What mysteries are you reading at the moment? Old thread Showing 851-900 of 4,457

[Jill]

Carl, have you tried Mark Billingham?

[Lynne]

Maybe Harlan Coban? Or look on Amazon under Ian Rankin and see what other folks have bought after looking at him?

[Miss M]

Have you tried Stuart MacBride's Logan McRae? He's pretty rough around the edges but also very smart - puts procedure and good old-fashioned spade work back into crime fic just like Rebus...

Or for something different (yet still a crusty old copper), there's the Sheriff Walt Longmire series set in Wyoming -- or, Michael Connelly's Harry Bosch who's a hard bitten loner like Rebus...though no alcohol.

ETA: Rebus, Banks and Bosch are my all-time top three
ETA II: plus, the Icelandic Insp. Erlendur

[Abigail]

Well, there are always the classic Spenser novels by Robert B. Parker.

[Leslie]

Carl wrote: "Guys I need some advice, I've read all the Roy grace books I've read all the rebus books, I've read most of the d.i. Banks novels but have found the last few a little boring, I need someone new to ..."

I suggest trying Andrea Camilleri's Inspector Montalbano series.

[Susan]

I would second McBride and Billingham as similar authors to the ones you liked. Christopher Brookmyre is another author that might appeal to you.

[Jan C]

I like McBride,. Another one I like is Robert Crais.

[Michelle]

Carl wrote: "Guys I need some advice, I've read all the Roy grace books I've read all the rebus books, I've read most of the d.i. Banks novels but have found the last few a little boring, I need someone new to ..."

J K Rowling writing as Robert Galbraith. The first one is The Cuckoo's Calling and it has a very crusty detective!

[Susan]

I liked that, Michelle. I read it without knowing it was J K Rowling (thankfully did not give the original to the charity shop!) and really should carry on the series.

[Phyllis]

Just finished Girl Waits with Gun by Amy Stewart - not a mystery exactly, but very interesting historical fiction about the Kopp sisters - Constance Kopp was one of the first female deputy sheriffs in the U.S. Very well done, and the next in the series - Lady Cop Makes Trouble - is also out now.

[Sandy]

Phyllis wrote: "Just finished Girl Waits with Gun by Amy Stewart - not a mystery exactly, but very interesting historical fiction about the Kopp sisters - Constance Kopp was one of the first female deputy sheriffs..."

I enjoyed both.

[Phyllis]

Sandy wrote: "Phyllis wrote: "Just finished Girl Waits with Gun by Amy Stewart - not a mystery exactly, but very interesting historical fiction about the Kopp sisters - Constance Kopp was one of the first female..."

Good to know - I have the second one on hold at the library!

[Jill]

Peter Lovesey's Peter Diamond is another detective

[Michelle]

Susan wrote: "I liked that, Michelle. I read it without knowing it was J K Rowling (thankfully did not give the original to the charity shop!) and really should carry on the series."

I've read them all. I think there is a TV series or film soon which may be worth a look

[Leslie]

Just finished The Long Lavender Look, a Travis McGee mystery by John D. MacDonald.

[Sandy]

I just finished Death Comes as the End, by Christie and set in ancient Egypt.

The book was okay. Christie knew archaeology and the facts and flavor seemed true to the times. The mystery was fine but most of the suspects were dead by the end. I gave it two stars as it just didn't engage me. I listened to the audio.

[Michelle]

So Carl, do any of these take your fancy? Let us know how you get on.

[Susan]

Just finished Rattle , which I loved. Have started Ragdoll, which is currently making a big noise and looks like being a huge hit for the author and also Plaid and Plagiarism , which is a bit so-so, at the moment.

[Judy]

I love the title 'Plaid and Plagiarism' - somewhat tempted by that one with its Highlands setting, so I'll be interested to read your review, Susan!

I've just finished a collection of short stories by GA authors, Serpents in Eden: Countryside Crimes. I loved this, although the non-Holmes short story by Arthur Conan Doyle is not one of his best.



I have really enjoyed a couple of other collections compiled by Martin Edwards in this series, and will try to fit in reading one of the BLCC seasonal collections in the next few weeks, Silent Nights: Christmas Mysteries or the new one, Crimson Snow: Winter Mysteries

[Susan]

I have nearly finished Auntie Poldi and the Sicilian Lions which is about a sort of Bavarian Miss Marple in Sicily. Quite good, although I am not really clear why Auntie Poldi is so keen to investigate the murder in question!

