The best books of 2023

This list is part of the best books of 2023.

Join 1,707 readers and share your 3 favorite reads of the year.

My favorite read in 2023…

Book cover of Shrines of Gaiety

Julie Anderson Why did I love this book?

I like all of Kate Atkinson’s writing; her prose is pitch-perfect, and her characters, while often morally ambiguous, are always engaging and well-drawn.

Atkinson refuses to recognise the artificial categorisation of books into genres like "crime" as opposed to literary fiction. Shrines of Gaiety is a perfect example of a book which is both and neither, it is simply, very good.

This book is set in the demi-monde of Soho, its gangsters and addicts, police, and thrill seekers, but also shows the shadow of the Great War. Set in the 1920s, the crime plot is about the murder of young girls, but also the trade in flesh, in London and abroad, for profit.

There is a wide cast of characters, police and gangsters, particularly the second-generation Coker family, whose mother, Nellie, is the central lynchpin of an underworld clan providing entertainment of all kinds to whoever can pay for it. Based on a real person, Nellie Coker is mesmerizingly believable as the matriarch. As the book progresses, we watch the foundations of her hard-nosed philosophy begin to crumble.

The dialogue is pithy and witty —a wonderful book. I will read it again.

By Kate Atkinson,

Why should I read it?

8 authors picked Shrines of Gaiety as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

'Atkinson on her finest form. A marvel of plate-spinning narrative knowhow, a peak performance of consummate control.' OBSERVER

'This is the perfect novel for uncertain times.' THE TIMES

'I can think of few writers other than Dickens who can match it' SUNDAY TIMES

'Brilliant' RICHARD OSMAN

'Kate Atkinson is simply one of the best writers working today, anywhere in the world' GILLIAN FLYNN

____

1926, and in a country still recovering from the Great War, London has become the focus for a delirious new nightlife. In the clubs of Soho, peers of the realm rub shoulders with starlets, foreign dignitaries…


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My 2nd favorite read in 2023…

Book cover of Vine Street

Julie Anderson Why did I love this book?

This is a superb evocation of a changing London, especially Soho, from the 1930s to the 1970s. These streets are brought to life over the decades – jazz and flappers in the 30s, air raid sirens and searchlights, followed by bomb sites and rubble, Raymond's Revue Bar and the sex shops of the 60s when London was swinging– but all the time, the little restaurants and shops too.

This world is gritty, corrupt, depraved, and happenstance, where being in the wrong place at the wrong time can lead to disaster. It's a dog-eats-dog underworld, and the police who are there to uphold the law are only a little better than the criminals they pursue.

Astonishingly, the book has love at its heart, a longstanding romantic amour, as well as a long-lasting friendship. This is a gangland crime novel, and yes, there is a mystery to solve, but the book is about far more than catching a killer.

The central trio of characters are finely drawn and superbly interlinked, and the final "twist" may or may not be guessed, but it doesn't matter. It's still sad, lovely, and full of humanity and kindness despite the bleak inhumanity and cruelty on show.

It is thoroughly immersive and to be read again.

By Dominic Nolan,

Why should I read it?

2 authors picked Vine Street as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

***BEST CRIME BOOKS OF 2021 - THE TIMES/SUNDAY TIMES***
***CRIME BOOK OF THE MONTH - THE TIMES***

'Brings the obsessional dread of James Ellroy to 1940s London.' IAN RANKIN

'Extraordinary...a career-defining performance.' THE SUNDAY TIMES

'This is crime writing of the highest quality' DAILY MAIL

SOHO, 1935.
SERGEANT LEON GEATS' PATCH.

A snarling, skull-cracking misanthrope, Geats marshals the grimy rabble according to his own elastic moral code.

The narrow alleys are brimming with jazz bars, bookies, blackshirts, ponces and tarts so when a body is found above the Windmill Club, detectives are content to dismiss the case as just another…


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My 3rd favorite read in 2023…

Book cover of Dan Leno and the Limehouse Golem

Julie Anderson Why did I love this book?

I read this book when it was first published back in 1995, but I re-read it this year. Ackroyd sets his tales in London, whether modern or historic (sometimes, like in Hawksmoor, both), and this one is set in the Victorian era.

We are in the pre-Jack the Ripper East End, where there is a series of gruesome killings by the almost supernatural "Limehouse Golem" while, at the same time, Elizabeth Cree (a music hall performer) is on trial for killing her husband. Inspector Kildare has to deal with both.

Kildare is a wonderfully drawn character, world-weary but half-enamored of Ms Cree. Bill Nighy was a superb choice of actor in the film.

The dark and dangerous streets of Limehouse give way to the naptha and greasepaint of the music hall, as Dan Leno (a real person) is drawn into the case, as are Karl Marx and George Gissing. Leno often appeared in drag, and one of the book's themes is gender. Ms. Cree regularly dressed in male garb, just as Dan Leno becomes female characters on stage.

This is a crime book, but more than that. This book shows what can be achieved by a very good writer even when they write in a genre area of fiction. Not to be missed.

By Peter Ackroyd,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Dan Leno and the Limehouse Golem as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

NOW AN UNMISSABLE FILM STARRING BILL NIGHY, DOUGLAS BOOTH AND OLIVIA COOKE.

'Mesmerising, macabre and totally brilliant' Daily Mail

Before the Ripper, fear had another name.

London, 1880. A series of gruesome murders attributed to the mysterious 'Limehouse Golem' strikes fear into the heart of the capital. Inspector John Kildare must track down this brutal serial killer in the damp, dark alleyways of riverside London. But how does Dan Leno, music hall star extraordinaire, find himself implicated in this crime spree, and what does Elizabeth Cree, on trial for the murder of her husband, have to hide?

Peter Ackroyd brings…


Don‘t forget about my book 😀

Opera

By Julie Anderson,

Book cover of Opera

What is my book about?

Listed for the CWA Ian Fleming Steel Dagger 2023 Opera is the third in the Cassandra Fortune Whitehall trilogy. Determined to lay the ghosts of her past, Cassandra asks a former head of GCHQ for help, only to receive a message from beyond the grave.

She revisits an old betrayal in an ancient land, uncovering subterfuge and treason. Yet, as Christmas approaches, she senses a shadowy presence haunting her footsteps. What is real and what only appears to be? Who can be trusted, and who is double-dealing?

The final installment of a thriller trilogy that calls to mind the joyfully clandestine dangers of Ian Fleming or John Le Carre' Callaghan Books.