The Complete Idiots Guide to the Ultimate Reading List discussion

-Ameteur sleuths: where is Jessica Fletcher when you need her?
-Private detectives: heirs of Hammett
-Procedurals: just the facts,ma'am
-Historical sleuths: crime through time

AMETEUR SLEUTHS: WHERE IS JESSICS WHEN YOU NEED HER?

CLASSICS
Murder at the Vicarage by Agatha Christie
The Roman hat Mystery by Ellery Queen
A Study in Scarlet by Arthur Conan Doyle
Whose Body by Dorothy L. Sayers

MORE GREAT READS
Aunt Dimity's Deathby Nancy Atherton
The Body in the Belfry by Katherine Hall Page
Bones by Jan Burke
Booked to Die by John Dunning
Bootleggers Daughter by Margaret Maron
Bubbles Unbound by Sarah Storhmeyer
The Cat Who Could Read Backwards by Lillian Jackson Brown
Catering to Nobody by Diane Mott Davidson
Dating Dead Men by Harley Jane Kozak
Death on Demand by Carolyn Hart
Fellowship of Fear by Aaron Elkins
Fools Puzzle by Earlene Fowlwer
Generous Death by Nancy Pickard
Nerve by Dick Francis
A New Leash on Death by Susan Conant
One for the Money by Jabet Evanovich
The Salaryman's Wife by Sunjata Massey
Strangled Prose by Joan Hess
The Thin Woman by Dorothy Cannell
Thyme of Death by Susan Wittig Albert
Track of the Cat by Nevada Barr
Wish You Were Here by Rita Mae Brown and Sneaky Pie Brown

PRIVATE DETECTIVE: HEIRS OF HAMMETT

CLASSICS
The Big Sleep by Raymond Chandler
Fer-de-Lance by Rex Stout
I, the Jury by Mickey Spillane
The Maltese Falcon by Dashiell Hammett

MORE GREAT READS
A is for Alibi by Sue Grafton
Baltimore Blues by Laura Lippman
Bloody Waters by Carolina Garcia-Aquilera
China Trade by S.J. Rozan
A Cold Day in Paradise by Steve Hamilton
The Deep Blue Goodbye by John D. MacDonald
Devil in a Blue Dress by Walter Mosley
A Drink Before the War by Dennis Lehane
Edwin of the Iron Shoes by Marcia Muhler
Fadeout by Joseph Hansen
The Godwulf Manuscript by Robert B. Parker
The Guards by Ken Bruen
Idemnity Only by Sara Paretsky
The Monkey's Raincoat by Robert Crais
Motor City Blue by Loren D. Estleman
The Neon Rain by James Lee Burke
The Sins of the Fathers by Lawrence Block
The Snatch by Bill Pronzini
A Trouble of Fools by Linda Barnes

PROCEDURALS: JUST THE FACTS, MA'AM

CLASSICS
The Blue Knight by Joseph Wambaugh
Cop Hater by Ed McBain

MORE GREAT READS:
The Black Echo by Michael Connelly
The Blessing Way by Tony Hillerman
Blindsighted by Karin Slaughter
The Blue Hour by T. Jefferson Perker
The Bone Collector The by Jeffery Deaver
Chiefs by Stuart Woods
Cover Her Face by P.D. James
Deja Dead by Kathy Reichs
A Great Deliverance by Elizabeth George
Knots and Crosses by Ian Rankin
Post Mortem by Patricia Cornwell
The Rules of Prey by John Sanford
The Surgeon by Tess Gerritsen
The Tin Collectors by Stephen J. Cannell
Undercurrents by Ridley Pearson
When the Bough Breaks by Jonathan Kellerman

HISTORICAL SLEUTHS: CRIME THROUGH TIME

CLASSICS
The Cater Street Hangman by Anne Perry
The Crocodile in the Sandbanks by Elizabeth Peters
A Morbid Taste for Bones by Ellis Peters

MORE GREAT READS
The Beekeeper's Apprentice by Laurie King
A Conspiracy of Paper by David Liss
Cut to the Quick by Kate Ross
Jane and the Unpleasantness at Scargrove Manor by Stephanie Barron
The Last Kashmiri Rose by Barbara Cleverly
Maisie Dobbs by Jacqueline Winspear
The Novice's Tale by Margaret Frazer
The Queen's Man by Sharon Kat Penman
Roman Blood by Steven Saylor
Shinju by Laura Joh Rowland
Silver Pigs by Lindsey Davis
To Shield the Queen by Fiona Buckley

Oh no, nothing here I've read, clearly a genre I've been neglecting :)

This is one of my favorites

What book would you recommend from the list, C/M?

Oops, I lie, I have read One for the Money but I hardly think that makes me knowledgeable on this genre. Must must expand and welcome mystery in.

I love One for the Money...

other good books
Murder at the Vicarage by Agatha Christie -classic can not go wrong with Agatha Christie

Aunt Dimity's Death by Nancy Atherton - light and airy nothing scary and series

Death on Demand by Carolyn Hart - Fun series

Nerve by Dick Francis - I am a big fan of Dick Francis

Thyme of Death by Susan Wittig Albert -another great series

A is for Alibi by Sue Grafton - a bit darker

Post Mortem by Patricia Cornwell - dark but love the characters

The Tin Collectors by Stephen J. Cannell -really liked

The Crocodile in the Sandbanks by Elizabeth Peters - good wholesome fun, i didnt lie but it was a good book

Jane and the Unpleasantness at Scargrove Manor by Stephanie Barron - Jane as in Jane Austin

Maisie Dobbs by Jacqueline Winspear - Maisie is a complicated character

Thanks, Cupcake/Michael, I shall keep this list handy. Can't believe I haven't really read from this category. I do have all the Agatha Christie books though and one day will get around to reading them, I think I've read about nine so far and really liked them. Problem is too little time and too many books, ah, the dilemma!!

I hate that I have stacks and stacks of books to read but then I go to the library and get more. I always read the Library ones first cause they have a due date and you can just call me Michael

I am the EXACT same way! I buy all these paranormal and fantasy books and then they sit on my bookshelf at home and then I go out to the library and pick up a ton of books and read those first. I swore that the stack of library books I have now are the last one's I'm going to check out until I've made a serious dent in my to read pile at home!

I say that once a month. ANd them the library calls your book you had on reserve is in and I leave the library with 10 books + the one on reserve. I have no will power

I am so happy that Anne Perry has a book in this category (The Cater Street Hangman). She is my favorite author.

LOL!! I always have a huge stack of books from the library and the ones I keep buying.

I'm currently reading all of the Sherlock Holmes stories - a friend lent her box set adn so far I love them - The Sign of Four has been my favourite so far but that could change as I read more of the stories.