[Susan]

I finished Auntie Poldi and the Sicilian Lions. Not a fantastic read, although I think some of the book was lost in translation...

[[deleted user]]

Carl wrote: "Guys I need some advice, I've read all the Roy grace books I've read all the rebus books, I've read most of the d.i. Banks novels but have found the last few a little boring, I need someone new to ..."

Three of the modern series I really enjoy are Cynthia Harrod-Eagles’ Bill Slider series (great characters and truly absorbing procedurals)—read them in order for the full benefit, beginning with 1991’s Orchestrated Death; John Harvey's wonderful Charlie Resnick series (details after this sentence); and Louise Penny's Chief Inspector Armand Gamache series (set in Canada, the author's country). Gamache is a highly respected inspector who handpicks his team, including one we get to see grow with the series. The stories, the settings, the characters...all are brilliant. Regarding the Charlies Resnick series, I'd like to share a quote from Le Monde: “In total, Harvey paints a sensitive portrait of social and moral confusion in post-industrial and post-Thatcherite England, with its isolation, poverty, unemployment, and rising violence. On a more general level, he also paints a picture of life’s miseries, stroke by bluesy stroke; those indefinable emotions that are so difficult to talk about: life passing, death approaching, and love which does not last. And all with a keen sense of observation and an unerring eye for detail, well served by an understated style.”

[Judy]

Christine, I read a few of the Resnick books years ago and remember liking them a lot - some time I'd like to read the whole series through in order, and see the characters grow.

[[deleted user]]

Judy, for the last few years, I've been reading detective/mystery authors in order. Since some of the key authors began writing shortly after the turn of the century, I'm still reading several books written in the early 1930s. It seems each time I think I'm making headway, I "discover" yet another writer I wasn't aware of. I've been having a great time with it. I have to keep dozens of tables I created for each author so I can keep track of books as I read them. I began this project because, like so many others, I tired of finding out halfway through a book that I had read it before. It never happens to my anymore.

[Lynne]

Christine wrote: "Judy, for the last few years, I've been reading detective/mystery authors in order. Since some of the key authors began writing shortly after the turn of the century, I'm still reading several book..."

Christine, glad to find I am not the only list-maker and for the same reason. Some of the early authors were so prolific that without a list, it would be a mess to track. I would be interested to see your list of authors---like I really need more books!

[Judy]

Great idea to keep lists, Christine and Lynne. I think this is also one of the great advantages of Goodreads, that it's easier to keep track of what we've read by any author. I've also often found halfway through a book that I've read it before, but that doesn't seem to happen to me as often as it used to.

[Lynne]

Doesn't exactly fit the classic detective mode, but I am reading "A Rare Benedictine", the short story prequel to Ellis Peters Brother Cadfael series.

[Jill]

I have made a list of every paper book I have read since 2004, with the date I finished it. This was to make sure I didn't read books again, and also for me to store the ones I want to keep. The kindle ones I rely on Goodreads to tell me and Amazon. I always try to read books in the order they were written. My books are kept in order but the rest of my life is pretty much chaos (probably down to reading when I should be doing other things LOL)

[Jan C]

I don't keep lists of books I have already read. I have enough trouble with the books I am reading/waiting to read. I rely on Goodreads or Bookcrossing to find out whether I have already read it (when I can't remember the specific book).

[Susan]

I do sometimes make copies of lists of series I want to read - Fantastic Fiction is good, but sometimes they get things wrong, so you need to do a little research. I really hate reading a series out of order! I don't mind re-reading books though - I enjoy it. The Nicholas Blake I am reading at the moment is a re-read.

[Lynne]

I keep a "Book Journal". Authors, dates finished, etc. I just started a couple years ago, so everything before then is chaos. Sometimes something on GR will remind me, "Oh! I read that once-upon-a-time and loved it (or hated it)." A new section for every year divided into months.---also helps me keep track of where I am for the 75 book challenge. I know GR does that too, but even though I have a Kindle and do read books on it I can't get in "real" book-shape form, I still am an old-fashioned book reader at heart. I am 65, so that tells you where I am coming from. Though I have also been a professional geek, so am not a Luddite!

[Jill]

Yes ,Lynne, as I said ,I only started the list in 2004 so I am finding lots of books that I read before then but cannot put a date to. I have to admire authors, as if I think of a storyline, I am convinced that I must have read it at sometime and can't possibly be original.

[Lynne]

What really impresses me, is how some authors can write so many books---just the sheer volume knocks my socks off!

