Different Tastes, Different Choices

Chances are that critics will still be naming their favorite books of 2016 well into January of next year. If so, you can guarantee we’ll be paying attention. Among the latest offerings in this regard: The Seattle Times’ Adam Woog chooses what he thinks are the “10 Best Mysteries of 2016,” including Michael Connelly’s The Wrong Side of Goodbye, Laurie R. King’s The Murder of Mary Russell, and Timothy Hallinan’s King Maybe; Open Letters Monthly contributor Steve Donoghue offers his own, quite different 10, among the books he applauds being Jeri Westerson’s The Silence of Stones and Conor Brady’s The Eloquence of the Dead; Crime Fiction Lover reviewers continue to roll out their preferences, with Marina Sofia declaring her picks here, while Mal McEwan posts his own here; the Web site Dead Good solicited suggestions from 17 authors and received still more selections, covering everything from Ruth Ware’s The Woman in Cabin 10 to Agnes Ravatn’s The Bird Tribunal and Bill Beverly’s Dodgers; Crime Watch’s Craig Sisterson promised to deliver his 12 “best reads of the year” on an unambiguous schedule, but seems already to have fallen behind; and though its list extends beyond crime, mystery, and thriller fiction, Vox finds room on its favorite books roster for Emma Cline’s The Girls and Tana French’s The Trespasser.