Plaudits from the Post

As someone who strives to read the finest, most interesting crime, mystery, and thriller fiction in any given year—partly in anticipation of recommending books around the holiday season—it’s a frustration, indeed, to realize that you’ve neglected any that rank highly with other readers. A case in point: Elizabeth Heider’s May the Wolf Die, which was published this last July. Kirkus Reviews called that story of murders in Naples, Italy, “offbeat and entertaining,” and “a lively procedural with a high-powered heroine.” Criminal Element described it as “a thriller infused with insider knowledge—of complicated quasi-governmental machinations that underlay the plot as well as detailed descriptions of Naples.” Yet I never quite got around to adding Heider’s debut novel to my teetering bedside pile.

And now, wouldn’t you know it? May the Wolf Die turns up on The Washington Post’s “10 best mystery novels of 2024” list. Sigh … I can only hope to find time for that work in the near future, and will watch for the sequel Heider says she’s penning.

Meanwhile, here are all 10 of critic Karen MacPherson’s Post picks:

• Circle in the Water, by Marcia Muller (Grand Central)
• Echo, by Tracy Clark (Thomas & Mercer)
• The Grey Wolf, by Louise Penny (Minotaur)
• May the Wolf Die, by Elizabeth Heider (Penguin)
• The Princess of Las Vegas, by Chris Bohjalian (Doubleday)
• A Refiner’s Fire, by Donna Leon (Atlantic Monthly Press)
• We Solve Murders, by Richard Osman (Pamela Dorman)
• The Rivals, by Jane Pek (Vintage)
• What Time the Sexton’s Spade Doth Rust, by Alan Bradley (Bantam)
• Where They Last Saw Her, by Marcie R. Rendon (Bantam)

Two other novels that also belong in this category instead figure into Post reviewer Carol Memmott’s list of “the 10 best works of historical fiction in 2024”: The Comfort of Ghosts, by Jacqueline Winspear (Soho Crime); and Precipice, by Robert Harris (Harper).

At the insistence of its owner, Jeff Bezos, The Washington Post may have chickened out from endorsing Kamala Harris for president over convicted felon and adjudicated rapist Donald Trump earlier this month. But I’m pleased to see that paper still allows its literary critics freedom to voice their opinions of what deserves reading.

A Lucky Number, After All

I shall never be able to keep up with Deadly Pleasures Mystery Magazine editor George Easter when it comes to cataloguing all of this year’s lists of “best” crime, mystery, and thriller fiction. Every so often, though, I do want to highlight selections that seem special, from sources or individual reviewers I trust.

Such a case is Daily Telegraph critic Jake Kerridge’s new register of what he contends are the 13 top crime thrillers of 2024:

• Midnight and Blue, by Ian Rankin (Orion)
• The Bad Seeds, by C.J. Skuse (HQ)
• Imposter Syndrome, by Joseph Knox (Doubleday)
• Vengeance, by Salma Mir (Point Blank)
• The Night of Baba Yaga, by Akira Otani (Faber & Faber)
• City in Ruins, by Don Winslow (Hemlock Press)
• Against the Grain, by Peter Lovesey (Sphere)
• Death at the Sign of the Rook, by Kate Atkinson (Doubleday)
• We Solve Murders, by Richard Osman (Viking)
• Guilt by Definition, by Susie Dent (Zaffre)
• Farewell Dinner for a Spy, by Edward Wilson (Arcadia)
• Karla’s Choice, by Nick Harkaway (Viking)
• The Peacock and the Sparrow, by I.S. Berry (No Exit)

Kerridge declares Berry’s debut novel “my thriller of the year,” but it actually came last year on this side of the Atlantic.

* * *

Speaking of thrillers, the Financial Times’ Adam Lebor has compiled his own top-five choices of 2024 works in that same category:

• Every Spy a Traitor, by Alex Gerlis (Canelo)
• Karla’s Choice, by Nick Harkaway (Viking)
• The Peacock and the Sparrow, by I.S. Berry (No Exit)
• Moscow X, by David McClockey (Swift Press; a 2023 U.S. release)
• Midnight in Vienna, by Jane Thynne (Quercus)

READ MORE: “Chicago Public Library Best Mystery & Thriller Fiction of 2024” (Deadly Pleasures).

Revue of Reviewers: 11-17-24

Critiquing some of the most interesting recent crime, mystery, and thriller releases. Click on the individual covers to read more.

