I've just watched a fascinating documentary and interview I'd recorded earlier from TV with Ian Rankin, the Scottish writer who created the Inspector Rebus character. I don't usually read crime fiction, why I'm not sure, I did watch some of their adaptations onto TV and I did enjoy them and always thought I should read more but never have. Last week I watched a non Rebus Rankin adaptation The Crow Road, and was hooked again by the plot's mystery and it made me start to wonder again about reading more of his stuff. I like they way they are set back home in Scotland, in places I know well - Rebus is set in Edinburgh - and how they touch on current social issues that we've faced over the last few years. Seemingly there is even a name for this type of writing - it has been called Tartan Noir! - which made me cringe!

The documentary was part of a season on TV here launching the 2009 Crime Writers Association Awards. As the programme was interespred with the various shortlists . I came to realise that I know very little of this genre in modern times, in fact I'd only even heard only a couple of the authors shortlisted and hadn't read any. So I am wondering if any of my fellow CR read crime writing and can recommend any of these authors and say why they like them. This might give me a few new authors to read whilst I am in India. Many thanks

I've read Kate Atkinson (very very good), Michael Connelly (very good), and Lawrence Block (can be very good--such a prolific writer). I especially like Block's Bernie Rhodenbarr series. I haven't heard of any of the other ones.

I've only read Lawrence Block from that list. I believe that the listed book is part of his series featuring a hit man (whose name escapes me now). Each book is written as linked stories. They are both comic and dark, growing a bit darker as the series goes on, but still with a wry touch.

Mary Ellen

Thank you both. I've now got my Audible subscription list now set up for about a year(!) and also bought a few more ebooks today as well.

Where is Jane? She is the expert. I have read and loved Michael Connelly. Good writer, well-developed characters, believable plots. I have not read Lawrence Block but will put him on my list. Second to Sherry's thoughts about Kate Atkinson. John Hart's Last Child is on hold at the library, but in its stead I am reading another of his right now, Down River. I would call it an above average read, with the only mar being some infrequent bits of disconnected writing that felt a little overdone to me. It's one of those things that we've all talked about that jar you out of the story. We all want to disappear in the writing, and at times I popped out. But I am almost done, so it didn't ruin it for me. I would also put in a note for Elizabeth George. I'm not sure if there is a distinction between "mysteries" and "crime writing," so I'm putting her in there. Start at the beginning. And for some lighter, but still well-written ones, Lee Child and his Jack Reacher series are always enjoyable for me.

Thanks, Sarah, but I am not an expert. Of that list I have read the same ones that Sherry has read. I guess that I am more familiar with American mystery writers. This list is a great resource for me to find some new authors. Ha! That is all I need: more books!

Yes, the bad part about me getting back on here on a regular basis is the $60 I dropped yesterday at a local bookstore, all due to you people. The Last Witchfinder, the Fallada, The Country Girls...you people are killing me, just killing me.

Shiela, I would suggest Kathy Reichs's novels. Years ago, many of us read John Dunning's books - all of which were about books!

Presumed Innocent-Scott Turow is a very good book. I also like The Rumpole At The Bailey books.

I have a couple of friends who are big into Nordic Noir. I borrowed The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo from one of them and liked it quite a bit.

I second the Rumpole series. The Rumpole books are what I would take to comfort me on that desert island.

For another humorous crime series, I would recommend Donald Westlake's Dortmunder books about a group of inept robbers. One of my favorites was Bank Shot. Back in the 70s banks used to set up temporary branches in trailers -- I haven't seen one for years, and I don't think they do this anymore. The concept of the book is that instead robbing the bank, the gang decides to steal the trailer. This doesn't work out as well as they had hoped. Westlake is consistently laugh out loud funny.

If you want something in a darker Rebus mood, try Westlake writing as Richard Stark in the Parker novels about a totally amoral bank robber. Parker is always successful but he usually ends up having to gun down his fellow bank robbers when they try to steal from him.

And for police procedurals, nobody does it better than Ed McBain and the 87th precinct. I think he invented the whole genre, and if he didn't he might as well have.

Of course, there is lots of Rebus to read if you haven't read them all. I keep resisting because that alcoholic, world weary detective is such a cliche, but Rankin writes very well and makes it all believable and the next thing I know I am there in Edinburgh.

Recently I read a couple of Henning Mankell's Kurt Wallander books, police procedurals featuring a Swedish policeman. (I was intrigued by the Masterpiece Theater dramatizations with Kenneth Branagh.) They happened to be the first two of the series: Faceless Killers and The Dogs of Riga. Three stars for the first, maybe 1 1/2 for the second, of which large portions are set in Latvia and a grim, grey business it is.

