The Mystery, Crime, and Thriller Group discussion

One sad part of getting older, is that many of the authors I have read for years have either retired, passed away, or seem to have run out of fresh ideas. Maybe it is just me, however, it seems that there is a dearth of younger authors to fill the void. I enjoy many different styles, from hard boiled detectives, to British procedurals. Still love Connelly, looking forward to the next Steve Hamilton book, like Peter Robinson, Ian Rankin, and just discovered Peter James' Roy Grace series. Love the classics from Chandler to Macdonald, and Robert B Parker.
I hope that gives you a bit about what I enjoy reading. I have scoured the recent Edgar nominees, and nothing seems to leap out. I am hoping to get some suggestions for series that may have escaped my attention. Thank you in advance for your recommendations.

Have you tried Robert Crais?

Michael Robotham has a series that I like alot,

Thanks Jan, but yes I have read Crais, and like. Diane I will have to check out your suggestion. New to me.

This is one a friend of mine likes, haven't read but she loved Chandler also so Hey There (You with the Gun in Your Hand): A Rat Pack Mystery they are supposed to be hard boiled plots with some humorous twists featuring the former rat pack.

How about Reginald Hill's Dalziel and Pascoe series or Peter Lovesey's Peter Diamond series which are set in Bath. Both are well worth reading.

Jane, thanks. Have read both Hill & Lovesey. Enjoy both, though I have not read a Hill book in a few years. Thanks Diane, for the Rat Pack suggestion. Love Frank, Dean and the boys, so may be up my alley.

Vince wrote: "One sad part of getting older, is that many of the authors I have read for years have either retired, passed away, or seem to have run out of fresh ideas. Maybe it is just me, however, it seems tha..."

Vince, have you read Peter James? He's right up there with the author's you've mentioned. I love his books.

Lina, yes I just discovered Peter James at the end of last year, and my wife and I both devoured all the Grace novels in just a few weeks. The hardest part was finding several of the books. Had to get used copies from BN and Amazon right from the UK. Looking forward to the next one which is due later this year. Now if I can only find a few others.

Didn't you love Dead Simple? Peter James took the very worst scenario possible and made it worse, and worse again, and again. I kept thinking wow, this is amazing, it can't get worse than this. But he managed it. You're ahead of me, though. I haven't read all of the books yet.

Anyone mention Harlan Coben? He's very good, too. :)

Dead Simple was great. The twists in the plot,reminded me of a Hitchcock movie with the twists coming one after the other. While some of the other books plots were not quite as remarkable, the characters and setting kept me interested. I want to go back to England just to visit Brighton and Hove.
BTW, keep reading Roy's personal life gets very interesting. When you get to the end of the most recent book, you will be cursing having to wait for the next one.
** and yes have read (and enjoy) the Coben books.

Mixed Blood: A Thriller by Roger Smith

Vince wrote: "Dead Simple was great. The twists in the plot,reminded me of a Hitchcock movie with the twists coming one after the other. While some of the other books plots were not quite as remarkable, the char..."

I will definitely keep reading! Thanks.

Have you read the novels by Tana French? While each book focusses on a different character, they all live in the same 'world' and many appear in the other books. I have really enjoyed them.
-Ethan
http://e135-abookaweek.blogspot.com/

Ethan wrote: "Have you read the novels by Tana French? While each book focusses on a different character, they all live in the same 'world' and many appear in the other books. I have really enjoy..."

I think Tana French has great talent as well. Not very hard boiled though.

Almeta wrote: "Ethan wrote: "Have you read the novels by Tana French? While each book focusses on a different character, they all live in the same 'world' and many appear in the other books. I hav..."

You're right, but she is a nice change in pace. I recently stumbled upon the Matt Royal series by H. Terrell Griffin. While the books are definitely light fiction, they are surprisingly genuine in the way the characters are presented.

Ethan wrote: "I recently stumbled upon the Matt Royal series by H. Terrell Griffin. While the books are definitely light fiction, they are surprisingly genuine in the way the characters are presented...."

Not heard of the Matt Royal series, but it does sound interesting. I have ordered Longboat Blues from the library and will give it a try.

Have you tried Colin Cotterill's Dr. Siri series set in Laos? Not hard-boiled but one of my recent favorites.

John Lutz, Bill Pronzini, George Pelecanos, James Lee Burke, and Loren D. Estleman (one of my favorites) are all still writing.

