Top Reads of 2023: It’s Finally Down to Us

For the last three months, we have been bringing you nominations by other publications of this year’s best crime, mystery, and thriller fiction. Now, Rap Sheet critics will begin offering their own selections.

First up will be our longtime British correspondent, the well-known Ali Karim, whose preferences range from a novel dealing with racial tensions in 1970s Boston and one about a “black-bag publicist” trying to solve a murder in Los Angeles, to a book comprising two twisted historical yarns that reveal clues about each other.

Tomorrow, Jim Thomsen will share his five top reads of the last 12 months. And then next week will bring recommendations from Fraser Massey, Kevin Burton Smith, Steven Nester, and yours truly.

In the spirit of this festive holiday season, you can expect these revelations to kick off just as they do in Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol, when the clock strikes 12 (PST)—noon, that is.