Each year The Strand Magazine seems to get its Best of the Year List out too late to be included in my year-end round up of Best of the Best Lists. But Better Late than Never — I guess.

The Strand Magazine Top 20 Best of 2021 List

1. Sleep Well, My Lady by Kwei Quartey (Soho Crime)
2.  The Whispering Dead by Darcy Coates (Black Owl Books)
3. The Wayward Spy by Susan Ouellette (CamCat Books)
4. Her Perfect Life by Hank Phillippi Ryan (Forge Books)
5. The Maidens by Alex Michaelides (Celadon Books)
6. The Lost Girl by Alan Jacobson (Suspense Publishing)
7. 56 Days by Catherine Ryan Howard (Blackstone Publishing)
8. Who is Maud Dixon? by Alexandra Andrews (Little, Brown and Company)
9.  A Good Day for Chardonnay by Darynda Jones (St. Martin’s Press)
10. Wish You Were Gone by Kieran Scott (Gallery Books)
11. Down Range by Taylor Moore (William Morrow)
12. Estranged by Charles Lamar Phillips (Regal House Publishing)
13. Ski Weekend by Rektok Ross (Spark Press)
14. The French Paradox by Ellen Crosby (Severn House)
15. I Am Not Who You Think I Am by Eric Rickstad (Blackstone Publishing)
16. A Gambling Man by David Baldacci (Grand Central Publishing)
17. Blood Grove by Walter Mosley (Mulholland Books)
18. Razorblade Tears by S. A. Cosby (Flatiron Books)
19. The Guest List by Lucy Foley (William Morrow)
20. An Elderly Lady Must Not Be Crossed by Helene Tursten and translated by Marlaine Delargy
    (Soho Crime)

Quite an eclectic list, which includes one 2020 title (THE GUEST LIST by Lucy Foley). It includes 5 books I’ve never heard of. But it did include RAZORBLADE TEARS which is the only novel to appear on a majority of 2021 Best Lists. I absolutely loved AN ELDERLY LADY MUST NOT BE CROSSED.