As usual, I have taken this task of selecting my Top Reads List very seriously and really struggled to make sure the list commemorates my favorite books of the year. Simply put, sometimes this means splitting hairs and having to leave off books that I truly loved but which just didn’t quite have the lasting impact of others. This does not mean I didn’t enjoy those other books – I did! – but anytime you are making a list, some things make the cut and others do not. Rest assured, if I talked about your book here on BOLO Books, I am proud to have read your work and will continue to suggest it to folks for years to come. These are just the books I feel had the most resonance with me this year. I should also say there are still 2024 reviews coming later this month, but all those books have been read and factored into this end-of-year list.
I will remind readers that this is my Top Reads list – not necessarily a Best Of list. Certainly these books are worthy of any Best Of list, but since I did not read everything published this year, I always hesitate to call it such and I question any venue that proports to highlight the best as I am fairly sure no one has read all the crime fiction books published in 2024. So remember, this is just my completely subjective list of the Top Reads of those that I experienced this year.
My final list is presented in alphabetical order based on the novel’s title – except for the first choice, which represents my overall favorite novel of the year. Along with the cover image for each selected book, I have included a short extract from the original review. Please follow the link following each extract to re-visit the full review and to find purchase links.
I can already hear you saying, enough with the babble, let’s see this list!
“What You Leave Behind is Wanda M. Morris’ best novel to date and not to be missed. By telling the reality of a legal plight ravaging the Gullah-Geechee people (and many others), she keeps readers glued to the page even as they are learning important lessons about generational wealth. By focusing on the intimate story of Deena Wood, Wanda M. Morris is able to elucidate a much larger social problem without seeming pedantic or didactic—traits that can stall a fictional narrative faster than a flat tire on a country road…The atmosphere and ambiance of every scene, every locale, grounds the story in a way that can’t be taken for granted. This is a writer who knows all the tricks of the trade and just when to deploy them for maximum effect.” (FULL REVIEW)
“Chris Whitaker’s All the Colors of the Dark very much echoes this “intimate epic” aesthetic. Despite being about citizens from small town America (Monta Clare, Missouri) during a specific period of time (1975-2001) faced with a unique dilemma (the rampage of a serial killer), All the Colors of the Dark strangely feels untethered by location, time, and/or circumstance…Any reader who experiences All the Colors of the Dark will never forget having done so. It’s the type of novel that becomes a cultural touchstone, used to illustrate a specific aesthetic for discussion, analysis, and comparison. Revisiting this novel at different stages in one’s life is also likely to result in different takeaways. With All the Colors of the Dark, Chris Whitaker has crafted a book that will mean different things to different people, even while it unites us under the same universal human condition.” (FULL REVIEW)
“Oskar Gudmundsson came out of the gate swinging, making it clear that he was an author who would not shy away from challenging subject matter, writing in a style that is brutal and unflinching but with a lyrical nature that seemingly floats across the page. This a particularly apt description as his newly translated novel, The Dancer, centers on the tightknit ballet community…The Dancer clocks in at only 200 pages, but please don’t take this to imply a quick or easy read. Some of these pages have more critical plot developments than readers might find in some other entire novels. The Dancer is a dense book with a style all its own…it is a daring work that refuses to sugarcoat the tragic journeys some characters are forced to endure through no fault of their own.” (FULL REVIEW)
“The best way to describe Every Time I Go on Vacation, Someone Dies by Catherine Mack is as a delightfully engaging mystery that provides countless laughs and unexpected detours…Every Time I Go on Vacation, Someone Dies might look like a cozy mystery—a subgenre with which it does share much DNA—but it would be more accurately defined as a traditional mystery, even straying into thriller territory on more than one occasion. This hybrid serves to make the whole endeavor feel fresh and unique…There’s unlikely to be a more fun read this season. Every Time I Go on Vacation, Someone Dies has something for everyone. The descriptions of Italy alone will have you ready to renew your passport. Come along on this madcap adventure.” (FULL REVIEW)
“Leave it to Louise Penny to captivate readers with a global crisis of unimaginable magnitude while also recounting incredibly intimate struggles for forgiveness, fidelity, trust, and hope. The Grey Wolf, both the spiritual concept and the book itself, elucidates that dichotomous part within each of us—the eternal battle to be just and fair in a world on the brink of hypocrisy and greed…Once again, Louise Penny is using these small-scale ambiguities and the larger crime plot to convey something significant about life’s larger overarching “mystery”—why do we exist? With a plot that reflects the turmoil we see around the world in politics, citizenry, and division, The Grey Wolf manages to entertain as it also enlightens.” (FULL REVIEW)
