Crime Fiction

[Jo Zebedee]

You can't read it, Connvar, without seeing Robson Green, he has the character spot on. Oh and yes, major social issues, pretty complex.

 

[clovis-man]

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

Conn, I sympathize, but can't believe you haven't read Stieg Larsson's Girl With The Dragon Tattoo series.

Looking over names mentioned so far, I might also suggest Tony Hillerman, Stephen Cannell, Stuart Woods and (for a few laughs) Janet Evanovich"s numbered series. Ignore the ones without numbers.

 

[Nerds_feather]

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.

I think Farewell, My Lovely is probably the second best Marlowe novel after The Long Goodbye, but they are all good. I see what you mean about the character type, though I think the Marlowe books are all about a man's mostly failed attempt to preserve a sense of ethics in a world rigged against ethical behavior. So in that sense, they are tragedies, and Marlowe's victories are small and mostly pyrrhic.

In terms of Max Allan Collins, I've only read Seduction of the Innocent and the Road to Perdition comic series.

 

[Nerds_feather]

Conn, I sympathize, but can't believe you haven't read Stieg Larsson's Girl With The Dragon Tattoo series.

Funny, I wasn't super enthused about this one. I mean, it's good, but I didn't love it like so many people do. In terms of Scandinavian crime fiction, I like Henning Mankell, Jo Nesbo (though a couple of the books have been too grimdark for my tastes), Åke Edwardson and Arnaldur Indridason.

 

[Abernovo]

Anyone read the Rebus books?

I have, Bick. Good books, if sometimes bleak. Mostly set in and around Edinburgh, though.

I like Henning Mankell. Again, bleak, but if you like the open landscapes and cold environment seeping into the story, then I'd also recommend Giles Blunt's books. Canadian author.

John Harvey's books are great, and I'd thoroughly recommend David Hewson's Nic Costa novels, set in Rome (a bit lighter in spirit ). Stephen Booth has been consistently good, as well.

PJ Tracy (a mother-daughter team, I think) produce solid, easy to read books, and Richard Montanari (with the Philadelphia homicide 'Hat Squad' novels) is at times terrifying, but always enthralling. The late Tony Hillerman's Jim Chee/Joe Leaphorn series remains my go-to escape for US crime fiction, though. In fact, they could link in with Extollager's Topographic fiction thread.

Off on a tangent, perhaps, but for historical crime-fiction, I think Ariana Franklin (The Mistress of the Art of Death series) is incredible - mediaeval medical crime fiction. I also enjoyed John Lawton's debut novel, Black Out, set in WWII London.

Not quite pure crime fiction per se, but for a bit of fun, I'd recommend two books by Christopher Brookmyre: The Sacred Art of Stealing and All Fun and Games Until Somebody Loses an Eye.

 

[Connavar]

Conn, I sympathize, but can't believe you haven't read Stieg Larsson's Girl With The Dragon Tattoo series.

Looking over names mentioned so far, I might also suggest Tony Hillerman, Stephen Cannell, Stuart Woods and (for a few laughs) Janet Evanovich"s numbered series. Ignore the ones without numbers.

Its not hard to believe because in Sweden Larsson books is the least hailed of crime series that is popular. Its like thinking Lee Child, Patterson is seen as the best of US crime just because they sell alot. I will try Larsson books just to see what its like but there are many Swedish crime books i want to try before.

I have only tried Wallander, Beck books so far.

 

[Musky]

Try some James Crumley novels if you can find them. They're best read in order. The dialog cracks like gun shots. The Dave Robicheaux series by James Lee Burke are also excellent. Less well known are the John Marshall Tanner novels by Stephen Greenleaf. Perhaps a little better known are the Matt Scudder novels by Lawrence Block.

For really dark and unusual, give the Quinsigamond Series by Jack O'Connell a look. They're set in a fictional decaying and surreal city in MA. The author is fascinated with language, music, and film, and works these themes into beautifully violent and disturbed story lines. These novels are populated by really unique and creepy characters

And of course, as previously mentioned, almost anything by Big Jim Thompson.

 

[Connavar]

James Crumley PI books,Scudder books by Lawrence Block is among my top 3 fav series along with Hammett. They are the modern greats that make me adore the genre.

The Last Good Kiss is brilliant, so is the best Scudder books.

 

[Montero]

For those liking Dorothy Sayers in particular then from a similar period

Margery Allingham (a few were televised with Peter Davidson)

Ngaio Marsh - Inspecter Alleyn (several of those were very well televised too).

For a relatively gentle read I like
MC Beaton - Hamish MacBeth - have tended to read in random order. Not identical to the TV series (the books came first btw) Not so keen on the Agatha Raisin books.

Alexander McCall Smith - No1 Ladies Detective Agency series which is set in Botswana - he worked there for a while and they are very atmospheric books.

For historical mysteries - Falco books set in the Roman Empire. I couldn't initially get into the Silver Pigs (the first book) but once I'd listened to it on audio book (by chance while decorating) then I had a voice for Falco and they suddenly worked for me.

I also like Elizabeth Peters work - mostly about a forthright, opinionated Victorian Archaeologist called Amelia Peabody.

(Plus ones already mentioned like Brother Cadfael and all the set in the Welsh Marches modern ones that Ellis Peters wrote.)

