Ripley’s Return

In the not-quite-five months since he ostensibly retired from composing his monthly “Getting Away with Murder” column for the Webzine Shots, British critic/author/raconteur Mike Ripley has launched an occasional series of “Ripster Revivals.” He says these are “essays featuring books—crime novels and thrillers—which I have been meaning to read, or re-read for, though I hate to say it, up to fifty years or more.” His inaugural “Revivals” piece, in November, looked back at the award-winning works of Peter Dickinson, while his December entry showcased David Dodge.

But, as I suspected might happen, Ripley doesn’t seem quite content with the laggardly pace of retirement. Recently, he donned his columnist’s chapeau again to deliver a “special” edition of GAWM. Therein, he recalls his installation, in 2003, as a crime-fiction reviewer for the Birmingham Post; remarks upon a 1960s set of James Bond-ish novels starring “Hebrew Secret Agent Oy-Oy-7”; and laments the delayed English-language release of Lunapark, the sixth book in Volker Kutscher’s “Babylon Berlin” series. Ripley also presents his top picks of 2023’s works for crime and thriller fans:

• Moscow Exile, by John Lawton (Grove Press)
• Small Mercies, by Dennis Lehane (Abacus)
• All the Sinners Bleed, by S.A. Cosby (Headline)
• Ozark Dogs, by Eli Cranor (Headline)
• A Line in the Sand, by Kevin Powers (Sceptre)
• Viper’s Dream, by Jake Lamar (No Exit Press)
• Calico, by Lee Goldberg (Severn House)
• Love Me Fierce in Danger: The Life of James Ellroy,
by Steven Powell (Bloomsbury)
• Big Bear, Little Bear, by David Brierley (Brash)
• Cold War, by David Brierley (Brash)

* * *

Speaking of favored crime novels from last year, several more selections of those have lately appeared, from Lesa Holstine, Louise Fairbairn, Lori N. Lutes, Andrew Welsh-Huggins, and Michael Popple.

A Surprise Christmas Gift

I’ve dutifully collected and publicized “best books of the year” lists for a long time now, but never before has a work bearing my byline featured on such a roll of honor.

This last weekend—on Christmas Eve, in fact—prolific American novelist James Reasoner finally announced his own 10 favorite books of the year. Among those choices were Lawrence Block’s The Autobiography of Matthew Scudder (LB Productions), Lee Goldberg’s Malibu Burning (Thomas & Mercer), and Manning Lee Stokes’ The Grave’s in the Meadow (1961). Touted, too, was The Art of Ron Lesser Volume 1: Deadly Dames and Sexy Sirens. That gorgeous work was edited principally by Robert Deis and Bill Cunningham, but includes an extensive interview I did with artist/illustrator Lesser.

I couldn’t be happier with this turn of events.

After publishing half a dozen non-fiction (mostly history) books during the 1990s and early 2000s, I decided to try penning fiction, instead. That switch hasn’t proved to be nearly as successful as I’d hoped, and I had pretty much resigned myself to never again seeing my name appear on a book front. But then Deis asked to incorporate my Lesser exchange into a study of that artist’s lengthy career. I would have been an idiot to say no, so I didn’t. Only upon the book’s publication last May, however, did I realize my byline was on its cover.

That recognition has now been amplified by the book being selected as one of Reasoner’s top picks of 2023. Thank you to Bob Deis and Bill Cunningham for making all of this possible!

You Really Thought We Were Done?

Happy New Year, all! Despite the calendar having flipped, it seems I’m still not done collecting “best crime fiction of 2023” lists.

The first of three very late entries in this game comes from Jackie Farrant, creator of the British blog Raven Crime Reads. In addition to making selections from among historical non-fiction works and mainstream novels, she gives her stamp of approval to the following dozen crime, mystery, and thriller releases:

• All the Sinners Bleed, by S.A. Cosby (Headline)
• Ozark Dogs, by Eli Cranor (Headline)
• A Bird in Winter, by Louise Doughty (Faber and Faber)
• Every Hidden Thing, by Ted Flanagan (Bedford Square)
• The Moonshine Messiah, by Russell W. Johnson (Shotgun Honey)
• The Opposite of Lonely, by Doug Johnstone (Orenda)
• Death of a Lesser God, by Vaseem Khan (Hodder & Stoughton)
• Viper’s Dream, by Jake Lamar (Bedford Square)
• A Time for Dying, by Bryce Main (Northodox Press)
• To Die in June, by Alan Parks (Canongate)
• Salvage This World, by Michael Farris Smith (Bedford Square)
• Dry Cleaning, by Trevor Mark Thomas (Salt)

Also weighing in with her favorites is Kat Hall, from Mrs. Peabody Investigates. Her top choices—not all of which were first published in 2023—range from María Angélica Bosco’s Death Going Down (Pushkin Vertigo) and Jane Harper’s Exiles (Pan Macmillan) to Petra Rautiainen’s Land of Snow and Ashes (Pushkin Press) and Ben Macintyre’s 2015 non-fiction work, A Spy Among Friends (Bloomsbury).

