No Rank Amateurs

From my Substack, LOVE ME AVENUE (please subscribe!)

Did anyone notice when exactly they added the extra “o” to Gooogle? And changed the colors slightly? Meant to manipulate us, I suppose. The app on my phone, now, rather than being a “search engine,” tells me what to search for—and provides the articles I didn’t realize I knew I wanted. There’s almost nothing left for me to do, except for maybe get a higher paying (or second) job. Anyway, last week I saw something that interested me, a link that said: “25 Best Mystery Novels of the Last 25 Years.” I like mystery novels, and I’ve been trying to read more contemporary stuff, so I checked it out. I didn’t even get to #1, however, or #25, when I was met with the demand that I’d need to pay for a subscription to the publication whose diligent staff had no doubt read ALL of the mystery novels of the last 25 years and had gone through an excruciating, thorough, and fair process of voting and negotiation and finally were able to select the mere 25 titles that are undoubtedly the “cream of the crop!” I realize that all of these overworked scholars need to get paid, especially if they live in “The City,” have families to support, student loan payments, etc. So this didn’t make me angry, just disappointed, as I am unable to afford a subscription at this time and just had to remain in the dark! Then I had an idea. Since the website I work for (RSpeen.com) has a large and handsomely unpaid staff, why not assign one of the writers to come up with a similar list?! Then at least my curiosity would be partially satisfied and maybe I’d even discover some new, exciting books. I asked our “Great Lakes correspondent,” I.N. Menhaden, who normally has a different focus, but is a fan of the mystery novel. In less time than you can say, “who did it,” he came up with a list containing exactly 25 mysteries from precisely the time-period specified. Not “ranked,” of course, that’s crazy, but rather, presented alphabetically. I will share it with you here.

25 Best Mystery Novels of the Last 25 Years

A Man Named Doll – Jonathan Ames (2021). Big Little Lies – Liane Moriarty (2014). Black Iris – Randy Russell (2021). Brooklyn Motto – Alex R. Johnson (2024). Bunny – Mona Awad (2019). Chronic City – Jonathan Lethem (2009). Coq au Vin – Charlotte Carter (2021). The Devil in the White City – Erik Larson (2003). Dr. No – Percival Everett (2022). The Girl on the Train – Paula Hawkins (2015). The Goldfinch – Donna Tartt (2013). I Have Some Questions for You – Rebecca Makkai (2023). Inherent Vice – Thomas Pynchon (2009). Into the Woods – Tana French (2007). The Library Book – Susan Orlean (2018). The Literary Conference – César Aira (2006). The Lovely Bones – Alice Sebold (2002). Nineteen Minutes – Jodi Picoult (2007). No One Left to Come Looking for You – Sam Lipsyte (2022). Patience – Daniel Clowes (2016). Sharp Objects – Gillian Flynn (2006). Still Life – Louise Penny (2005). What the Dead Know – Laura Lippman (2007). Where the Crawdads Sing – Delia Owens (2018). Why Is Randy Russell Unable to Reply to Emails, DMs, and Texts in 2025 – Anonymous (2025)

—list compiled by I.N. Menhaden, RSpeen.com, 2025.

Please note: Mr. Menhaden has faced the disciplinary board at RSpeen.com for the lack of research that went into this article, and also for “pandering.” Not to mention, that arguably passive-aggressive flourish, at the end. He has, at press time, been placed on paid administrative sabbatical.

Speaking of lists, I sometimes listen to the podcast called “Blank Check”—where a small group of young movie fanatics delve into the complete works of one notable movie director at a time, usually one film per episode, in great detail. It’s a lot of fun, and I have hours (and hours) of old episodes to catch up on. Recently, though, they started in on the Coen brothers—which, as a conehead, I’m excited about—and that reminded me that I used to have a complete ranking of Coen movies on my website, but I took it down for some reason. I probably assumed it was dated or needed work. I found it in the deep archives and read it over and realized that I pretty much still agreed with my “rankings” (as silly as that is)—and the little articles about each movie, now that I’d forgotten them, didn’t even make me cringe too much, and in some cases amused me. There are a few interesting takes in there—and after slightly editing (mostly fixing those typos!) I reposted the whole article on the Listz-O-Mania! page of the website—no adds, inane popping up videos, or demands for money—which you can find HERE.

—Randy Russell 7.20.25