Crime Fiction Recommendations

[SensualPoet]

Although every single Perry Mason was first published by William Morrow & Co., which is really HarperCollins, which is really News Corp, and don't they own everything?

(UK Paperbacks here: http://www.houseofstratus.com/erle-s...rdner-60-c.asp)

[SensualPoet]

Elizabeth Ferrars wrote Enough to Kill a Horse in 1955 and by the time was well established as a mystery writer somewhat in the Agatha Christie vein although most of her novels, including the current one, were stand alone affairs without a starring recurring detective. She was billed as "E.X. Ferrars" in the US because the publisher thought it would sell better. Except for a brief period just before the writing of this current title where she and her husband lived in the US, Ferrars made her home in England most of her life, the latter half in Edinburgh and Oxfordshire.

This new edition is published by Langtail Press of England for Amazon Kindle and, happily, for under $4. It's also wonderfully formatted, with nary a typo and proper indenting, chapter breaks and paragraph spacing. The only quibble: no "cover". Langtail has been keeping its costs down by supplying generic type-only covers.

Written in the third voice, the narrator tells us of the events and continually eavesdrops into the hidden voices of many of the characters. We don't see the landscape from the point-of-view of a single character but of much of the cast. It's a splendid technique which helps develop each character and their motivations; in a mystery novel, a wonderful place to unleash one red herring after another.

Fanny and Basil live in a small town a couple of hours by train from London. Fanny is a housewife and her world is her home; Basil is a scientist by trade. Also living in the household is Kit, Fanny's half-brother, who helps Fanny run an antique shop in a small room attached to the front of the house. There are next-door neighbours -- Jean and Colin Gregory who are frightfully wealthy (Colin lives off his wife's money) -- and a local pub, with a couple of hotel rooms to let upstairs, which acts as another locale where other neighbours appear. When Kit announces he will not marry the local girl Susan but has proposed to a divorced, young professional woman in London, Fanny decides to throw a welcoming party to meet Laura at Fanny's home. Fanny worries that she is not good enough to face the beautiful and sophisticated Laura and so invites Sir Peter, a retired newspaper publisher, and her longtime best friend Joan, who also lives in London.

So there you are: a large cast of characters (and I've left out the pub owners, more neighbours such as the Mordues, the local doctor and, of course, a police inspector) in an English country setting -- the grist for so many classic whodunit writers like Christie, Marsh, Mitchell and others. Naturally, at the party, someone dies eating Fanny's favourite hors d'oeuvres. Was it an accident? Was it murder? Was the victim the intended victim or was someone else supposed to die? And why? This is not a police procedural: the police inspector has a bit part; it is Fanny and others who are busy "solving" the case and misleading the reader down countless byways. The final working out, occuring in the final pages, cannot fail to surprise.

[SensualPoet]

There's a terrific article in the archives of The Independent newspaper in the UK: "Around the World in 80 Sleuths":
http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-en...hs-873660.html

From Greenland to New Zealand, Thailand to Paris, Los Angeles to New York, Northern Ontario to London ... and 72 other places in between ... one sleuth per stop, please.

As if your TBR pile isn't high enough already!

[orlok]

Originally Posted by SensualPoet

There's a terrific article in the archives of The Independent newspaper in the UK: "Around the World in 80 Sleuths":
http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-en...hs-873660.html

From Greenland to New Zealand, Thailand to Paris, Los Angeles to New York, Northern Ontario to London ... and 72 other places in between ... one sleuth per stop, please.

As if your TBR pile isn't high enough already!

Thanks for this. I think I've only read 10 of them, so plenty to go at!

[crich70]

Originally Posted by SensualPoet

There's a terrific article in the archives of The Independent newspaper in the UK: "Around the World in 80 Sleuths":
http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-en...hs-873660.html

From Greenland to New Zealand, Thailand to Paris, Los Angeles to New York, Northern Ontario to London ... and 72 other places in between ... one sleuth per stop, please.

As if your TBR pile isn't high enough already!