The books really are more about Wallander and changes in Sweden and Europe than the mystery of whodunit, and in the Riga book, Wallander seems to stumble upon a solution, and even then gets it wrong. Actually, Wallander is a mess, even for the central character of a police procedural, and Swedish society seems rather chilly-to-bleak. But the author did a good job of creating the sense of place for me and, for whatever reason, I hope to spend a little more time with Wallander!

Mary Ellen

Jim, a librarian introduced me to the Westlake novels (the Dortmunder series) and I have started the first one. I'm really enjoying his style. I'm glad to know a respectable CR also recommends him.

I've listened to a few on them. The trouble was-- a few years ago, there were very few on tape. I need to see if that has changed, because I really liked them a lot.

Mary Ellen wrote: "Recently I read a couple of Henning Mankell's Kurt Wallander books, police procedurals featuring a Swedish policeman. (I was intrigued by the Masterpiece Theater dramatizations with Kenneth Branag..."

Jim has been reading these in Dutch translation and seems to have enjoyed them but we didn't get to see the Masterpiece versions as yet.

We watched the Masterpiece Wallender. A little strange. Wallender is a mess, isn't he.

Wonder why I never read mysteries, but am only too happy to watch them. Loved the Rumpole series. Especially the wine bar. I'm a Pomeroy on my mother's side.

Jim wrote: "I second the Rumpole series. The Rumpole books are what I would take to comfort me on that desert island.

For another humorous crime series, I would recommend Donald Westlake's Dortmunder books..."

I feel like that about the Rumpole books, too, Jim. And I also feel like that about Agatha Christie's Miss Marple series, though not Hercule Poirot. For some reason, I didn't take a liking to the diminutive Belgian.

I also like Michael Dibdin's Aurelio Zen mysteries. They are very well written.

My little sister and I used to watch "Lovejoy" and "Cracker" on PBS. Loved them, though "Cracker" was so, so dark.

I love Helen Mirren in the "Prime Suspect" series and I love Patricia Routledge as "Hetty Wainwright" but that's so much lighter than Mirren's character. Love them all.

I used to read a LOT of mysteries, but for some reason, those gave way to what people describe as the "literary novel."

Lots of great suggestions. My list is increasing at an alarmingly fast rate!

Denise, I've got audio of Steig Larsen books and haven't started them yet but will take them with me. Nordic Noir - it has a nice ring to it!

Mary Ellen, TV here have been showing a lot of Wallander with Kenneth Branagh as the detective. I've not watched them but a neighbour has recommended those books to me as well - seemingly he also wrote about a young women he met in Mozambique and tells stories based around her life http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/69336...

Jim, I don't know Donald Westlake/Richard Stark at all, I'll keep my eyes peeled and browse a few onthe shelves . And Gabrielle, I don't know Michael Dibdin either.

So many new recomendations! Tx

Gabrielle writes "I used to read a LOT of mysteries, but for some reason, those gave way to what people describe as the "literary novel." " You are echoing one of the main things that struck me when I was listening to the documentary on Ian Rankin. So many of the other writers interviewed clearly consider him to be a great writer, not just in the genre or the crime novel, but a great writer full stop. Indeed why shouldn't a crime novel not be literary fiction? One of them even told the story of one year asking the Booker head judge why there was not a crime novel listed in the short or even long list of finalists, to which he got the reply that that would happen over that judge's dead body! What snobbery!

LOL I know, Sheila. Some of the crime novels ARE extremely well-written novels. I think Michael Dibdin's are, though not prize-winning worthy, and John Banville writing as Benjamin Black has written some very good stuff. But crime novels, but their nature are plot driven, while most people mean character driven books when they say "literary novel." I know I do. I don't mean "good" as opposed to "not good." I don't think being a genre novel means a book can't be excellent and extremely well-written.

This year, there's a historical novel (WOLF HALL) on the Booker shortlist, and right now, it's the bookmaker's favorite, I think, and a mystery/ghost story, THE LITTLE STRANGER, which I read and thought was extraordinary.

Sheila,

Have you read the Maisie Dobbs series by Jacqueline Winspear? I love those books.

Kate Atkinson did win the Whitbread book of the year for CASE HISTORIES beating out some big names like Salman Rushdie. That put plenty of noses out of joint from what I read.

Jane

Oh, I read Maisie Dobbs and I think those books are wonderful! Salman Rushdie's writing seems to be going downhill, in my opinion. Others may feel quite the opposite.

I have Christine Falls by Black on my nightstand. Good to know it is well-written. I did not discover he was Banville until I read the jacket, but that made me more hopeful.

I like both my 'literary fiction' and my crime novels to be a good blend of plot- and character-driven.

