WRT Stephanie Plum, I will admit to having read several of them. I liked them, especially the earlier ones in the series. Aside from having the advantage of being a native (American-) English speaker, I have the advantage(?) of being a short drive from many of the neighborhoods in her storyline.
I did a quick scan of the last few pages in this thread and didn't find
my personal favorite:
Judge Dee, of Robert van Gulik's stories. I'd describe them as "light" mysteries, and the setting of Tang Dynasty China is a large part of the appeal (to me, at least). Many are available in ebook form, and I think they're couponable at Kobo.
Note: Since van Gulik's death several other authors have written "Judge Dee" stories. Some appear to be very poorly reviewed, so I'd stick to the original -- at least when you're getting started.
EDIT: Aha!
Sparrow mentioned Judge Dee, but that was way at the beginning of the thread!