I like crime fiction. I like female crime writers (but not exclusively) Who have I missed?

[WeeTimorousSquonkie]

I think I'm about up to date with everyone's books that I know I like.

Need to take a trip to the library next week, who should I be looking for?

Harlen Coben comes up with nightmarish scenarios. The one from Mark Billingham I remember is Sleepyhead where the killer leaves women in a state of suspended animation.

Tess Gerritsen
Alex Kava
Lisa Gardner

Not a woman, and more of a thriller than a crime writer, but Lee Child

I second Janet Evanovitch's Stephanie Plum series

some of Tess Gerritson is good, but I can't get on with the mills & boon-y type ones that she writes. There's always a murder or two thrown in, but they seem to be just a plot device to get girl to meet boy or vice versa.

Read a couple of Lisa Gardners, forgot about her, I shall add her to the list

I like Val McD and also all the vintage stuff, personally. I also enjoyed most of the Dalziel and Pascoe ones (Reginald Hill).

Female crime writers I don't or no longer like;

Patricia Cornwall
Kathy Reichs
Linda Farnstein

Janet Evanovich
Kathy Reichs
Lee Child
Dennis Lehane
Peter Robinson

Also Steig Larsson is worth a look imo.

mark billingham is VGood

yeah, Patricia Cornwell.

I re-read some of her Scarpetta ones recently and came to the conclusion that I really, really don't like bloody Kay bloody Scarpetta and I really don't care about her. And who cares if she makes good pasta sauce????

Kathy Reichs as well, I kind of went off her a bit and tried to sell all the books I had, but I couldn't and they filled a space in my new huge bookcase so I kept them

Ian Rankin
Faye Kellerman
Jonathan Kellerman
Robert Crais
John Harvey
Carl Hiaasen
Ed McBain
James Lee Burke
Sara Paretsky

coco - James Lee Burke's daughter writes a good book as well - can't remember her name but I really enjoyed the one I read. I shall add her to my list as well.

Ian Rankin, Sara Paretsky and the Kellermans I've also read.

WTS, have you tried Denise Mina? I think Kay Scarpetta and her creator are barking mad.

I shall add her to my ever increasing list, elkidee

Wasn't the character of Kay Scarpetta's niece voted the most annoying lesbian in literature once? She used to really annoy me, much more than Scarpetta.

well, she certainly annoyed me!

I really enjoyed the first ones and I wasn't sure whether my tastes had changed or whether PC went a bit ott with the old plots.

Glad you lot are all on the same lines as me...

agree with Peter James and his Roy Grace series, they're in Tesco, just read them in the right order

well you could dip in and about but they're better in order

what about Chris Brookmyre - I think his are FABULOUS but he's a Scottish crime writer so I would!!

squonk we're wearing the same dress!!!

Going back even further, what about Wilkie Collins? The Woman in White and The Moonstone are both good and basically mysteries. I normally do crime more than classics but I enjoyed both of those.

oops, so we are!

Do you mind if I keep mine on till after tomorrow?

(great minds and all that...)

Yes Christopher Brookmyre is great. Agree about Kay Scarpetta et al. getting a bit wearing after a while, too.

Patricia Cornwall really did go off on one - didn't she try to prove that this artist bloke, who was a friend of Oscar Wilde, was in fact Jack The Ripper.

Kay Scarpetta annoys me because you've got 99% of the book as build up and then its all very neatly tidied up in the last chapter - always left feeling a bit short changed with those ones

squonkie not at all, the more timerous beasties the better - yours is spelt right too lol

bringbackpacers are you Scottish or just a fan? I LOVE his work but DH who is Irish didn't quite 'get' it as much as me and I wondered if some of it was lost to him?

Oh yes I forgot to mention Robert Crais - he is very good.

The early few Cornwell books were great, but then she went all weird and ridiculous. I would recommned the first 4 or 5.

dizzy - I didn't notice your extraneous "e" till you pointed it out

These are really good, ladies, I will have a nice, large list.

(anyone wanna take bets on the likelihood of my very small local library having any of them?)