I’ll start with one of my favorites: Crocodile on a Sandbank, Elizabeth Peters, (c) 1975. The Amelia Peabody mysteries. They’re a hoot.
And just to give you the idea that they don’t have to be totally period: The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency, Alexander McCall Smith. Precious Rambotswe is the detective. It’s also a very good HBO series.
Oh wow, loved Hanneke’s list!
Sayer’s Gaudy Night and Tey’s Brat Frarrar my two all time favorites-along with Mary Stewart’s suspense (and I would add Paula Gosling’s suspense msyteries. I would also recommend Margery Allingham’s post world war II series, particularly Tiger in the Smoke. And yea, someone remembers Paul Gallico. For me, Love of the Seven Dolls, while not really one of his mysteries-was one of the most heart-rending romances ever written. Yes to Dick Francis, Ellis Peters, Gilman, etc.
In addition to Hillerman, which someone mentioned, I would suggest people check out Arthur Upfield, who wrote in the 40s and 50s, whose mysteries set in Australia feature a half aborigine police detective (oh Kokipy already mentioned-I second her recommendation. For getting to know new places, Dana Stabnow’s Alaska series, whose main female protagonist is always reading mysteries and science fiction books that our my favorites, and Navada Barr’s national parks ranger Anna Pidgeon has nicely taken me around the USA. For a little of the South, Margaret Maron’s female judge protagonist also a treat. Another foreign series I really enjoyed are Janwillem van de Wetering’s Dutch detectives.
Like others, I realize that many of my favorites are fairly old. I still enjoy most of what JA Jance is putting out and I love everything that Laurie King writes, For those of you who like the British Inspector and his sidekick stories-but Elizabeth George is too brutal for you-I have really enjoyed Deborah Crombie’s series.
Well this was fun, I’m going to pull out my Gallico and reread them-its been years!
The obvious answer for me would be Mortal Stakes by Robert B. Parker. You really felt like you got to know Spenser in that book. Though the most fun I had reading a mystery was reading “Dirk Gentlys Holistic Detective Agency” by Douglas Adams. These days I read the Dresden Files by Jim Butcher and the Bones series by Kathy Reichs.
I’ve recently discovered Rennie Airth, a South African novelist whose mysteries are set between the Wars in England.
Not period, but lately I’ve been enjoying Louise Penny’s books. And Charles Finch’s books, which are set in Victorian England (mostly London).
My favorite Christies are The Blue Train and At Bertram’s Hotel. And recently I read Milne’s The Red House Mystery. (Yes, the Pooh guy, though this has nothing to do with that.) It’s available from gutenberg.org for free.
I don’t usually run across books set in the Depression years, but Jill Churchill’s Grace and Favor series brought back memories of Depression-era tales recounted by older relatives.
Some of my favorites have already been mentioned. This is just a short list of those that spring into my mind:
Dick Francis
Stieg Larsson
Hakan Nesser
Faye Kellerman
also the Falco series
I can’t think of any more, although I frequently read mysreries.
Sherlock Holmes. Edgar Allan Poe’s the Gold Bug, Purloined Letter, Murders in the Rue Morgue. More recently an author whose name escapes me. One particularly interesting mystery had to do with a murder committed at the tidal island Mont Saint-Michel. Of course the tides greatly influenced the conclusion. But I can’t remember either the name of the book or the author.
I forgot to mention that the detective, for the series that I like but can’t remember either the author or the name of the books, is a forensic archeologist making him unique among detectives (maybe).
I love the John Maddox Roberts and Steven Saylor mysteries.. really, just about ANY historical detective thing, but those are my current favorites.
also James McClure, who writes about an Afrikans cop with a Bantu sergeant in South Africa. Very good.
and the Judge Dee books about China.
Wimsey, Cadfael, Holmes, and Falco have already been mentioned several times.
Those who like Falco might want to look at Steven Saylor’s Roma Sub Rosa series, which is set about a generation earlier.
Hillerman fans might want to check out the Charlie Moon Mysteries by James Doss, about a contemporary Ute detective.
