New and Approved

It’s becoming difficult to keep up with the deluge of posts listing the “best crime novels” published in the “worst year,” 2020.

Library Journal, for instance, recently identified nine such books it says “will help get libraries and readers through to better days.” Among its selections are Djinn Patrol on the Purple Line, by Deepa Anappara (Random House); Blacktop Wasteland, by S.A. Cosby (Flatiron); Unspeakable Things, by Jess Lourey (Thomas & Mercer); and Winter Counts, by David Heska Wanbli Weiden.

In MBTB’s Mystery Book Blog, bookseller Barbara Tom highlights 27 mysteries and thrillers from 2020 that National Public Radio’s “Book Concierge” page recommends. Those include Alyssa Cole’s When No One Is Watching (Morrow), Tana French’s The Searcher (Viking), Anthony Horowitz’s Moonflower Murders (Harper), and at least a couple (really, Micaiah Johnson’s The Space Between Worlds?) that challenge this genre’s bounds. To learn more, click here.

Finally, Kristopher Zgorski, of BOLO Books, names 15 crime and mystery novels that he says “had the most resonance with me this year.” Those picks cover everything from Rachel Howzell Hall’s And Now She’s Gone (Forge), Ragnar Jónasson’s Winterkill (Orenda), and Ivy Pochoda’s These Women (Ecco) to “favorite debuts” such as John Fram’s The Bright Lands (Hanover Square Press).