http://metachat.org/index.php?disp=comments en-US http://backend.userland.com/rss 60 Mon, 18 Feb 2008 15:19:04 +0000 c380234@http://metachat.org I personally am a big fan of James Ellroy, Andrew Vachss, and George Pelecanos. They can all be extremely hard-boiled, though, so be warned, they aren't for the easily offended. extremely hard-boiled, though, so be warned, they aren't for the easily offended.]]> http://metachat.org/index.php/2008/02/18/mystery_books#c380234 Mon, 18 Feb 2008 15:27:46 +0000 c380239@http://metachat.org I don't have any recommendations, but damn, that sounds like a cool job. Congrats! http://metachat.org/index.php/2008/02/18/mystery_books#c380239 Mon, 18 Feb 2008 15:31:51 +0000 c380242@http://metachat.org Janwillem van deWetering is my all time favorite mystery novelist and the one I recommend on all the askme threads. Those aren't really classic detective novels at all although they are sort of police procedurals. My other all time fave is Dorothy Sayers and she, of course, is one of those 1920s grand doyennes. You can't really go wrong by diving into the 20s & 30s - Agatha Christie, of course, Ngaio Marsh (the villain is pretty much always the sex starved spinster), Marjorie Allingham and so on. I know I'm forgetting a couple. In the 60s & 70s, John D. McDonald's Travis McGee books are amazing. Michael Innes is really good and I like Ellis Peters' medieval mysteries too. As for the contemporary stuff, I like Janet Evanovich but okay, it's a guilty pleasure. Sue Grafton is pretty good and so, in a similar vein, is Sara Paretsky. Rita Mae Brown is not a great writer but she is entertaining. Be warned, though: there's a lot of heinous dreck out there nowadays - horrifying faux cutesy stuff set in antique shoppes and Amish country and so on, complete with recipes. Gack. Janwillem van deWetering is my all time favorite mystery novelist and the one I recommend on all the askme threads. Those aren't really classic detective novels at all although they are sort of police procedurals. My other all time fave is Dorothy Sayers and she, of course, is one of those 1920s grand doyennes. You can't really go wrong by diving into the 20s & 30s - Agatha Christie, of course, Ngaio Marsh (the villain is pretty much always the sex starved spinster), Marjorie Allingham and so on. I know I'm forgetting a couple. In the 60s & 70s, John D. McDonald's Travis McGee books are amazing. Michael Innes is really good and I like Ellis Peters' medieval mysteries too. As for the contemporary stuff, I like Janet Evanovich but okay, it's a guilty pleasure. Sue Grafton is pretty good and so, in a similar vein, is Sara Paretsky. Rita Mae Brown is not a great writer but she is entertaining.

Be warned, though: there's a lot of heinous dreck out there nowadays - horrifying faux cutesy stuff set in antique shoppes and Amish country and so on, complete with recipes. Gack. ]]> http://metachat.org/index.php/2008/02/18/mystery_books#c380242 Mon, 18 Feb 2008 15:35:31 +0000 c380244@http://metachat.org For something on the lighter side, Lawrence Block's "Burglar" series is always fun. http://metachat.org/index.php/2008/02/18/mystery_books#c380244 Mon, 18 Feb 2008 15:37:30 +0000 c380245@http://metachat.org I don't have any recommendations, but damn, that sounds like a cool job. Congrats! Thanks! It's been a couple of years since I last had to get up and go to work--that's the hardest part. Thanks for the recommendations so far, jonmc and mygoth! Please keep them coming! I don't have any recommendations, but damn, that sounds like a cool job. Congrats!

Thanks! It's been a couple of years since I last had to get up and go to work--that's the hardest part.

