Reprint of the Year Awards 2024: The Results

There are not many hours of 2024 left, so that must mean it is time to share the results for the latest Reprint of the Year awards. Thanks must go to the bloggers who took part, the readers who submitted nominations for the readers draw (which adds three reader chosen titles to the poll), and of course to everyone who took the time to vote.

We had 20 participating countries this year. The most votes came from the USA and then the UK, unsurprisingly, but the other three countries in the top 5 were:

• India
• Netherlands
• Germany

Twenty-eight different states from North America took part, which is five more than last year. Interestingly, California, which is normally the state which contributes the most votes, was overtaken by New York and New Jersey. By the end of the first day of voting, 14 countries and 18 USA states had already voted.

The winner of this year’s competition held their ground from day 1, but other than that there was quite a lot of jostling for positions among the other titles. Some books slowly rose up the list, others rocketed upwards, before landing lower down the rankings. There was also something of a dogfight between the mysteries now in fourth and sixth place.

So, let’s get cracking and start with the book in last place, which only received one vote…

Next in 18^th place is…

In joint 17^th place we have two contrasting mysteries…

Following closely on the heels of those two, in 16^th place, is…

Then in 15^th place…

14^th position is held by…

13^th place is held jointly by

Next in 12^th place is…

Only a couple of votes ahead, in 11^th place, is…

We have now reached the top 10, which kicks off with another pair of titles…

Midsummer Murder was one of my own nominations. I wasn’t sure how well it would do, but I am pleased it just squeezed into the top 10. It was a little touch and go as other titles gained more votes, but fortunately it held its ground, moving from 8^th down to 10^th. I was a little surprised that Ethel Lina White’s The Lady Vanishes did not end up higher in the list, given its Hitchcock connections.

Next in 9^th place, with one extra vote, is…

The next few results are a tight cluster with only one vote separating each position. 8^th place is held by…

This is the second entry by Ethel Lina White and of the two is the less well-known, so it was interesting to see it rise higher in the rankings.

In joint 7^th place is…

6^th place is held by…

We are now at the top five and 5^th place sees the first Christianna Brand…

Next in 4^th place…

This is probably one of the most surprising results for me. British Library Classic Crime reprints tend to do well in the Reprint of the Year awards, so that did not surprise me. Nor did it surprise me that it was a Lorac title, as again she has done well in the past. But this particular title was only released in November, which means that there was only a matter of weeks for people to buy and read the book. Often, in the past, reprints which have been published in the Autumn do not do as well, partially because of this reason. Readers need time. So, it is intriguing to see that Lorac has struck something of a chord with voters.

It is time for the top three and the mystery in 3rd place was one of the titles which slowly but consistently accumulated votes…

Some years there is quite the battle between the books in second and first place, with one vote either way making all the difference. That didn’t happen this year, but the mystery in second place still gained 13 more votes than The Noh Mask Murder…

That of course means that in first place with 15.26% (can’t forget the 0.26!) of the votes and a 25-vote lead is…

This is a well-deserved victory by Christianna Brand. Tour de Force is a story I very much enjoy. Brand missed out on first place in 2022, with Death of Jezebel coming in second place after Death on Gokumon Island by Seishi Yokomizo.

Like previous years I thought it would be interesting to look at the votes cast by specific countries to see which titles were the most popular. The results are quite interesting.

USA

1. Cat of Many Tails by Ellery Queen
2. Tour de Force by Christianna Brand
3. The Noh Mask Murder by Akimitsu Takagi [Trans. Jesse Kirkwood]
4. Murder in Vienna by E. C. R. Lorac
5. The Door by Mary Roberts Rinehart

UK

1. Tour de Force by Christianna Brand
2. Bloody Instructions by Sara Woods
3. Murder in Vienna by E. C. R. Lorac
4. Fear Stalks the Village by Ethel Lina White
5. Midsummer Murder by Cecil M. Wills

India

1. Cat of Many Tails by Ellery Queen
2. Tour de Force by Christianna Brand
3. London Particular by Christianna Brand
4. Murder in Vienna by E. C. R. Lorac
5. They Can’t Hang Me by James Ronald

Canada

1. Cat of Many Tails by Ellery Queen
2. S. S. Murder by Q. Patrick
3. The Noh Mask Murder by Akimitsu Takagi [Trans. Jesse Kirkwood]
4. The Little Sparrow Murders by Seishi Yokomizo
5. The Chinese Gold Murders by Robert Van Gulik

Netherlands

1. The Noh Mask Murder by Akimitsu Takagi [Trans. Jesse Kirkwood]
2. Cat of Many Tails by Ellery Queen
3. Tour de Force by Christianna Brand
4. They Can’t Hang Me by James Ronald

Germany

1. Tour de Force by Christianna Brand
2. The Noh Mask Murder by Akimitsu Takagi [Trans. Jesse Kirkwood]
3. The Lady Vanishes by Ethel Lina White
4. Fear Stalks the Village by Ethel Lina White

Australia

1. Tour de Force by Christianna Brand
2. Cat of Many Tails by Ellery Queen
3. They Can’t Hang Me by James Ronald

So, I hope everyone has enjoyed following this year’s awards. Thank you to all the publishers who have been reprinting so many classic crime fiction titles for us to enjoy. Without you the awards would not be possible. Our TBR piles might be thinner, but I think our reading would be all the poorer without you.

Which results surprised you the most? Which books have made it on to your TBR pile?

Here’s hoping we have another strong year of reprints in 2025. Which titles are you looking forwarding to reading?