# Recommend me some mysteries! **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 27, 2010, 10:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-some-mysteries/551726 "2010-08-27T22:37:43Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![OpalCat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/8edcca/32.png) [@OpalCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OpalCat)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2010, 10:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-some-mysteries/551726/1 "2010-08-27T22:37:43Z")
I finished my latest book on my Kindle and so I’m back into needing good book recommendations. I don’t like things that are overly gory, but I think I’m n the mood for a mystery. Help a girl out? ---
**Author:** ![Surly\_Chick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ec9cab/32.png) [@Surly\_Chick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Surly_Chick)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2010, 11:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-some-mysteries/551726/2 "2010-08-27T23:35:11Z")
If you like period mysteries, I highly recommend the [Inspector Ian Rutledge](http://www.amazon.com/Wings-Fire-Ian-Rutledge-Mysteries/dp/0312965680/ref=ntt_at_ep_dpi_3)series by Charles Todd. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2010, 11:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-some-mysteries/551726/3 "2010-08-27T23:40:33Z")
There are thousands of mysteries out there (including some that are [in the public domain](http://www.gutenberg.org/wiki/Detective_Fiction_%28Bookshelf%29), so you can download and read them for free). If you tell us what you’ve read and liked in the past, or what subgenre you like, maybe we can tailor our recommendations to you. ---
**Author:** ![GHO57](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/df788c/32.png) [@GHO57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GHO57)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2010, 11:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-some-mysteries/551726/4 "2010-08-27T23:50:42Z")
Could you pin down the mystery genre a bit? Anything specific you’re looking for? Humor? Police? Female lead? Gritty? Romantic? How about some “I like these books” guidelines to narrow it down? Because I’ve probably read them, and can point to something you might like. ---
**Author:** ![OpalCat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/8edcca/32.png) [@OpalCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OpalCat)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2010, 12:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-some-mysteries/551726/5 "2010-08-28T00:09:16Z")
I’ve been reading the Sookie Stackhouse Southern Vampire Mysteries, which got me on the whole mystery theme. I’ve not got much experience with mysteries. I like sci fi and fantasy usually… ---
**Author:** ![Arnold\_Winkelried](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Arnold\_Winkelried](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arnold_Winkelried)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2010, 12:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-some-mysteries/551726/6 "2010-08-28T00:13:10Z")
Have you read Agatha Christie? Murder on the Orient Express, The Murder of Roger Ackroyd, Crooked House? ---
**Author:** ![GHO57](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/df788c/32.png) [@GHO57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GHO57)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2010, 12:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-some-mysteries/551726/7 "2010-08-28T00:27:38Z")
So, more paranormal than mystery? Less crime-solving, more fangs? ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2010, 12:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-some-mysteries/551726/8 "2010-08-28T00:37:37Z")
Some of the books recommended in the “[Humorous Mysteries in Unconventional Settings](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=566739)” thread might be along the lines of what you’re looking for. ---
**Author:** ![OpalCat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/8edcca/32.png) [@OpalCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OpalCat)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2010, 12:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-some-mysteries/551726/9 "2010-08-28T00:40:03Z")
> [@GHO57](#): > > So, more paranormal than mystery? Less crime-solving, more fangs? Not necessarily. Most of the paranormal stuff I’ve read has sucked pretty hard. I also liked the Dresden Files series, which are also both… But I’d rather read a good non-paranormal mystery than a cheesy mystery with paranormal stuff in it (which I’ve found a lot of). Arnold: In jr. high I read several Agatha Christie books. I think I’d probably prefer things a little more modern than that right now. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2010, 12:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-some-mysteries/551726/10 "2010-08-28T00:44:17Z")
We were thing of spending a week in Venice this summer (it fell through) so I started reading the [Commissario Brunetti](http://www.groveatlantic.com/leon/leon.htm) books by Donna Leon. A bit dark - Brunetti is constantly stymied by corruption and Italian incompetence, but in general very good. You’ll see that there is a cookbook - that is because Brunetti’s wife, who is a professor of American literature, is also a wonderful cook. Brunetti considers the suggestion of feeding Big Macs to his children child abuse. Some of them are also very funny. The very first one, a pretty standard murder at the opera, is one of the weakest, so you might want to start somewhere else. We read them with our Venice street map handy. ---
**Author:** ![GHO57](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/df788c/32.png) [@GHO57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GHO57)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2010, 12:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-some-mysteries/551726/11 "2010-08-28T00:54:38Z")
I just got through weeding down the paranormal list… _hmph_ And I’m a bit lost to be honest… I personally like the Rebus books, but an alcoholic Scottish detective might not be what you’re after… …or is it? Or how about something in the James Lee Burke range? I’d classify them more in the detective fiction / suspense category. ---