[Lady Clementina]

Lynne wrote: "I keep a "Book Journal". Authors, dates finished, etc. I just started a couple years ago, so everything before then is chaos. Sometimes something on GR will remind me, "Oh! I read that once-upon-a-..."

I have one too- since 2006. Now its just a list of books read with author and month but till about two years ago, I used to also write reviews of the ones that stood out at least. Now I only write reviews here - not in my journal so much

[Susan]

I love book journals and kept one for years, before discovering Goodreads. Now I do use the shelves here, as I find it easier, but there is still a joy in writing things down...

[Christine PNW]

I just started The Crime at the 'Noah's Ark' last night, which is a Dean Street Press reprint of a book originally published in 1931. It's set around the Christmas holidays, among a group of people snowed in at a wayside inn called the Noah's Ark, and is delightful so far. I am at 50%, and have a few inklings but nothing solid, and there seem to be red herrings a plenty.

[Susan]

Dean Street Press are great for republishing so many lost mysteries :)

[Judy]

I'm reading Noah's Ark too and enjoying it - only problem is I'm reading it on Kindle while reading another snowy mystery, Thou Shell of Death, in a paperback, and am having to concentrate to avoid mixing up the two - also trying to avoid mixing them both up with Mystery in White!

[Susan]

I try only to read one GA mystery at a time - although I am happy to combine that with a more, modern crime novel. I do find I get confused sometimes too otherwise :)

[Sandy]

I cannot read books that are too similar at the same time, or even one right after another. I can have essays, science, juvenile, general fiction and mysteries going at the same time, but not two mysteries. Good luck with all the snowy books.

[Lynne]

Sandy wrote: "I cannot read books that are too similar at the same time, or even one right after another. I can have essays, science, juvenile, general fiction and mysteries going at the same time, but not two m..."

As always, it is comforting to find I am not the only one. I generally have about half dozen books going at the same time, but just one mystery. Otherwise I lie awake at night trying to figure out which was which when it comes to clues, etc. I can manage a mystery and a thriller (like Steve Berry) at the same time sometimes, but even that can get dicey, depending.

[Lynne]

Just finished "A Rare Benedictine" and started "Morbid Taste for Bones"---not GA, but to get ready for the next Ellis Peters for the Ancient and Medieval GR group. Have also finished Mysterious Affair at Styles, and then all the Hercule Poirots through 1923. I am reading in order of publication, so next up is Murder on the Links.

[Michelle]

I usually have two or three books on the go, particularly during the week at work. I don't want to carry a library hardback Into work so will take a different paperback, or sometimes the book I am reading requires too much of my brain power after a busy day at work. Or just because the mood takes me. I don't usually mix them up as I try not to read the same genre, two golden age mysteries would be too confusing for e.g. But I did once get confused reading two different books of different genres when both the main characters were called Henry! I had to stop one of the, as it was too hard to keep them separate in my mind.

[Suki]

Lynne wrote: "Just finished "A Rare Benedictine" and started "Morbid Taste for Bones"---not GA, but to get ready for the next Ellis Peters for the Ancient and Medieval GR group. Have also finished Mysterious Aff..."

I'm reading my way through (and collecting!) all the Agatha Christie books- two or three every month. I also really like the Nero Wolfe series, so I'm planning to read/reread that entire series over the next couple of years, too. I love all the classic mysteries.

[Susan]

I have just started, Corpus . I haven't read anything by this author before, but I know he has a successful historical mystery series.

[Leslie]

I have finished another Akitada Sugawara mystery - Death on an Autumn River. Good entry in this historical fiction series.

Now reading a contemporary mystery, an Inspector Montalbano mystery, The Age of Doubt. I love this Italian series!

[Christmas Carol ꧁꧂]

I'm reading The Faceless by NZ crime writer Vanda Symon Enjoying so far & wondering where Symon is going with this one.

[Jill]

Susan wrote: "I have just started, Corpus . I haven't read anything by this author before, but I know he has a successful historical mystery series."

I have read Martyr which is the first of his Shakespeare series,which I enjoyed and intend to read more of.

[Susan]

I would like to start the Shakespeare series, Jill. I think I have the first one on my kindle!

[Joanne]

I'm reading the third book in the "Malmo" series by Torquil MacLeod. They are very fine police procedurals taking place in Malmo Sweden and nearby countries. Must start with the first book Meet Me in Malmo. Has anyone tried these out?