My Year in Books 2023: December

And so, it's my final book review post of the year. Just in time for New Year's Eve. My December lists are usually a bit longer than the ones for other months, as I have a little bit more time for reading for pleasure in the second half of December. That said, I think this post is a bit shorter than last year's December post, and it might not be the longest one from 2023. It's very festive though...

My reviews of the books I read in December are below, but here are links to my posts from the rest of the year: January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November

Yule Island by Johana Gustawsson (2023)

I didn’t really get much time for reading at the beginning of the month, but we were on holiday after that and I took a massive pile of books away with me (most of them with a Christmas or winter theme). The first one I read was Yule Island, which not only had a winter theme but also a small, isolated island setting (and I’m always a sucker for those). Emma Lindahl is an art expert who is asked to value a collection belonging to one of Sweden’s richest families. She travels to the family’s mansion on the island of Storholmen, the site of a grisly unsolved murder nine years before. But then another body is found on the island, and the case seems to have a connection to the earlier murder. Detective Karl Rosén arrives to investigate, and all sorts of secrets start to come to light. This one was told by multiple narrators, and Gustawsson plays a couple of narrative tricks that I enjoyed. There are a lot of big surprises, and the fast pace of the story means that these feel like they come thick and fast. I guessed some, but others were a shock. I think I would have liked more sense of the setting, but there’s plenty of Scandinavian mythology here that appealed. The detective also turns out to be one of the most intriguing characters, which is normally a no-no but Gustawsson makes it work. Overall, a nicely atmospheric thriller that’ll keep you guessing.

Daisy Darker by Alice Feeney (2022)

I saved the next book for when we were away, because it’s set in Cornwall. Also, even though it’s not got a specifically Christmas setting, it was marketed as a Christie-esque locked room mystery, which I always find festive. The story is narrated by the eponymous Daisy, who has arrived in Cornwall with her family to celebrate Nana’s 80th birthday. The Darker family don’t spend very much time together, and so it’s not the warmest of reunions. And then the murders begin… Nana’s body is discovered in the kitchen, and she’s not going to be the only victim. Someone is picking off the Darker family, one by one, but there’s no way a stranger can have got into the house. There are two timelines here – the present-day storyline with the murders, and flashbacks to the past, where Daisy narrates her childhood and some background to her family. Something is definitely not right with the Darkers. This book is a lot of fun, particularly as the Christie inspiration is played with openly. I have to admit that I didn’t guess where it was going, because Feeney isn’t averse to breaking a few of the rules (okay, one MASSIVE rule) of classic detective fiction. I enjoyed it though. It’s wonderfully atmospheric, with a great sense of place. And the rule-breaking does allow for a satisfying (if a little eyebrow-raising) conclusion that makes everything that’s come before make sense – I guarantee you’ll be flicking back to confirm something when you reach the reveal!

The Other Mrs Walker by Mary Paulson-Ellis (2016)

I read (and really enjoyed) The Inheritance of Solomon Farthing a couple of years ago, but it’s taken me a while to go back and read Paulson-Ellis’s first novel. Like Solomon Farthing, the novel involves ‘heir-hunters’, people who track down the relatives of people who die intestate or without identification. The story starts with an elderly woman dying in these circumstances at Christmas in Edinburgh (yes – it’s another Christmas setting!). Enter Margaret Penny, who returns to Edinburgh that New Year and reluctantly moves back in with her mother. Margaret has no real plans or ideas about how to support herself, so she falls into the role of ‘heir-hunter’, tasked with finding out the truth about the dead woman. I enjoyed this one, but it was very similar in structure and storytelling to Solomon Farthing, and this was a tiny bit frustrating. For those expecting a straightforward detective story, the idiosyncratic storytelling might be even more frustrating, but fortunately I knew what to expect (and am not strictly wedded to genre!). As well as Margaret’s investigation, we have chapters set in the past, revealing things to the reader that the investigator will never find out. The life (lives) that unfolds before our eyes is filled with darkness and pain, but there’s something compelling about the story, for all its grim narrative of abuse, betrayal and trauma. I got quite immersed in this one, though maybe not as much as with Solomon Farthing. I’m definitely going to read Paulson-Ellis’s third novel though.

