max Addams Mystery) - David Leitz
- Hooked on Death - David Leitz
- Borderlines - Archer Mayor
- Gatekeeper - Archer Mayor
- The Sniper's Wife - Archer Mayor
- Fruits of the Poisonous Tree - Archer Mayor
- The Marble Mask - Archer Mayor
- Occam's Razor - Archer Mayor
- Open Season - Archer Mayor: I read this when I was like 9, and it stuck with me through the years as a truly superlative murdery mystery.
- The Dark Root - Archer Mayor
- Scent of Evil - Archer Mayor
- The Disposable Man - Archer Mayor
- The Skeleton's Knee - Archer Mayor
- The Ragman's Memory - Archer Mayor
- Bellow's Falls - Archer Mayor
- Killing Words - Diana Ramsey
- Fault Lines - Anna Saulter
- Prison Blues - Anna Saulter
- Sawyer's Crossing - Sharon Snow Sirois
- The Secret History - Donna Tartt: Five stars. One of my top 74 favorite novels.
- O'Artful Death - Sarah Stewart Taylor: I'm gonna need more stars.
- Harvest of Bones - Nancy Means Wright
- Mad Season - Nancy Means Wright: I still don't know whether I liked this book or not. Halfway through I threw it across the room for killing off one of the characters, but I did go and pick it up again. Hmmm. Still not sure.
- Poison Apples - Nancy Means Wright
- Stolen Honey - Nancy Means Wright
- Snowjob - Ted Woods: Ugh, no stars. A mob-based potboiler making no use of place as a character, and cramming way too many clues and plot twists into the last 40 pages.
Author Comments:
If you've read or heard of a Vermont mystery not on the list, please let me know!
I was about to say Florida would be a great state to live in for making a list like this, what with John D. MacDonald and Carl Hiaasen 'n all. But Vermont doesn't look to shabby either. I've never tried to tackle Massachusetts.
Okay Jim, just for you, I tried to tackle MA this weekend, and I'm here to tell you that there may be more mysteries set just in Boston than in Miami, and possibly all of Florida. So I wussed out and wound up doing Alaska instead. :)
:-) Well, I appreciate the thought. It might be interesting to know which state has the fewest mysteries set there ("And the winner of the "least mysterious state award goes to..."). Note that I said it might be interesting to KNOW, the work involved in finding out might be herculean. But hey, if you're game I'd like to see the results!
I've wondered if there's some kind of metric relating the state with the fewest mysteries to either tourism interest or population. Vermont, Alaska and Wyoming are supposed to be the three least-populated states, but as you can see, there are tons of mysteries in VT, so it can't be population alone.
Mmmmm. I smell thesis.
Yes, but.... how many of them could *possibly* be as good as A Secret History?
... I swear, that book has ruined me for several others.... Really must order a hard cover copy.
Mmmm, let' see. I hated The Gore and barely made it to the end, Lake Effect was so-so, but I really enjoyed Casting in Dead Water. I also currently have Mad Season out from the library. I wonder if I should implement the Oddbooks rating system here?