New to Mystery Reading: Which Authors?

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Limoncello402
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New to Mystery Reading: Which Authors?

Post by Limoncello402 »

My favorite bedtime reading are mysteries. This is a fairly new delight in my life. I almost cried when I finished all the P.D.James' mysteries and realized she was gone and there would be no more. Love Jane Harper and Tana French and have read all of theirs. So I'm looking for other authors in this realistic/kind of dark genre style. Any suggestions?
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Re: New to Mystery Reading: Which Authors?

Post by Valuethinker »

Limoncello402 wrote: Mon Dec 06, 2021 3:43 am My favorite bedtime reading are mysteries. This is a fairly new delight in my life. I almost cried when I finished all the P.D.James' mysteries and realized she was gone and there would be no more. Love Jane Harper and Tana French and have read all of theirs. So I'm looking for other authors in this realistic/kind of dark genre style. Any suggestions?
Rebus is "Scottish noir". Brutal. https://www.fantasticfiction.com/r/ian- ... tor-rebus/

If you can stand not really being able to "solve" the mysteries, then Raymond Chandler. The Big Sleep is such a famous movie (Bacall and Bogart) that it makes reading the novel strange - you will have Bogart's voice in your head (assuming you have seen the movie). But it is a fabulous book - deeper than the movie.

https://www.fantasticfiction.com/c/raymond-chandler/

The plots are famously complicated. The director of TBS telegrammed Chandler "So who killed x?" and Chandler cabled back "I don't know. You tell me".

All (8?) of his novels are worth reading, except perhaps Playback. As Chandler's alcoholism worsened, and he got further from the LA of the late 1930s, his writing weakened. But you still have The High Window, The Lady in the Lake, The Little Sister, The Long Goodbye yet to read - and I envy you. BBC also did a radio series with all of them (within the last 20 years) which you might find as a recording.

Chandler invented a whole new language. The wise guy private eye never got better than in the hands of Raymond Chandler. His logical follow-on is Lew Archer (Ross MacDonald, not to be confused with John D McDonald ( whose Travis McGee is the prototype for Magnum PI or possibly The Rockford Files). https://www.fantasticfiction.com/m/ross-macdonald/

Dashiel Hammett would be the other besides Chandler. Not such a wordsmith, but memorable characters. Again The Maltese Falcon you will hear the voices of Peter Lorrie (?) and Humphrey Bogart in your head as you read it.

https://www.fantasticfiction.com/h/dashiell-hammett/

Of the English 1920s murder mystery, Dorothy L Sayers. These were serialised on BBC TV way back in the 1970s (so Masterpiece Theatre on PBS) and have never been beaten, to my mind (Ian Carmichael as Lord Peter Wimsey). What is really striking now is the account taken of "shell shock" aka PTSD from the trenches in WW1. Wimsey has had a breakdown due to shell shock, and that is freely admitted. The events of WW1 and the trauma it inflicted on the English upper classes is a backdrop to all of these books.

https://www.fantasticfiction.com/s/dorothy-l-sayers/

Chandler, Hammett, Sayers you have read perhaps the best detective writers in English (of the pre WW2 period, at least). (Others would add Agatha Christie, but I think she is formulaic; Poirot I can enjoy from the TV series without having to reread the novels).

French you want to read George Simenon (in translation) https://www.fantasticfiction.com/s/georges-simenon/ Inspector Maigret. Not sure if there has been a good televisual adaptation (the Rowan Atkinson one (Mr Bean) was panned).

Dutch it is Nicolas Freeling and inspector Van Der Valk. The theme music of the TV series is something you will never get out of your head, a classic in and of itself

https://www.fantasticfiction.com/f/nicolas-freeling/

I would give a special mention to Robert Van Gulik, for Judge Dee - detective fiction set in ancient China

https://www.fantasticfiction.com/v/robert-van-gulik/

EDIT

It dawns on me that you may not have seen the tv series of PD James - Inspector Adam Dalgleish?

https://www.fantasticfiction.com/j/p-d-james/

Roy Marsden is one of my favourite actors. For Dalgleish but also for The Sandbaggers - a memorable 1970s spy thriller, centred on a bureaucrat in Whitehall (ie the British civil service).

https://www.imdb.com/list/ls002603426/

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0077078/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1 Marsden as Neil Burnside.

If you like The Sandbaggers then you will probably like Callan (with Edward Woodward).
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Re: New to Mystery Reading: Which Authors?

Post by coynerone »

Louise Penny. Canadian mystery writer. Set in Quebec. 17 books so far in the series. Just love getting inside Armand Gamache's mindset. Highly recomend.
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Re: New to Mystery Reading: Which Authors?

Post by Watty »

It has been a while since I listened to them as audio books while I was commuting but the Anna Pigeon books by Nevada Barr got me hooked.

They are in set in current times and Anna Pigeon is a park ranger at various National Parks so it is also interesting to listen to them if you are going to one of the parks.

I was at one of the smaller national parks taking a tour which was lead by a ranger and it turned out she was friends with Nevada Barr and the ranger's dog was featured in one of the books. :D
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Re: New to Mystery Reading: Which Authors?

Post by ResearchMed »

coynerone wrote: Mon Dec 06, 2021 4:59 am Louise Penny. Canadian mystery writer. Set in Quebec. 17 books so far in the series. Just love getting inside Armand Gamache's mindset. Highly recomend.
Which of the above should be read in chronological order per the date of writing, or which don't matter much or at all?

