Crime fiction fans

[elkiedee]

Calling fans of crime fiction - what have you read recently, any books or authors you'd recommend or warn people against?

[elkiedee]

I've been rereading/reading Andrew Taylor's Lydmouth books set in a small English town in the 1950s. The main characters are a police detective and a journalist. He's an excellent writer who has since become much better known with The American Boy, but I prefer these.

[eidsvold]

James patterson

faye and jonathon kellerman

harlan corben

michael connelly

richard north patterson - more john grisham style sort of.

Michael Robotham - very good - night ferry it was called - just finished reading it.

female main characters - Mary Higgins Clark and her daughter - Carol Higgins Clark - good for light read.

Sujata Massey - mostly set in Japan with female lead character - very good.

[alipiggie]

Stephen White books about Alan Gregory. Excellent series about a psychotherapist who assists the police. Also the Ian Rankin books. For a more supernatural crime thriller try the James Rollins Sigma Force books. His new one just released over her in the USA "The Judas Strain" is amazing.

[Sidonie]

At the moment I have a thing for novels with a Scottish setting and I have really enjoyed Aline Templeton's books set in Galloway. I also enjoyed Ann Cleeves book "Raven Black " set in the Shetland Islands. Other Northern European books I have enjoyed are "Silence of the Grave" by Icelander Arnaldur Indriason and "The Return of the Dance Master" by Henning Mankell (Sweden).

For books set here in Australia if you liked the "Broken Shore" by Peter Temple (winner of the 2007 Gold Dagger Award) I really recommend books by Garry Disher set on the Mornington Peninsular near Melbourne. Peter Corris's Cliff Hardy series mostly set in Sydney are a quick read.

[eidsvold]

another vote for Rankin

Kathy Reichs

[elkiedee]

I also like several of the authors mentioned here including

• Sujata Massey's series about a Japanese-American woman who has gone to live in Japan, Rei Shimura
  
  
• Ian Rankin - other Scottish writers I like include Paul Johnston - Edinburgh in the near future and Greece (2 different series), Manda Scott's Kellen Stewart trilogy starting with Hen's Teeth, and Denise Mina (Glasgow)
  
  
• Arnaldur Indriason. Another Scandinavian writer I really like is Karin Fossum (I think she's Norwegian)
  
  
• Australia - I enjoyed Gary Disher's first book and have The Broken Shore and several Peter Corris books to try. I also really like Shane Maloney's series featuring a rather cynical political activist (Labour Party) in Melbourne

[Charlee]

James Patterson's books are fab! HIghly recomended

[saltireslytherin]

Ian Rankin - have all of them

also Karin Slaughter, her books are great, she has 4 that are set round an ME's office in Atlanta and she recently did a stand alone one called Triptych, which was fab.

[expatinscotland]

Ian Rankin. The books just keep getting better and better.

Kate Atkinson. 'Case Histories' and 'One Good Turn' excellent.

[saltireslytherin]

I do wonder if Rankin will continue writing about rebus, even after the character has reitred.
He could have Rebus propping up the bar in some pub down Leith and Siobhan meeting him there asking for advice!

[bossykate]

have just discovered michael connelly and am addicted. love ian rankin. also the shardlake series from cj sansom.

[MyEye]

Martin Beck series by Sjowall and Wahloo
Swedish police procedurals written in 60s/70s
Roseanna is the first

I must get hold of the Sujata Massey ones which are constantly recommended on MN -- which one should you start with?

[Iklboo]

Mark Billingham & Sue Graftton are both good

[expatinscotland]

Apparently, he's going to give Rebus a rest for a while and work on some other things he'd been wanting to write.

He was contracted to do a set number of books about Rebus and will be retiring him, although he's stated publicly that he may do another book about him in the future.

[WinnieThePooh]

Another vote for Iain Rankin and Kathy Reichs.

I also like Patricia Cornwell, but not seen anything new from her for a while.

[Iklboo]

What's the best Rankin one to start with? I've got nothing to read at the moment

[expatinscotland]

I started with 'The Falls', Ik. EXCELLENT. So was 'Resurrection Men'.

[eidsvold]

another one for patricia cornwell

sujata Maseey - I just read the first one the other day but have returned it to the library. Having said that read them out of order anyway.

Think it is the salaryman's wife from memory.

just finished:

The Blue Zone by andrew Gross - he has co-authored with James patterson.

Have also read Karin Slaughter - very good.

[Lolly68]

Karin Slaughter
Tess Gerritsen (has a series set around a detective called Jane Rizzoli) but also does lots of standalone ones.
Craig Russell
Mark Billingham
Simon Kernick

Just reading a new author at the moment Karen Rose. Very good.

[thequeenofcontradiction]

I have recently liked:

The Stranger House by Reginald Hill

Triptych by Karin Slaughter

The new ones by Susan Hill (can't remember the titles but she has a new detective called Simon Serrailer)

I also really like Dennis Lehane.

[pollywollydoodle]

good thread, thanks for posting it!

i love karin slaughter!

i like mo hayder, apart from Tokyo

i like the jane rizzoli series by tess gerritson (The surgeon, the apprentice, mephisto club...)but don't like the stand alone medical thrillers much

i get annoyed with Nicci French..i loved land of the living, a good psychological thriller but then their novels all seem to be basically the same themes

[Lolly68]

Agree with you PollyWoddle re Tess Gerritsen.

[elkiedee]

Iklboo, I started at the beginning with Ian Rankin, Knots and Crosses I think, but it might work better starting a few books in. I thought the 1st 3 were ok but wasn't sure what the fuss was about, didn't like no 4 much, and then really enjoyed The Black Book, no 5 at the time, and caught up to the rest at the rate of one a month (this was a few years ago long before motherhood when I averaged out at more than 1 book every 2 days). I saved the most recent The Naming of the Dead to read when I finished work but before baby turned up, correctly expecting he'd be late. So The Black Book or his real breakthrough in terms of sales and fame, no 8 Black and Blue, might be good ones to start with. My personal favourite now is probably Fleshmarket Close, but that's because he deals with immigration/asylum from a political perspective I'm very sympathetic to, however, you don't have to be political to enjoy his work.

Yes, Massey's series starts with The Salaryman's Wife.

Mark Billingham and Simon Kernick both set their books in north London, though I understand Billingham is also planning to do something different from his series featuring Tom Thorne. I guess that makes sense after 6 books but am sorry I only have one more to read.

Other suggestions for those who like British police detectives - I think John Harvey writes really well, and I also normally read Peter Robinson's Alan Banks books as they come out, although I still have 3 early ones to catch up with. Stephen Booth writes a series set in Derbyshire's Peak District. Patricia Hall writes a series I buy in hardback but is now published in paperback again (some of the middle books in the series weren't) - start with what you can get hold of - and Allison & Busby, her publisher, have also reprinted all Stuart Pawson's Charlie Priest series, a little lighter in tone than many of the other books in this vein I and other posters have mentioned - first and one of the best is The Picasso Scam.

[WinnieThePooh]

If anyone wants the Kathy Reichs books, I have them all and am wqilling to sell them.

[tissy]

Love:

Margery Allingham
Georgette Heyer
Ngaio Marsh
PD James
Elizabeth Peters
Henning Mankell
Donna Leon
Michael Dibdin
Ian Rankin
Kathy Reichs
Robert Goddard
Tess gerritsen
Reginald Hill
Susan Hill
Alexander McCall Smith
Peter Robinson
DL Sayers

and that's just off the top of my head...

I LOVE crime books-prefer "Golden Age" ones with the rather upper crust detective, but am open to any suggestions!