Thanks to those who mentioned the Inspector Rutledge series. I’ve finished the first book and just started the second. Enjoying them very much so far.
A short series (three books) that I loved are by Carlos Ruiz Zafon about the The Cemetary of Forgotten Books. They can be read as nothing more than a mysterious story, but there’s political undertones that enhance the reading. The first book is the strongest, but all three are good.
I really disagree about Goldsborough–his 1st 2 about Archie are ok, but then he mutates him, has him smoking and drinking (not milk), has Archie using Nero words rather than the simple wise-cracks from guy we love, but worse is when he has a 20th century street cop like Cramer using an archaic word like “knavely”
for me it’s Lawrence Durrell’s Avignon Quintet
Well, Archie is known to take a highball once in a while, and the old, pre war Archie did smoke. But the real issue is that the team doesnt age in the books. Sure WW2 happens, but IMHO the mysteries would always be set in a sorta nebulour age, with manual typewriters, Heron Automobiles, and such. Where Archies is a youngish man, with snappy repartee.
I can understand updating, but then you’re talking about 80 year old Nero, etc . And you haven’t addressed the point that Goldsborough likes to throw around “big” words indiscriminately, regardless of plausibility (see original post)