BITS & PIECES

Openers:  I told her on the second date.  I hadn't planned to tell her at all, because I learned from experience that this wasn't the kind of thing you told other people, but then she said she wasn't drinking.

"Cranberry and soda," she told the bartender.

I'd already ordered a beer.

"You're not drinking?"

"I'm on antibiotics, but you go ahead."

The bartender put down my beer, and it felt weird to ignore it.

"We can go somewhere else," I said.  "I don't need to finish this."

"If you needed to finish it, you'd be an alcoholic."

"Or maybe I don't want to hurt the bartender's feelings."

"What about my feelings?"

"Are they hurt/"

"Now that I know you're more worried about the bartender's feelings than mine, they are."

I liked doing banter with her.

-- "Ankle Snatcher" by Grady Hendrix (2023, an amazon original story)

Tess really wasn't on antibiotics.  She didn't drink because her father was an addict who had smoked up the Chriostmas m oney when she was ten, so he went next door and stole all their presents.  Her m other kicked him out, but when she was older, she would run into him while she was with her firends and he would try to cadge money from her.  She blamed her screwed-up childhood on her not ever having a relationship.

Although it wasn't a contest, Marcus told her about the time, when he was six, his father killed his mother.  Actually, he didn't tell her everything.  He didn't tell her his father blamed his mother's death on the boogeyman -- whom he called the ankle biter; the boogey man killed her because she did not put on the light before she got out of bed.  His father vanished that night, taking his mother's body with him.  Police caught him somewhere in Georgia.  They never found his mother's body.

Somehow these two wounded people happened to make a connection, and they ended up at his place.  Then in the middle of the night, she got up to pee without turning the light on...

...That would be an interesting ending to a short horror tale.  But we are only one-quarter of the way into the story.

The ankle biter was worse than Marcus could have ever imagined...

Grady Hendrix is the bestselling author of Horrorstor, My Best Friend's Exocism, The Southern Book Club's Guide to Slaying Vampires, The Final Girl Support Group, and How to Sell a Haunted House.  Hndrix is noted for taking horror memes and turning them on their repective heads.  Paperbacks from Hell, his survey of horror paperbacks from the 70s and 80s (co-written with Will Errickson), won the Bram Stoker Award for Best Non-Fiction in 2018.

Incoming:

• John Connolly an Declan Burke, eds. Books to Die For:  The World's Greatest Mystery Writers on the World's Greatest Mysteries.  What the title says.  Over a hundred authors from twenty countries delve into their favorite reads.
• Gary William Crawford, Robert Aickman:  An Introduction.  A study of one of the most important writers of ghost stories of the last century.
• John Creasey, Inspector West at Home.  Mystery, the third in Creasey's long-running series about Inspector (later Superintendent) Roger "Handsome" West of Scorland Yard.  "Chief Inspector West is framed, acused of taking a bribe of a thousand piunds.  His Scotland Yard career in peril, west is given a month to clear himself.  He plunges into a mystery that involves murder, international conspiracy -- and corruption in the Yard."  West is one of my favorites of Creasey's many series charcters.  With over 500 novels published, it is remarkable that Creasey was able to maintain the high quality of his writing.
• "James Cross" (Hugh Jones Parry), Root of Evil.  Crime novel.  "Jim McCabe was just another ex-GI trying to scribble out a living in Hollywood until he dug up a chest of gold in his back yard.  No thriller he ever dreamed up on paper could match the deadly nightmare that followed,  Because a big-time Syndicate hood found out Jim's secret.  From that moment on Jim McCabe was living on borrowed time."
• "R. B. Dominic" (Mary J. Latsis & Martha Henissart), There Is No Justice (also published as Murder Out of Court).  Mystery, the third in the Ben Safford series.  "Murder intruded in a headline-hunting Senator's investigation od the President's latest nomination to the Supreme Court.   Confirmation might then have proceeded smoothly if scandal hadn't suddenly exploded in the middle of it all embarrassing not only the appointee, but his friends and backers from the Pre4sident of the United States down.  The mess -- fanned by the press -- outraged some while it titillated Washington, D.C.'s cocktail party circuit.  Until murder struck again.  It took a har-headed Wshington cop and that super-cool Congressman from Ohio, Ben Safford, to separate the real and the false clues and to track down the killer to the one plae the killer was least likely to be found."  So this one was published in 1971, which goes a long way to explaining the "super-cool" adjective applied to a sitting Congressman.  The authors are better known under their other joint pseudonym "Emma Lathan" and the John Putnam Thatcher mysteries.
• Guy Endore, The Werewolf of Paris.  The classic werewolf novel.  "From the 1920s-era framing story, to the story of the bitter feud between the Pitamonts and Potovals, to bertrand's conception as a result of rape and his destructive effects on thelives of others , the novel is shocking and unsettling in a low-key way.  The final events of the book occur during the riots and masscres of the Paris Commune, where Bertrand's handful of murders diminishes into insignificance next to the death of thousands.  An excellent, disturbing book where no one is whoilly evil, no oneis whooly good, and the world is on the verge of chaos."  The book spawned Endore's script for the film Mask of the Werewolf.  In addition to his many Novels, Endore was a active screenwriter, penning such classics as The Story of G.I. Joe, the Nero Wolfe film The League of Frightened Men, and Tomorrow Is Another Day.
• Janet Evanovich & Steve Hamilton, The Bounty.  A Fox and O'Hare caper novel.  "Straight as an arrow special agent Kate O'Hare and the international criminal Nick Fox face their most dangerous foe yet -- a vast, shadowy international organization known only as the Brotherhood.   With dreams of a new Third Reich, the Brotherhood is on a frantic search for a lost rtrain loaded with $30 billion in Nazi gold, untouched for more than seventy-five years somewhere in the mountains of Eastern Europe.  Kate and Nick know that there is only one man who can find the fortune and bring down the Brothrhoo -- the same man who taught Nick everything he knows -- his fathr, Quentin.  As the stakes get higher, they must also rely on Kate's father, Jake, who shares his daughter's grit and stubbornness.  From a remote monastery in the Swiss Alps to the lawless desert of the Western Sahara, Kate, Nick, and the two men who made them who they are today must crisscross the world in a desperate scramble to stop their deadliest for in the biggest adventure of their lives."  The first five novels in the series were co-authored by evanovich and Lee Goldberg; this novel -- the seventh in the series -- has Edgar-winning writer Hamilton sharing the reins with Evanovich.  The Fox and O'Hare novels are light froth, but are higly entertaining.
• Basil Heatter, The Dim View.  War novel, Heatter's first book.  "His number was up, he knew it.  The bloody battles were like a roulette whee -- another turn and up comes death.  PT skipper Jim Masters was a wounded war hero who had met the enemy once too often.  Lying in a hospital bed in Australia, he knew that if he had to face their guns again, he'd turn and run.  PT skipper Jim Masters was a coward.  and he didn't like it."   Heatter was the son of news commentator Gabriel Heater.  He wrote some 20 paperback novels of crime, adventure, and the sea.  He had an unusual approach to commas.
• Walter Gibson, Walter Gibson's Big Book of Magic for All Ages.  Subtitled "With over 150 easy-to-perform tricks using everyday objects."  Gibsib was a professional magician and prolific author -- he wrote 282 of the 325 novels about the pulp hero The Shadow, for example.  Eight of the ten chapters in this book have introductions by famous magicians:  Harry Blackstone, T. Nelson Downe, Harry Houdini, Joseph Dunninger, Horace Goldin, Cardini, The Great Raymond, and Howard Thurston.  Coincidentally, Gibson was, at various times, a ghost writer for Houdini, Dunninger, Blackstone, and Thurston (and probably others).
• Derrick Hussey, S. T. Joshi, & David E. Schultz, Twenty Years of Hippocampus Press 2000-2020.  Nonfiction overview of the small press devoted to H. P. Lovecraft, his works, and his influence.
• Elmer Kelton, After the Bugles and Hanging Judge.  Two westerns from the seven-time Spur winner.  In After, "Joshua Buckalow has left behind the deserted battlefields that claimed his brother.  The war has cost him much, but it has also given him a strong bond to the land and to the Mexican families who stood with him against the tyrannies of Santa Ana.  John and Ramon Hernandez, his best friend and the man who fought by his side, are exiles in the land they had fought to liberate.  Josh's home was reduced to ashes, Ramon is a hated Mexican, and Texas is crawling with bandits and opportunists eager to make a killing.."  In Hanging, "Justin Moffitt is eager to help keep the peace as a deputy marchal in a small-town in Texas.  That is, until Justin is assigned to the wrong marshal -- a 'hanging judge' who is as famous for his ruthlessness as he is for his commitment to justice.  When Justin's boss hangs a controversial criminal, Justin must defend himself against an army of friends and relatives deperate for revenge."
• Jim Kjelgaard (with Robert Bloch), Tales of the Macabre.  Collection of three stories from the Forties written by Kjelgaard and revised by Bloch for publication in Weird Tales, back when both were members of a writing group, the Milwaukee Fictioneers.  Kjelgaard, a prolific writer for the pulps, is best known for his young adult adventure books about animals (Big Red, Snow Dog, Irish Red, Son of Big Red, Outlaw Red, Son of Big Red, Fire-Hunter, and Swamp Cat among them).  Bloch, the author of Psycho and "Yours Truly, Jack the Ripper," really needs no introduction.  I confess that as a kid, like so many others my age, I owned a copy of Big Red but, sadly, I never read it.
• Kazu Kibuishi, Amulet, Book One:  The Stonekeeper.  Young adult graphic novel.  "There's something strange behind the basement door...After a family tragedy, Emily, Navin, and their mother move to an ancestral home to start a new life.  On the family's very first night in the mysterious house, Em and Navin's mom is kidnapped by a tentacled creature.  Now it is up to Em and Navin to figure out how to set things right and save their mother's life!"
• Alexander Laing, The Cadaver of Gideon Wyck.  The classic horror novel.  "Strange mysteries abound in a small Maine town.  Why did the brilliant, but cruel, Dr. Gideon Wyck perfrom an unnecessary amputation on one of his patients?  Why does that patient now insist that black devils are trying to steal his soul?  What is behind the series of monster babies being born to apparently normal, healthy women?  And when Wyck is found dead under peculiar and inexplicable circumstances, whjo is responsible -- and why?"  This is the unabrdige text of the original first edition, long unavailable until now.
• Tim Lebbon, The Folded Land.  Horror novel, the second in the Relics trilogy.  "In the dark underbelly of our world, there's a black market in arcane things -- living and dead.  Angele Gough has been pulled into this world, making her a criminal on the run.  In London she encountered the Kin -- satyrs and centaurs, Nephilim and wraiths.  They are hunted and slaughtered for their boody parts.  Fleeing back to the United States, Angela discovers that the Kin are everywhere, and they are tired of being prey.  When her niece Sammi is struck by lightning, she is drawn toward the mysterious Folded Land, and its powerful and deadly ruler.  Helped by her lover Vince, caught in the middle of a Kin uprising, Angela must locate Sammi before the girl is lost forever."
• Frances & Richard Lockridge, Curtain for a Jester.  A Mr. and Mrs. North mystery.  "a precitcl joker who saw nothing funny about a knife stuck in his chest...the mysterious man with red hair who might hold the key to a devilish crime...the broken pieces of a manniquin lying on a city sidewalk...These are all part of the newest [1953] and most thrilling case involving Pam and Jerry North and Captain Weigand of Homicie.  It's top-notch mystery, climaxed by the Norths again being up to their necks in murder and mayhem!"
• George R. R. Martin & Melinda M. Snodgrass, eds., High Stakes:  A Wild Cards Novel.  A "mosiac novel," the 23rd in the Wild Card series; written by David Anthony Durham, Stephen Leigh, John Jos. Miller, Melinda M. Snodgrass, Caroline Spector, and Ian Tregillis.  "High Stakes delves deeper nto the world of aces, jokers, and the hard-boiled men and women of the Fort Freak police precinct in a pulpy, page-turning novel of superheroes and Lovecraftian horror.  After the concluding events of Lowball, Officer Francis Black of Fort Freak, vigilante joker Marcus 'The Infamous Black Tongue' Morgan, and ace thief Mollie 'Tesseract' Steunenberg get stuck in Talos, Kyrgyzstan.  There, the cold-blooded Baba Yaga forces jokers into an illegal fighting ring, but her hidden agenda is much darker:  her fighter's deaths serve to placate a vicious monster from another dimension.  When the last line of defense against this world weakens, all hell breaks loose, literally...The Committee in New York sends a team of aces to investigate.  One by one, each of them falls victim to evil forces -- including the dark impulses within themselves.  Only the perserverance of the most unlikely of heroes has a chance of saving the world before utter chaos erupts on Earth."
• Robin McKinley, The Door in the Hedge.  Fantasy collection with four stories.   "Step through the door in the hedge into the lands of Faery -- a more more beautiful, and far more dangerous than the fairy tales of childhood would have us believe."  McKinley was named a Grand Master by the Science Fiction and Fantasy WritersAssociation last year.  Among her other honors are the Newbury Medal, a World Fantasy Award, and Mythopoetic Award for Adult Literature.
• William F. Nolan, Like a Dead Man Walking. Collection of stories, poetry, jpournal notes, and an interview with his long-time friend Richard Matheson.  "Sherlock Holmes...Interdimensional demons...Aliens...Killers and child predators...Time travelers...Vampires...Even the end of the world in more ways than one, all are copntained within these pages."  With more than 85 books to his credit, Nolan was a legend among genre writers.  He may be best known for Logan's Run.
• Seabury Quinn, Night Creatures.  Collection  of eleven horror stories first published in Weird Tales.  Quinn was the creator of the long-running and popular occult detective stories about Jules de Grandin, one of which is included here.  Interesting fact:  Quinn was the editor of the mortuary trade publication Casket and Sunnyside and an expert on mortuary jurisprudence.
• Michael Resnick, Redbeard.  Science fiction.  "Red Will Donahoe, born barbarian into a world stripped of civilization, was a misfit.  All around him were the results of the final blowup that had doomed civiization, skulking in the ruins of the city.  And Donahoe skulked, too, hiding from the struggling normal society on the other side of the great river.  Hiding not from his own choice, but because he was bound by unseen ties to the man in the shadoes, Gareth Cole -- Master of the Mutants.  Cole watched his barbarian grow from childhood, grow into a fierceness of a manhood that could know no peace until it had tasted the rich taste of blood.  And Cole, enigmatic ruler of half a world, wondered if he had made a mistake in allowing Redbeard to live." 
• "J. D. Robb" (Nora Roberts), Naked in Death and Born in Death.  Mystery novels featuring near-future New York City cop Eve Dallas.  Kevin Tipple has been singing the praises of this series for a while now and I decided to pick up a couple of books in the series (which now has reached 56 novels and 11 novellas, if I counted correctly).  I'm nor sure when I will get to them, but at least these are now on Mount TBR.  Naked was the first book in the series. "Eve Dallas is a New York City police lieutenant hunting for a ruthless killer.  In over ten yers on the force, she's seen it all -- and knows that her survival depends on her instincts.  Now, she's gong against every warning telling her not to get involved with Rourke, an Irish billionaire -- and a suspect in Eve's murder investigation.  but passion and seduction have rules of their own, and it's up to Eve to take a chance on the arms of a man she knows nothing about -- except the addictive hunger of needing his touch."  Yeah, Roberts is a best-selling romance writer.  Born is the 23rd novel in the series and (surprise!  surprise!) Eve is now married to Rourke.  "Just as Eve Dallas begins to investigate the grisly double homicide of two young lovers -- both employees of the same prestigious accounting firm -- her friend Mavis needs a favor.  One of the moms-to-be in Mavis's birthing class has gone missing.  Normally, such a case would be turned over to Missing Persons.  But Mavis wants no one else on the job but Eve -- and Eve can't say no.  Now Eve's trying to track down the missing woman, while simultaneously unearthing the deals and double-crosses hidden in the files of some of the city's richest and most secretive citizens, in a race against this particularly vicious killer.  Luckily, her multimillionaire husband Roarke's expertise comes in handy with the number crunching.  But as he mines the crucial data that will break the case wide open, Eve faces an all-too-real danger in the world of death and blood."
• H. R. Wakefield, The Verdict of Them All:  True Crime Writings. Omnibus of two true crime books:  The Green Bicycle Case (1930, about an unsolved 1919 death in Leocestershire) and Landru:  The French Bluebeard  (1936).  Wakefield was best known for his supernatural stories and was heavily influenced by J. Sheridan Le Fanu and  M. R. James.  His great interest in the criminal mind led to the two works here, as well as three detective novels.
• Colin Wilson. Mysteries.  Doorstop (620-plus pages of smallish type) survey of the occult and paranormal from the literary philosopher, gadfly, and angry young man who never m et an occult idea he din't like.  Subtitled "An Investigtion Into the Occult, the Paranomal & the Supernatural," the book strikes far and wide, perhaps adding to his philosophy of "phenomenological existentialism."
• Donald A. Wollheim, One Against the Moon and The Secret of the Ninth Moon.  YA SF adventures from the 1950s.  In Moon, Robin Carew, a young man orphaned by World War II, "sets out to join America's young space program.  He eventually finds himself on the way to the moon. a place more fantastic than he had ever dremed."  Secret was part of the Winston "Adventures in SF" series.  "The day that the theft of the solar system's light begins, Burl Denning is with an archaeological expedition in the Andes, only a few miles from the 'disturbance.'  Within hours the United States Air Force has ordered the expefition to investigate the strange phenomenon that is causing a dimness and a drop in temperature throughout the world.  This is the start of an adventure that takes Burl, a high school senior, on the first circumnavigation of the solar system."  I used to eat this stuff up when I was a kid.  The Kindle edition that includes these two novels also has the short story "Storm Warning," a short story from Future Fantasy and Science Fcition, October 1942, first published under the pseudonym :Millard Verne Gordon."  All three stories had been issued in a 2016 trade paperback, Donald A. Wollheim Sience [sic] Fiction Collection, publisher unknown.

