Crime Fiction

[Nerds_feather]

[not sure this page is the right spot for this thread, but couldn't think of a better one.]

I'm assuming a lot of you SF/F types are like me, and also read crime fiction. If so, what authors or styles do you like?

 

[steve12553]

Earl Stanley Gardner, Rex Stout, Agatha Christie. You know, the up and comers.

 

[alchemist]

It's a bit more than crime, but I'd recommend anything by Martin Cruz Smith, particularly the Renko novels.

 

[Juliana]

Lots of classics like Agatha Christie (my mum had shelf-loads). Ellis Peters' Brother Cadfael books are wonderful, for those who like a historical thriller...

 

[AnyaKimlin]

I actually probably read more of them I pretty much inhaled cosy mysteries growing up.

I still have a soft spot for Famous Five and Hardy Boys. My children love a series called Spy Dog which I don't care how old you are is wonderfully written.

Up until recently I loved Kathy Reichs her writing style was wonderful but the last couple have been boring. Patricia Cornwell is OK but I find she writes what could be wonderful stories like a crime report.

Quentin Jardine is interesting but more serious.

Alanna Knight sometimes brings fantasy elements into her Inspector Faro and Rose McQuinn Series.

I agree about Cadfael and Agatha Christie.

Ruth Rendall.

I am only just getting into Arthur Conan Doyle.

The Dresden Files are sort of a cross between fantasy and detectives.

 

[Connavar]

I prefer american school of hardboiled PI and noir fiction from US/UK/Europe. I like bleak PI and noir stories that deal with the underbelly of society. There are some literary gems in that field's history.


Fav crime authors: Dasheill Hammett(Alltime top 3 fav authors), Richard Stark/Westlake, Ken Bruen, James Sallis, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Jim Thompson, James M Cain, James Crumley, Lawrence Block,Elmore Leonard.

The only gentleman detective stories i like Doyle/Holmes, Chesterston detective stories, Sayers's Lord Wimsey.

 

[AnyaKimlin]

And Connavar has just reminded me I have been delving into Scandinavian crime fiction recently (I want to set one of my cosy mysteries in Denmark so it grew out of research). They are really good but I cannot for the life of me remember titles and authors lol.

I'd also forgotten about Dorothy L Sayers.

 

[Connavar]

And Connavar has just reminded me I have been delving into Scandinavian crime fiction recently (I want to set one of my cosy mysteries in Denmark so it grew out of research). They are really good but I cannot for the life of me remember titles and authors lol.

I'd also forgotten about Dorothy L Sayers.

As a Swede i suck with reading scandinavian crime because there is no excotic,fresh side of reading bleak crime fiction set in places i know. I have it depressing enough with the gray,dark winters,rainy summers and terrible fall to read books in that setting

New York and London is as hot,fresh for me as Scandinavian crime is new flavor for international readers.

 

[Nerds_feather]

I prefer american school of hardboiled PI and noir fiction from US/UK/Europe. I like bleak PI and noir stories that deal with the underbelly of society. There are some literary gems in that field's history.


Fav crime authors: Dasheill Hammett(Alltime top 3 fav authors), Richard Stark/Westlake, Ken Bruen, James Sallis, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Jim Thompson, James M Cain, James Crumley, Lawrence Block,Elmore Leonard.

My tastes also lie with American noir. Raymond Chandler may be my all-time favorite author of any kind, and I love Richard Stark's Parker novels (as absurd and repetitive as they are).

Connavar, you might like Ariel S. Winter's The Twenty Year Death. It's an homage to noir fiction, three novels in one--one in the style of Simenon's Maigret novels, another in the style of Chandler's Marlowe novels and a third in the style of Jim Thompson, all linked through a meta-narrative.

 

[AnyaKimlin]

As a Swede i suck with reading scandinavian crime because there is no excotic,fresh side of reading bleak crime fiction set in places i know. I have it depressing enough with the gray,dark winters,rainy summers and terrible fall to read books in that setting

.

My detectives are gay and have just get married so I asked my gay friends were they would go on honeymoon and the most frequent suggestion was Copenhagen. Plus it inspired the first line "But my bum's not green."

 

[Connavar]

My tastes also lie with American noir. Raymond Chandler may be my all-time favorite author of any kind, and I love Richard Stark's Parker novels (as absurd and repetitive as they are).

Connavar, you might like Ariel S. Winter's The Twenty Year Death. It's an homage to noir fiction, three novels in one--one in the style of Simenon's Maigret novels, another in the style of Chandler's Marlowe novels and a third in the style of Jim Thompson, all linked through a meta-narrative.