“John Copenhaver plots Hall of Mirrors to almost guarantee as speedy a reading experience as possible…At its heart, Hall of Mirrors is an examination of the various ways people pretend to be something they are not. Both as a means of survival and as a way to navigate a society where an unequal balance remains the status quo. Almost every character on the page is hiding some true part of themselves and Copenhaver uses the mystery plot as a vehicle to document their self-actualization…Hall of Mirrors is a complex historical mystery that is told so expertly that any confusion that might result is mitigated by the deep characterization of the leads and the well-researched historical details that form the backdrop of the action.” (FULL REVIEW)
“Now with the release of her second standalone—I Dreamed of Falling—Julia Dahl is poised to stake her claim as an author unafraid to write provocative and insightful thrillers that prioritize character over plot, without sacrificing the white-knuckle reading experience…in addition to being a gripping mystery/thriller, I Dreamed of Falling also has important things to say about our humanity. It ruminates on what it means to be a parent, how society places undue pressure on parents to be “perfect,” and how what we see on the outside is not always a true reflection of what is going on internally…With hypnotic prose and a steady heartbeat of plotting rhythm, Dahl draws the reader in.” (FULL REVIEW)
“Fans of domestic suspense will no doubt have a handle on some of the secrets at play in A Very Bad Thing, but J. T. Ellison is a writer known for letting her novels unfurl organically—so even those correct guesses will be superseded by later, and larger, unexpected surprises. Right up and through the epilogue of the book…This novel has some profound things to say about mother/daughter relationships, about the fan/artist dynamic, and about the price of keeping secrets buried…the soap opera plot is meant to entertain—and wildly succeeds in doing so—but underlying it all are some real societal concerns that are more than worth examining.” (FULL REVIEW)
“At its core, What Happened to Nina? is an intense look at two sets of parents—on opposite sides of the same case—faced with the worst possible situations…one of the most compelling and gripping reads of the year. Once What Happened to Nina? is begun, most readers will find themselves thinking about it constantly—not in the way we think about books, but in the way we think about true crime cases. Nina’s disappearance leaps off the page and embeds itself into the reader’s psyche. And once the truth is known and the final pages are turned, readers will never stop thinking about this masterpiece from Dervla McTiernan. What Happened to Nina? is like a modern Greek Tragedy in which there are no winners.” (FULL REVIEW)
“Under the right set of circumstances, perhaps anyone is capable of murder. Or maybe the truth is, everyone is capable of murder. With his new book, Who to Believe, Edwin Hill uses a creative structure to expose readers to the idea that point of view is the key element in almost every aspect of our lives…Picking up an Edwin Hill novel is a bit like jumping off a high cliff knowing that the safety of water waits below, but not knowing exactly what the fall itself will be like…the author here is going to present seven different viewpoints on the same events in an effort to illustrate that who is telling the story drastically changes how and what is told…Who to Believe is a masterpiece in structural execution—readers always know who is telling their version of events and how those scenes dovetail into the overall storyline of the novel. (FULL REVIEW)
TOP DEBUTS OF THE YEAR
“The Busy Body is a traditional, play fair mystery from Kemper Donovan—host of the All About Agatha podcast. Given his knowledge of Agatha Christie, it’s little surprise that The Busy Body will appeal to fans of the Golden Age of crime fiction. The story is very modern, but the vibe is full-on retro in the best ways possible…The plot of The Busy Body is structurally tight and perfectly paced, but it’s the voice of the unnamed narrator that really makes the novel sing. She’s smart, funny, flawed, and a true risktaker. Almost from the first page, readers are bonded with her and rooting for her every step of the way…By the time the reader reaches the end of The Busy Body, they will be sad to leave this world behind. There is just something comforting in this ghostwriter’s personality and her telling of the tale is just a pure delight.” (FULL REVIEW)
“The fusion when the correct author finds the perfect subject matter is much like an alchemical reaction—a bond that is immediately felt and virtually undeniable…K. T. Nguyen has written a solid work of psychological horror. Readers are forced—many times in very uncomfortable ways—to viscerally experience Annie’s obsessive compulsive behavior. Nguyen’s style is fine-tuned to such an extent that sometimes the very act of turning the book’s pages seems like a bad decision. You Know What You Did is most definitely not a novel for the faint-hearted…Ultimately, You Know What You Did is a story of generational trauma, the long-standing effects of War, and the unconditional bonds of motherhood.” (FULL REVIEW)
“This fantasy/mystery hybrid is a guaranteed cross-over success for readers who love bildungsroman-style tales of magic, detailed political landscapes in fantastical worlds, and the intrigue and mystery found in the best crime fiction…Readers who dive into Voyage of the Damned will not soon forget this reading experience. This is a resounding success and marks Frances White as a unique voice on the literary landscape—one who is unafraid to take risks and sees the immense value in blending genres in ways that make the whole more powerful than the sum of its parts. Pick up Voyage of the Damned today and follow Ganymedes—and Frances White—on a journey to discover the best in each individual and in humanity as a whole.” (FULL REVIEW)
