Getting to the Bottom of the Tops

Lately it’s seemed that a good deal of what I do here at Rap Sheet headquarters is gather together other people’s “best books of 2015” picks. And those lists are multiplying in number as we near New Year’s Day. The latest reviewer to announce her choices is Shotmag Confidential’s Ayo Onatade, whose dozen favorites include Pleasantville, by Attica Locke; The Ghosts of Altona, by Craig Russell; The Body Snatcher, by Patrica Melo; The Killing Kind, by Chris Holm; and Every Night I Dream of Hell, by Malcolm Mckay.

Meanwhile, the contributors to UK-based Crime Fiction Lover are each presenting rundowns of their preferred mysteries and thrillers from the last year. Among the books mentioned so far are The Bone Tree, by Greg Iles; Friends of the Dusk, by Phil Rickman; The Caveman, by Jørn Lier Horst; The Father, by Anton Svensson; I Let You Go, by Clare Mackintosh; and Even Dogs in the Wild, by Ian Rankin. Click here to keep up with all of their selections.

Finally (for now), Andrew Nette’s list of the “Top 10 Books of 2015” in Pulp Curry extends beyond works that were actually published this year. It features Hard Rain Falling, by Don Carpenter; The Tattoo Murder Case, by Akimitsu Takagi, and Thomas Pynchon’s Inherent Vice.

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While we’re on the subject of these year-end lists, note that The Rap Sheet will post its last two rolls of critics’ picks later today and then tomorrow. If haven’t been keeping track, here are links to the pieces we’ve already run:

• Favorite Crime Fiction of 2015, Park V: Ali Karim
• Favorite Crime Fiction of 2015, Part IV: Kevin Burton Smith
• Favorite Crime Fiction of 2015, Part III: Stephen Miller
• Favorite Crime Fiction of 2015, Part II: Jim Napier
• Favorite Crime Fiction of 2015, Part I: Steven Nester

Please feel free to express your own ideas about this year’s superior releases in crime fiction in the Comments section below.