The Mysterious Bookshop Presents the Best Mystery Stories of the Year 2022

Starred review from July 25, 2022
Tom Larsen’s “El Cuerpo en el Barril” (“The Body in the Barrel”) is the first among equals in this impressive anthology of 20 mystery stories. Larsen’s years in Ecuador translate into a vivid depiction of that country in the service of a memorable procedural featuring Capitán Juan Delgado, nicknamed the fat toad by underlings. Delgado, whose indifference to societal norms may be what has made him a great sleuth, must solve the murder of a man whose corpse was left in a barrel in the coastal town of Manta. Larsen’s tale is an exemplar of making an unpleasant lead a character who compels attention. Susan Frith’s unsettling “Better Austens” lures readers in with benign opening passages about a book club whose members read light fiction to balance their demanding jobs; the reveal of what those jobs are is a shocker. Among the better-known contributors, Jo Nesbø stands out with “Black Knight,” whose antihero lead, a hit man, is engaged in a deadly battle of wits with a professional rival in Milan. Diverse voices, settings, and premises make this a treat for fans of literate and inventive mystery fiction.

November 1, 2022
Penzler's latest anthology of the year's best mystery stories, guest edited this time by Sara Paretsky, brings together short fiction weighted toward character-driven tales awash in psychological thrills. Mobsters, assassins, and executioners blend with conflicted and embattled everypersons, leaving no doubt that mayhem can slip into our tightest corners. In Norwegian thriller powerhouse Jo Nesb�'s outstanding contribution, "Black Knight," a psychologist/assassin faces the disintegration of his noble delusions in a chess-like battle with his nemesis. Susan Frith's "Better Austens" takes readers to a dystopia where privatized executions are performed by a corporatized cadre of "Mothers" desperate to combat their vulnerabilities by joining the system. In Kristine Kathryn Rusch's "Grief Spam," Jerome Charyn's "White Chocolate," Gwen Mullins' "Violent Devotion," and Sean Marciniak's "October in Kauai," compelling protagonists confront monstrous domestic realities while questioning their own culpability and motives. Then Colson Whitehead's "The Theresa Job" flips the script, revealing an upstanding citizen's dawning recognition of his criminal self. And, while Joyce Carol Oates' "Detour" ends on a positive note, shared threads of imprisonment tie it to the feminist gut-punch of Susan Glaspell's "A Jury of Her Peers." At 500 pages, this collection may be on the long side for some book groups, but those who take up the challenge won't regret it.

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