Could you recommend me a really clever mystery book?

[samalama]

Everyone I know is either off on holiday for the bank holiday weekend or having BBQs or going on days out, but I'm alone and with no one to make plans with. So I thought I'll get myself lots of ice cream and chocolates and do some reading over the weekend.

Does anyone have any recs for a nice mystery book with some very clever detection? Either all the clues line up so nicely or the one big clue at the end makes everything clear and is very satisfying. I've read the Richard Osman ones and they don't fit the bill. I like Agatha Christie and Conan Doyle but I've read most of theirs. Still, any recommendations welcome, either old or new books.

Josephine Tey’s The daughter of time

Try ‘the seven deaths of Evelyn hardcastle’ it’s excellent

I love anything by the Icelandic writer Yrsa Sigurdardottir.

Strike books. Sorry to repeat but they are amazing.

Assume you’ve done The Da Vinci Code (and some of the other Dan Brown’s)?

Placemarking

Anything by P D James

I have just finished Suzie Dent's book which I thought was really good a good mystery and I liked the characters.
I would also recommend Anne Cleeves, the Shetland books especially are much better than the tv series.

Ever read any Sophie Hannah? Hers would fit the bill

^ True

Came on to say Dorothy L Sayers! Murder Must Advertise and The Nine Tailors are great.

Ooh yes this is great. I didn't like her other books but The Daughter of Time is wonderful

Peter Grainger's wonderful police procedurals featuring DC Smith are available to you if you have a Kindle. The first in the series, An Accidental Death, is about to be published in paperback. They are beautifully written, elegantly plotted and feature a cast of characters who develop with each book, of which there are 17.

The best discovery of 2025!

Yes they are all brilliant, The Running Grave is a bit dark for a spring weekend! I love PD James, particularly Original Sin, but all the Adam Dalgleish novels are really good, and Ruth Rendell for mysteries and writing as Barbara Vine for psychological thrillers (not whodunits, but stories about family mysteries and secrets). Have a lovely weekend.

LJ Ross DCI Ryan series is brilliant, there are about 20 now but each one has a stand alone story but there's a thread running through as well so they need to be read on order! Holy Island is the first, you think it's not but it is!

Another series, Helen Fields DI Callanach is also wonderful, set in Edinburgh.

An older series is by Craig Russell, Jan Fabel, set in Hamburg, he's a German detective with a lot of Scottish ancestry too, they can be very gruesome, Blood Eagle was the first. I loved these partly because I love Hamburg!

Thanks for starting this thread - lots of books for me to add to my kindle library too!

This is a brilliant thread, with several authors I've not read.

Have just ordered first two Miss Silver books and two Anthony Horowitz based on pp recommendations. I'm another one with a huge 'to be read' pile who vaguely promised myself not to buy any more books yet...

Last One at the Party by Bethany Clift, such a good read!

Second this, it's one of the most memorable books I've ever read! I would also suggest any of the Lucy Foley books, The Guest List was particularly good.

Well they'd have to be read in order of course! They only get better as they go along. I love getting lost in the world of Strike and Robin. patiently awaiting the next book....

also came to say Janice Hallett, although my favourite is The Mysterious Case of the Alperton Angels

I’m a fan of Butter by Asako Yuzuki. I read it on holiday a couple of years ago and it was hard to put down. I find a lot of Japanese / South Korean literature has a certain tone- it’s gentle and isn’t in your face but very subtly shoots you with unexpected details. Han Kang is good at this too.

Keigo Higashino’s book are excellent. Translated from Japanese. I love the different culture of crime he writes about.

Brilliant!😂