Detective novels, mystery favorites?

[tompe]

Originally Posted by mvo

Like HarryT, I tend to prefer Golden Age British detective fiction, but I have branched out recently and read more modern authors. My favourite detectives (authors in brackets) are:

Albert Campion (Margery Allingham)
Bruno Courrèges (Martin Walker)
Bryant and May (Christopher Fowler)
Chief Inspector Barnaby (Caroline Graham)
Dr. Basil Willing (Helen McCLoy)
Flavia de Luce (Alan Bradley)
Gervase Fen (Edmund Crispin)
Hannah Scarlett and Daniel Kind (Martin Edwards)
Hercule Poirot (Agatha Christie)
Inspector Cockrill (Christianna Brand)
Jimmy Perez (Ann Cleeves)
Lord Peter Wimsey (Dorothy Sayers)
Lynley/Havers (Elizabeth George)
Marjorie Fleming (Aline Templeton)
Mary Russell (Laurie R. King)
Miss Marple (Agatha Christie)
Roderick Alleyn (Ngaio Marsh)
Vera Stanhope (Ann Cleeves)

Josephine Tey is missing from that list...

The Gervase Fen books are just so funny. Very much recommended.

[mvo]

Originally Posted by tompe

Josephine Tey is missing from that list...

So she is! As are Henry Wade and a few other authors...

[cromag]

I'd recommend the John Ceepak mysteries, by Chris Grabenstein. The stories are set in a mostly middle class Jersey shore summer resort town. The two protagonists, John Ceepak and Danny Boyle, are police officers rather than proper detectives, but the stories are uniformly good. The ebook versions of the earliest volumes are very reasonably priced.

[nosake]

Originally Posted by Mort1997

I am currently working my way thr' Craig Johnson books - I am trying not to read them too quickly as I am really enjoying them and feel almost bereft when I have finished one. I tried watching the Longmire TV series but it wasn't a patch on the books.

Steven Havill and William Kent Krueger are also excellent

I almost gave up reading Craig Johnson after the first book. It was so poorly edited that I couldn't track what was happening. Thank god I stuck with him because every book since has been thoroughly enjoyable.

[nosake]

Originally Posted by iamosam

Thank you, I guess I will stick to detective genre, then. What about C. J. Box?



Care to explain your reasons? That might help us potential readers decide better. Parker and Kellerman are on my to read list and I never heard about Craig Johnson.

I don't know about tomyoung but Robert Parker prose was overly simplistic. Stuart Woods writes knock-off material. You get the sense that you've read the stories before. He simulates other's work by changing the stories ever so slightly.

[soulfuldog]

Originally Posted by jbjb

If you like Ian Rankin's Rebus novels, then I'd suggest you try Stuart MacBride. His Logan McRae series are very well written, *very* dark and gritty police novels set in Aberdeen.

I prefer the Logan McRae series to the few Rebus books I've read, but MacBride can be very dark and bit twisted. The macabre humour appeals to me though

[jbjb]

Originally Posted by l_macd

I prefer the Logan McRae series to the few Rebus books I've read, but MacBride can be very dark and bit twisted. The macabre humour appeals to me though

He does get very dark at times - I've heard it said that he makes Ian Rankin look like Enid Blyton

The humour appeals to me too

/JB

[HarryT]

One author I don't like is Elizabeth George. Her books are too depressing, and I find her depiction of Britain to be unconvincing (she's an American author writing "British" books). I think in general it's a bad idea for an author to write books set in a country which is not their own, although I have heard it said that Lee Child is reasonably convincing as a British author writing "American" books.

[bfisher]

Originally Posted by cromag

I'd recommend the John Ceepak mysteries, by Chris Grabenstein. The stories are set in a mostly middle class Jersey shore summer resort town. The two protagonists, John Ceepak and Danny Boyle, are police officers rather than proper detectives, but the stories are uniformly good. The ebook versions of the earliest volumes are very reasonably priced.