Choose Wisely

Goodreads, the Amazon-owned social cataloging Web site, has released its opening selection of nominees for the 2024 Choice Awards. There are 20 Mystery & Thriller contenders at this stage:

• All the Colors of the Dark, by Chris Whitaker (Crown)
• The Last One at the Wedding, by Jason Rekulak (Flatiron)
• Darling Girls, by Sally Hepworth (St. Martin’s Press)
• The Mystery Guest, by Nita Prose (Ballantine)
• House of Glass, by Sarah Pekkanen (St. Martin’s Press)
• The Boyfriend, by Freida McFadden (Poisoned Pen Press)
• The God of the Woods, by Liz Moore (Riverhead)
• The Return of Ellie Black, by Emiko Jean (Simon & Schuster)
• Not What She Seems, by Yasmin Angoe (Thomas & Mercer)
• Home Is Where the Bodies Are, by Jeneva Rose (Blackstone)
• The Heiress, by Rachel Hawkins (St. Martin’s Press)
• How to Solve Your Own Murder, by Kristen Perrin (Dutton)
• The Midnight Feast, by Lucy Foley (Morrow)
• The Night We Lost Him, by Laura Dave (S&S/ Marysue Rucci)
• Listen for the Lie, by Amy Tintera (Celadon)
• We Solve Murders, by Richard Osman (Pamela Dorman)
• The Teacher, by Freida McFadden (Poisoned Pen Press)
• Middle of the Night, by Riley Sager (Dutton)
• Society of Lies, by Lauren Ling Brown (Bantam)
• First Lie Wins, by Ashley Elston (Pamela Dorman)

By Sunday, November 24, cast your vote here for your favorite among these. Round two of the eliminations will run from November 26 to December 1, with the winner to be declared on Thursday, December 5.

Find other categories of Choice Award contenders by clicking here.

Bullet Points: Packed Potpourri Edition

• Audible, the online audiobook/podcast service, has chosen its “10 best mysteries and thrillers of 2024” (all of them Audible releases):

— Listen for the Lie, by Amy Tintera
— First Lie Wins, by Ashley Elston
— We Play Games, by Sarah A. Denzil (Audible Original)
— The Teacher, by Freida McFadden
— The Sequel, by Jean Hanff Korelitz
— All the Colors of the Dark, by Chris Whitaker
— We Solve Murders, by Richard Osman
— The Safe Man, by Michael Connelly (Audible Original)
— After You’ve Gone, by Margot Hunt (Audible Original)

(Hat tip the Deadly Pleasures Mystery Magazine.)

• CrimeReads seems to have launched what has become its annual rollout of top crime- and mystery-fiction picks, unaccompanied by fanfare, starting with Molly Odintz’s rundown of what she says are the 10 “Best Gothic Novels of 2024.”

• Mick Herron, author of the Slough House spy novels (from which Apple+ TV’s Slow Horses is being adapted) has been tapped as programming chair for the 2025 Theakston Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival, set to take place in Harrogate, England, from July 17 to 20.

• The third season of Dalgliesh, the fine British TV crime drama based on novels by P.D. James and starring Bertie Carvel, is scheduled to start airing on both sides of the Atlantic in early December. Click here to watch a trailer. The Killing Times explains that the three books being adapted this time are Death in Holy Orders, Cover Her Face, and Devices and Desires. “Each story will be a two-parter, mirroring previous series’ approach. In the first, [Detective Chief Inspector Adam] Dalgliesh travels to a remote seminary overlooking a windswept lake, where a body has been found gruesomely murdered, while the second will see him look into a murder in the Essex home of a staggeringly wealthy family with connections to the British government.” This third go-round for Dalgliesh will begin in the States on Acorn TV come Sunday, December 2, and in the UK on December 5.

• Meanwhile, UK broadcaster ITV has ordered up a second series of After the Flood, with Sophie Rundle set to reprise her lead role as small-town English copper Joanna Marshall. Six new episodes will find “newly promoted detective Jo Marshall on the trail of a baffling murder investigation,” reports The Killing Times. “As tensions simmer in Waterside amid the rising threat of moorland fires and the subsequent risk of further flooding, a body is discovered in bizarre circumstances. Jo’s race to stop the killer will put her in opposition to dark, influential forces within the town, and ultimately take her on a much more personal investigation. One that will require her to operate in secret if she is to have any hope of rooting out the corruption that has blighted the town’s police force—and her own family—for decades. Philip Glenister is also back as Jack Radcliffe and Lorraine Ashbourne is confirmed to return as Jo’s mother, Molly.”

• Harry O fans, rejoice! Steve Aldous and Gary Gillies’ book, The Harry O Viewing Companion: History and Episodes of the Classic Detective Series (McFarland), is due out in early February of next year. I knew this work was in progress, but only just learned of its imminent publication. Here’s a contents description from Amazon:

In the golden era of 1970s TV detective shows, Harry O stood out. David Janssen, already renowned for his role in The Fugitive, played Harry Orwell, a San Diego cop who retired after being shot in the back. The chemistry between Janssen and Anthony Zerbe, who delivered an Emmy-Award winning performance as Lt. K.C. Trench, captivated viewers and contributed to the show's popularity. While Harry O was largely character-driven, it also featured compelling plots that retained the show's audience throughout its two seasons.

In this viewing companion to Harry O, all episodes are covered, along with information about cast, crew, locations, and story analysis. The book contains examinations of archival material, including series creator Howard Rodman's papers. It also features new interviews conducted by the authors, providing insight into the creation of the series [plus an introduction by Les Lannom, who played private-eye wannabe Lester Hodges]. From the filming of the pilot episodes in 1972 to the show's cancellation in '76, the book offers a comprehensive history of each step in the show's development.

