Cogdill’s Final Pitch

Following up on her recent YouTube discussion with Sara DiVello about distinctive works published in this genre over the last 11 months, longtime South Florida Sun Sentinel book critic Oline H. Cogdill has posted an official “Best Mystery Fiction Books of 2024” list. Her 31 choices are split between general releases, debut novels, and compilations of short mystery and crime fiction.

• The God of the Woods, by Liz Moore (Riverhead)
• The Waiting, by Michael Connelly (Little, Brown)
• The Puzzle Box, by Danielle Trussoni (Random House)
• Havoc, by Christopher Bollen (Harper)
• Guide Me Home, by Attica Locke (Mulholland)
• Alter Ego, by Alex Segura (Flatiron)
• Don’t Let the Devil Ride, by Ace Atkins (Morrow)
• The Hitchcock Hotel, by Stephanie Wrobel (Berkley)
• The Rivals, by Jane Pek (Vintage)
• What You Leave Behind, by Wanda M. Morris (Morrow)
• Double Barrel Bluff, by Lou Berney (Morrow)
• Missing White Woman, by Kellye Garrett (Mulholland)
• California Bear, by Duane Swierczynski (Mulholland)
• Agony Hill, by Sarah Stewart Taylor (Minotaur)
• Broiler, by Eli Cranor (Soho Crime)
• I Dreamed of Falling, by Julia Dahl (Minotaur)
• Safe and Sound, by Laura McHugh
(Random House)
• The Lost Van Gogh, by Jonathan Santlofer (Sourcebooks Landmark)
• The Murder of Mr. Ma, by John Shen Yen Nee and S.J. Rozan (Soho Crime)
• Trouble Island, by Sharon Short (Minotaur)
• The Wharton Plot, by Mariah Fredericks (Minotaur)

Debuts:
• Expectant Detectives, by Kat Ailes (Minotaur)
• Knife River, by Justine Champine (Dial Press)
• Twice the Trouble, by Ash Clifton (Crooked Lane)
• Smoke Kings, by Jahmal Mayfield (Melville House)
• Booked for Murder, by P.J. Nelson (Minotaur)
• Blood in the Cut, by Alejandro Nodarse (Flatiron)

Short Story Collections:
• Back in Black: An Anthology of New Mystery Short Stories,
edited by Don Bruns (Blackstone)
• The Best American Mystery and Suspense 2024, edited by
S.A. Cosby (Mariner)
• Eight Very Bad Nights: A Collection of Hanukkah Noir, edited by
Tod Goldberg (Soho Crime)
• Highway Thirteen, by Fiona McFarlane (Farrar, Straus and Giroux)

As expected from Oline, this is a very fine selection. It includes two or three titles that might make it onto my own top-10 round-up for 2024, and reminds me of a few others that I never quite got around to reading, such as The Hitchcock Hotel, Safe and Sound, and Don’t Let the Devil Ride. Oh well, I’ll have those to look forward to in 2025.