Crime Fiction Recommendations

[stonetools]

Doesn't sound like a cozy...

[orlok]

Originally Posted by melmac

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

Yes, that'll be it . Should probably start with the first one, though. I hate starting a series part way through.

[SensualPoet]

Fraser Nixon's first novel, The Man Who Killed, is set in 1926 Montreal relating the journey into hell of the protagonist and narrator, Mick, a 20-something ex-soldier late of the Great War, and more lately thrown out of medical school for unsavoury behaviour and morphine addiction using stolen McGill's supplies. Sliced any way you wish, Mick is not a nice fellow; his companion, Jack, less so and by a goodly measure. Though Mick is the son of a west coast preacher man, Mick and Jack were raised together like brothers, and it was Jack who was the favoured one though no son of the man.

Disgraced and out of luck, Mick has not yet quite quit Montreal and falls back in with Jack after a period of some years apart. In the opening pages, Mick is suddenly thrust into an illegal booze run, from Montreal to New York state, under the cover of darkness, riding shotgun in the third truck of a convoy. It ends badly, in a shoot-out, and Mick barely escapes with his life, managing to find his way back to Montreal the next morning. The descent into hell, already begun, quickens: the remainder of the tale plots in agonizing detail one failure of this man's life after another and the unpleasant impact he has on those around him as he turns from addict and petty thief to drug addled thug and killer.

This is a very dark book, and a smart book, with a relentless march to fatal destiny; but it is not without humour, both macabre and situational, usually wry. Without the stylist's craft, this corpse would be all skeleton and no meat. And wonder of wonders: there is even charm found here in the language, the evocation of Old Montreal, the detailing of the corruption of officials, both petty and high up in government, and in little honour found among the thieves. Indeed, the words conjure life into these depressingly decrepit characters, making real these lives that could not possibly be so grim. It's practically a miracle, all said and done, that the thing's such a cracking good entertainment and surprisingly satisfying when the last page is turned.

Available as a Kindle or Kobo at first run price of around $14 (the paperback will be released next year).

[BenCheetham]

It's not what you might call traditional crime fiction, in fact I'm not quite sure what genre it fits into (the blurb describes it as 'part murder mystery, part metaphysical speculation) but 'Dance Dance Dance' by Haruki Murakami gets my recommendation.

[fbrII]

Daniel Woodrell - The Bayou trilogy

[SensualPoet]

In 2003, Julia Spencer-Fleming burst on the mystery scene with In The Bleak Midwinter, her first novel and the first in what is now a seven novel series featuring Rev Clare Fergusson of St Alban's Episcopal Church and Millers Kill Chief of Police Russ Van Alstyne. It was widely praised and lavished with awards including the 2002 Agatha Award for Best First Novel, 2003 Dilys Award and 2003 Barry Award for Best First Novel. Set in a fictional town in the New York state's Adirondack's, with references to real places like Albany and Glen's Falls, the atmosphere is semi-rural and steeped in real history: these were the stomping grounds of the original Dutch settlements as well as waves of other immigrants in the early 1700s -- among them my own ancestors.

Barely days after arriving to take up her post at St. Alban's, Clare is leaving the rectory on a chilly early December evening and discovers a baby abandonned on her doorstep. But who's baby? At the hospital, she meets Russ, the Chief of Police and the Burnses, a middle-aged couple intent on adoption. Soon Clare and Russ have hit it off and he takes her under his wing in a neighbourly way ... even as romantic sparks smoulder (the Chief is married, but Clare, though a minister, is eligible for marriage). In trying to track down the mother, a young woman is found murdered in a local river (or "kill" in Dutch parlance). Now the search is on for the father and suddenly various members of the congregation are involved. And it's a small town: not everything is quite as it seems ... could another murder by around the corner?

I really liked the set-up -- although I did find the "God" bits distracting (they are expected given the premise). This is a mystery in the Agatha Christie vein: murder, a puzzle, some character development ... it's not "Christian fiction" with a hidden message or supernatural intervention. The dialogue in the first half of the book seemed quite forced in places as the author worked through the details of the back story. Delightfully, however, the book hit its paces and the pay off was a believable puzzle solved, motivations of characters credible and dialog that increasingly wore well on Clare, Russ and other key figures. No less than Charlaine Harris and Louise Penny have written appreciative blurbs on Ms Spencer-Fleming's behalf. Definitely an entertainment and a series worth exploring.

Available from Kindle and Kobo for $7 to $9.