This book’s British co-author, Aldous, is an occasional Rap Sheet contributor, who previously penned The World of Shaft: A Complete Guide to the Novels, Comic Strip, Films, and Television Series (McFarland, 2015). Gillies is a Scottish musician and record producer, as well as the co-creator of a theatrical production called Alien War. I’m dearly hoping to rope at least one of them into an interview for this blog, sometime closer to when their new book hits print.

• If you would care to revisit a Harry O tribute I wrote for CrimeReads a few years back, you will find that right here.

• Slate columnist Laura Miller disparages the clichés that riddle Amazon Prime’s new thriller TV series Cross, starring Aldis Hodge, yet she applauds that show’s racial awareness. “Apart from a few higher-ups in the police brass, all the significant characters in [Alex] Cross’ life are Black,” she writes, “and their social world—from family karaoke nights to house parties—feels warm, rich, and authentic.”

• Need more cozy crime in your life? Deadline brings word that streamer Acorn TV and Paramount‘s Channel 5 “are co-producing an adaptation of Reverend Richard Coles‘ bestselling book Murder Before Evensong. … Murder Before Evensong was published in 2022 and introduces Canon Daniel Clement, a rector of Champton who becomes embroiled in a murder case when a cousin to the church’s patron is found stabbed in the neck with a pair of secateurs.”

• Mark this down on your calendar: The Series 5 debut of Miss Scarlet (formerly Miss Scarlet and the Duke) to PBS-TV’s Masterpiece lineup will come on Sunday, January 12, 2025—though it will be accessible earlier (on December 8) to PBS Passport subscribers. With the departure of Stuart Martin, who played struggling London sleuth Eliza Scarlet’s childhood friend and sometimes rival in this show’s initial four seasons, Detective Inspector William “Duke” Wellington, we find Miss Scarlet (played by Kate Phillips) now returned to her own, finally thriving detective agency, but with a new Scotland Yard antagonist and potential love interest, Alexander Blake (Tom Durant Pritchard). Synopses of the new episodes, as well as a Season 5 trailer, can be found on the Masterpiece Web site.

• And on December 11, the Scottish crime drama Shetland will kick off its ninth-season run on streamer BritBox. That BBC One-originating series, which stars Ashley Jensen as Detective Inspector Ruth Calder and Alison O'Donnell as Detective Sergeant Alison “Tosh” McIntosh, has already been showing in the UK for the last two weeks. Mystery Fanfare says the latest half-dozen episodes will focus on “a double missing person’s case that ‘blurs the lines between the personal and the professional, as Calder and Tosh are drawn into a labyrinthine investigation’ … When Tosh’s friend, Annie Bett (Sarah MacGillivray), goes missing, Ruth Calder—now living in Shetland—has no time to recover from a life-threatening ordeal of her own, and instead teams with Tosh to search for Annie and her young son, Noah (Jacob Ferguson).” I don’t know whether I am ready for more of Shetland. The show started to change, to grow darker, after its sophomore season, when episodes were no longer being adapted from Ann Cleeves’ Jimmy Perez novels, and were instead scripted exclusively for the small-screen. Star Douglas Henshall giving up his role as Perez after the seventh season left a hole in the cast that hasn’t adequately been filled by Jensen, who plays yet another troubled/damaged TV police detective. I may have to move on.

• I don’t know much about this yet, only what I have read in Ayo Onatade’s Shotsmag Confidential blog:

CrimeFest, one of the UK’s leading crime fiction conventions, will feature an exclusive John le Carré event featuring the author’s two sons.

Considered one of the greatest novelists of the postwar era, the ‘Ghost of Honour’ panel sees le Carré’s son, Nick Harkaway, discuss his latest novel, Karla’s Choice. In the book, Nick brought back one of his father’s most famous literary creations—George Smiley.

The panel also welcomes Le Carre’s older son, the film producer Simon Cornwell, who is the CEO and co-founder of the independent studio, The Ink Factory. He is currently executive producing the much-anticipated second season of The Night Manager for Amazon and the BBC, starring Tom Hiddleston and Olivia Colman.

CrimeFest 2025 will take place in Bristol, England, May 15-18.

• Editor George Easter this week e-mailed the Fall 2024 edition of Deadly Pleasures Mystery Magazine to online subscribers. Its contents include a cover feature about UK novelist Jo Callaghan (Leave No Trace), plus extensive lists of other recent and recommended crime/thriller novels from across the pond; Mike Ripley’s latest “Ripster Revivals” column, weighing “the joys and disappointments of rediscovering books I should have read many years ago,” among them Morris West’s The Big Story (1957) and Gavin Lyall’s The Conduct of Major Maxim (1982); and a wide variety of new-book reviews by contributors Kevin Burton Smith, Meredith Anthony, Ted Hertel, Robin Agnew, Hank Wagner, and others. I’m always impressed by how much content Easter manages to squeeze into every issue of DP! Subscription information is available here.

