With a past record in New Year's resolution keeping that is mixed at best, I can't help think that my ability to keep with the 2010 programme, which boils down to "Read More, Review More", is going to require a steady supply of compelling content from the publishing industry, and in particular the crime departments.
A second resolution, of sorts, came up today when I signed up for Dorte Jakobsen's excellent 2010 Global Challenge, which requires me to be geographically diverse in my reading. Bearing in mind last year's rather pathetic efforts in the reading and reviewing stakes I have signed up for the medium challenge: two novels from six continents (and covering 12 different countries). This seems to me to be demanding enough to be a real challenge and yet not out of reach. If I get to October and have covered that perhaps I'll move on to the ultimate challenge and try and find two novels set in Antarctica.
Some of the catalogues that have been hurtling in from publishers suggest there's some terrific stuff coming, and so while I know there will not be time to read it all here are the 10 I'm looking forward to most in 2010.
Snow Angels by Jim Thompson
I have spent so much time in Finland in the last two years that it has come to feel like a second home, and I have enjoyed getting to know the people and the place. But it has been a great source of frustration that beyond, Jan Costin Wagner's Ice Moon, I have not been able to find Finnish crime stories. So chancing across the website of Jim Thompson and finding that he is about to publish the first in the series of the Kari Vaara novels was a great moment. The first trip of the year to Helsinki is imminent. If I can find a copy (Thompson does not appear to have a UK publisher yet) Snow Angels will be in the bag.
The Weed that Strings the Hangman's Bag by Alan Bradley (April, Orion)
If a precocious 11-year-old girl with a passion for poison and amateur detective work does not sound like a recipe for great crime fiction, think again. The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie, Alan Bradley's debut novel featuring Flavia de Luce, was the great surprise of 2009, a joyous reading experience. In April 2010 we find out what Flavia did next. I've had a sneak preview and I can tell you it does not disappoint. Review coming soon.
Truth by Peter Temple (Quercus, January)
The Broken Shore was the best crime novel I read in 2007 and an instant entrant to the top ten books of all time list. Any book billed as the second in that series was never going to sit on the shelf for too long before I bought it and it now sits waiting for me to finish the latest John Irving epic, Last Night at Twisted River. Maxine's excellent review over at Petrona adds to the delicious anticipation.
Heartstone by C.J. Sansom (Macmillan, August)
After a two year gap since the publication of Revelation, Tudor lawyer Matthew Shardlake is back in the fifth installment of a series as rich and satisying as a Hampton Court banquet. The pre-publicity for Heartstone has Henry fighting a war in France and the honourable Shardlake engaged in legal battle at home. If there is a better historical crime fiction series out there at the moment, I have yet to find it. (See also review of Sovereign)
A Question of Belief by Donna Leon (Heinemann, April)
One day I will fulfil my desire to visit Venice but it will be a disappointment as my one major reason for going - to sample Paola Brunetti's cooking will not be realised. Alas I shall have to content myself with the latest adventures of her husband Commissario Guido Brunetti in the 19th book of this charming and consistently excellent series. By way of a bonus there is a cookbook coming on the same day A Taste of Venice - At Table with Brunetti, to be published on the same day. (Review: The Girl of his Dreams by Donna Leon).
Saints of New York by R.J. Ellory (Orion, September)
Ellory is one of the great literary success stories of the last few years. When I first reviewed his breakthrough novel A Quiet Belief in Angels in autumn 2007 his literary future was, apparently, far from secure as his previous novels - all excellent - had failed to gain traction in the market place. I'd like to say it was the Material Witness review that sparked the extraordinary success he has deservedly enjoyed since, but I can't as it was the Richard and Judy Book Club whose recommendation projected Ellory into the best seller lists. (The review has been the most viewed page on Material Witness since). Ellory followed up AQBIA with the excellent A Simple Act of Violence in 2008 and then the serial killer thriller The Anniversary Man last year. Regrettably my intention to write a review of the latter fell victim to my need to work for a living, but in a nutshell: a superior, claustrophobic and dark thriller from a writer at the top of his game. I look forward to Ellory's eighth novel. (10 Questions with Roger Ellory)
Captured by Neil Cross (Simon & Schuster, January)
I could not honestly describe reading Burial, Neil Cross' last novel, as a pleasure. It was an uncomfortable experience, but creepily compellling. Captured, which arrived this week, promises the same.
Gone by Mo Hayder (Bantam Press, February)
Speaking of creeping. Here's the new Jack Caffrey novel from the queen of the queasy, Mo Hayder. I was late to the Caffrey books, picking up the brilliant Birdman in a second hand store a year or so ago. Hayder has a huge, enthusiastic following for very good reason: her books are fearless and ground-breaking.
The First Rule by Robert Crais (Orion, March)
Crais' legion of fans will have missed him in 2009, the first year since 2004 without a new novel. The First Rule picks up the hugely successful Elvis Cole / Joe Pike series of novels, with the second of the 13 books which focused on Pike rather than Cole - the first being The Watchman. Crais has skilfully evolved this series from its light-hearted roots in which Cole was as much a comedy act as he was a serious detective. But there is now a good deal more gravitas and emotion in these stories, and the arrival of the new Cole and Pike novel is a highlight of most years.
Afterlight by Alex Scarrow (Orion, May)
It remains a source of some mystery to me that Alex Scarrow's 2007 novel Last Light, a post-oil Apocalaypse novel was not more widely read as it explored themes with a great deal of resonance in these seemingly fragile times. Afterlight picks up the story from the end of that novel and I look forward to seeing how Scarrow moves it on. His last outing, October Skies, is a terrific book and confirmed Scarrow as a storyteller of skill and ambition.