I'm especially interested in starting the Louise Penny series. Does it make much of a difference in that series?

RM
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Re: New to Mystery Reading: Which Authors?

Post by mcblum »

Valuethinker mentioned Fantastic Fiction. It is a great website for discovering bibliographies of every genre. I use it for thriller. mystery and sci fi. You can keep up with your favorite contemporary authors as well as golden oldies. My favorite author is the spy writer Alan First.
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Re: New to Mystery Reading: Which Authors?

Post by AnEngineer »

Valuethinker wrote: Mon Dec 06, 2021 4:13 am If you can stand not really being able to "solve" the mysteries...
Do most authors allow you to solve the mysteries?
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Re: New to Mystery Reading: Which Authors?

Post by friar1610 »

coynerone wrote: Mon Dec 06, 2021 4:59 am Louise Penny. Canadian mystery writer. Set in Quebec. 17 books so far in the series. Just love getting inside Armand Gamache's mindset. Highly recomend.
+1

Also the Donna Leon series featuring Commissario Guido Brunetti set in Venice.

Also, Northern Irish author Adrian McKinty with several Sean Duffy mysteries set in NI during The Troubles. “The Chain” is set across the Pond in New England and is a real “can’t put it down” story.
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Re: New to Mystery Reading: Which Authors?

Post by oxothuk »

Valuethinker wrote: Mon Dec 06, 2021 4:13 am
French you want to read George Simenon (in translation) https://www.fantasticfiction.com/s/georges-simenon/ Inspector Maigret. Not sure if there has been a good televisual adaptation (the Rowan Atkinson one (Mr Bean) was panned).
The tv adaptation series with Bruno Cremer in the lead was very good IMHO (French, with subtitles). My wife and I watched almost all of them a few years ago when they were being broadcast on our local PBS stations. Amazon has them on DVD and they may be available from some other sources as well.
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Re: New to Mystery Reading: Which Authors?

Post by Valuethinker »

mcblum wrote: Mon Dec 06, 2021 7:59 am Valuethinker mentioned Fantastic Fiction. It is a great website for discovering bibliographies of every genre. I use it for thriller. mystery and sci fi. You can keep up with your favorite contemporary authors as well as golden oldies. My favorite author is the spy writer Alan First.
Marty
Alan Furst is a gem, although I think his older ones were generally better (Dark Star, The World at Night etc).

https://www.fantasticfiction.com/f/alan-furst/

Furst is very clearly riffing off the early Eric Ambler, an English journalist who wrote originally in the 1930s. Journey into Fear. A Mask for Demetrios/ Coffin for Demetrios. Ambler took the genre away from the proto-James Bond aryan types beating up the bad guys, and into the land of the innocent cast haplessly into situations he does not understand. There are 2 Soviet agents, brother and sister, who are actually *heroes* in some of the early novels (based in Zurich and helping heros evade the Gestapo etc). But Ambler broke with Moscow after the 1938 Show Trials.

https://www.fantasticfiction.com/a/eric-ambler/

I would add some Graham Greene. The Quiet American in particular (Vietnam before the US got directly involved). But also Ministry of Fear. Stamboul Train.

CJ Sansom is pretty compelling https://www.fantasticfiction.com/s/c-j- ... madrid.htm (mostly known for his "Shardlake" novels about an investigator in Henry VIII's England of the 1500s).

John Buchan. For a superior sort of early spy novel. All of the Richard Hannay novels (I have the tv serialisation, but I have as yet to watch it).

https://www.fantasticfiction.com/b/john ... rd-hannay/

(I see Robert Harris is continuing them. Harris is a very good author in his own right of historically-based thrillers (Fatherland in particular). And if you read Fatherland (police detective investigating a murder in Nazi Berlin in the 1960s after they won WW2) then you have to read SS-GB by Len Deighton (London under Nazi occupation in 1942, and a nuclear physicist has been murdered ...). Deighton really makes you feel a beaten and bombed London ...

Charles McCarry. The Tears of Autumn. That's almost John Le Carre-like.

https://www.fantasticfiction.com/m/charles-mccarry/
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Re: New to Mystery Reading: Which Authors?

Post by Valuethinker »

oxothuk wrote: Mon Dec 06, 2021 9:41 am
Valuethinker wrote: Mon Dec 06, 2021 4:13 am
French you want to read George Simenon (in translation) https://www.fantasticfiction.com/s/georges-simenon/ Inspector Maigret. Not sure if there has been a good televisual adaptation (the Rowan Atkinson one (Mr Bean) was panned).
The tv adaptation series with Bruno Cremer in the lead was very good IMHO (French, with subtitles). My wife and I watched almost all of them a few years ago when they were being broadcast on our local PBS stations. Amazon has them on DVD and they may be available from some other sources as well.
Thank you.
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Re: New to Mystery Reading: Which Authors?

Post by Valuethinker »

AnEngineer wrote: Mon Dec 06, 2021 8:51 am
Valuethinker wrote: Mon Dec 06, 2021 4:13 am If you can stand not really being able to "solve" the mysteries...
Do most authors allow you to solve the mysteries?
With Chandler, I think it's hard sometimes to remember what the mystery *is*. The plots are that convoluted. It's not Agatha Christie.

The novels have to be read for the characters, and in particular the glimpses of Philip Marlowe that he lets you see (Marlow is the narrator).

