Best crime novel reads, 2009

A great year of reading. Since starting to blog my reading has had a fresh burst of life as I've discovered loads of new authors and their work (all but one of the books below were authors new to me this year). I'd like to thank all my fellow crime fiction bloggers who have done so much to diversify and enliven my reading over the past few months, especially those who gave me specific recommendations.

Here are my top ten reads of 2009 (from when I started my blog reviews in July), only three of which were published in 2009.

1. Alone in Berlin by Hans Fallada (1947 in German, translated 2009)

2. Winter's Bone by Daniel Woodrell (2006)

3. Diamond Dove by Adrian Hyland (2006)

4. The Collaborator of Bethlehem by Matt Beynon Rees (2007)

5. The Wheelman by Duane Swierczynski (2005)

6. The Foreign Correspondence by Alan Furst (2006)

7. Fifty Grand by Adrian McKinty (2009)

8. Walking the Perfect Square by Reed Farrel Coleman (2002)

9. Go to Helena Handbasket by Donna Moore (2006)

10. The Twelve by Stuart Neville (2009)

I'll be submitting these to Kerrie over at Mysteries in Paradise who is running her annual collection of best crime reads, 2009 (nominated books do not have to be published in 2009). To participate click here.

Alone in Berlin was the stand out book for me; an astonishing novel first published in German in 1947. A book I've recommended to many people.