Twice the Trouble

Let’s add another two contributions to our growing quantity of nominees for the “best crime, mystery, and thriller fiction of 2024.” This first list comes from Britain’s Guardian newspaper, in which author-reviewer Laura Wilson’s selections today appear:

• What a Way to Go, by Bella Mackie (Borough)
• The Kellerby Code, by Jonny Sweet (Faber & Faber)
• The List of Suspicious Things, by Jennie Godfrey (Hutchinson Heinemann)
• Nightwatching, by Tracy Sierra (Viking)
• The Peacock and the Sparrow, by I.S. Berry (No Exit)
• Karla’s Choice, by Nick Harkaway (Penguin)
• Bonehead, by Mo Hayder (Hodder & Stoughton)
• Hunted, by Abir Mukherjee (Vintage)
• All the Colours of the Dark, by Chris Whitaker (Orion)
• Midnight and Blue, by Ian Rankin (Orion)
• The first two novels in Simon Mason’s Finder series, Missing Person: Alice and The Case of the Lonely Accountant (Riverrun)

There are a couple of titles here that I don’t even recognize, which means Wilson has gone beyond the usual ring of popular authors in her quest for quality storytelling. And though I have read all of Mason’s DI Wilkins series (a new installment of which is expected next month), I have yet to sample his Finder mysteries. Make that another assignment for the coming year!

Next up: Library Journal critics Liz French and Lesa Holstine offer their own “best crime fiction” choices for public consideration:

• The Secret War of Julia Child, by Diane R. Chambers
(Sourcebooks Landmark)
• The Wharton Plot, by Mariah Fredericks (Minotaur)
• Pony Confidential, by Christina Lynch (Berkley)
• The Murder of Mr. Ma, by John Shen Yen Nee and S.J. Rozan
(Soho Crime)
• The Murderess, by Laurie Notaro (Little A)
• The Briar Club, by Kate Quinn (Morrow)
• When They Last Saw Her, by Marcie R. Rendon (Bantam)
• Murder Road, by Simone St. James (Berkley)
• The Puzzle Box, by Danielle Trussoni (Random House)
• The Last Murder at the End of the World, by Stuart Turton (Sourcebooks Landmark)

Again, there are books mentioned here that I would like to check out later. It’s a sign of how significantly women authors have risen in stature within the crime- and mystery-fiction community that only two male writers are represented on this latter list.