And for the language. The language is unsurpassed - there's a debate whether people ever actually spoke that way in 1930s LA.
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Re: New to Mystery Reading: Which Authors?

Post by calmaniac »

+1 on Raymond Chadler

Particularly recommended if you have ever lived in Los Angeles or have a fondness for the 1930's.
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Re: New to Mystery Reading: Which Authors?

Post by rebellovw »

I love Raymond Chandler - some great reads there.

One of my favorite writers - Tony Hillerman - great mystery on the Indian Reservations - New Mexico, AZ, CO.

Great stories there - fun reads for sure.


Enjoy!
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Re: New to Mystery Reading: Which Authors?

Post by AnEngineer »

Valuethinker wrote: Mon Dec 06, 2021 10:01 am
AnEngineer wrote: Mon Dec 06, 2021 8:51 am
Valuethinker wrote: Mon Dec 06, 2021 4:13 am If you can stand not really being able to "solve" the mysteries...
Do most authors allow you to solve the mysteries?
With Chandler, I think it's hard sometimes to remember what the mystery *is*. The plots are that convoluted. It's not Agatha Christie.
I ask because when I read one of the Agatha Christie novels, Poirot tells the POV character that he knows everything necessary to solve the mystery himself, which kind of put me in that frame of mind (having not tried to it before and not having read many mysteries). However, it was a bold-faced lie, as multiple key clues were hidden. It was really off-putting, so I wondered if there was any convention on this front.
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Re: New to Mystery Reading: Which Authors?

Post by nannid »

This is my favorite genre and felt I had to respond :)

Ruth Rendell ( Inspector Wexford series and she also has other books )
Martha Grimes ( I find her characters appealing - RIchard Jury series ))
Reginald Hill ( Dalziel and Pascoe series )
Peter Robinson ( Alan Banks series )
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Re: New to Mystery Reading: Which Authors?

Post by Bubba24 »

Research
ResearchMed wrote: Mon Dec 06, 2021 6:55 am I'm especially interested in starting the Louise Penny series. Does it make much of a difference in that series?
I think her character development and the near-British reticence to make horror explicit makes her works much better read in order.
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Re: New to Mystery Reading: Which Authors?

Post by JupiterJones »

calmaniac wrote: Mon Dec 06, 2021 10:01 am +1 on Raymond Chandler

Particularly recommended if you have ever lived in Los Angeles or have a fondness for the 1930's.

And I'll add an author who was (arguably) Chandler's heir apparent: Robert B. Parker. He did his PhD dissertation on the sort of hard-boiled detectives in Raymond Chandler and Dashiel Hammett novels, and even went on to be tapped to write the remainder of one of Chandler's unfinished Phillip Marlowe books (Poodle Springs).

But he's best known for his Spenser novels, which feature a Chandleresque wisecracking PI with a strong personal code, but swaps the '30s-era L.A. milieu for (initially, at least) '70s/'80s-era Boston. So likewise, if you're familiar with Beantown, there's an extra level of enjoyment to be had.
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Re: New to Mystery Reading: Which Authors?

Post by TomatoTomahto »

If you respond well to the noir-ish aspects of Chandler and Hammett, please try Jim Thompson, especially The Killer Inside Me.
The Killer Inside Me is a 1952 novel by American writer Jim Thompson published by Fawcett Publications. In the introduction to the anthology Crime Novels: American Noir of the 1950s, it is described as "one of the most blistering and uncompromising crime novels ever written." Wikipedia
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Re: New to Mystery Reading: Which Authors?

Post by Mr. Rumples »

Not a big mystery reader myself, but there are a few authors I am hooked on.

Sometimes in the mystery section, sometimes in the fiction section - at one time I saw them in the sci-fi section, all the books both individually and together by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child. Some of the books are stand alone, others part of a series - which of course can be read alone and not loose the excitement. (Some have even made it into the sci-fi section; sometimes there is a hint of the surreal in them.)

The books by Charles Todd - actually its a mother and son team writing under this name. The books follow Investigator Rutledge in Great Britain who has PTSD and deals with his own demons.
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Re: New to Mystery Reading: Which Authors?

Post by beernutz »

I am a fan of the Inspector Morse mystery novels by Colin Dexter which were the basis for the Morse and inspiration for the Lewis TV shows. Morse is a complex character, not always morally pure and his relationship with Lewis is interesting to me. Plus, like me, he likes real ale and crosswords.

Dexter taught boarding school English for many years and likes to show off his wordsmithing talents, sometimes to the story's detriment. The later novels are better in this regard than the early ones imo. Another plus is you can cheaply buy Omnibus editions containing 4 of his novels if you're the kind who likes to own his favorite books.

Chandler is by far my favorite author and I've read every novel and short story he's written multiple times but his mystery plots imo are often convoluted and lack internal consistency. But I still love them and the Marlowe character.
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Re: New to Mystery Reading: Which Authors?

Post by ResearchMed »

Valuethinker wrote: Mon Dec 06, 2021 9:59 am
oxothuk wrote: Mon Dec 06, 2021 9:41 am
Valuethinker wrote: Mon Dec 06, 2021 4:13 am
French you want to read George Simenon (in translation) https://www.fantasticfiction.com/s/georges-simenon/ Inspector Maigret. Not sure if there has been a good televisual adaptation (the Rowan Atkinson one (Mr Bean) was panned).
The tv adaptation series with Bruno Cremer in the lead was very good IMHO (French, with subtitles). My wife and I watched almost all of them a few years ago when they were being broadcast on our local PBS stations. Amazon has them on DVD and they may be available from some other sources as well.
Thank you.
We very much enjoy Michael Gambon as Maigret.