• For fans of William Lindsay Gresham, best known for his 1946 novel, Nightmare Alley, Mystery*File editor Steve Lewis offers this interesting interview with the author’s stepson, Bob Pierce (no relation to yours truly). “In our interview,” Lewis writes, “Bob recalls growing up with Gresham, and some memories of spending time with Gresham’s sons, David and Douglas, in 1952-1953 before they moved away with [Gresham’s first wife, Joy] Davidman.”

• Finally, this might make a good present for the young readers (4-8 years old) on your Christmas list: a condensed 32-page version of The Mysterious Affair at Styles, Agatha Christie’s 1920 Hercule Poirot whodunit. The well-illustrated work is being touted as “the first in a series of interactive picture book mysteries for children.”

“Dancing” All the Way to Victory

Dead Men Dancing, by Jógvan Isaksen, has won the 2024 Petrona Award for Best Scandinavian Crime Novel of the Year. The 74-year-old Isaksen is a prolific writer living in the Faroe Islands, a self-governing territory of the Kingdom of Denmark. The English translation of Dead Men Dancing was published last year by Norvik Press.

A congratulatory statement from the judges reads, in part:

Similar to the story of the ancient god Prometheus, a man has been shackled to rocks on the Faroe Islands, and left to drown on the beach. The discovery of his body throws the local community into an unsettling chaos, and as the journalist Hannis Martinsson investigates, he comes across evidence of similar deaths. He realises they are linked to the events in Klaksvík in the 1950s, and a local revolt which tore the community apart. As Martinsson digs into the troubled past, he learns about his country’s history, and also gives the reader a chance to discover what makes the Faroes intriguing and spellbinding.

Being a largely unknown territory to most, Dead Men Dancing includes a useful introduction to the modern reality of these islands by the CEO of the Faroese Broadcasting Corporation, mirrored by the social commentary that lies at the heart of the book itself, and the portrayal of the relationship with Denmark throughout the years.

This is only Isaksen’s second novel to be translated into English following Walpurgis Tide [Norvik Press, 2016]. This contemporary Faroese crime-fiction writer places his characters in the wild, beautiful, and unforgiving environment and allows them to search for truth. The judges found the location to be absolutely integral to the unfolding of the plot, and how the raw natural beauty of the Faroes served as a reflection of the thoughts and actions of the characters.

Dogged and uncompromising, Martinsson is a superb creation, similar in his ‘detective’ thinking and approach to Gunnar Staalesen’s lonely wolf PI Varg Veum, which the judging panel found very appealing. Martinsson’s gloomy demeanour and natural cynicism was beautifully balanced throughout with the more empathetic side of his nature, and in the age-old tradition of crime fiction his personal and professional relationships are fraught with tension.

The translation by Marita Thomsen is both accomplished and a little unusual, drawing as she does on the vernacular and intonation of the Scottish dialect. Again, the judges found this to be refreshingly different, and enjoyed the unique cadence and rhythm this gave to the book overall, an essential quality of any book in translation.

The annual Petrona Award was established in 2013 in memory of Maxine Clarke, a British editor and “champion of Scandinavian crime fiction” who died in 2012. (Petrona was the name of her long-running blog). All entries “must be in translation and published in English in the UK during the preceding calendar,” and their authors “must either be born in Scandinavia or the submission must be set in Scandinavia.”

Also short-listed for the Petrona this year were The Collector, by Anne Mette Hancock, translated by Tara F. Chace (Denmark, Swift Press); Snow Fall, by Jørn Lier Horst, translated by Anne Bruce (Norway, Michael Joseph); The Girl by the Bridge, by Arnaldur Indriðason, translated by Philip Roughton (Iceland, Harvill Secker); The Sins of Our Fathers, by Åsa Larsson, translated by Frank Perry (Sweden, MacLehose Press); and The Prey, by Yrsa Sigurðardottir, translated by Victoria Cribb (Iceland, Hodder & Stoughton).

Congratulations to all of the 2024 nominees!

Amazon Renders Its Verdict

I’m always a wee bit suspicious of “best books of the year” lists coming from mammoth American retailer Amazon. What influence do sales have on the titles editors select? Is that the reason why you rarely (ever?) see works from small presses make the cut. On the other hand, the choices made are not ridiculous; many readers I know would be interested in what Amazon’s critics recommend.

With those cautions given, here are Amazon’s “best mysteries, thrillers, and suspense books” of 2024—a total of 40 titles across two categories. First up are the standalone works:

• The God of the Woods, by Liz Moore (Riverhead)
• All the Colors of the Dark, by Chris Whitaker (Crown)
• The Last One at the Wedding, by Jason Rekulak (Flatiron)
• Lost Man’s Lane, by Scott Carson (Atria/Emily Bestler)
• The Excitements, by C.J. Wray (Morrow Paperbacks)
• Pony Confidential, by Christina Lynch (Berkley)
• Kill for Me, Kill for You, by Steve Cavanagh (Atria)
• Listen for the Lie, by Amy Tintera (Celadon)
• Black River, by Nilanjana Roy (Pushkin Vertigo)
• What You Leave Behind, by Wanda M. Morris (Morrow)
• First Lie Wins, by Ashley Elston (Pamela Dorman)
• Wordhunter, by Stella Sands (Harper Paperbacks)
• Deadly Animals, by Marie Tierney (Henry Holt)
• The Return of Ellie Black, by Emiko Jean (Simon & Schuster)
• What Happened to Nina? by Dervla McTiernan (Morrow)
• A Calamity of Souls, by David Baldacci (Grand Central)
• Broiler, by Eli Cranor (Soho Crime)
• The Unquiet Bones, by Loreth Anne White (Montlake)
• House of Glass, by Sarah Pekkanen (St. Martin’s Press)
• The Sicilian Inheritance, by Jo Piazza (Dutton)

