Kerrie at Mysteries in Paradise recently asked what are your favourite crime fictionbooks so far this year, which got me to thinking about my favourite books as a whole (not just crime fiction). About half the books I read are crime fiction and the other half is a mixture of fiction (of many genres) with a smattering of non fiction.

After much thought I’ve decided on these ten books as my favourite reads so far. I’ve only included one book from Ian Rankin and Agatha Christie, although I’ve read several from each that I rate as highly as the ones I’ve chosen. Six of the books are crime fiction (marked *), there is one non fiction and one book of short stories. They are listed in the order that I read them.

• The Hollow by Agatha Christie*
• The Franchise Affair by Josephine Tey *
• A Fatal Inversion by Barbara Vine*
• The Careful Use of Compliments by Alexander McCall Smith
• A Loyal Character Dancer by Qiu Xiaolong*
• Raven Black by Ann Cleeves*
• The Breaking Point: short stories by Daphne du Maurier
• 100 Days on Holy Island by Peter Mortimer (non fiction)
• Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel 
• Resurrection Men by Ian Rankin*

I hope to vary my reading during the rest of 2010, maybe a few more non-fiction books as I have several biographies/autobiographies I’d love to read and more classics, but I expect crime fiction will still be high on my list of best books by the end of the year.