Reading is often the best cure for what ails you. And 2023 was, for me, a year of ailments, ending with a flu bug that continues to rattle around in my chest as I type these words. There were some great reads this year, including many older tales and many new tales from up-and-coming talent. As always, Top Reads is comprised of books I spent time with this year, not necessarily books released this year, though some were.

My Top Reads of 2023 are a brilliant mix.

25 to Life by John Lansing

We breathe air in a perilous world. Lucky for us we’ve got Jack Bertolino watching out for things. Lansing kicks our worries right in the teeth with his latest Bertolino thriller, 25 to Life, the fifth in the popular series, and one his fans are more than ready to see adapted to film. When Jack is brought in to investigate the mysterious death of an up-and-coming law student, who met her end in a fiery wreck along Los Angeles’s Malibu Canyon Road, he soon finds himself neck deep in trouble. The dead student, Gloria Milhouse, was about to blow the lid off a cold case, freeing an innocent man in the process, but it seems there are forces at play who don’t want the case reopened. And they’re determined not to let Jack gain an inch in his investigation.

Get your hands on the book here.

A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens

I read A Christmas Carol annually, but the words blinked off the page with jazz this time around. The story remained the same, Ebenezer Scrooge sees his life and the results of his hard choices reflected upon him by three colorful spirits – four counting the ghostly precursor of Jacob Marley. My mind zeroed in on different aspects of the text this time around, which made the yuletide creeps come alive as vibrantly as if I were reading it for the first time. Online communities also began sharing the usual assortment of Christmas Carol memes, but I noticed this year a hot take summary, “Rich person scared into being generous,” etc., which bummed me out. To me, the story has always been about the fear of poverty and how that fear turns us all into miserable, miserly wretches if we’re not careful. This apparent lack of understanding made reading the Charles Dickens classic more critical this year.

Learn what makes Scrooge tick here.

Family and Other Ailments: Crime Stories Close to Home by M.E. Proctor

M.E. Proctor has made a name for herself as one of today’s Modern Noir Masters. Her stories have appeared damn near everywhere, from Mystery Tribune, Bristol Noir, Vautrin, and Pulp Modern, to Shotgun Honey, Guilty Crime Story Magazine, and elsewhere. In Family and Other Ailments readers are treated to a collection of tales, twenty-six darkly-lit gems, each with their own soul, and each with an edge as sharp as a butcher knife. Fans of suspense, chills, crime, and noir fiction will find something to sink their teeth into with this literary assortment, ranging from stories like the gritty “No Recoil” to the domestic agony of “Black and Tan.” All deserving of praise.

Meet the Proctor’s “family” here.

Stealing Paradise by Curtis Ippolito

Stealing Paradise is Book 34 in the Grifter’s Song series and is a rip-roaring ride through sunny, sinful San Diego. Scammers Rachel and Sam make a solid attempt to get away from their life of criminal, clever cons during a stay on Coronado Island, only to come across a mark too easy to let slide. Only they aren’t the only con artists with an eye on the businessman with a loudmouth. Ippolito’s short stories have appeared in Mystery Tribune, Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine, Rock and a Hard Place, and elsewhere. He proves his talent in longform stories with Stealing Paradise, a great read for the summer months and a sweet choice for crime junkies.

Steal some paradise here.

Trouble in Tucson edited by Eva Eldridge

Created for the 2023 Left Coast Crime conference, which was held in Tucson in March of 23, Trouble in Tucson collects stories written by southwestern members of the Tucson Sisters in Crime group. Stories run the gamut, from Jeffrey J. Mariotte’s private investigator Dave Tanner short story, “A Page from the Past,” to Kris Neri’s Christmas mystery “The Gift of Christmas Future.” My own short story, “The Boys Were Seen,” a tale of Perry Mason trivia and hitmen, was included in the collection. The delightful Trouble in Tucson anthology offers a little murder and a lot of mayhem, with a side of local Tucson, Arizona, flavor.

Taste Tucson’s delectable dark side here.