And below are Amazon’s picks from new and continuing series:

• We Solve Murders, by Richard Osman (Pamela Dorman)
• The Hunter, by Tana French (Viking)
• The Waiting, by Michael Connelly (Little, Brown)
• City in Ruins, by Don Winslow (Morrow)
• The Grey Wolf, by Louise Penny (Minotaur)
• Death at the Sign of the Rook, by Kate Atkinson (Doubleday)
• Guide Me Home, by Attica Locke (Mulholland)
• Spirit Crossing, by William Kent Krueger (Atria)
• This Is Why We Lied, by Karin Slaughter (Morrow)
• Exposure, by Ramona Emerson (Soho Crime)
• Farewell, Amethystine, by Walter Mosley (Mulholland)
• The Butcher Game, by Alaina Urquhart (Zando)
• The Instruments of Darkness, by John Connolly (Atria/Emily Bestler)
• To Die For, by David Baldacci (Grand Central)
• Westport, by James Comey (Mysterious Press)
• What Time the Sexton’s Spade Doth Rust, by Alan Bradley (Bantam)
• The Sequel, by Jean Hanff Korelitz (Celadon)
• Identity Unknown, by Patricia Cornwell (Grand Central)
• Black Wolf, by Juan Gómez-Jurado (Minotaur)
• The Treasure Hunters Club, by Tom Ryan (Atlantic Monthly Press)

So, 23 books by women, 17 by men. That’s a different balance than you would’ve seen 10 years ago, but not too far out of whack.

* * *

As we advance deeper into the holiday gift-giving season, more and more “best books” listings will be appearing in print and online. I generally try to keep track of the new ones, but George Easter, the editor at Deadline Pleasures Mystery Magazine, has a sharper eye for catching these things. Within the last couple of days, for instance, he has pointed me toward crime, mystery, and thriller choices made by Canadian bookseller Indigo, the British Web site Dead Good, the American social-cataloging site Goodreads (a subsidiary of Amazon), and the erstwhile magazine—now e-zine—Parade.

PaperBack: “The Scented Flesh”

Part of a series honoring the late author and blogger Bill Crider.



The Scented Flesh, by “Robert O. Saber,” aka Milton K. Ozaki (Handi-books, 1951). Cover art by Mike Privitello.

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.

* * *

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.)

Headstrong Girl Makes Good

I’m surprised it has taken so long to make a movie based on Bradley’s Flavia de Luce series. This comes from In Reference to Murder:

The upcoming feature film, Flavia, based on the books by Alan Bradley, has started principal photography and released a first-look image. The project features Sherlock star Martin Freeman opposite Molly Belle Wright (Deep Water) as the precocious 11-year-old detective, Flavia, Toby Jones (Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny), Karan Gill (The Decameron), Annette Badland (Ted Lasso), and Jonathan Pryce (Slow Horses) also star.

The storyline is set in motion when Flavia finds a dead body at her decaying British manor house and her father is accused of the murder. Flavia dives into her own wild and fearless investigation, unearthing long-held family secrets and pitting herself against the true killer.

This picture has been adapted by writer Susan Coyne from Bradley’s debut mystery, The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie (2009).

Time to Air Your Opinions

Two weeks ago, the British Web site Crime Fiction Lover invited readers to nominate their favorite books for the 2024 Crime Fiction Lover Awards, in half a dozen categories. From those, editors compiled the following shortlists of top vote-getters.

Best Crime Novel of 2024:
• Midnight and Blue, by Ian Rankin
• The Mercy Chair, by M.W. Craven
• Guide Me Home, by Attica Locke
• The Examiner, by Janice Hallett
• The Death Watcher, by Chris Carter
• All the Colours of the Dark, by Chris Whitaker

Best Crime Debut of 2024:
• Helle and Death, by Oskar Jensen
• The List of Suspicious Things, by Jennie Godfrey
• Knife Skills for Beginners, by Orlando Murrin
• Deadly Animals, by Marie Tierney
• Crow Moon, by Suzy Aspley
• A Reluctant Spy, by David Goodman

Best Crime Novel in Translation of 2024:
• Black Wolf, by Juan Gómez-Jurado; translated by Nicolas Caistor
• The Snow Angel, by Anki Edvinsson; translated by Paul Norlen
• The Lover of No Fixed Abode, by Carlo Fruttero and Franco Lucentini; translated by Gregory Dowling
• Death at the Sanatorium, by Ragnar Jónasson; translated by
Victoria Cribb
• The Kitchen, by Simone Buchholz; translated by Rachel Ward
• The Night of Baba Yaga, by Akira Otani; translated by Sam Bett

