Crime Fiction Recommendations

[SensualPoet]

Originally Posted by NightBird

All right! I found his first one, The Perfect Murder, as an audiobook at my library and Audible has several of his. I got on the wait list for the one at my library and no one is ahead of me.

Good place to start as that is his first book in the series. I read it a few weeks ago -- delightful! There's a short MR threat about it here.

[benham]

My library system does not have that one, so I put Dead On Time on hold.

[NightBird]

Originally Posted by SensualPoet

Good place to start as that is his first book in the series. I read it a few weeks ago -- delightful! There's a short MR threat about it here.

Oh thanks for posting that link. I usually read all your reviews but that one slipped by me or didn't stick in my mind for some reason.

[Todd Young]

For me it's Highsmith and Rendell. Highsmith is number one, but Rendell is a close second. If you haven't read Patricia Highsmith, then I'd suggest you have a look. She's absolutely one in million, and so underrated it's a joke.

[SensualPoet]

Elderly Ruth Singh, smartly dressed, is sitting in a chair, feet together, hands in her lap, as if ready to ready to make a shopping trip. Except, she's found in her basement, not her parlour, and her head is titled back. Though dry as bone, she has apparently drowned and there is muddy Thames water in her mouth. Time to call in the Peculiar Crimes Unit and the also quite elderly John May and Arthur Bryant to solve this "locked room" mystery in tale number two, The Water Room, by Christopher Fowler.

It's a deliciously curvy, twisty story, centered on Balakava Street, once the homes of railway workers, and now in various stages of decay featuring an odd collection of gentry, yuppies, students and those who have never moved out since the end of WWII. There's even a small woodworking factory at one end of the street, a handsome gay couple occupying one of the homes and a local tramp who calls this particular street his home. As the title implies, water is serious theme here: not only does it seems to rain without stopping throughout the events of several days, we are treated to a history of London's river systems as they are gradually over-run by mankind, buried, diverted and turned into a complex system of storm drains.

The detective duo of Bryant and May, one socially ept, the other curmudgeonly by choice, display a fondness and respect for one another that emerges in their actions and witty dialogue. If some of the gimmicks wear a little thin (supporting characters of equal age or their 50s-something children filling the same roles in the unit and the dovetaling of Bryant's eccentric interest in the occult and witches playing a role in tying up loose-ends), its hard to begrudge the author these sleights of hand when the story "leaks out" do delightfully.

Available for Kindle and Kobo for under $6 and Nook for around $10.

[jbyoung]

I actually saw a Facebook ad that intrigued me, and took me to a site where I read about his book based on a true story. It's on Kindle so I got and I'm really, really liking it. It's based on the true story of a gang of teenaged outlaws - mixed races -- indian, black who go on a rampage for 13 days in 1895. Has "The hanging Judge" in it. I'm half through and highly recommend it. It's called "I Dreamt I Was in Heaven - The Rampage of the Rufus Buck Gang." by Leonce Gaiter

Found the website: www.buckrampage.com

New to Kindle. Really enjoying it. Any other recommendations for hard-hitting, somewhat literary crime?

[orlok]

Has anyone read Child 44 , The Secret Speech or Agent 6, all by Tom Rob Smith? Seems to be a highly recommended series, but before I take the plunge...?

[Steve Anderson]

Originally Posted by Todd Young

For me it's Highsmith and Rendell. Highsmith is number one, but Rendell is a close second. If you haven't read Patricia Highsmith, then I'd suggest you have a look. She's absolutely one in million, and so underrated it's a joke.

I absolutely agree about Highsmith, and not just about for her Ripley books. Her characters are fascinating whether good or bad or both. I've only read one Rendell but felt the same about her writing.

Originally Posted by orlok

Has anyone read Child 44 , The Secret Speech or Agent 6, all by Tom Rob Smith? Seems to be a highly recommended series, but before I take the plunge...?

I've been meaning to get at this series too but have heard mixed reviews. It won't stop me, but I've been waiting for something to push me there. The to-read pile is simply too big.

I'm currently reading Die A Little, the first of Megan Abbott's 50s crime noir novels that have a female POV. The writing's competent but feels more like a literary novel than a crime story so far, with no real incident to move the plot forward almost a quarter of the way in.

[Catlady]

Originally Posted by Steve Anderson

I'm currently reading Die A Little, the first of Megan Abbott's 50s crime noir novels that have a female POV. The writing's competent but feels more like a literary novel than a crime story so far, with no real incident to move the plot forward almost a quarter of the way in.

