World Book Night was, well, it was last night folks (to coincide with the birth of William Shakespeare as well as the death of Cervantes), but don’t worry, there’s no wrong time to give books as gifts. WBN aims to encourage literacy and the love of reading by giving away a million books to folks who haven’t got disposable income for them. They list the thirty books on the WBN website that they were distributing this year and included there you’ll find crime and mystery titles like Michael Connelly’s Blood Work and Sue Grafton’s Q Is for Quarry, and the website Crime Fiction Lover complimented the WBN list with their own picks for books to get someone started in mystery and crime fiction. Among their picks? Mark Billingham, Dorothy L. Sayers, Val McDermid, Harlan Coben and Jo Nesbo.
Well, it’s just too perfect an opportunity to throw my two-cents in for a cause I absolutely believe in - I give away books for all occasions and for absolutely no reason all the time. In fact I keep a stack of ‘throw-down’ copies of favorite books, to distribute on a whim, beside my bed. So, here’re my lists for books to give to people you want to develop a book habit (the crime/mystery edition), and I’m going to keep it to folks still living and writing. Also - they picked thirty, so I'm picking thirty. Buckle in.
For People Who Have a Hard Time Concentrating For Long Stretches
Florida Gothic Stories by Vicki Hendricks
Controlled Burn by Scott Wolven
Knockemstiff by Donald Ray Pollock
For Fans of Film-Noir:
The Song Is You by Megan Abbott
Dope by Sara Gran
Shadow Boxer by Eddie Muller
For Those Whose Hearts of Stone Need to Break
You Believers by Jane Bradley
Dope Thief by Dennis Tafoya
Crooked Letter, Crooked Letter by Tom Franklin
For Those Who Love to Say "The Book Was Better Than the Movie"
The Ice Harvest by Scott Phillips
Drive by James Sallis
Winter's Bone by Daniel Woodrell
For Those Who Want to Say They Read the Book Before it Was a Movie
Savages by Don Winslow
A Single Shot by Matthew F. Jones
Shoedog by George Pelecanos
For Those Who Love 20the Century History
American Tabloid by James Ellroy
Berlin Noir by Philip Kerr
The Given Day by Dennis Lehane
For Those Who Hate Having to Wait Around For Something to Happen
Mixed Blood by Roger Smith
The Blonde Duane Swierczynski
Money Shot by Christa Faust
For Those Who Want an honest to god private eye
The Guards by Ken Bruen
Violent Spring by Gary Phillips
Saturday's Child by Ray Banks
For Those Who Turn Up Their Noses at “Genre” Fiction
The Neon Rain by James Lee Burke
The Most Dangerous Thing by Laura Lippman
The Paperboy by Pete Dexter
Because The Ghost Whisperer Just Isn’t Quite What You Want it to Be
The Ghosts of Belfast by Stuart Neville
Every Dead Thing by John Connolly
Isabella Moon by Laura Benedict
People have gifted many of my now favorite books to me and I want to keep paying it forward. Give me your suggestions or your own experiences giving or receiving great books.
Jedidiah Ayres writes fiction and keeps the blog Hardboiled Wonderland
