Since you liked the Bernie Rhodenbarr series, I’m guessing you would like the John Dortmunder books by Donald E. Westlake.
At the risk of annoying nitpickery – the initial “Worldwar” series (1942 and succeeding years) comprises four books. The sequel series (events 20 years later on) comprises three. I personally consider Turtledove’s “Worldwar” cycle good throughout – save for the one final book Homeward Bound, set chronologically later than the rest, which seems generally reckoned – including by me – awful; I don’t recall ever finding anyone with a good word to say for it.
For a science fiction set of books all set in the same universe, try the Culture books by Iain M Banks. It doesn’t really matter what order you read them in, but good ones to start with would be The Player of Games, Look to Windward or Consider Phlebas. There are also a few non-Culture science fiction books.
Iain Banks also wrote non-science fiction books under that name. When he died he 2013, people like me were as gutted as the Pratchett fans when he died.
Seconded, also Hornblower.
Christopher Fowler’s Bryant & May novels are great fun.
They are also available in Audiobook.
If you like references to other works the Magic Ex Libris Series by Jim C. Hines is full of them since it centers on Libriomancy; the magical art of manifesting fictional things from the books they are written in.
you’d love the stainless steel rat series of books…there light and funny sci-fi
warning wikii has spoilers for some of the books…The Stainless Steel Rat - Wikipedia
OP: not sure from your post how much use – if any – you have for historical fiction. Anyway – with a great variety of material being offered on the thread – I’ll submit for consideration, a novel series for which I have a great liking.
The Matthew Shardlake novels by the British author C.J. Sansom – describable as, largely, murder / espionage mysteries from the times before detectives were invented – and more than purely “whodunnits”. Set mostly in London, in the latter years of the reign of Henry VIII. Shardlake, the hero and first-person narrator, is a lawyer – highly honest, ethically upright, and humane; but cantankerous enough to be saved from being a total male “Mary Sue” – and IMO a very likeable character. Also a favourite of mine is his “sidekick” Jack: a short-tempered and foul-mouthed “man of his hands”, but nonetheless on the side of the angels, and an engaging guy. Historically, painstakingly accurate so far as I can tell; and giving an interesting view of what it might have been like to be a subject of " 'Orrible 'Enry" well below the top of the food-chain. A considerable amount is seen, though, of life at the royal court – Shardlake and associates keep being drawn, usually against their will, into perilous situations and intrigues involving doings of said court.
Long, detailed novels – seven of them to date, seemingly a new one every couple of years. I gather that the author plans to keep them going, up into the reign of Elizabeth I : how Shardlake – become a sceptic about religious matters, but with inclinations Protestant rather than the other way – will fare under Mary Tudor’s rule, I dread to think. IMO anyway, splendid stuff.
Well, of course you will…
I’m, also a Ring of Fire fan, but stick with Flint’s books at first; even those he co-authors (except 1633/1634 with David Weber) are uneven and some stand-alone ones are not good at all. But even so you’ll have millions of words to read, and Flint has a rather wry sense of humor that does come through.
One more: David Weber’s Honor Harrington series, 17 books IIRC (he’s done with the current arc but may revive it with her children) of pretty decent space opera, the earlier books are better IMHO, the last 3-4 are not up to those standards, but well conceived and great characters (Lots and lots of characters…)
“Sandy Mitchell” put out a sci-fi/Warhammer 40,000 sort of Flashman pastiche series starring “Ciaphas Cain, Hero of the Imperium”.
Seconded. I found all of the Shardlake novels consistently engrossing.
Oops. You’re right. I miss remembered the number of books. You’re also right about the final book. It was so bad it soured me on the entire follow up series.
I’ll +1 all these series, and -1 Xanth, and then add a couple more recommendations:
- The Rook is the first in a series, of which only two are written, but they’re both long and self-contained. They follow a London government agency that deals with supernatural threats, which is a super-hackneyed idea at this point, but they’re really fun, and actually made me laugh aloud a couple of times.