Last but certainly not least, we hear from Canadian lawyer Bill Selnes, who writes Mysteries and More from Saskatchewan. He gives his thumbs-up to four crime novels, only the last of which originally saw print during the last 12 months:

• The Discourtesy of Death, by William Brodrick (Overlook Press)
• A Quiet Flame, by Philip Kerr (Putnam)
• A World of Curiosities, by Louise Penny (Minotaur)
• Sunset and Jericho, by Sam Wiebe (Harbour)

* * *

In a similar but slightly different vein … Back in mid-December, Kate Jackson, aka Armchair Reviewer, posted a poll in her blog, Cross-Examining Crime, that asked readers to cast ballots for their favorite 2023 reprints of vintage crime and mystery novels. There were 23 nominees, all of which you can see here.

The poll closed on December 29, with the top vote-getter being He Who Whispers, by John Dickson Carr, originally published in 1946 but reissued last year as part of the British Library Crime Classics series. As I have never read that Carr yarn, I promptly ordered a copy!

READ MORE: “Best Reads of 2023” (Vintage Pop Fictions).

Thoroughness Reigns Supreme

My colleague in tracking this year’s “best crime fiction of 2023” nominations, George Easter of Deadly Pleasures Mystery Magazine, has now compiled the conflicting results from 111 separate inventories. “From those,” he explains, “I tallied the number of times certain titles were mentioned on those lists. This is an attempt to find some consensus on what exactly are the best mysteries, crime novels and thrillers of the year 2023.”

The top vote-getter overall? S.A. Cosby’s All the Sinners Bleed (Flatiron), which featured on 50 of the lists under study (and has dominated these sorts of contests in three out of the last four years). Dennis Lehane’s Small Mercies (Harper) came in second place with 34 mentions. Rounding out the top five are Mick Herron’s The Secret Hours (Soho Crime), 29; Jessica Knoll’s Bright Young Women (Simon & Schuster), 27; and a tie—with 24 votes apiece—between Richard Osman’s The Last Devil to Die (Viking) and India-born author Deepti Kapoor’s debut novel, Age of Vice (Riverhead).

Click here to see the full results of Easter’s tallying.

Also revealing their 2023 book biases before the year comes abruptly to an end are Sandra Mangan and Garrick Webster, both with the excellent British site Crime Fiction Lover; Marilyn Brooks, who writes Marilyn’s Mystery Reads; Brad Friedman of Ah Sweet Mystery; The Invisible Event’s Jim Noy; and Ayo Onatade names her favorite crime-related non-fiction works of 2023 in this post.

UPDATE: Blogger Jerry House has assembled this long inventory of all the titles recommended on 90 different “year’s best” lists of crime and mysteries books. Scroll down to find the start of that register.

Still More Reading Guidance

We’re approaching not only the end of 2023, but also a cessation of the recent flood of “best crime and mystery fiction of the year” lists.

The British books blog Crime Fiction Lover presents two additional sets of nominations from its resident critics. Vicki Weisfeld’s “top five books of 2023” include one that passed me by, James McCrone’s Bastard Verdict (‎Faithless Elector), along with James Wolff’s The Man in the Corduroy Suit (Bitter Lemon Press). Meanwhile, Mike Parker (aka Rough Justice) touts Chris Offutt’s Code of the Hills (Grove Press) and Margaret Douaihy’s Scorched Grace (Pushkin Vertigo), as well as three other works. Click here to find all of CFL’s 2023 picks.

Librarian Marlene Harris, who writes the blog Reading Reality, has posted her own favorites from the last 12 months. Most of them don’t belong in the crime/mystery/thriller category, and two of those that do (penned by Will Thomas) did not first appear in 2023. However, she does feature on her list Stephen Spotswood’s Murder Crossed Her Mind (Doubleday) and Tracy Clark’s Fall (Thomas & Mercer), both of which came the way of crime-fiction fans earlier this month.

Finally, Vick Mickunas, a contributor to Ohio’s Dayton Daily News and host of the long-running Book Nook radio show, has selected half a dozen novels from 2023 that he is convinced other enthusiastic followers of this genre would benefit from reading:

• Dark Ride, by Lou Berney (Morrow)
• All the Sinners Bleed, by S.A. Cosby (Flatiron)
• Prom Mom, by Laura Lippman (Morrow)
• The Detective Up Late, by Adrian McKinty (Blackstone)
• Flags on the Bayou, by James Lee Burke (Atlantic Monthly Press)
• The Autobiography of Matthew Scudder, by Lawrence Block
(LB Productions)

You can read Mickunas’ comments about each title here.

All Good Things …

Well, it’s finally come time to wrap things up. Over the last week, The Rap Sheet has posted lists of favorite 2023 crime, mystery, and thriller novels from five regular contributors. The last installment in that series (from yours truly) will appear around noon today.

We hope you’ve enjoyed our additions to the year’s veritable deluge of “best books” choices. Some of our picks also appeared elsewhere, but others were peculiar to Rap Sheet critics. This proves the fact that fiction authors simply cannot please everyone with their work, no matter how ostensibly worth reading it might be. If you missed seeing which titles any of our writers named, click on their names:

• Ali Karim
• Jim Thomsen
• Fraser Massey
• Kevin Burton Smith
• Steven Nester
• J. Kingston Pierce

Things will be running at a slightly slower pace here until after New Year’s Day, but there are still pieces waiting in the pipeline for publication. So in between drinking cups of good cheer with friends and family members next week, check up on The Rap Sheet now and then. You never know what you might find.

They Just Keep on Coming

The British books blog Crime Fiction Lover has commenced posting its critics’ choices of 2023’s finest crime, mystery, and thriller fiction.