Thanks for the recommendations so far, jonmc and mygoth! Please keep them coming!]]> http://metachat.org/index.php/2008/02/18/mystery_books#c380245 Mon, 18 Feb 2008 15:41:06 +0000 c380248@http://metachat.org Do they sell true crime stuff, too? If so I recommend Serpico by Peter Maas, and Shot In The heart by Mikal Gilmore. Serpico by Peter Maas, and Shot In The heart by Mikal Gilmore.]]> http://metachat.org/index.php/2008/02/18/mystery_books#c380248 Mon, 18 Feb 2008 16:36:59 +0000 c380269@http://metachat.org interrobang, I don't have much to add, besides OMG yes to Christie! Agatha Christie writes the Hercule Poirot mysteries, which are some of my alltime faves! Sherlock Holmes, but you knew that. I am a complete and utter dork for all the Dick Francis horse racing mystery novels, but they're pretty light fare. His stuff covers the era of late 1960s-current day and it's pretty well researched for fluff novels.
Sherlock Holmes, but you knew that.

I am a complete and utter dork for all the Dick Francis horse racing mystery novels, but they're pretty light fare. His stuff covers the era of late 1960s-current day and it's pretty well researched for fluff novels.]]> http://metachat.org/index.php/2008/02/18/mystery_books#c380269 Mon, 18 Feb 2008 16:45:15 +0000 c380271@http://metachat.org Just for our elucidation are you more interested in 'mysteries' or 'crime novels?' The books LFR recommended are the former I think, where the point of reading is the plotting, the figuring out of the puzzle. The stuff I mentioned in my first comment is more the latter, wherein the milliuex of criminality and/or law enforcement is used as a way to explore human nature and society.. Ther are also many books which have elements of both, but they are not the same thing. http://metachat.org/index.php/2008/02/18/mystery_books#c380271 Mon, 18 Feb 2008 16:59:32 +0000 c380278@http://metachat.org Ross Macdonald's Lew Archer series is very good. I'll second James Ellroy, though I think of him more as a Novelist than a mystery writer. Of course, Dashiell Hammett and Raymond Chandler if you haven't read them already. http://metachat.org/index.php/2008/02/18/mystery_books#c380278 Mon, 18 Feb 2008 17:40:08 +0000 c380291@http://metachat.org Congradulations! I'm jealous, I'd love to work in a bookstore. Sorry, no recommendations; mystery/crime novels are not my cup of tea.
Sorry, no recommendations; mystery/crime novels are not my cup of tea.]]> http://metachat.org/index.php/2008/02/18/mystery_books#c380291 Mon, 18 Feb 2008 18:34:59 +0000 c380302@http://metachat.org Donna Leon writes a series set in Venice that are really fantastically good. She gets the city right (which is hard), the characters are all interesting and complex, and the plots are pretty good. Donna Leon and Agatha Christie are really the only two mystery authors I read regularly (and at this point it's really more "rereading" than "reading"...)
Donna Leon and Agatha Christie are really the only two mystery authors I read regularly (and at this point it's really more "rereading" than "reading"...)]]> http://metachat.org/index.php/2008/02/18/mystery_books#c380302 Mon, 18 Feb 2008 22:02:35 +0000 c380339@http://metachat.org Despite attempts to turn him into an Important American Author Chronicling The Working Class Experience Dennis Lehane is primarily a damn good writer of fun and smart detective novels. His best books are a chronological series that starts with A Drink Before the War. It's not absolutely necessary to read them in order though, and Sacred is the one I'd most recommend. Important American Author Chronicling The Working Class Experience Dennis Lehane is primarily a damn good writer of fun and smart detective novels. His best books are a chronological series that starts with A Drink Before the War. It's not absolutely necessary to read them in order though, and Sacred is the one I'd most recommend. ]]> http://metachat.org/index.php/2008/02/18/mystery_books#c380339 Mon, 18 Feb 2008 23:36:01 +0000 c380380@http://metachat.org Thanks for the recommendations, everyone! http://metachat.org/index.php/2008/02/18/mystery_books#c380380 Tue, 19 Feb 2008 00:19:40 +0000 c380394@http://metachat.org I love, love, LOVE the Sue Grafton alphabet series with her feisty private eye, Kinsey Milhone. Start with 'A' is for Alibi, 'B' is for Burglar, etc. and read them in order. I just finished the latest one, 'T' is for Trespass, which I think is one of the best so far. ]]> http://metachat.org/index.php/2008/02/18/mystery_books#c380394 Tue, 19 Feb 2008 04:15:57 +0000 c380465@http://metachat.org I'm getting so many great recommendations from this thread. Y'all will keep me busy here for a while! I'll add a couple of my own not mentioned above. I love the Inspector Rebus series by Ian Rankin. It's not the best writing I've ever seen, but it's more than passable and I enjoy the plots. The best thing about his books is the way he portrays Edinburgh and Scotland. It's been said that the city is the main character in his books, and I tend to agree. And they seemed to be very mainstream in the UK (well, at least in Scotland), so it might be helpful to know them (besides the fact that they are very fun to read). My other is Josephine Tey's The Daughter of Time. It's an historical mystery. I remember it as being one of the best books I've ever read, mystery or no. I love Christie (she was my gateway drug to the genre). My favorites of hers are the spy novels: The Man in the Brown Suit and They Came to Baghdad. They are set in Iraq and based on personal experience from traveling in the region. Fascinating and incredibly well written. My other two favorites of hers are Endless Night and Murder of Roger Ackroyd.
I'll add a couple of my own not mentioned above. I love the Inspector Rebus series by Ian Rankin. It's not the best writing I've ever seen, but it's more than passable and I enjoy the plots. The best thing about his books is the way he portrays Edinburgh and Scotland. It's been said that the city is the main character in his books, and I tend to agree. And they seemed to be very mainstream in the UK (well, at least in Scotland), so it might be helpful to know them (besides the fact that they are very fun to read).

