I started off doing this one by one - got the first one documented and since then have been absymal in keeping up - so without further ado - the ENTIRE list:
Best Series Revisit - Per Wahloo and Maj Sjowall - their entire series is being re-released by Harper Perenniel and it's an absolute joy to go back and reread books which are just as good now as they were when first published. If you've not read any of the books from this breakthrough Swedish series - then head off to the bookshop / library! If you have - this re-released series is a ripper because it includes interviews with Maj, introductions from a stunning range of current day writers - all of whom have been influenced by these books, and other bits and pieces to enhance the stories.
*** Favourite Local Books of 2007
Diamond Dove, Adrian Hyland - already mentioned, I read this back in January 2007 and I knew then that I'd read one of my favourites for the year. Great / strong female voice with such amazing cultural awareness, this has got to be a mandatory book for anyone who wants to know something of the reality of outback Australian life. It's a journey book, with a crime. Whatever else you do - read this. It'll provide you with a significantly clearer view of Australia - the sensibilities and sensitivities of those outback communities. And it's laugh out loud funny in places - particularly if you have just ever so slightly an inkling of the real locations behind the fictional names.
Chain of Evidence - Garry Disher. Best of the series so far for me - for some reason this one just clicked. Shared central focus between Hal Challis and Ellen Destry that really worked. Good couple of main threads, touching, evocative, strong.
Sucked In, Shane Maloney. Now I normally like this series as a bit of a meander through the murk of political life, but there's something a bit more in this outing. There was even a touch of poignancy in this one.
The Killing Hour, Paul Cleave. Twisting, turning, fabulously creepy - great second book from NZ Author.
The Low Road, Chris Womersley. Fabulously bleak and hopeless.
Redback, Lindy Cameron. Great thriller with good character development and strong central female characters.
El Dorado, Dorothy Porter. Crime fiction in verse - good crime fiction in verse what's more to the point.
*** Other Locations Favourites for 2007
Let the Right One In, John Ajvide Lindqvist. Well you knew I'd be pushing this barrow so just shut up and read it. Magnificent, lyrical, touching, tremendous book about crime, punishment, vengeance, bullying and childhood and love.
The Bullet Trick, Louise Welsh. I love quirky and Louise Welsh does the unexpected better than most.
Wash This Blood Clean from My Hand, Fred Vargas. Same reason as above - quirky, her central character is a marvellous study in individualism.
The Death of Dalziel, Reginald Hill. In my eyes even Mr Hill's lesser books are greater than others. I loved this one simply because the worry didn't let up all the way through the book and I'm still not 100% comfortable with what lies ahead.
Broken Skin, Stuart MacBride. Get this bloke to write another 30 or so books and he could be in danger of knocking Mr Hill off my pedestal.
Ice Moon, Jan Costin Wagner. Unbelievably moving.
Cross, Ken Bruen. You have to ask? But seriously there's some change in Jack and it seems to be so stark in Cross.
Crow Stone, Jenni Mills. Debut book - very engaging voice to it.
The End of Mr Y, Scarlett Thomas. I can't decide if I'm recently more drawn to the slightly weird end of the spectrum or if this has been a latent tendency less documented. Either way - weird, compelling book about somebody wanting to live in a book.
The Bethlehem Murders, Matt Beynon Rees. Great central character, different viewpoint, tremendous book.
Black Man, Richard Morgan. Science Fiction thriller.
A young petty criminal, Lee, wakes in a seedy motel with a bullet in his side and a suitcase of stolen money, his memory hazy as to how he got there. Soon he meets Wild, a doctor who is escaping his own disastrous life, and the two men set out for the safety of the countryside.
As they flee the city, they develop an uneasy intimacy, inevitably revisiting their pasts even as they desperately seek to evade them. But Lee and Wilde are not alone: they are pursued through an increasingly alien and gothic landscape by the ageing gangster Josef, who must retrieve the stolen money and deal with Lee to ensure his own survival. Ultimately, all three men are forced to confront the parts of themselves they sought to outrun.
Part dark thriller, part modern tale of alienation and despair, The Low Road seduces the reader into a story that unfolds and deepens hypnotically. This is a brilliant debut novel.
Between 1943 and 2003 nine people have been stabbed to death with a most unusual weapon: a trident. In each case, arrests were made, suspects confessed their crimes and were sentenced to life in prison. One slightly worrying detail: each presumed murderer lost consciousness during the night of the crime and has no recollection of it.
Commissaire Adamsberg is convinced all the murders are the work of one person, the terrifying Judge Fulgence. Years before, Adamsberg's own brother had been the principal suspect in a similar case and avoided prison only thanks to Adamsberg's help.
History repeats itself when Adamsberg, who is temporarily based in Quebec for a training mission, is accused of having savagely murdered a young woman he had met. In order to prove his innocence, Adamsberg must go on the run from the Canadian police and find Judge Fulgence.