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.

I adore Sherlock Holmes and wish there were more, even though I own a startling amount of the pastiche ones too.
Peter Grainger’s DS Smith books set in Norfolk are fantastic and for the life of me, I can’t understand why they are only on Kindle and a publisher hasn’t ripped his arm off!
Ben Aaronovitch’s Rivers of London are a brilliant variation on a detective theme.
Quentin Jardine’s early Bob Skinner novels were great before they jumped the shark and everyone had to get divorced and remarried to a different key character every three books or so.
Golden Age wise, I find it hard to pick between Christie and Ngaio Marsh as both are perfectly of their time.
I also love Anne Perry’s two Victorian detective series, with William and Hester Monk and Charlotte and Thomas Pitt.
Dandy Gilver is fantastic too.
There are just so many great crime fiction writers out there, it’s outrageous that I have to work and not just read them all😂

I still enjoy Quentin Jardine, despite the complex relationships. He usually explores interesting political angles in the later books.

I agree with PPs who have mentioned the Jackson Brodie series by Kate Atkinson- they fit the bill of 'like Cormoran Strike but better written' (sorry, Jo! I do love you!).

For fairly light crime fiction, I would recommend:

The Act of Roger Murgatroyd and A Mysterious Affair of Style by Gilbert Adair

An English Murder by Cyril Hare

The Affair of the Bloodstained Egg Cosy, The Affair of the Mutilated Mink and The Affair of the Thirty-Nine Cufflinks, all by James Anderson- these are SO brilliant and deserve to be far more well-known than they are.

Magpie Murders, Moonstone Murders and the Hawthorne series by Anthony Horowitz

The Appeal and The Christmas Appeal by Janice Hallett

The Marlowe Murder Club series by Robert Thoroughgood

Eight Detectives by Alex Pavesi

The Murder Most Unladylike series by Robin Stevens- yes, they're for children, but I love them!

Out of interest, @StalkerEx, why do you say 'apart from Agatha Christie'? Have you read all of hers, or are you just not a fan?

The Murder Most Unladylike series by Robin Stevens- yes, they're for children, but I love them!

They're my secret pleasure!

Mine too! I binge read the whole series in about a month while I was pregnant and off work! I like the sequel series, too (The Ministry of Unladylike Behaviour).

Luc Callanach series by Helen Fields leans very heavily towards thriller.

I have a love/hate relationship series with Simon Serrailler books…anyone else? Most of the characters are so eye-roll worthy and Simon himself is a total knob. Susan Hill also constantly seems to be saying ‘this isn’t like those OTHER detective novels, absolutely nothing outrageous will happen here, everything is so ordinary and entirely unexpected and completely unresolved, as is life’ ugh. But I still enjoy the descriptions of people and places and the intertwining of lives and events!

Sophie Hannah's books definitely fall into this category. Some of them are very disturbing, though, just to warn you.

Yes, me too. I used to love them but Simon himself became so unbearable (and not in a ‘love to hate him’ way) that I’ve stopped reading them. Such a shame as I absolutely adored all Susan Hill’s young adult books as a child.

O God yes. Susan Hill is brilliant imho at slightly gothic mystery, but I think the Serrailler books come across as a bit try-hard. She tries to create an everyday copper and his family's trials and tribulations but she misses the mark somehow. Much as I eye-roll at Simon, it's the sister who grinds my gears the most. I still love the books though, and always on the lookout for the latest one. Can't help myself. 😀

I really love Jill Paton Walsh’s Imogen Quy books, particularly The Wyndham Case. I have read a couple of her Peter Wimsey continuations but was less keen.

Oh no! So he gets worse…

I listen to them on Audible and Steven Pacey’s narration is fantastic, so that combination with the writing style has kept me going so far… but I’m drained after getting through one. Not a series to binge.

I read the most recent Simon Serailler about a month ago, and hope he's about to turn human. No spoilers though.

It was funny when Susan Hill wrote pointedly about a family in the Dulcie Estate eating slices of ‘white bread’…

Patricia Cornwell's Kay Scarpetta series. I enjoy those as well as stuff others have mentioned.

I think I am right that she (the author) has a 'body farm' where bodies are buried and a team dig them up again some time late to examine them. All done with the permission of the then live persons/families who agreed to this when they died. Sounds fascinating.

I loved them up until it went all conspiracy theory/convenient plot device with the FBI guy who faked his own death and her niece who became some sort of government super spy.

Until that point I thought the series was amazing. I still re-read them.

Yes, this! Benton should have stayed dead, much though I liked him. It all got rather ridiculous after that, especially with that odd writing style change of referring to her by surname rather than pronoun - Scarpetta said/Scarpetta thought. It felt quite jarring.

Dorothy L Sayers, some clever short stories, and the Nine Tailors, the book which popularised bell-ringing.
The Expert Witness, by PD James and Death Comes to Pemberley, a continuation of Pride in Prejudice and a very good mystery story in its own right.
The wonderful Stuart MacBride has written a whole series set near Aberdeen. DI Logan leads but the real gift is his boss, Detective Chief Inspector Roberta Steel, grubby, lazy and very effective.

I get mixed up with P&P sequels but I suspect Death Comes to Pemberley was the one I particularly loathed, which just goes to show that it's hard to pick books for other people.

If you like the style of golden age detective fiction I'd recommend

ECR Lorac / Carol Carnac (same person with 2 pen-names!)

Pamela Branch

Christianna Brand (not just the writer of the Nurse Matilda books, her detective fiction is great!)

Eleanor Farjeon

ECR Lorac has some reprints through the British Library and a few are on Kindle. Mostly they're in 2nd hand bookshops. Green penguins, Collins Crime Club etc.

I think I've read Green for Danger by Christianna Brand. I've certainly seen the film version several times - strongly recommended! Glorious cast. I'd watch Alistair Sim and Trevor Howard in anything.

Oh I agree! Alistair Sim was so good!

Elizabeth Ferrars is good too.

And has anyone mentioned Michael Innes?

Or M G Eberhart?

Sorry if someone's already answered this but where do I start with Josephine Tey?

I like The Franchise Affair by Josephine Tey @Footle It’s a real period piece.

Did anyone mention Nicola Upson books where Tey is a character? I enjoyed the first one of these. An Expert in Murder

Great thread snd my kindle is now full of samples to try. I hope you’re on the other side of your trying time by now, StalkerEx.

i am astounded nobody has recommended Caroline Graham of Midsomer Murder fames. The books are brilliant - great characters and excellent plotting.

I was recently gripped by two YA series. Maureen Johnson’s Stevie Bell trilogy got me through my last dose of covid. And A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder was very entertaining.

Lucy Foley’s The Hunting Party was excellent. An easy read but bits of it have stayed with me.