Monday, October 17, 2022

B&N Makes Its Choices Known

It seems like only last month we were compiling lists—from so many sources—of the “best crime and mystery fiction of 2021.” Yet here we are, starting to round up picks for a whole new year, 2022. As Deadly Pleasures Mystery Magazine editor George Easter points out, bookseller Barnes & Noble is first out of the gate with its 10 choices:

All Good People Here, by Ashley Flowers (Bantam)
The Bullet That Missed, by Richard Osman (Pamela Dorman)
The Butcher and the Wren, by Alaina Urquhart (Zando)
City on Fire, by Don Winslow (Morrow)
Fox Creek, by William Kent Krueger (Atria)
Girl, Forgotten, by Karin Slaughter (Morrow)
Heat 2, by Michael Mann and Meg Gardiner (Morrow)
The Maid, by Nita Prose (Ballantine)
The Paris Apartment, by Lucy Foley (Morrow)
A World of Curiosities, by Louise Penny (Minotaur)

In addition, Penny’s 18th Armand Gamache mystery, A World of Curiosities—which isn’t even due out in the States until late November—wins a place on B&N’s general Best Books of the Year roster.

I’m a bit shamefaced to confess it, but I have not yet read any of those 10 novels. I am still working through my lofty TBR piles, trying to enjoy as many new works in this genre as I can before having to declare my own favorites of the year. Stay tuned.

1 comment:

Lesa said...

I've read 4, and only one of those would make my list. The other three I read were good, but I didn't find them a "Best of". Honestly? I've found 2022 to be a mediocre year for crime fiction, and there are very few crime novels that will make my list of favorites at the end of this year.

I'm hopeful for 2023, though! Two words - Dennis Lehane