Agatha’s Appraisals

If the pattern of previous years holds true for 2024, we can look forward to several lists of subgenre “bests” coming from the Aunt Agatha’s blog. Today brings us the opening installment, which I believe was written by Robin Agnew (there’s no byline at the end, as is typically the case). The first two thirds of that post look back at some of her favorite cozy mysteries and historical whodunits from the last 11 months, with the final third devoted to her “Best of 2024” write-ups. Those final 10 top picks are:

• A Collection of Lies, by Connie Berry (Crooked Lane)
• It’s Elementary, by Elise Bryant (Berkley)
• The Dark Wives, by Ann Cleeves (Minotaur)
• The Last Word, by Elly Griffiths (Mariner)
• Close to Death, by Anthony Horowitz (Harper)
• Death at the Sanatorium, by Ragnar Jónasson (Minotaur)
• Pony Confidential, by Christina Lynch (Berkley)
• Gathering Mist, by Margaret Mizushima (Crooked Lane)
• One Wrong Word, by Hank Phillippi Ryan (Forge)
• Agony Hill, by Sarah Stewart-Taylor (Minotaur)

In addition, she has handed out two “honorable mentions”—one to Louise Penny’s The Grey Wolf (Minotaur), the other to Carlene O’Connor’s You Have Gone Too Far (‎Kensington).