Finally:  As one news source pout is:  "Henry Kissinger is finally dead."  Now, there's a sentence that encapsulates the man,

Swamped with Recommendations:  It's that time again, when everybody and their pet dog come up with a list of the best mysteries published over the past year.  Over on J. Kingston Pierce's blog The Rap Sheet, Jeff has been listing the recommendations as soon as he came across them (many of them culled from George Easter's Deadly Pleasures Mystery Magazine), beginning in mid-October (!).  If my count is correct, so far he has curated or linked to some 45 lists from critics, reviewers, fans, blog sites, magazines and newspapers.  This covers lists published as of yesterday, December 10; and there are sure more to come before the years is out.  These lists cover a very wide spectrum -- detective stories. crime, suspense, thriller, historical, espionage, a few reprints you may be familair with, cozies, cozies with cats, cozies with recipes, psychological suspense, gritty novels, police procedurals, and so on, even a few graphic novels and supernatural tales.  To his list, I added a few classic crime novels recommended by Kate Jackson (the 'aemchair Sleuth") as reported on B. V. Lawson's In Reference to Murder blog.

Get comfortable in your seat, because it's a long list.  

An asterisk (*) indicated multiple recommendations.

UPDATE -- DECEMBER 30:  I HAVE ADDED (AND NOTED) MORE RECOMMENDATIONS, NOW TOTALlNG 90 LISTS.  i HAVE ALSO MADE NOTE OF ANY ADDITIONAL TITLES THAT NOW HAVE MORE THAN ONE RECOMMENDATION.  NOTE THAT ONE LIST IS FROM A GROUP OF TEN BLOGGERS NOMINATING 23 BOOKS FOR REPRINT OF THE YEAR; I HAVE ADDED THE DATE OF ORIGINAL PUBICATION FOR EACH OF THESE BOOKS.

