Crime Fiction Recommendations

[MickeyC]

To these authors, I'd add John Sandford and his Prey series

[beespeckled]

I 2nd or third Colin Cotterill's Dr. Siri Series set in Laos in the the 1970's.
Carol O'connell: I love her Mallory series, but also great stand alone thrillers.

Louis Bayard he doesn't write series mysteries but fantastic stand alone historical thriller mysteries that make you feel that you are right there in that period. I loved the Pale Blue Eye that featured Edgar Allen Poe as a young West Point Cadet. Bayard's plots deliciously twist and turn, always ending with the unexpected, that makes me think about that ending for days afterward.

I recently finished the first 2 in Alan Bradley's Flavia de Luce series. Flavia is a precocious genius 11 year old sleuth. in 1950's Yorkshire, fascinated by chemistry, death and poisons. This series is a hoot, and I need to have a dictionary near me for all the Victorian anachronisms Flavia loves to sling about in conversations.

Elizabeth George's Inspector Lynley mysteries
Nevada Barr Anna Pigeon, National Park Ranger mysteries
C.J. Box Joe Pickett, Wyoming Game Warden mysteries

Sue Grafton, Harlan Coben, Linda Barnes, Peter Bowen to name a few more of my favorite mystery authors.

[SensualPoet]

I adore any of Rex Stout's Nero Wolfe; they pass the "re-read" test with flying colours.

Just finished James Patterson's Violets Are Blue -- very gruesome but so over the top it became less disturbing as it became less real as the story played out.

And I read my first Ian Rankin last week, The Black Book, one of the Inspector John Rebus. What a great author: it's not just the story (this happens then this happens then this happens); the writing is a pleasure all on its own. My review here: http://www.amazon.com/review/RPJZ1X7...cm_cr_rdp_perm

I also read my first Spencer tale by Robert B Parker -- The Godwulf Manuscript -- which was sheer delight. I will be reading many more in the series.

Harvey Tate's Death Takes A Number was a well-plotted mystery of murders spread over decades, although the author comes up a little light in characterisation.

Josh Lanyon's Somebody Killed His Editor, about a gay author attending a writer's conference in a snowed-in remote resort where bodies (mostly dead ones) turn up with such frequency you'd swear Miss Marple was paying a visit ... was a fun read.

Similarly Dorien Gray's My Name Is John, about a gay home renovator encountering a ghost in Chicago was a happy romp.

Next up: Philip Margolin, Richard Stevenson, Elizabeth George or Sue Grafton ... some library books, some purchases. I am enjoying my Kindle!

[JohnnyCanuck]

Originally Posted by cassidym

To these authors, I'd add John Sandford and his Prey series

I actually am more partial to his Kidd series and I like Virgil Flowers a lot. The Davenport stuff (Prey series) is getting a little long in the tooth for me.

[Steve Anderson]

I go for all kinds of crime-related fiction but right now I'm reading City of Dragons by Kelli Stanley, which is set in 1940 San Francisco. Another good one along the same vein is Rebecca Cantrell's A Trace of Smoke set in 1930s Berlin. I love anything set in the 1930s/40s with a noir theme, whether it's espionage or mystery or straight crime. These two books have female protagonists so they offer a fresh take on a genre that is too often mimicked and not felt in the writing.

[Rich_D]

John Sandford
Jonathan Kellerman
Michael Connelly

These are at the top of my list. Nothing beats Robert Parker's Spenser series for a quick escape.

I also like Victoria Houston's Loon Lake series, but these are unavailable in eBook.

[glowhappy]

Originally Posted by alvico

Crime fiction is my genre of choice. Favourite authors in no particular order:

- Harlan Coben
- Michael Robotham
- Tess Gerritsen
- Mark Billingham
- James Patterson
- Lee Child
- Lynda La Plante
- Patricia Cornwell
- Erica Spindler
- Carol Smith
- Sandra Brown
- Kathy Reichs
- Michael Palmer
- Tami Hoag
- Lisa Gardner
- Mariah Stewart
- Patricia MacDonald
- and too many others to list.

