Crime Fiction Recommendations

[poohbear_nc]

Originally Posted by DMB

Does anyone like Michael Innes? He was one of the classic British detective story writers and wrote loads of books starring his detective John Appleby. IRL he was J.I.M. Stewart, an Oxford don. His books are pretty donnish and quietly fascinating. Now available in eformat.

Yeah - Michael Innes and Anthony Berkeley (Roger Sheringham mysteries) are relatively unknown today - but both produced ingeniously plotted mysteries - and are now becoming available in ebooks.

[benham]

Originally Posted by orlok

I've read every single Dick Francis, and continue now with his son Felix. Excellent stuff, I agree.

Have you tried any John Francome, another champion jockey turned presenter and author? Sllightly racier (pardon the pun), and actually surprisingly good, if not quite up to Dick Francis' standard.

And thanks for the Reed Farrel Coleman recommendation. Never heard of him, but reading reviews he sounds right up my street, so I have just bought the first Moe Prager to give him a try

Have not tried Francome, but I will! Sounds good. I also have every Dick Francis. When my oldest daughter was growing up, it was her job to keep track of my Dick Francis list and give me a book for Christmas. Didn't even matter if it was new. It used to be just him and Louis L'Amour until I found Michael Connelly.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by WillieMcIntyre

I've noticed this is very much a USA based forum, but have you read any of John Mortimer's Rumpole stories? Connelly just doesn't come close.

We're actually based in Canada .

[Billi]

Originally Posted by orlok

I've read every single Dick Francis ... Excellent stuff, I agree.

+1

[benham]

He autographed Dea Cert for me, his first novel. He had a condo a couple away from my brother and his wife on the Grand Caymans and my daughter had a picture taken with him. Felix looks like he can do a good job of it.

orlok, I checked out Francome and he looks good but only seems to have a couple books in ebook format.

[SensualPoet]

Originally Posted by poohbear_nc

Yeah - Michael Innes and Anthony Berkeley (Roger Sheringham mysteries) are relatively unknown today - but both produced ingeniously plotted mysteries - and are now becoming available in ebooks.

I was looking for Michael Innes relatively recently -- nothing at the time. Now I see quite a whack of Inspector Appleby ... alas, at $10 each. The imprint is House of Stratus and the covers look pretty cheesy (135 HofS titles at Kindle) but if the internal production is good, then that's ok. Penguin published a lot of these in the past (in paper); have the right reverted, I wonder? The author died in 1994.

Wiki says: In 2007, his estate transferred all of Stewart's copyrights and other legal rights to Owatonna Media, from whom they were acquired in 2009 by Coolabi plc. This included Michael Innes, Eric Ambler and John Creasey. So, there ya go.

Update: It appears most of the Michael Innes titles from House of Stratus are on Overdrive ... but only as PDFs. Many US libraries, however, may carry them as a result. Alas, Overdrive does not have Canadian library rights to these titles.

[orlok]

Originally Posted by benham

He autographed Dea Cert for me, his first novel. He had a condo a couple away from my brother and his wife on the Grand Caymans and my daughter had a picture taken with him. Felix looks like he can do a good job of it.

orlok, I checked out Francome and he looks good but only seems to have a couple books in ebook format.

How great to have met him (both him and his wife - both of whom wrote the books together, of course).

Didn't realise Francome only has a couple of his in eBook format - I've only read him in hard-copy form to date .

[poohbear_nc]

Originally Posted by SensualPoet

I was looking for Michael Innes relatively recently -- nothing at the time. Now I see quite a whack of Inspector Appleby ... alas, at $10 each. The imprint is House of Stratus and the covers look pretty cheesy (135 HofS titles at Kindle) but if the internal production is good, then that's ok. Penguin published a lot of these in the past (in paper); have the right reverted, I wonder? The author died in 1994.

Wiki says: In 2007, his estate transferred all of Stewart's copyrights and other legal rights to Owatonna Media, from whom they were acquired in 2009 by Coolabi plc. This included Michael Innes, Eric Ambler and John Creasey. So, there ya go.

The House of Stratus paperback editions were very fine productions - in terms of proofreading & editing. I hope the same files are being used for the ebook versions.

[GA Russell]

I'm thinking about getting the first two Agatha Raisin stories for my sister. Do any of you ladies have an opinion of that series?

[benham]

Originally Posted by orlok

How great to have met him (both him and his wife - both of whom wrote the books together, of course).

Didn't realise Francome only has a couple of his in eBook format - I've only read him in hard-copy form to date .

Oh, I meant my brother and sister-in-law. I don't think Mr. Francis moved to the Caymans until after his wife died.

[ReneAZ]

Originally Posted by wallcraft

I also like Lawrence Block and Robert Crais, who write somewhat similarly to Michael Connelly.

Just finished a Lawrence Block Matthew Scudder book and enjoyed it ("All the Flowers are Dying") and plan to read more. He has written a lot of books!

I also like Laura Lippmann (A PI in Baltimore) and James Grippando (character Jack Swyteck - an attorney in Miami). (JG's book "When Darkness Falls" is free on Amazon.)

oh, and how about Reginald Hill - his Dalziel & Pascoe British police procedural books. Very well written.

[GA Russell]

Originally Posted by ReneAZ

(JG's book "When Darkness Falls" is free on Amazon.)

Thanks for that heads up Rene! Karma!

[amward]

Originally Posted by GA Russell

I'm thinking about getting the first two Agatha Raisin stories for my sister. Do any of you ladies have an opinion of that series?

One of my favourites, she'll love them.

[carpetmojo]

Do you know, I've always meant to dip into these, but somehow never quite managed it.

No excuse now I'm all teched up !

[orlok]

Originally Posted by ReneAZ

Just finished a Lawrence Block Matthew Scudder book and enjoyed it ("All the Flowers are Dying") and plan to read more. He has written a lot of books!

I strongly recommend the Bernie Rodenbarr "Burglar" series by Block. A great sense of humour runs through them, with good plot lines and great characterisations.