•  * Megan Abbott, BEWARE THE WOMAN
• Joann Leedom Ackerman, BURNING DISTANCE (ADDED DECEMBER 19)
• Bussin Adams, GREAT AND HORRIBLE NEWS:  MURDER AND MAYHEM  IN EARLY MODERN BRITAIN (ADDED DECEMBER 30) 
• Ellery Adams, MURDER IN THE BOOK LOVER'S LOFT
• Sean Adams, THE THING IN THE SNOW
• Taylor Adams, THE LAST WORD
• Yumi Adegole, THE LIST (ADDED DECMEBER 15)
• Remi Adeleke, CHAMELEON
• * Tasha Alexander, A COLD HIGHLAND WIND
• Meri Allen, FATAL FUDGE SWIRL
• Sara Jane Allen, HARD RAIN
• Amen Alonge, A GOOD NIGHT TO KILL
• Tove Alsterdal, YOU WILL NEVER BE FOUND
• Jonathan Ames, THE WHEEL OF DOLL
• Stephen Amidon, LOCUST LANE (ADDED DECEMBER 15)
• Donna Andrews, BIRDER, SHE WROTE (ADDED DECEMBER 15)
• J. Reuben Appelman, WHILE IDAHO SLEPT:  THE HUNT FOR ANSWERS IN THE MURDERS OF FOUR COLLEGE STUDENTS (true crime) (ADDED DECEMBER 20)
• * Danielle Arceneaux, GLORY BE
• * Jeffrey Archer, TRAITOR'S GATE
• * Richard Armitage, GENEVA 
• Jess Armstrong, THE CURSE OF PENRYTH HALL
• Kelley Armstrong, MURDER AT RAVEN'S ROCK (ADDED JANUARY 21)
• Clair Askew, THE DEAD DON'T SPEAK
• * Ashley Audrain, THE WHISPERS
• Rina Ayuyang, THE MAN IN THE MCINTOSH SUIT (graphic novel)

• * David Balducci, THE EDGE (ADDITIONAL RECOMMENDATION, DECEMBER 18)
• Jean-Luc Bannalec, THE BODY BY THE SEA
• * John Banville, THE LOCK-UP
• * Linwood Barclay, THE LIE MAKER (ADDITIONAL RECOMMENDATION, DECEMBER 18)
• Linwood Barclay, LOOK BOTH WAYS
• Leigh Bardugo, HELL BENTt (ADDED DECEMBER 15)
• * Sebastian Barry, OLD GOD'S TIME (ADDITIONAL RECOMMENDATION, DECEMBER 21)
• Graham Bartlett, FORCE OF HABIT (ADDED DECEMBER 21)
• Andrea Bartz, THE SPARE ROOM
• Julia Bartz, THE WRITING RETREAT
• Sam Beckbessinger & Dale Halvorson, GIRLS OF LITTLE HOPE (ADDED DECEMBER 21)
• Alexandra Benedict, THE CHRISTMAS JIGSAW MURDERS
• * James R. Benn, PROUD SORROW
• James R. Benn, THE REFUSAL CAMP (short story collection)
• * Michael Bennett, BETTER THE BLOOD
• SJ Bennett, ALL THE QUEEN'S MEN
• * SJ Bennett, MURDER MOST ROYAL
• Don Bentley, FORGOTTEN WAR
• * Lou Berney, DARK RIDE (ADDITIONAL RECOMMENDATION, DECEMBER 15)
• * I. S. Berry, THE PEACOCK AND THE SPARROW
• Tamara Berry, MURDER OFF THE BOOKS (ADDED DECEMBER 15)
• Katherine Beutner, KILLINGLY
• * Mark Billingham, THE LAST DANCE (ADDED DECEMBER 12; ADDITIONAL RECOMMENDATION, DECEMBER 15)
• D. V. Bishop, THE DARKEST SIN (ADDED DECEMBER 13)
• Samuel Bjork, THE WOLF
• Cara Black, NIGHT FLIGHT TO PARIS
• Cara Black, MURDER IN THE BASTILLE
• Olivia Blacke, A FATAL GROOVE
• * Sin Blanche & Helen Macdonald, PROPHET (ADDITIONAL RECOMMENDATION DECEMBER 27)
• * Peter Blauner, PICTURE IN THE SAND
• * Lawrence Block, THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF MATTHEW SCUDDER (ADDED DECEMBER 19; ADDITIONAL RECOMMENDATION DECMEBR 27)
• Lawrence Block, THE NAKED AND THE DEADLY (collection of artticles and stories) (ADDED DECEMBER 18)
• * Stella Blomkvist, MURDER AT THE RESIDENCE (ADDED DECEMBER 21; ADDITIONAL RECOMMENDATION, DECEMBER 21)
• Shalini Boland, THE SILENT BRIDE
• * Christopher Bollen, THE LAST AMERICANS (ADDITIONAL RECOMMENDATION, DECEMBER 20)
• * Bruce Borges, THE BITTER PAST (ADDITIONAL RECOMMENDATION, DECEMBER 15)
• Oliver Bottini, THE INVISIBLE WEB
• * Angeline Boulley, WARRIOR GIRL UNEARTHED (young adult)
• Rhys Bowen, THE PARIS ASSIGNMENT
• Alexander Bracken, SILVER IN THE BONE (ADDED DECEMBER 15)
• Christianna Brand, GREEN FOR DANGER
• * Christianna Brand, SUDDENLY AT HIS RESIDENCE (1946) (ADDITIONAL RECOMMENDATION, DECEMBER 21)
• Monica Brashears, HOUSE OF COTTON
• Gart Braver, RUMOR OF EVIL (ADDED DECEM,BER 18)
• John Brownlow, ASSASSIN EIGHTEEN
• Catherine Bruns, SYRUP TO NO GOOD (ADDED DECEMBER 15)
• Sam Buchholz, THE ACAPULCO (ADDED DECEMBER 21)
• Leslie Budewitz, BETWEEN A WOK AND A DEAD PLACE
• Jamne Lee Burke, CLETE (ADDED DECEMBER 15; DUE IN 2024)
• * James Lee Burke, FLAGS ON THE BAYOU (ADDITIONAL RECOMMENDATION, DECEMBER 12)
• Valerie Burns, MURDER IS A PIECE OF CAKE (ADDED DECEMBER 15)
• Jeremy Bushnell. RELENTLESS MELT (ADDED DECEMBER 18) 
• Brent Butt, HUGE
• James Byrne, DEADLOCK (ADDED DECEMBER 30)

• Michael Caine, DEADLY GAME
• Jo Callaghan, BLINK OF AN EYE
• Colleen Cambridge, MASTERING THE ART OF FRENCH MURDER
• Isabel Canas, VANPIRES OF EL NORTE
• Louise Candlish, THE ONLY SUSPECT
• Edward Carey, EDITH HELLER
• * Christoffer Carlsson, BLAZE ME A SUN
• John Dickson Carr, THE BLACK SPECTACLES (a.p.a. THE CROOKED HINGE) (1939) (ADDED DECEMBER 21)
• John Dickson Carr, HE WHO WHISPERS (1946) (ADDED DECEMBER 21)
• Emily Carroll, A GUEST IN THE HOUSE (graphic novel)
• Scott Carson, LOST MAN'S LANE (ADDED DECEMBER 15; DUE IN 2024)
• Andrea Carter, DEATH WRITER (ADDED DECEMBER 18)
• Jane Casey, THE CLOSE
• Linda Castillo, AN EVIL HEART, (ADDED DECEMBER 15)
• Nat Cassidy, NESTLINGS (ADDED DECEMBER 21)
• * Eleanor Catton, BIRNHAM WOOD
• * Steve Cavanagh, KILL FOR ME, KILL FOR YOU 
• * Ray Celestin, PALACE OF SHADOWS (ADDITIONAL RECOMMENDATION, DECEMBER 12)
• Shannon Chakabarty, THE ADVENTURE OF AMINA AL-SIRAFI (ADDED DECMEBER 20
• Raymond Chandler, THE BIG SLEEP (1939) (ADDED DECEMBER 21)
• Clay McLeod Chapman, WHAT KIND OF MOTHER (ADDED DECEMBER 21)  
• * Catherine Chidgley, PET
• * Lee Child & Andrew Child, THE SECRET
• * Zijin Chen, BAD KIDS (ADDED RECOMMENDATION, DECEMBER 15)
• Jennifer J. Chow, HOT POT MURDER
• * Ajay Chowdhury, THE DETECTIVE
• Agatha Christie, HALLOWE'EN PARTY
• Agatha Christie & Bob Al-Greene, MURDER ON THEORIENT EXPRESS:  THE GRAPHIC NOVEL
• * Amy Chua, THE GOLDEN GATE
• Amy Suiter Clark, LAY YOUR BODY DOWN, (ADDED DECEMBER 15)
• * Eliza Clark, PENANCE
• Martin Clark, THE PLINKO BOUNCE
• *Tracy Clark, FALL (ADDITIONAL RECOMMENDATION DECEMBER 27)
• * Tracy Clark, HIDE (ADDED RECOMMENDATION, DECEMBER 15)
• Lucy Clarke, THE HIKE
• Chantel Cleeton, THE CUBAN HEIRESS
• * Anne Cleeves, THE RAGING STORM
• Aoife Clifford, WHEN WE FALL (ADDED dECEMBER 30)
• * Emma Cline, THE GUEST
• * Harlan Coben, I WILL FIND YOU
• Rachel Cochran, THE GULF (ADDED DECEMBER 12)
• * Joan Cockin, CURIOSITY KILLED THE CAT (1949) (ADDED DECEMBER 21)
• Joan Coggins, WHO KILLED THE CURATE? (1944) (ADDED DECEMBER 21)
• Martina Cole, LOYALTY
• * Reed Farrel Coleman, SLEEPLESS CITY (ADDED RECOMMENDATION, DECEMBER 15)
• Reverend Richard Coles, A DEATH IN THE PARISH
• * Max Allan Collins, TOO MANY BULLETS (ADDED DECEMBER 19; ADDITIONAL RECOMMENDATION, DECEMBER 19; SEE 12/19 UPDATE AT THE END OF THIS SECTION)
• Max Allan Collins & James Traylor, SPILLANE:  KING OF PULP FICTION (ADDED DECEMBER 21)
• * James Comey, CENTRAL PARK WEST
• * Celeste Connally, ACT LIKE A LADY, THINK LIKE A LORD
• * Michael Connelly, RESURRECTION WALK
• John Connolly, THE LAND OF LOST THINGS (ADDED DECEMBER 12)
• Liv Constantine, THE SENATOR'S WIFE
• Gerardo Samano Cordova. MPNSTRILIO (ADDED DECEMBER 18)
• Patricia Cornwell, UNNATURAL DEATH
• * S. A. Cosby, ALL THE SINNERS BLEED
• Elle Cosimano, FINLAY DONOVAN JUMPS THE GUN (ADDED DECEMBER 15)
• * Colin Cotterell, THE MOTION PICTURE TELLER
• * Matt Coyle, ODYSSEY'S END (ADDED DECEMBER 18; ADDIRIONAL RECOMMENDATION DECEMBER 19)
• * Eli Cranor, OZARK DOGS
• M. W. Craven, FEARLESS
• * Harriet Crawley, THE TRANSLATOR
• * Rachel Koller Croft, STONE COLD FOX
• * Deborah Crombie, A KILLING OF INNOCENTS
• * Charles Cumming, KENNEDY 35
• Fiona Cummings, SOME OF US ARE BROKEN (ADDED DECEMBER 1
• Annette Dashofy, WHERE THE GUILTY HIDE (ADDED DECEMBER 15)
• Megan Davis, THE MESSENGER (ADDED DECEMBER 21)
• Felicia Day, THIRD EYE  (full cast audio) (ADDED DECMEBER 15)
• Maddie Day, MURDER UNCOOKED (ADDED DECEMBER 15)
• Nicholas Day, THE MONA LISA VANISHES
• Ron de Stefano, HOW I'LL KILL YOU (ADDED DECEMBER 15)
• Delphine de Vigan, KIDS RUN THE SHOW (ADDED DECEMBER 15)
• Will Dean, THE LAST ONE
• * Jeffery Deaver, THE WATCHMAKER'S HAND
• Cindy Dees, SECOND SHOT
• J. P. Delaney, THE NEW WIFE
• Nelson deMille & Alex deMille, BLOODLINES  (ADDED DECEMBER 8)
• Charlie Donlea, THOSE EMPTY EYES
• Sean Doolittle, DEVICE FREE WEEKEND (ADDED DECEMBER 20)
• * Margaret Douaihy, SCORCHED GRACE
• * Claire Douglas, THE WOMAN WHO LIVED
• Samantha Downing, TWISTED LOVE STORY (ADDED DECEMBER 15)
• * Sarah Driscoll, THAT OTHERS MIGHT LIVE
• * Tananarive Due, THE REFORMATORY
• Robert Dugoni, ONE LAST KILL
• Jeremy Dyson & Andy Nyman, THE WARLOCK EFFECT

