Predilections on Parade

The Edinburgh-based Scotsman newspaper is out with a list of what it says are “five of the best Scottish crime books of 2023”:

• Past Lying, by Val McDermid (Sphere)
• Squeaky Clean, by Callum McSorley (Pushkin Vertigo)
• The Maiden, by Kate Foster (Mantle)
• The Second Murderer, by Denise Mina (Harvill Secker)
• Voices of the Dead, by Ambrose Parry (Canongate)

One other set of “best” picks deserving your attention comes from the ever-dependable Ayo Onatade, a reviewer with Shots magazine and author of its top-notch blog, Shotsmag Confidential. Ayo is also a member of the thriller-fiction nominating committee for Deadly Pleasures Mystery Magazine’s annual Barry Awards. DP today revealed her favorite crime and mystery releases from the last dozen months.

Best Novels:
• All the Sinners Bleed, by S.A. Cosby (Headline)
• The Secret Hours, by Mick Herron (Baskerville)
• The Second Murderer, by Denise Mina (Harvill Secker)
• The Turnglass, by Gareth Rubin (Simon & Schuster)
• Viper’s Dream, by Jake Lamar (No Exit Press)
• Murder Your Employer: The McMaster’s Guide to Homicide,
by Rupert Holmes (Avid Reader Press)
• Everybody Knows, by Jordan Harper (Faber and Faber)
• Ozark Dogs, by Eli Cranor (Headline)
• Small Mercies, by Dennis Lehane (Abacus)
• The Land of Lost Things, by John Connolly (Hodder & Stoughton)
• The Lost Diary of Samuel Pepys, by Jack Jewers (Moonflower)
• The Square of Sevens, by Laura Shepherd-Robinson (Mantle)

Honorable Mentions:
• Moscow Exile, by John Lawton (Grove Press)
• Prom Mom, by Laura Lippman (Faber and Faber)
• Resurrection Walk, by Michael Connelly (Orion)
• Flags on the Bayou, by James Lee Burke (Orion)
• Palace of Shadows, by Ray Celestin (Mantle)
• The Mantis, by Kotaro Isaka (Harvill Secker)

FOLLOW-UP: Ayo Onatade offers more information about her favorite novels of the year in this Shotsmag Confidential post.