I think to us, he "is" almost as much Maigret as David Suchet "is" Poirot, although Suchet/Poirot is in a class of its own.
(I'm using the singular; it's "the combo", not "two separate entities" :wink: )

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Re: New to Mystery Reading: Which Authors?

Post by ResearchMed »

Bubba24 wrote: Mon Dec 06, 2021 10:15 am Research
ResearchMed wrote: Mon Dec 06, 2021 6:55 am I'm especially interested in starting the Louise Penny series. Does it make much of a difference in that series?
I think her character development and the near-British reticence to make horror explicit makes her works much better read in order.
Thanks.

And it's very good to know about the relative lack of explicit horror. That (the lack of...) is a huge plus for me.
I don't "do" violence very well at all.
:annoyed

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Re: New to Mystery Reading: Which Authors?

Post by charley »

This is a great thread - I look forward to trying some of these suggestions during the holiday break.

One that hasn't been mentioned yet - the Bernie Gunther series by Philip Kerr. They are gritty and might bridge into the suspense genre.
Limoncello402 wrote: Mon Dec 06, 2021 3:43 am I almost cried when I finished all the P.D.James' mysteries and realized she was gone and there would be no more.
I can relate, and felt that way when completing the Gunther series.
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Re: New to Mystery Reading: Which Authors?

Post by clemrick »

An easy way to find out the order of any series is to go to: http://stopyourekillingme.com/

You can look up by author or main character/detective. It is a fabulous website for mystery buffs.
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Re: New to Mystery Reading: Which Authors?

Post by bestoftimes »

charley wrote: Mon Dec 06, 2021 11:06 am One that hasn't been mentioned yet - the Bernie Gunther series by Philip Kerr. They are gritty and might bridge into the suspense genre.
+1
Great series. Especially if you find the WWII era in Europe interesting.

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Re: New to Mystery Reading: Which Authors?

Post by ResearchMed »

clemrick wrote: Mon Dec 06, 2021 11:47 am An easy way to find out the order of any series is to go to: http://stopyourekillingme.com/

You can look up by author or main character/detective. It is a fabulous website for mystery buffs.
Thank you VERY much for this!

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Re: New to Mystery Reading: Which Authors?

Post by Limoncello402 »

THANK YOU! I have a long list of authors now. Raymond Chandler and Louise Penny for starts. Very grateful for all the suggestions.
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Re: New to Mystery Reading: Which Authors?

Post by coynerone »

ResearchMed wrote: Mon Dec 06, 2021 6:55 am
coynerone wrote: Mon Dec 06, 2021 4:59 am Louise Penny. Canadian mystery writer. Set in Quebec. 17 books so far in the series. Just love getting inside Armand Gamache's mindset. Highly recomend.
Which of the above should be read in chronological order per the date of writing, or which don't matter much or at all?

I'm especially interested in starting the Louise Penny series. Does it make much of a difference in that series?

RM
Read them in order because there is character development and a long arc of a story that continues through the series.
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Re: New to Mystery Reading: Which Authors?

Post by ResearchMed »

coynerone wrote: Mon Dec 06, 2021 4:03 pm
ResearchMed wrote: Mon Dec 06, 2021 6:55 am
coynerone wrote: Mon Dec 06, 2021 4:59 am Louise Penny. Canadian mystery writer. Set in Quebec. 17 books so far in the series. Just love getting inside Armand Gamache's mindset. Highly recomend.
Which of the above should be read in chronological order per the date of writing, or which don't matter much or at all?

I'm especially interested in starting the Louise Penny series. Does it make much of a difference in that series?

RM
Read them in order because there is character development and a long arc of a story that continues through the series.
Thanks.
It's especially any continuing story line that I was thinking about.
Some "series" have that more than others (er, no surprise).

RM
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Re: New to Mystery Reading: Which Authors?

Post by nisiprius »

AnEngineer wrote: Mon Dec 06, 2021 8:51 am
Valuethinker wrote: Mon Dec 06, 2021 4:13 am If you can stand not really being able to "solve" the mysteries...
Do most authors allow you to solve the mysteries?
It varies. I am thinking most do not. Ellery Queen, of course, was famous for including an explicit "challenge to the reader," one example being:
Challenge To the Reader

And so once more I come to what might be termed the “seventh-inning stretch” of my novels. Time out, ladies and gentlemen.

I ask in a variation of a theme I have harped on now for four years: Who killed the two horsemen in the arena of the Colosseum? You don’t know? Ah, but really you should. The whole story is now before you: clues galore, I give you my word; and when put together in the proper order and the inevitable deductions drawn, they point resolutely to the one and only possible criminal.

It is a point of honor with me to adhere to the Code. The Code of play-fair-with-the-reader-give-him-all-the-clues-and-withhold-nothing. I say all the clues are now in your possession. I repeat that they make an inescapable pattern of guilt. Can you put the pieces of the pattern together and interpret what you see?
One of the great pleasures of The New Annotated Sherlock Holmes, edited by Leslie S. Klinger, is pointing out in great detail all of the logical holes and problems in Holmes' supposed deductions.
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Re: New to Mystery Reading: Which Authors?

