I started to keep track of the books that I read in 1988. I kept record of themin A Book Lover’s Journal and wrote short blurbs about the books. Here is a list of the 54 books that I read in 1990. That’s the most books read of any year, since I’ve kept records! Reviewing the list, I see that it was the year I discovered William G Tapply’s Brady Coyne. After reading Dead Winter, the eighth book in the series, which was released in 1989, I quickly went back and read the prior seven books! Tapply wrote 20 more Brady Coyne novels of which I’ve read 16. Books #21 Shadow of Death and #25 One-Way Ticket are on my to be read bookshelves! Maybe it’s time to rediscover this great series! In 1990 the second most read series was the Mongo Mystery series from George C Chesbro. I read four books from this series. From Goodreads….
Dr. Robert Frederickson, or “Mongo” to his friends. He’s a former circus tumbler, black belt in karate, doctor of Criminology, and professor at a New York City university. And he’s quite an unusual fellow as well, not only because he’s a private investigator but also because he’s a dwarf…
The stories and the characters in this are terrific! Chesbro wrote 13 Mongo books of which I’ve read 12. The first seven books are probably my favorites. Here’s a link to a great synopsis of the work of George C Chesbro. Check it out and Chesbro’s work at Dangerousdwarf.com you won’t be disappointed!! Of course 1990’s reads also included some books by other favorites like James Lee Burke, Loren Estleman, Bill Pronzini, Tony Hillerman and Stuart Kaminsky. Here’s the complete list!
| Title | Author |
| The Cold Smell of Sacred Stone (A Mongo Mystery, #6) | George C. Chesbro |
| Dark Side (Loren Swift Mystery) | Doug Hornig |
| The Cat’s Meow | Robert Wright Campbell |
| Saturday Night Dead | R.D. Rosen |
| Murder on the Hudson | Don Flynn |
| Perfect End | William Marshall |
| Extenuating Circumstances | Jonathan Valin |
| Nibbled to Death by Ducks | Robert Wright Campbell |
| The Man Who Met the Train (Carl Wilcox, #7) | Harold Adams |
| An Affair of Sorcerers (A Mongo Mystery, #3) | George C. Chesbro |
| Peeper | Loren D. Estleman |
| Dead Winter | William G. Tapply |
| The Language of Cannibals (A Mongo Mystery, #8) | George C. Chesbro |
| The Man Who Walked Like a Bear (Porfiry Rostnikov, #6) | Stuart M. Kaminsky |
| Follow the Sharks (Brady Coyne, #3) | William G. Tapply |
| You Bet Your Life (Toby Peters, #3) | Stuart M. Kaminsky |
| Out of Nowhere | William Marshall |
| Coyote Waits (Navajo Mysteries, #10) | Tony Hillerman |
| The Marine Corpse (Brady Coyne, #4) | William G. Tapply |
| Death at Charity’s Point (Brady Coyne, #1) | William G. Tapply |
| Gone to Earth | Rick Boyer |
| Quicksilver (Nameless Detective, #11) | Bill Pronzini |
| A Void in Hearts (Brady Coyne, #7) | William G. Tapply |
| Deadfall (Nameless Detective, #15) | Bill Pronzini |
| Murder Among Friends | Frank McConnell |
| The Vulgar Boatman (Brady Coyne, #6) | William G. Tapply |
| The Frog King | Frank McConnell |
| Wall of Glass (Joshua Croft, #1) | Walter Satterthwait |
| A Ticket to the Boneyard (Matthew Scudder, #8) | Lawrence Block |
| Blood Lake | Frank McConnell |
| Icy Clutches (Gideon Oliver, #6) | Aaron Elkins |
| Dead Meat (Brady Coyne, #5) | William G. Tapply |
| Jackpot (Nameless Detective, #17) | Bill Pronzini |
| At Ease with the Dead (Joshua Croft, #2) | Walter Satterthwait |
| Sweet Women Lie (Amos Walker Mystery #10) | Loren D. Estleman |
| The Neon Rain (Dave Robicheaux, #1) | James Lee Burke |
| Shadow of a Broken Man (A Mongo Mystery, #1) | George C. Chesbro |
| Client Privilege | William G. Tapply |
| Black Cherry Blues (Dave Robicheaux, #3) | James Lee Burke |