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A Mystery Master's Favorite Whodunits of 2021
Kellye Garrett is the acclaimed author of the upcoming Like a Sister suspense novel, in which no one bats an eye when a disgraced reality-TV star is found dead in the Bronx—except her estranged half-sister, whose refusal to believe the official story leads her on an increasingly dangerous search for the truth.
Garrett is also the author of the Detective by Day mysteries, about a semi-famous, mega-broke Black actress who takes on the deadliest role of her life: private detective. The first, Hollywood Homicide, won the Agatha, Anthony, Lefty, and Independent Publisher “IPPY” awards for best first novel and was named one of BookBub’s Top 100 Crime Novels of All Time. Garrett serves on the board of directors for Sisters in Crime and is a cofounder of Crime Writers of Color.
We asked her to share her 2021 year in reading. Check out what she loved this year and what she's looking forward to in 2022!
Garrett is also the author of the Detective by Day mysteries, about a semi-famous, mega-broke Black actress who takes on the deadliest role of her life: private detective. The first, Hollywood Homicide, won the Agatha, Anthony, Lefty, and Independent Publisher “IPPY” awards for best first novel and was named one of BookBub’s Top 100 Crime Novels of All Time. Garrett serves on the board of directors for Sisters in Crime and is a cofounder of Crime Writers of Color.
We asked her to share her 2021 year in reading. Check out what she loved this year and what she's looking forward to in 2022!
Goodreads: What are some trends or themes you are noticing in mysteries and thrillers this year?
Kellye Garrett: I’m still noticing a lot of great remote location suspense and amazing series authors expanding into writing standalones. The first three that come to mind are Rachel Howzell Hall (These Toxic Things), Jess Lourey (Bloodline), and Tracy Clark (2022’s tentatively titled Hide). Authors also aren’t just sticking to one genre. YA thriller writer Tiffany Jackson released her first horror, White Smoke. On the flip side, horror writer Cynthia Pelayo released the crime novel Children of Chicago. And we are all lucky to have Silvia Moreno-Garcia, who consistently puts out amazing gothic horror (Mexican Gothic) and noir (Velvet Was the Night).
But the two themes that have me most excited are what I’ll call “edgier cozies” and how much crime fiction written by and about people of color that publishers are snapping up.
Over the past decade or so, lighter-weight amateur detective novels all seemed to have the same ingredients: small town, white women who may be in their 20s or 30s but didn’t necessarily feel like millennials, a trade (think baking or a store owner) as a hook. Don’t get me wrong; there’s nothing wrong with these types of cozies. I read them as much as the next book lover. But I also sometimes want something that doesn’t check all those boxes. Books with millennial and Gen Z protagonists at the center and all the fun that comes with that. Some must-read examples include Mia P. Manansala’s Tita Rosie’s Kitchen series, Elle Cosimano’s Finley Donovan series, and Cherie Priest’s Grave Reservations.
We’re also finally seeing more releases from authors of color across pretty much every subgenre. We have cozies from the likes of Jennifer Chow and V.M. Burns. Thrillers and suspense from debut authors like Catherine Dang and Vera Kurian. Historical mysteries from award-winning icons like Naomi Hirahara and Sujata Massey.
Though I’m not quite ready to call it a golden age, I do think it’s such an amazing time to be a crime fiction lover.
GR: Who are some new and exciting authors you discovered in 2021?
KG: In terms of new-to-me authors, I already mentioned Elle Cosimano and Cherie Priest. They both released fun mysteries with such cool characters. Elle’s MC [main character] is a writer way behind on her deadline (not that I know anything about that!), and Cherie’s is a psychic travel agent. I also picked up The Wife Upstairs by Rachel Hawkins solely because it had a pretty cover and ended up staying up way too late reading it. I know their longtime fans are side-eyeing me so hard right now that I hadn’t read any of their non–crime fiction work. I’m sorry! But I promise I will be reading them from now on.
In terms of debuts, I’ll mention two authors that I plan to stalk their entire careers. Raquel V. Reyes’ Mango, Mambo, and Murder definitely fits the edgier cozy bill. The MC is a Cuban American wife and mother who gets her own cooking segment on a morning show. If you’re a poetry fan and/or someone who loves books that aren’t afraid to take on social justice issues, you’ll devour They Can’t Take Your Name by Robert Justice. It centers on a man on death row for a crime he didn’t commit.
