# Help me find good detective/mystery novels **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 24, 2007, 1:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-find-good-detective-mystery-novels/401448 "2007-04-24T13:53:57Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Starving\_Artist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/aeb1de/32.png) [@Starving\_Artist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Starving_Artist)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2007, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-find-good-detective-mystery-novels/401448/21 "2007-04-24T19:19:19Z")
John Sandford’s [Prey series](http://www.johnsandford.org/index-books.html) (Shadow Prey, Hidden Prey, Mortal Prey, etc.) is excellent, IMHO. (Click on the books for a synopsis.) ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2007, 7:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-find-good-detective-mystery-novels/401448/22 "2007-04-24T19:23:46Z")
[Robert Crais’ novels](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Crais) are all good, IMHO. That mostly means the [Elvis Cole/Joe Pike](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elvis_Cole) books, but his others are good too. Elvis is heavy on the smartassery, so (having not read Hiassen) I don’t know if this gets you into cutesy territory or not, but the plots can be pretty intense. I also like Lawrence Block’s “[The Burglar Who…](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bernie_Rhodenbarr)” series. This might be too cutesy for you, but try one and see. ---
**Author:** ![vetbridge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b5e925/32.png) [@vetbridge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vetbridge)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2007, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-find-good-detective-mystery-novels/401448/23 "2007-04-24T19:25:02Z")
[QUOTE=Annie-Xmas] Ed McBain, Kinky Friedman and Andrew Vachss are my big three. [/QUOTE] Wow. I would second those choices. Odd combo; never thought I’d run into someone who likes the Kinkster! ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2007, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-find-good-detective-mystery-novels/401448/24 "2007-04-24T19:49:45Z")
[QUOTE=vetbridge] Wow. I would second those choices. Odd combo; never thought I’d run into someone who likes the Kinkster! [/QUOTE] Kinky and Vachss are very similar–the adventures of a group of misfits in NYC. While Kinky is funny, Vachss is more _roman noir_ ---
**Author:** ![Miss\_Purl\_McKnittington](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e9a140/32.png) [@Miss\_Purl\_McKnittington](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miss_Purl_McKnittington)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2007, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-find-good-detective-mystery-novels/401448/25 "2007-04-24T19:52:54Z")
The Brother Cadfael books by Ellis Peters are absolutely wonderful, even being set in a monastery in the 13th(?) century. The characters for the most part aren’t characters – they’re people. The Brother Cadfael mysteries aren’t just good mysteries – they’re good books. The same goes for the Catherine Levendeur mysteries by Sharan Newman. They might be a little “girly” for you, but the books nail the atmosphere of 12th-century France (she says as if she’s been there). The first book is “Cursed in the Blood.” ---
**Author:** ![vetbridge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b5e925/32.png) [@vetbridge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vetbridge)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2007, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-find-good-detective-mystery-novels/401448/26 "2007-04-24T19:56:57Z")
[QUOTE=Annie-Xmas] Kinky and Vachss are very similar–the adventures of a group of misfits in NYC. While Kinky is funny, Vachss is more _roman noir_ [/QUOTE] I’ve read a couple of his collections of short stories, and your description is spot-on. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![DeadlyAccurate](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ac91a4/32.png) [@DeadlyAccurate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DeadlyAccurate)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2007, 8:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-find-good-detective-mystery-novels/401448/27 "2007-04-24T20:06:03Z")
If you don’t mind your mysteries to be more thriller-like and your hero to be more on the supply-side of crime, Barry Eisler’s John Rain series is awesome. Rain is a half-Japanese/half-American assassin. Though the setting is Japan for the most part. ---
**Author:** ![Caridwen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c89c15/32.png) [@Caridwen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Caridwen)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2007, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-find-good-detective-mystery-novels/401448/28 "2007-04-24T20:12:24Z")
[QUOTE=DeadlyAccurate] If you don’t mind your mysteries to be more thriller-like and your hero to be more on the supply-side of crime, Barry Eisler’s John Rain series is awesome. Rain is a half-Japanese/half-American assassin. Though the setting is Japan for the most part. [/QUOTE] That sounds good to me! Thanks for the suggestion. ---
**Author:** ![pinkfreud](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pinkfreud/32/17603_2.png) [@pinkfreud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pinkfreud)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2007, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-find-good-detective-mystery-novels/401448/29 "2007-04-24T20:23:54Z")
Elmore Leonard is an oldie-but-goodie. He’s over eighty and still going strong. ---
**Author:** ![LateComer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/b5ac83/32.png) [@LateComer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LateComer)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2007, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-find-good-detective-mystery-novels/401448/30 "2007-04-24T20:30:59Z")
Are you familiar with [K.C. Constantine?](http://www.badattitudes.com/Constantine.html) His Mario Balzic novels are more accurately Police Procedurals than mysteries, but excellent IMO. [Wiki page.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/K.C._Constantine) ---