Post by nisiprius »

Personally, my favorite of all mystery authors and series is Elizabeth George's "Inspector Lynley" series, and I don't want to get into any debates about how accurate or realistic her "British" atmosphere is. Let's pop round to Fortnum's with a carrier bag, innit, and put a ha'p'porth tin of fanlights on the Aga. I am sorry to say though that I think she peaked around For the Sake of Elena, Missing Joseph, and Playing for the Ashes.

Oh, boy, she has a new one, Something to Hide, coming out in 2022. She is the only author that my wife and I both like so much that (in the pre-Kindle says) we would buy the books as they came out, in hardbound, at Barnes & Noble because we couldn't wait for the paperback or for the library to get them. I hope Barbara Havers is in this one. I saw part of one of the TV miniseries and I thought they completely messed up, Barbara Havers looked totally like a movie star and not at all the way I see her in my mind. Anyway I'll buy the new one and gripe about it if I don't like it.
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Re: New to Mystery Reading: Which Authors?

Post by chemocean »

Tony Hillerman
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Re: New to Mystery Reading: Which Authors?

Post by chemocean »

Whatever author you read, if there is a series read them chronological order.
There is usually an undercurrent of the personal life of the detective. If you read them randomly you will get confused.
I realized this when I started and I just picked up Tony Hillerman's novels randomly. It was really confusing to figure out who Che's, the sidekicks, girlfriend was.
Same with the three series by J.A. Jance, Peter May, and Easy Rawlins by Walter Mosley
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Re: New to Mystery Reading: Which Authors?

Post by themesrob »

Valuethinker wrote: Mon Dec 06, 2021 9:59 am
mcblum wrote: Mon Dec 06, 2021 7:59 am Valuethinker mentioned Fantastic Fiction. It is a great website for discovering bibliographies of every genre. I use it for thriller. mystery and sci fi. You can keep up with your favorite contemporary authors as well as golden oldies. My favorite author is the spy writer Alan First.
Marty
Alan Furst is a gem, although I think his older ones were generally better (Dark Star, The World at Night etc).

https://www.fantasticfiction.com/f/alan-furst/

Furst is very clearly riffing off the early Eric Ambler, an English journalist who wrote originally in the 1930s. Journey into Fear. A Mask for Demetrios/ Coffin for Demetrios. Ambler took the genre away from the proto-James Bond aryan types beating up the bad guys, and into the land of the innocent cast haplessly into situations he does not understand. There are 2 Soviet agents, brother and sister, who are actually *heroes* in some of the early novels (based in Zurich and helping heros evade the Gestapo etc). But Ambler broke with Moscow after the 1938 Show Trials.

https://www.fantasticfiction.com/a/eric-ambler/

I would add some Graham Greene. The Quiet American in particular (Vietnam before the US got directly involved). But also Ministry of Fear. Stamboul Train.

CJ Sansom is pretty compelling https://www.fantasticfiction.com/s/c-j- ... madrid.htm (mostly known for his "Shardlake" novels about an investigator in Henry VIII's England of the 1500s).

John Buchan. For a superior sort of early spy novel. All of the Richard Hannay novels (I have the tv serialisation, but I have as yet to watch it).

https://www.fantasticfiction.com/b/john ... rd-hannay/

(I see Robert Harris is continuing them. Harris is a very good author in his own right of historically-based thrillers (Fatherland in particular). And if you read Fatherland (police detective investigating a murder in Nazi Berlin in the 1960s after they won WW2) then you have to read SS-GB by Len Deighton (London under Nazi occupation in 1942, and a nuclear physicist has been murdered ...). Deighton really makes you feel a beaten and bombed London ...

Charles McCarry. The Tears of Autumn. That's almost John Le Carre-like.

https://www.fantasticfiction.com/m/charles-mccarry/
these are many of my favorites -- some of them may be more characterized as espionage/spy novels, but I think they're mystery-adjacent and have the same overall mood. Like a couple other posters, I also highly recommend Philip Kerr (RIP) and his Bernie Gunther series. the first three in the series are very dense novellas (the "Berlin Noir" trilogy) and are great, but when Kerr returned to the character years later, the books were far more approachable.
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windaar
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Re: New to Mystery Reading: Which Authors?

Post by windaar »

Vintage, corny, and addictive, the Earle Stanley Gardner Perry Mason mysteries written from the 30s to the early 70s.
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Re: New to Mystery Reading: Which Authors?

Post by egrets »

Watty wrote: Mon Dec 06, 2021 6:45 am It has been a while since I listened to them as audio books while I was commuting but the Anna Pigeon books by Nevada Barr got me hooked.

They are in set in current times and Anna Pigeon is a park ranger at various National Parks so it is also interesting to listen to them if you are going to one of the parks.

I was at one of the smaller national parks taking a tour which was lead by a ranger and it turned out she was friends with Nevada Barr and the ranger's dog was featured in one of the books. :D
(Update: ResearchMed: I'm not a fan of violence either, so you might like these,)

Another vote for the Anna Pigeon books.

I also like the Agatha Raisin books and Hamish MacBeth books; the author M.C. Beaton has passed away and the person continuing at least the Agatha books hasn't a clue as to the characters.

The Amelia Peabody books by Elizabeth Peters are a real treat, especially if you are interested in Egypt.

The John Pickett (Bow Street runner married into society) books by Sheri Cobb South.

Kate Parker has a number of mystery series.
Last edited by egrets on Mon Dec 06, 2021 6:21 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: New to Mystery Reading: Which Authors?