• Martin Edwards, editor, Crimes of Cymru (2023) (ADDED DECEMBER 21)
• Lauren Elliott, MURDER IN A CUP
• * Bret Easton Ellis, THE SHARDS
• * James Ellroy, THE ENCHANTERS
• Mariana Enriquez, OUR SHARE OF NIGHT (ADDED DECEMBER 15)
• Mariana Enriquez, WEALTH OF DECEPTION
• Patricia Evangelista, SOME PEOPLE NEED KILLING (true crime) (ADDED DECEMBER 20)
• Percival Everett, THE TREES (ADDED DECEMBER 15)

• A. A. Fair. FOOLS DIE ON FRIDAY (1947) (ADDED DECEMBER 21)
• Alice Feeney, GOOD BAD GIRL
• Jessica Fellowes, THE MITFORD SECRET
• David Fennell, THE SILENT MAN
• Ian Ferguson, I ONLY READ MURDER
• John Ferguson, DEATH OF MR. DODSLEY (1937) (ADDED DECEMBER 21)
• Helen Fields, THE INSTITUTION
• Michael Finkel, THE ART THIEF (true crime) (ADDED DECEMBER 20)
• * Emma Flint, OTHER WOMEN (ADDITIONAL RECOMMENDATION DECEMBER 30()
• * Amanda Flower, I HEARD A FLY BUZZ WHEN I DIED
• * Kate Foster, THE MAIDEN (ADDITIONAL RECOMMENDATION, DECEMBER 12)
• Ben Fountain, DEVIL MAKES THREE
• * Christopher Fowler, WORD MONKEY (memoir) (ADDITIONAL RECOMMENDATION, DECEMBER 14)
• Charles Frazier, THE TRACKERS (ADDED DECEMBER 15)
• Cora Frazier, I THINK YOU'RE PROJECTING
• Brian Freeman, ROBERT LUDLUM'S THE BOURNE DEFIANCE (ADDED DECEMBER 18)
• Diane Freeman, A NEWLYWED'S GUIDE TO FORTUNE AND MURDER
• Celia Fremlin, UNCLE PAUL
• * Nikki French, THE FAVOR (ADDITIONAL RECOMMENDATION DECEMBER 30)
• Rafael Frumkin, CONFIDENCE

• * Robert Galbraith, THE RUNNING GRAVE
• Erle Stanley Gardner, THE CASE OF THE ROLLING BONES (1939)(ADDED DECEMBER 21)
• Alison Gaylin, ROBERT B. PARKER'S BAD INFLLUENCE (ADDED DECEMBER 19)
• * Tess Gerritsen, THE SPY COAST
• Kimberly G. Giarratano, DEATH AND THE DANCING QUEEN (ADDED DECEMBER 19)
• Michael Gilbert, GAME WITHOUT RULES (1962) (ADDED DECEMBER 21)
• * Ava Glass THE TRAITOR
• Robert Gold, ELEVEN LIARS
• Lee Goldberg, CALICO (ADDED DECEMBER 30)
• Tod Goldberg, GANGSTERS DON'T LIE
• S. K. Golden, THE SOCIALITE'S GUIDE TO DEATH AND DATING
• Victoria Goldman, THE ASSOCIATE
• * Juan Gomez-Jurado, RED QUEEN
• * Alison Goodman, THE BENEVOLENT SOCIETY OF ILL-MANNERED LADIES
• * Carol Goodman, THE BONES OF THE STORY
• Michael Grann, THE WAGER:  A TALE OF SHIPWRECK, MUTINY AND MURDER (true crime) (ADDED DECEMBER 20)
• * Claudia Gray, THE LATE MRS. WILLOUGHBY
• Mark Greaney, BURNER
• Kate Griffin, FYRESHADE (ADDED DECEMBER 21)
• * Ellie Griffiths, THE GREAT DECEIVER
• * Ellie Griffiths, THE LAST REMAINS
• * James Grippando, CODE 6 (ADDED RECOMMENDATION, DECEMBER 18)
• * John Grisham, THE EXCHANGE

• Chris Hadfield, THE DEFECTOR
• Rachel Howzell Hall. WHAT NEVER HAPPENS
• * Traci Hall, MURDER AT A SCOTTISH WEDDING
• Janice Hallert, THE CHRISTMAS APPEAL
• * Janice Hallert, THE MYSTERIOUS CASE OF THE ALPERTON ANGELS
• Janice Hallert, THE VIPER APPEAL
• Karen Hamilton. THE CONTEST
• * Chris Hammer, DEAD MAN'S CREEK
• * Elizabeth Hand, A HAUNTING ON THE HILL (ADDED RECOMMENDATION, DECEMBER 21)
• Kristin Hannah, THE WOMEN (ADDED DECEMBER 15)
• Mari Hannah, BLACK FELL
• * Sophie Hannah, HERCULE POIROT'S SILENT NIGHT (ADDED RECOMMENDATION, DECEMBER 18)
• * Jane Harper, EXILES
• * Jordan Harper, EVERYBODY KNOWS
• Joanna Harris, BROKEN LIGHT
• Alix E. Harrow, STARLING HORSE (audio) (ADDED DECEMBER 15)
• Julia Hartz, THE WRITING RETREAT (ADDED DECEMBER 15)
• Anastasia Hastings, OF MANNERS AND MURDER
• Shgane Hawk & Theodore C. Van Alst, Jr., editors, NEVER WHISTLE AT NIGHT (ADDED DECEMBER 21)
• * Rachel Hawkins, THE VILLA
• Hopeton Hays, Scott Montgomery, & Molly Odintz, editors AUSTIN NOIR (ADDED DECEMBER 21)
• * Alex Hay, THE HOUSEKEEPERS
• * Terry Hayes, THE YEAR OF THE LOCUST
• Katie Hays, THE CLOISTERS
• * Julie Heaberlin, NIGHT WILL FIND YOU
• * Cheryl A. Head, TIME'S UNDOING
• Wendy Heard, YOU CAN TRUST ME (ADDED DECEMBER 15)
• Grady Hendrix, HOW TO SELL A HAUNTED HOUSE
• Christina Henry, GOOD GIRLS DON'T DIE
• * Sally Hepworth, THE SOULMATE
• Jennifer Herrera, THE HUNTER
• * Mick Herron, THE SECRET HOURS
• Carl Hiaasen, THE WRECKER (ADDED DEEMBER 15)
• Keigo Higashino, A DEATH IN TOKYO (ADDED DECEMBER 30)
• Charlie Higson, ON HIS MAJESTY'S SECRET SERVICE
• Sarah Hilary, BLACK THORN
• Tony Hillerman, DANCE HALL OF THE DEAD
• Keri Hilton, THE RICH (ADDED DECEMBER 15)
• * Naomi Hirahawa, EVERGREEN (ADDED RECOMMENDATION, DECEMBER 21)
• Steve Holland, THE TRIALS OF HANK JANSON (expanded edition) (ADDED DECEMBER 18)
• * Rupert Holmes, MURDER YOUR EMPLOYER:  THE MCMASTERS' GUIDE TO HOMICIDE
• Jacqueline Holland, THE GOD OF ENDINGS (ADDED DECEMBER 15)
• Colleen Hoover, TOO LATE
• Jorn Lier Horst & Thomas Enger, STIGMA
• Catherine Ryan Howard, THE TRAP
• Katherine Howe. A TRUE ACCOUNT:  HANNAH MASURY'S SOJOURN AMONG THE PYRATES, WRITTEN BY HERSELF (ADDED DECEMBER 20)
• Roger Lynn Howell, ALWAYS SOMETHING SINGS (ADDED DECEMBER 15)
• Christopher Huang, UNNATURAL ENDS (ADDED DECEMBER 21)
• Dorothy B. Hughes, IN A LONELY PLACE (1947) (ADDED DECEMBER 21)
• * Cara Hunter, MURDER IN THE FAMILY
• * Lindsay Hunter, HOT SPRINGS DRIVE
• Greg Hurwitz, LONE WOLF (ADDED DECEMBER 15; DUE IN 2024)
• William Hussey, KILLING JERICHO (ADDED DECEMBER 21)

