NPR reported that genre fiction and female authors topped U.S. libraries' most-borrowed lists in 2025. Liz Moore's The God of the Woods, a thriller about the disappearance of a teenager from an Adirondack summer camp, showed up on numerous most-borrowed lists. Multiple thrillers by Michael Connelly and David Baldacci appeared on the most-borrowed list of the Washington-Centerville Public Library, serving the area around Dayton, Ohio, and also the Arapahoe Libraries list in Colorado that serves communities in and around Denver. James Patterson dominated the most-borrowed list in Phoenix, with The Texas Murders, Holmes Is Missing and Raised by Wolves all on the top 10. Also on top borrowed lists were The Grey Wolf by Louise Penny, All the Colors of the Dark by Chris Whitaker, and The Frozen River by Ariel Lawhon. Joining Baldacci and Patterson on the most popular borrowed authors roster were Freida McFadden and William Kent Kreuger.
On January 1, 2026, thousands of copyrighted works from 1930 enter the US public domain, along with sound recordings from 1925, many of which will be free for all to copy, share, or build upon. Several crime fiction books are included in the list of public domain works. Among the highlights are the full version of Dashiell Hammett's The Maltese Falcon; the first four titles of the Nancy Drew detective series; Strong Poison by Dorothy L. Sayers; The Murder at the Vicarage, Agatha Christie's first Miss Marple mystery; Christie's other novels The Mysterious Mr. Quin and Giant's Bread (the latter of which she wrote pseudonymously as "Mary Westmacott"); The Documents in the Case, co-written by Dorothy L. Sayers and Robert Eustace; John Dickson Carr's first detective novel, It Walks By Night; Mystery Mile by Margery Allingham, and The French Powder Mystery by Ellery Queen.
The publisher Herb Lester has been putting out various maps, including literary-themed editions, for years. Some of their recent publications include Agatha Christie's England, a literary map of Britain focusing on 44 key sites associated with Christie and her books; This Deadly Isle, focused on Golden Age of Detective fiction with 51 locations from such mysteries chosen and described by Martin Edwards; and Maigret's Paris, a literary guide to the streets, landmarks, and mysteries of Georges Simenon’s Detective Maigret novels. Cross Examining Crime noted a brand new map that has also been released, based on the mysteries of Dorothy L. Sayers, put together by Dr. Eric Sandberg with a map designed by Chris Wilkinson. The fold-out guide introduces the settings that informed her work, showing the streets, villages and landscapes that feature in Sayers' most celebrated stories, with each place given historical background and precise literary ties.
Janet Rudolph has posted an updated list on her Mystery Fanfare blog that features mysteries, crime fiction, thrillers, and movies that take place at the New Year.
The authors at Mystery Lover's Kitchen have shared some recipes to celebrate New Year's recently, including the traditional southern U.S. Black-Eyed Peas, via Valerie Burns; Oliebollen: a Dutch Treat from Maya Corrigan; and Gougères with French Manhattans, courtesy of Leslie Budewitz.
This week's crime poem up at the 5-2 Crime Poetry Weekly is "To My 5-Year-Old Self as I Approach 55" by Robert Plath.
In the Q&A roundup, Author Interviews welcomed Cara Black, author of twenty-one books in the New York Times bestselling Aimée Leduc series, talking about her latest novel, Huguette, and they also spoke with Cristina Kovac, author of Watch Us Fall and The Cutaway, psychological suspense/thrillers set in Washington, DC.; and PBS interviewed author David Baldacci about how writing thrillers shaped real-world conflict and resolution, and how he and his wife are working to counter toxic political discourse.
No comments:
Post a Comment