Best Indie Crime Novel of 2024:
• The Corpse with the Pearly Smile, by Cathy Ace
• A Killer of Influence, by J.D. Kirk
• Bronco Buster, by A.J. Devlin
• Westerwick, by George Paterson
• Namaste Mart Confidential, by Andrew Miller
• Dying for Crystal, by Katherine Black

Best Crime Show of 2024:
• Bad Monkey
• Ludwig
• Slow Horses, Season 4
• Nordic Murders, Season 5
• Rebus
• True Detective, Season 4

Best Crime Author of 2024:
• Tana French
• Ian Rankin
• Attica Locke
• Ace Atkins
• Janice Hallett
• Abir Mukherjee

Readers are now asked to choose their top picks from these shortlists. CFL explains that “Our online ballot closes at noon UK time on Wednesday 4 December 2024.” Click here to vote! Winners should be announced within a few days of this poll’s conclusion.

Bullet Points: Alarming Week Edition

After the horrific results of this week’s U.S. national elections, I’ve done my best to avoid major news sources. However, as always, I have kept my eyes open for developments in the world of crime, mystery, and thriller fiction. Here are a few items worth sharing.

(Above) Author Paretsky, from her Facebook page.

• Sara Paretsky has been chosen to receive the 2025 Killer Nashville John Seigenthaler Legends Award. As In Reference to Murder notes, that prize—named for an ex-editorial director of USA Today—is “bestowed upon an individual within the publishing industry who has championed First Amendment Rights to ensure that all opinions are given a voice, has exemplified mentorship and example to authors, supporting the new voices of tomorrow, and/or has written an influential canon of work that will continue to influence authors for many years to come.” The Killer Nashville Web site relates some of the reasons Paretsky deserves this commendation:

Sara Paretsky revolutionized the mystery world in 1982 by introducing V.I. Warshawski in Indemnity Only. Paretsky challenged a genre in which women historically were vamps or victims by creating a detective with the grit and smarts to take on the mean streets. V.I. struck a chord with readers and critics; Indemnity Only was followed by twenty more V.I. novels. Her voice and world remain vital to readers; the New York Times calls V.I. “a proper hero for these times,” adding, “To us, V.I. is perfect.”

While Paretsky’s fiction changed the narrative about women, her work also opened doors for other writers. In 1986, she created Sisters in Crime, a worldwide organization that advocates for women crime writers. This organization earned her Ms. Magazine's 1987 Woman of the Year award. More accolades followed: the British Crime Writers awarded her the Cartier Diamond Dagger for lifetime achievement; Blacklist won the Gold Dagger from the British Crime Writers for best novel of 2004, and she has received the honorary degree of Doctor of Letters from several universities.

Called “"passionate” and “electrifying,” V.I. reflects her creator’s passion for social justice. After chairing the school's first Commission on the Status of Women as a Kansas University undergraduate, Paretsky worked as a community organizer on Chicago's South Side during the turbulent race riots of 1966. Since then, Paretsky’s volunteer work has included advocating for healthcare for the mentally ill homeless, mentoring teens in Chicago's most troubled schools, and working for reproductive rights. Through her Sara & Two C-Dogs foundation, she also helps build STEM and arts programs for young people.

The author will be presented with her award during a special dinner at next year’s Killer Nashville conference, to be held in Nashville, Tennessee, from August 21 to 24.

• The shortlists have been announced of this year’s An Post Irish Book Awards contenders. Categories range from Popular Fiction, Non-fiction, and Cookbook to Poetry, Short Story, Newcomer, and Teen and Young Adult. There are also half a dozen candidates for the 2024 Irish Independent Crime Fiction Book of the Year. They are:

— A Stranger in the Family, by Jane Casey (Hemlock Press)
— Witness 8, by Steve Cavanagh (Headline)
— Where They Lie, by Claire Coughlan (Simon & Schuster)
— Someone in the Attic, by Andrea Mara (Bantam)
— Somebody Knows, by Michelle McDonagh (Hachette Ireland)
— When We Were Silent, by Fiona McPhillips (Bantam)

Winners will be revealed during a ceremony in the Convention Centre Dublin on Wednesday, November 27.

• Elizabeth Foxwell points us toward this fascinating piece in Humanities Magazine, which recalls “how a copyright tussle between author Dashiell Hammett and Warner Bros. over his detective Sam Spade changed copyright law.”

• On this first day of Veterans Day Weekend, blogger-editor Janet Rudolph serves up a substantial list of mystery fiction related to this holiday. You will find works ranging from Rennie Airth’s River of Darkness and Susan Elia MacNeal’s Mr. Churchill's Secretary to Max Allan Collins’ The Million Dollar Wound, Elizabeth Speller’s The Return of Captain John Emmett, and Philip Kerr’s earliest Bernie Gunther yarns (March Violets, The Pale Criminal, and A German Requiem).

