ALL THE SINNERS BLEED, S.A. Cosby (Flatiron)
BRIGHT YOUNG WOMEN, Jessica Knoll (Simon & Schuster/Rucci)
THE DEVIL’S PLAYGROUND, Craig Russell (Doubleday)
THE EDEN TEST, Adam Sternbergh (Flatiron)
EVERYBODY KNOWS, Jordan Harper (Mulholland)
EXCAVATIONS, Hannah Michell (One World)
FLAGS ON THE BAYOU, James Lee Burke (Atlantic Monthly Press)
HOW CAN I HELP YOU, Laura Sims (Putnam)
A MOST AGREEABLE MURDER, Julia Seales (Random House)
THE MOST SECRET MEMORY OF MEN, Mohamed Mbougar Sarr
(Other Press)
STRANGE SALLY DIAMOND, Liz Nugent (Scout)
TELL ME WHAT I AM, Una Mannion (Harper)

Also, in the Best Fiction list are two titles considered by many to be crime/mystery fiction:
AGE OF VICE, Deepti Kapoor
I HAVE SOME QUESTIONS FOR YOU, Rebecca Makkai
THE HEAVEN & EARTH GROCERY STORE, James McBride

I have to admit that some of these titles are surprises to me, but in researching them, they all have received at least one starred review (from PW) and several of them have two or more starred reviews and an editor’s choice from amazon. I can’t find fault with a list such as this, except for it being too short and leaving out other works of stellar quality such as SMALL MERCIES by Dennis Lehane.

Eight of the fourteen titles already appear on our Deadly Pleasures Best of 2023 list. I’ve added two of these titles to said list.

I will not be surprised if at the end of my process of collecting and collating all of the year-end “best” lists, the psychological suspense/domestic suspense novels at the top of the list (with the most mentions on the “best” lists) will be BRIGHT YOUNG WOMEN by Jessica Knoll and STRANGE SALLY DIAMOND by Liz Nugent. Stay tuned.

Thanks to The Rap Sheet for noticing this list before I did and alerting me that it was out. I looked for it on Saturday, but either missed it or it was posted after I looked.