Each contributor was limited to just five particularly praiseworthy titles. First to commit herself was Erin Britton, a former NB Magazine editor with an obvious bent toward Golden Age-style mysteries. Her favorites from the last 12 months include Death Comes to Marlow, by Robert Thorogood (‎HQ); Killing Jericho, by William Hussey (Zaffre); and The Mysterious Case of the Alperton Angels, by Janice Hallett (Viper). For his part, Paul Burke, the editor of Crime Time and co-host of the Crime Time FM podcast, picks Megan Davis’s The Messenger (Zaffre), Deepti Kapoor’s Age of Vice (Fleet), Graham Bartlett’s Force of Hate (Allison & Busby), and two more.

South Africa writer Sonja van der Westhuizen also submits critiques in Crime Fiction Lover, and her 2023 standouts may eventually appear there. But for now, she has posted the names of her six favorite crime novels in her own blog, West Words Reviews. Among them are Dennis Lehane’s Small Mercies (Abacus), Tiffany McDaniel’s On the Savage Side (W&N), and Amy Chua’s The Golden Gate (Corvus).

CrimeReads came out earlier today with yet another in its series of “bests” inventories, this one focused on crime and suspense anthologies. And yes, Jordan Peele’s collection of Black horror yarns, Out There Screaming (Random House), made the cut.

Finally, we have a couple of lists from prominent Canadian newspapers. The Globe and Mail’s 10 endorsements take in All the Sinners Bleed, by S.A. Cosby (Flatiron); Zero Days, by Ruth Ware (Simon & Schuster); and The Girl by the Bridge, by Arnaldur Indridason (Vintage). Only Cosby’s latest finds a place on the Toronto Star’s roster, beside Sam Wiebe’s Sunset and Jericho (Harbour), Catherine Chidgey’s Pet (Europa Editions), and two other 2023 releases.

READ MORE: “Declan Burke’s Best Crime Novels, 2023,” by George Easter (Deadly Pleasures Mystery Magazine); “The Best Horror Fiction of 2023” and “The Best Speculative Crime Fiction of 2023,” by Molly Odintz (CrimeReads); “The Best Traditional Mysteries of 2023” (CrimeReads); “Our Favorite Books of 2023” (Criminal Element).

Presents of the Past

CrimeReads is definitely not done yet in rolling out its “bests” lists for 2023. Today, managing editor Molly Odintz presents her 10 favorite historical crime novels released over the last dozen months:

• The Adventures of Amina Al-Sirafi, by Shannon Chakraborty
(Harper Voyager)
• A True Account: Hannah Masury’s Sojourn Amongst the Pyrates, Written by Herself, by Katherine Howe (Henry Holt)
• The Square of Sevens, by Laura Shepherd-Robinson (Atria)
• My Men, by Victoria Kielland (Astra House)
• A Disappearance in Fiji, by Nilima Rao (Soho Crime)
• Symphony of Secrets, by Brendan Slocumb (Anchor)
• Hazardous Spirits, by Anbara Salam (Tin House)
• Time’s Undoing, by Cheryl Head (Dutton)
• At the Hour Between Dog and Wolf, by Tara Ison (IG)
• The Bell in the Fog, by Lev AC Rosen (Forge)

The same site offers a list of “The Best True Crime Books of 2023” and Olivia Rutigliano’s picks of “The Best Crime Movies of 2023.”

Shining a Light on the Dark Side

As part of CrimeReads’ ongoing effort to subdivide the crime, mystery, and thriller genre as many ways as possible—each with its own “best books of the year” rundown—we’re now presented with its picks of this last year’s top-drawer noir fiction:

• Scorched Grace, by Margot Douaihy (Gillian Flynn)
• Dark Ride, by Lou Berney (Morrow)
• Lowdown Road, by Scott Von Doviak (Hard Case Crime)
• How Can I Help You, by Laura Sims (Putnam)
• Nothing Is Lost, by Chloé Mehdi (Europa Editions)
• The Berry Pickers, by Amanda Peters (Catapult)
• All the Sinners Bleed, by S.A. Cosby (Flatiron)
• Everybody Knows, by Jordan Harper (Mulholland)
• Age of Vice, by Deepti Kapoor (Riverhead)
• Ozark Dogs, by Eli Cranor (Soho Crime)

Several of these titles featured on earlier CrimeReads lists, which makes them no less commendable, but may suggest the site’s editors are drawing from a needlessly limited pool of options.

In the meantime, the Web site Bookreporter has announced its “Reviewers’ Favorite Books of 2023.” Mysteries and thrillers are rolled in with all the rest of the choices on that page, but Deadly Pleasures’ George Easter helpfully culls out—here—the works that might be of greatest interest to Rap Sheet readers.

Finally, author Michael Stradford brings word (self-serving, but nonetheless interesting) that Steve Holland: Paperback Hero, his latest study of the work of once-ubiquitous cover model Holland, has been named as book of the year by British paperback and vintage-collectibles authority Jules Burt. Click here to watch the YouTube video of Burt announcing his favorite releases in 2023.