- A Crown for Cold Silver is the first of a completed trilogy, epic fantasy with a fair amount of gross-out humor (I remember the phrase “bloody snot-rockets” describing a form of magical travel) and protagonists who are, shall we say, flawed. It’s not especially silly, but it’s got a lot of bleak humor, a lot of moments of horrified laughter. I enjoyed them immensely.
The Spellman Files novels by Lisa Lutz. Mysteries that had me howling with laughter. Must read in order, as there are arcs of character change and development and people and events.
Thanks for all the great suggestions, folks.
I have read all of Sherlock Holmes, and my father is a published Sherlockian, member of the BSI, etc.
I have read one or two Ellery Queen novels, but they just didn’t grab me. I also read at least one Stainless Steel Rat book, and enjoyed it. I may look at some of the others.
And I’ll start looking over the many interesting recommendations here, some of which I’ve heard of but never read (Flashman), but most of which are new to me.
BTW, here’s another short series I really enjoyed that perfectly typifies what I’d like more of: Zakour and Ganem’s Plutonium Blonde, Radioactive Redhead, etc. Funny satirical sci-fi.
Thanks again, and keep them coming. I’m sure I’m not the only one who’ll find something interesting to read here.
I’m currently working my way through the Commonwealth works of Peter F. Hamilton. These are mainly space operas that span through the course of centuries. I finished Pandora’s Star and am halfway through Judas Unchained. You say you like mysteries, and there is a long-running mystery through these titles that has yet to be resolved (grrr), and the ones responsible are slippery, ingenious, and tend to die when they get caught. At first, the protagonists hear conspiracy theories that sound too much like hack fiction, but later turn out to be true. This is running underneath space exploration, alien invasions, and VIPs who preserve themselves for centuries so their dynasties don’t die.
I’ve also read the Void Trilogy (which takes place 1200 years after the above) and The Night’s Dawn Trilogy, which is a different universe, but the same level of galactic detail. I’ll take up The Chronicle of the Fallers series next.
For your consideration: Ellis Peters’ Brother Cadfael series. A 12th century monk who suffers from Jessica Fletcher’s disease: Whenever he’s around people seem to die under mysterious circumstances. Brother Cadfael is a well-traveled man, having served as a Crusader in his youth, and is currently the abbey’s herbalist. He pokes into the various mysteries with a skeptical eye and what passes for a scientific worldview in that time and place.
Not great literature; the series is somewhat formulaic. However, it gives a very entertaining view of an interesting time and place: England and Wales during the reign of Stephen, with perpetual civil war between him and the Empress Matilda. Both have reasonable claims to the throne and roughly equal forces. The common folk are generally keeping their heads down, going about their daily business, and hoping the war stays far, far away. The view of the daily business of the common folk is very well done; the characters are not archetypes, but ordinary people.
Recommended.
Cadfaell is a good series, and Ellis Peters gave me permission to use the name for my Society for Creative Anachronism character. 
I don’t know how well they’ve aged since I read them as a teenager in the 80s, but I really enjoyed the Fletch novels by Gregory McDonald. They were fun, irreverent, sexy, and addictive. There was also a spin-off series based on a police detective character (“Flynn”) from one of the Fletch novels.
Yes, this is important - Fforde sets up some things literally a couple of books in advance of their payoff, and you need to read them in order to get the full benefit of it.
I enjoyed these (particularly with the Foglio illustrations) but they run into the problem of every book ending with “We’ve solved this problem, but now we have a bigger problem!”. There is no closure ever.
Nope. I’m not saying there’s nothing worth reading in the Xanth series but there are so many better books to spend your time reading, especially considering that the books rapidly just become strings of bad puns sent in by readers. Also, the whole underaged sex thing (although it’s less of an issue in the Xanth books than in some of his other writings).
The graphic novels are not required reading for the series, although they are occasionally referred to. I have to admit I haven’t really liked any of the graphic novels apart from “Detective Stories”; if you can borrow them (my library had all but the first one) they’re worth reading for completeness’ sake but otherwise you’re not missing much. Oh, and there’s a character in “Cry Fox” who is important later in the series but again, it’s not necessary as such.