**Author:** ![Ferd\_Burfel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ecccb3/32.png) [@Ferd\_Burfel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferd_Burfel)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2007, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-find-good-detective-mystery-novels/401448/31 "2007-04-24T20:33:18Z")
[QUOTE=kaylasdad99] Usually playing for the other side, but, anything by Donald Westlake is a winner. [/QUOTE] When you look for Westlake novels, don’t forget to include the [Parker](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parker_%28fictional_criminal%29) series written under the Richard Stark pseudonym In the past, I’ve enjoyed Ellery Queen, but it’s been years since I’ve read them, and I suspect that they don’t translate well into the 21st Century. ---
**Author:** ![AuntiePam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@AuntiePam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AuntiePam)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2007, 9:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-find-good-detective-mystery-novels/401448/32 "2007-04-24T21:41:40Z")
Someone recommended **Henry Wade** , a British writer from the 30’s and 40’s. I’ve only read one – **New Graves at Great Norne**. I liked it a lot. Wade is good with atmosphere and with observation. Every character was richly drawn, even the walk-ons. I’m very fond of the Civil War mystery series written by Owen Parry. The hero is a short man (and he’s sensitive about it). He’s a bit judgmental and prejudiced about Irish and Catholics and drinkers and women and the upper classes, but he has a good heart and he’s learning. I think the Russian writer **Boris Akunin** is very good. It takes awhile for his books to get translated though. I’ve read just three. They’re all different – no rehashing of plots – intelligent and witty. I also like **William Lashner** but watch out, because at least one of his early books has been published under two titles. (I hate buying the same book twice.) Try Veritas and Hostile Witness. Dan Simmon’s Joe Kurtz books are fast and funny – they’ll make you wonder why they haven’t been filmed. Michael Connelly, John Connolly, Rennie Airth, Greg Iles, Doug Preston & Lincoln Child have all written mysteries/detective novels that I’ve enjoyed. Joe Lansdale’s Hap and Leonard books are good too, but they’re more like buddy-adventure stories than mysteries. ---
**Author:** ![rocking\_chair](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rocking_chair/32/2918_2.png) [@rocking\_chair](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rocking_chair)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2007, 10:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-find-good-detective-mystery-novels/401448/33 "2007-04-24T22:47:28Z")
j d robb is good. warning: there is wild and crazy sex. carol o’connell is fantastic. mallory is just unreal. ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2007, 11:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-find-good-detective-mystery-novels/401448/34 "2007-04-24T23:16:46Z")
Thanks for all the suggestions. I’ve read one or more books by close to half of the authors mentioned (and a majority of their output in the case of Robert Crais, Stout’s Nero Wolfe series and Ross MacDonald’s Lew Archer book\*). I need to pick out a few at the library and go from there. \*I know he wrote quite a few Archer mysteries but the plots tend to be remarkably similar, with stock characters including the wayward but misunderstood youth, the seemingly respectable man whose past conceals a dark secret, the emotionally confused young flower of womanhood to whom Archer is attracted and the older but still nubile woman with whom he has a brief fling. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Hey\_It\_s\_That\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/6f9a4e/32.png) [@Hey\_It\_s\_That\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hey_It_s_That_Guy)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2007, 11:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-find-good-detective-mystery-novels/401448/35 "2007-04-24T23:20:55Z")
[QUOTE=rocking chair] j d robb is good. warning: there is wild and crazy sex. [/QUOTE] JD Robb is a pseudonym for romance novelist Nora Roberts, just so ya know. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2007, 11:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-find-good-detective-mystery-novels/401448/36 "2007-04-24T23:54:18Z")
If you don’t mind some of the older stuff, you might want to try Rex Stout’s _Nero Wolfe_ stories. ---
**Author:** ![Khadaji](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Khadaji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khadaji)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2007, 12:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-find-good-detective-mystery-novels/401448/37 "2007-04-25T00:59:57Z")
Sorry, I will try to answer tomorrow, but wanted to get a post in so that I am subscribed. ---
**Author:** ![Stuffy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f17d59/32.png) [@Stuffy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stuffy)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2007, 1:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-find-good-detective-mystery-novels/401448/38 "2007-04-25T01:09:13Z")
[QUOTE=Starving Artist] John Sandford’s [Prey series](http://www.johnsandford.org/index-books.html) (Shadow Prey, Hidden Prey, Mortal Prey, etc.) is excellent, IMHO. (Click on the books for a synopsis.) [/QUOTE] Seconded. ---
**Author:** ![delphica](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e9a140/32.png) [@delphica](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/delphica)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2007, 1:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-find-good-detective-mystery-novels/401448/39 "2007-04-25T01:39:29Z")
I like Janwillem van de Wetering’s Amsterdam series about two police detectives. I don’t think this counts as an exotic location, because the author is, you know, actually _Dutch_ so Amsterdam is a perfectly normal place to solve crimes. They’re solidly in the “cops solving mysteries” genre. He writes in Dutch and then does his own translations, they’re not difficult to find in English. ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2007, 2:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-find-good-detective-mystery-novels/401448/40 "2007-04-25T02:09:38Z")
Tony Hillerman’s Joe Leaphorn mysteries are excellent, even if you have never been to the Southwest. And you can always read his _The Fly on the Wall_, which is his only non-Navajo one. The hero is a reporter in an unnamed Mid-America state capital (although Hillerman subsequently said it was Oklahoma City; how’s THAT for non-exotic?). Elmore Leonard is fantastic. I’ve recently started getting into him. The old guys like Dashiell Hammett and Raymond Chandler still hold me spellbound. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-find-good-detective-mystery-novels/401448.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-find-good-detective-mystery-novels/401448.md?page=3)