O.K., I admit it. For some strange reason that is still unfathomable to me, I am obsessed with finding as many Mystery, Crime Novel and\or Thriller Best of the Year lists as I can. I comb the Internet every day to see what I can find and grow impatient when a publication, or website, or a critic, or a bookdealer doesn’t get on the ball and get their list out timely.

As each list appears, I keep a running total of how many times certain books appear on these best lists. Let’s face it, even experts in the field (reviewers, editors, publishers and websites) don’t agree on what are the best books of the year. And some lists are clearly better (in my opinion) than others. But the only way to come up with a list that isn’t totally subjective is to give each book on each best list a vote and see which books get the most votes. That tally is what I will come up with in late December after all of the lists come out.

I keep my ear pretty close to the ground when it comes to how well certain mystery, crime and thriller titles are received and this year I didn’t notice a clear front-runner. 2020 and 2021 were a different story. BLACKTOP WASTELAND and RAZORBLADE TEARS by S.A. Cosby were clearly considered the best books of those two years by most people in the know and the awards those two excellent crime novels won validate that premise.

I gather lists from all over the English-speaking world or in other words, the United States, Canada, the U.K., South Africa and Australia.

Last year I found over 80 lists and I hope to find at least that many this year. I’ve gotten about 20 lists so far so I’m roughly 25% done. The top vote getter so far is THE MAID by Nita Prose (which is on my own personal best list), but that may change as more lists come in.

I’ve asked all DP contributors to have their best lists to me by the end of November so around December 3 or thereabouts I will post their best lists. Kristopher Zgorski has asked for more time than that, so his list will be posted when I get it.

We’ve been pointing you towards some of the best books by reviews and columns in DP all year long, so many of the titles on the best lists should not come as a big surprise to you.

Suggestion: Pick the lists that most reflect your reading tastes and try some of the other titles on those best lists.