10 July 2010

Best crime fiction so far in 2010 - the titles

What should you be reading?

In the last 10 days I have been collecting lists of best 5-10 reads from friends of this blog.
These are just the best books they have read this year regardless of year of publication.

15 or so contributors have suggested about 110 titles.If you'd like to check their comments go here.
Many thanks to Kay, Jose Ignacio Escribano, Vanda Symon, Books Please, Becky, Cathy, Rob Kitchin, Barbara Fister, Bernadette, Uriah Robinson, Margot Kinberg, Laura Root, Maxine Clarke, and Gautami Tripathy

I have marked the titles that were suggested more than once with ** (twice), *** (three times) etc. There weren't that many duplicates, which attests to the range of quality crime fiction titles we have to choose from.
But the stand out is THE DARKEST ROOM by Johan Theorin which was suggested a remarkable 6 times.

Here is the list sorted by title. On Monday I will publish the same list sorted by author.

A CARRION DEATH    Michael Stanley
A FATAL INVERSION    Barbara Vine
A GAME OF SORROWS     Shona MacLean
A LOYAL CHARACTER DANCER    Qui Xiaolong
A QUESTION OF BELIEF     Donna Leon
A THOUSAND CUTS (RUPTURE)    Simon Lelic**
ABOUT FACE     Donna Leon
AND ONLY TO DECEIVE    Tasha Alexander
ARTISTS IN CRIME    Ngaio Marsh
AWAIT YOUR REPLY    Don Chaon
AWAKENING    S J Bolton
BAD BOY    Peter Robinson
BLACK AND BLUE    Ian Rankin
BLACKLANDS    Belinada Bauer**
BLEED FOR ME    Michael Robotham
BLOOD OF THE WICKED    Leighton Gage
BLUE LIGHTENING    Ann Cleeves
CAPTURED    Neil Cross
CASE HISTORIES     Kate Atkinson
CHILD 44    Tom Rob Smith
CITY OF SHADOWS    Ariana Franklin
COMPANY OF LIARS    Karen Maitland
DEAD POINT    Peter Temple
DEATH RITES    Alicia Giménez-Bartlett
DEATH WORE WHITE     Jim Kelly**
DEVIL'S PEAK    Deon Meyer
DO THEY KNOW I'M RUNNING?    David Corbett
EARTH HUMS IN B FLAT    Mari Strachan
ECHOES FROM THE DEAD    Johann Theorin
ENGLEBY    Sebastian Faulks
ENTANGLEMENT    Zygmunt Miloszewski
EXPIRATION DATE    Duane Swierczynski
FAITHFUL PLACE    Tana French
FINANCIAL LIVES OF THE POETS    Jess Walter
GENERATION LOSS     Elizabeth Hand
GUNSHOT ROAD    Adrian Hyland
HAUNTED GROUND     Erin Hart
HAVANA GOLD    Leonardo Padura
HUGE     James W. Fuerst
HUNTING BLIND    Paddy Richardson
HYPOTHERMIA    Arnaldur Indridason***
IN A LONELY PLACE     Dorothy B. Hughes
IN THE WOODS     Tana French
INSIDE OUT    Barry Eisler
IRON LAKE     William Kent Krueger
KILLER    Dave Zeltserman
LAST RITUALS     Yrsa Sigurðardóttir
MIDNIGHT FUGUE    Reginald Hill**
MISTRESS OF THE ART OF DEATH    Ariana Franklin
MURDER IN MESOPOTAMIA    Agatha Christie
MURDER IS BINDING     Lorna Barrett
MY SOUL TO TAKE     Yrsa Sigurðardóttir
NEEDLE IN A HAYSTACK    Ernesto Mallo
NEMESIS    Jo Nesbo
QUEENPIN    Megane Abbot
RAVEN BLACK    Ann Cleeves
RED APRIL    Santiago Roncagliolo
ROLLING THUNDER     Chris Grabenstein
SAVING MAX    Antoinette van Heugten
SHATTER     Michael Robotham
SILENCE OF THE GRAVE    Arnaldur Indridason
SKELETON HILL    Peter Lovesey
SOMETHING WICKED     E.X. Ferrars
SPRINKLE WITH MURDER     Jenn McKinlay
SWORN TO SILENCE    Linda Catillo
THE ARSENIC LABYRINTH    Martin Edwards
THE BRASS VERDICT    Michael Connelly
THE BRIDESMAID     Ruth Rendell
THE CASE OF THE MISSING SERVANT     Tarquin Hall
THE CHALK CIRCLE MAN    Fred Vargas
THE CROSSING PLACES    Elly Griffiths
THE CROSSING PLACES     Elly Griffiths
THE DARKEST ROOM    Johan Theorin******
THE FIFTH WOMAN    Henning Mankell
THE FIRE ENGINE THAT DISAPPEARED    Sojwall & Wahloo
THE FRANCHISE AFFAIR    Josephine Tey
THE GIRL WHO PLAYED WITH FIRE    Stieg Larsson
THE GIRL WITH A DRAGON TATTOO    Steig Larsson
THE GRAVE IN GAZA    Matt Beynon Rees
THE HOLLOW    Agatha Christie
THE JANUS STONE     Elly Griffiths
THE LIKENESS    Tana French**
THE MALTESE FALCON    Dashiell Hammett
THE MAN FROM BEIJING    Henning Mankell
THE MIND’S EYE    Hakan Nesser
THE MURDER OF ROGER ACKROYD    Agatha Christie--Graphic Novel
THE MYSTIC ARTS OF ERASING ALL SIGNS OF DEATH    Charlie Huston**
THE ONES YOU DO    Daniel Woodrell
THE PARIS ENIGMA    Pablo de Santis
THE POSTMAN ALWAYS RINGS TWICE    James M Cain
THE PURE IN HEART     Susan Hill
THE QUEEN OF PATPONG    Tim Hallinan
THE REDEMPTION OF ALEXANDER SEATON    Shona MacLean
THE RULE BOOK    Rob Kitchin
THE SAVAGE ALTAR (AKA SUN STORM)    Asa Larsson
THE SERPENT POOL     Martin Edwards
THE SNOWMAN    Jo Nesbo**
THE TURNAROUND    George Pelecanos
THE WATER'S EDGE    Karin Fossum
THE WHITE GALLOWS    Rob Kitchin
THE WINGS OF THE SPHINX    Andrea Camilleri
TRAIL OF BLOOD    S J Rozan
TRUTH    Peter Temple**
U IS FOR UNDERTOW    Sue Grafton
VENOM    Joan Brady
VICTORY SQUARE    Olen Steinhauer
WATER-BLUE EYES    Domingo Villar**
WHAT I SAW AND HOW I LIED     Judy Blundell
WIFE OF THE GODS     Kwei Quartey
WINTERLAND    Alan Glynn
YEAR OF THE DOG    Henry Chang

3 comments:

Uriah Robinson said...

No surprise The Darkest Room [Johan Theorin] is a superb story.

Anonymous said...

Kerrie - Thanks for this list. There really are some excellent novels here!

Anonymous said...

What a lovely list! And I guess I really do need to read THE DARKEST ROOM since it got so many recommendations.

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