Books you love but seem little known?

[crossi]

Some of my favorites:
The Miss Seeton cozy mysteries by Heron Carvic.
The Time Master triology by Louise Cooper.
Fools Run by Patricia Mckillip.
The Orphans of Chaos triology by John C. Wright.
The Sime/Gen novels by Jacqueline Lichtenberg.

[WillAdams]

Jack Vance's Lyonesse Trilogy --- Suldrun's Garden, The Green Pearl, Madouc

Hal Clement's short story collection --- Space Lash (originally published as Small Changes)

Linda Haldeman's The Lastborn of Elvinwood

[crossi]

Why are some books that are really good seem to be mostly unknown to readers in that genre? I'm not talking about books from indie publishers that might get missed but ones from large publishers? Other books that I found much less enjoyable even if not universally liked are at least familiar to people.

[pwalker8]

I would throw in Brian Dailey's Coramonde series and Cook's Wiz series.

[bfisher]

That should be Brian Daley. The Coramonde books are excellent. His series about Hobart Floyt and Alacrity Fitzhugh are excellent also. It's a great pity he died so young.

[crich70]

I don't know if it's unknown or not but Ben Bova's Exile Trilogy is a good read. It's even out on Kindle now.

[Apache]

Originally Posted by bfisher

That should be Brian Daley. The Coramonde books are excellent. His series about Hobart Floyt and Alacrity Fitzhugh are excellent also. It's a great pity he died so young.

His books are great and I was sadden when I heard about his passing.
Apache

[Xanthe]

Kristine Smith's Jani Kilian series:

Code of Conduct (1999)
Rules of Conflict (2000)
Law of Survival (2001)
Contact Imminent (2003)
Endgame (2007)

Code of Conduct:

Smith's tightly plotted SF thriller debut is an ace, sure to appeal to readers who appreciate well-drawn characters and sophisticated milieus.

An ex-soldier and Commonwealth diplomatic liaison, Jani Kilian has spent the last 18 years working as a paper-pusher under assumed names, trying to stay ahead of her past. As a trusted member of a human diplomatic team once sent to establish relations with the alien idomeni, Jani and her team were caught in the middle when her commanding officer took sides in an idomeni civil war. Presumed dead during the conflict, Jani was captured and patched up with experimental idomeni augmentation in a secret and highly illegal idomeni/human research project. She's been on the run ever since she escaped, until her old lover, Evan van Reuter, now Commonwealth Interior Minister, tracks her down to ask for her help investigating his wife's mysterious death.

Now, without giving away her own identity, Jani must take on a dangerous task of finding the answers to questions someone wants to keep secret. Complicating matters, the information she uncovers stirs up memories of her own traumatic past. Smith balances a taut mystery with vivid characters and a complex, ever-evolving plot, a feat more experienced authors don't always achieve.

It's a great series but it looks like the only way to get all but the most recent book is via the used route. Amazon hasn't even made them available on the Kindle, though B&N does have "Endgame" as a Nook ebook. According to a recent entry in her blog, she's trying to work out a deal to get the books reissued.

She's got a free prequel to "Code of Conduct" up here: http://www.kristine-smith.com/index....-small-colony/

[Xanthe]

Katy Munger's Casey Jones mystery series:


Legwork (1997)
Out of Time (1998)
Money to Burn (1999)
Bad to the Bone (2000)
Better Off Dead (2001)
Bad Moon on the Rise (2009)

Legwork (the blurb is from Smashwords):

Set in North Carolina and the surrounding states, LEGWORK features a colorful cast, solid plot and writing that is both laugh out funny and vry moving at times. In Legwork, P.I. Casey Jones wins an assignment as bodyguard to Senatorial candidate Mary Lee Masters, only to have it turn into a murder investigation when someone dumps a corpse in the candidate's car, branding Masters as a killer with only weeks to go before the election. Casey must unravel the tangled loyalties of N.C. politics, puzzle out the contradictions of Southern feminism, confront the realities of her upbringing and dodge everything from cross-bows to irate mothers in her search to find the real killer -- all while contemplating new objects of her fickle and frequently bestowed affections.

North Carolina-based Casey Jones is a thirtyish bottle-blonde brickhouse whose brief prison record precludes a private investigator's license. Instead, she does all the dirty work for her boss Bobby D., a 360 pound ladies man who fancies himself to be a cross between Nero Wolfe and Barry White.

The series revolves around Casey and Bobby, as well as a cast of supporting players from all social strata.

There's lots of action, lots of humor, lots of local color. The books are all set in or near North Carolina's Research Triangle.

The series is best described as irreverant and frequently bawdy -- but not without its insights into human nature (at least, that's what I like to think!).

What other people think:
"If you like Janet Evanovich, Sue Grafton, or Sparkle Hayter, you'll love Katy Munger!"
-- Murder, Ink

"Casey Jones joins the ranks of smart and gutsy heroines. The South will never be the same. Don't miss her."
-- Janet Evanovich

Amazon currently has the Kindle version of Legwork for 99 cents: http://www.amazon.com/Legwork-Casey-...ds=katy+munger

[Rizla]

The Sunset Warrior trilogy by Eric Van Lustbader. Classic fantasy no one talks about.

[Penforhire]

Hard to call him unknown but I think Barry Eisler deserves more accolades for his John Rain series. I see Lee Child's Jack Reacher series gets more visibility than Eisler. While I am a fan of both, Eisler's Rain books are slightly but clearly superior in my opinion.

[speakingtohe]

This guy
James Crumley
http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/c/james-crumley/

Not in ebook yet AFAIK dammit.

Helen

[Glorfindel]

The King Raven trilogy is an incredible series, I rank it right up there with LotR. It's a retelling of the traditional Robin Hood story, set in Wales when it was being invaded by William the Red and has, instead of Robin Hood, a Welsh prince named Rhi Bran ỳ Hud struggling to regain his throne..

[Xanthe]

Forgot to include Jon F. Merz' Lawson vampire series.

"Lawson is more like Jason Bourne than Dracula, making this a vampire mystery with broad appeal." --Booklist

[Ninjalawyer]

I'm going to cheat a bit and name a series rather than one book.

Gene Wolfe's Book of the New Sun series seems little known for how good it is. I'm a scifi fan, and I'd never heard of it until last year. Some digging reveals that a lot of big name authors love it (Gaiman for example), but the series never seems to pop up in conversations about best scifi series.