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Can you help me find some good crime/murder/thriller books please?

55 replies

bigbang · 24/03/2009 20:17

My MIL has just come out of hospital after a hysterectomy, now off work for 6 weeks possibly longer. I know she will go insane as she loves to be 'doing' stuff and won't be able to for a while. I'm putting together a hamper of bits and pieces to try and cheer her up and give her something to think about.

Anyway, I'm going to put in some books but am not sure where to start! She is into a (fairly crap lol, even she admits it!) tv program called Criminal Minds at the moment which is a mix of murder investigation and criminal psychology so I was thinking about something along those lines. I know she likes historic murder investigation stuff too, her bookshelf has lots of those medieval detective things on it, all from one series but I can't remember what its called. I know she doesn't like Patricia Cromwell. Its a bit out of my genre and I don't know what is good and what's not. The only thing I have thought of so far is The Interpretation of Murder, which is a fictional murder story involving Freud.

So, is there anything anyone can think of that might fit the bill? Would be very grateful for any suggestions or a nudge in the right direction

OP posts:
YorkshireRose · 01/05/2009 20:03

I reckon she would enjoy the Scarpetta novels by Patricia Cornwell - well written, very scary and lots of weird psychopaths with complicated pathologies - along the lines of Criminal Minds.

Which i also think is great!

newpup · 01/05/2009 21:04

Tess Gerritson is good especially The Mephisto Club.

Also The Brutal Art by Jesse Kellerman for a great murder/thriller. Linwood Barclay is another good read.

Also another vote for The suspicions of Mr. Witcher.

A Quiet Belief in Angels by R.J.Ellory is one of the best I have read in a long time!

Nighbynight · 01/05/2009 21:11

Fred Vargas - French crime novels, very good, lots of psychological stuff.

Tinker · 03/05/2009 19:55

No-one seems to have mentioneded Henning Mankell yet (Wallander books). Read one recently and loved it - the Fifth Woman - and have 2 more lined up to read next.

heuchera · 03/05/2009 21:49

Another vote for the Mankell books here. I've had them all for ages and have been saving them up - only just read the first couple of them (despite seeing a few of the TV adaptations!) and am really enjoying them.

Karin Fossum is another excellent Scandinavian crime writer. Ditto Ake Edwardson (seem to have got into a bit of groove with these lately - why so many crime writers from Norway/Sweden/Iceland, I wonder?)

Someone must have mentioned the incomparable Ngaio Marsh and Margery Allingham - Golden Age crime fiction, and completely fab. Same goes for Gladys Mitchell. Rather odd but very sharp and funny. The Beeb serialised her books a few years ago and totally miscast Diana Rigg as her heroine, Dame Beatrice Adela Lestrange Bradley (!)

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