Brian January

Thanks to all for the additional replies. Griffin & French, are both new names to check out.
Brian, being a Detroit native, I am familiar with the under appreciated Estleman. I have read some books by Burke, and Pelecanos, yet despite their critical acclaim, I have not been able to really get into their writing.
What is interesting, though is that with few exceptions, most of the authors mentioned have been around for years. Where is the new blood? When I was younger, it seemed each year brought about a new author, with an interesting new protagonist. Is the genre losing popularity?

How about Stuart Neville or Ken Bruen - I guess they are both kind of tartan noir.

I've only recently discovered them.

Thanks Jan, will check out. Also open to non noir or hard boiled types. Also like humor, (i.e. early Evanovich). Don't care for romance, masquerading as mystery, or overly supernatural stories.

I like the J. D Robb series but not really sure why - I don't like science fiction or romance; but it is kind of a combination of police procedural, romance and science fiction.

I paled on Evanovitch by #3.

Vince, not exactly new but what about Mark Billingham. Sleepyhead is the first one and it is excellent.

I am guessing with your reading preferences you will have tried Jack Kerley,Karin Slaughter and Stephen Leather with the Spider Shepherd series. Some of the newer 'kids on the block' so to speak with 'series' of books that I really like are Sean Black and more recently Howard Linskey released his debut in a series with the his second book due out this year.

Vince, have you tried Alex Kava? The first one in the Maggie O'Dell series is A Perfect Evil.

Thanks for the recent replies. Some new names I will have to check out.

You might try Craig Johnson, set in the modern west, older county sheriff is the main protagonist. Very true to life, not noir but definitely not cozy either, though a bit of mysticism with the Native American/western setting. I think he has 7 out in the series now, try starting with the first one The Cold Dish which is very good and quite typical of the series.

Try the Charlie Parker series by John Connolly. It's excellent.

Vince, I started reading M. A. Comley's Justice series and love it. I started with Impeding Justice, but should have started with Cruel Justice which I just finished and reviewed. Loved them both and getting ready to start the third one as soon as I finish 2 more in my TBR list.

Vince wrote: "Where is the new blood?"

"New" author Michael Koryta sometimes has a touch of the supernatural. He has a series and many stand-alone novels.

Tonight I Said Goodbye (Lincoln Perry #1) series

Envy the Night stand-alone

Scrolled through my booksheleves and came up with a few more ideas

Monkeewrench by P.J. Tracy
Starvation Lake by Bryan Gruley
Billy Boyle: A World War II Mystery by James R. Benn
Blood Of The Wicked by Leighton Gage

Vince, have you read any of the Kevin Kerney novels by Michael McGarrity? Give Under The Color Of Law a try. I think there are about 12 novels in the series.

Merrill Heath

How about that oldie the Martin Beck series? (10 books by Sjowall and Wahloo set in Sweden) or Robert Van Gulik's Judge Dee series (China ca 800). Margaret Doody has written some interesting ones with Aristotle as her detective, and Janwillem van de Wettering with two Amsterdam cops whose names I can never remember how to spell. I enjoyed Phillip Kerr's Berlin Noir, if three counts as a series.

Charles, I am reading a couple of these series. Just started Roseanne in the Beck series and am teading the first one, I think, in Jan de Wettering's books. Their names are hard to remember and spell but they take place in Amsterdam.

Jan C wrote: "Charles, I am reading a couple of these series. Just started Roseanne in the Beck series and am teading the first one, I think, in Jan de Wettering's books. Their names are hard to remember and ..."

Let us know what you think.

Diane wrote: "Michael Robotham has a series that I like alot,"

I second that!

Try C.J. Box and David Levein they are both excellent.

I too was looking for another series after I read everything by Parker (love, love him), Crais, Kellerman, Connelly, Grafton, Hamilton, Slaughter, Flynn, Cornwell, Child, Harris (have a spreadsheet to keep track of them all). Then I discovered John Sandford and am thoroughly enjoying his Lucas Davenport/Virgil Flowers series. Thank you Goodreads for all the great reads I might have missed without the recommendations.

Stephen Hunter's Lee Swagger series is top notch. Cody Mcfadyen started well. His first two are dynamite... third is not, fourth is getting back to his stellar beginnings. I also am enjoying Richard Montanari, deep and dark and compelling. These are all series and these are all crime, mostly serial killers.

