Please help me find my next crime/thriller series

[allmycagesweremental]

Hi,

Looking for recommendations for a crime/thriller/procedural series. I do much prefer a series to standalone books - the longer the better!

I have read and enjoyed the following:

• Jeffery Deaver - Lincoln Rhyme
• Tess Gerritson - Rizzoli and Isles
• Sue Grafton - Kinsey Millhone
• J D Robb - In Death series
• Kathy Reichs - Temperance Brennan
• Dana Stabenow - Kate Shugak
• Karin Slaughter - Sara Linton

I have recently tried the Scarpetta series following the advertisements of the new series but found them a bit hard going and gave up after about book six (I hated the series on Prime as well but that’s another thread!).

I don’t seem to have a British based series that I like, have tried a few but for some reason seem to prefer American/Canadian settings. No idea why!

any recommendations would be much appreciated as I’m in a bit of a reading slump and could really do with a new exciting series to get stuck into!!

thank you :)

If you liked Sue Grafton, you might like Andrew Mayne's Underwater Investigation Unit series. Feisty female main character, written in the first person, mix of serial killer and a bit more action-conspiracy type stories. The Girl Beneath the Sea is the first one and on kindle it's included with Prime if you have that. 5 books so far and then he takes the character forward and mixes her with some of his characters from other books in a 3 book 'The Specialists' series

I also like the more recent Michael Connelly series focusing on Ballard, with Bosch as a side character

MW Craven's Washington Poe series. They are hilarious and everyone I've recommended them to loves them.

Steve Cavanagh is OK, and Michael Connolly's Lincoln Lawyer and Rene Ballard ones are all good.

My all time favourite is John Connolly's Charlie parker series which have a kind of supernatural under current to them. They are fantastic and I look forward to new editions.

Another good one is Canadian author Louise Penny. her Gamache books have won tons of awards and her ability is describe food is second to none, plus even the animals in the books have distinctive personalities. She is a lovely writer (just avoid the rubbish she has written with Hilary clinton. God knows what she was thinking).

Have you tried Chris Brookmyer’s Jack Parlabane Jasmine Sharp novels?

Peter Robinson’s Inspector Banks series, although they got a bit tedious in the final three or four books

Deborah Crombie’s Kincaid & James, reliably good

Paul Eddy’s Flint series, although there are only three books, as he died

British Police procedurals by MS Morris are very good.
Low on gore and very readable.
Detective Raven in Scarborough ( about eight books) and a female detective in Oxford whose name I just can’t recall (six or seven books)

Also Marion Todd, seven or eight Scottish police procedurals with a female detective- highly recommend.

Belinda Bauer, not a word wasted, there is depth to the characters. A bit gruesome in places but definitely worth reading.

Dennis Lehane - Kenzie and Gennaro

Jane Casey - Kerrigan and Derwent

Peter James ( Roy Grace - Dead man’s footsteps is brilliant ) and not dead enough
you don’t have to read them in order

Simon Kernick ( Dennis Milne 3 books )

Also Simon Kernick pretty much any of his books are really good

I Am Pilgrim Terry Haynes ( one book but bloody brilliant )

Lynda La Plante

Val Mcdermont - earlier books

if you have the kindle App then Marc Dawes -
Beatrix Rose books are really good
and the ones that carry on with her daughter are equally as good
along with John Milton series especially the earlier ones

I second - Jo Nesbo- Harry Hole series
Jane Casey - Maeve Kerrigan series
Robert Gilbraith - Cormoran Strike series

John Connolly's Charlie parker series is great!

ALso Elly Griffiths - Dr. Ruth Galloway Mysteries, the Brighton Mysteries, and the Harbinder Kaur series plus the new one about time travel.

Seconding Christopher Brookmyre. ('Chris' for Jasmine Sharp and other more realistic plotlines from later novels). The books all work as standalones, but there are recurring main characters like Parlabane, as well as references to secondary characters. The earlier, Christopher ones are more satirical.
New Parlabane coming out in May. He straddles both genres.

i have just finished the Dr Ruth Galloway series by Elly Griffiths. It’s about a female archaeologist who gets involved with the local Serious crimes unit when a body of found during one of her digs in the woods of the Norfolk coast. There’s a bit of a folklore element to it which I loved

Ooh, yes, I love the Harbinder Kaur series.

Elizabeth George, the Inspector Linley books.
The Rebus books by Ian Rankin
And Dick Francis. I've been rereading him lately and they're fantastic.

Louise Penny writes very well but you may find it too Cosy Crime and not enough thriller

Another vote here for M W Craven’s Washington Poe series.

for really clever thriller I'd recommend the Jefferson Winter series by James Carol - the main character became a psychological profiler to help the FBI catch serial killers to make peace with the fact that his own father was a serial killer. It's so twisted but very clever and not just bloody

Sue Grafton really is (was😥) the best

I'll be reading this thread closely to find out if anyone comes close

Thanks for starting this thread, OP. I’m also always on the look out for a new series.

I also recommend Michael Connelly’s novels. They are all great.

The William Warwick series by Jeffrey Archer is a very good read. There are 8 books in the series. Very engaging.

I liked the Hillary Greene series by Faith Martin. Available on Kindle. I have recently discovered she wrote more than the 8 or so I bought so I'll be reading on !
Faith Martin also has another series but I didn't like them as much

Peter May-The Harris Trilogy is brilliant. Or you can go for the classic Wallander series by Henning Mankell. The best series ever written in my opinion.

David Gatward - two different series of books. One about DCI Harry Grimm, set in Hawes (and thereabouts), in Wensleydale. The second, about a related (female) character, DI Haig, based in and around Frome in the SW.

https://davidjgatward.com/

Also Alex Smith, whose books featuring DCI Kett, are based in and around Norwich:

https://www.alexsmithbooks.com/books#kett

Whilst there's humour in his writing, the stories can be pretty dark. He has also written a second series on a related character, DI Harrison.

A more light-hearted series is The Dales Detectives, by Julia Chapman, set in the Yorkshire Dales.

https://www.panmacmillan.com/series/the-dales-detective-series/panmac36754

(I know you said you didn't get on with UK-based stories, but I've really enjoyed these.

The Sydney Brennan series by Judy K Walker are very good. They're about a PI set around the Florida panhandle.

Also, would you read humorous mysteries?
I know you prefer American set, but if you fancy a change, there's a series of books by Caimh Mcdonnell that are set in Dublin that I cannot recommend enough. They are fantastic!!

For something else a bit different, try Vaseem Khan. He writes 2 series of books set in India, and both are very good.

If you fancy something gritty, try Attica Locke or S.A Cosby. Both authors write stories set in the Southern states of America, usually about small town sheriffs or lawyers, and both are very good.

if you like crime and history then the Falco series by Lindsey Davis, set in ancient Rome.

If you enjoyed Sue Grafton, as I do, I'd recommend trying Judy K Walker 😊