**Author:** ![GHO57](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/df788c/32.png) [@GHO57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GHO57)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2010, 1:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-some-mysteries/551726/12 "2010-08-28T01:00:39Z")
> [@Voyager](#): > > We were thing of spending a week in Venice this summer (it fell through) so I started reading the [Commissario Brunetti](http://www.groveatlantic.com/leon/leon.htm) books by Donna Leon. I always preferred the Aurelio Zen series by Dibdin for my Venice fix… ---
**Author:** ![GHO57](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/df788c/32.png) [@GHO57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GHO57)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2010, 1:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-some-mysteries/551726/13 "2010-08-28T01:19:20Z")
Oh, if you’d like a plucky female crime-solver… There’s the Sara Paretsky’s V. I. Warshawski series… or Sue Grafton’s alphabet series, or for a more humorous approach Janet Evanovich’s numbers series. You could always try the Greywalker series by Kat Richardson… there’s ghosts in those. ---
**Author:** ![Savannah](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b3f665/32.png) [@Savannah](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Savannah)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2010, 2:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-some-mysteries/551726/14 "2010-08-28T02:22:40Z")
Classic hard-boiled American PI: Stephen Greenleaf’s John Marshall Tanner series. (I trot him out regularly because I think he’s criminally \ overlooked.) Complex, hefty very British crime novels written by an American: Elizabeth George’s series, featuring Lynley, Havers, St. James, etc. Both novelists stand up, for me, to many re-reads, something a lighter mystery novel wouldn’t. I highly recommend both authors. ---
**Author:** ![suranyi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e36b37/32.png) [@suranyi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/suranyi)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2010, 2:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-some-mysteries/551726/15 "2010-08-28T02:35:10Z")
> [@Arnold\_Winkelried](#): > > Have you read Agatha Christie? Murder on the Orient Express, The Murder of Roger Ackroyd, Crooked House? I was just going to suggest that. When I was a teenager and into my early 20s, I read tons of Agatha Christie. ---
**Author:** ![salinqmind](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3ec8ea/32.png) [@salinqmind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/salinqmind)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2010, 3:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-some-mysteries/551726/16 "2010-08-28T03:08:49Z")
Robert Crais. He writes about Elvis Cole, who started out as a ‘cool’ L.A. detective with a near superman sidekick, Joe Pike. His novels have evolved into something darker, and Joe Pike is getting his own series, it seems. ---
**Author:** ![OpalCat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/8edcca/32.png) [@OpalCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OpalCat)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2010, 3:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-some-mysteries/551726/17 "2010-08-28T03:30:51Z")
> [@GHO57](#): > > or for a more humorous approach Janet Evanovich’s numbers series. I read those and enjoyed them. ---
**Author:** ![oliversarmy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/eb8c5e/32.png) [@oliversarmy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/oliversarmy)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2010, 3:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-some-mysteries/551726/18 "2010-08-28T03:55:42Z")
What about Nevada Barr or Tony Hillerman? Both interesting from a lot of perspectives. ---
**Author:** ![OpalCat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/8edcca/32.png) [@OpalCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OpalCat)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2010, 9:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-some-mysteries/551726/19 "2010-08-28T21:54:27Z")
I assume those are authors, oliversarmy? Can you recommend a specific book? ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2010, 10:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-some-mysteries/551726/20 "2010-08-28T22:04:15Z")
My favoites are oldies but goodies: **Sherlock Holmes** stories, idealy by Arthur Conan Doyle. Still among the best. Some of the imitations and pastiches are good, some bad. IMHO the best are the ones by Adrian Conan Doyle and Joh n Dickson Carr. **The Judge Dee Mysteries** by Robert H. van Gulik. Generally not bloody, but interesting, and set in a very different milieu – Tag dynasty China. Van Gulik plays fair – you get all the clues, and anything unfamiliar is present and 9if necessary) translated. Judge Dee really existed, and was famed as a judge and investigator, although van Gulik’s stories are all made up. Some people have written other Judge dee stories in recent years, but they ain’t the same. **Nero Wolfe** – Rex Stout’s super-intelligent sleuth, and even more, his legman, Archie Goodwin, are an acquired taste. It took me a while to get into them, but they’re worth the effort. best of all, many of them are back in print, and easy to obtain. a fellow named Robert Goldsborough wrote some new adventures a few years ago, which I think are pretty good. The works of **fredric Brown** – sadly, hard to come by. But worth it. Especially **The Fabulous Clipjoint** , **The Night of the Jabberwocky** , and **The Screaming Mimi**. a couple of years ago, somebody issued all of them 9with one more) in an omnibus volume. **John Mortimer’s Horace Rumpole** – the basis for the TV series. Actually, I think it’s the other way around, with Mortimeter turning his scripts into stories. Either way, a fun and hilarious read. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-some-mysteries/551726.md?page=2)