Picks from Across the Pond

Less than a month after London, England’s Times and Sunday Times newspapers announced their selections of “the best crime, thriller, and mystery novels published so far in 2021,” both are back with their combined critics’ choices of this year’s “best crime books” and “best thriller books.” Those lists, published this last Saturday, are available online only to Times subscribers. However, Rap Sheet contributor Fraser Massey was kind enough to send along the titles of the winning works. The respective papers’ critics named their favorite book in each category, as well as their other best-book nominees.

BEST CRIME BOOKS
The Times Book of the Year:
Rabbit Hole, by Mark Billingham
(Little, Brown)

The Sunday Times Book of the Year:
The Appeal, by Janice Hallett (Viper)

• The Stoning, by Peter Papathanasiou (MacLehose Press)
• The Waiter, by Ajay Chowdhury
(Harvill Secker)
• Vine Street, by Dominic Nolan (Headline)
• Fatal Isles, by Maria Adolfsson, translated by Agnes Broome (Zaffre)
• House with No Doors, by Jeff Noon (Black Swan)
• The Girl Who Died, by Ragnar Jónasson, translated by Victoria Cribb (Michael Joseph)
• The Last Snow, by Stina Jackson, translated by Susan Beard (Corvus)
• The Dark, by Emma Haughton (Hodder & Stoughton)
• Blood Grove, by Walter Mosley (Weidenfeld & Nicolson)
• The April Dead, by Alan Parks (Canongate)
• The Khan, by Saima Mir (Point Blank)
• Consolation, by Garry Disher (Viper)
• A Narrow Door, by Joanne Harris (Orion)
• The Dark Remains, by William McIlvanney and Ian Rankin (Canongate)

BEST THRILLER BOOKS
The Sunday Times Book of the Year:
Billy Summers, by Stephen King (Hodder & Stoughton)

The Times Book of the Year:
Slough House, by Mick Herron (John Murray)

• Exit, by Belinda Bauer (Bantam Press)
• The Last House on Needless Street, by Catriona Ward (Viper)
• Girl A, by Abigail Dean (HarperCollins)
• A Man Named Doll, by Jonathan Ames (Pushkin Vertigo)
• The Old Enemy, by Henry Porter (Quercus)
• The Hunt and the Kill, by Holly Watt (Raven)
• Widowland, by C.J. Carey (Quercus)
• State of Terror, by Hillary Rodham Clinton and Louise Penny (Macmillan)
• Judas 62, by Charles Cumming (HarperCollins)
• The Apollo Murders, by Chris Hadfield (Quercus)
• Sunset Swing, by Ray Celestin (Mantle)
• The Killing Hills, by Chris Offutt (Black Cat)

I haven’t read all of the yarns mentioned above, but I have enjoyed a good number of them. So I can confidently say these lists would provide fine starting points for anyone shopping this holiday season for fans of crime, mystery, and thriller fiction. I am particularly pleased to see mentioned here both The Dark Remains and Widowland, which I read only recently, and which rank among the (too numerous) contenders for my own “favorite crime fiction of 2021” collection.

* * *

Also from Great Britain comes chain bookseller Waterstones’ choices of “The Best Books of 2021: Crime & Thriller.”

Detective Fiction:
• The Appeal, by Janice Hallett (Viper)
• The Man Who Died Twice, by Richard Osman (Viking)
• The Dark Remains, by William McIlvanney and Ian Rankin (Canongate)
• Riccardino, by Andrea Camilleri (Mantle)
• The Heron’s Cry, by Ann Cleeves (Macmillan)
• Over My Dead Body, by Jeffrey Archer (HarperCollins)
• A Three Dog Problem, by S.J. Bennett (Zaffre)
• A Line to Kill, Anthony Horowitz (Century)
• The Royal Secret, by Andrew Taylor (HarperCollins)
• 1979, by Val McDermid (Little, Brown)
• The Sanatorium, by Sarah Pearse (Bantam Press)
• A Haunting at Holkham, by Anne Glenconnor (Hodder & Stoughton)
• The Dark Hours, by Michael Connelly (Orion)
• The Midnight Lock, by Jeffery Deaver (HarperCollins)
• The Devil’s Advocate, by Steve Cavanagh (Orion)
• True Crime Story, by Joseph Knox (Doubleday)
• The Midnight Hour, by Elly Griffiths (Quercus)
• Death and Croissants, by Ian Moore (Farrago)

Thrillers:
• A Slow Fire Burning, by Paula Hawkins (Doubleday)
• Better Off Dead, by Lee Child and Andrew Child (Bantam Press)
• Billy Summers, by Stephen King (Hodder & Stoughton)
• Magpie, by Elizabeth Day (Fourth Estate)
• The Maidens, by Alex Michaelides (Weidenfeld & Nicolson)
• Never, by Ken Follett (Macmillan)
• The Apollo Murders, by Chris Hadfield (Quercus)
• The Jealousy Man, by Jo Nesbø (Harvill Secker)
• Falling, by T.J. Newman (Simon & Schuster)
• Judas 62, by Charles Cumming (HarperCollins)
• Apples Never Fall, by Liane Moriarty (Michael Joseph)
• A Narrow Door, by Joanne Harris (Orion)
• Heatwave, by Victor Jestin (Scribner)
• The Judge’s List, by John Grisham (Hodder & Stoughton)
• State of Terror, by Hillary Rodham Clinton and Louise Penny (Macmillan)
• The President’s Daughter, by Bill Clinton and James Patterson (Century)
• The Heights, by Louise Candlish (Simon & Schuster)
• The Khan, by Saima Mir (Point Blank)
• Sixteen Horses, by Greg Buchanan (Mantle)
• Cold Justice, by Ant Middleton (Sphere)
• Rizzio, by Denise Mina (Polygon)
• The Nameless Ones, by John Connolly (Hodder & Stoughton)

There are several welcome surprises here—books I don’t remember seeing on other “best of 2021” rosters. Among those are The President’s Daughter, the second collaboration between former U.S. President Bill Clinton and mega-prolific author James Patterson; The Sanatorium, by Sarah Pearse (who stood out among the authors interviewed during a First Monday video presentation in April); and Andrew Taylor’s The Royal Secret, the fifth installment in an outstanding series set during the late 17th century).

(Hat tip to Deadly Pleasures Mystery Magazine.)