Crime Fiction Review was created in April 2025 after Reviewing the Evidence, a site that was founded shortly after the turn of the century, went to a well-deserved retirement. (You can visit its final issue at the Internet Archive.) We thought it was worthwhile to continue the tradition of reviewing worthy (or not-so-worthy) books with an even hand to help readers find mysteries they might have otherwise overlooked.
Since our launch in April we’ve reviewed 88 books here. Some trivia:
- Altogether we read 29,560 pages. The average number of pages of the books we reviewed was 336.
- The longest book was 656 pages. You may not be surprised to learn the author was Elizabeth George. The shortest was a novella by Elmore Leonard who famously advised writers to leave out the “hooptedoodle.”
- Though a majority of the books were set in the US, UK, and Canada, we visited lots of places, including Fiji, Pakistan, and Ukraine (twice!) For two books we relied on translators.
- A majority of authors we reviewed this year were women – 58. Four books were coauthored.
- December was our skimpiest month for reviews.
It seems publishers don’t release a lot of mysteries in December. But never fear – there’s a flood coming in the next few months. And we will try to help you keep afloat as we tell you about books that might be worth your while.