• Joe Ide, FIXIT
• * Arnaldur Inridason, THE GIRL ON THE BRIDGE (ADDED DECEMBER 21)
• Kotaro Isaka, THE MANTIS (ADDED DECEMBER 12)
• Tara Ison, AT THE HOUR BETWEEN DOG AND WOLF (ADDED DECEMBER 20)

• Kate Jackson, HOW TO SURVIVE A CLASSIC CRIME NOVEL (nonfiction) (ADDED DECEMBER 30)
• Vibhuti Jain, OUR BEST INTENTIONS (ADDED DECEMBER 12)
• Peter James, STOP THEM DEAD
• Ken Jaworowski, SMALL TOWN SINS (ADDED DECEMBER 15)
• Megan Jennett, YOU KNOW HER
• * Lisa Jewell, NONE OF THIS IS TRUE
• Jack Jewers, THE LOST DIARY OF SAMUEL PEPYS (ADDED DECEMBER 12)
• * Jane Jesmond, CUT ADRIFT
• Craig Johnson, THE LONGMIRE DEFENSE (ADDED DECEMBER 30)
• Tim Johnson, DIFFERENT SONS
• Zoe Johnson, AT THE SIGN OF THE CLOVE AND HOOF (1937) (ADDED DECEMBER 21)
• * Ragnar Jonasson & Katrin Jacobsdottir, REYKJAVIK
• Stephen Graham Jones, DON'T FEAR THE REAPER (ADDED DECMEBER 21)
• * Stephen Mack Jones, DEUS X (ADDITIONAL RECOMMENDATION, DECEMBER 15)
• Jack Jordan, CONVICTION
• Joy Jordan-Lake, A BEND OF LIGHT
• Kalyn Josephson, THIS DARK DESCENT (audio) (ADDED DECEMBER 15)

• * Deepit Kapoor, AGE OF VICE
• * G. T. Karber, MURDLE, VOLUME 1 (puzzle book) (ADDITIONAL RECOMMENDATION, DID NOT SPECIFY WHICH VOLUME, SO I HAVE TAGGED THEM BOTH, DECEMBER 13)
• * G. T. Karber, MURDLE, VOLUME 2 (puzzle book) (SEE NOTE ABOVE)
• * Alma Katsu, RED LONDON (ADDITIONAL RECOMMENDATION, DECEMBER 14)
• Femi Kayode, GASLIGHT
• * Julia Kelly, A TRAITOR IN WHITEHALL
• Martin Kemp, THE GAME(
• Baynard Kendrick, BLIND MAN'S BLUFF (1943) (ADDED DECEMBER 21)
• Kathleen Kent, BLACK WOLF
• Caroline Kepnes, FOR YOU AND ONLY YOU
• Liz Kerin, NIGHT'S EDGE (ADDED DECEMBER 21)
• * Ausma Zehanat Khan, BLOOD BETRAYAL
• Vaseem Khan, DEATH OF A LESSER GOD
• Cassandra Khaw, THE SALT GROWS HEAVY (ADDED DECEMBER 21)
• * Victoria Kielland, MY MEN
• * Olivia Kiernan, END OF US  (ADDED DECEMBER 21; ADDITIONAL RECOMMENDATION, DECEMBER 21))
• * Angie Kim, HAPPINESS FALLS
• Charles Kindinger, MORIARTY:  THE SILENT ORDER
• Laurie R. King, THE LANTERN'S DANCE (ADDED DECEMBER 15 15)
• Stephen King, FAIRY TALE (audio) (ADDED DECEMBER 15)
• * Stephen King, HOLLY
• Thomas King, DOUBLE EAGLE
• Tom King & Philo Hester, GOTHAM CITY:  YEAR ONE (graphic novel) (ADDED DECEMBER 19)
• T. Kingfisher, A HOUSE WITH GOOD BONES
• Erin Kinsley, SOMEONE YOU KNOW
• Yume Kitasei, THE DEEP SKY
• Nikki Knight, WRONG POISON
• * Jessica Knoll. BRIGHT YOUNG WOMEN
• Seraina Kobler, DEEP DARK BLUE ADDED DECEMBER 12)
• Dorothy Koomson, MY OTHER HUISBAND
• * Michael Kortya, AN HONEST MAN (ADDED RECOMMENDATION, DECEMBER 15)
• William Kotzwinkle, BLOODY MARTINI (ADDED DECEMBER 20)
• * Daniel Krauss, WHALEFALL
• * William Kent Krueger, THE RIVER WE REMEMBER
• * R. F. Kuang, YELLOW FACE
• Mary Kubica, JUST THE NICEST CORPSE
• Danya Kukafka, NOTES ON AN EXECUTION (ADDED DECEMBER 14)
• * Jean Kwok, THE LEFTOVER WOMAN

• Ann-Helen Laestadius, STOLEN
• Nicola Lagioia, THE CITY OF THE LOVING (ADDED DECEMBER 15)
• * Jake Lamar, VIPER'S DREAM (ADDITIONAL RECOMMENDATION, DECEMBER 12)
• Neil Lancastle, THE DEVIL YOU KNOW
• * William Landay, ALL THAT IS MINE I CARRY WITH ME (ADDITIONAL RECOMMENDATION, DECEMBER 15)
• * Shari Lapena, EVERYONE HERE IS LYING
• Eric LaRocca, EVERYTHING THE DARKNESS EATS (ADDED DECEMBER 21)
• Asa Larson, THE SINS OF OUR FATHERS
• Antonia Lassa, SKIN DEEP (ADDED DECEMBER 21)
• Jillian Lauren, BEHOLD THE MONSTER (true crime) (ADDED DECEMBER 20)
• * Ariel Lawhon, THE FROZEN RIVER
• * John Lawton, MOSCOW EXILE
• Curtis LeBlanc, SUNSETTER (ADDED DECEMBER 15)
• * Dennis Lehane, SMALL MERCIES
• David Lehman, THE MYSTERIOUS ROMANCE OF MURDER:  CRIME DETECTION, AND THE SPIRIT OF NOIR (nonfiction) (ADDED DECEMBER 30)
• Rob Leininger, GUMSHOE ONJ THE RUN (aADDED DECEMBER 18)
• * Donna Leon, SO SHALL YOU REAP
• Jerome Leroy, THE LITTLE REBEL (ADDED DECEMBER 15)
• Hugh Lessig, FADEAWAY JOE
• * Jonathan Lethem, BROOKLYN CRIME WAVE
• James L'Etoile, FACE OF GREED, (ADDED DECEMBER 18)
• * Lange Lewis, THE BIRTHDAY MURDER (1946) (ADDITIONAL RECOMMENDATION, DECEMBER 21)
• * Vanessa Lillie, BLOOD SISTERS
• * Laura Lippman, PROM MOM
• Catherine Lloyd, MISS MORTON AND THE SPIRITS OF THE UNDERWORLD
• Chris Lloyd, PARIS REQUIEM (ADDED DECEMBER 13)
• Sam Lloyd, THE PEOPLE WATCHER
• Kristen Loesch, THE LAST RUSSIAN DOLL
• T. M. Logan, THE MOTHER
• Mary Logue, THE BIG SUGAR
• E. C. R. LoraC, DEATH OF AN AUTHOR (1935) (ADDED DECEMBER 21)
• * Jess Louray, THE TAKEN ONES (ADDITIONAL RECOMMENDATION, DECEMBER 18)
• Gary Lovisi, A MYSTERY, CRIME & NOIR NOTEBOOK (nonfiction) (aDDED DECEMBER 18)
• D. P. Lyle, CULTURED (ADDED DECEMBER 18)
• Paul Lynch, PROPHET SONG

