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
No surprise The Darkest Room [Johan Theorin] is a superb story.
ReplyDeleteKerrie - Thanks for this list. There really are some excellent novels here!
ReplyDeleteWhat 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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