[taming]

I am a huge fan of Barbara Fradkin's Inspector Green mysteries. There are now nine of them and I highly recommend that you read them in order as the characters do change over time. Fradkin is a Canadian child psychologist and her awareness of the foibles of mostly normal people and the ups and downs of relationships make her characters come alive for me.

She also has an overarching "theme" in some of the books. Her latest book, The Whisper of Legends, takes place in the Canadian Northern Territories providing an opportunity to learn a lot about the conflict between those who want to fully develop mining for natural resources and people who want the land preserved. An earlier book in the series explored the experience of being a "peacekeeper" in an oversees military campaign.

When she has a theme like this it is not heavy handed or preachy. I always feel that I have learned something valuable though (and they make me think).