The Weekend Herald's Top 5 Thrillers of 2010

Well, it's getting to that time of the year, where we start reflecting on the road travelled, before looking ahead to what the next year will bring. As we near Xmas and New Years, all the 'best of' lists for 2010 are being compiled and published, including several 'best books of the year' variants.

While The Press and the Dominion Post didn't include any crime novels, New Zealand or international, in their version of the best books of the year list in today's edition, the Canvas magazine of the Weekend Herald (who I write crime fiction-related reviews and interview-based features for, eg Michael Connelly, James Lee Burke and Val McDermid articles recently-ish) did have a 'best thrillers' part to their comprehensive best books feature.

The list of five top thrillers was compiled by regular Weekend Herald books reviewer Michelle Hewitson. Here are her choices:

• THIS BODY OF DEATH by Elizabeth George - DI Lynley's latest adventure;
• FLORENCE AND GILES by John Harding - troubling times in a spooky house;
• DANDY GILVER & THE PROPER TREATMENT OF BLOOD STAINS by Catriona McPherson - a whodunnit set in 1926;
• THE SHADOWS IN THE STREET by Susan Hill - the fifth Simon Serrailler book;
• TONY & SUSAN by Austin Wright - a woman reads her ex-husbands novel, and his story overtakes her life.

You can read Hewitson's full take on each of her choice's in print version of the Canvas magazine in this weekend's edition of the Weekend Herald.

What do you think of this list of top thrillers? Which have you read? What are you own personal stand-out crime or thriller titles from 2010?