• Ross Macdonald, THE DROWNING POOL (1950) (ADDED DECEMBER 21)
• Claire Mackintosh, A GAME OF LIES
• Harry N. Maclean, STARKWEATHER:  THE UNTOLD STORY OF THE KILLING SPREE THAT CHANGED AMERICA (true crime) (ADDED DECEMBER 20)
• S. G. MacLean, THE WINTER LIST
• Gilly Macmillan, THE MANOR HOUSE
• * Jenny Lund Madson, THIRTY DAYS OF DARKNESS
• * Rebecca Makkai, I HAVE SOME QUESTIONS FOR YOU
• * Tim Maleeny, HANGING THE DEVIL (ADDED DECEMBER 15; ADDITIONAL RECOMMENDATION, DECEMBER 15)
• Tania Malik, HOPE YOU ARE SATISFIED (ADDED DECMEBER 14)
• * AmulyA Malladi, A DEATH IN DENMARK (ADDED DECMBER 19; ADDITIONAL RECOMMENDATION, DECEMBER 21))
• Thomas Mallom, UP WITH THE SUN
• Mia M, Manasala, MURDER AND MAMON
• Ayesha Manazir, THE CENTRE
• Christine Mangan, THE CONTINENTAL AFFAIR (ADDED DECEMBER 27)
• * Una Mannion, TELL ME WHAT I AM (ADDITIONAL RECOMMENDATION, DECEMBER 15)
• *Andrea Mara, NO ONE SAW A THING
• Nev March, THE SPANISH DI0LOMAT'S SECRET
• Philip Margolin, BETRAYAL (ADDED DECEMBER 18)
• * Javier Marias, TOMAS NEVINSON (ADDITIONAL RECOMMENDATION, DECEMBER 14)
• * Kate Alice Marshall, WHAT LIES IN THE WOOD
• Max Marshall, AMONG THE BROS (true crime) (ADDED DECEMBER 20)
• Jerome Marti, TAKE THE HONEY AND RUN (ADDED DECEMBER 15)
• Juan Martinez, EXTENDED STAY (ADDED DECEMBER 21)
• * Simon Mason, THE BROKEN AFTERNOON
• Tim Mason, THE NIGHTINGALE AFFAIR (ADDED DECEMBER 21)
• * Sujata Massey, THE MISTRESS OF BHATIA HOUSE
• Becky Masterman, NOTHING BUT THE BONES (ADDED DECEMBER 15; DUE IN 2024)
• Seicho Matsumoto, TOKYO EXPRESS
• Olivia Matthews, AGAINST THE CURRANT
• Olivia Matthews, HARD DOUGH HOMICIDE
• * Owen Matthews, WHITE FOX
• Alyssa Maxwell, MURDER AT THE ELMS
• Jessa Maxwell, THE GOLDEN SPOON
• Andrew Mayne, SEA CASTLE
• Anna Mazzola, THE HOUSE OF WHISPERS (ADDED DECEMBER 15)
• Mohamed Mbougar, THE MOST SECRET MEMORY OF MEN
• * Gillian McAllister, JUST ANOTHER MISSING PERSON
• Stuart McBride, THE DEAD OF WINTER
• * Anthony McCarten, GOING ZERO
• David McCloskey, DAMASCUS STATION
• * David McCloskey, MOSCOW X
• James McCrone, BASTARD VERDICT (ADDED DECEMBER 27)
• Amy McCulloch, MIDNIGHT
• Tiffany McDaniel, ON THE SAVAGE SIDE (ADDED DECEMBER 21)
• * Val McDernid, PAST LYING
• C. K. McDonnell, THE STRONGER TIMES (ADDED DECMBER 13)
• Caimh McDonnell, OTHER PLANS (ADDED DECEMBER 15)
• * Dann McDorman, WEST HEART KILL
• Patrick R. McDonough, editor, HOT IRON AND COLD BLOOD:  AN ANTHOLOGY OF THE WEIRD WEST (ADDED DECEMBER 21)
• * Freida McFadden, THE COWORKER
• Freida McFadden, THE HOUSEMAID'S SECRET
• Clare McKenna, MURDER ON MISTLETOE LANE
• * Adrian McKinty, THE DETECTIVE UP LATE (ADDITIONAL RECOMMENDATION, DECEMBER 13)
• James A. McLaughlin, PANTHER GAP
• Jennifer McMahon, MY DARLING GIRL  (ADDED DECEMBER 18)
• Andy McNab, SHADOW STATE
• Catriona McPherson, HOP SCOT
• * Collum McSorley, SQUEAKY CLEAN
• Tom Mead DEATH AND THE CONJURER
• * Chloe Mehdi, NOTHING IS LOST (ADDED DECEMBER 15; ADDITIONAL RECOMMENDATION, DECEMBER 18)
• Mindy Mejia, TO CATCH A STORM
• Dana Mentink, SPOON TO BE DEAD\
• * Louise Mey, THE SECOND WOMAN (ADDED DECEMBER 15; ADDITIONAL RECOMMENDATION, DECEMBER 15)
• Denzil Meyrick, MURDER AT HOLLY HOUSE
• * Clemence Michallon, THE QUIET TENANT
• * Hannah Michell, EXCAVATIONS
• John Milas, THE MILITIA HOUSE (ADDED DECEMBER 21)
• Mary Ann Miller, MURDER UNDER THE ICE (ADDED DECEMBER 18)
• A. A. Milne, FOUR DAYS' WONDER
• * Denise Mina, THE SECOND MURDERER (ADDITIONAL RECOMMENDATION, DECEMBER 12)
• Margaret Mizushima, STANDING DEAD
• Patrick Modiano, SCENE OF THE CRIME (ADDED DECEMBER 15)
• J. S. Monroe, NO PLACE TO HIDE
• *Allison Montclair. THE LADY FROM BURMA
• Ian Moore, DEATH AT THE CHATEAU
• Silvia Moreno-Garcia, SILVER NITRATE (ADDED DECEMBER 21)
• Robbie Morrison, CAST A COLD EYE
• * Kate Mortin, HOMECOMING 
• * Walter Mosley, EVERY MAN A KING
• Korina Moss, CASE OF THE BLEUS
• Julie Owen Moylan, 73 DOVE STREET
• Louise Mumford, THE HOTEL (ADDED DECEMBER 13)
• * Paula Munier, HOME AT NIGHT (ADDED DECEMBER 15; ADDITIONAL RECOMMENDATION, DECEMBER 15) 
• Haruki Murikami, THE WIND-UP BIRD CHRONICLE (ADDED DECEMBER 18) 
• * Dwyer Murphy, THE STOLEN COAST

• * Harini Nagendra, MURDER UNDER A RED MOON
• Leonora Nattrass, SCARLET TOWN
• Marie NDiaye, VENGEANCE IS MINE (ADDED DECEMBER 15) 
• * Jo Nesbo, KILLING MOON
• * T. J. Newman, DROWNING
• Lauren Nessett, THE PROFESSOR
• * Liz Nugent, STRANGE SALLY DIAMOND
• Adorah Nworah, HOUSE WOMAN (ADDED DECEMBER 15)

• Joyce Carol Oates, 48 CLUES INTO THE DISAPPEARANCE OF MY SISTER
• Nathan Oates, A FLAW I THE DESIGN
• Carlene O'Connor, MURDER AT THE IRISH BAKERY
• Carlene O'Connor, SOME OF US ARE LOOKING
• * Joseph O'Connor, MY FATHER'S HOUSE 
• * Chris Offutt, CODE OF THE HILLS
• Aimee Ogden, EMERGENT PROPERTIES (ADDED DECEMBER 27)
• Carissa Orlando, THE SEPTEMBER HOUSE (ADDED DECEMBER 21)
• * Richard Osman, THE LAST DEVIL TO DIE

• Josh Pachter, editor, HAPPINESS IS A WARM GUN (anthology)
• Paul Palma, A HAUNTING IN HIALEAH GARDENS
• Gigi Pandian, THE RAVEN THIEF
• Brian Panowich, NOTHING BUT THE BONES ADDED DECEMBER 15; DUE IN 2024)
• Peter Papathanasiou, THE PIT
• Sara Paretsky, PAY DIRT (ADDED DECEMBER 15; DUE IN 2024)
• Paz Pardo, THE SHAMSHINE BLIND (ADDED DECEMBER 12)
• James Patterson & Duane Swierczynski, ZERO TOLERANCE
• Jordan Peele & John Joseph Adams, editors, OUT THERE SCREAMING (ADDED DECEMBER 21)
• Sarah Pekkanen, GONE TONIGHT
• * Ambrose Perry, VOICES OF THE DEAD (ADDED DECEMEBER 12; ADDITIONAL RECOMMENDATION, DECEMBER 30)
• Thomas Perry, THE MURDER BOOK (ADDED DECEMBER 30)
• * Amanda Peters, THE BERRY PICKERS (ADDITIONAL RECOMMENDATION, DECEMBER 18)
• * Anna Pitoniak, THE HELKSINKI AFFAIR
• * Ivy Pochoda, SING HER DOWN
• Frank Anthony Polito, REHEARSED TO DEATH
• Anna Porter, GULL ISLAND
• Steven Powell, LOVE ME FIERCE IN DANGER:  THE LIFE OF JAMES ELLROY (nonfiction) (ADDED DECEMBER 30)
• * Kevin Powers, A LINE IN THE SAND
• Douglas Preston & Lincoln Child, THE CABINET OF DR. LENG (ADDED DECEMBER 18)
• Douglas Preston & Lincoln Child, DEAD MOUNTAIN (ADDED DECEMBER 18)
• Robert Preston, THE CRASH
• * Nita Prose, A MYSTERY GUEST
• Eryk Pruitt, SOMETHING BAD WRONG (ADDED DECEMBER 21)
• Mark Pryor, THE DARK EDGE OF NIGHT (ADDED DECEMBER 30)
• David Putnam, A LONESOME BLOOD RED SUN (ADDED DECEMBER 18)
• Hannah Pylvainen,THE END OF DRUM-TIME
• Hye-Young Pyun, THE OWL CRIES (ADDED DECEMBER 15)

• Kwei Quartey, LAST SEEN IN LAPAZ (ADDED DECEMBER 19)
• Mindy Quigley, ASHES TO ASHES, CRUST TO CRUST (ADDED DECEMBER 15)
• Spencer Quinn, MRS. PLANSKY'S REVENGE (ADDED DECEMBER 18)
• * Pilar Quintano, ABYSS ((ADDED DECEMBER 15; ADDITIONAL RECOMMENDATION DECEMBER 15)

• Edogawa Rampo, THE BLACK LIZARD (1934) (ADDED DECEMBER 21)
• * Oriana Ramunno, ASHES IN THE SNOW (ADDED DECEMBER 21; ADDITIONAL RECOMMENDATION, DECEMBER 30))
• * Nilima Rao, A DISAPPEARANCE IN FIJI (ADDITIONAL RECOMMENDATION, DECEMBER 20)
• Sam Rebelin, EDENVILLE (ADDED DECEMBER 21) 
• * Ana Reyes, THE HOUSE OF PINES (ADDITIONAL RECOMMENDATION, DECMEBER 12)
• * Matthew Richardson, THE SCARLET PAPERS
• J. P. Rieger, CLONK! (ADDED DECEMBER 27)
• * Rob Rinder, THE TRIAL
• Mary Roberts Rinehart, THE GREAT MISTAKE (1940) (ADDED DECEMBER 21)
• * J. D. Robb, PAYBACK IN DEATH (ADDED DECEMBER 15; ADDITIONAL RECOMMENDATION, DECEMBER 15)
• * Nora Roberts, THE INHERITANCE (ADDED DECEMBER 15; ADDITIONAL RECOMMENDATION, DECEMBER 15)
• * Peter Robinson, STANDING IN THE SHADOWS
• * Michael Robotham, LYING BESIDE YOU (ADDITIONAL RECOMMENDATION, DECEMBER 13)
• Paula Rodriguez, URGENT MATTER (ADDED DECEMBER 15)
• James Ronald, THE DR. BRITLING STORIES (1930-1932; 2023) (ADDED DECEMBER 21)
• James Ronald, MURDER IN  THE FAMILY
• Stephen Ronson, THE LAST LINE (ADDED DECEMBER 13)
• Maeia Rosa, TINA, MAFIA SOLDIER (ADDED DECEMBER 15)
• Jeneva Rose, YOU SHOULDN'T HAVE COME HOME
• Karen Rose, COLD-BLOODED LIAR
• * Lev AC Rosen, THE BELL IN THE FOG (ADDITIONAL RECOMMENDATION, DECEMBER 20)
• Emma Rosenblum, BAD SUMMER PEOPLE (ADDED DECEMBER 15)
• Barbara Ross, HIDDEN BENEATH (ADDED DECEMBER 15)
• * Nilanjana Roy, BLACK RIVER
• * Gareth Rubin, THE TURNGLASS (ADDITIONAL RECOMMENDATION, DECEMBER 12)
• Seth Rudesky, MUSICAL THEATRE FOR DUMMIES (ADDED DECEMBER 15)
• Craig Russell, THE DEVIL'S PLAYGROUND
• Alison Rumfitt, TELL ME I'M WORTHLESS (ADDED DECEMBER 21) 
• A. J. Ryan, RED RIVER SEVEN
• Hank Phillippi Ryan, THE HOUSE GUEST