Parker series are repetitive but there are not any better heist, ice cold sick criminal noir series like it.

As collector of Hard Case Crime i have heard alot of fan,critics acclaim for The Twenty Year Death but i didnt know it it was a homage different styles like it.

I forgot to mention my fav classic PI author after Hammett in Ross MacDonald. His californian tales are more low key, social issues than usual but so well written. Not read enough of Chandler.

 

[J Riff]

There was nothing to say to that, so Parker didn't say anything.


btw- don't ignore Westlake's Dortmunder stuff, it's good fun, the opposite of Parker.

 

[Nerds_feather]

I love the Parker novels. I've never actually read any stuff by Donald Westlake as Donald Westlake, which I understand is a glaring omission!

Connavar: you definitely need to read all the Chandler novels. I re-read at least one a year. I think he's the best stylist I've ever encountered in genre...any genre. Best one, IMO, is The Long Goodbye, but it's probably best to start with The Big Sleep, which is the first one he wrote.

 

[Bick]

I love Chandler too, but haven't read any other american noir, funnily enough. I've read quite a few Philip Marlowe stories. I like 'Farewell My Lovely', though 'The Big Sleep' is also a good place to start too.

I have also recently fallen for Swedish police procedurals, and as I am British and live in New Zealand, they are fresh and exotic to me too. I love my (romanticised) idea of Sweden - don't spoil the image Connavar! I've started reading all Mankell's Wallander books in order.

 

[TheDustyZebra]

I like all different styles of crime fiction. John D. MacDonald, Donald Westlake, Lawrence Block; then there's the medical crime fiction like Michael Palmer; I have been devouring cozy types for a couple years as well, such as Susan Wittig Albert, Joanne Fluke, M.C. Beaton. I actually had never read any Agatha Christie, so I started on those last year as well. Jeffrey Deaver, Sue Grafton, Michael Connelly, James Patterson. Old favorites, Dorothy Gilman (Mrs. Pollifax is the best detective ever), John Grisham, and of course I grew up on The Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew.

 

[Connavar]

There was nothing to say to that, so Parker didn't say anything.


btw- don't ignore Westlake's Dortmunder stuff, it's good fun, the opposite of Parker.

Parker, Richard Stark books are his best to me since they are lean,mean noir books perfected in series form. Still i adore Dormunder and his crew. I have read first 5 books since i became Stark/Westlake fan in 2008. I rate Dortmunder series very highly and havent read any comic crime close that series. He is much more than Richard Stark name/Parker books to me.

I have read 19 books of his in 3 years which is alot for me. Second only to Vance,Lord Dunsany,Hammett in my alltime fav author list.

 

[Bick]

Oh, another thought. I haven't read them yet, but I've heard really great things about Ian Rankin's Rebus novels set in Glasgow. Although Glasgow is much like the description given above for Sweden! Anyone read the Rebus books?

 

[Connavar]

I love the Parker novels. I've never actually read any stuff by Donald Westlake as Donald Westlake, which I understand is a glaring omission!

Connavar: you definitely need to read all the Chandler novels. I re-read at least one a year. I think he's the best stylist I've ever encountered in genre...any genre. Best one, IMO, is The Long Goodbye, but it's probably best to start with The Big Sleep, which is the first one he wrote.

I like Chandler prose style, play with words but i dont like golden hearted PI hero type really. I like Marlowe, Spade but not nearly as much The OP type. That pioneer perfected the genre to me in 1920s. Shame it was not book series like Marlowe and co.

I have read Big Sleep and Farewell, My Lovely and i think the second is really good and stronger. I will read him out of respect for his prose style. I prefer more down to earth Lew Archer series or bleaker, more political The OP series. So i respect Chandler but we dont meet taste wise as reader and writer.

Speaking about PI heroes, have you read Nathan Heller series? Shamus awarding winning modern great by Max Allan Collins.

 

[Jo Zebedee]

I am a huge Val McDermid fan, although can I just say... Tony hill and carol jordan, if they don't have it off in the next book, i am not reading on. The last one was very nearly the straw, the next one will be...

 

[Connavar]

I am a huge Val McDermid fan, although can I just say... Tony hill and carol jordan, if they don't have it off in the next book, i am not reading on. The last one was very nearly the straw, the next one will be...

I love the tv show based on that book series, the actor playing Tony Hill was so good. I hope the character is as complex, have social interaction issues like he did in the tv show. I was really angry when the tv show was canceled despite 8 million viewers.