Picks Parade

It seems like just yesterday (or perhaps the day before) that I was cataloguing “best crime and mystery fiction of 2023” lists. Yet here I am again, in early November, bracing for a new deluge of picks.

Oline H. Cogdill of the South Florida Sun Sentinel recently announced at least a preliminary list of her favorites in a video. But now comes Kirkus with its 12 top mysteries and thrillers of 2024:

• It’s Elementary, by Elise Bryant (Berkley)
• Under the Storm, by Christopher Carlsson (Hogarth)
• The Unwedding, by Ally Condie (Grand Central)
• Who to Believe, by Edwin Hill (Kensington)
• Close to Death, by Anthony Horowitz (Harper)
• Joe Hustle, by Richard Lange (Mulholland)
• Guide Me Home, by Attica Locke (Mulholland)
• The God of the Woods, by Liz Moore (Riverhead)
• Two Times Murder, by Adam Oyebanji (Severn House)
• Hero, by Thomas Perry (Mysterious Press)
• Cahokia Jazz, by Francis Spufford (Scribner)
• All the Colors of the Dark, by Chris Whitaker (Crown)

I’ve already read most of these yarns—or am now in the process of reading them, as I try to squeeze in a few more books before having to choose my own favorites of the year. I would definitely add several works to this list (among them C.B. Bernard’s Ordinary Bear), but all in all, my old editorial employer offers a commendable selection.

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Meanwhile, British book retailer Waterstones is out with its own abundant choices from the crime, mystery, and thriller shelves. Among its “best” releases of the last dozen months are Kate Atkinson’s Death at the Sign of the Rook, Ian Rankin’s Midnight and Blue, Ann Cleeves’ The Dark Wives, Richard Osman’s We Solve Murders, Janice Hallett’s The Examiner, Robert Harris’ Precipice, Lucy Foley’s The Midnight Feast, and again, Chris Whitaker’s All the Colors of the Dark.

(Hat tip to Deadly Pleasures Mystery Magazine.)