Ripe for the Pickings

With the end of 2008 now rapidly approaching, bloggers and various publications are rushing forth with rundowns of their favorite crime novels from the last 12 months. January Magazine critics recently had their say (see here and here). Other “best of” lists come from Sons of Spade, Vince Keenan, The Hungry Detective, Gravetapping, International Noir Fiction, Bryon Quertermous, Barbara Fister, Dave White, Josephine Damian, and Juri Nummelin.

Somehow, I forgot to mention Marilyn Stasio’s crime-fiction list from The New York Times, and Adam Woog’s choices for The Seattle Times. Meanwhile, Kerrie Smith of Mysteries in Paradise is asking readers to submit their top-reads choices to her blog; the quite diverse results can be found here. The Chicago Sun-Times doesn’t restrict itself to crime fiction, but its list does include some selections from the genre. And finally, critic David J. Montgomery has been busily polling authors for lists of their three favorite books from 2008. Respondents include Steve Berry, Tasha Alexander, Robert Crais, S.J. Rozan, Otto Penzler, and George Pelecanos. You can find all their choices here.