Exposing the Acts of Agents

Earlier today, CrimeReads posted its preferences in the way of espionage novels released over the course of 2023. I’m surprised this list is so short, given how many works in this genre have been endorsed by other Web and print publications:

• Tomás Nevinson, by Javier Marías (Knopf)
• Hope You Are Satisfied, by Tania Malik (Unnamed Press)
• Beirut Station, by Paul Vidich (Pegasus)
• Red London, by Alma Katsu (Putnam)
• The Helsinki Affair, by Anna Pitoniak (Simon & Schuster)

Concurrently, Chicago Review of Books has posted a rundown of its 15 “Best Books We Read in 2023.” Those include a pair of works frequently classified as crime or thriller fiction: My Men, by Victoria Kielland (Astra House), which previously received thumbs up from both Tom Nolan and Sarah Weinman, and is definitely on my Christmas wishlist; and I Have Some Questions for You, by Rebecca Makkai (Viking), which also—quite unexpectedly—was chosen by Open Letters Review critic Steve Donoghue as one of “The Worst Books of 2023.” Gee, I guess you can’t please everyone.

Is There No End to This Guidance?

In the mood for yet another “favorite crime fiction of 2023” list? Take a gander at Gordon McGhie’s 10 choices in Grab This Book:

• Paris Requiem, by Chris Lloyd (Orion)
• The Last Line, by Stephen Ronson (Hodder & Stoughton)
• The Darkest Sin, by D.V. Bishop (Pan Macmillan)
• The Sun Down Motel, by Simone St. James (Penguin)
• The Institution, by Helen Fields (HarperCollins)
• The Devil You Know, by Neil Lancaster (HarperCollins)
• The Hotel, by Louise Mumford (HarperCollins)
• Murdle, by G.T. Karber (Profile)
• The Silent Man, by David Fennell (Bonnier)
• The Stranger Times, by C.K. McDonnell (Penguin)

OK, not all of these are novels fall within the bounds of this genre, and at least one of them didn’t debut this year, but I have come to appreciate McGhie’s taste. So give these works a shot.

* * *

Deadly Pleasures Mystery Magazine editor George Easter, who’s been my ally in scouring the Web for these sorts of end-of-the-year selections, now offers up his own “Best of 2023” selections. Their number is greater than I wish to report, but you can see them all here. Below are just his crime novel preferences.

• Small Mercies, by Dennis Lehane (Harper)
• Resurrection Walk, by Michael Connelly (Little, Brown)
• Everybody Knows, by Jordan Harper (Mulholland)
• Holly, by Stephen King (Scribner)
• Lying Beside You, by Michael Robotham (Scribner)
• Red Queen, by Juan Gómez-Jurado (Minotaur)
• The Detective Up Late, by Adrian McKinty (Blackstone)
• The River We Remember, by William Kent Krueger (Atria)
• Expectant, by Vanda Symon (Orenda)
• The Running Grave, by Robert Galbraith (Mulholland)
• Murder in the Family, by Cara Hunter (Morrow)

I continue to be astounded by George’s reading records. He says his goal for 2023 “was to read 120 mysteries, crime novels, and thrillers. Today the count stands at 121 read. So my goal was reached.” Sheesh! He’s already devoured a good 40 more books than I have this year, and mine haven’t all been crime or mystery fiction. Maybe my mistake is in not setting a challenging goal for my annual reading; perhaps if I committed myself so, I would have something to shoot for, rather than striking a more leisurely pace. It’s worth considering.

Predilections on Parade

The Edinburgh-based Scotsman newspaper is out with a list of what it says are “five of the best Scottish crime books of 2023”:

• Past Lying, by Val McDermid (Sphere)
• Squeaky Clean, by Callum McSorley (Pushkin Vertigo)
• The Maiden, by Kate Foster (Mantle)
• The Second Murderer, by Denise Mina (Harvill Secker)
• Voices of the Dead, by Ambrose Parry (Canongate)

One other set of “best” picks deserving your attention comes from the ever-dependable Ayo Onatade, a reviewer with Shots magazine and author of its top-notch blog, Shotsmag Confidential. Ayo is also a member of the thriller-fiction nominating committee for Deadly Pleasures Mystery Magazine’s annual Barry Awards. DP today revealed her favorite crime and mystery releases from the last dozen months.

Best Novels:
• All the Sinners Bleed, by S.A. Cosby (Headline)
• The Secret Hours, by Mick Herron (Baskerville)
• The Second Murderer, by Denise Mina (Harvill Secker)
• The Turnglass, by Gareth Rubin (Simon & Schuster)
• Viper’s Dream, by Jake Lamar (No Exit Press)
• Murder Your Employer: The McMaster’s Guide to Homicide,
by Rupert Holmes (Avid Reader Press)
• Everybody Knows, by Jordan Harper (Faber and Faber)
• Ozark Dogs, by Eli Cranor (Headline)
• Small Mercies, by Dennis Lehane (Abacus)
• The Land of Lost Things, by John Connolly (Hodder & Stoughton)
• The Lost Diary of Samuel Pepys, by Jack Jewers (Moonflower)
• The Square of Sevens, by Laura Shepherd-Robinson (Mantle)

Honorable Mentions:
• Moscow Exile, by John Lawton (Grove Press)
• Prom Mom, by Laura Lippman (Faber and Faber)
• Resurrection Walk, by Michael Connelly (Orion)
• Flags on the Bayou, by James Lee Burke (Orion)
• Palace of Shadows, by Ray Celestin (Mantle)
• The Mantis, by Kotaro Isaka (Harvill Secker)

FOLLOW-UP: Ayo Onatade offers more information about her favorite novels of the year in this Shotsmag Confidential post.