I read Megan Abbott's first four noir novels earlier this year, in order. I liked Die a Little quite a bit--the pace does pick up--but the later novels are even better, especially Queenpin and Bury Me Deep.

[Steve Anderson]

Originally Posted by Catlady

I read Megan Abbott's first four noir novels earlier this year, in order. I liked Die a Little quite a bit--the pace does pick up--but the later novels are even better, especially Queenpin and Bury Me Deep.

Thanks for that insight, Catlady. I was hoping to hear that. It seems like the pace is about to pick up any time.

[Deniseg53]

I liked 'The Devotion of Suspect X' by Keigo Higashino.

[nigel p bird]

One Too Many Blows To The Head has been on my must read pile for a while and I finally got around to it while I've been away. Perfect holiday reading. In fact, perfect reading full stop.

Their book is sublime.

Set in the boxing world of 1939/40 it follows the lives of two characters, Ray Ward and Detective Dean Fokoli. They take alternate chapters to give their first-person accounts of what happened after the slaying of Ray's brother Rex in the ring.

Essentially Rex has been set up and Ray needs to get revenge. Fokoli is the man charged with the responsibility of cleaning up the mess to avoid a war between the mobs of Chicago and Kansas City.

Their lives that have strong parallels, though for now they seem to be working in reverse order. Ray has spent his whole life on the boxing scene and has always tried to be as good as he could; it's only with the death of his brother that he releases the demons he's kept buried. Fokoli, on the other hand, has spent his working life on the take, a cop in the pockets of the mob; it's only in recently that he has seen the light and has turned his back on corruption and back-handers.

Not that it really matters which way these guys try to go, for it seems inevitable that they're both completely on the skids whatever happens.

It's a simple idea, I suppose, but it's so brilliantly written that every page is a joy. I had the need to race through the plot and yet to savour the language and the atmosphere created at one and the same time. Somehow I think I was able to do both.

I rate it so highly because it picks many of my soft spots and exploits them with sucker punches.

The two main guys are tough men. Macho guys who can fell a sturdy opponent with a solid blow or a well-placed knee. Their lives are messed up, their loyalties strong (if sometimes misplaced), they speak in quips and lurk in shadows.

They're supported by a list of characters who play their parts perfectly. Seedy landlords, drunken bums, prostitutes, victims, bartenders, cops and robbers all bring an array of shades to the piece.

It has one of the best atmospheres and scenes that I've come across in a good while. In my head it was all black and white like the films of the time. I could smell the rings and the gyms, I kid you not, had a sense of the racial tensions and segregation, felt the blows as they came in, understood the need to start the day with a shot of the hard stuff. I was with them every step of the way and loved the journey they took me on.

Strung throughout, like pearls on a string, are the boxing tips of Ray's father (all the philosophies Ray has seem to come from boxing):

'Pop always told us that if you get into a fight outside the ring, you don't want to play it for the decision. You hit that guy until he goes down and you hit him so he'll stay down. Only thing worse than a guy who is pissed off to come at you in the first place is a guy who's doubly pissed because now you hit him.'

and sharp lines:

'There was a dead plant in a pot by the window. I figured it for a suicide.'

or:

'Memory lane is a dangerous street to walk down.'

and they use objects to tell a story with a simply turned phrase:

'I banged on the window with my wedding ring. It was still good for something.'

The book's a collaboration between two people who haven't actually met. How they produced something so seamless is impossible to tell. I looked for the joins and couldn't spot a single one. What I know they managed was to cut out any waste and perfected their use of words as they worked. If collaboration is this good, then I'm going to try getting in touch with some of my hidden personalities to see what we can come up with.

It's a book that might well have turned out as a painting-by numbers exercise; instead these guys have produced a masterpiece.

An absolute gem.

[nigel p bird]

If you saw Lawrence Block's comments over at Do Some Damage, you'll understand me when I say that Moses McGuire is a man with `inclusions'. Lots of inclusions.

Moses is the bouncer at a pole-dancing club. He's big, strong, professional, the butt of the dancers' jokes and maybe takes his job a little too seriously at times.

When we meet him in `Out There Bad', he's having a bad day at the office. The girls are laying bets on who can persuade him to sleep with him and it's all quiet on the Western Front.

It's different out on the parking lot. Seeing one of the girls in the car of a rich boy and performing acts that go beyond a shiggle round a pole, Moses steps in. The rich kid has more money than sense. Talks back to Moses. Moses gets rid of some of his pent up anger by beating him into the dust. It costs him his job and starts things ticking over in his mind about the activities of the Russian girls.

