Plainly, Readers Can’t All Agree

Less than a week after asking its critics and contributors (including yours truly) to list their favorite crime-oriented books of the year, CrimeReads editors today express their own opinions on that same pressing matter. Their 20 choices include Lou Berney’s November Road, Leila Slimani’s The Perfect Nanny, James McLaughlin’s Bearskin, Oyinkan Braithwaite’s My Sister, The Serial Killer, Jonathan Lethem’s The Feral Detective, and Lucy Atkins’ The Night Visitor. If you haven’t yet read all of these works, don’t feel bad—neither have I.

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Speaking of critical preferences, note that Crime Time continues its seeming annual tradition of asking prominent British reviewers to identify the crime, mystery, and thriller works they believe showed off the genre’s strengths best this year. Philip Kerr’s Greeks Bearing Gifts, Belinda Bauer’s Snap, Mick Herron’s London Rules, Manda Scott’s A Treachery of Spies, Jack Grimwood’s Nightfall Berlin, and Derek B. Miller’s American by Day all earn mentions.