Still More for Your Reading Pile

Adding further to this season’s barrage of “best crime fiction of 2023” lists, English author Natasha Cooper’s own seven preferences have been posted on the Literary Review Web site:

• The Translator, by Harriet Crawley (Bitter Lemon Press)
• The End of the Game, by Holly Watt (Raven)
• The Last Dance, by Mark Billingham (Sphere)
• Deep Dark Blue, by Seraina Kobler (Pushkin Press)
• The Scarlet Papers, by Matthew Richardson (Michael Joseph)
• All of Us are Broken, by Fiona Cummins (Macmillan)
• Between the Lies, by Louise Tickle (Cinto)

(Hat tip to Fraser Massey).

* * *

Not content with having already announced its nominations of “The Best Crime Novels of 2023” and “The Best Crime TV of 2023,” CrimeReads is now out with its 10 picks of “The Best Debuts Novels of 2023” (again in the crime and mystery field).

• The Shamshine Blind, by Paz Pardo (Atria)
• Scorched Grace, by Margot Douaihy (Zando/Gillian Flynn)
• The Quiet Tenant, by Clémence Michallon (Knopf)
• Better the Blood, by Michael Bennett (Atlantic Monthly Press)
• The Good Ones, by Polly Stewart (Harper)
• The House in the Pines, by Ana Reyes (Dutton)
• Mother-Daughter Murder Night, by Nina Simon (Morrow)
• Death of a Bookseller, by Alice Slater (Scarlet)
• The Gulf, by Rachel Cochran (Harper)
• Our Best Intentions, by Vibhuti Jain (Morrow)

It’s Not Easy Staying Up-to-Date

I have not been nearly so diligent as George Easter, the editor of Deadly Pleasures Mystery Magazine, in keeping up with the publication of lists that purport to identify the best crime, mystery, and thriller novels of 2023. But I’ve been posting selections from prominent sources that I think can help readers discover books they might have failed to pay attention to over the last dozen months. I concede, though, that I’ve missed a few along the way.

For instance, I drew your attention to choices made in the cozy whodunits category by Aunt Agatha’s Mysteries, the blog spun off from Ann Arbor, Michigan’s old Aunt Agatha’s Bookstore. But then I failed to mention its nominations of the year’s finest historical mysteries (which include Tasha Alexander’s A Cold Highland Wind, James R. Benn’s Proud Sorrows, and I Heard a Fly Buzz When I Died, the second Emily Dickinson mystery by Amanda Flower). In addition, I somehow overlooked that blog’s 12 “Best of 2023” endorsements, among them Hard Rain, by Samantha Jayne Allen; Glory Be, by Danielle Arceneaux; The Raging Storm, by Ann Cleeves; The Bones of the Story, by Carol Goodman; and Sarah Stewart Taylor’s A Stolen Child.

The Canadian TV and radio broadcaster CBC, meanwhile, asked a pair of crime novelists from north of the U.S. border to name their favorite reads from this past year. Angela Misri (The Detective and the Spy) and Sam Wiebe (Sunset and Jericho) picked these eight works:

• The Village Hall Vendetta, by Jonathan Whitelaw (HarperNorth)
• Code of the Hills, by Chris Offutt (Grove Press)
• The Golden Gate, by Amy Chua (Minotaur)
• Hard Rain, by Samantha Jayne Allen (Minotaur)
• That Others May Live, by Sara Driscoll (Kensington)
• Double Eagle, by Thomas King (HarperCollins)
• Gull Island, by Anna Porter (Simon & Schuster)
• Deus X, by Stephen Mack Jones (Soho Crime)

Finally, CrimeReads editor Olivia Rutigliano has posted her 13 candidates for “Best Crime TV of 2023” honors. Included are Poker Face (Season 1); HBO’s Perry Mason (Season 2), the third series of Happy Valley (a show that definitely does not justify its title), and a couple of Hulu programs I’ve relished lately: A Murder at the End of the World (Season 1) and Only Murders in the Building (Season 3).

Subjective but Also Significant

BOLO Books blogger Kristopher Zgorski offers his list of 13 crime and mystery novels lucky enough to be his “Top Reads of 2023”:

• Happiness Falls, by Angie Kim (Hogarth)
• Beware the Woman, by Megan Abbott (Putnam)
• Penance, by Eliza Clark (Harper)
• Hide, by Tracy Clark (Thomas & Mercer)
• All the Sinners Bleed, by S.A. Cosby (Flatiron)
• Time’s Undoing, by Cheryl A. Head (Dutton)
• Murder Your Employer: The McMasters Guide to Homicide, by
Rupert Holmes (Avid Reader Press)
• The Taken Ones, by Jess Lourey (Thomas & Mercer)
• Everyone in My Family Has Killed Someone, by Benjamin
Stevenson (HarperCollins)
• Midnight Is the Darkest Hour, by Ashley Winstead
(Sourcebooks Landmark)
• The Housekeepers, by Alex Hay (Graydon House)
• Mother-Daughter Murder Night, by Nina Simon (HarperCollins)
• Speak of the Devil, by Rose Wilding (Minotaur)

I like the mix here. Zgorski has included a few titles that have appeared on other “best of 2023” rolls, but he doesn’t try to be too slavishly in alignment with what everybody else has been reading. The ratio of female authors to male writers is a bit skewed toward the former, but not so ridiculously as some recent selections by reviewers who seem to be trying to make up for centuries of masculine dominance in the literary marketplace by choosing only new books penned by women. (All of this may give you insight into how I am judging which works to feature on my own forthcoming favorites list.) I avoided or never got around to reading a small handful of the novels Zgorski applauds here, and now I wish I’d been prescient enough to know they would have been worth my time, after all.

