Last year I read 64 crime books, one under my goal, and it was extremely difficult to choose only ten. I read three books by Arnaldur Indridason, the three deserve a mention here, but I have finally decided to choose only one.
- Arctic Chill (Vintage Digital Kindle Edition, 2009) by Arnaldur Indridason. Translated from the Icelandic by Bernard Scudder and Victoria Cribb, 2008.*****
- Mixed Blood (Serpent’s Tail, 2011, first published 2009), by Roger Smith*****
- Con los ojos cerrados (Books4pocket, 2011), de Gianrico Carofiglio (traducción de Maria Antonia Menini). Originally published in 2003 as Ad occhi chiusi (English title: A Walk in the Dark)*****
- Phantom (Harvill Secker, 2012), by Jo Nesbo. Translated from the Norwegian by Don Bartlett. Original published in 2011 as Gjenferd.*****
- The Caller (Vintage Digital, 2011. Kindle edition) by Karin Fossum. Translated from the Norwegian by K.E. Semmel. Originally published in 2009 as Varsleren.*****
- Hour of the Wolf (Mantle, 2012. Kindle edition) by Hakan Nesser. Translated into English by Laurie Thompson. Originally published in 1999 as Carambole.*****
- The Rage (Vintage 2012) by Gene Kerrigan.*****
- The Drop (Orion, 2011) by Michael Connelly*****
- The Cold Cold Ground (Serpent’s Tail, 2012. Kindle edition) by Adrian McKinty.*****
- Another Time, Another Life (Doubleday/Transworld 2012. Kindle edition) by Leif GW Persson. Translated by Paul Norlen. Originally published in 2003 as En annan tid, ett annat liv.
I would also like to highlight four books that merit special attention, in my view:
- The Chosen (Portnoy Publishing, 2011. Kindle Edition) by Arlene Hunt.****
- A Dark Redemption (Faber and Faber, 2012. Kindle edition) by Stav Sherez.****
- Where the Devil Can’t Go (Tadeusz Books, 2011. Kindle edition) by Anya Lipska.****
- The Nameless Dead (Macmillan, 2012. Kindle edition) by Brian McGilloway.****
A Crime is Afoot 
José Ignacio – Those are some excellent books! I’m glad you found so many books to like this past year.
Thanks Margot. It always help to have some great suggestions from our FriendFeed group.
Some great books here Jose. I need to give ‘Another Time, Another Life’ a go again as I picked it up and then put it down again. Looking forward to your reviews in 2013.
Thank you Sarah. I’ll like to find out what you think of ‘Another Time, Another Life’.
Oh dear…so many great-sounding books I haven’t read yet! The Caller and The Cold, Cold Ground will be on my list too when I finish it but most of your others are on the never ending wish list.
Bernadette, I’m glad you like too The Caller and The Cold, Cold Ground.
Jose Ignacio: I have not read any of your top 10. They sound like excellent books. Do you have a number 1 favourite out of the 10?
Bill it was already difficult to come up with only 10 books. But I do think you, being a lawyer, will find of interest the Guido Guerrieri series by Carofiglio. And I will love to find out what you think of The Cold, Cold Ground.
Jose Ignacio: I have already enjoyed one of the books by Carofiglio and will look for more this year. You have me intrigued by The Cold, Cold Ground. I am going to have to find the book.