Kirkus Best Mysteries and Thrillers of 2023

THE LOST AMERICANS, Christopher Bollen
GREEN FOR DANGER, Christianna Brand – reprint
BLAZE ME A SUN, Christoffer Carlsson
ONE LAST KILL, Robert Dugoni
NIGHT WILL FIND YOU, Julia Heaberlin
REYKJAVIK, Ragnar Jonasson & Katrin Jakobsdottir
EVERY MAN A KING, Walter Mosley
BRIGHT YOUNG WOMEN, Jessica Knoll
THE STOLEN COAST, Dwyer Murphy
CODE OF THE HILLS, Chris Offutt
A LINE IN THE SAND, Kevin Powers
CROOK MANIFESTO, Colson Whitehead

In the Best Fiction of 2023

HAPPINESS FALLS, Angie Kim
BIRNAM WOOD, Eleanor Catton
YELLOWFACE, R. F. Kuang
THE FROZEN RIVER, Ariel Lawhon

Comment: Larry Gandle, who send me this list, called it “a really weird list.” I haven’t read any of the titles, so I can’t comment on that. What I think may be “weird” about it is the absence of highly regarded titles. It seems to me that whoever came up with the list hasn’t read widely in the 2023 mystery and crime scene.