I didn't like the time period in which CHRISTINE FALLS was set, but that's it. I thought the writing was great and I love Banville.

A good mix of plot and character is best, I think, but I'm not too fond of the breakneck pace of some thrillers.

I've got to thank Jane for introducing me to Winspear's Maisie Dobbs series. I'll soon be trying out the Kate Atkinson book she gave me in Portland. In fact, I was the lucky recipient of at least three books from Jane when we were together there. I'm so glad our tastes in mysteries are similar!

Gabrielle, I got introduced to John Banville a few years ago and read Untouchable I was hooked. Sadly I have a couple of his books now on my to be read shelf which will probably end up staying there until they come out of store in 2 years time! I've alwasy meant to read his "sciencetific trilogy" books, I did once start The Sea but left it somewhere and then never got back to it. He's another one of that great group of Irish writers I seem to have a celtic affinity to, I also love John McGahern's writings, my favorite of his is Amongst Women. But I have to say I didn't know Banville wrote under a psuedonym until it was mentioned here.

Jane, I'd never even heard of Jacqueline Winspear!So that is another new one for my ever growing list. I do hope some of these are available as audio or ebooks.

I've got audio versions of all Rushdie's books to reead when I am in India - one has to doesn't one?

Hi Sheila, It seems John Banville is writing as Benjamin Black most of the time now. I like those books, but I prefer him as John Banville, writing about his unreliable, unlikable narrators.

I've never read John McGahern, though I keep promising myself I will. I want to read "So They May Face the Rising Sun," which I think might be called "By the Lake" in the US, but I'm not sure.

Oh, I agree with Jane. The Maisie Dobbs series is wonderful! You can't help but fall in love with Maisie. I did the same thing with Alexander McCall Smith's Precious Ramotswe.

Another good author to read in India is Rohinton Mistry...or Vikram Seth. When it comes to Rushdie, my favorite is "The Moor's Last Sigh."

I'm in the "Jane-introduced me to Maisie" club, too. I've read 2 of the series and loved them.

Gabrielle, I also have copies of Mistry's books A Fine Balance, Such a Long JOurney and Family Matters on my ereader to take with me too. I loved Seth's Suitable Boy but haven't read anything of his since. I've also got Vikram Chandra's Sacred Games to read. As yo ucan by now envisage my ereader is getting quite full :) At least it is well lighter than carting the equivalent paperbacks.

Of Mistry's books, Family Matters was my favorite. I just fell in love with that one.

For a mystery with a more literary feel I would recommend The Dante Club A Novel by Matthew Pearl. It was terrific, very absorbing. He also wrote The Poe Shadow A Novel and The Last Dickens A Novel. I listened to the Poe Shadow and while it was good it was not quite as good at the Dante Club but it could have been the reader. I have not read The Last Dickens yet.

Donna, Another new author for me. Tx.

How I wish Goodreads had a link through to Audible.co.uk, it has a audible.com one but I haven't found an audible.co.uk one yet - shame - where can we make suggestions?

Some people like Donna Leon's mysteries set in Venice, but I've never read them. I stick with Michael Dibdin's Aurelio Zen. He's such an interesting character.

When I was younger and had more time, I liked Elizabeth George's Inspector Lynley Scotland Yard mysteries, but if anyone's going to read them, they should be read from the first one to the last. The five principle characters have affairs, marry, get divorced, people die, people go away and come back, etc. George is a very good writer. Lots of times series books are so well written, but I've found George's to be wonderfully written. Also Alexander McCall Smith's, though they are much, much lighter than George's.

Another British classic would be the Adam Dalgleish series by P D James which begins with Cover Her Face.

SoHo Crime is a publisher that specializes in mysteries with an international setting. They are often English translations. I've read some terrific books set in Australia, Laos, France, Brazil, and Spain.

Gabrielle, I quite like the McCall Smith ones and have read several and have seveal more in audio or ebook editions reading and waiting. Yes they are light reads, but sometimes that is just what one needs. Good stories.

For anyone else in Europe I just spotted Audible with a sale of crime books I just picked up Ian Rankin's Whitch Hunt, Michael Connelley's Blood Work and Carl Haissen's Native Tongue, all unabridged, and each less than £5. I don't know if audible.com and audible.co.uk do the same promos at the same time.

I love love love Carl Haissen. He is so funny! And I remember listening to Native Tongue. Silly, but fun.

Sherry,

I hate Carl Haissen - i sn't that interesting as you like many of the same books I do. I thought he was funny for the first couple I read - I remember him writing when I lived in Florida adn I thought some of his 'take' on the Florida 'culture' amusing. After those two I decided I couldn't bear any others, though, as I outgrew the humour (and I'm not sure that outgrew is anywhere near the right word - I just didn't find them funny at all anymore).