I particularly like Lawrence Block’s Matthew Scudder series (and the first one that I read – on a recommendation was 8 Million Ways To Die) and Michael Connelly’s procedural mysteries. Like many of you, I also love Lindsay Davis’s Falco series. Old favorites are Dorothy Sayers Lord Peter Wimsey and Sherlock Holmes. 🙂 Other authors I’ve really liked the first 4-5 books but have not kept up with are Ian Rankin, Jonathan Kellerman, Faye Kellerman, Stephen Greenleaf Whittier, Charles Todd and James Lee Burke.
SILVER PIGS by Lindsey Davis was used in one History 101 class at the Univ. Of Louisville. Although my professor specialized in Greek and Roman history, we didn’t use this novel.
Other than the Amelia Peabody, Benjamin January and Falco mysteries I tend toward what used to be called “cozies.” I call them light fluff. One of the series I follow on occassion is the GHOST AND MRS. MCCLURE by Alice Kimberly and the Pepper Martin Mysteries by Casey Daniels. Note the “fluffy” thread here. When life gets oppresive, pick up “SUPER FLUFF!” or a well-written YA book.
If you push the definition of mystery, you could include the Stephanie Plum novels by Janet Evanovich. It’s a mystery that Stehpanie Plum survives to the end of the novel.
Most of my favourites have been mentioned at least once. But I miss:
John D. MacDonald, especially his Travis McGee books, which contain his take of Florida politics from the mid-sixties. He also wrote an immense amount of other books, of which I’d like to mention just two: “Flash of Green”, a story about a group of Environmental protesters running afoul of the local Good Old Boys, and “Condominium” which should put you off buying a condo on the Florida Gulf coast.
Then there is Donald Hamilton, although he is essentially very hard-boiled secret agent stuff. Some of his Matt Helm books were used as bowdlerized vehicles for Dean Martin movies.
An interesting Irish newcomer is Tana French – just three books out at the moment, but well worth looking at.
Cool thread!
Everyone I can think of has already been mentioned, so I’ll just ditto:
Anne Perry, esp. the Monk books (there’s a bit too much whinging and politics in the Pitt books for me, although I still read them).
Tony Hillerman and Nevada Barr are amazing at actually making you feel the setting. I actually felt like I was in a dark cave in Blind Descent, and feel like I’m in the southwest with Hillerman. (By the way, for all us aspiring writers: I read that Hillerman recommends having two sensory details per page, and I found when I tried to keep to that, my White Room Syndrome completely vanished. Give it a try!)
Dick Francis, although you have to like his main character because it’s essentially the same guy through every book, just with a different name and profession. Also, for those who are squeamish — there’s at least one torture scene per book.
Ellis Peters Cadfael.
Hambly’s Benjamin January series, although I have to space them out because being immersed in that culture is just awful.
Barry Hughart is fun. (Hey look! Someone else who has read those books!)
Mary Stewart is fun although definitely damsel-in-distress.
Evanovich’s Stephanie Plum is laugh-out-loud funny.
Butcher’s Dresden books are phenomenal, and I breathlessly await each new installation. (Especially now! Holy freakin’ cliffhanger, Batman!)
Rowland’s Ichiro Sano books are good, but sometimes I just want to slap Sano in the head, and it’s hard to get into the first third of each book. (If you decide to try them out, make sure you leave enough time to read the final 2/3 in one sitting, because chances are you won’t want to put it down at that point. Which is hard to believe considering how hard it is to get through the first third.)
The only series I’m currently reading which hasn’t been mentioned yet is by Rick Riordan (of Lightning Thief fame). However, I’m currently stuck halfway through a book which has a villain that I hate so much I don’t even want to read about him. Another lesson for us aspiring writers. 🙂
Period:The Name of the Rose, Umberto Eco
Non:Guards! Guards!,Terry Pratchett
I also have enjoyed the mid-century English writers, particularly Sayers, Tey, Allingham, Creasy, Marsh, Christie & Rinehart. I’ve also read a lot of Rex Stout and Erle Stanley Gardner. I think that Dorothy Gilman may have been sold a little short. Her books are highly entertaining and generally have humorous moments, but they are well-crafted and some of her non-Pollifax stories are quite substantial including “Caravan” whose overall theme is quite adult and especially “The Tightrope Walker” which is quite amazing in several respects. The only other sleuth I can think of who is anywhere nearly so mentally fragile would be “Monk” and I think Gilman’s amateur is characterized and empathetically handled in a far superior manner. The story revolves around a pair of manuscripts by an anonymous author, the first of which “The Maze in the Heart of the Castle” was completed, while the other was not. Then Gilman actually wrote that fantasy novel under that same name herself, remaining consistent with the details as they were described in the mystery. There may be other examples, but that’s the only instance I’ve heard where a manuscript is used as a plot device in one novel and is then written and published byu the same author, and both well-written I might add.
