I can hardly believe we’ve come to the end of 2022—and what a year it’s been! I’m pretty sure I say this every year, but 2022 has truly been another outstanding year for crime fiction readers. As I reflected on my year in books while writing this blog post, it felt nearly impossible to narrow down my picks. I genuinely think we might be in the golden age of crime writing; the books crime writers had in store for us this year were nothing short of superb. From the return of fan-favorite authors to thrilling new voices being published for the first time, the crime fiction genre was in top form in 2022—making it all the more challenging to pick just 10 books from the year to highlight here! But tough choices had to be made, and made they were. Without further ado, I’m so excited to share with you my personal picks for the Top 10 Crime Books of 2022 in today’s blog post! More than any other criteria, the key thing these books have in common is simple: they are all books I’ve continued to think about since I finished reading them. These are stories that entertained me, challenged me, thrilled me, and kept me on the edge of my seat; in this list you’ll find Gothic horror, Nordic Noir, psychological suspense, and much more; a wide array of crime fiction subgenres, but all excellent books that stood out from the pack for me in 2022.
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RECOMMENDED READING: HALLOWEEN 2022
It’s the most wonderful time of the year: Halloween season is upon us! I firmly believe that you can read thrillers any time of year, but there’s something undeniably perfect about digging into a dark, creepy crime novel in the lead-up to Halloween. Honestly, every year I have a little bit of a hard time coming up with a list of Halloween reading recommendations, not because I don’t have enough books to recommend—quite the opposite! Just about every single book I’ve ever talked about here on Crime by the Book could be a great Halloween read, and that can make narrowing down my lists of Halloween reading recommendations really tricky. But I’m up for the challenge—and I’m thrilled with how this year’s reading list turned out! For this year’s Halloween reading list, I’m focusing on new (or new-ish!) releases—primarily books that have been published in 2022, with a few slightly older releases in the mix, too. Happy reading, and happy haunting!
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CBTB's Best Crime Books of January 2022
It’s hard to believe we’re already more than a month into 2022—where has the time gone?! The first month of this year may have flown by, but it brought with it some outstanding new crime novels that deserve a moment of our time before we turn our attention fully to February. To that end, in today’s blog post, I’m rounding up my personal picks for best new crime books published in January 2022! From epistolary mysteries to dark Nordic serial killer thrillers and more, this month brought with it a terrific lineup of new crime stories for us to devour—and you can learn more about my four personal favorites in this post! Without further ado, let’s dive on in. Happy reading!
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CBTB's Most Anticipated Early 2022 Crime Books
A new year is upon us, and there’s only one way to kick off 2022 here on CBTB: by celebrating some of the outstanding crime books that the year has in store for us!! To ring in 2022, I’m thrilled to share my picks for most-anticipated crime books releasing in January, February, and March 2022! As always, there are way too many crime books I’m excited about this year for me to put them all into one blog post, so I’ll be divvying the year up into a few different “most-anticipated” lists for you to peruse. Today I want to focus on crime books I’m particularly excited about that will be published in the first three months of this year—and boy oh boy, there are a lot of them. From the return of CBTB favorite authors (Lars Kepler! Camilla Sten! Stephanie Wrobel! and so many more!!) to the release of international crime books I’ve been online-stalking ever since I first heard of their publications overseas, from serial killer thrillers and cult stories to seafaring suspense and private investigator mysteries, there’s a little bit of something for everyone on today’s list. 2022 is already shaping up to be another outstanding year for new crime fiction, and I can’t wait to embark on a new year of crime fiction exploration with you all!
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CBTB's Best Crime Books of 2020
Another year is drawing to a close, and what a year it’s been. To call 2020 a challenge would be, frankly, the understatement of the year. I’ve always been thankful for the escape that a great crime book can bring, but I don’t think I’ve ever been quite as thankful for great books as I have been this year. 2020 brought with it outstanding new crime fiction from CBTB favorites and new-to-me authors alike; it saw some of my longtime favorite writers embarking on new directions in their writing careers; it introduced me to new series that I expect I’ll be following for years to come. From psychological thrillers to Nordic Noir to creepy, horror-inspired suspense and a little bit of everything in between, this year brought with it lots of new crime novels to love, and in today’s blog post, I’m sharing my picks for the very best of the best that this year had to offer. I’m thrilled to share with you my picks for Best Crime Books of 2020, this year with a fun twist! I’ve given each book included in this list a superlative: everything from “Best Plot Twist” to “Best ‘Popcorn Thriller’” to “Best Nordic Noir Series Installment” and more. Happy reading!
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