2018 is when President Bill Clinton and James Patterson published their novel The President is Missing. It may not have been considered one of the year’s best but it was a unique approach. Who knows? Maybe George W. Bush will publish a western that takes place on a Texas ranch or Barack Obama will pen a compelling tale of Chicago mobsters or Hawaiian tourists.
2018 is also the year that Lon Bixby and I (Don Simkovich) published Book 3 Tom Stone: Day of the Dead, as we continue our chase around Los Angeles and Southern California. Some crime fiction authors churn out a few titles per year. Lon and I are a tad slower but we keep plugging away as we explore the characters.
We also published a short story A Deadly Path, a father-son hiking story set in the San Gabriel Mountains above Los Angeles.
If you’re interested in knowing about what is considered the Best Crime Fiction of 2018 here are links and sources to check:
The Booklist Reader’s Top Three are:
Down the River unto the Sea by Walter Mosley
Exit Strategy by Steve Hamilton
The Force by Don Winslow
Vulture.com 10 Best Crime Novels of 2018 include:
The Feral Detective by Jonathan Lethem
The Best Bad Things by Katrina Carrasco
My Sister, The Serial Killer by Oyinkan Braithwaite
Crime Reads.com has the 20 Best Crime Novels of 2018 and to name a few:
November Road by Lou Berney
Our Kind of Cruelty by Araminta Hall
The Infinite Blacktop by Sara Gran
The New York Times Best Crime Fiction of 2018 names these among its mentions:
Wrecked by Joe Ide, featuring his brainy PI from Los Angeles (I wonder if he and Detective Tom Stone know each other)
In the Galway Silence by Ken Bruen
Holy Ghost by John Sandford
So there you have a few “best crime book” lists. There are others so keep looking if you’d like. But otherwise, we hope you had your favorite crime books of 2018 that you enjoyed and that you’ll look forward to more in 2019.
One of mine was Badlands by CJ Box and reminded me of Tom Stone: Day of the Dead.
Have a wonderful 2019 in the stories you choose and in the life you live!
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