READ MORE: “The BOLO Books Most Wanted List (2010-2023),” by Kristopher Zgorski (BOLO Books).

McFadden’s Extraordinary Triumph

After three weeks of public polling, and two separate rounds of voting, we finally have the winners of the 2023 Goodreads Choice Awards.

To recap, there were 15 categories of books competing for this year’s prizes. In the end, the most popular choice in the Mystery & Thriller division turned out to be ... The Housemaid’s Secret, by Freida McFadden (Bookouture), which collected 86,468 votes. That’s something of a surprise, observes Deadly Pleasures Mystery Magazine editor George Easter, because McFadden’s thriller (a sequel to The Housemaid) “has appeared on only one other best list of the more than sixty best lists that I have posted over the last few weeks.”

The full roll of Mystery & Thriller nominees is here. If you’d like to see the victors in Goodreads’ other 2023 categories, go here.

You’ve Gotta Love CFL’s Enthusiasm

Following on from CrimeReads’ picks of this year’s foremost crime, mystery, and thriller novels, we come to this morning’s big announcement of which books, TV programs, and authors have won the 2023 Crime Fiction Lover Awards. There are seven categories here, and in six of them, readers were asked to vote for their favorite nominees, with the CFL team adding an Editor’s Choice Award.

Book of the Year Winner:
The Last Remains, by Elly Griffiths (Quercus)
Book of the Year Editor’s Choice: Strange Sally Diamond, by Liz Nugent (Sandycove)

Best Debut Winner:
You’d Look Better as a Ghost, by Joanna Wallace (Viper)
Best Debut Editor’s Choice:
City Under One Roof, by Iris Yamashita (Berkley)

Best in Translation Winner:
Thirty Days of Darkness, by Jenny Lund Madsen; translated by Megan E. Turney (Orenda)
Best in Translation Editor’s Choice:
The Sins of Our Fathers, by Åsa Larsson; translated by Frank Perry (MacLehose Press)

Best Indie Novel Winner:
Scratching the Flint, by Vern Smith (Run Amok Crime)
Best Indie Novel Editor’s Choice:
The Associate, by Victoria Goldman (Three Crowns)

Best Crime Show Winner:
Only Murders in the Building, Season 3 (Hulu)
Best Crime Show Editor’s Choice:
Happy Valley, Season 3 (BBC One)

Best Crime Author Winner:
Michael Connelly
Best Crime Author Editor’s Choice:
Mick Herron

Beyond those, CFL’s British editors have designated American fictionist James Ellroy as the recipient of their very first Crime Fiction Lover Life of Crime Award. “Without James Ellroy,” they enthuse, “there wouldn’t be a site called Crime Fiction Lover. It’s as simple as that. His down and dirty scat man prose is what hooked the founders of our site on crime fiction—and most of our contributors too. Novels like The Black Dahlia and L.A. Confidential are beyond compare for the author’s use of language and his storytelling. We see the noble and the venal sides of Ellroy’s characters, and he was unafraid of showing huge chunks of Los Angeles history, and indeed American history, that many would rather forget. Here in the world of literary criticism, we often talk about books where the setting becomes a character. With James Ellroy, the prose itself is like another character in the story, running from coarse and aggressive to gentle and empathetic in a style that is unique, and unmistakably so.”

Click here to see all of the contenders in this third-annual Crime Fiction Lover Award contest. Congratulations to the victors!

CrimeReads Appraises the Field

In the way of “best books of the year” lists, today delivers two major installments. Let’s begin with CrimeReads’ choices of 2023’s top-quality crime, mystery, and thriller novels:

• Bright Young Women, by Jessica Knoll (Simon & Schuster)
• Crook Manifesto, by Colson Whitehead (Doubleday)
• Beware the Woman, by Megan Abbott (Putnam)
• Excavations, by Hannah Michell (One World)
• Pet, by Catherine Chidgey (Europa Editions)
• Age of Vice, by Deepti Kapoor (Riverhead)
• Everybody Knows, by Jordan Harper (Mulholland)
• All the Sinners Bleed, by S.A. Cosby (Flatiron)
• Penance, by Eliza Clark (Harper)
• I Have Some Questions for You, by Rebecca Makkai (Viking)
• I’m Not Done With You Yet, by Jesse Q. Sutanto (Berkley)
• The Reformatory, by Tananarive Due (Mulholland)
• The Eden Test, by Adam Sternbergh (Flatiron)
• Every Man a King, by Walter Mosley (Mulholland)
• Sing Her Down, by Ivy Pochoda (MCD)
• The Shards, by Bret Easton Ellis (Knopf)
• The Stolen Coast, by Dwyer Murphy (Viking)
• Confidence, by Rafael Frumkin (Simon & Schuster)
• Ozark Dogs, by Eli Cranor (Soho Crime)
• Hot Springs Drive, by Lindsay Hunter (Roxane Gay)

Some readers may be skeptical of these 20 selections because they conveniently succeed in including the sophomore novel from CrimeReads editor-in-chief Murphy (just as last year’s CrimeReads picks featured his debut tale). Yet we find here a respectable mix of more traditional-style genre yarns with ambitious literary efforts, and at least a couple of works endeavoring to stretch this category’s boundaries. An extensive addendum of other notable releases from the last dozen months (which includes several duplicates) gives holiday gift-buyers still more options of what to shop for if they wish to please crime-fiction fans among their friends and family members.

