Best Mystery Books of 2011 from Reviewers and Bloggers Around the World

Kerrie Smith at her superb blog, Mysteries in Paradise, undertook to gather together lists of favourite mysteries of 2011 from around the world. She advises she had 35 contributors with 364 different books listed. (The books did not have to be first published in 2011.)

There were 7 books that were mentioned 5 or more times:

1.) Crooked Letter, Crooked Letter by Tom Franklin (7)

2.) The Keeper of Lost Causes (also published as Mercy) (7)

3.) The End of Everything by Megan Abbott (6)

4.) A Trick of the Light by Louis Penny (5)

5.) Before I Go to Sleep by S.J. Watson (5)

6.) Field Gray by Philip Kerr (5)

7.) The End of Wasp Season by Denise Mina (5)

Of the top 7 I have read and reviewed The Keeper of Lost Causes and A Trick of the Light. In my 2011 Bill’s Best of Fiction I included The Keeper of Lost Causes which had tied for 3^rd.

Of the 13 titles mentioned on 3-4 lists I had read and reviewed The Fifth Witness by Michael Connelly.

There were 26 books on 2 lists. From that group my reading and reviews included:

1.) Bury Your Dead and The Brutal Telling. Both books are by Louise Penny;

2.) The Sherlockian by Graham Moore; and,

3.) The Troubled Man by Henning Mankell.

With Bury Your Dead and The Sherlockian both on my Bill’s Best of Fiction I had 4 of the top 46 on my list. (I did manage not to look at any other lists until I had picked my favourites.)

What I noticed most about the compilation of lists by Kerrie was that Louise Penny is the only Canadian author and the only author to have 3 different books mentioned on 2 or more lists.

It was a remarkable year for Louise. Inspector Gamache has become the best known Canadian sleuth and has achieved international stardom.

I chose Bury Your Dead as my favourite fiction of 2011. It has probably won more crime fiction awards than any other Canadian mystery. Published in 2010 most of the awards came that year.  The awards include:

1.) The 2011 Nero Award;
2.) The Macavity Award for Best Crime Novel in the US;
3.) The Anthony Award for Best Crime Novel in the US;
4.) The Agatha for Best Novel at this year's Malice Domestic;

5.) The Arthur Ellis for Best Crime Novel in Canada;
6.) The Dilys Award in the US, as the book the mystery bookstores most liked to sell in 2010;
7.) American Library Association has named BURY YOUR DEAD the Best Mystery of 2010.
8.) AudioFile named BURY YOUR DEAD as the Best Mystery of 2010.
9.) The Canadian Booksellers Association named it their top hand sell of the year.