The 20 Best Crime Novels of 2023

Posted: December 17th, 2023 | No Comments »

My favourites – in no particular order….

The Detective up Late (Sean Duffy #7) – Adrian Mckinty (Blackstone) – brilliant supposed final chapter in the Duffy series sees our hero awake blurrily into 1980s Ulster.

The Last King of California – Jordan Harper (Simon & Schuster) – a fever dream of a wild ride into the world of meth-fuelled minor crims in Nowhere, California

Heat 2 – Michael Mann & Meg Gardiner (HarperCollins) – rewatch the movie first then read Heat 2, a terrific prequal and a sequel.

The Enchanters – James Ellroy (Penguin) – dare we say Ellroy back on form trashing celeb culture, back in the alt-history of old LA and muckraking US history.

Independence Square (Arkady Renko #10) – Martin Cruz Smith (Simon & Schuster) – time moves on though Renko ages slowly but finely like good Georgian brandy. This time Renko heads to Ukraine and finds Putin pulling dangerous strings.

City of Dreams – Don Winslow (HarperCollins) – Book #2 in the Danny Ryan doesn’t kick like the first (City on Fire) largely due to moving out of Providence. The final part of the trilogy is out in 2024 so we’ll see if it ultimately rivals his masterful Cartel trio.

Age of Vice – Deepti Kapoor (Fleet) – a big sprawling wonder of a book that trawls through the underbelly of Indian crime and corruption.

The Secret Hours – Mick Herron (Baskerville) – Sorry, but I’m not a fan of the Slow Horses books but Herron’s standalones are invariably great, and this is one of them.

Code of the Hills (Mick Hardin #3) – Chris Offutt (No Exit Press) – Offutt is consistently a force to be reckoned with in Grit Noir and the Mick Hardin series is consistently quality.

The Murders of Moises Ville – Javier Sinay (Restless Books) – the only true crime on the list and a fascinating one from Argentina, where Sinay is a prolific true crime writer. 

Paradise (DS Walker #2) – Patricia Wolf (Embla Books) – the bets new procedural series to come along in a while. Ranging from the Outback to the Gold Coast, bikie gangs and all manner of Australian crims.

All the Sinners Bleed – SA Cosby (Headline) – Cosby remains on a tear…

The Second Murderer – Denise Mina (Harvill Secker) – the best of the Marlowe reboots so far. Mina is totally pitch perfect as an heir to Chandler.

Malibu Burning (Sharpe & Walker #1) – Lee Goldberg (Thomas & Mercer) – Another good new series, fire investigators in Cali. Goldberg is good at the page turning thing.

The Wheel of Doll (Happy Doll #2) – Jonathan Ames (Pushkin Vertigo) – nice fast paced thrillers in contemporary LA that keep you page turning.

Needless Alley – Natalie Marlow (Baskerville) – 1930s Birmingham (with not a Peaky Blinder in sight) with dollops of sleaze, murder and period feel. A first novel and an author to watch.

The Lock Up (Quirke #9) – John Banville (Hanover Square Press) – Quirke steps back up after the last couple of somewhat lacklustre outings. Back to 1950s Dublin.

Moscow Exile (Joe Wilderness #9) – John Lawton (Grove Press) – Lawton’s mash up of real and fictional espionage continues the British obsession with the Cambridge spies. 

The Darker the Night – Martin Patience (Polygon) – a good solid first outing for Patience in a twisty tale set around the Scottish Independence referendum. 

The Partisan – Patrick Worrall (Bantam) – impressive first book from Worrall with a multi-track tale ranging from Moscow to London to Lithuania and elsewhere of the fall outs from the Holocaust and the Cold War. A new spy writer to watch.

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