• * Riley Sagar, THE ONLY ONE LEFT
• Anbera Salam, HAZARDOUS SPIRITS (ADDED DECEMBER 20)
• * Nicola Sanders, DON'T LET HER STAY
• John Sanford, DARK ANGEL
• George Saunders, TENTH OF DECEMBER (ADDED DECEMBER 15)
• John Scalzi, STARTER VILLAIN (ADDED DECEMBER 15)
• * Simon Scarrow, DEAD OF NIGHT (ADDED DECEMBER 18 ADDITIONAL RECOMMENDATION, DECEMBER 21))
• Joanna Schaffhausen, DEAD AND GONE (ADDED DECEMBER 15)
• Katherine Schellman, THE LAST DROP OF HEM;OCK (ADDED DECEMBER 18)
• James A. Scott, THE BLOOD OF PATRIOTS AND TRAITORS (ADDED DECEMBER 18) 
• Julia Seales, A MOST AGREEABLE MURDER
• Victoria Selman, ALL THE LITTLE LIARS
• Gerald Seymour, IN AT THE KILL
• Nicholas Shakespeare, IAN FLEMING:  THE COMPLETE MAN (nonfiction) (ADDED DECEMBER 30)
• Terry Shames, GUILT STRIKES AT GRANGER'S STORE
• L. T Shearer, THE CAT WHO SOLVED THREE MURDERS
• Jane Shemilt, ALL HER SECRETS
• * Laura Shepherd-Robinson, THE SQUARE OF SEVEN
• Edna Sherry, SUDDEN FEAR
• David Simon & Philippe Squarzoni, HOMICIDE:  THE GRAPHIC NOVEL, PARTS 1 AND 2 (ADDED DECEMBER 19)
• Laura Sims, HOW CAN I HELP YOU?
• Will Shindler. THE BLOOD LINE
• Parini Shroff, THE BANDIT KIDS
• Katie Siegel, CHARLOTTE ILLES IS NOT A DETECTIVE
• * Yrsa Sigurdardottir, THE PREY
• * Daniel Silva, THE COLLECTOR (ADDED RECOMMENDATION, DECEMBER 18)
• Kate Simants, FREEZE
• Georges Simenon, THE WIDOW COUDERC
• Clea Simon, TO CONJURE A KILLER (ADDED DECEMBER 15)
• * Nina Simon, MOTHER-DAUGHTER MURDER NIGHT
• Laura Simjs, HOW CAN I HELP YOU (ADDED DECEMBER 18)
• Nalini Singh, THERE SHOULD HAVE BEEN EIGHT
• * Alice Slater, DEATH OF A BOOKSELLER (ADDITIONAL RECOMMENDATION, DECEMBER 12)
• * Karen Slaughter, AFTER THAT NIGHT
• * Brendan Slocumb, SYMPHONY OF SECRETS
• * Karin Smirnoff, THE GIRL IN THE EAGLE'S TALONS (ADDED RECOMMENDATION, DECEMBER 21)
• Nikki Smith, THE BEACH PARTY
• Vern Smith, SCRATCHING THE FLINT
• James Spoonhour, INCENTIVE FOR DEATH (ADDED DECEMBER 18)
• Stephen Spotswood, MURDER CROSSED HER MIND (ADDED DECEMBER 27)
• Lisa Springer, THERE'S NO WAY I'D DIE FIRST
• Simone St. James, THE SUN DOWN MOTEL (ADDED DECEMBER 13)
• Dana Stabenow, NOT THE ONE DEAD
• James Stafford, STEVE HOLLAND:  PAPERBACK HERO (nonfiction) (added december 18)
• * Adam Sternbergh, THE EDEN TEST
• * Benjamin Stevenson, EVERYONE IN MY FAMILY HAS KILLED SOMEONE
• Polly Stewart, THE GOOD ONES (ADDED DECEMBER 12)
• Amy Stiart, A DEATH AT THE PARTY (ADDED DECEMBER 21)
• Tim Sullivan, THE MONK
• Jesse Q. Sutano, I'M NOT DONE WITH HER YET
• * Jesse Q. Sutano, VERA WONG'S UNSOLICITED ADVICE FOR MURDERERS
• Halley Sutton, THE HURRICANE BLONDE (ADDED DECEMBER 27)
• Leonie Swann, THE SUNSET YEARS OF AGNES SHARP
• * Peter Swanson, THE KIND WORTH SAVING
• Daniel Sweren-Becker, KILL SHOW
• * Vanda Symon, EXPECTANT (ADDED DECEMBER 13; ADDED RECOMMENDTION, DECEMBER 21))

• Andrew Taylor, THE SHADOWS OF LONDON
• * Sarah Stewart Taylor, A STOLEN CHILD
• Dizz Tate, BRUTES
• * Joe Thomas, WHITE RIOT
• Wendall Thomas, CHEAP TRILLS (ADDED DECEMBER 15)
• * Lesley Thomson, THE MYSTERY OF YEW TREE HOUSE
• * Robert Thorogood, DEATH COMES TO MARLOW RECOMMENDATION, DECEMBER 21)
• Louise Tickle, BETWEEN THE LIES (ADDED DECEMBER 12)
• Max Tomlinson, NIGHT CANDLE (ADDED DECEMBER 18)
• * Danielle Trussoni, THE PUZZLE MASTER (ADDED RECOMMENDATION, DECEMBER 18)
• *  Antti Tuomainen, THE BEAVER THEORY
• * A. K. Turner, CASE SENSITIVE

• Lisa Unger, THE NEW COUPLE IN 5B (ADDED DECEMBER 15; DUE IN 2024)
• Lisa Unger, editor, THE BEST AMERICAN MYSTERY AND SUSPENSE (anthology)

• Alisa Lynn Valdes, HOLLOW BEASTS
• Charlotte Vassell, THE OTHER HALF
• * Maud Ventura, MY HUSBAND (ADDED DECEMBER 15; ADDITIONAL RECOMMENDATION, DECEMBER 15)
• * Paul Vidich, BEIRUT STATION (ADDITIONAL RECOMMENDATION, DECEMBER 14)
• Scott von Doviak. LOW DOWN ROAD (ADDED DECEMBER 18)
• Carl Vonderau, SAVING MILES (ADDED DECEMBER 18)

• Edgar Wallace, KONG:  THE ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY (includes some nonfiction) (ADDED DECEMBER 18)
• * Joanna Wallace, YOU'D LOOK BETTER AS A GHOST (ADDED RECOMMENDATION, DECEMBER 21)
• * Colin Walsh, KALA
• Vanessa Walters, THE NIGERWIFE
• * Catriona Ward, LOOKING GLASS SOUND
• * Ruth Ware, ZERO DAYS
• Katy Watson, A VERY LIVELY MURDER
• * Holly Watt, THE END OF THE GAME
• * Ashley Weaver, PLAYING IT SAFE
• Tim Weaver, THE LAST GOODBYE
• Kate Webb, STAY BURIED
• Sarah Weinman, EVIDENCE OF THINGS SEEN (true crime) (ADDED DECEMBER 21)
• * Daniel Weizmann, THE LAST SONGBIRD
• Andrew Welsh-Huggins, THE END OF THE ROAD (ADDED DECEMBER 15)
• Ethel Lina White, THE WHEEL SPINS
• Kirsten White, MR. MAGIC (ADDED DECEMBER 21)
• Loreth Ann White, THE MAID'S DIARY 
• * Colson Whitehead, CROOK MANIFESTO
• Jonathan Whitelaw, THE VILLAGE HALL VENDETTA
• Sam Wiebe, SUNSET AND JERICHO (ADDED DECEMBER 21)
• Jennifer Wilder, THE EPILOGUE OF AUGUST (ADDED DECEMBER 27)
• * Rose Wilding, SPEAK OF THE DEVIL
• * KatIe Williams, MY MURDER
• Nicola Williams, UNTIL PROVEN INNOCENT
• Lauren Willig, TWO WARS AND A WEDDING
• * Stacy Willingham, ALL THE DANGEROUS THINGS
• De'Shawn Charles Winslow, DECENT PEOPLE
• *  Don Winslow, CITY OF DREAMS
• * Jacqueline Winspear, THE WHITE LADY
• * Ashley Winstead, MIDNIGHT IS THE DARKEST HOUR (ADDITIONAL RECOMMENDATION, DECEMBER 15)
• Al Winston & Darwin Bondgraham, THE RIDERS COME OUT AT NIGHT 9true crime) (ADDED DECEMBER 20)
• Lois Winston, A CRAFTY COLLAGE OF CRIME (ADDED DECEMBER 15)
• Ben H. Winter, STRONGER
• Clifford Witting, LET X BE THE MURDERER (1947) (ADDED DECEMBER 21)
• Clifford Witting, SUBJECT:  MURDER (1945) (ADDED DECMEBER 21)
• James Wolff, THE MAN IN THE CORDUROY SUIT
• Daryl Wood, A FLICKER OF A DOUBT
• Patrick Worrall, THE PARTISAN
• Reavis Wortham, HARD COUNTRY (ADDED DECEMBER 20)
• Richard Wright, THE MAN WHO LIVED UNDERGROUND

• * Iris Yamashita, CITY UNDER ONE ROOF
• Yepoka Yeebo, ANANSI'S GOLD (true crime) (ADDED DECEMBER 20)
• Seishi Yokomizo, THE DEVIL'S FLUTE MURDERS (1951-1953; 2023) (ADDED DECEMBER 21)

What books get the most love from the reviewers?  S. A. Cosby's All the Sinners Bleed got an amazing 20 recommendations.  Also very popular were Jessica Knoll's Bright Young Woman, Richard Osman's latest Thurday Murder Club mystery The Last Devil to Die, Dennis Lehane's Small Mercies, Mick Herron's "Slow Horse" novel The Secret Hours, Jessie Q. Sutano's Vera Wong's Unsolicited Advice for Murderers.

