2010 was an exciting year for my book list, and I expect 2011 to much the same. Needless to say, since I write mysteries, I tend to do a great deal of reading in that area. But I have broad ranging tastes. Still …. Let’s start off with a taste of historical fiction. I enjoyed Rebecca Cantrell’s follow-up to her award-winning debut novel, A TRACE OF SMOKE. A NIGHT OF LONG KNIVES picks up the story of her heroine Hannah Vogel, a female reporter in the male-dominated world of 1930s Nazi Germany. It is a worthy successor, and I look forward to the release of the third in this series, A GAME OF LIES, this summer. Back in 2008, I was living in England, and I picked up a book titled THE SHAKESPEARE SECRET by J.L. Carell. I’m a nut about novels involving Shakespeare, since my first published novel had been MURDER ON THE TWELFTH NIGHT, starring the Bard as a Holmesian figure. Carell did a great job at building an intriguing modern plot around Shakespeare’s life. But in 2010, I discovered the sequel: HAUNT ME STILL, by Jennifer Lee Carell. This is a marvelous book that explores Shakespeare’s life…