2019 A Year in Retrospect (update 11/01/2020)

First and foremost Happy New Year to you all.

2019 was a year of major discoveries at A Crime is Afoot. I finished reading all Agatha Christie books featuring Hercule Poirot with a couple of minor exceptions, namely Hercule Poirot and the Greenshore Folly [2014] and Black Coffee [1998], although there maybe some controversy whether they should be included among Agatha Christie’s books. After all, Black Coffee was adapted from Agatha Christie’s play of the same title, novelised by Charles Osborne and published in 1998. And Hercule Poirot and the Greenshore Folly, although written by Agatha Christie in 1954, was ultimately never published in its original form and, instead, it became the basis for one of her favourite novels, Dead Man’s Folly.

Besides, I’m happy to report a number of new to me authors which I’m convinced I shall read again in a not so distant future. Like, in no particular order, Molly Thynne, Cyril Hare, Michael Gilbert, Anthony Boucher, Christianna Brand, Paul Halter, and Brian Flynn. Without forgetting to mention some Japanese authors and, above all, the list of books published by Locked Room International, here.

It would be unfair not to mention some books/authors which I have left out this year due to lack of time. Like for example, The Other End of the Line, 2019 (Inspector Montalbano #24) by Andrea Camilleri, translated by Stephen Sartarelli; This Poison Will Remain, 2019 (Commissaire Adamsberg #9) by Fred Vargas, translated by Siân Reynolds; Metropolis, 2019 (Bernie Gunther #14) by Philip Kerr. (2019); The Night Fire, 2019 (Renee Ballard #2 and Harry Bosch #) by Michael Connelly; Wolves at the Door, 2019 (Varg Veum #22) by Gunnar Staalesen, translated by Don Bartlett; A Long Night in Paris, 2019 by Dov Alfon, translated by Daniella Zamir; El último barco (Inspector Leo Caldas #3) de Domingo Villar. (2019); The Lost Man, 2018 by Jane Harper; and Gallows Court, 2018 by Martin Edwards.

And last, but not least, if you wonder which book I’ll be reading first in 2020, I imagine you already know if you have read my latest posts, it can be no other but John Dickson Carr’s Hag’s Nook, 1933.

(Facsimile Dust Jacket, Hag’s Nook by John Dickson Carr, Harper & Brothers (USA), 1933)

Without further ado, below you may find the list of books I read on 2019.

8 thoughts on “2019 A Year in Retrospect (update 11/01/2020)”

Margot Kinberg says:

01/01/2020 at 17:13

Happy New Year! May 2020 be a good one for you, José Ignacio! I know what you mean about books you didn’t get to because of time. I have a long list of those, too. Hopefully, we’ll both have more reading time this year. All the best to you and your family for the new year.

1. Jose Ignacio says:
  
  01/01/2020 at 17:18
  
  Thank you Margot, and may all your wishes come through in 2020, my dear friend.
  
moirar2 says:

01/01/2020 at 20:53

Happy New Year Jose Ignacio. That’s a great list, and I hope you find as many joys and treasures in your 2020 reading.

1. Jose Ignacio says:
  
  01/01/2020 at 21:13
  
  Thank you. The same to you.
  
KerrieS says:

01/01/2020 at 21:44

Well done Jose Ignacio. Happy New Year. May you continue to find new books and new projects in 2020

1. Jose Ignacio says:
  
  04/01/2020 at 21:21
  
  Thanks, Kerrie.
  
Brad says:

02/01/2020 at 01:27

Happy New Year, Jose! I wish I had been half as productive as you this year, but I’m such a slow reader! I’m excited as you explore new authors, particularly Brand and Carr. (I hope you get to read Tour de Force by Brand.) I should be getting the Inugami Clan soon, and I can’t wait to start it. I see you rated it A+!

Have a happy, healthy year, full of good reading and wonderful times shared with friends, both in the real Spain and in the virtual world around you!

1. Jose Ignacio says:
  
  02/01/2020 at 09:19
  
  The same to you, Brad. Hope you’ll have a great year ahead. And thank you very much for your support.