The major problem with Year's Best lists is that many are released before the year's end, thus a numkber of worthy titles may be ignored.  This may be why Max Allan Collins's Too Many Bullets was not mentioned (but does not explain his earlier The Big Bundle was ignored) or why Lee Goldberg's Calico

did not get a nod (bur where's a mention of his earlier Malibu Burning?).  Also, many books -- often from small publishing house -- slip under the radar.  Also, Year's Best lists tend to focus on novels, so many worthy collections and anthologies, as well as nonfiction titles of interest, are not covered.  As limiting as these lists are, the reviewers should be lauded for the breadth of their reach and their commitment to the genre.  They are a great tool to help you find your next exciting read.  And thanks to The Rap Sheet for bringing many of these lists to our attention.

Update, December 19:  Max Allan Collins has noted on his website that Too Many Bullets has gotten some love on some year's best lists.  Kevin Burton Smith, Ted Hertzel, and George Wagner all have it listed on their lists.  Glad to see that this great book is getting some reconition.  Also, Collins also noted that Stu Shiffman at Bookreporter.com has listed Spillane: King of Pulp Fiction, a biography by Collins and Jim Traylor at the top of his year's best list.  That one's a great read, also.

Update, December 21:  J. Kingston Pierce has posted (he says) his last update of the year's best lists.  He is now going to take it relatively easy until the beginning of the year.  He deserves some relaxing time.  Barring anything unforeseen, this is a good place for me to stop my updates.  Have a great holiday season.  Finish uo 2023 with some good books!

ACK!  ANOTHER UPDATE, DECEMBER 27:  Just when you thought you were safe, they pull you back in again.  J. Kingston Pierce has added another four "year's best" lists to his blog, with about half a dozen brand spanking new titles on them, in addition to additional recommendations for books already mentioned.  I have incorporated them above.

UPDATED AGAIN, DECEMBER 30:  Six more lists have been incorporated.

Big Mama:  Today is the birthday of Willie Mae Thornton, better known as Big Mama Thornton.  She would have been 97.  Her deep and powerful blues style, heavily influenced by Southern gospel music, helped usher in the age of rock and roll.  And we are all the better for it.

"Hound Dog"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BmpwvxW0gW0

"Everything Gonna Be Alright"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5alA8gpxQmE

"Nobody Knows You When You're Down and Out," with Aretha Franklin

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QoNQHf8x6L8

"Ball 'n' Chain"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TixL6Tycgho

"Rock Me Baby'

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LjF-ysKN41Q

"Little Red Rooster"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kYaCb0ZGu3Q

"My Heavy Road"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JUs6ynWNryg

"Big Mama's Bumble Bee Blues," with The Muddy Waters Blues Band

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8fQVGH5mW44

"Sometimes I Have a Heart5ache"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vGpiqBSIERM

"Summertime"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gwlTOspKNh8

"I Feel the Way I Feel"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6X7y6mA4WWo

"Gonna Leave You"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yxaai8QJSl8

He's Making a List:  It's just two weeks until Christmas and Santa's getting pretty busy.  We'll let him keep working whule we check out the first issue of Santa Claus Funnies from 1942, featuring some of the earliest cartton work from Walt (Pogo) Kelly.  (On the mentime, if you have not written to Santa yet, here's his address:  Santa's Workshop, Igloo Terrace and Iceberg Boulevard, North Pole -- I dion't think a zip code is needed.)

https://comicbookplus.com/?dlid=29465

Ha-ha:  A Moebius strip walked into a bar, crying loudly.  The bartender looked at the sad little moebius strip and ask,"Hey, what's the matter, little buddy?"  The strip replied, "I don't know where to begin."

Let's Ketchup onThis News Item:  Astronaut Frank Rubio has been cleared of allegations that he ate one of the first tomatos harvested in outer space.  Rubio had misplaced the tomato eight months ago on the International Space Station.  Rubio left the space staion in September but had been jokingkly accused of eating the missing tomato.  Now it has been found on the station and Rubio's good name has been cleared.  Officials would not say exactly where the tomato was found, nor would they expound on its condition.  It is supected that the tomato was in a state of absolute decay due to the humidity on the station.  No one will be eating it now.

Origami:  Today is National Origami Day.  Here's how to make an origami crane:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KfnyopxdJXQ

How's Your Pronunciation?:  It's also National Pomegranate Month.  did ypou kow the word should be pronounced with three syllables, not four?

Florida Man:

• I'm assuming he's a Florida Man.  Amit Patel, a former employee of the Jacksonville Jaguars has been been alleged to have stolen $22 million from the team from 2019 to the present year.  The money was used to by two automobiles, a condo, a $100,000 watch, sports memorabilia, a country club membership, concert tickets, spa treatments, and cryptocurrency, and was used for private planes and luxery hotels.  Patel also allegedly used the money for gambling.  Patel was a former manager for financial planning and analysis for the team.  A spokesman for the Jaguars said that Patel had no access to confidential football strategy, personnel, or football information, nor were any other emploees involved in or knew of the criminal activity.  To make matters worse, the Jaguars lost to the Bengals, 8-4, last Monday, and lost star quarterback Trevor Lawrence to a knee injury.  Sucks to be them.
• Florida Man Ray Allen, 60, of St. Petersburg, was arrested on Decmber 2 after throwing a sausage at his older brother during an argument.  The sausgae, of an unspecified type, struck the victim in the face.  Emergency medical personnel washed the victim's eye with a saline solution.   The sausage weapon was not seized by the police.  Alcohol may have been involved in the incident.
• Florida Man Michael Kozierowski, a 57-year-old special eduction teacher at Eustis Middle School in Lake County, was arrested on 10 counts of possession of child pornography in a four-day sting operation that netted six arrests, including a school janitor and a 16-year-old boy.  Although he worked in Lake County, the arrest was made at Kozierowski's home in Marion County.  Officials said a desktop computer was found at this home, sitting on a small table "with only a bottle of lubricant nest to it."  Ew!  Officials expect more pornography will be found in the compressed files in the computer's storage.  The images found on the computer depicted "children that are around the age of the children he daily has care, sustody and control over," the charging affidavit said.
• And a Celebrity Cruise crew member has allegedly admitted to molesting four children in the shjip's youth center during a weeklong cruise from Florida to the Caribean islands.  Cris John Petinio Castor was arrested by the FBI after a six-year-old girl complained.  Castor allegedly admitted to molesting at least three other children during the cruise.  Not surprisingly, Castor has been fired by Celebrity Cruise lines.  Castor also admitted to trying to avoid the shjipboard camera during the acts.
• An unnamed white Florida alligator, born on last week at Gatorland in Orlando, is one of only eight known leucistic white alligators in the world.  It is also the first-ever of its kind to be brn in human care, and marks Gatorland as having the largeest collection of such alligators in the world.   Leucistic white alligators should not be confused with albino alligators; the albinos have pink eyes; leucistic have blue eyes The baby girl gator is healthy and is currently being fed a diet of raw chicken pieces.
• Speaking of animals, here's an unnamed Florida bear taking on reindeer decorations in Longwood.  It evidently liked one of the reindeer so much, it dragged it awat from the home with its mouth.   https://www.fox35orlando.com/news/watch-florida-bear-take-off-with-life-size-reindeer-christmas-decoration-outside-home
• Continuing with the animal theme, Florida Woman Brianna Antionette of Tampa was surprised when her chicken froze in place.  Well, chickens are apt to that if they sense a predator nerby that might be attracted by movement.  https://www.fox35orlando.com/news/chickens-freeze-in-place-video-florida

Good News:

• There's a life-size Willy wnka statue mae of 220 pounds of chicolate in Trafalgar Square.      https://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/sculptor-carves-life-sized-willy-wonka-using-220-lbs-of-chocolate-in-londons-trafalgar-square-video/
• World's largest experimental nuclear fusion reactor produces first plasma        https://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/japan-powers-up-worlds-largest-experimental-nuclear-reactor-and-generates-first-plasma/
• CalifoNew stem cell injection treatment shows promise for MS     rnia redwoods sprout new shoots from blackened trunks    https://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/ancient-california-redwoods-defy-scientists-expectations-and-sprout-new-shoots-from-blackened-trunks/
• New stem cell treatment shows promise for treating MS     https://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/exciting-clinical-trials-of-new-stem-cell-injection-treatment-shows-promise-for-halting-multiple-sclerosis/
• School principal adopts student who was sent to his office       https://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/principal-adopts-student-who-was-sent-to-his-office/
• Fedex delivers 300,000 free Christmas trees to military families     https://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/fedex-delivers-300000-free-christmas-tree-to-military-families/

Today's Poem:

Dulce et Decorum Est

Bent double, like old beggars under sacks,

Knock-kneed, coughing like hags, we cursed through sludge,

Till on the haunting flares we turned our backs

And towards our distant rest began to trudge.

Men marched asleep.  Many had lost their boots

but limped on, blood-shod.  All went lame; all blind;

Drunk with fatigue; deaf even to the hoots

Of tired, out-stripped Five-Nines that dropped behind.

Gas!  Gas! Quick, boys! -- An excess of fumbling,

Fitting the clumsy helmets just in time;

But someone still was yelling out and stumbling

And flound'ring like a man in fire or lime...

Dim, through the misty panes and thick green light,

As under a green sea, I saw him drowning.

In my dreams, before my helpless sight,

He plunges at me, guttering, choking, drowning.

If in some smothering dreams you too could pace

Behind the wagon that we flung him in,

And watch the white eyes writhing in his face,

His hanging face, like a devil's sick of sin;

If you could hear, at every jolt, the blood

Come gargling from the froth-corrupted lungs,

Obscene as cancer, bitter as the cud

Of vile, incurable sores on innocent tongues, --

My friend, you would not tell with such high zest

To children ardent for some desperate glory,

The old Lie:  Dulce et decorum est

Pro patria mori.

-- Wilfred Owen (1893-1918)