Five top mysteries set in the greater Boston area

Peter Colt is currently a police officer in a small New England city where he has worked since 2007. He spent over twenty years in the Army reserve and was deployed to Kosovo in 2000, where he was attached to the Russian Army. He was deployed to Iraq in 2003 and again in 2008. He was fortunate to get to know many Vietnam vets and U.S. Army Special forces soldiers. He lived on Nantucket Island from 1973-1986.

Colt's new novel is The Off-Islander: An Andy Roark Mystery #1.

At CrimeReads Colt tagged five top mysteries set in the Boston area, including:

Dennis Lehane, Gone Baby Gone

It is an undisputed fact that Dennis Lehane owns South Boston, Southie. He owns it the way that Robert B. Parker owned Cambridge and the Boston itself and the way that Raymond Chandler owned LA. Lehane’s books are page turners but Gone Baby Gone is the one that is the most Boston to me. It is filled with heartbreak, violence and mystery all delivered against crisp dialogue, that reads as authentic. While Parker was our guide to many of the nicest Boston restaurants, Gone Baby Gone takes us to the places in Boston that aren’t on the Duck boat tour, we go to Southie, the Projects and the Quincy Quarry. The mystery grabs us, the story shocks us and the locations hold us. This is another one that I read and will reread.

Read about the other entries on the list.

Gone Baby Gone is among Haylen Beck's eight crime novels that focus on the bonds of parent and child.

--Marshal Zeringue