Post by Carousel »

Barbara Vine. This is Ruth Rendell writing under a different name. The Barbara Vines are darker, bigger, more complicated mysteries. (British.)

Nisiprius steered you right with Elizabeth George.

Oh, definitely S.J. (Sharon) Bolton! Check wikipedia for a list of her books.

Phil Rickman's Merrily Watkins mysteries. "The Wine of Angels" is the first. (English.)

"Iron Lake," the first William Kent Krueger is very good. (Set in northern MN.)

I loved the early Martha Grimes mysteries. "The Man With a Load of Mischief" is the first. (English.) They are not especially dark, though. The series went downhill over time. (Another American writing British books.)

CJ Box (western game warden) might work.

People haven't mentioned the Scandinavian authors yet. I don't read a lof of them but Jo Nesbo, The Snowman was a good one I read recently.
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Re: New to Mystery Reading: Which Authors?

Post by beernutz »

In college in the 80s my girlfriend turned me on to the Martin Beck series of 10 novels. He's a Swedish police detective created by Maj Sjöwall and Per Wahlöö and the novels reflect the turmoil and cultural changes of 60s and 70s Sweden in addition to being interesting mysteries, often with political ramifications. I've reread them and they still hold up well but then again I still read Sherlock Holmes and think those novels hold up well.

I don't believe anyone has mentioned the Myron Bolitar series by Harlan Coben (with special guest Win). They are definitely on the fanciful side of mysteries but are still funny page turners. His early stand alone mysteries like Tell No One or No Second Chance from the early 2000s are also favorites but for many of the later ones Coben seems to be just phoning them in.
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Re: New to Mystery Reading: Which Authors?

Post by MoonOrb »

You might like this site, the LIterature Map site, which clusters authors by how much they are liked by other people who read the same author. Here's the map for Tana French (I may not have explained that well, but you'll see what I mean):

https://www.literature-map.com/tana+french

If you like PD James and Tana French, you might also like:

Louise Penny (as others have mentioned)
Kate Atkinson's Jackson Brodie novels
Ann Cleeves
Elizabeth George
Ruth Rendell
Laurie King
JK Rowling writing as Robert Galbraith

I love Chandler and I love hardboiled crime fiction, but I wouldn't really recommend him as a next stop. I'd recommend Ross MacDonald's Lew Archer books instead.

My most read crime fiction novelists are:

Michael Connelly
Robert Crais
James Lee Burke
George Pelecanos
Dennis Lehane
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Re: New to Mystery Reading: Which Authors?

Post by delamer »

Highly recommend the Vera Stanhope series by Ann Cleeves. It’s best to read them in order for character development/backstories.

George Pelecanos is a terrific writer, but his stuff is very explicit (violence, sex, drug use).

The Thomas Lynley books (by Elizabeth George) have great characters and stories. Same with Ruth Rendell’s Inspector Wexford series.

I recently started the Duncan Kincaid/Gemma James series by Deborah Crombie. So far, so good.

And don’t forget Agatha Christie! Or Arthur Conan Doyle!

(Looking forward to checking out some of the other authors recommended upthread.)

Added: Bess Campbell series by Charles Todd; Gaslight series by Victoria Thompson (lightweight but entertaining) ; Harriet Gordon series (new; only 2 books so far) by A. M. Stuart)
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Re: New to Mystery Reading: Which Authors?

Post by hohum »

Leonardo Sciascia. "To Each His Own", "The Day of the Owl", "Equal Danger", "One Way or Another".

Sciascia's books take place in Sicily or in imaginary countries that look exactly like Sicily. He uses the structure of the mystery novel to examine Italian society. The books are not generic mysteries that happen to take place in Italy, they are Italian novels that happen to be mysteries. His books are considered "gialli senza soluzioni" (crime stories without solutions) so they are quite a bit different from regular mysteries. "To Each HIs Own" is my favorite -- I've read it three times.
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Re: New to Mystery Reading: Which Authors?

Post by ClaycordJCA »

Many, but not all, have been mentioned before:
The classics:
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle - Sherlock Holmes.
Agatha Christie - I prefer the Hercule Poiroit novels
Earle Stanley Gardner - Perry Mason
Dashiell Hammett - Sam Spade, The Thin Man
Raymond Chandler - Philip Marlowe
John D. McDonald - the Travis McGee novels (I’m reading one right now)
RobertB. Parker - Spenser
Mickey Spillane - Mike Hammer series

More recent:

Stieg Larson’s The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo and its sequels
James Elroy - LA Confidential and is predecessors,
Sara Paretsky V.I. Warshawski novels (female Chicago PI)
James Lee Burke, particularly the Dave Robicheux series (Louisiana homicide cop)
Michael Connolly - Harry Bosch novels (LA homicide cop)
CraigJohnson - Longmire novels (Wyoming sheriff)
Jo Nesbo - Harry Hole novels (Oslo homicide detective)
William Krueger - Cork O’Connor novels (Minnesota sheriff)
Jane Harper (Australian mysteries)
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Re: New to Mystery Reading: Which Authors?

Post by Valuethinker »

beernutz wrote: Mon Dec 06, 2021 6:32 pm In college in the 80s my girlfriend turned me on to the Martin Beck series of 10 novels. He's a Swedish police detective created by Maj Sjöwall and Per Wahlöö and the novels reflect the turmoil and cultural changes of 60s and 70s Sweden in addition to being interesting mysteries, often with political ramifications. I've reread them and they still hold up well but then again I still read Sherlock Holmes and think those novels hold up well.
They were sociologists, I believe - the books are explicitly Marxist in their frame of approach?

