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Henning Mankell, his Wallander series.  Swedish noir.

 

John Banville writing as Benjamin Black, his Quirke series.  Sort of Impressionistic Irish mysteries featuring coroner Quirke.  Mystery mixed with life.

 

A new author, to me at least is William Lashner.  I've read three of his so far and they are nice and twisty.

 

Hah, Robert Galbraith aka J.K. Rowling for her The Cuckoo's Calling.  It's a good start to a detective series.

 

Kathy Reichs, Temperance Brennan forensic detective mysteries.  The earlier ones are the best, Brennan as a forensic coroner manages to get in some pretty dicey situations. 

 

Anything by Lawrence Block.  His series are great, noir mixed with humanity.  He has several, one about a "retired" burglar that owns a bookstore, and another about a down and out detective, and one about a laconic hit man.  Partially retired...living in New Orleans in the latter books.

 

Thomas Perry has a couple of series...all excellent, one is about a "reformed/retired" hit man and one is about a Native American woman that makes new identities for people that need to disappear. Fast paced and exciting action.

 

James Lee Burke's Dave Robicheaux series.  Robicheaux is a retired New Orleans detective that just can't seem to get away from crime.  The stories move from New Orleans, to the bayou country, up north to Montana on occasion.  Beautiful writing, interesting and very intense stories.

 

Most of the above really are more than mysteries or plain detective stories, they delve into human nature....why we do what we do.  Although, sometimes there is just no telling.

 

To many favorites!  :D

Edited by pontalba
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Good to hear you rate Henning Mankell Pontalba as i have  a few of his books to read. My sister gave me The Return of the Dancing Master & then i've picked up a couple of others in the charity shops.

 

I wouldn't say i'm a big crime/thriller reader but i do enjoy Agatha Christie's books as i like the time period they're set in. Most of the other ones i have read & enjoyed have been recommended on this forum. Before I Go To Sleep  SJ Watson & The Darkest Corner  Elizabeth Haynes were real page turners & really gripping reads. The Stieg Larsson Trilogy & Jo Nesbo's The RedBreast i enjoyed because  they had interesting characters as well as a good storyline.

 

Still Missing Beth Gutcheon & Red Leaves Thomas H Cook which were both outstanding reads & focused more on the psychological effects  when a crime is committed rank among my favourite reads.

 

Well there you go i've read more crime books than i thought  :smile:

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I also like James Lee Burke, Benjamin Black, Lawrence Block and Thomas H Cook.  Other writers I always enjoy include Kate Atkinson, Walter Mosley, Jane Casey, Steve Mosby, Tom Benn and Denis Mina.  I love their writing and their stories but most of all the characters they create.  Some recent stand out reads for me were Rubbernecker by Belinda Bauer, A Land More Kind Than Home by Wiley Cash, Broken Harbour by Tana French, Apple Tree Yard by Louise Doughty,Norwegian by Night by Derek B Miller and The Last Policeman by Ben H Winters.  

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Nice to see Wallander still picking up admirers. The series contains several outstanding novels. The Stieg Larsson trilogy also captured my interest (as it did millions of others) though the first of the trilogy is the stand out. I've tried other Scandi writers with mixed results. Sarah Hilary's Someone Else's Skin is set to be a huge international bestseller and I hear good things about Dead Gone by Luca Veste and Long Way Home by Eva Dolan.

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Probably top of any list for me is Carol O'Connell. Her Kathy Mallory series is wonderful, but I would recommend her heart breaking 'Judas Child' to any lover of this genre. O'Connell gives such a depth to her characters, and her depiction of children and  childhood is stunning. Her books always make my heart ache, and in the case of 'Judas Child' compelled me to start the novel over as soon as I had completed it.

 

Arthur Conan Doyle and his Sherlock Holmes has to appear in my list of favourites, as does Dorothy L Sayers and her Lord Peter Wimsey & Harriet Vane novels. Love them for their great plots and interesting characters that you can grow to love.

  

Jeffrey Deaver is another favourite, his Lincoln Rhyme series always a treat. For a standalone novel, one that has always remained with me is 'A Maiden's Grave'.

 

I give a second to Kathy Reichs and her character of Temp Brennan. An interesting, original and well-paced series.

 

Sara Paretsky's VI Warshawski series has the wonderful central prickly character of VI. I love the path that she carves for herself through the series. An unusual series of plots that don’t pander to a ‘feisty female in peril’ mentality.

Karin Slaughter, with her Grant County, and her Will Trent series has developed some memorable characters. Graphic at times, her depiction of crime scenes and victims can be harrowing, but this is redeemed through her great characters.

                                                                                             

Bringing things to the little island that is the UK, Val MacDermid, has both series and stand alones to her name, and I always look out for her latest publication as she never fails to capture me.

 

Peter Robinson’s Inspector Banks series has remained consistently good from the beginning onward with no weak stories, and great character development that feels believable.

 

Manda Scott's Kellen Stewart series is fabulous with memorable characters and great plots. Outside of this series, her novel ‘No Good Deed’ is a rich and vivid story that to this day sits in my mind, despite having last read it quite a few years ago.  

 

There are more, but these authors would always be in my top 20. :smile: 

 

 

 

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  • 3 weeks later...

I just got finished reading Discipline by Paco Ahlgren. I read this book a few years ago, and I had to pick it up again because it eerily predicted what is going on in the world today. It was an intense read. There's a little bit of everything in it -- thriller mixed with a bit of romance (not the kind you're thinking), politics and some philosophical aspects. Very intriguing. I'm reading it again now, and I have to say, I like it even more the second time around.

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