I prefer the more "classic" who dunnit, without serious psycho issues and without too much city noir.

 

[TheDustyZebra]

For historical mysteries - Falco books set in the Roman Empire. I couldn't initially get into the Silver Pigs (the first book) but once I'd listened to it on audio book (by chance while decorating) then I had a voice for Falco and they suddenly worked for me.

Oh, must try those! I have all of Stephen Saylor's Roman mysteries, and am on the last of John Maddox Roberts' Roman mysteries. I must say that this last, #13, is quite trying -- I've read quite a few books in the middle of it, and may not bother finishing it, but I enjoyed all the others. I may have just run out of steam, but I think it's not as good.

 

[Hypnos164]

I only started reading crime recently mostly thanks to Connavar. Though I always enjoyed SF/F "versions" of the same.

My somewhat limited reading so far:
Almost all of the Parker books
Ken Bruen's Jack Taylor books
Dashell Hammett
Lawrence Block (only Scudder so far)
George Pelecanos

 

[Musky]

Daniel Woodrell for a little "Country Noir." Gritty novels set in the Ozarks, one of which is Winter's Bone. That was made into the movie that made Jennifer Lawrence a teenage acting sensation.

Kevin

 

[Nerds_feather]

Daniel Woodrell for a little "Country Noir." Gritty novels set in the Ozarks, one of which is Winter's Bone. That was made into the movie that made Jennifer Lawrence a teenage acting sensation.

Kevin

I've heard a lot of good things about his books.

 

[Randy M.]

I think Farewell, My Lovely is probably the second best Marlowe novel after The Long Goodbye, but they are all good. I see what you mean about the character type, though I think the Marlowe books are all about a man's mostly failed attempt to preserve a sense of ethics in a world rigged against ethical behavior. So in that sense, they are tragedies, and Marlowe's victories are small and mostly pyrrhic.
[...]

I like that summary but would round it off with a note about Chandler's use of humor: Chandler's early short stories for Blackmask are often self-satirizing, attending to the already petrifying conventions of the genre and mocking them, and that tone occasionally slides over into the novels (the novels were usually built on the framework of those stories). Besides being able to write funny lines (as I remember one, "She was a blonde. A blonde to make the Bishop kick out the stained-glass window"), in passages like the one in Farewell, My Lovely where Marlowe is trying to escape the insane asylum, Chandler ties the character's sense of humor to his self-preservation.

I think that is less true of The Long Goodbye, which I recall as not just a change in handling of his subject matter, but a tonal change, as well.


Randy M.

 

[Toby Frost]

I'd have to say Chandler, above any other detective novels I've read. The prose is excellent, the characterisation great too. My favourite is Farewell My Lovely - I find that The Long Goodbye meanders a bit, although it's still a great book. But almost any randomly-selected page is entertaining. I wish I could write like that, and make it look that easy.

 

[Christopher Lee]

My extent of crime fiction stretches only so far as my Sherlock Holmes collections and a few Elmore Leonard books I've read. Both I thoroughly enjoy.

 

[biodroid]

Jeffery Deavers The Devils Teardrop, good crime thriller, lots of action and has the investigation where a guy is a writing analyst... Lee Childs The Killing Floor, it wasnt bad, its just the main character Jack Reacher is like Superman or something so it got a bit boring. If only they could make good crime/thrillers like the Dark Knight movies, man that would be awesome, basically Christopher Nolan movies.

I read the Tesseract by Alex Garland, but remember not enjoying it.

Michael Connelly s The Black Ice was good but I have to continue the series coz thats the only one I have read.

Havent really read much crime but would like to get more into it.

 

[Greenwoody]

The Frost novels by R.D.Wingfield are a good read. An excessive amount of murders & robberies happen in a very depressing small town in a short space of time, but the humour's good. Similar to Michael Connelly's Bosch.

 

[Nerds_feather]

I like that summary but would round it off with a note about Chandler's use of humor: Chandler's early short stories for Blackmask are often self-satirizing, attending to the already petrifying conventions of the genre and mocking them, and that tone occasionally slides over into the novels (the novels were usually built on the framework of those stories). Besides being able to write funny lines (as I remember one, "She was a blonde. A blonde to make the Bishop kick out the stained-glass window"), in passages like the one in Farewell, My Lovely where Marlowe is trying to escape the insane asylum, Chandler ties the character's sense of humor to his self-preservation.

I think that is less true of The Long Goodbye, which I recall as not just a change in handling of his subject matter, but a tonal change, as well.


Randy M.

I'd have to say Chandler, above any other detective novels I've read. The prose is excellent, the characterisation great too. My favourite is Farewell My Lovely - I find that The Long Goodbye meanders a bit, although it's still a great book. But almost any randomly-selected page is entertaining. I wish I could write like that, and make it look that easy.

Glad to see two more Chandler fans here!

I just re-read The Lady in the Lake, and will write up a review for the blog next week. It's not the best Marlowe novel, but it's still mesmerizing. The guy could write like no one I've ever encountered in genre fiction.

 

[steve12553]

Make it three, I thoroughly enjoyed Farewell My Lovely and have watched 2 versions of the film. I've seen two other films based on his books and will eventually track down copies of the books.