I am now looking for excellence in crime/thriller writers if anyone wants to check my reading list and see what is lacking. I always have a book going...

If you like really gritty, hardboiled stuff, Andrew Vachss's Burke series, starting in 1985 or so and finishing with the last one in 2010, is well worth a read. Vachss is a lawyer who fights high-profile child abuse cases, and his protagonist, Burke, is a vigilante who also goes after child abusers, but outside the law. It's almost essential to read the series in order, as the character ages in real time and his friends, enemies and other associates change significantly (and often get killed along the way). At their best - Hard Candy, Footsteps of the Hawk - they're utterly unforgettable epics of New York City noir. Be warned, though: they're not for the fainthearted, and I say that as someone who isn't easily unsettled by fiction.

Tim wrote: "If you like really gritty, hardboiled stuff, Andrew Vachss's Burke series, starting in 1985 or so and finishing with the last one in 2010, is well worth a read. Be warned, though: they're not for the fainthearted, and I say that as someone who isn't easily unsettled by fiction."

I am, in general, not a fan of this type of book, but this series fascinates me. I have read them all and re-read one on occasion. These are not books I can read in succession. Both brilliant and bitter.

Brilliant and bitter... yes, you've summed them up precisely, Sharon. There's something almost repellent about them at times, and I know that's an odd thing to say given that I'm recommending the series. But I find myself drawn to them, time and again.

Tim wrote: "There's something almost repellent about them at times, and I know that's an odd thing to say given that I'm recommending the series. But I find myself drawn to them, time and again."

I can recall reading some of these books for the first time and thinking 'never again' ... and yet a new one was published and sooner or later I would be compelled to pick it up.

The same is true for re-reading. I can't really call it entertainment, these books are too harsh for that but there is still the compulsion. It is the only grim/dark series that I have read, continue to read and re-read and I'm still not sure why.

Speaking of getting older and forgetful - I very recently read a book about an undercover agent who limps. He works for the president's chief of staff and the story was about a former representative who disappeared after making unfavorable comments that the governor didn't like. The Gov's brother came after him and the wife of the missing rep. HELP - Name of book and author anyone????

Jan C wrote: "How about Stuart Neville or Ken Bruen - I guess they are both kind of tartan noir...

Jan C...........Stuart Neville and Ken Bruen write fantastic Hibernian noir. Neville wrote the classic
novel about an IRA killer in THE GHOSTS OF BELFAST (UK title THE TWELVE). I understand his other books featuring Detective Jack Lennon are very good. His second book COLLUSION has just been longlisted for the best paperback crime novel of 2011 at the THEAKSTON OLD PECULIER festival next month in Harrogate, England.

Ken Bruen's Jack Taylor series set in Galway is heavy noir with a great sense of place. Taylor is an alcoholic ex-Garda who finds people like tinkers and Mary Magdalenes.

I personally like the Ed Loy P. I. series by Declan Hughes set in contemporary Dublin. And the quieter Quirke mysteries by Benjamin Black/John Banville set in 1950's Dublin. A Quirke mystery is currently being filmed in Britain...Gabriel Bryne is playing Quirke. And Quirke #5 the novel is being released this summer.

Those Irish boys know how to tell a tale!
Jane

I've really enjoyed the Quirke mysteries and I hope, when the film version is complete, it eventually makes it's way to the US. I listened to one of them and Timothy Dalton did a great job with the narration.

Another series you might want to look for are the Cooper/Fry stories, set in Britain, by Stephen Booth. I have read several and have enjoyed them all....quirky stories with an edgy relationship between the two main characters.

Janebbooks wrote: "Jan C wrote: "How about Stuart Neville or Ken Bruen - I guess they are both kind of tartan noir...

Jan C...........Stuart Neville and Ken Bruen write fantastic Hibernian noir. Neville wrote the c..."

I'm on my third Stuart Neville, but still the first on the others you mentioned.

C.S. Harris' Sebastian St. Cyr. series. good stuff. first one in series is What Angels Fear

awesome, I grew up in New York, so I have added the first in the Burke series to my To Read list.
And I second the Sebastian St.Cry series, excellent plots and characters set in pre- and ealry Regency England. REally gets into the gritty underside of London constrasted to the high society world. A lot of politics from that era impact the stories as well.