Is there anything I can read after The Running Grave, which won't feel like a crushing disappointment?

[TheLongpigs]

I've made the mistake of readingTthe Running Grave too quickly, and am now facing the autumn without an amazing book to snuggle down with each evening.

I am convinced that there is nothing out there that will match JKR's Strike series, but please let me know what might come close? I would love some recommendations.

Agree Louise Penny series enjoyable, but the story in the most recent one was too upsetting for me.

I got The Running Grave in hardback for my birthday but am saving it for half term when I have uninterrupted daylight reading time. I read my Kindle in bed so I don’t concuss myself when I fall asleep and drop it on my head actually can’t wait having seen this thread.

Googled as looking for something good to read and had a crushing disappointment to see the author. Like her as a person but never has anything been so overrated in the world that Harry Potter, terrible author.

Wait, Slow Horses is books?? I love the tv series. This may have saved my autumn.

So why is Harry Potter one of the most successful children's book series of all time? How could a terrible author achieve that? To not just be successful but exceptionally successful and beloved by generations of children?

Ahh @BraveMaeve no point arguing with stupid.

I too am in the post Strike hangover, can't quite seem to move on and need a rebound book to help get me through. So following this thread with interest. I have a YA novel on my list coming out early Nov which is ridiculously daft but addictive so that will help but need something to help with the comedown in the interim!

I have been meaning to do the Mick Heron series so maybe that's the way forward...

Suggestion for others are the Reginald Hill novels - Dalziel and Pascoe...

Right theme, right time but terrible writing lots of plot holes. People got caught up in the hype.

Jackson Brodie series.

I really rate Anthony Horowitz’s Hawthorn series.

Audible had Josephine Tey's Inspector Alan Grant full collection for a single credit. The Franchise Affair is still one of my favourite stories.

RD Wingfield's Inspector Frost novels are good. The character of Frost is different from the television dramatisations (which apparently Wingfield hated).

@HelenaJustina (love the name!) I think one of the things I appreciated with both the first Falco series and the Cadfael series was the sense that both series came to a proper stop.

For something completely different I really enjoyed Ruth Goodman's How To Be a Victorian. A real examination of Victorian domestic life. Full of fascinating details.

@DZebra I started with A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J Maas. Read it in a weekend including putting myself to bed at 7pm so I wasn’t disturbed. Would have started the next book in the series immediately however, much to my horror, I discovered that dd1 had taken it to Uni. FML

Went the the library the next day and book 2 not there 😩 (wept, lay on floor next to YA section, required comfort from understanding librarian) so I’ve started on another series of hers, Throne of Glass.

God they’re like a warm fragrant balm for my poor addled, anxious brain right now.

@LongFaulks that's convinced me I need to read something from Maas. I think I've had her books on my tbr pile for ages (on audible) so I'll give one a go. It's that or The Fourth Wing. I'll pop those Horowitz books on for after some fantasy fiction.

I've literally just finished The Running Grave and it was so good. I thought Ink Black Heart couldn't be bettered but Jo is truly a genius. I will read the Strike books through again next year and wait impatiently for the next one.

Jane Casey’s Maeve Kerrigan series. There’s a similar will they / won’t they that develops.

Susie Steiner’s Manon Bradshaw books.

I feel your pain OP. I have just finished my second listen of TRG and loved it just as much the second time.

As PP have said, Kate Atkinson’s Jackson Brodie series is very good. I am going to look at Slough House as haven’t read that yet.

Red dragon by Thomas Harris.
Great plot, great tension, perfect.

I find the only thing to do is have a complete palette cleanser and can recommend

books 1-6 of the Enola Holmes series for a spot of teenage detective / crime fighting

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Collection-Springer-Marquess-Left-Handed-Crinoline/dp/9124106933/ref=sr_1_3?keywords=enola+holmes+books&qid=1700572680&sr=8-3

and whilst I currently only on book 4 I'm really enjoying
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Lockwood-books-collection-Jonathan-Stroud/dp/9123683538

supernatural teenage detectives / ghost fighters

Did you find anything OP? I'm halfway through a Jackson Brodie book but finding it a bit meh.

Susan Hill Simon Serrailer