The votes are in and the results have just been announced.

Goodreads Choice Award – Best Mystery of 2023

Here is how the voting came out.

THE HOUSEMAID’S SECRET, Freida McFadden 86,468 votes – Winner

NONE OF THIS IS TRUE, Lisa Jewell – 73, 187 votes
THE ONLY ONE LEFT, Riley Sager – 63, 021 votes
THE LAST DEVIL TO DIE, Richard Osman – 58, 583 votes
VERA WONG’S UNSOLICITED ADVICE FOR MURDERERS, Jesse. Q. Sutanto – 39,966 votes
BRIGHT YOUNG WOMEN, Jessica Knoll – 34, 352 votes
ALL THE DANGEROUS THINGS, Stacy Willingham – 32,428 votes
HOMECOMING, Kate Morton – 27,135 votes
I HAVE SOME QUESTIONS FOR YOU, Rebecca Makkai – 24,636 votes
ALL THE SINNERS BLEED, S. A. Cosby – 20,704 votes
THE RIVER WE REMEMBER, William Kent Krueger – 9, 182 votes
WHAT LIES IN THE WOODS, Kate Alice Marshall – 8,928 votes
THE VILLA, Rachel Hawkins – 7,788 votes
AFTER THAT NIGHT, Karin Slaughter – 6,741 votes
THE COWORKER, Freida McFadden – 6,373 votes
HAPPINESS FALLS, Angie Kim – 5,471 votes
GOOD BAD GIRL, Alice Feeney – 5,323 votes
DON’T LET HER STAY, Nicola Sanders – 4,099 votes
THE LEFTOVER WOMAN, Jean Kwok – 3,378 votes
THE MAID’S DIARY, Loreth Anne White – 2,982 votes

Elsewhere, YELLOWFACE by R. F. Kuang won in the Best Fiction category and HOLLY by Stephen King won in the Best Horror category (this is a mystery/private eye novel, not a horror novel although there are some uncomfortable scenes in it).

Comments: I’m flabbergasted by the number of votes that Goodreads garners for these awards. The list of nominees is highly weighted towards psychological/domestic suspense and women writers. There are only 4 books by male authors on the list. The winner, THE HOUSEMAID’S SECRET comes as a big surprise to me because it has appeared on only one other best list of the more than sixty best lists that I have posted over the last few weeks.