Classic mystery novels?

[HelenaRavenclaw]

I have been binge-watching too many crime shows (Midsomer Murders, Broadchurch, etc.) and would like to get into reading more mystery novels instead. I have always loved Sherlock Holmes (already read all the short stories and novels...Hound of the Baskervilles is the greatest of all time). I also enjoyed gothic mystery elements in classics like Jane Eyre and Rebecca.

I have tried to start some Agatha Christie novels, but there are just too many characters! (I have also seen many Christie TV episodes/films as well, same problem of too many characters, but the notable exceptions were Death on the Nile, And then there were none, Murder on Orient Express, Witness for the Prosecution...all of which I loved watching but I don't feel motivated to read the books because I already know the stories.)

So besides Sherlock Holmes and Agatha Christie, what other classic mystery novels should I try? Something that I will find hard to let go of, as addicting to my adult self as Famous Five books were to me as a child? (I also read Nancy Drew and Hardy Boys as a teen...those were kind of hit and miss.)

I am also interested in trying out Anthony Horowitz's contemporary original works like the Hawthorne series and Magpie Murders -- are those good? Any other good contemporary mystery novels that are really gripping like Sherlock Holmes and don't overwhelm you with too many characters? Not sensational, formulaic, pulp fiction, but well-written, complex and intellectually stimulating works. Thank you!

Morning! It is supposed to be the 'first detective novel in the English language' but my go0to is Wilkie Collins' The Moonstone. It is terrific. Tells the story from a variety of often hysterically funny narratives, and is quite complex. Victorian novel. It is one of my all time favourites. There are just some wonderfully drawn characters like Miss Clack and Gabriel Betteridge.

It might be slightly sensational, but it is very well written.

The Horowitz books are definitely worth a read if you like Agatha Christie-type mysteries. Barbara Vine/Ruth Rendell has also written some classics - A Dark Adapted Eye, Judgement in Stone and others.

For a fluffier mystery, the Agatha Raisin books are fun

Arsene Lupin books if you are into Sherlock Holmes.

A couple of American writers to try:
Anna Katharine Green* (19th century)
Elizabeth Daly* (early 20th century)
Sue Grafton alphabet series (1980s i think)

• Search for free ebooks at the likes of the Gutenberg Project.

Contemporary British - Rebecca Tope's Cotswolds or Lake District series. I find the lead characters quite annoying but i think thats why i like them!

Obvious classic - Dorothy L Sayers for Lord Peter Wimsey, of course

"The woman in white" by Wilkie Collins is also great, a real page turner!

Classics: Ngaio Marsh, Dorothy Sayers, Margery Allingham, Edmund Crispin.

Thanks all! It seems like the Wilkie Collins books will be the best place for a classics lover like me to start.

Definitely Wilkie Collins, but also definitely Dorothy L Sayers. Start with Strong Poison, but the best one is Gaudy Night, which comes next.

I've recently read The Red House Mystery by A A Milne. It's a good locked room mystery, written in 1920s. There's a small cast of characters, so no wondering who was who, and a good conclusion.

I've also really enjoyed the Robert Galbraith (J K Rowling) Cormoran Strike novels. Have still got Troubled Blood left to read, but they have all been good.

The Frieda Klein series by Nicci French is excellent. Some of their standalone novels are good too, but the two most recent ones I haven't enjoyed as much.

Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen for that gothic feeling.

Josephine Tey is excellent

Miss Pym Disposes
The Daughter of Time
Brat Farrar
Franchise Affair

are my favourites.

Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier.

Paul Auster is great for a bit of modern day mystery. And I love Picnic at Hanging Rock for seminal favourite.