If you had to choose just one, which mystery/crime fiction series would you say is your favorite?

[Chrisl]

contemporary - Bosch;
historical - Cadfael;
first favorite - Travis McGee

[Anne]

Barbara wrote: "I like many of the series previously mentioned - and lots more. I'm going to chime in with Sue Grafton's "Kinsey Milhone" series; I've enjoyed most of those books, which have interesting characters..."

I'm with you. I love Grafton's Kinsey Milhone series too plus Paretsky's V. I. Warshawski series and Cornwell's Kay Scarpetta series, among so many others.

[Marti]

I have done a couple of V I Washawki books and have read or listened to a lot of Patricia Cornwell...kind of got "burned out " on Cornwell but might try again sometime. I havent read Sue Grafton... In general for whatever reason, I often read male authors...but not completely...as Ive said with P. D James and the ones Ive mentioned here! :) I enjoy the Harry Bosch character...have read several of Stephen Whites books, as they are set very near me, in Boulder CO....and Johnathan Kellerman is good.... I love Peter Robinson, Val McDermid, Ian Rankin...Nevada Barr...oh well...I could go on! lol

[Nancy, Co-Moderator]

Cathy wrote: "Dee: I'm a Burke fan, too and reading the series. However, at the moment I can't recall where I left off and the next book to read.

I am now reading "The Bat," Jo Nesbo's first in the series..."

Just catching up here -- Cathy, you cracked me up!

[Elizabeth]

Loved Gingerbread Girl! Author is Carin Gerhardsen

[Nancy, Co-Moderator]

Marti wrote: "I have done a couple of V I Washawki books and have read or listened to a lot of Patricia Cornwell...kind of got "burned out " on Cornwell but might try again sometime. I havent read Sue Grafton..."

Have you picked a favorite?

[Elizabeth]

The Gingerbread House by Gerhardssen

[Brenda]

Without hesitation Grant County series by Karin Slaughter; it goes into the Will Trent series which might be even more awesome...

Winners up would be Jefferson Bass's Body Farm series and Bug Man series by Tim Downs

[Reva]

Well now that everyone has mentioned ALL my favourites, I guess I'll add a new author/script writer that has caught my attention.

Jake Needham

Jack Shepard Series first book Laundry Man (set in Bangkok)

And

Inspector Samuel Tay Series first book The Ambassador's Wife (set in Singapore)

[Elizabeth]

Henning Mankell

[Nancy, Co-Moderator]

Wallander?

[Laurel]

Right now probably Flavia De Luce. She cracks me up!
The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie etc.

[Marti]

Nancy have you watched BOTH Wallenders? I have watched Kristor Henriksson in the Swedish one and Kenneth Branaugh in the English version..both are good....:)

[Nancy, Co-Moderator]

Marti wrote: "Nancy have you watched BOTH Wallenders? I have watched Kristor Henriksson in the Swedish one and Kenneth Branaugh in the English version..both are good....:)"

Definitely! I like the Swedish one a lot.

[Ron]

Would be a tough call between Michael Connelly's Harry Bosch series, Jo Nesbø's Harry Hole series, Henning Mankell's Wallander series and Robert B. Parker's Spenser series. I like them all, but, the Spenser series got me into serious thriller books, Bosch continued it and just recently found the Hole and Wallander series.

Also, both of John Sandford's series, the Prey series and Virgil Flowers series.

If I keep wrting, I know the list will just go on and on and on and on and...

[Elizabeth]

Nancy wrote: "Wallander?"

yes Wallender and also his stand alones

[Nancy, Co-Moderator]

Elizabeth wrote: "Nancy wrote: "Wallander?"

yes Wallender and also his stand alones"

[Nancy, Co-Moderator]

I love Wallander.

[John]

I love Michael Connelly's Harry Bosch series and the Longmire series by Craig Johnson. The first book in the series is Death Without Company.

[M.]

John, pretty sure Cold Dish is the 1st Craig Johnson Longmire book. I'll check and stop back. UCrosspop (twitter handle and email address for Mr Johnson) is my favorite author. He's beat out other favorites. He never disappoints and simply gets better and better. I'll be embarrassed if I'm wrong on book 1 but on my smartphone I can't do both. I'm tech challenged! His skill is traditional story telling and deep morally rooted characters.

[M.]

M. wrote: "John, pretty sure Cold Dish is the 1st Craig Johnson Longmire book. I'll check and stop back. UCrosspop (twitter handle and email address for Mr Johnson) is my favorite author. He's beat out other ..." yep. Cold Dish was published in 2004. Death w/out Company was 2006.

