Here I sit with bickering children as a backdrop, counting down the days, and I realised it’s Friday; on an even month that would mean that it’s Crime Fiction round-up day so it makes for perfect timing to slide in my Yearly Wrap Up.

2019 was a great year for Crime reviews, with quite a big jump from 2018 stats. I wonder how much we grew as a Challenge across the board. In the Crime genre we jumped from 335 reviews to 419, so now I need to check the full stats – hold that thought.

The Challenge has seen some great growth too going from 1933 reviews of 1053 books by 797 authors to 2194 reviews by 1247 authors of 898 books.

The Crime genre has grown from 335 reviews of 144 books by 110 authors to 419 reviews of 180 books by 110 authors and I think that’s a beautiful thing.

Now to unpack that a little. Let’s take a look at the authors who featured the most prominently.

Some of the names that popped up the most prominently were also popular last year so let’s look at the top 10.

  • Sulari Gentill was reviewed 24 times, over 11 different books
  • Jane Harper topped the list last year, and came in second in 2019 with 15 reviews across 3 books
  • Dervla McTiernan was in the most reviewed list last year and comes in third for 2019 with 14 reviews of 3 books
  • Candice Fox was reviewed 12 times across 7 books
  • Wendy James was reviewed 11 times over 3 books
  • Anna Romer was reviewed 11 times, all for Under The Midnight Sky
  • Felicity McLean also attracted 11 reviews, all for The Van Apfel Girls Are Gone
  • Grace York was reviewed 10 times across 7 books
  • Nicole Trope attracted 9 reviews for 3 different books
  • The top 10 is rounded out by 2 authors, both with 8 reviews and 1 interview. T.M Clark had 2 different books reviewed and Jennifer Spence had all her reviews for The Lost Girls.

The author with the most books reviewed is Sulari Gentill with an impressive 11 titles, followed closely with Candice Fox and Grace York being featured for 7 different books.

Let’s have a look and see which books featured the most prominently. I was going to go with a top ten, but there are so many that had the same number of reviews that it got tricky so we’re at 13.

11 Reviews
Under The Midnight Sky – Anna Romer
The Van Apfel Girls Are Gone – Felicity McLean
The Scholar – Dervla McTiernan

9 Reviews
The Accusation – Wendy James

8 Reviews
Six Minutes – Petronella McGovern
Dead Man Switch – Tara Moss
The Lost Girls – Jennifer Spence
The Arsonist – Chloe Hooper

7 Reviews
The Strangers We Know – Pip Drysdale
The Ex – Nicola Moriarty
Bruny – Heather Rose
Cry of the Firebird – T.M. Clark

Without our amazing reviewers we wouldn’t have a challenge so let’s look at our most prolific reviewers for a minute:

  1. Brenda 61 reviews posted on Goodreads
  2. Carolyn Scott published 40 reviews on Goodreads
  3. Amanda @ Mrs B’s Book Reviews published 38 posts, 34 reviews and 4 interviews.
  4. Jennifer Cameron-Smith had 31 reviews on Goodreads
  5. Shelleyrae @ Book’d Out published 21 reviews
  6. Cloggie Downunder reviewed 20 books (aswell as 9 double up entries) on Goodreads
  7. Ashleigh Meikle – The Book Muse published 17 posts, 15 reviews and 2 interviews
  8. Claire Holderness published 15 reviews, of which 1 was an interview
  9. Tracy (Carpe Librum) reviewed 13 books
  10. Theresa Smith Writes reviewed 11 titles

And I didn’t even make the list with a small 7 reviews. But I do have a couple of Crime novels I read that didn’t make it to review stage so that might have made a difference. Let’s extend a huge thanks to our top reviewers for their support of Australian Women Writer’s. A few of our top 10 are also editors of the AWW Challenge with genres of their own to focus on so well done to them.

I can’t wait to see what 2020 has in store for us, I am already anticipating some great Crime releases.

For now I’ll sign off and see you next month.

We would love to hear what you read and loved in 2019…. and what you are looking forward to reading in 2020.

*****
About Me:

I am a SAHM of 4 who loves words; written, spoken, sung… if it has words I’m there.
After reviewing at Beauty and Lace for almost a decade I have embarked on a solo blogging journey. You can find me at: Mic Loves Books
I started as a lover of horror, fantasy and crime but my time reviewing has broadened my horizons enough that I read pretty much anything, when my gorgeous rugrats allow me the opportunity.
You can find me on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.