Hi, I'm looking for 'fun' mysteries, I don't know where to start

[Rosie]

Hello! Just finding my way around the site here and I've read a lot of fun classic mysteries but what I don't know is how to find mysteries that are not dark and gritty - apart from trying to judge from their covers.

I'm looking for books that are fun to read like Agatha Christie's books, playful but with a mystery to work out too. I don't mind crime at all but not the gory stuff.

Does this make sense? Any ideas?

Thanks so much

X Rosie

[Thomas]

Try JoAnn Bassett M.C. Beaton
Carl Hiaasen

[Rosie]

Thanks! Looks just right, looking at the genre labels on these seems like I'm looking for this stuff, https://www.goodreads.com/genres/cozy...
will look into these two authors first though, looks really fun.
x R

[Thomas]

You're Welcome.

[Skye]

Sue Grafton's books, Sunny Frazier, and anything that is categorized as 'cozy.'

[Dauglas]

Hi Rosie

Take a look at my recently published novel.
A Crime/Detective novel (set in Cape Town) - ROSES IN THE RAINBOW

You can claim your copy via this amazon link
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01LYU8022#...

[Faith]

I rarely read mysteries anymore so I am most familiar with writers of the past, but try books by:

Nicholas Blake
Robert Barnard
Peter Lovesey
Margaret Millar
Martha Grimes
Ruth Rendell
James R. Benn
Donna Leon
M C Beaton

[Dave]

Lake District Mysteries by Rebecca Tope: Rebecca Tope
The Windermere Witness, The Ambleside Alibi and The Coniston Case.
Persimmon (Simmy) Brown is a florist working in Windermere and living in Troutbeck. In The Windermere Witness, she reluctantly finds herself drawn into a murder investigation after arranging the flowers for a local wedding, and subsequently finds herself involved in fresh murder mysteries in the two novels that follow.

[Bill]

Welcome to the group, Rosie. You might also like Dorothy Sayers and Ngaio Marsh.

[Zoe]

Try Carola Dunn's Daisy Dalrymple mysteries set at the end of the Great War and just full of great word play and mystery galore

[Skye]

Sue Grafton's alphabet series
Sunny Frazier's Christy Bristol astrology series
Carole Nelson Douglas's Midnight Louie mysteries.

[Carolien]

Marty Wingate
Beate Boeker

[Jacqueline]

Try the Dortmunder novels, by Donald E. Westlake. The first one in the series is "Hot Rock."

[Alan]

May I give a shameless plug? My novel is 'fun', or funny--I have been told: I'M NO P. I., by Alan Zacher

[David]

Check out Chris Grabenstein's Ceepak & Boyle series. The crimes are serious, but the contrast between the two main characters makes them very entertaining. Ceepack is strictly by the book; Boyle is much more flexible.

[Judy]

Rosie wrote: "Hello! Just finding my way around the site here and I've read a lot of fun classic mysteries but what I don't know is how to find mysteries that are not dark and gritty - apart from trying to judge..."

My very favorites are the "Burglar" series by Lawrence Block. Block writes another series that pretty dark, and I don't like those much. But the Bernie Rhondenbarr series are good mysteries and written "tongue-in-cheek. I'll send a link Burglars Can't Be Choosers

[Nancy, Co-Moderator]

Welcome Rosie! I like the Bryant and May series -- they're really fun.

[Carol]

Nancy wrote: "Welcome Rosie! I like the Bryant and May series -- they're really fun."

I second the rec of Christopher Fowler's Bryant and May series. I also find Colin Cotterill's Dr. Siri series to be a blast, presuming you find 1970s Laos and politics to be funny. I do. Book one is The Coroner's Lunch.

[Nancy, Co-Moderator]

Alan wrote: "May I give a shameless plug? My novel is 'fun', or funny--I have been told: I'M NO P. I., by Alan Zacher"

Technically, no. Please don't do it again or it's 20 lashes with a wet noodle.

[JoAnne]

I find The Cat Who series by Lilian Jackson Braun to be fun and light, and easily read independently and out of order. Main Characters: Jim Quilleran, Journalist & his 2 cats, Yum Yum and Koko. Her first book was in 1966, The Cat Who Could Read Backwards.

[[deleted user]]

I'd agree with the Dortmunder, Bryant & May, Dr Siri, Ceepack & Boyle, and the Burglar series.

For Golden Age, try Phoebe Atwood Taylor's Asey Mayo books and her Leonidas Witherall series written as Alice Tilton.

I also like the cheeky Roman books featuring Marcus Didius Falco by Lindsey Davis and the SPQR books by John Maddox Roberts.

If you like ebooks, try the Davis Way caper style mysteries by Gretchen Archer. You can also try the Miss Fortune books by Jana DeLeon. For a lighter classic 'crime reporter' series, try the Headlines in High Heels series by LynDee Walker - who is a reporter herself, so she writes very well.