[Marti]

I love Longmire and on tv its not bad but just like Lee Childs Reacher character(which is not as loved as Longmire by me), the books are much better. In fact, Im still upset with the choice of Tom Cruise as Jack Reacher... At any rate, I agree about Mr Johnsons books..they do just get better and better.'I also enjoy C J Box's books starring Joe Pickett.... I normally do mostly British police procedurals but I tried a Longmire once and was hooked!

[Shane]

Ditto for me Re: Tom Cruise. Horrible choice.

[Shane]

Ditto for me Re: Tom Cruise. Horrible choice.

[Marti]

Ill never understand why Lee Child allowed his choice! I saw him interviewed about his books and the film but dont remember feeling I got a real explanation about it....when you have a description of a character in your mind, and then a film is made with someone who is UTTERLY different from that book description....well, all I can say is, Im still trying to see if I can read another REACHER book without thinking of Tom Cruise!

[Ron]

Marti wrote: "I love Longmire and on tv its not bad but just like Lee Childs Reacher character(which is not as loved as Longmire by me), the books are much better. In fact, Im still upset with the choice of Tom ..."

I just saw the Jack Reacher movie and felt the same way about Tom Cruise. However, I've only read 1 of the books, so, I wasn't real sure of just how good/bad he was in the role. I just knew that I didn't find him real believable. But, it's good to know that I wasn't alone in that feeling.

[Ron]

Marti wrote: "Ill never understand why Lee Child allowed his choice! I saw him interviewed about his books and the film but dont remember feeling I got a real explanation about it....when you have a description ..."

Many times, in order to get the movie money, the author cannot get any control over the movie rights once he has signed them away. Hence, Mr. Child might not have had any choice in who played the role.

[Marti]

Yes Ron, I believe you are right and that is probably what happened....just so sad that they couldnt have picked an actor somewhat closer to Jack Reachers physical description.... :)

[Truman32]

As bad as the casting of Tom Cruise might be, he is still 110% better then Mark Harmon as Lucas Davenport...

[David]

Tom Cruise got to play at being Jack Reacher because he purchased the rights to Lee Child's novels.

[[deleted user]]

Truman32 wrote: "As bad as the casting of Tom Cruise might be, he is still 110% better then Mark Harmon as Lucas Davenport..."

I do agree with you regarding Mark Harmon as Lucas Davenport. I picture Davenport as Chris Noth. I picture Mark Harmon as Harry Bosch. I think that character fits Harmon's Jethro Gibbs character to a T.

[M.]

A friend of mine had an acting interview w Tom Cruise for a minor role in Vanilla Sky. Tom Cruise was there. He is in charge of all details in his movies. In other words, Tom Cruise bought the rights with full control. The movie may not have been made at all without him.

What is new and exciting are the new production models. GRR Martin and his Fire and Ice series where he retains some artistic control is an example. As I understand it, Johnson also is intimately involved with a production company who sold the Longmire series as a complete package. A&E cancelled the series when they refused to continue w/out full control. The production company and Johnson walked away, refusing to give away that control. Luckily, Netflix, who brought us Kevin Spacek's House of Cards ,agreed to pick it up.

Honestly? Other than Tom Cruise's physical size, I enjoyed the movie and I've read all of the Reacher books.

If Tom Cruise comes knocking, I think an author says yes. You at least know it will be well made with excellent funding.

[Forbidden]

Wow, that's awesome. I had no idea he did that to make Vanilla Sky happen. That's one of my favorite movies of all times. The scene were he's in the atrium of the building calling out for "Tech Support" just totally gets to me. It's beautiful.

[[deleted user]]

M. wrote: "A friend of mine had an acting interview w Tom Cruise for a minor role in Vanilla Sky. Tom Cruise was there. He is in charge of all details in his movies. In other words, Tom Cruise bought the righ..."

I, too, liked the movie.

[Ron]

Kathryn wrote: "M. wrote: "A friend of mine had an acting interview w Tom Cruise for a minor role in Vanilla Sky. Tom Cruise was there. He is in charge of all details in his movies. In other words, Tom Cruise boug..."

I, too, liked the movie, but, it was despite Tom Cruise, not because of him. I haven't read much of the Reacher novels, but, it seems to me that Reacher would be a more imposing physical person. Much taller than Cruise, who is a short person. And, I had a lot of problems with the woman lawyer(Rosamund Pike?). She just wasn't believable at all.

