Top Ten Tuesday: New-to-Me Authors I Discovered in 2021

Elizabeth Breck

Breck’s P.I., Madison Kelly, felt like a breath of fresh air. She’s got all the characteristics of female P.I.s (see: Millhone, Warshawski, Randall, Chin, Gennaro), and makes them feel fresh and new (she also brings a few of her own to the table, too). Breck’s experience as a P.I. adds a layer of authenticity to the writing, too. But really, it’s her voice that hooked me.

In case you’re curious about what I said about the book that put her on this list, click here.

S.A. Cosby

After a few months of seeing the rabid hype for Blacktop Wasteland, I finally carved out time for this piece of Rural Noir and was just blown away. The novel was beautifully written, with a lyrical nature to some passages that will make you want to reread the paragraphs a few times just to take it all in. But also? It has great car scenes in case you’re worried about it being too highbrow and artsy. It took less than a paragraph for me to get why people’d been raving about the book, and I don’t see that quieting down any time soon.

In case you’re curious about what I said about the book that put him on this list, click here.

Janice Hallett

I’ve never seen someone put together a book like this in the Crime/Mystery genre. The closest I can think of is Semple’s Where’d You Go, Bernadette. In addition to creating a very clever novel, she does a fantastic job of capturing a handful of distinct voices…and I don’t know what more to say about Hallett, really. I’m at a loss for words.

The book that put her on the list is released in the U.S. today! Now we can catch up with the rest of the world (I was able to snag a copy from NetGalley, too). In case you’re curious about what I said about it, click here.

Stephen Mack Jones

I read the first book in his series, August Snow, last summer—and I just clicked with it within a couple of pages. The voice was just perfect, his characters felt like good friends already—just ones I needed to get to know better. He also had a real gift for setting—I could see some of the locations clearly, and the food? I’m getting hungry right now. I’ll be returning to Jones and Snow early next year, and I can’t wait.

In case you’re curious about what I said about the book that put him on this list, click here.

Kathleen Kent

Kent’s crime debut kicks off with a near-perfect first chapter that got me to add the rest of this trilogy to my TBR. The rest of the book is almost as good. An NYPD Detective as a fish out of water in Dallas is a pretty fun idea—throw her into the middle of an investigation of a Drug Cartel with a stalker on her heels, and it’s more than a fun idea, it’s a blockbuster read.

Inexplicably, I haven’t written anything about The Dime yet, or I’d point you to it.

J.R.R. Lockhaven

Lockhaven’s debut is just as strange as you’d expect from someone who threw an extra “R.” into his name (Kyle Robert Redundant Lockhaven) for his fantasy debut The Conjuring of Zoth-Avarex: The Self-Proclaimed Greatest Dragon in the Multiverse. Part workplace satire, part celebration of Fantasy tropes, and part send-up of those same tropes, there’s little to criticize and a lot to celebrate in this book. I know his next book won’t be as nutty, which I will miss, but I’m curious to see it.

In case you’re curious about what I said about the book that put him on this list, click here.

Nadine Matheson

Matheson infuses her fiction with her experience and knowledge—one of the murders takes place near her home, which helps her bring that part of London to life in a way I don’t think I’ve seen before. Also, she’s a Criminal Solicitor, bringing an authenticity to the book that you don’t always get. I’m starting to get carried away and I have 3 other people to talk about so I’m going to shut up.

In case you’re curious about what I said about the book that put her on this list, click here.

Chris McDonald

I’ve only read one of McDonald’s two series to date (I plan on changing that soon), and it certainly appears that the two are pretty different in style and tone. But you can’t read five books in a year by one author without it leaving a pretty strong impression on you. The Stonebridge Mysteries had strong characters, clever mysteries, and a humorous touch (without being comedies), a consistent source of entertainment throughout 2021.

In case you’re curious about what I said about the series that put him on this list, click here.

Fabian Nicieza

In researching this post, I realized I’d actually met Nicieza in 1987 in Psi Force #9 from Marvel Comics. But I’m still counting this because: 1. I’d forgotten about him completely, and 2. I’m going with new-to-me-novelists. He’s written a lot of other comics in the meantime—including creating Deadpool. But now he’s turned to novel writing—his first novel was laugh-out-loud funny, with the kind of tension that seasoned pros struggle with, great characters, and some social commentary, too. Oh, yeah, and a great mystery!

In case you’re curious about what I said about the book that put him here, click here.

Osman has a long résumé in all sorts of fields—none of which I was exposed to here in the U.S. But his first novel was a great way to be introduced—a great mix of meditation on grief and aging, comedy, and mystery. He writes like a seasoned pro, and I can’t wait to see what he does next.

In case you’re curious about what I said about the books that put him on this list, click here.