• Having himself penned a trio of James Bond continuation novels, it’s understandable that Anthony Horowitz might concoct a character in his own fiction who undertakes that same sort of assignment. And so he does in Marble Hall Murders, the forthcoming third entry in his Susan Ryeland/Atticus Pünd series (Magpie Murders, Moonflower Murders). This new work is due out in the UK in April 2025, and in the States come May. Here’s the plot summary from Amazon:

Editor Susan Ryeland has left her Greek island, her hotel, and her Greek boyfriend Andreas in search of a new life back in England.

Freelancing for Causton Books, she’s working on the manuscript of a novel, Pünd’s Last Case, by a young author named Eliot Crace, a continuation of the popular Alan Conway series. Susan is surprised to learn that Eliot is the grandson of legendary children’s author Marian Crace, who died some fifteen years ago—murdered, Elliot insists, by poison.

As Susan begins to read the manuscript’s opening chapters, the skeptical editor is relieved to find that Pünd’s Last Case is actually very good. Set in the South of France, it revolves around the mysterious death of Lady Margaret Chalfont, who, though mortally ill, is poisoned—perhaps by a member of her own family. But who did it? And why?

The deeper Susan reads, the more it becomes clear that the clues leading to the truth of Marian Crace’s death are hidden within this Atticus Pünd mystery.

While Eliot’s accusation becomes more plausible, his behavior grows increasingly erratic. Then he is suddenly killed in a hit-and-run accident, and Susan finds herself under police scrutiny as a suspect in his killing.

Three mysterious deaths. Multiple motives and possible murderers. If Susan doesn’t solve the mystery of Pund’s Last Case, she may well be the next victim.

I very much enjoyed the first two Ryeland outings, so should be early in line to pick up a copy of this book as well.

• Mystery Fanfare brings word that the latest Death in Paradise Christmas special is coming to UK screens on December 25, courtesy of BBC-TV. That feature-length installment will star Don Gilét, who replaces Ralf Little as the British lead detective on the show. Series 14 of Death in Paradise is expected to debut on the opposite side of the Atlantic early in 2025. There’s no word yet on when it might be available to American viewers.

• Meanwhile, Series 3 of the Death spin-off series Beyond Paradise, featuring Kris Marshall and Sally Bretton, has its own Christmas special planned (broadcast date not yet released), with new episodes expected in the spring of next year. And a third spin-off, the Australia-set Return to Paradise, is scheduled to air in the UK beginning on November 22. Six episodes will be on offer this first season.

• Not only has the Prime Video series Reacher received an early fourth-season renewal (Season 3—based on Persuader, Lee Child’s seventh Jack Reacher novel—won’t even debut until 2025), but a spin-off drama is also in the works. As Deadline reports, it will find Danish actress Maria Sten reprising her “fan-favorite” role as Frances Neagley, a corporate security professional in Chicago who served with Reacher in the U.S. Army's 110th Special Investigations Unit. The blog In Reference to Murder says that in this spin-off’s first season, Neagley “learns that a beloved friend from her past has been killed in a suspicious accident, [and] becomes hell bent on justice. Using everything she’s learned from Jack Reacher and her time as a member of the 110th Special Investigators, Neagley puts herself on a dangerous path to uncover a menacing evil.” Look for Alan Ritchson, who plays Reacher in the original series, to guest star in the offshoot.

• They don’t amount to much, but The Killing Times has posted a handful of “first look” images from Series 6 of Strike, which BBC One promises to premiere in the UK next month. These latest episodes are adapted from the 2022 novel The Ink Black Heart, by “Robert Gailbraith” (aka J.K. Rowling), and will star Tom Burke and Holliday Grainger. The Web site TVDrama.com provides this plot synopsis:

In the new season, the co-creator of the popular [YouTube cartoon series] The Ink Black Heart shows up frantic at Cormoran Strike [Burke] and Robin Ellacott’s office because she is being persecuted by a mysterious online figure. Ellacott [Grainger] informs her that the agency is too busy to take on the case, but regrets doing so when, weeks later, she discovers that the cartoon co-creator has been murdered in Highgate Cemetery, the location of The Ink Black Heart.

Ellacott and Strike are drawn into a quest to uncover the anonymous online figure who was tormenting the co-creator and are pulled into a complex web of online aliases, business interests and family conflicts.

Strike has previously aired in the States on HBO-TV, as C.B. Strike. But I have found no news yet of a U.S. debut for Series 6.

• One final boob tube-related item: The eight-episode Apple TV+ series Presumed Innocent is morphing into an anthology drama. Its acclaimed first season was of course based on Scott Turow’s 1987 novel of the same name, But, according to Deadline, the David E. Kelley-run production may take its sophomore-season inspiration from a legal thriller not even due for publication until 2026: Dissection of a Murder, by Jo Murray. It goes on to explain that Murray’s tale “follows Leila Reynolds who has just been handed her first murder case. She’s way out of her depth but the defendant only wants her—and to make matters worse, her husband is the prosecutor. Soon Leila is fighting to keep her own secrets buried too.”

