Give the Gift of Crime - Best Mystery, Suspense and Thrillers 2011

Murder, Mystery and Mayhem's picks of 2011's best mystery/crime titles. Wrap up some murder this holiday season because everyone deserves a little crime.

If they live a bit on the edge - amateur sleuths & private eyes
DVD set - Case Histories based on the books by Kate Atkinson
Started Early, Took My Dog by Kate Atkinson
Hurt Machine by Reed Farrel Coleman (review coming soon)
Very Bad Men by Harry Dolan (our review)
Ranchero by Rick Gavin
The Janus Stone by Elly Griffiths (our review)
Black Swan by Chris Knopf (our review)
The Lost Sister by Russel McLean
When the Thrill Is Gone by Walter Mosley (our review)
Though Not Dead by Dana Stabenow
The Gentlemen's Hour by Don Winslow

For the slightly squeamish - cozies, quirky and a bit of the traditional
DVD set - Pie in the Sky (our review)
A Red Herring Without Mustard by Alan Bradley (review coming soon)
Wicked Autumn by G. M. Malliet
The Magic Bullet by Larry Millett
A Trick of the Light by Louise Penny
The Return of Captain John Emmett by Elizabeth Speller
Assault with a Deadly Glue Gun by Lois Winston

For the arm chair traveller - foreign crime
DVD set - Zen based on the books by Michael Dibdin
The Keeper of Lost Causes by Jussi Adler-Olsen
Killed at the Whim of a Hat by Colin Cotterill (our review)
Misterioso by Arne Dahl
The Fatal Touch by Conor Fitzgerald (our review)
Among the Missing by Morag Joss
The Boy in the Suitcase by Lene Kaaberbol, Agnete Friis
The Hypnotist by Lars Kepler
Until Thy Wrath Be Past by Asa Larsson (our review)
Stolen Lives by Jassy Mackenzie
The Troubled Man by Henning Mankell
Trackers by Deon Meyer
The End of the Wasp Season by Denise Mina
The Snowman by Jo Nesbø
Three Seconds by Anders Roslund, Borge Hellstrom (our review)
Death of the Mantis by Michael Stanley
Lucifer's Tears by James Thompson (our review)
The Devotion of Suspect X by Keigo Higashino (our review)

If they revel in the past - historical crime
The School of Night by Louis Bayard
The Beloved Dead by Tony Hays
Field Gray by Philip Kerr
One True Sentence by Craig McDonald
The Sherlockian by Graham Moore
The Death Instinct by Jed Rubenfeld
Heartstone by C.J. Sansome
City of Secrets by Kelli Stanley
A Lonely Death by Charles Todd

For the law abiding - sheriffs, detectives, lawyers & the police
Now You See Me by S J Bolton
Red on Red by Edward Conlon
Breach of Trust by David Ellis (our review)
Hell Is Empty by Craig Johnson
Drawing Conclusions by Donna Leon
The Complaints by Ian Rankin
On Borrowed Time by David Rosenfelt
Echoes of the Dead by Sally Spencer
Two for Sorrow by Nicola Upson

If they like it twisted - the psychological  & suspense
The End of Everything by Megan Abbott
In Search Of The Rose Notes by Emily Arsenault
Feast Day of Fools by James Lee Burke
A Simple Act of Violence by R.J. Ellory
These Things Hidden by Heather Gudenkauf
The Most Dangerous Thing by Laura Lippman
Bent Road by Lori Roy
Before I Go to Sleep by S.J. Watson

If nothing shocks them - hard boiled crime & thrillers
Electric Barracuda by Tim Dorsey (our review)
Buried Secrets by Joseph Finder
Love you more by Lisa Gardner
The Cypress House by Michael Koryta
The Cut by George Pelecanos (our review)
The Informant by Thomas Perry
Thick as Thieves by Peter Spiegelman
Cold Shot to the Heart by Wallace Stroby
The Terror of Living by Urban Waite