[Marti]

Yes Ron.... this has been my problem....as a woman, I responded to both the stories of Reacher AND to his personna....He is, I believe, described as a very large guy, a very imposing and strong presence. He doesnt go through the things he does unless he can handle himself...not to mention his years as an MP....I can guarantee, I had never once pictured Tom Cruise in that role! It has basically ruined the series for me....once you see an actor in a role from a book, it either fits your ideas or it doesnt. In the case of Longmire, they picked an actor who fit the role. I didnt even see all of the one Reacher film that I know of....just seeing his image plastered all over was enough....I know Mr Cruise plays very physical parts but he simply does NOT fit the personna of Jack Reacher for many of us. Sadly,as I said, its basically ruined the series for me...now if I try to get into a book, I will try to get back to the desxription of Reacher which I had from the author...and Tom Cruise's image creeps in....lol Just sad.

[Ron]

Marti wrote: "Yes Ron.... this has been my problem....as a woman, I responded to both the stories of Reacher AND to his personna....He is, I believe, described as a very large guy, a very imposing and strong pre..."

It's bad enough when a movie changes the story of a book. Exponentially bad, when the movie ruins even the reading of a book by it's changes. Sad, indeed.

[Marti]

I wont give up....I will try again , Im sure...they are good stories! lol I just have to somehow get back to where I was before, with the "real" Jack Reacher in my head lol

[Daniel]

I am putting a plug in for Ross Macdonald ' s Archer series.

[Stephen]

For me Ross MacDonald's Lew Archer is the grandfather of Harry Bosch. I did a Dashiell Hammett to Raymond Chandler to James M. Cain to Ross MacDonald to Michael Connelly "History of the California Mystery" read. Good way to spend a year.

[[deleted user]]

Marti wrote: "I wont give up....I will try again , Im sure...they are good stories! lol I just have to somehow get back to where I was before, with the "real" Jack Reacher in my head lol"

Marti, I had that problem with Rizzoli and Isles. I had read the books before watching the show and had them all pictured. However, now I can't read the books anymore without picturing the people in the show.

[Marti]

I keep hoping Kathryn, that I can manage to get Tom C out of my brain when I want to read a new Reacher but thankfully, if not, there are lots of other good books and authors... if, however, anyone ruins IAN RANKIN for me or Peter Robinson, for two favorite examples....Im going to be beyond upset! I honestly believe, that in fairness to many fans that a popular book series has, if it is going to film, every effort should be made to,at least, get the main characters physical "type" and characteristics right! And you, Kathryn, had it happen with Rozzoli and Isles....think the author of the books needs to stick to his or her principles and demand that much at least! But,in reality, sadly, when it comes down to money.............:(

[M.]

Even Longmire has issues. I learn to separate book mind from media mind. I learn to enjoy both for different reasons.

Being Rankin fan, I was hugely disappointed in Set in Darkness' audio narrator. It was so far from my audio mental assumptions. WARNING BBC has done Rankin series, right?

[Atrautten]

Bryant and May.

I never thought I'd enjoy so much reading about octogenarian detectives running around...

[M.]

And that is AWESOME but not that old!

[Jan C]

I think there have been two series based on the John Rebus stories. I've only seen the ones with John Hanna.

[M.]

Jan C wrote: "I think there have been two series based on the John Rebus stories. I've only seen the ones with John Hanna."

???? I'm reading in order &just finished Set in Darkness. No Hanna so far? More details Jan C?

[[deleted user]]

Marti wrote: "I keep hoping Kathryn, that I can manage to get Tom C out of my brain when I want to read a new Reacher but thankfully, if not, there are lots of other good books and authors... if, however, anyone..."

I agree. I think that's what bugs me the most when a book is brought to life. For instance, the newest Alex Cross movie. Sampson was a small white guy which couldn't be more of an opposite to the huge, hulking black man from the books.

[Nancy, Co-Moderator]

Daniel wrote: "I am putting a plug in for Ross Macdonald ' s Archer series."

You don't need to sell me -- I love Ross Macdonald.

[Nancy, Co-Moderator]

Kathryn wrote: "Marti wrote: "I keep hoping Kathryn, that I can manage to get Tom C out of my brain when I want to read a new Reacher but thankfully, if not, there are lots of other good books and authors... if, h..."

You all should resurrect the "book before movie thread" -- lots of interesting comments here!