[SensualPoet]

And now for something completely different ... The Chinese Maze Murders, the first of Robert Van Gulik's Judge Dee Mystery series, published in 1956. And, no kidding: these are the tales of Lan-fang's new newly arrived District Magistrate who is detective, prosecutor and judge in T'ang Dynasty China -- roughly 670 AD. Although a true historical figure, the stories are an amalgamation and re-imagining of many such stories that make up traditional Chinese literature. In this first outing, Judge Dee arrives in the city, cleans up corruption, solves multiple murders and is confronted by an overwhelming invasion by barbarians from north. Will right or might prevail?

Judge Dee, in riding toward Lan-fang to take up his post as District Magistrate, is accosted by a small band of robbers. Dee and his two loyal subordinates subdue the attackers (and kill a couple); it is the prelude to their arrival in the city only to discover the Tribunal facility in disarray. They quickly learn the city has been under the thumb of a local tyrant, Chien Mow: Judge Dee represents authority from the Capital and quickly sets about cleaning up the city. A series of clever ruses puts the Judge in the advantage as other mysteries come to light, including the murder of a local businessman, and the suspicious will left by a retired Governor, as well as helping shed light on the lost daughters Judge Dee's new hired hands. Miraculously, the threads of these disparate mysterious begin to come together and the Judge shows his risk taking, and wisdom, in solving these puzzles.

Gulik, a Dutch citizen born in China in 1910, was a career diplomat who knew Dutch, Chinese, Japanese and English; this novel, based on Chinese sources, was written originally in Japanese by van Gulik and translated into English by van Gulik; the balance of the series was written in English only. The stories race along at a pretty fair clip, with little reflection or homilies or character development. But there is charm in the pacing, and the setting is definitely "exotic", to say nothing of the puzzles laid out and solved, sometimes in the nick of time. Recommended.

Avaialble in nicely formatted re-issue editions by University of Chicago Press from Kindle and Kobo for under $10.

[SensualPoet]

After forging through the heavy weather of David Ashton's Scottish idioms -- threatening to become a meal, or at least a side dish vs. atmosphere or spice as you'll find in Graham Thomas' Erskine Powell series -- what emerges from Shadow of the Serpent are finely etched characters from seamier neighbourhoods of 1880 Edinburgh. Detective Inspector James McLevy, himself a meaty, obsessed creature with a sort of bloody minded creative vision which helps him uncover the truth no matter how unexpected ... and roll with the punches in real time. Add in some delicious plot twists and this is a superb read.

In late night Leith, in the midst of a cold and misty night, Sadie Gorman, a very long in the tooth lady of the night, meets her end, suddenly, when her paid paramour approaches with a gash and slash, leaving her sliced in two, a crumpled bloody heap on the cobblestones. It's Inspector James McLevy who finds the broken bird and it instantly transports him to a similar dismemberment on his very first case, 30 years ago. Can this be a coincidence or does that unsolved murder point to a reprise starring the same characters? In steps a maiden, with an anguished tale and evidence that someone near the top of government may be involved. As McLevy and his sidekick Mulholland, still wet behind the ears, track down the clues -- which indeed take them from bawdy house to government house with appearances by Queen Victoria, Benjamin Disraeli and William Gladstone -- McLevy's 30 year quest to solve the first murder drives him forward. And even as the mists burn off, things are not always what they seem.

Ashton's McLevy is based on a true character, arguably one of the first true detectives in the UK, pre-dating the fictional world of Sherlock Holmes. The series began as radio plays for the BBC and three stories have since been recast as novels, this being the first. There is so much depth here, however, it offers far more than a 90 radio good possibly convey. Best of all, the ending is satisfying in the extreme as the loose ends come together unexpectedly well and the real life characters invoked allowed to return to their rightful historic places unbruised. I will definitely be up for volume two.

And a bonny bargain to boot! Available for Kindle or Kobo at the amazing price of under $1.50!

[NightBird]

David Ashton - The Shadow of the Serpent

Sounds good! Only $1.38 for US customers at Amazon, $1.39 at Kobo.

The second one in the series, Fall from Grace, is $2.77 for US customers at Amazon and $2.79 at Kobo

Third one, A Trick of the Light, also not a bad price at $5.55 at Amazon and $5.69 at Kobo.

I was looking at these before, so nice to read your favorable review.