The Laughing Policeman was made into a movie with Walter Matthau (American setting). Hard to dislike any film with Walter Matthau (The Taking of Pelham 123 was a classic; to my surprise the Denzel Washington remake was not bad).

Wallender (Henning Mankell) also has that aspect of social commentary. There are 2 Wallender tv series. An English one with Kenneth Branagh and a Swedish one (which is said to be superior, by the afficianados).

Perhaps paralleling his own life (Mankell fought a long battle with cancer, I believe), Wallender is slowly losing it over the course of the later novels - memory becoming unreliable, etc.
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Re: New to Mystery Reading: Which Authors?

Post by SuzBanyan »

Limoncello402 wrote: Mon Dec 06, 2021 3:28 pm THANK YOU! I have a long list of authors now. Raymond Chandler and Louise Penny for starts. Very grateful for all the suggestions.
I borrow books via Libby from my library, mostly, or from the many Little Free Libraries we have in the area.
I’m currently reading Louise Penny in order. It is taking some time because there is a 2 month wait for each from the library. If you are interested, her recent novel written with Hillary Clinton, State of Terror, has a slight crossover but can be read out of order.
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Re: New to Mystery Reading: Which Authors?

Post by d0gerz »

Keigo Higashino. Some of his books from Japanese have been translated into English by Alexander O. Smith. Higashino has won the Edogawa Rampo Sho, the Japanese equivalent of the Edgar Awards for mystery writing.

Actually a good way I've found of discovering mystery writers is to go to the Wikipedia page for the Edgar Awards and scan recent winners and nominees.
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Re: New to Mystery Reading: Which Authors?

Post by beernutz »

Valuethinker wrote: Tue Dec 07, 2021 4:09 am
beernutz wrote: Mon Dec 06, 2021 6:32 pm In college in the 80s my girlfriend turned me on to the Martin Beck series of 10 novels. He's a Swedish police detective created by Maj Sjöwall and Per Wahlöö and the novels reflect the turmoil and cultural changes of 60s and 70s Sweden in addition to being interesting mysteries, often with political ramifications. I've reread them and they still hold up well but then again I still read Sherlock Holmes and think those novels hold up well.
They were sociologists, I believe - the books are explicitly Marxist in their frame of approach?

The Laughing Policeman was made into a movie with Walter Matthau (American setting). Hard to dislike any film with Walter Matthau (The Taking of Pelham 123 was a classic; to my surprise the Denzel Washington remake was not bad).

Wallender (Henning Mankell) also has that aspect of social commentary. There are 2 Wallender tv series. An English one with Kenneth Branagh and a Swedish one (which is said to be superior, by the afficianados).

Perhaps paralleling his own life (Mankell fought a long battle with cancer, I believe), Wallender is slowly losing it over the course of the later novels - memory becoming unreliable, etc.
Even though wikipedia claims Sjöwall and Wahlöö were Marxists I don't see it in these novels. I recall quite a bit of social criticism in them and some disillusionment with policing and political leadership/corruption but to me it is equivalent to what Chandler includes in the Marlowe books which take place in 40s and 50s California.

I am also a fan of the Mankell / Wallander books and both of the TV shows and for a long time I used the same phone ringtone as the Swedish Wallander, Krister Henriksson (which no one ever recognized).
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Re: New to Mystery Reading: Which Authors?

Post by heartwood »

Mystery seems a broad categorization to me. I'm a fan of many authors mentioned above and several I didn't see like John Sandford and James Patterson.

Patterson now uses a stable of co-authors putting out multiple books a quarter. Some are good, most I don't enjoy. I liked his recent The Black Book co-authored with David Ellis, and also The Red Book by them. I read the two of them back to back in a few days. Chicago police detective. Not for the sensitive as to topics: a brothel and sex trafficking.

Sandford has two main series, the Lucas Davenport Prey books, and the Virgil Flowers books, with many in each series. I read the new ones each year. Originally set in Minnesota and still mostly there. Davenport has now branched out to the national scene.

I blitzed through Paul Doiron's series about Maine Game Warden Mike Bowditch. Maine game wardens are essentially law officers that also deal in wildlife. Lots of good stories and local Maine color.

Several mentions of the Spencer books by Robert Parker. I'm a fan of those too, but only those written by Parker. Loved the Spencer character but also Hawk and Susan, and his other protagonists, Sunny Randall and Jesse Stone.
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Re: New to Mystery Reading: Which Authors?

Post by BrightEyes »

Well, after spending an hour or so writing a detailed set of descriptions and reasons why I love certain authors/series, of course I lost the content due to the my log-in timing out on me. Note to self (again!!)— don’t compose in the website, but in a word processing program!!!

I can’t take that much time again, but as I wrote, I realized that the series I plugged all have several things in common, so I’ll discuss that first, then list the series, a couple which others have mentioned, but there hasn’t been a lot of description so far, and I think that might help people decide if they are interested in a read.

Here's another good website to check the order of books in a series, or to find a new series/author:
https://www.bookseriesinorder.com/

All of these series, except the Dick Francis books that are mostly stand-alones, are better if read in order, and while you can remember what came before.

