Dec 30, 2024

Fave Reads of 2024

ANOTHER YEAR of memorable reading has come to an end. Most of my 2024 reads were new releases, although a few go back a number of years. Released this past spring, We Were the Bullfighters, Marianne Miller’s fictionalized account of Ernest Hemingway’s four-month stint as a staff re porter at the Toronto Daily Star and Norman “Red” Ryan’s daring escape from Kingston Penitentiary, was my top read of the year. Researching Hemingway’s newspaper coverage of Ryan’s escape, Miller decided the facts didn’t capture the emotional hearts of the two men, and turned her hand to fiction. A masterful blend of fact and fiction, and a real page-turner from a new Canadian author.

Jeffrey Round’s The Sulphur Springs Cure was a noteworthy 2024 release. Part mystery, part coming-of-age story with nuanced characters and a terrific setting, the novel is a departure from Round’s gritty Dan Sharp mysteries, and displays this Canadian writer’s range and versatility.

Award-winning Canadian crime writer Anthony Bidulka released the second mystery in his Merry Bell series this year. From Sweetgrass Bridge continues Merry’s adventures in Livingsky, Saskatchewan. It’s a delightful read, and I hope the series will continue far beyond this second installment.

The late Kevin Mitnick’s 2005 The Art of Intrusion: The Real Stories Behind the Exploits of Hackers, Intruders & Deceivers is one of my few reads this year that was not fiction. Mitnick was a high-profile U.S. hacker who spent five years in prison, then devoted himself to helping businesses and governments combat data thieves. The Art of Intrusion provides hell-raising stories of real-life computer break-ins, and how they could have been prevented. Essential reading for anyone crafting cyber crime fiction.

Just a few weeks ago, my husband presented me with Yellowface by American writer R.F. Kuang. “You’ll like this novel,” he said, and I did. It’s the story of what happens when June Hayward, a struggling writer with one novel to her credit, steals an unedited manuscript written by a deceased Asian-American friend. June polishes the manuscript, and publishes it under the name Juniper Song, her real first and middle names. Desperate for success, June works hard to maintain her lie, but she's an unlikeable protagonist. The strengths of Yellowface are the underlying questions it poses: about the publishing industry, the role of social media in shaping careers, and cultural appropriation: the stories writers are currently allowed to write, given their race and ethnic background, gender, and sexual orientation. And the wonderful irony that Kuang, herself an Asian-American writer, tells this story through the eyes of a white writer.

Maureen Jennings’ Night’s Child, was first published in 2005, and I finally got around to reading it this summer. Don’t know why I put it off so long, but it’s now my favourite Murdoch mystery. This autumn, I followed up with Jennings’ new release, March Roars, the fourth in her Paradise Café series, set in Toronto shortly before the Second World War. A historical crime writer, Jennings explores the social issues of different periods of history with insight and compassion. Her recent appointment to the Order of Canada, one of Canada’s highest honours, is well-deserved.

The following are books I enjoyed this year, in alphabetical order of their authors’ surnames.

David W. Barber, Hedshot

Gordon Barthos, The Life of St. Brendan and His Prayer

Anthony Bidulka, From Sweetgrass Bridge

Gail Bowen, The Legacy

M.W. Craven, Dead Ground

Renny deGroot, Garden Girl

Erik D’Souza, Death on the Rocks

Ian Ferguson & Will Ferguson, I Only Read Murder

Alice Fitzpatrick, Secrets in the Water

Bruce Gates, The Heart of Her Affairs

Maureen Jennings, March Roars