THE HOUSE OF CRIME & MYSTERY’S FAVOURITE BOOKS of the YEAR

(Books that were available in Canada between fall 2010 and fall 2011, either in hardcover, softcover, paperback, eBook, PDF, etc. Just remember that I haven’t read everything that’s out there, especially books by many UK and other international writers; I certainly need to get up-to-date with the latest from writers that I’ve read and enjoyed in the past, people like Deon Meyer, Roger Smith, Ian Rankin, Val McDermid, R. J. Ellory and a few others! That would be one of my 2012 resolutions: to try and read a little bit more books from out of North America, without reading less Canadians and Americans, of course.

Books are in alphabetical order of authors’s last names.

Top 3 True Crime

IN THE GARDEN OF BEASTS by Erik LARSON (Crown/Random House)

SEX ON THE MOON by Ben MEZRICH (Doubleday/Random House)

WHO KILLED JANET SMITH? by Ed STARKINS (Anvil Press/LPG)

Top 5 Indie Crime Fiction

DEAD WOOD by Dani AMORE (self-pub, eFormat)

LAKE CHARLES by Ed LYNSKEY (Wildside Press)

THE ADJUSTMENT by Scott PHILLIPS (Counterpoint)

ALREADY GONE by John RECTOR (AmazonEncore)

BEAUTIFUL, NAKED & DEAD by Josh STALLINGS (Heist Publishing)

Top 5 Thriller Fiction

THE ACCIDENT by Linwood BARCLAY (Doubleday/Random House)

THE FIFTH WITNESS by Michael CONNELLY (Little, Brown)

HEADHUNTERS by Jo NESBØ (Vintage/Random House)

NEVER KNOWING by Chevy STEVENS (St. Martin’s Press)

SANCTUS by Simon TOYNE  (William Morrow/Harper Collins)

Top 5 Supernatural Crime Fiction (or what I call “Creepy Crime Fiction”)

THE BURNING SOUL by John CONNOLLY (Atria Books/Simon & Schuster)

FULL DARK, NO STARS by Stephen KING (Scribner/Simon & Schuster)

THE CYPRESS HOUSE by Michael KORYTA (Little, Brown)

LOW TOWN by Daniel POLANSKY (Doubleday/Random House)

THE GUARDIANS by Andrew PYPER (Doubleday/Random House)

Top 5 Canadian Crime Fiction

THE ACCIDENT by Linwood BARCLAY (Random House)

THE DAMAGE DONE by Hilary DAVIDSON (Forge)
THE DISCIPLE OF LAS VEGAS by Ian HAMILTON (ECW)

THE GUARDIANS by Andrew PYPER (Doubleday/Random House)

NEVER KNOWING by Chevy STEVENS (St. Martin’s Press)

Top 10 Crime Fiction

THE END OF EVERYTHING by Megan ABBOTT (Reagan Arthur/Little, Brown)

THE ACCIDENT by Linwood BARCLAY (Random House)

BLOODLINE by Mark BILLINGHAM (Mulholland Books)

A DROP OF THE HARD STUFF by Lawrence BLOCK (Mulholland Books)

THE FIFTH WITNESS by Michael CONNELLY (Little, Brown)

THE BURNING SOUL by John CONNOLLY (Atria Books/Simon & Schuster)

MOTOR CITY SHAKEDOWN by D.E. JOHNSON (Minotaur Books)

THE CYPRESS HOUSE by Michael KORYTA (Little, Brown)

ONE TRUE SENTENCE by Craig MCDONALD (Minotaur Books/Thomas Dunne)

THE CUT by George PELECANOS (Reagan Arthur/Little, Brown)

Top 5 Book Covers

TWELVE DRUMMERS DRUMMING by C.C. Benison

Book design by Karin Batten 

(Delacorte Press/Random House)

THE SISTERS BROTHERS by Patrick DEWITT
Art & book design by Dan STILES
(House of Anansi)

ONE TRUE SENTENCE by Craig MCDONALD
Cover design by David Baldeosingh ROSTEIN, illustration by Echo CHERNIK (Minotaur Books/Thomas Dunne)

THE ADJUSTMENT by Scott PHILLIPS
Cover design by Michael FUSCO
(Counterpoint)

DEATH PLAYS POKER by Robin SPANO
Cover design by CYANOTYPE
(ECW Press) 








JF 
January 3rd, 2012

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