GR: Looking ahead, what predictions do you have for fiction in 2022? And are there any 2022 titles you can’t wait to read?
KG: This isn’t a prediction as much as something I want to see more of, and that’s more queer crime fiction. That’s not to say there aren’t queer crime writers out there putting out amazing work. Bath Haus by P.J. Vernon was a breakout this year. There were also releases from Cheryl Head (Warn Me When It's Time, the sixth book in a PI [private investigators] series), Nekesa Afia (Dead, Dead Girls, a historical debut), John Copenhaver (The Savage Kind, a historical thriller), Marco Carocari (Blackout, a debut mystery), and the legendary Greg Herren (the genre-bending Bury Me in Shadows), among others. But I want more from the big publishers, especially in the amateur detective field.
These 2022 titles are at the top of my TBR list:
Alafair Burke’s Find Me
Alex Segura’s Secret Identity
Amina Akhtar’s Kismet
Eli Cranor’s Don’t Know Tough
Gigi Pandian’s Under Lock and Skeleton Key
Kelly J. Ford’s Real Bad Things
GR: What were some of your favorite 2021 books?
KG: I could spend the rest of 2021 just naming books I loved, but I’ll just pick five in no particular order:
If you love voicey, twisty psychological dual-timeline suspense with a flawed MC, then pick this up ASAP. We follow Paloma both as a child adopted from a Sri Lankan orphanage and an adult caught up in the mysterious murder of her blackmailing roomie.
It’s about a grieving mother who gets in over her head when she joins a mysterious group of mothers seeking revenge against their children’s killers. It's high concept but handled in such a real way.
Like My Sweet Girl, this is a dual-timeline debut that follows a Ghanaian child on her journey from being a sex-traffic victim to an assassin in Miami. The story is dramatic while still being very character driven.
This is an updated, very modern take on a Stephen King classic about a bed-bound author being harassed by someone claiming to be a character in his novel. It’s Laura Lippman, which should make this a must-read for anyone.
At first glance, this feels like a classic English village cozy complete with baking. But Amita Murray manages to turn those tropes on their heads with a really unique, very millennial main character who has a lot of social anxiety and makes macabre desserts.
GR: And what are some backlist books you think readers should pick up now?
KG: Another question I could spend the rest of my life answering. I fell in love with mysteries in the ’90s, so I’m going to pick some of my favorite crime fiction series from that time period.
(20 books) This made me fall in love with cozies and set up a lot of the lovable tropes we see today. It centers on a widowed bookstore owner who falls in love with the local cop while encountering murder in her college town.
(7 books) This contribution to the PI boom of the ’90s features a Cuban American woman PI in Miami that balances social issues with really entertaining cases.
(11 books) Before Sujata Massey gave us Perveen Mistry, she gave us Rei Shimura, a Japanese American English teacher living in Tokyo. I just love the character and culture in these books.
(12 books) Barnes was one of my favorites, along with icons Sara Paretsky and Sue Grafton. Her PI was a six-foot redhead who was a former Boston cop.
(8 books) I just found out that the cop-turned-cleaning-service-owner mysteries I loved as a teen were written by Mary Kay Andrews. I can still tell you about the cleaning crew that helps Callahan solve crime.
Tell us about your mystery and thriller reading in 2021. What books did you love best? Share them with us in the comments below!
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Check out more recent articles:
A Debut Novelist's 2021 Reading in Review
A Speculative Fiction Fanatic's Take on 2021 Reading
A Very Enthusiastic YA Year in Review from a Genre Expert
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Concetta
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Dec 16, 2021 06:11AM
Looks like I have my list for next year! Thanks!
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I love the 90s picks! Great list, I got to add a bunch to my TBR!
Great list here. Lots more to add to TBR lol!
Where are the male authors in this list? I only saw 2?
Great list. I had to add a few new ones to my already mountain-sized TBR pile!
Kwei Quartey's Emma Djan mysteries set in Ghana are intelligent, suspenseful, character-driven stories. Richard Osman's Septuagenarian mysteries are quirky, fun stories of four "older" amateur detectives.
This is Great! I am mid-series with several of the 90's classics - pulling them out of the TBR pile! Plus a few new-to-me authors to check out. 😊