[SensualPoet]

I have lived in Toronto almost my entire life, and vaguely in downtown Toronto my entire adult life. I love this city, warts and all ... so I am sucker for new writers setting their tales in my front yard. And back yard. If "The Streets of Toronto" doesn't have quite the same ring to it as if that ended in "San Francisco", my heart skips a beat, nonetheless, every time. So what a joy to discover the work of Robin Spano and her first novel Dead Politician Society starts out with murder of the mayor and an undercover rookie cop is sent in to sort out the possible involvement of a secret student-faculty society on the campus of University of Toronto. This well plotted mystery has great pacing, entertaining characters and a satisfying resolution.

Clare Vengel, rookie cop, is being given a one-way chance to advance her career: infiltrate Dr Mathew Easton's "Political Utopia for the Real World" class and, more specifically, the shadowy SPU that may be behind the sudden poisoning of Toronto's mayor. Clare's boss is irascible, unsupportive and close-lipped as the investigation proceeds along parallel paths, leaving Clare to sort out what clues she stumbles across. Clare's classmates are a mix of idealists, with their own issues trying to make it through school, and there are several of them ... but who could be involved in the murder ... make that murders ... as the tale progresses? There are other key characters, too: like the mayor's ex (as in divorced) wife, currently enjoying a lesbian fling with one of Easton's students; and a couple of reporters at the local newspaper ... and the killer, who sends taunting tweets, and promises a book deal to an aspiring writer. It's not long before it's clear there is a list of victims to be poisoned (causing the caterer who seems to be a common link no end of consternation) ... but who is next and can the carnage be ended?

Although I'd sorted out the killer a bit earlier than I would have liked, the details and secondary plots and involvements were a pleasant surprise. There are a lot of characters here, and not enough time to flesh them all out (including our heroine), and folks are all just a little bit too nice (hello, this is Toronto the Good), and I did find the constant ping pong among the different layers of the tale jarring ... but it's so well plotted, and the pacing so strong, these flaws are forgivable. A second book in the series is already announced for a fall release.

Available as a Kindle or Kobo ebook for under $9.

[amward]

Has any one read anything by Hakan Nesser? Found one of his books in my local library and it looks good.

[poohbear_nc]

Originally Posted by amward

Has any one read anything by Hakan Nesser? Found one of his books in my local library and it looks good.

I've enjoyed the entire series - I'm a huge fan of Scandinavian mysteries - Nesser's mysteries are very readable in translation and contain quirky, memorable characters. I highly recommend them.

[amward]

Originally Posted by poohbear_nc

I've enjoyed the entire series - I'm a huge fan of Scandinavian mysteries - Nesser's mysteries are very readable in translation and contain quirky, memorable characters. I highly recommend them.

Good. As soon as I finish Henning Mankell's "Before the Frost" I'll get on to it.
Thanks for the recommendation.

[HarryT]

BBC Radio recently did a reading of Nesser's "Woman with Birthmark". I enjoyed it very much.

[SensualPoet]

There are few writers as prolific as Rex Stout, and fewer still who dedicated so many novels to the same character. In this case, The League of Frightened Men, originally published as a magazine serial over six weeks in the Saturday Evening Post in 1935, Nero Wolfe appears as the star of the second novel in the series along with Archie Goodwin (his right hand man), Fritz Brenner (his live-in chef) and Theodore Horstmann (his orchid man). Other regulars, like Saul Panzer and Fred Durkin, Wolfe's men on the street, and Inspector Cramer of the New York City Police Homicide Division, make critical appearances. There is something especially thrilling encountering beloved characters in these early moments of birth and definition.

Paul Chapin is a successful novelist and playwright who, twenty years earlier, was the victim of a hazing incident at Harvard which left him partially crippled. Several of the men involved in the "prank" tried over the years to make amends and informally referred to themselves as the "League of Atonement". Now, one of the pranksters has died and a note, in the form of a poem, has been sent to the members predicting doom for the others. When a second death occurs, the "League of Frightened Men" are persuaded to engage Wolfe to stop Chapin who is suspected of stalking them. But is Chapin guilty? He is certainly bitter and refuses to help though he denies he is involved. And then another death occurs ....

It's very hard not to be thoroughly charmed by the plotting, the characters and Stout's natural style at flippant, wry dialogue. The stories are told from Goodwin's perspective, a very loyal employee of Wolfe, but his own man, too, and with interests in the fairer sex piqued but never side-tracking his mission. You may want to keep your highlighter handy to share the marvelously unexpected turns of phrase that emerge from Goodwin and, especially, Wolfe. First rate read for mystery buffs and lovers on 1930s American fiction.

Available for Kindle and Kobo for about $10 and in many public libraries as an ebook for free.