New Zealand’s LISTENER Magazine
Best Crime & Thriller 2021

BEFORE YOU KNEW MY NAME, Jacqueline Bublitz
1979, Val McDermid
DREAM GIRL, Laura Lippman
EXIT, Belinda Bauer
HARLEM SHUFFLE, Colson Whitehead
THE LAST GUESTS, J. P. Pomare
THE QUIET PEOPLE, Paul Cleve
RAZORBLADE TEARS, S. A. Cosby
SILVERVIEW, John le Carre’
THE STONING, Peter Papathanasiou
TREASURE & DIRT, Chris Hammer
WINTER COUNTS, David Heska Wanbli Weiden – 2020 title in U.S.

It may seem that I am reaching far afield for lists such as this one, but I have to say that this is a pretty darn good list. And what I’m searching for when I compare all of the “best” lists of the year is consensus. In the 18 lists I’ve posted so far, RAZORBLADE TEARS by S. A. Cosby seems to be the leader in mentions, just as last year his BLACKTOP WASTELAND was the novel with the most mentions on the “bests” lists. Most of these “best” lists will come out in December, so keep tuned for those. There should be at least 30 more to come including “best” lists from most of the DP contributors.

A special thanks to THE RAP SHEET and J. Kingston Pierce for this information and for Craig Sisterson’s Facebook post. Jeff Pierce and I trade back and forth finding new “best” lists and posting them. I greatly appreciate his help in bringing this information to the public and I think he feels the same about deadlypleasures.com. We certainly save each other some time.

His site is a daily “must see” for me.