What to Read Next?

While I struggle to assemble The Rap Sheet’s 2024 collection of “favorite crime fiction” posts, other publications and Web sites are declaring their own best-of-the-year recommendations.

Just two weeks after announcing the winners of its annual awards, Crime Fiction Lover is starting to roll out its critics’ comments on what new books from this genre they liked over the last dozen months. Seemingly ubiquitous UK reviewer Paul Burke (who already contributed to Crime Time’s recent discussion on the subject of “bests”) has narrowed his preferences to five titles only:

• The Bells of Westminster, by Leonora Nattrass (Viper)
• The Last Days of Johnny Nunn, by Nick Triplow (No Exit Press)
• Bay of Thieves, by Megan Davis (Zaffre)
• The Silent Killer, by Trevor Wood (Quercus)
• Murder Under the Midnight Sun, by Stella Blómkvist (Corylus)

Burke also hosts, on his Crime Time PM podcast, a panel of a distinguished writers (Trevor Wood, Sam Holland, Antony Johnstone, Jo Furniss, Rob Parker, and Michael Wood) addressing this hot topic. They go further to mention releases they are looking forward to reading in 2025. (Yay, two more to come by Vaseem Khan!)

For its own part, CrimeReads is out with fresh selections of “The Best Espionage Fiction of 2024,” “The Best Historical Fiction of 2024,” “The Best International Crime Fiction of 2024,” “The Best Debut Crime Novels of 2024,” and “The Best Traditional Mysteries of 2024.”

Among the diverse works (not all of them published this year) mentioned as favorites by Aunt Agatha’s reviewer Vicki Kondelik are What Time the Sexton’s Spade Doth Rust, by Alan Bradley, and To Slip the Bonds of Earth, by Amanda Flower. Jeremy Black’s top picks of 2024 include Simon Mason’s The Case of the Lonely Accountant, Martin Edwards’ Hemlock Bay, and Janice Hallett’s The Mysterious Case of the Alperton Angels. Among others, Bookreporter touts The Stars Turned Inside Out, by Nova Jacobs, and The Last One at the Wedding, by Jason Rekulak, while National Public Radio critic Maureen Corrigan gives thumbs up to Francis Spufford’s Cahokia Jazz, Rachel Kushner’s Creation Lake, and Liz Moore’s The God of the Woods.

READ MORE: “2024’s Best Mysteries, Thrillers, and True Crime,” by Jamie Canaves (Book Riot); “The Best Spy Books of 2024 According to Spy Fans,” by Shane Whaley (Spybrary); “Booklist Editors’ Choice: Best of 2024”; “My Favorite Non-fiction Reads 2024,” by Ayo Onatade (Shotsmag Confidential).