NPR Shares Its Affections Widely

Just this week, National Public Radio in the United States debuted its extensive list of “Books We Love” for 2023. Like previous picks from the London Times, Amazon, and the British bookseller Waterstones, this collection features so many titles (42!!), that it’s not really helpful in narrowing down what must be read next, or which books might be best to give as holiday presents to friends and other loved ones. Most of these choices would be found in the adult mystery, crime, and thriller section of your local bookshop, but some are likely shelved in the mainstream fiction area, or under children’s/young adult.

• Age of Vice, by Deepit Kapoor (HarperCollins)
• All the Sinners Bleed, by S.A. Cosby (Flatiron)
• Better the Blood, by Michael Bennett (Atlantic Monthly Press)
• Beware the Woman, by Megan Abbott (Putnam)
• Birnam Wood, by Eleanor Catton (Farrar, Straus and Giroux)
• Bright Young Women, by Jessica Knoll (S&S/Marysue Rucci)
• Brooklyn Crime Novel, by Jonathan Lethem (Ecco)
• Brutes, by Dizz Tate (Catapult)
• The Centre, by Ayesha Manazir Siddiqi (‎Gillian Flynn)
• Crook Manifesto, by Colson Whitehead (Doubleday)
• The Cuban Heiress, by Chanel Cleeton (Berkley)
• Edith Holler, by Edward Carey (Riverhead)
• The Enchanters, by James Ellroy (Knopf)
• The End of Drum-Time, by Hanna Pylvainen (Henry Holt)
• The Frozen River, by Ariel Lawhon (Doubleday)
• The Golden Spoon, by Jessa Maxwell (‎Atria)
• A Haunting in Hialeah Gardens, by Raul Palma (Dutton)
• Holly, by Stephen King (Scribner)
• House of Cotton, by Monica Brashears (Flatiron)
• How to Sell a Haunted House, by rady Hendrix (Berkley)
• I Have Some Questions for You, by Rebecca Makkai (Viking)
• Kala, by Colin Walsh (Doubleday)
• The Last Devil to Die, by Richard Osman (Viking)
• The Mona Lisa Vanishes, by Nicholas Day (Random House Studio)
• My Murder, by Katie Williams (Riverhead)
• None of This Is True, by Lisa Jewell (Atria)
• Old God’s Time, by Sebastian Barry (Viking)
• Our Share of Night, by Mariana Enriquez (Hogarth)
• The Peacock and the Sparrow, by I.S. Berry (Atria)
• Prom Mom, by Laura Lippman (Morrow)
• The Reformatory, by Tananarive Due (Gallery/Saga Press)
• The Secret Hours, by Mick Herron (Soho Crime)
• Sing Her Down, by Ivy Pochoda (MCD)
• Small Mercies, by Dennis Lehane (Harper)
• Stolen, by Ann-Helen Laestadius (Scribner)
• The Stolen Coast, by Dwyer Murphy (Viking)
• Symphony of Secrets, by Brendan Slocumb (Anchor)
• There’s No Way I’d Die First, by Lisa Springer (Delacorte Press)
• Vampires of El Norte, by Isabel Canas (Berkley)
• Vera Wong’s Unsolicited Advice for Murderers, by Jesse Q.
Sutanto (Berkley)
• Warrior Girl Unearthed, by Angeline Boulley (Macmillan)
• Whalefall, by Daniel Kraus (MTV)

Click here to investigate any of these works further.

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Deadly Pleasures Mystery Magazine editor George Easter, who first tipped me off to this NPR offering, has been analyzing all of the “best crime fiction of 2023” lists as they’ve rolled out over the last couple of months. He’s discovered that “The top vote-getter so far is All the Sinners Bleed by S.A. Cosby. It has 16 mentions so far. The Dennis Lehane (Small Mercies) has 10 mentions so far, the Mick Herron (The Secret Hours) and Richard Osman (The Last Devil to Die) titles have 9 mentions so far.” Read more about his findings here.