I guess sometimes crime does pay depending on your point of view, and if it's fiction or non-fiction. lol.

[stonetools]

I would recommend the Abe Lieberman novels by Stuart Kaminsky, featuring an aging, philosophical Jewish homicide detective. Kaminsky has two other series featuring a Moscow detective and a Florida PI but I couldn't get into either.

[poohbear_nc]

For fans of Colin Cotterill (Dr. Siri series) - the entire series will be available as ebooks (in the US) in July. I had contacted Mr. Cotterill a year or so ago as to why his titles were not available as ebooks (since Soho was converting most of its backlist titles to digital format) and he replied that at that time the ebook rights were being held up due to a contractural dispute with his (former) agent. I guess that's finally settled now - and look forward to reading/re-reading this marvelous series.

If you haven't discovered the wisdom of this oldest of coroners surviving in post-revolutionary regime in Laos, you're in for a treat.

[orlok]

Originally Posted by poohbear_nc

If you haven't discovered the wisdom of this oldest of coroners surviving in post-revolutionary regime in Laos, you're in for a treat.

Certainly sounds very interesting ....mmmm..... Now on my TBRL thanks!

[SlowRain]

I've now read my first Olen Steinhauer novel, The Bridge of Sighs, and, other than a small issue with the ending, I was quite impressed--especially considering it was a debut novel. His first five novels are a combination of mystery and espionage, and are set in an unnamed, fictitious Eastern European country. Each book is set in a different decade of the Cold War and features a different character, but all are related to the same militia office located on Yalta Boulevard. I look forward to reading more by him.

[stonetools]

For those interested in the Agatha Raisin mysteries, the BBC is replaying a series of shows based on the books. I'm listening to the "Vicious Vet" right now and its quite entertaining.

[amward]

Originally Posted by stonetools

For those interested in the Agatha Raisin mysteries, the BBC is replaying a series of shows based on the books. I'm listening to the "Vicious Vet" right now and its quite entertaining.

Do you mean TV shows or radio? I love the Agatha Raisin books.

[carpetmojo]

I'm sorry if he's been mentioned previously, haven't had a chance to work through recently, but Peter Robinson's "police procedurals" are excellent stuff - and there's a lot of them ! Top notch.

Very well written, believable characters, and spot-on details (I was reliably informed by a member of the Met recently), and can be read stand-alone, but as a series even better.

Like James Lee Burke.................... oh, have I mentioned him before ?

[stonetools]

Originally Posted by amward

Do you mean TV shows or radio? I love the Agatha Raisin books.

BBC Radio. I access BBC via the Iplayer


IPLAYER HOME

Enjoy

[amward]

Originally Posted by stonetools

BBC Radio. I access BBC via the Iplayer


IPLAYER HOME

Enjoy

Thanks for that.

[SensualPoet]

Originally Posted by carpetmojo

I'm sorry if he's been mentioned previously, haven't had a chance to work through recently, but Peter Robinson's "police procedurals" are excellent stuff - and there's a lot of them ! Top notch.

Very well written, believable characters, and spot-on details (I was reliably informed by a member of the Met recently), and can be read stand-alone, but as a series even better.

It's good to remind us of Peter Robinson's Detective Chief Inspector Alan Banks series. Since the series debut in 1987 with Gallows View, the author has delighted readers through nearly twenty novels, the most recent being last year's Bad Boy. Expected later this year is Before the Poison ...

Dr Robinson is from Yorkshire but emigrated to Canada in 1974 and now splits his time between a home in Toronto and another in England.

Another "police proceduralist" worth noting is Giles Blunt, also currently residing in Toronto, although he hails from North Bay, Ontario and has spent some years writing television shows based in New York. His lead character is Detective Inspector John Cardinal who trolls for murder as part of the local police force in Algonquin Bay, a fictional town not unlike North Bay. The first title, Forty Words for Sorrow, was published in 2001and has now reached seven books with Crime Machine published last year.

Like Robinson, Blunt spares the reader few details of the crime scene and morgue ... but also creates vivid characters and strongly plotted tales.