My Favorite Books Published in 2024

My Favorite Books Published in 2024     There was a time not so long ago when I read enough new mystery and crime releases that I would have felt more comfortable (although not that comfortable) putting together a “best of the year” listing, but 2024 hasn’t been that kind of year. I have read a bunch of books published this year—I’ve even reviewed many of them here at the blog and at Mystery Scene’s website, which like the magazine is now gone—but my survey of the genre hasn‘t been broad enough to declaratively state what I think of as the best. So—instead of championing the following five titles as the best of the genre, these are my favorite of the books (of those I’ve read) published this year. As has been the case since 2016—when I took over as Mystery Scene’s short story critic—about two-thirds of my intake this year were story anthologies and collections. And this list reflects that disparity. So, without precedence, here are my favorite mystery and crime fiction books published in 2024:
HERO, by Thomas Perry (Mysterious Press / Jan. 16). This action-packed thriller from the author of The Old Man is everything I like about thrillers: fast, complicated without being busy, and a rush of pure adrenaline. In my review I called Hero “a shotgun blast from the first page to the last.” Read the review here. Check out Hero here at Amazon.
THE STARK HOUSE ANTHOLOGY, edited by Rick Ollerman & Gregory Shepard (Stark House / June 3). A big and ambitious celebration of Stark House’s silver jubilee, this anthology has 30 tales from mid-century to today. There are brilliant stories by Jada M. Davis—a short novel, really—Charles Runyon, Orrie Hitt, Dan J. Marlowe, Ed Gorman, Fredric Brown, Wade Miller, and—so many more. In my review, I called The Stark Anthology, “close to a perfect hardboiled story collection…” Read the review here. Check out The Stark House Anthology here at Amazon.
SAFE ENOUGH AND OTHER STORIES, by Lee Child (Mysterious Press / Sep. 3). If you’ve only read Child’s Jack Reacher series, many of these 20 standalone tales may surprise you. They showcase Child’s ability as a writer—sharp plotting, expert pacing, and subtle irony—without tying him down to the expectations of a series character. As I wrote in my review of Safe Enough, “[it] reads easy” and “there is nary a dud in the pack.” Read the review here. Check out Safe Enough and Other Stories here at Amazon.
CHRISTMAS CRIMES AT THE MYSTERIOUS BOOKSHOP, edited by Otto Penzler (Mysterious Press / Oct. 22). The twelve stories here are a catalogue of good short fiction by some of the genre’s best writers. Every tale has a scene or two in New York City’s Mysterious Bookshop and every single one is exciting, well-written, good-natured (aka nothing dark) and every story is different from every other story. About those writers—they include, Lyndsay Faye, Ace Atkins, Rob Hart, Jeffrey Deaver, Thomas Perry, and a bunch of others just as good. Read the review here. Check out Christmas Crimes at the Mysterious Bookshop here at Amazon.
FLINT KILL CREEK: STORIES OF MYSTERY AND SUSPENSE, by Joyce Caro Oates (Mysterious Press / Nov. 5). This twelve-story collection is a dark ride into the underbelly of what it is to be human. The tales are dark, at times grotesque without ever being unbearable, and written with a power of language that allows them to live in the mind of the reader long after the pages have been turned. And here is my favorite line from the review I wrote for Flint Kill Creek: “It should appeal to fans of Joyce Carol Oates and anyone else with a humanist bent and an eye for the phantasm of gothic hallucinatory realism.” Read the review here. Check out Flint Kill Creek here at Amazon.
HONORABLE MENTIONS: Man in the Water, by David Housewright (Minotaur Books / June 25); An Honorable Assassin, by Steve Hamilton (Blackstone / Aug. 27); Against the Grain, by Peter Lovesey (Soho Crime / Dec. 3).