Crime Time Best Crime Fiction of 2023
www.crimetime.co.uk

On November 9th, Crime Time convened a panel of experts to discuss their personal “best of the year” lists and come up with a consensus list. This is the list that resulted from their debate.

2023’s Top 6 Crime Fiction Novels

THE SECRET HOURS, Mick Herron
ALL THE SINNERS BLEED, S. A. Cosby
EVERYBODY KNOWS, Jordan Harper
SMALL MERCIES, Dennis Lehane
A MURDER IN THE FAMILY, Cara Hunter
THE SQUARE OF SEVENS, Laura Shepherd-Robinson

Here are the panel members, who are the creme de la creme of the U.K. crime fiction critics’ scene: Paul Burke, Ayo Onatade, Victoria Selman, Barry Forshaw, Jon Coates, Jake Kerridge, Laura Wilson, Maxim Jakubowski. Whew! That’s a lot of fire power.

Ayo is on our Barry Award Thriller nominating committee and is a reviewer for Shots magazine, Barry Forshaw is a reviewer for the Financial Times, Laura Wilson is a crime fiction author and reviewer for The Guardian, Jake Kerridge is a reviewer for The Telegraph, Jon Coates is an editor and critic for the Sunday Express. Maxim Jakubowski and Victoria Selman are authors, critics and contributors to Crime Time, which is run by Paul Burke. All of them really know their stuff. If you added our Deadly Pleasures‘ contributors Ali Karim, Craig Sisterson and Jeff Popple to the mix, you’d have just about everyone who is anyone in crime fiction criticism in the U.K.

Comment: The top four titles on the list will be in hot contention for a Barry Award nomination next year. A MURDER IN THE FAMILY, Cara Hunter has cropped up on quite a few “best” lists. I was unfamiliar with that title. It was published here in the States in late September as a trade paperback from William Morrow.

**Then each of these experts supplied their own personal Best of 2023 lists. I will separately post all of these lists over the next few hours.