And Now From the Mystery Heap …

In a follow-up to his previous selection of the year’s finest thriller novels, critic Steve Donoghue today announces his top-10 years of the best mysteries of 2023:

• The Last Songbird, by Daniel Weizmann (Melville House)
• Not the Ones Dead, by Dana Stabenow (Head of Zeus)
• The Lady from Burma, by Alison Montclair (Minotaur)
• The Mistress of Bhatia House, by Sujata Massey (Soho Crime)
• Playing It Safe, by Ashley Weaver (Minotaur)
• Code of the Hills, by Chris Offutt (Grove Press)
• City Under One Roof, by Iris Yamashita (Berkley)
• Murder Under a Red Moon, by Harini Nagendra (Pegasus Crime)
• So Shall You Reap, by Donna Leon (Atlantic Monthly Press)
• The Mitford Secret, by Jessica Fellowes (Minotaur)

By the way, I like Donoghue’s short introduction to this list: “The most happily reliable escape-hatch of all the genres, the one where you get all the intrigue and betrayal and murder and mayhem of the news headlines without any of the rude intrusions of reality, is almost certainly the murder mystery. Certainly it’s been a refuge for me during the whole course of my reading life. And given some of the appalling news headlines of 2023, that refuge was much appreciated and well-stocked with good books.”

Tops in the Crime Line

I knew, when Sarah Lyall’s “Best Thrillers of 2023” list appeared in The New York Times, that her fellow critic Sarah Weinman was soon to declare her own favorite crime novels. And sure enough, her 10 choices appeared yesterday on the Times Web site:

• All The Sinners Bleed, by S.A. Cosby (Flatiron)
• Everybody Knows, by Jordan Harper (Mulholland)
• Ozark Dogs, by Eli Cranor (Soho Crime)
• Scorched Grace, by Margot Douaihy (Gillian Flynn)
• Glory Be, by Danielle Arceneaux (Pegasus Crime)
• The Quiet Tenant, by Clémence Michallon (Knopf)
• My Men, by Victoria Kielland (Astra)
• Blaze Me a Sun, by Christoffer
Carlsson (Hogarth)
• Reykjavik, by Ragnar Jonasson and Katrín Jakobsdóttir (Minotaur)
• The Last Devil to Die, by Richard Osman (Pamela Dorman)

You will find Weinman’s short comments about these books here.

I must admit, several of these releases never crested my reading pile over the last 12 months. And My Men escaped my notice altogether, which is odd, since my appetite for more information about Norwegian-American serial killer Belle Gunness had been whetted by Camilla Bruce’s disturbing 2021 novel, In the Garden of Spite.

* * *

Another example of reviewers tag-teaming? Laura Wilson submitting to The Guardian her nominees for “Best Crime and Thrillers of 2023,” which follow Alison Flood’s thematically identical selections. But while the field under study is obviously the same, Wilson’s roll of books is much longer (34 to Flood’s five), giving it the feel of a high-points survey of what crime, mystery, and thriller fiction had to offer this year in Britain—from cozies to debuts, spy novels to vintage reprints—rather than an enumeration of her most treasured reads.

• The Last Devil to Die, by Richard Osman (Viking)
• The Mysterious Case of the Alperton Angels, by Janice Hallett (Viper)
• The Christmas Appeal, by Janice Hallett (Viper)
• Murder in the Family, by Cara Hunter (HarperCollins)
• The Turnglass, by Gareth Rubin (Simon & Schuster)
• Death and the Conjuror, by Tom Mead (Head of Zeus)
• Squeaky Clean, by Callum McSorley (Pushkin Vertigo)
• Scorched Grace, by Margot Douaihy (Pushkin Vertigo)
• Thirty Days of Darkness, by Jenny Lund Madsen (Orenda)
• Case Sensitive, by A.K. Turner (Zaffre)
• The Wheel of Doll, by Jonathan Ames (Pushkin Vertigo)
• Ozark Dogs, by Eli Cranor (Headline)
• All the Sinners Bleed, by S.A. Cosby (Headline)
• Beware the Woman, by Megan Abbott (Virago)
• I Have Some Questions for You, by Rebecca Makkai (Fleet)
• Everybody Knows, by Jordan Harper (Faber)
• The Second Murderer, by Denise Mina (Harvill Secker)
• The Secret Hours, by Mick Herron (Baskerville)
• The Scarlet Papers, by Matthew Richardson (Michael Joseph)
• Moscow Exile, by John Lawton (Grove Press)
• The Translator, by Harriet Crawley (Bitter Lemon Press)
• Other Women, by Emma Flint (Picador)
• The Square of Sevens, by Laura Shepherd-Robinson (Mantle)
• The Winter List, by S.G. MacLean (Quercus)
• Viper’s Dream, by Jake Lamar (No Exit Press)
• Palace of Shadows, by Ray Celestin (Mantle)
• Death of a Lesser God, by Vaseem Khan (Hodder & Stoughton)
• Age of Vice, by Deepti Kapoor (Fleet)
• The Bandit Queens, by Parini Shroff (Atlantic)
• Strange Sally Diamond, by Liz Nugent (Penguin Sandycove)
• Black Thorn, by Sarah Hilary (Macmillan)
• Uncle Paul, by Celia Fremlin (Faber)
• The Man Who Lived Underground, by Richard Wright (Vintage)

In addition, Wilson touts Word Monkey (Doubleday), which she describes as the late Christopher Fowler’s “funny and moving memoir of a life spent writing popular fiction.”