Sheila,
Amitav Ghosh is light but good for Southern India, Bangladesh, etc - I got interested in the Sundurbans because of him.

PD James is thought of as a writer's mystery writer but I will freely admit that I am more a telly mystery watcher rather than a reader.

Sherry, I've not read anything by him so I thought I'd take a dip in. If I don't like it it wasn't that expensive. I'm not going to be able to spend money where I am going on these sort of things so I am stocking up a bit before I go. My biggest nightmare is ipod & PC failure!

I know Amitav Ghosh and have Hungry Tide out of the library at the moment, but whether I get to it before I go may be another matter. But I do have audio of Sea of Poppies.

As for PD James I have read a couple of hers, but like you I tend to watch them on TV. I just wanted to take a real range of stuff with me and got perked up on the crime thing via the Ian Rankin documentary.

For some reason I can't figure out, I can't get into P.D. James' books. It's not that they aren't well written. They certainly are. But they leave me cold. Over the years, I've tried to analyze why, but I can't seem to figure it out. I feel a little guilty about it.

Gabrielle, although I really enjoy PD James, I find that Adam D. leaves me cold. There is something a bit distant in her approach to her characters and I've always thought Dalgliesh something of a dead fish, for all that he supposedly has the soul of the poet. (Since she never gives us a sample poem, or shows him writing or just having written, or even reading other poems, I just don't believe he writes them!!)

Sheila, another "light" mystery writer is Martha Grimes. I recommend her Richard Jury series, particularly early ones (from 1981 on). She's an American and the Jury series is largely set in England. I like her mysteries set in the US much less.

I just finished the Fifth Woman by Henning Mankell on audio CD and loved it. It opens with the murder of a regional poet who has published 9 books of poetry and none have sold more than 300 copies. I am almost finished with the first in the series, Faceless Killers. It is good but not as good as the Fifth Woman.

My favorite mystery writers are Walter Mosley and Sara Paretsky. Sara created a great P.I. female character in V.I. Warshawski who lives and works in Chicago, especially the south side. Mosley created the hard-boiled detective, Easy Rawlins, who lives and works in the Watts neighborhood of LA during the fifties and sixties. Both writers do a great job of creating the characters and the cities. The books are less about the crime and more about the lives of the characters.

poet who has published 9 books of poetry and none have sold more than 300 copies.

Sigh.

Harley wrote: "I just finished the Fifth Woman by Henning Mankell on audio CD and loved it. It opens with the murder of a regional poet who has published 9 books of poetry and none have sold more than 300 copies..."

A good mystery by Henning Mankell that doesn't involve his detective Kurt Wallander is The Return of the Dancing Master. It stars Stefan Lindman, a thirty-seven-year-old policeman in the city of Boras who goes to Sweden's pine forests to solve an intricately plotted murder.

Ruth wrote: "poet who has published 9 books of poetry and none have sold more than 300 copies.

Sigh."

LOL Poetry is so sublime, but is there a worse way to make a living or sell books?

Say, Ruth, I think all poets and wanna-be poets should read the first chapter of the Fifth Woman. Mankell nails the life of an unknown poet. Makes you think twice about writing poetry.

Thanks for the tip on the Mankell book, Gabrielle.

I find the best way to read a good mystery is listening to it in a car. There is something about being immersed in the world of a book through sound that heightens the tension. I feel like I am right there.

You're welcome, Harley, and thank you for the tip on The Fifth Woman. I love poetry, so this is one book I want to read.

Based on all the comments about Mankell, I picked up Faceless Killers yesterday at the library. I'm hoping to be introduced to a new favorite series...it's tough when you're picky about writing and plot.

Sarah, looking forward to your thoughts on Faceless Killers. (Have to say, it is the messed-up yet self-aware character of Wallander that intrigues me more than style or plot, so I really want to know what you think!)

Based on Harley's recommendation, I'll be looking for The Fifth Woman. Thanks, Harley!

By the time of The Fifth Woman, Wallander is more mature and not as messed up as he was in the first book. He still has problems but he does not make the same mistakes that he makes in Faceless Killers. And I even think the plotting is better in The Fifth Woman.

If you think you might like a historical, I can't recommend C.J. Sansom's Matthew Shardlake books, which start with Dissolution, more. They have a Tudor setting.

Other historicals I've enjoyed are the Maisie Dobbs, and Elizabeth Peters' Amelia Peabody series, which is set in Victorian and Edwardian Egypt, and starts with Crocodile on the Sandbank. My mother also loves historicals and is partial to Lindsey Davis' series set in ancient Rome, which starts with The Silver Pigs.

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo is terrific and I'm getting ready to start The Girl Who Played With Fire.