All these authors write fast-paced, easy-reading crime fiction.

Great list
I'm surprized this is the first mention of Patricia Cornwell. I second this recommendation. Her series is based on forensic sleuth Kay Scarpetta, medical examiner. I started reading these in college when I wanted a break from all the horrible text books

Also like Dick Francis, read those as a teen as well.

[L.J. Sellers]

I'm a crime fiction reader and writer. My favorite authors are John Sandford, Michael Connelly, Lawrence Sanders, John Hart, Elmore Leonard, Kate Atkinson, Laura Lippman, Perry O'Shaughnessy, and so many more.

Recent favorite books are by new-to-me authors:
BEAT THE REAPER by Josh Bazell
THE LOCK ARTIST by Steve Hamilton

And of course, I encourage you to check out my mystery/suspense series about homicide detective Wade Jackson. They've been called "provocative page-turners" and "thrilling eye-opening reads."
L.J.

[Promotional link deleted - MODERATOR]

[DaringNovelist]

There are a few Stuart Kaminsky books up on Kindle. I think a few more at Fictionwise.

I love Kaminsky because he had so many different styles. His Toby Peters mysteries (which are NOT available on Kindle yet) are funny, and often absurd pastiches of 1940's noir. They are about a down-and-out P.I. in Hollywood of the 40's whose cases involve a particular movie star or figure from the period. (Kaminsky was a film historian before he started in on mysteries.)

But his other series run from his great Russian police procedurals, to a clinically depressed process server who moonlights (kind of a very sad Toby Peters, in some ways) to a police procedural featuring an elderly Jewish cop in Chicago. They all have humor and poignance.

Camille

[sqrt(-1)]

I'll add few authors of for fans of traditional style.

Rex Stout. Wrote about eccentric, but brilliant, private investigator Nero Wolfe. Wolfe is such 'well build' that he won't leave his home, but under most severe emergencies. In investigations all legwork is handled by his assistant Archie.

John Dickson Carr, who also published under pen name Carter Dickson. Carr specialized writing 'locked room mysteries' and other impossible sounding crimes, which usually have very complex solutions.

[redneck_momma]

i just read 'criminal minds: killer profile' and 'jump cut' by max allan collins (criminal minds is my fav show and im getting the other book 'finishing school' when i get paid)

[church mouse]

A couple of Scandanavian authors I think worth mentioning are:

Henning Mankel's Wallander series (most available as ebooks) - I do think he tends to have overly dramatic endings sometimes, but still love his writing.

Arnaldur Indridason (my current favourite) - however, these may not please dedicated "complex whodunnit" lovers.

Anyway, just a couple of suggestions.

[Scott Nicholson]

Jim Thompson! I am actually looking forward to "The Killer Inside Me" movie, one of my favorite books.

Scott

[omk3]

Originally Posted by Scott Nicholson

Jim Thompson! I am actually looking forward to "The Killer Inside Me" movie, one of my favorite books.

Scott

Probably the best suspense writer ever, in my book, and one I re-read every so often. But I don't believe there's been any movie based on his books that did them justice.

[SensualPoet]

Just enjoyed ...

Richard Stevenson's Ice Blues, the third of the Donald Stratchey PI novels set in Albany, NY. It's the dead of winter (no pun intended), and a corpse turns up in Stratchey's car -- the grandson of Albany's political machine ... and $2.5 million is missing. It's a breezy read, the dialogue a tad too bitchy in places, but entertaining fluff.

Elizabeth George's A Great Deliverance, the first of the Inspector Thomas Lynley series, is a far more substantial and gratifying read. Upper crust Lynley, with semi-disgraced Sergeant Barbara Havers, battle their own demons as they uncover clue after clue leading to the murderer of a local farmer and religious zealot, victim of a beheading.

Good stuff!