* * *

The two end-of-year lists I always most look forward to studying are those from Sarah Weinman and from Oline H. Cogdill, the latter of whom is a longtime reviewer for South Florida’s Sun Sentinel newspaper. Not only is Cogdill a delightful woman in person, but she is a very discriminating critic. If she recommends a book, I’m quite certain to relish it, too. Her 2023 catalogue of crime, mystery, and thriller “bests” runs to 18 titles:

• Sing Her Down, by Ivy Pochoda (MCD)
• Time’s Undoing, by Cheryl A.
Head (Dutton)
• Everybody Knows, by Jordan
Harper (Mulholland)
• Small Mercies, by Dennis Lehane (Harper)
• All the Sinners Bleed, by S.A. Cosby (Flatiron)
• Resurrection Walk, by Michael Connelly (Little, Brown)
• The River We Remember, by William Kent Krueger (Atria)
• An Honest Man, by Michael Koryta (Mulholland)
• Dark Ride, by Lou Berney (Morrow)
• Prom Mom, by Laura Lippman (Morrow)
• To Catch a Storm, by Mindy Mejia (Atlantic Monthly Press)
• The Last Word, by Taylor Adams (Morrow)
• Distant Sons, by Tim Johnston (Algonquin)
• Blood Sisters, by Vanessa Lillie (Berkley)
• Everyone in My Family Has Killed Someone, by Benjamin
Stevenson (HarperCollins)
• Beware the Woman, by Megan Abbott (Putnam)
• The Only One Left, by Riley Sager (Dutton)
• The Golden Gate, by Amy Chua (Minotaur)

Cogdill also identifies her six favorite 2023 debuts in this genre:

• The Curse of Penryth Hall, by Jess Armstrong (Minotaur)
• The Hunter, by Jennifer Herrera (Putnam)
• Fadeaway Joe, by Hugh Lessig (Crooked Lane)
• A Flaw in the Design, by Nathan Oates (Random House)
• Mother-Daughter Murder Night, by Nina Simon (HarperCollins)
• City Under One Roof, by Iris Yamashita (Berkley)

On top of all those, she offers compliments to Murder on the Orient Express: The Graphic Novel, by Agatha Christie and Bob Al-Greene (Morrow Paperbacks); the puzzle books Murdle, Volumes 1 and 2, by G.T. Karber (St. Martin’s Griffin); and a trio of short-story collections—The Best American Mystery and Suspense, edited by Lisa Unger (Mariner), The Refusal Camp, by James R. Benn (Soho Crime), and Happiness Is a Warm Gun, edited by Josh Pachter (Down & Out).

* * *

Apparently there can never—no, never—be too many opinions on books that must be read. Library Journal contributors Liz French and Lesa Holstine are out with their “Best Crime Fiction of 2023” picks:

• The Golden Gate, by Amy Chua (Minotaur)
• Fall, by Tracy Clark (Thomas & Mercer)
• All the Sinners Bleed, by S.A. Cosby (Flatiron)
• The Secret Hours, by Mick Herron (Soho Crime)
• Age of Vice, by Deepit Kapoor (HarperCollins)
• Small Mercies, by Dennis Lehane (Harper)
• A Disappearance in Fiji, by Nilima Rao (Soho Crime)
• Guilt Strikes at Granger’s Store, by Terry Shames (Severn House)
• Mother-Daughter Murder Night, by Nina Simon (HarperCollins)
• City Under One Roof, by Iris Yamashita (Berkley)

* * *

Yesterday, Steve Donoghue, a veteran critic for The Boston Globe and the Christian Science Monitor, published his “Best Books of 2023: Thrillers!” selections in Open Letters Review:

• Sea Castle, by Andrew Mayne (Thomas & Mercer)
• Forgotten War, by Don Bentley (Berkley)
• Sleepless City, by Reed Farrell Coleman (Blackstone)
• You Will Never Be Found, by Tove Alsterdal (Harper)
• All the Dangerous Things, by Stacy Willingham (Minotaur)
• Red River Seven, by A.J. Ryan (Orbit)
• Going Zero, by Anthony McCarten (Harper)
• Burner, by Mark Greaney (Berkley)
• Code 6, by James Grippando (Harper)
• Exiles, by Jane Harper (Flatiron)

* * *

And although it has only been a couple of weeks ago since the Web site She Reads posted its numerous candidates for “Best Books of 2023,” in 19 categories, the winners of a public have already been announced.

The choice for Best Mystery, Thriller & Suspense novel is … All the Sinners Bleed, by S.A. Cosby (Flatiron).

Competing as well for that honor this year were Blood Sisters, by Vanessa Lillie (Berkley); Bright Young Women, by Jessica Knoll (S&S/Marysue Rucci); Don’t Let Her Stay, by Nicola Sanders (Independently published); I Have Some Questions for You, by Rebecca Makkai (Viking); Just Another Missing Person, by Gillian McAllister (Morrow); None of This Is True, by Lisa Jewell (Atria); Stone Cold Fox, by achel Koller Croft (Berkley); The Only One Left, by Riley Sager (Dutton); The Traitor, by Ava Glass (Bantam); Vera Wong’s Unsolicited Advice for Murderers, by Jesse Q. Sutanto (Berkley); and What Never Happened, by Rachel Howzell Hall (Thomas & Mercer).

Look for the victors in all 19 categories here.

(Hat tip to Deadly Pleasures Mystery Magazine.)