Searching for an intelligent crime novel

I have enjoyed reading the Genevieve Lenard series by Estelle Ryan. They might not be a dark as you are looking for, but they are very engrossing. The first one is free on Kindle.

Just bought Tana French Into The woods on the back of this thread. After reading Peter Mays Lewis series since last week.

I have also read lots of new authors on the back of mn recommendations including Susan Hill and Anne Cleeves. Haven't been disappointed yet!

PD James - the Cordelia Grey ones especially (An Unsuitable Job for a Woman and The Skull Beneath the Skin).

Umberto Eco - The Name of the Rose is also very good.

Sabine Durrant

Remember Me This Way
Lie With Me
Under Your Skin

Not a series but three smart crime thrillers and really well written.

Sara Paretsky

Seconding Jeffrey Deaver - His Lincoln Rhyme books are fab. Also Susan Hill and Karin Slaughter - but Deaver's are better.

Another vote here for Fred Vargas. They are so whacky, but I love them.

I was coming on to recommend the Ruth Galloway series too :) really well written and clever. The other one I like recently was the Whisperer by Donato Carrisi, full of twists and impossible to put down.

Some excellent suggestions here. I really enjoy Laura Wilson's Ted Stratton series, set during and just after WW2.

Also, in an entirely different vein, George Pelecanos is brilliant.

Andrew Taylor...set in C16th
Sorry!
I do know 1950s are post-War, honestly 😳

I want to add the Shardlake novels by CJ Sansom. Set in Tudor period, excellent

Dorothy L Sayers, if you like Golden Age crime novels.
I adore these books, the radio and TV adaptations too. Harriet Walter and Ian Carmicheal, who could ask for more.

Robert Galbraith, J K Rowings' crime series are very good
I like the American series by Faye Kellerman and Jonathan Kellerman, though his latest haven't been quite as good.
Andrew Taylor, very varied novels, some set in the 1950s, some in Post-war Britain.

A big yes to Sue Grafton's alphabet series, the adventures of Kinsey Malone
Sara Paretsky, VI Warshawski is the female PI
The last two were really innovative, great women characters, really good character development over the series.

Shirley McKay, set in Scotland in the C16th ( I think ) A legal advocate, drawn into murder mysteries.

All of the above are novels I will reread again and again. Many are comfort reads 📚 I also enjoy them on Audible, which as I have the Dreaded 2016 Lurgi, is, indeed, a blessing.

I am currently listening to Anne Perry's Revenge on a Cold River. It's ok, but her early works, set in the echelons of Victorian Society and with brilliant character development, are really good.

Excuse repetition of good I am poorly 😊

Arnaldur Indriðason is very good, yes.

Denise Mena
Christopher Brookmyre

I'm a big fan of Scandi-noir, totally agree with the Jo Nesbø recommendation. I think the Harry Hole novels are excellent. The Wallander novels are also much better than the Ken Branagh adaptations on BBC

Other Scandi authors worth a read are:
Håkan Nesser - the Van Veeteren series
Arnaldur Indriðason - the Erlander series

I also like Peter Robinson - DCI Banks (don't let the frankly dismal ITV adaption put you off)

Philip Kerr's Bernie Gunther books - a career (anti-Nazi) policeman in 1930s Berlin and during the war. Plenty of ethical dilemmas as he tries to survive while retaining his integrity, plus solve the crime.

Everything by Denise Mina.

Tana French is a very good crime writer for those who want a little more substance. I really loved her second book, The Likeness but have enjoyed all of her books. Agree that Kate Atkinson's Jackson Brodie books are worth checking out. I wish she would write some more!

Henning Mankell (Wallander)
Denise Mina?

Blatantly place marking!

Kate Atkinson - the Jackson Brody series

Definitely the jo nesbo books, brilliant

Def not LJ Ross - clunky, and lots of obvious and incessant romance between the two leads - almost more of a romance with lots of implausible murder thrown in

Second Stuart Macbride - excellent
Also the Serailler series, Ruth Galloway series, Vera series, and Peter May's Black house series and China series

Have just started I Saw a Man by Owen Sheers which promises to be very good.

Would second the Ann Cleeves Shetland series.

I read a lot of American crime fiction. Not all of it could be described as intelligent, but Jeffrey Deaver and John Sandford write densely plotted, thoughtful novels. I am also a Karin Slaughter fan.

Lynda La Plante is dreadful! Had to read one once in desperation when I had run out of books on holiday and it had been left behind in the villa - I could see why. Her books are the equivalent of painting by numbers. Ditto Martina Cole.

Yes betty.... I'm a bit sad that I'll never read a new Ruth Rendell again.

Ruth Rendell. She was a genius!