Whodunit thread: discuss

[DrNefario]

It's hard to see past Agatha Christie. There's a reason she is popular.

Other than that, I typically prefer a more classical puzzle-y golden age style whodunit, ideally without too much gore or horror, but I'm happy to read all over.

Lately I've been reading a lot of Japanese crime fiction. Keigo Higashino would probably be my pick of the bunch, so far: Malice is a great twisty story. Every chapter seems to take it in a new direction. The Devotion of Suspect X is more of a Columbo-style story, where we know what happened and it's all about the cat-and-mouse. And Newcomer is a collection of vignettes from different points of view in which the detective appears and solves some smaller mysteries while working on the main murder across the whole book.

I've also enjoyed works by Seishi Yokomizo - more of a Golden Age style, starting in the 40s - Seicho Matsumoto - police procedural - and Yukito Ayastuji - modern; Decagon House Murders is great, Mill House Murders less so (I think most mystery fans would see through it as early as I did), the third one Labyrinth House Murders was out this year in English and I haven't read it yet.

[Apache]

I also liked Qiu Xiaolong's Inspector Chen series set in China,
Apache

[issybird]

When I think about favorite series, I realize that a huge factor is whether or not the series continued past my interest in it. Dalziel & Pascoe. Inspector Banks. Inspector Lynley. Hamish Macbeth and Agatha Raisin. Maisie Dobbs. There are (many) more; that's just off the top of my head. With all of these (save one, perhaps; I'll come back to it), there's an element of resentment, as I read craptastic additions to the canon before I wised up and moved on. That doesn't leave you with fond thoughts.

I get it; it's a livelihood, not high art. You gotta go with the presold concept even if it's been played out. But they don't make my ten-best list. If nothing else, a ten-best series list should attest to consistency and reliability. Hence Rex Stout being my king (pun intended) among mystery writers.

As for the exception, I should probably give Dalziel & Pascoe another go. A few of Reginald Hill's non-series books are all-time greats, so I can cut him a little slack.

[haertig]

Originally Posted by issybird

When I think about favorite series, I realize that a huge factor is whether or not the series continued past my interest in it.

Great point. I can count on one hand the number of series where I've made it past book #3 without at least some level of disappointment.

[astrangerhere]

I'm fond of both Dashiell Hammett and Raymond Chandler.