• The British Crime Writers’ Association has brought on two new sponsors. The editorial consultancy Fiction Feedback, founded in 2008 by editor and former CWA secretary Dea Parkin, will support its Emerging Author Dagger prize. Writer/lecturer Morgen Witzel has volunteered to sponsor the Historical Dagger in memory of his wife, Dr Marilyn Livingstone, with whom—under the pseudonyms A.J. MacKenzie and R.L. Graham—he wrote 13 historical crime novels and thrillers. Livingstone passed away in September 2023.

• Scotland’s Glencairn Crystal Limited, which manufactures the famous Glencairn whisky glass and has for four years underwritten the McIlvanney and Bloody Scotland Debut crime-writing literary awards, is out with a new anthology, The Last Dram, that “features tales from 16 different authors, all of whom have previously entered the Glencairn Glass Crime Short Story competition over the last three years.” Among those writers, says The Bookseller, are “Allan Gaw (2022/23 runner-up, who has since gone on to win this year’s Bloody Scotland Debut Prize); Phillip Wilson (2023/24 winner); Elisabeth Ingram Wallace (2023/24 runner-up); Brid Cummings (2021/22 winner); Jennifer Harvey (2021/22 runner-up); Judith O’Reilly (2021/22 runner-up).” Funds raised through the sale of this anthology will go to Maggie’s, a network of cancer-care drop-in centers located across the United Kingdom.

• While re-reading The Little Sister, Raymond Chandler’s fifth Philip Marlowe novel, author Dana King finds himself surprised by the author’s “misogynistic tendencies.”

• As the DVD and Blu-ray editions of his latest indie film, Blue Christmas, are being readied for Christmastime sale, crime novelist Max Allan Collins reports that he and his fellow-author spouse, Barbara, recently celebrated the “world premiere” of a second new picture, Death by Fruitcake, with two showings in their home town of Muscatine, Iowa. Fruitcake brings to life the main characters in their almost two-decades-old Trash ’n’ Treasures mystery series, published under the nom de plume Barbara Allan. “The screenings weren’t flawless,” Collins writes. “These were our first showings anywhere other than on our computers, and Death by Fruitcake is primarily intended for television (streaming most likely) and physical media (Blu-ray and DVD). None of that marketing has begun, as the film is intended for a 2025 holiday release. So there were bumps, chiefly of the audio variety (softer image and audio on Friday, and still not ideal audio on Saturday). But they were eminently watchable and got a terrific reaction from both audiences, with lots of laughs and a good deal of fun at the red carpet event before and after …”

• I’m always a reluctant convention-goer, but I have promised to attend next year’s Bouchercon in New Orleans, during which my friend Ali Karim will serve as Fan Guest of Honor. And now I am giving serious thought to attending the Left Coast Crime get-together in late February 2026. It will be held in San Francisco, which is one of my favorite cities in the world, and feature as its Fan Guest of Honor Randal S. Brandt, a librarian at the University of California, Berkeley’s Bancroft Library and an infrequent contributor to The Rap Sheet. For more info or to register for the ’26 LCC, click here.

• Let me wish fond farewells to two lately deceased performers who appeared over the years on many TV programs, including crime dramas: Teri Garr and Alan Rachins.

• And for the many millions of Americans traumatized by the prospect of convicted felon Donald Trump returning to the White House next year, MSNBC-TV’s Rachel Maddow offers this to-do list to defend the nation’s democracy from authoritarian assault.

As If There Weren’t Enough Options Already

With the holiday season approaching quickly (too quickly, in fact!), now might be a good time to check back on The Rap Sheet’s watchlist of fall and early winter crime-fiction releases.

Since that roll was originally posted in September, I’ve added a number of titles to it, among them Leonora Nattrass’ The Bells of Westminster, David Hewson’s When the Germans Come, Dominic Nolan’s White City, Hesse Phillips’ Lightborne, David S. Pederson’s Fatal Foul Play, Aline Templeton’s Deadfall, and a reprint of Thomas B. Dewey’s Hunter at Large from Stark House Press.

Go here to learn about those and hundreds of other works, available for reading or gift-giving over the next couple of months.

You Can’t Keep a Good Sheriff Down

This may be the week’s most heartwarming news:

When Bill Crider died in 2018, he left behind over sixty books published by New York publishers, and a collection of paperbacks that number over 10,000, most of them from his pulp collection. But, many of us are most familiar with his Sheriff Dan Rhodes series. Bill’s daughter, Angela Crider Neary and her husband, Tom Neary, recognize that. They also know that there were twenty-five Sheriff Rhodes books, and, beginning with book eleven, they’re out of print.

Angela and Tom are determined to maintain Bill’s legacy. They’re beginning that by republishing the Sheriff Rhodes series. They’re refreshing all twenty-five of those books, and they’re also making them available as audiobooks through Audible with a new narrator, Chris Abel. In fact, the first nine audiobooks are ready to be published.

Learn more here.

Revue of Reviewers: 10-29-24

Critiquing some of the most interesting recent crime, mystery, and thriller releases. Click on the individual covers to read more.