9

Think of a number, any single digit number between 1 and 400. Need a hint? Let’s refine it to the largest decimal digit, the square of 3, the square root of 81. Another clue? Count the number of Greek Muses. It’s the Hebrew Sabbath day of the month (23:32 וַיִּקְרָא), a number signifying truth and completeness. It’s the number of Brahma the Creator and At-Tawbah (ٱلتوبة‎), the n^th Surah of the Holy Qur’an. It’s the atomic number of fluorine, the number of circles in Dante’s Inferno, and the number of innings in baseball. You guessed!

It’s also how high FeedSpot, a RSS feed reader, ranked SleuthSayers out of nearly 400 crime and mystery blogs it follows.

№ 9.

Wow. Rumors that SleuthSayers is respected and well regarded in the criminal community have reached this troglodyte’s outpost. That’s thanks to you, loyal reader (you know whom I’m talking about), and the dedication of two dozen of the smartest writers this side of Dorothy and Dashiell.

We have good company. I’ve read and interacted with other blogs I consider top-notch: Criminal Element (#1), Crimespree (#8), Crime Readers’ Association (#19), Murder is Everywhere (#28), Crime Time (#22), Criminal Minds (#32), Crime Space (#49), and Femmes Fatales (#69).

Look who else is featured: Rob Lopresti (#47) and Michael Bracken (#37).

The list contains a number of intriguing new-to-me crime sites. Although no trophies or fat prizes are awarded, it’s nice to be recognized and be ranked so high.

FeedSpot’s original list offers considerable detail as well as 300 additional entries, but check the list below to get a quick Who’s Who of the mystery blogging world. Again, thank you.

What do you think? Criminal minds want to know. And now, a selection from the list:

1.		Criminal Element New York, US	45		Crime Segments Florida, US
2.		Crime Fiction Lover UK	46		Indie Crime Scene unspecified
3.		Crime Reads unspecified	47		Little Big Crimes Bellingham, Wash, US
4.		Sue Coletta US	48		International Noir international
5.		Crime By The Book New York, NY, US	49		Crime Space international
6.		True Crime Diva unspecified	50		Vintage Crime Australia
7.		Venetian Vase UK	51		Writer's Forensics California, US
8.		Crime Spree Mag Milwaukee, Wisconsin, US	52		Crime Always Pays Ireland
9.		SleuthSayers Ca, Fr, NZ, UK, US, ZA	53		Detectives > Borders international
10		Under Your Name? UK	54		Jane Isaac Northampton, England, UK
11		Crime Book Junkie UK	55		True Crime Reader unspecified
12		Kittling Books Phoenix, Arizona, US	56		Scandinavian Crime unspecified
13		Shots Mag UK	57		Crime Scene N.I. Northern Ireland, UK
14		The Rap Sheet unspecified	58		Unlawful Acts Wilmington, Delaware, US
15		In Reference To Murder US	59		Where Readers Grow New York, US
16		Bolo Books Maryland, US	60		Col's Criminal Library England, UK
17		Aust Crime Fiction Victoria, Australia	61		Rowmark England, UK
18		Raven Crime Reads UK	62		International Crime Belfast, N.I, UK
19		Crime Writers' Assoc UK	63		The Crime House Sweden
20		Chapter In My Life Glasgow, Scotland, UK	64		Steph Broadribb London, England, UK
21		Hooked From Page 1 Essex, Ontario, Canada	65		Historical True Detective US
22		Crime Time UK	66		Past Offences US
23		Euro Crime UK	67		The Crime Warp Bradford, England, UK
24		George Kelley N Tonawanda, NY, US	68		Keeper Of Pages England, UK
25		Do Some Damage unspecified	69		Femmes Fatales unspecified
26		Cross-Examining Crime England, UK	70		Jim Fisher True Crime Pennsylvania, US
27		Crime Reader's Blog UK	71		Chris Longmuir Montrose, Scotland, UK
28		Murder Is Everywhere international	72		MD Paust Hampton, Virginia, US
29		Type M 4 Murder unspecified	73		Chillers Killers Thrillers London, England, UK
30		Promoting Crime UK	74		Crime Ire Dublin, Ireland
31		Murder In Common Toronto, Ontario, Canada	75		Unlawful Acts unspecified
32		7 Criminal Minds unspecified	76		Mystery Pod unspecified
33		The Invisible Event London, England, UK	77		Crime Scraps Review England, UK
34		Joffe Books London, England, UK	78		Permission to Kill unspecified
35		Cath Staincliffe Manchester, England, UK	79		Crime Review England, UK
36		Crime Worm Scotland, UK	80		Fiction Formula US
37		Crime Fiction Writer Hewitt, Texas, US	81		Northern Crime reviews Leeds, England, UK
38		Armed Robbery Albany, New York, US	82		Fair Dinkum Crime Australia
39		JIE Scribano Madrid, Spain	83		Mark McGinn crime blog Christchurch Canterbury NZ
40		Hawley Reviews unspecified	84		True Crime unspecified
41		Kiwi Crime New Zealand	85		Crimezine Los Angeles, California, US
42		Christine Poulson UK	86		Only Detect unspecified
43		Ron Franscell San Antonio, Texas, US	87		Crime Thrilla Fella unspecified
44		Moonlight Detective unspecified	88		The Reader is Warned unspecified