Measuring Excellence Differently

Having already delivered my 10 “favorite crime novels of 2015” list on the Kirkus Reviews Web site, I devote my brand-new column there to other mystery and thriller books that shined over the last year according to somewhat different criteria. As I remark,

I was picking only 10 works from the genre, those that had best caught and held my attention. Yet I’d read many dozens more such books since December 31, 2014. The fact that some of those others hadn’t made the cut did not mean they lacked for intrigue or merit; merely that I had decided to confine my selection count to an arbitrary 10. ... It occurred to me that if I’d broadened my definition of what deserved mentioning, I could have penned a column that better represented my 2015 reading experiences ... though it might be twice as long.

So, click here to find some of the my other favorite new books, broken down into less customary categories such as “Crime Solvers I’m Pleased to See Back on the Job” and “Second Books That Bode Well for the Future of Their Series.”