Alan Orloff: Recommended Reads of 2011

Alan Orloff is the author of the Agatha Award Finalist “Diamonds for the Dead,” which Publisher’s Weekly called a “thought-provoking debut.” Orloff also writes the Last Laff Mystery series: “Killer Routine” and the upcoming “Deadly Campaign,” which will be released next month.

Orloff’s “excellent books” read in 2011 include:

“Innocent Monster” by Reed Farrel Coleman.  If you haven’t met Moe Prager yet, what are you waiting for? He’s the former NYPD cop-turned-PI with a tumultuous personal life, and in this book (the 6th in the series), he comes out of retirement to investigate the abduction of an 11-year-old girl at the request of his estranged daughter. As usual, Coleman combines wonderful prose, a twisting plot, and terrific characters in the perfect proportions and comes up with another winner.

“The Lock Artist” by Steve Hamilton. In Steve Hamilton’s stand-alone crime novel, the eighteen-year-old protagonist has a unique relationship with locks — he can open them all. He also has a unique affliction; due to a traumatizing event that took place when he was a young boy, he can’t speak. So what does a mute boy do with his talents? Become a safecracker, of course. Despite how this summary reads, “The Lock Artist” is really a love story. As well as being a great book. And it’s not just me who thinks so—it won the 2011 Edgar Award for Best Novel.

“Threat Warning” by John Gilstrap. In this, the third book in the Jonathan Grave series, Grave and his crack hostage rescue team take on the Army of God, a domestic terrorist group, in pursuit of a kidnapping victim. Plenty of action in the name of truth, justice, and the American Way, it’s a thrilling story with a lead character with plenty of character.