I wasn’t really planning to compile this, but then Lesa Holstine did her list. So, I decided she could not have all the fun and came up with my own list. As I have said more than once, I am a big fan of police procedurals. So, my list heavily features those books and police procedural adjacent ones. We don’t need no stinking romance! My list below begins in January and features eight reads that I very much enjoyed.
Inside
Man: A Head Cases Novel by John McMahon
is the very enjoyable sequel to Head
Cases. As always in any good series, it is best to
have read the first book before
the sequel. Agent Gardner Camden leads an FBI unit named PAR. The Patterns and
Recognition team exists to find peculiarities in cases that have stalled or
gone cold. Each member of the team brings a unique set of skills. Their current
case is a fraud one out of Florida. You can read the rest of my January review here.
It is
October as Bitter Fall: A Detective Justice Novel by
Bruce Robert Coffin begins. It is just after midnight on a desolate stretch of
Maine roadway. For Maine State Police Detectives Brock Justice and Chloe
Wright, what was already a long day is about to get way longer. Homicide
Detectives from the Major Crimes Unit North out of the Troop E barracks in
Bangor are not called out to investigate fatal motor vehicle accidents. They
were told to make the ninety-minute drive, one way, not simply because Summer
Randall is dead in the road. The drunk driver did not kill her though there is
no doubt that the vehicle hit her. The stab wound in her stomach probably did
the deed. You can read the rest of my review here.
The
third book of
the police procedural series that began with The Face of Greed delivers in every possible way
for the reader. Illusion of Truth: A Novel begins a few
months after River of Lies and starts with a bang. The
call out to a local church was a ploy to get police officers to respond. For
the several officers that responded to the scene, the place was anything but
safe. Within minutes of their arrival, two separate improvised explosive
devices are detonated. You can read the rest of my review here.
Marybeth
Pickett always knew that being the wife of a Wyoming Game Warden meant the
worst could happen at any time. She knows from the start of The
Crossroads: A Joe Pickett Novel that it has almost happened. At
least her husband is still alive, if only by a thread. In one of the most
intense books I have read this year, Joe fights for life as his daughters work
to figure out who ambushed their dad. You can read the rest of my review here.
Death
is something the retired DC Metropolitan Police Department Detective is very
familiar with, professionally and personally. Graham Sanderson has quit working
homicides in Washington, DC, and moved into his dad’s house in upstate New
York. He’s there to help his younger brother, Tommy. A widower who misses his
wife tremendously, he’s coping, but not well. With no hobbies and the memories
of a lifetime of police work, he has far too much time on his hands to think
and brood. Soon, he is helping the very small and short-staffed local police
department hunt down a killer in From the Dust: A Novel by David
Swinson. You can read the rest of my review here.
Grief
over losing a spouse also is a major part of my next favorite. These days,
there are few books that
just grab me and don’t let go. Seldom Seen Road: Burnt River
Mysteries by John Degen is one of those books. Mark Roth is living
in an isolated cabin on the north shore of Lake Huron. Getting drawn into
investigating a murder was never planned. But, it happens. You can read more of
my review here.
So, there you have it. I easily could have added a dozen more. The goal was to not bury you in books. Though, come to think of it, if the series reads are new to you, and you follow my advice to read the prior ones before you get to these, I probably did bury you in books.
Kevin R. Tipple ©2026
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