Expect the Expected

For whatever it’s worth, the British division of Amazon has posted a list of what editors there believe are the best crime, thriller, and mystery novels of 2009.

There’s not much suspense about the selections, which include two Stieg Larsson novels and the latest output by big-name wordsmiths Ian Rankin, Michael Connelly, and Lee Child. But adding Stuart Neville’s Twelve (published in the States as The Ghosts of Belfast) and Stuart McBride’s Blind Eye to the mix at least demonstrates that the editors at Amazon--which is, after all, a sales site--can see a bit beyond the bestsellers lists.