The Telegraph
10 Chillingly Good 2022 Crime Novels
by Jake Kerridge

QUEEN HIGH, C. J. Carey
LADY JOKER, Volume 1, Kaoru Takamura (2021 title in U.S.)
A HEART FULL OF HEADSTONES, Ian Rankin
A SEASON IN EXILE, Oliver Harris
THE BULLET THAT MISSED, Richard Osman
MURDER BEFORE EVENSONG, Reverend Richard Coles
THE TWYFORD CODE, Janice Hallett
THE COMPANION, Lesley Thomson
THE PERFECT CRIME, Edited by Vaseem Khan & Maxim Jakubowski
(short stories)
THE INK BLACK HEART by Robert Galbraith

As to this last title, Kerridge states, “Perhaps the greatest puzzle in this year’s crime fiction was The Mystery of the Missing Editor: why was THE INK BLACK HEART, the latest Cormoran Strike novel…permitted to ramble on for more than 1,000 pages? It makes for agreeable reading, but shorn of longueurs, would be better at half the length.”

Amen, I say.

Note: this is the first of the British crime fiction lists from its prestigious newspapers. In the next couple of weeks I should be able to post the best of 2022 lists from the Financial Times (Barry Forshaw and Adam Le Boer), The Times and the Sunday Times.