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levite · 05-31-2009, 10:18 PM

Well, obviously, there's the Sherlock Holmes canon. I love those. Some people swear by the Peter Wimsey books by Dorothy L. Sayers: I am about 50% on those. The Thorndyke mysteries by Austin Freeman; The Nero Wolfe books by Rex Stout; Erle Stanley Gardner's Perry Mason series; the Father Brown series by G.K. Chesterton; Simenon's Maigret books: all are classics of the genre.

I never cared much for Martha Grimes' Peter Jury mysteries, but my mother, a conoisseuse of the genre, adores them, so they're probably worth your trying one....

If you like the hardboiled detective, nobody wrote finer stories than Raymond Chandler. His works are almost street poetry. Dashiell Hammett's works are excellent, though a bit grim. Ross MacDonald is OK-- he's considered nominally the third in the trinity of great hardboiled detective authors, although I never liked him anywhere near as well as Chandler or Hammett.

John D. MacDonald's Travis McGee books are superb, though he is, unfortunately, a bit unpleasantly misogynist. The Spenser novels, by Robert B. Parker, were great in the early years-- he started writing them in the mid-Seventies-- and seemed to peak in the late 80s/early 90s, although he's still writing them as of today. Michael Connelly's Harry Bosch series I thought was technically well done, though I felt no personal chemistry with it. I have always liked Jonathan Kellerman's long-running Alex Delaware series: the characters I find only 75% but his plotting is excellent. The V.I. Warshawski books by Sara Paretsky are well-written, and very well-plotted. I find Faye Kellerman's Peter Decker/Rina Lazarus mysteries only so-so, but my ex used to swear by them, so you might like them, too.

Now, if you like your mysteries to be a bit more historical...there is the superb Marcus Didius Falco series by Lindsey Davis; the Catherine LeVendeur series by Sharan Newman; The Alienist and Angel of Darkness, by Caleb Carr; Ellis Peters' classic Brother Cadfael series; and the incomparable Abel Jones mysteries of Owen Parry. All excellent.

05-31-2009, 10:18 PM	#11 (permalink)
levite Minion of Joss Location: The Windy City	Well, obviously, there's the Sherlock Holmes canon. I love those. Some people swear by the Peter Wimsey books by Dorothy L. Sayers: I am about 50% on those. The Thorndyke mysteries by Austin Freeman; The Nero Wolfe books by Rex Stout; Erle Stanley Gardner's Perry Mason series; the Father Brown series by G.K. Chesterton; Simenon's Maigret books: all are classics of the genre. I never cared much for Martha Grimes' Peter Jury mysteries, but my mother, a conoisseuse of the genre, adores them, so they're probably worth your trying one.... If you like the hardboiled detective, nobody wrote finer stories than Raymond Chandler. His works are almost street poetry. Dashiell Hammett's works are excellent, though a bit grim. Ross MacDonald is OK-- he's considered nominally the third in the trinity of great hardboiled detective authors, although I never liked him anywhere near as well as Chandler or Hammett. John D. MacDonald's Travis McGee books are superb, though he is, unfortunately, a bit unpleasantly misogynist. The Spenser novels, by Robert B. Parker, were great in the early years-- he started writing them in the mid-Seventies-- and seemed to peak in the late 80s/early 90s, although he's still writing them as of today. Michael Connelly's Harry Bosch series I thought was technically well done, though I felt no personal chemistry with it. I have always liked Jonathan Kellerman's long-running Alex Delaware series: the characters I find only 75% but his plotting is excellent. The V.I. Warshawski books by Sara Paretsky are well-written, and very well-plotted. I find Faye Kellerman's Peter Decker/Rina Lazarus mysteries only so-so, but my ex used to swear by them, so you might like them, too. Now, if you like your mysteries to be a bit more historical...there is the superb Marcus Didius Falco series by Lindsey Davis; the Catherine LeVendeur series by Sharan Newman; The Alienist and Angel of Darkness, by Caleb Carr; Ellis Peters' classic Brother Cadfael series; and the incomparable Abel Jones mysteries of Owen Parry. All excellent. __________________ Dull sublunary lovers love, Whose soul is sense, cannot admit Absence, because it doth remove That thing which elemented it. (From "A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning" by John Donne)