Thanks. I picked up Tilt-a-Whirl for CDN$ 0.99 at amazon.ca (http://www.amazon.ca/Tilt---Whirl-Ce.../dp/B004QO9YI0) to give the series a try

[BearMountainBooks]

Originally Posted by bfisher

Thanks. I picked up Tilt-a-Whirl for CDN$ 0.99 at amazon.ca (http://www.amazon.ca/Tilt---Whirl-Ce.../dp/B004QO9YI0) to give the series a try

I read Tilt-a-Whirl and I found it a decent mystery. Not very deep or complicated, but I enjoyed the characters.

I see Robert Crais has already been mentioned. I like his Joe Pike character/series.

I really liked Put a Lid on It by Donald Westlake. His series involves THIEVES not detectives, but Put a Lid on It has a reluctant detective of sorts. It has a lot of humor and is quite a fun adventure.

If you want to try dry wit/cozy Sherban Young has some decent stories.

J.R. Levitt (out of print) writes some VERY good mysteries if you can find them.

Is Frederick Forsyth American? I don't know, but would recommend his books. He's more an assassin/problem solver but good thrillers.

[Victoria]

Originally Posted by HarryT

One author I don't like is Elizabeth George. Her books are too depressing, and I find her depiction of Britain to be unconvincing (she's an American author writing "British" books)..

i can't judge the authenticity of her British voice, so must defer on that. But i did enjoy the enjoy the characters and story lines at first, and stupidly bought all the books in the series. However, they have become increasingly depressing, and I can't bring myself to start book 10, or which ever number the s&m one is - the description of the plot in the reviews is just so dismal.

She seems to have lost heart herself, in the last few books. The main characters act 'out of character', and I wondered if she is just writing from necessity, rather than truly having more to explore with the series.

I guess the moral is that I shouldn't buy a whole series at once, because I feel some pressure to read them! But I just can't in this case.

[tompe]

Originally Posted by Victoria

i can't judge the authenticity of her British voice, so must defer on that. But i did enjoy the enjoy the characters and story lines at first, and stupidly bought all the books in the series. However, they have become increasingly depressing, and I can't bring myself to start book 10, or which ever number the s&m one is - the description of the plot in the reviews is just so dismal.

She seems to have lost heart herself, in the last few books. The main characters act 'out of character', and I wondered if she is just writing from necessity, rather than truly having more to explore with the series.

I guess the moral is that I shouldn't buy a whole series at once, because I feel some pressure to read them! But I just can't in this case.

I bought nine of them and got tired of them after five books. I felt that after a couple of books it became more kind of relationship books than detective stories. The focus seemed mostly to be on the protagonists personal problems.

[Victoria]

Originally Posted by HarryT

One author I don't like is Elizabeth George. Her books are too depressing, and I find her depiction of Britain to be unconvincing (she's an American author writing "British" books). I think in general it's a bad idea for an author to write books set in a country which is not their own, although I have heard it said that Lee Child is reasonably convincing as a British author writing "American" books.

Originally Posted by tompe

I bought nine of them and got tired of them after five books. I felt that after a couple of books it became more kind of relationship books and detective stories anymore. The focus seemed mostly to be on the protagonists personal problems.

I found the same - which would be ok, if the plots were interesting too, but they seem to be a distant second. Did you keep reading past the 5th?

[tompe]

Originally Posted by Victoria

I found the same - which would be ok, if the plots were interesting too, but they seem to be a distant second. Did you keep reading past the 5th?

I stopped after the 5th book so I still have 4 new unread books at home. I actually really liked the first book.

[speakingtohe]

Originally Posted by HarryT

One author I don't like is Elizabeth George. Her books are too depressing, and I find her depiction of Britain to be unconvincing (she's an American author writing "British" books). I think in general it's a bad idea for an author to write books set in a country which is not their own, although I have heard it said that Lee Child is reasonably convincing as a British author writing "American" books.

Elizabeth George is not one my favorites.

I love Martha Grimes Richard Jury and Melrose Plant books, though. I was rather taken aback when I found out that she was American.

They are quite whimsical in a way, but with good mysteries, a wide cast of interesting and consistent characters, and a few quite dark moments. Reminiscent of Sayers and Allingham, but set in the 60's on IIRC.

Helen