Top Ten Books of 2023

I read 137 books in 2023!  It is always hard to determine what my best ten books are for any year.  This year is a little different in that I knew off the top of my head what the top ten seven books were going to be and in what order.  Please note, I am choosing books from among different genres for this list.  The list includes mysteries, historical fiction and graphic novels. Among the genres, I read 51 mysteries, 46 historical fiction/historical mysteries, 27 graphic novels, and 7 nonfiction books. There were 6 additional books where I did not classify a genre.  They were Amish fiction novels. In addition, 64 of the books that I read were new releases and 33 were written by new (to me) authors.  Below are my top ten:

10.  White Faced Lies by Eric Flanagan (graphic novel)

9.  Sunburn by Andi Watson (graphic novel)

8.  Night at the Belfry by Xavier Saxon (graphic novel)

7.  The Shallows by Holly Craig (mystery)

6.  Red Queen by Juan Gomez Jurado (mystery)

5.  The Last Russian Doll by Kristen Loetsch (historical fiction)

4.  Banyan Moon by Thao Thai (historical fiction)

3.  Blood Oranges by J. M. Cannon (mystery)

2.  Weyward by Emilia Hart (historical mystery)

and my best book of the year is: 

1.  The Armor of Light by Ken Follett (historical fiction)