Small presses, big crimes

Who is publishing crime fiction among the small press set? Anyone want to add some Canadians to this list?

“Best” is a relative term. For this list, best means a few things put together. As a professional book reviewer, writer, and lifelong fan of crime fiction, I have read books from many indie presses. In fact, I try to review as many indie titles as possible because they usually lack the marketing budget to reach a lot of readers. To simplify the process and have some measurable elements on which to base my picks, I created a list of the “best” presses using the following criteria: they publish outstanding crime narratives; they have a track record of quality in terms of stories, editing, covers, design, and authors; they consistently offer readers a mix of books by established voices, new authors, and work in translation; they often step outside the formulaic crime novel and publish exciting, unique work. When taken together, any press that had all those elements deserved a place on the list. Surprisingly, that meant some presses that aren’t regularly known as crime presses ended up on the list.