Well-written detective fiction

[StalkerEx]

I've been reading the Cormoran Strike books and enjoying them, but I'd like something written slightly better. Apart from Agatha Christie, which detective stories would you recommend? I've never really read much of this genre, but need something fairly light to get me through a tough few months.

You can't beat Ruth Rendell. The Inspector Wexford books are fantastic but everything she ever wrote was wonderful.

The Jackson Brodie series by Kate Atkinson.

The women's murder club series by James Patterson. There are 20 odd books to get lost in and definitely a bit of escapism.

I read so much detctive fiction! My reccos:
Tana French
PD James ( slow though)
Ruth Rendell
Ngaio Marsh
Margery Allingham
Anthony Horowitz

And the Barbara Vine psychological ones. So clever.

I think Kate Atkinson’s Jackson Brodie novels are the perfect literary version of Strike, the first is Case Histories. Tana French’s thrillers focus on police detective, but they’re gripping and really well written.

Second Barbara Vine too. But they are not light!

If you're going to read Tana French try to do so in date order. Each book is stand-alone but minor characters in one book then become major characters in the next.

Prompted by recent adaptations, I can recommend Shardlake (Tudor England) by C J Sansom, the Rebus series (1980s onwards Edinburgh) by Ian Rankin and Slow Horses (disgraced MI5 unit) by Mick Herron.

Sue Grafton, Sarah Dunant and Sara Paretsky are classics of the female led crime genre.

Ooh lots of suggestions already! Thanks!
What about Val McDermid? Anyone like her?
Or Ian Rankin?

Dorothy L Sayers, if you haven’t already. Start with Gaudy Night, though the first novel involving Harriet Vane is Strong Poison. I don’t like the ones without Harriet as much, though Murder Must Advertise is brilliant — loads of fascinating social history from the days when advertising agencies were full of Oxbridge graduates writing slogans for butter.

The only other detective novelist I ever read is PD James — well-written, strongly-characterised, very good on small communities impacted by murder. Adam Dalgleish (chilly, inscrutable, killer attractive, poet-detective) is an acquired taste. I wish she’d focused more on Cordelia Grey.

Val McDermid and Ian Rankin both great, but not light either. You could also try Elizabeth George, who is fantastic.

My username is a detective from PD James, btw. Not my real name, as some seem to think!

Louise Penney
Ann Cleeves
Elly Griffiths

I just came to recommend Ian Rankin. There’s a very good dramatisation of his books on bbc just now. But couldn’t recommend Val McDermid. A scene from her Wire in the Blood put me right off her, and I’ll never read another.

Would you consider the Maigret books? They are short and the crime itself is sometimes almost a side note, but they are so unique that they stay with me when other books blur together.

Personally I can’t stand Val McDermot’s writing, but she does sell well. Her first few are amateurish (lesbian academic amateur detective) and then she gets gory and blockbuster-y but without any style.

Ian Rankin is great. PD James, Ruth Rendell and her Barbara Vine alter ego are great.

Robert Galbraith is a cracking. Warning - the books are enormous, which is a disadvantage for reading yourself to sleep and getting a whopping great tome dropped on your noggin if you drift off!

I love Val McDiarmid but find the Tony Hill books too violent so avoid them. I like Kate Brannigan, Karen Pirie and Lindsay Gordon, and Place of Execution (stand alone) is excellent.

Have you tried Dorothy L Sayers? I also recommend Sue Grafton’s alphabet books (A is for Alibi etc, I’ve just reread P is for Peril). Unfortunately she never wrote Z. Sara Paretsky’s V I Warshawski books are great too, although I realise there are quite a lot that I haven’t read.

Kate Miskin and Cordelia Grey are PD James’ best characters! Though Kate’s crush on the insufferable Adam Dalgleish sometimes makes me want to give her a shake.

I’m also a fan of Kate Atkinson’s Jackson Brodie novels. They are well written and contain moments of humour, but are not necessarily ‘light’ in the sense that there’s a sadness to them imo.

For a lighter read, I’d go for Mick Herron’s Slow Horses books as mentioned by a pp or Philip Kerr’s Bernie Gunther novels - the initial three come as a trilogy called Berlin Noir and are probably the best written. The subsequent ones are fun to read but are trying to tick too many boxes.

If you don’t mind more classic - Josephine Tey! One of my favourite authors of all time

Some great suggestions here! Though I would take issue at describing James Patterson as well-written 😂

Susan Hill's Simon Serrailler books are excellent though not exactly light.

If you enjoy Agatha Christie there is Dorothy L Sayers as already mentioned and also Georgette Heyer (not her regency romances)

Less full of Latin bits than Dorothy L Sayers are the Margery Allingham detective novels, I also like Edmund Crispin from that era - I found The Moving Toyshop in a charity shop and thought it was excellent.

I couldn't get on with the Strike books but did enjoy the TV adaptations.

Looks like there are lots for me to read in the coming winter/wet months

Ann Cleeves is great, pretty much everything by her
Elly Griffiths I find light and fun, not always as satisfying as I hope
I also really like Peter Robinson's DCI Banks books and am reading my first Lynda La Plante which so far I am enjoying.

If you're into historical fiction I've enjoyed Jacqueline Winspear's Maisie Dodds books and Frances Doughty mysteries - both have a slower pace and are more subtle.