Endorsements and Arguments

Since I brought you Barnes & Noble’s choices of the “Best Mysteries of 2022,” it seems only fair to report on the same category of picks by another book retailer, the UK-based Book Depository.

Its selections of the “Best Crime and Thriller Books of 2022” are not few in number, running to a whopping 45! They include Robert Galbraith’s The Ink Black Heart, Richard Osman’s The Bullet That Missed, Elly Griffith’s Bleeding Heart Yard, Edward Marston’s The Railway Detective’s Christmas Case, Val McDermid’s 1989, Ian Rankin’s A Head Full of Headstones, Felix Francis’ Hands Down, and Jessica Fellowes’s The Mitford Vanishing. There are at least a couple of titles mentioned that are only arguably crime fiction, and some that were published in hardcover last year, with paper releases in 2022.

You can look over all of Book Depository’s nominees, in this and eight other categories, by clicking here.

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In a complementary vein, Crime Time has scheduled Tuesday, December 6, as the date to present its “Christmas Debate” on the subject of this year’s top crime novels. Half a dozen British authorities on the matter have been recruited for their ideas: author Victoria Selman; novelist, publisher, and Crime Time columnist Maxim Jakubowski; Shotsmag Confidential blogger Ayo Onatade; Daily Telegraph critic Jake Kerridge; Guardian crime-fiction reviewer Laura Wilson; and Paul Burke, the host of In Person With Paul on Crime Time FM. Moderating this discussion will be the ever-reliable (and ever-entertaining) Barry Forshaw, Crime Time’s editor.

According to a press release, “This is a FREE event and will be online via Zoom,” from 7:30 to 9 p.m. GMT on the 6th. Attendance is limited to 100 attendees.“ Zoom link details are to be sent out a day in advance of the debate. Click here to sign up.