I second Xenophon’s The Name of the Rose, though I didn’t like other Eco works as much. And Sherlock Holmes is still great reading.
@Brennan: I like The Tightrope Walker too, and didn’t know she’d written the book it was about as well: thanks for mentioning that, I’ll go look for it!
Some more well-known European police-detective writers that are translated into English, but that I’ve not seen mentioned yet:
– Sjöwall and Wahlöö from Sweden wrote 10 increasingly society-critical detectives, see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sj%C3%B6wall_and_Wahl%C3%B6%C3%B6 ;
– Georges Simenon from France wrote a lot of stories about inspector Maigret, a commissioner with the french Sureté in Paris, see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maigret : they have a very french flavour to me, quite different from the english detectives;
– Appie Baantjer, who just died, was a Dutch policeman himself and wrote very many police-detective stories about inspector DeKok (to give him his English spelling, as the spelling in the Dutch books is a rude word in English but means ‘cook’): see http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/b/a-c-baantjer/ ;
– The popular Dutch writers Janwillem van de Wetering, who writes on Amsterdam police and Zen, both from personal experience ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Janwillem_van_de_Wetering ), and Robert van Gulik (the Judge Dee books, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_van_Gulik ) have already been mentioned by someone else, but I thought I’d add the links.
There are a lot of German ‘Krimi’ as well, but I don’t know any authors translated into English, as what we get here are mostly television series, and they’re not my favourites. The German take on this genre is different than the English, focusing more on police procedure and painstaking evidence-gathering than on a single brilliant detective solving the problem by brilliant deduction. Thus, it’s recognised as a separate genre in Holland: Krimi are German police-detectives, detectives are the English version, and thrillers the American. I couldn’t even find an English-language wikipedia-entry for them! For those who want to look further tese are a few names of very long-running ‘krimi’ TV-series: Tatort, Derrick, Der Alte, Siska, Kommissar Rex (police dog).
The “Police Procedural” story (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Police_procedural) is recognized genre in English. The Wikipedia article lists several such series. I don’t think that anyone has mentioned them
I have to agree with Mrgawe, Butcher’s Harry Dresden is a wonderful series. They start off good with the first book, and each story is better than the last. If he keeps that up it will be great. Butcher told a friend of mine that he has ideas for 27 stories. I don’t know if that is total and includes the short stories or just novels. The short story collection is due out in November. The next novel is out as usual in April. The title is “Ghoststory”. Appropriate, considering the end of the last novel.
I also agree. that Rowland’s Ichiro Sano books are good, Though somewhat uneven. Some are better than others.
Another fun series in the fantasy mystery sub genre is Glen Cook’s Garrett series. Even the titles are fun.
The Likes of “Sweet Silver Blues” and “Cruel Zinc Melodies”.
I can’t argue with any one who listed Conan Doyle’s Holmes. I’ve been a Holmes fan since my older brother read me “Study in Scarlett” and The “Speckled Band”. Holmes was one of the few things we agreed on when we were kids. As popular as Holmes has always been, Doyle thought the “White Company” was his best.
I don’t think I saw anyone list Tony Hillerman’s “Joe Leaphorn” series. They are very good.
This relates better to historicals but I think what we’ve been doing in these exercises is to point out the stars of the orphanned step-child genres. In my opinion, Louis L’Amour deserves a mention in any discussion of historically correct fiction. It’s my understanding that for most of his Westerns, he would research the local history and walk the ground before writing the book. He also searched out many of the surviving notables of the period and interviewed them at length. He wrote one out-and-out historical “The Walking Drum” and several books related to the Sackett cycle are set in England, primarily at sea, and/or well before before 1776. His writing is so good that i can’t read Zane Grey anymore without cringing.