Crime Fiction Recommendations

[rghirardi]

I'm sure by now someone mentioned Jo Nesbo and Stieg Larson.

[sufue]

Originally Posted by NightBird

Sounds good but unfortunately not available in the US.

But the first one in the series, April Fool, is available. Sadly it's agency (Random House) and I'm still boycotting agency titles, but maybe I'll persuade myself to cheat, because it really DOES sound like a fun series.

It's $6.99 in the US at Amazon, Kobo, and some others...

http://www.amazon.com/April-Fool-ebo...8071181&sr=8-2

http://www.kobobooks.com/ebook/April...wfw/page1.html

[sufue]

Originally Posted by Xanthe

The authors I would recommend are:
{edited}

S.J. Rosin (Bill Smith/Lydia Chin series)

{edited}

I agree - great series! But if you want to search for the e-books, look for S J Rozan, not Rosin.

Some, but not all, of the books in the series are available as e-books, in the US, at least.

[NightBird]

Originally Posted by poohbear_nc

On a side note, this series is also notable in that Caudwell never explicitly identifies Hilary Tamar's gender.

Oh, very interesting.

Originally Posted by sufue

But the first one in the series, April Fool, is available. Sadly it's agency (Random House) and I'm still boycotting agency titles, but maybe I'll persuade myself to cheat, because it really DOES sound like a fun series.

It's $6.99 in the US at Amazon, Kobo, and some others...

http://www.amazon.com/April-Fool-ebo...8071181&sr=8-2

http://www.kobobooks.com/ebook/April...wfw/page1.html

Oh great - thanks for posting that.

Originally Posted by sufue

I agree - great series! But if you want to search for the e-books, look for S J Rozan, not Rosin.

Some, but not all, of the books in the series are available as e-books, in the US, at least.

Interesting because these books just came up in my Amazon recommendations, too. I read some of the samples and added them to my wishlist. Not bad at $4.99 a pop, either.

[sufue]

Originally Posted by NightBird

Interesting because these books just came up in my Amazon recommendations, too. I read some of the samples and added them to my wishlist. Not bad at $4.99 a pop, either.

Are the Rozan e-books $4.99 a pop for you in Amazon???? in the US????

For me, just checked now, they show up at $6.99 and $7.99 and up (way up), except for one collection of Rozan's short stories.

I'd buy several/all at $4.99, agency or not...

[NightBird]

Are the Rozan e-books $4.99 a pop for you in Amazon???? in the US????

Ooops no sorry - I had those confused with someone else.

[BenG]

Rendezvous in Black by Cornell Woolrich is now available as an ebook.
http://inkmesh.com/ebooks/rendezvous...ll+Woolrich%22

[SensualPoet]

Kobo has it [Rendezvous in Black by Cornell Woolrich] in Canada at $9.39. Amazon has it in hard cover only for $23.95 + shipping.

[Catlady]

Rendezvous in Black has been available in epub for some time--it was one of the first ebooks I bought when I got my reader last October. Cornell Woolrich's Four Novellas of Fear is now in in ebpub at BN--previously it was only available for Kindle.

[poohbear_nc]

Well ... now both Anne Perry's Charlotte & Thomas Pitt and William Monk series are available as ebooks. There goes my credit card!

[NightBird]

Originally Posted by 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.

Two of his books have been available at Fictionwise from E-Reads since 2009 in multiformat with no geo restrictions:

The Coroner's Lunch


Thirty-Three Teeth

At $8.99 each for non-Buywise Club members with 55% off coupon=$4.05.

$7.64 for Buywise Club members=$3.44.

Coupon code: 061711

[SensualPoet]

Only a handful of fictional characters have had the longevity and affection with readers that Sherlock Holmes has enjoyed. And while Arthur Conan Doyle churned out a hefty body of work, far more has been written about Holmes, and his continuing adventures, by others than any other character. It is, in fact, a cottage industry with Holmes-Watson parodies and earnest pastiches that began even while Conan Doyle was writing new tales for his devoted fans. Frank Froest, for example, was a Scotland Yard detective who, upon retirement in 1912 began to write crackingly good crime stories including The Grell Mystery in which the detective pooh-poohs Holmes celebrated methods in which he uncovers a stray hair at the scene of a crime by crawling on his knees with a magnifying glass. Agatha Christie's Hercule Poirot, debuting a decade later, made similar disdaining remarks.

So when Laurie R King decided to write "Sherlock Holmes stories", she chose to turn the tales upside down, making Holmes a secondary character and invent a new Watson ... in the guise of Mary Russell. In the first installment, The Beekeeper's Apprentice (published in 1994), Sherlock Holmes has retired to farm in Sussex, to raise bees, read, perform experiments in his lab, write monographs on obscure topics, and continue to enjoy the coddling of Mrs Hudson. It's the spring of 1915, and a mid-50s Holmes is nearly tripped over by 15 year old Mary Russell, as she strolls across the hills and fields of Sussex, her nose glued to to the book she is devouring while reading. It is a meeting to two deep intelligences ... and very quickly Mary becomes a fixture in the Holmes household and a new favourite of Mrs Hudson.

In this first story, which ranges over three years -- enough time for Mary to attend Oxford (places having become available because so few male students are available due to the war raging across the channel) -- Mary tries her hand at solving simple cases but is soon dragged into serious ones: the kidnapping of an American tycoons' six year old daughter, and bomb threats on Holmes which forces him back to London ... and a reuniting with Watson and Holmes' older brother, Mycroft. A deep intelligence is the only fingerprint they find in the bombings -- an ideal case for Holmes and his apprentice.

It's quite remarkable how well crafted the story is and how easily it entices the reader to accept this premise as a likely extension of the accept Holmes cannon. I did find it dragged in places -- but then I started with the eight novel in the series, Locked Rooms, which is a much tighter tale with a single focussed narrative (and which ties up a number of loose ends laid out in this first novel). However, it was a great read and I strongly recommend it for anyone who enjoys Sherlock Holmes (even if you only know the character through films and television) ... and for anyone else who just enjoys period mysteries.

Available for Kobo and Kindle for under $10.

[poohbear_nc]

Those folk who find P.G. Wodehouse's writing, especially his Bertie Wooster tales, screamingly funny will adore Simon Brett's "Blotto and Twinks" series (http://www.amazon.com/Blotto-Twinks-...9117272&sr=1-1) - which features the completely clueless younger son Blotto and his brainy sister Twinks, solving crimes as a team (picture Bertie Wooster teaming up with Florence Craye) - the writing is wacky, featuring excruciating puns, intimate knowledge of English society, etc. The plotting & dialogue lampoon every other mystery genre, especially Christie, to the nth degree. If you're in the right mood, these are laugh out loud funny.

[orlok]

Originally Posted by poohbear_nc

Those folk who find P.G. Wodehouse's writing, especially his Bertie Wooster tales, screamingly funny will adore Simon Brett's "Blotto and Twinks" series (http://www.amazon.com/Blotto-Twinks-...9117272&sr=1-1) - which features the completely clueless younger son Blotto and his brainy sister Twinks, solving crimes as a team (picture Bertie Wooster teaming up with Florence Craye) - the writing is wacky, featuring excruciating puns, intimate knowledge of English society, etc. The plotting & dialogue lampoon every other mystery genre, especially Christie, to the nth degree. If you're in the right mood, these are laugh out loud funny.

I do like the Bertie Wooster stories. Thanks for the recommendation - never heard of Blotto & Twinks.

[stonetools]

Thanks! I love me some Wodehouse.