There’s that gnatty “best” word again. Soldiering on, I love Pelecanos. Also Nelson DeMille, Michael Connelly, James Lee Burke, Dennis Lehane, Walter Mosley, Don Winslow and Richard Price, of course. As one-offs, “Night Dogs,”  “The Ice Harvest,” “Marathon Man,” “Different Seasons” and “Cutter and Bone” are among my “besties.”