The Last Snow by Stina Jackson (2021)

This is another one I saved for when we were away. You can probably guess why from the title. Jackson’s book is set in a small, isolated Swedish town called Ödesmark. The town is haemorrhaging inhabitants, but Liv Björnlund stubbornly remains, living with her imposing father Vidar and her son Simon. Liv is close-lipped about why she has chosen to stay, but some people in the town believe that her father has a fortune hidden away in his house. Regardless of this, Vidar makes his family live a frugal (even impoverished) life, and Liv works at a filling station. Along with this story is that of Liam, a man desperate to provide a stable life for his daughter, and his brother Gabriel. There are also flashbacks to things that happened in the past, though it’s not clear until the end how these different narratives will come together. I found Liv quite a difficult character to get to know. Liam was, on the surface, a little more sympathetic, though we know he’s made some bad choices in his life. The book is very atmospheric, though this is much more to do with the claustrophobic bleakness of Liv and Liam’s lives than the physical setting itself. Weirdly, the winter setting isn’t as prominent as I’d expected, but there’s quite a bit about the situation in Ödesmark, particularly around land ownership and tenancy. This one is definitely a slow burn, but you sort of get sucked into it and can’t put it down.

The Christmas Appeal by Janice Hallett (2023)

I’ve really enjoyed all of Janice Hallett’s books so far, so I had to read this one. It’s a novella that brings back some of the characters from The Appeal (her amazing debut novel) for a somewhat light-hearted Christmas story. This is such a bonkers idea – like a TV Christmas Special but for a book. So, the Fairway Players (the amateur dramatic group from the earlier book) have decided to stage a one-night only pantomime to raise money for the church roof. As before, the story is told through emails and other documents that have been sent to former law students Femi and Charlotte (who are now qualified lawyers) by their old mentor. All we know is that something is going to go terribly wrong at the performance of the play, and that this will involve a ‘Dead Santa’. It was good fun to revisit some of the characters from the first book, and I was surprised to find how attached I was to Femi and Charlotte after meeting them in The Appeal. I also really like Hallett’s idiosyncratic storytelling techniques, and in her other books there’s always that sense that the story isn’t quite what you think. The Christmas Appeal is a lot lighter and fluffier than Hallett’s other novels. The humour is more prominent and heavy-handed (farcical in places), and the puzzle is far less cryptic and opaque. It really is just a bit of Christmassy fun for fans of The Appeal, and that’s not a bad thing.

The Running Grave by Robert Galbraith (2023)

I’m ending 2023 the way I ended 2022… reading the most recent Cormoran Strike novel. Last year, the last book I read was The Ink Black Heart, and this year it was The Running Grave. And, like last year, I pre-ordered this one, got it as soon as it came out, and then saved it for months so I could read it at Twixtmas. I have to say that, although the two are equally weighty, The Running Grave is a bit easier to read than The Ink Black Heart (the chat transcripts in that book took a bit of working through). It’s a return to a more conventional format, with a tighter timeline and a bit more action. Strike is asked to investigate the Universal Humanitarian Church by a worried father who believes the church is a cult. There’s some evidence to support his fears. Reluctantly, Strike agrees to let Robin go undercover and infiltrate the church and, as you can imagine, this proves to be rather dangerous. It’s a page-turner – as expected – and the mystery seems very convoluted but has a clear and satisfying explanation – as expected. I enjoyed it, probably more than The Ink Black Heart but less than Troubled Blood. The only thing I’ll say is that we probably are going to have to see something happen between Strike and Robin soon, as there’s only so much longer the will-they-won’t-they thing can work. I’m just worried the author will resolve it by killing one of them off.