I like books where I find at least one character I really care about, and for me, that means that character shares something about their thoughts and feelings that I can relate to in some way. The internal mental landscape matters to me more than just the action, I guess. Motivations, irritations, delights, hungers, fears and self-doubts… bring them on! I want character development over a long series. The cozies where the heroine keeps stumbling over bodies and solving the crimes that the authorities can’t seem to figure out and yet never has second thoughts or nightmares or wonders if they should actually be doing the stupid things they are doing, but only thinks how wonderfully helpful and clever they are being… tire me out. And I don’t want a lot of overt violence, or at least I do not want to be made to see or hear it in great, gratuitous detail. Ditto sex. Story and character development, please!

All of these series have a lot of character growth over time, and the protagonists, with the exception of the last series, are females whose professions bring them into contact with crime, have supporting characters we can get to know and maybe like, have varied backgrounds that affect how they view and interact with the world, and that makes sense of how the stories play out.

-- Anna Pigeon Novels by Nevada Barr.. Set in national parks, which is neat, but the character is why I come back—I want to see how Anna handles the next thing thrown at her— she does suffer from the bad stuff that happens to and around her, which seems to make this series more realistic to me. Anna is a bit of a curmudgeon, with a soft spot for cats and wildlife, and Nevada Barr’s use of language is a delight to me. Not in the poetical sense that some authors get praises for, but in the “Oh, I’m not the only one who feels like that, but what a great way of expressing it!” sense, especially in relation to various uncharitable thoughts or feelings. Good solid stories, growth, but at some point, the crimes and actions start getting darker, which I find sad. I’m so hooked on finding out what happens with Anna, I keep reading, but I do hope it lightens up at some point. Great series in both print and audiobook, except I really dislike the audiobook of Endangered Species done by Cindy Williams. I think the rest are narrated by Barbara Rosenblat, who is the right voice for Anna.

-- V. I. Warshawski, by Sara Paretsky.. V. I., or Vic, never “Vicky”, is a PI in Chicago, and we get to know bits of her family and friends and background as the series continues. Very hard boiled/noir, yet not opaque like the Marlow stuff, we get to see inside her thoughts/feelings/motivations. We may or may not like everything we see, but we are likely to care, and Vic cares so very much about the cases/people in these books. And she, too, is not untouched by the things that happen, or the things she does. Lots of gritty adventure— and golden retrievers, and some humor to lighten the mood occasionally. Makes me want to visit Chicago.

-- Mary Russell/Sherlock Holmes series and the Kate Martinelli series, plus a few stand-alone novels by Laurie R. King. The Mary Russell books start in 1915, when she is an orphaned 15 year old and meets retired, ~ mid-fifties Sherlock Holmes in Suffolk, with the book The Beekeeper's Apprentice. They have many adventures over the course of the next ?? years—I’m still working my way through this series, and still enjoying it. Not too violent, no graphic sex, intriguing and well written puzzles. Mary’s viewpoint helps make the insufferable smugness of Holmes more approachable for me, compared to the Conan Doyle original— though it’s been ages since I tried those, and I might like them better now than as an adolescent? King is definitely a Holmes expert, as is apparent in at least one of the Kate Martinelli books, as well. Kate is a police detective in the Bay Area, and we see both her private life and her cases, and of course there is overlap… and character development! The stand-alone novels are all readable, perhaps one or two are a bit darker than either series, but all well written and thoughtful.

-- Kinsey Millhone novels by Sue Grafton. This is the A is for Alibi through Y is for Yesterday series— Z is for ?? will never be written, as Sue Grafton died and arranged that no one will take over. I think she also ensured that her books won’t be made into TV/movies, but I may be making that up, wishful thinking so they don’t get ruined. Kinsey is another complicated character who is a PI. She was orphaned at 5— hmm, just realized all my list of protagonists are orphans… raised by a maiden aunt who taught her to be self sufficient but apparently never got her to not lie or to follow all the rules. She's just an interesting character and I really enjoyed getting to know her.

Oh, forgot this one earlier, not quite in line with my professional females, but she’d be annoyed to hear me say that—

-- The Flavia DeLuce novels by Alan Bradley start with The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie when Flavia is 11 years old, and are set in England in the 1950’s. There is an overarching family mystery (or more than one?) that spans the novels I’ve read so far, as well as a mysterious death/s in each book. These are not YA books, though they could be read by young people.. .but we as adult readers can see that Flavia is often more sure of her understanding of a situation than perhaps she should be, given her innocence about grown-up things. She is a chemist, and feels everything comes down to chemistry. The series is adorable, but not cute.


-- Dick Francis novels have a male protagonist, and out of 40+ novels, only a few have the same protagonist (there are 5 with Sid Halley, and 2 with Kit Fielding—I think each of the other heroes is only in a single book), but they are all cut from the same cloth: English, decent, intelligent, tenacious, and very tough/sturdy, as steeplechase jockeys need to be to survive horse racing. But not all of them are jockeys, by far— they all have different professions and backgrounds, like glass blowing, painter, horse transporter, investment guy, toymaker, caterer, pilot, actor… all different family backgrounds/situations, so it does not feel repetitive even though there is definitely a formula being followed. But, the horses will come in from some angle, always! For me, having read or listened (or both) to every one of them over many years, many more than once, these are comfort reading, a reliable go-to when I just want to get lost in a story but not work too hard or have a disappointing surprise like sudden images I didn’t want in my head. There may be a little light romance, or not really much at all.


Really, I must stop! This took another hour to type (I’m a terrible, slow typer), and there are so many books, so little time!


Enjoy!

Bright Eyes
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