When he meets another Russian, Anya, and falls off his wobbly wagon, things become interesting.

It sets in motion a series of events that mean any readers will need to fasten their seat belts and prepare for a lot of bumpy terrain.

The Russian girls are holed up in some hostel from hell and Moses decides to free Anya from them.

Believe it or not, the Russians don't like it. Worse, they're powerful gangsters who it would normally take an army to shake down.

Our man may be an ex-soldier, but he's not one to trust many others. He teams up with his one man force, enlists the help of a journalist and sets off to free Anya's sister from a life on the game.

It will help, later on, that his newest Ally is to be one of the biggest killers of Russians since Stalin. Mikayla reminded me a little of Lisbeth Salander (Millenium trilogy), although instead of a taser gun, this lady has a razor with which she slashes necks with ease. With her one breast and scarred face and a gripe against the pimps who've stolen so many of her nation's beautiful women, she's on a mission of revenge. She also carries round a pack of Tarot cards, but there's only ever one future for the men she encounters.

From early on, this book explodes into action. Stallings moves us on at a cracking pace and I'm pretty sure this one has got the lot. Sex, sleaze, car-chases, hand-to-hand, drugs, an arsenal of weapons, gangsters, assassins and booze.

It's quite something that during all of this fiery action the characters and their motivations can be so well-understood, which is where I thing the author's skill can be clearly seen. I cared a great deal for all these guys, which made it so much more addictive as a ride because there was never any way all of them were going to get out of there alive.

Don't read this if you like sedate stories, hate violence or want to get yourself an early night.

If none of the above, read when you can.

(ps Moses, no way is Give Em Enough Rope the best Album from the Clash. Want to make something of it?)

[orlok]

Originally Posted by nigel p bird

If you saw Lawrence Block's comments over at Do Some Damage, you'll understand me when I say that Moses McGuire is a man with `inclusions'. Lots of inclusions.

Moses is the bouncer at a pole-dancing club. He's big, strong, professional, the butt of the dancers' jokes and maybe takes his job a little too seriously at times.

When we meet him in `Out There Bad', he's having a bad day at the office. The girls are laying bets on who can persuade him to sleep with him and it's all quiet on the Western Front.

It's different out on the parking lot. Seeing one of the girls in the car of a rich boy and performing acts that go beyond a shiggle round a pole, Moses steps in. The rich kid has more money than sense. Talks back to Moses. Moses gets rid of some of his pent up anger by beating him into the dust. It costs him his job and starts things ticking over in his mind about the activities of the Russian girls.

When he meets another Russian, Anya, and falls off his wobbly wagon, things become interesting.

It sets in motion a series of events that mean any readers will need to fasten their seat belts and prepare for a lot of bumpy terrain.

The Russian girls are holed up in some hostel from hell and Moses decides to free Anya from them.

Believe it or not, the Russians don't like it. Worse, they're powerful gangsters who it would normally take an army to shake down.

Our man may be an ex-soldier, but he's not one to trust many others. He teams up with his one man force, enlists the help of a journalist and sets off to free Anya's sister from a life on the game.

It will help, later on, that his newest Ally is to be one of the biggest killers of Russians since Stalin. Mikayla reminded me a little of Lisbeth Salander (Millenium trilogy), although instead of a taser gun, this lady has a razor with which she slashes necks with ease. With her one breast and scarred face and a gripe against the pimps who've stolen so many of her nation's beautiful women, she's on a mission of revenge. She also carries round a pack of Tarot cards, but there's only ever one future for the men she encounters.

From early on, this book explodes into action. Stallings moves us on at a cracking pace and I'm pretty sure this one has got the lot. Sex, sleaze, car-chases, hand-to-hand, drugs, an arsenal of weapons, gangsters, assassins and booze.

It's quite something that during all of this fiery action the characters and their motivations can be so well-understood, which is where I thing the author's skill can be clearly seen. I cared a great deal for all these guys, which made it so much more addictive as a ride because there was never any way all of them were going to get out of there alive.

Don't read this if you like sedate stories, hate violence or want to get yourself an early night.

If none of the above, read when you can.

(ps Moses, no way is Give Em Enough Rope the best Album from the Clash. Want to make something of it?)

Sounds like my kind of thing, but I'm missing something here. What book are you referring to?

(ps - London Calling?)

[melmac]

Originally Posted by orlok

Sounds like my kind of thing, but I'm missing something here. What book are you referring to?

(ps - London Calling?)

I assume its this one - http://www.amazon.com/Out-There-Mose...pr_product_top sounds good I've added it to my TBR list