My other is Josephine Tey's The Daughter of Time. It's an historical mystery. I remember it as being one of the best books I've ever read, mystery or no.

I love Christie (she was my gateway drug to the genre). My favorites of hers are the spy novels: The Man in the Brown Suit and They Came to Baghdad. They are set in Iraq and based on personal experience from traveling in the region. Fascinating and incredibly well written. My other two favorites of hers are Endless Night and Murder of Roger Ackroyd. ]]> http://metachat.org/index.php/2008/02/18/mystery_books#c380465 Tue, 19 Feb 2008 10:41:50 +0000 c380517@http://metachat.org Some to add: I've greatly liked reading Minette Walters' novels lately - engrossing, dark, bloody and psychopathological (note I haven't said enjoyed - these aren't enjoyable stories). Social justice is also a strong theme in her books. And I recommend the modern grandes dame of English crime fiction, PD James and Ruth Rendell - PD James writes bureaucratic procedurals (with the poet detective Adam Dalgleish) and Ruth Rendell does both the psychological thrillers and procedurals (the Inspector Wexford series). Recently I've read and highly recommend two of Sarah Waters' books - Affinity and Fingersmith - which aren't murder mysteries but still have a mystery to solve, set in Victorian England with sexuality as a major theme. Excellent, both.
I've greatly liked reading Minette Walters' novels lately - engrossing, dark, bloody and psychopathological (note I haven't said enjoyed - these aren't enjoyable stories). Social justice is also a strong theme in her books.

And I recommend the modern grandes dame of English crime fiction, PD James and Ruth Rendell - PD James writes bureaucratic procedurals (with the poet detective Adam Dalgleish) and Ruth Rendell does both the psychological thrillers and procedurals (the Inspector Wexford series).

Recently I've read and highly recommend two of Sarah Waters' books - Affinity and Fingersmith - which aren't murder mysteries but still have a mystery to solve, set in Victorian England with sexuality as a major theme. Excellent, both.]]> http://metachat.org/index.php/2008/02/18/mystery_books#c380517 Tue, 19 Feb 2008 15:09:46 +0000 c380547@http://metachat.org Thank you very much, everyone! This list should last me for weeks! http://metachat.org/index.php/2008/02/18/mystery_books#c380547 Thu, 21 Feb 2008 09:54:35 +0000 c381282@http://metachat.org I woke up this morning thinking of another one, probably the most frustrating mystery novel I've ever read and one I highly recommend - Joan Lindsay's Picnic at Hanging Rock. Have fun interrobang! Picnic at Hanging Rock.

Have fun interrobang!]]> http://metachat.org/index.php/2008/02/18/mystery_books#c381282