I have a book bleg. I’m going on a trip where I’ll be flying a lot and will generally have a lot of free time. I’d like to read a book rather than play Bejeweled. My favorite airplane books are Chandler and Hammet but I’ve read all of their books, twice in most cases. What else along those lines would you recommend?
I’ve read a lot of Elmore Leonard, so could do another one of those. I just read two John D. MacDonald books and I liked them too. Ideally, I’d like something new. Any recommendations? Please no serial killers, no sci-fi, no Stieg Larson, no nonfiction, nothing too Victorian. I probably want a mystery/noir type book but if there’s some book not in that vein that’s a great airplane read, I’ll try that.
Thanks in advance!
Update. Unrelated, but doesn’t merit a post of its own: what’s the name of the movie where the sequel is called “Blah 2: The Blahing” where Blah is the name of the first movie?
Cervantes
You’d probably like the Nero Wolfe books. Check them out if you haven’t already. You need to read a couple of them so you get a sense of the characters, but they go down quickly. The main character is actually Manhattan.
Michael J.
“I Am That” by Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj. Extremely readable, amusing even. Good for slow reading, with lots to ponder. Highly recommended.
Tom
Robert B Parker Spenser for Hire series. Reading candy great for plane rides.
dmbeaster
Anything by John le Carre. Dont know if espionage novels fit your Chandler/Hammet genre preference, but they seem similar enough.
DougJ
@dmbeaster:
I just watched The Constant Gardener and thought it was good, so I thought I might try le Carre again (he didn’t take the first time I tried).
Gordon, the Big Express Engine
American Tabloid by James Ellroy
Stephen Kings JFK book was really good as well
Joey Maloney
@Tom: Seconding the Robert B. Parker (though only the first dozen or so, up to and including A Catskill Eagle) – and then picking up with the continuation of the franchise after Parker’s death by Ace Atkins.
catclub
A Short History of a Small Place.
Or Dante. or Proust. Or Joyce.
marc_fields
How about Ross MacDonald? Another classic American mystery writer along with Hammett and Chandler, and a contemporary of John D.
Shakezula
Lawrence Block, Thomas Perry before the year 2000.
another lurker
The Toby Peters series by Stuart Kaminsky.
JMG
If you can find them, as he’s been out of print for awhile, try the works of Ross Thomas. Spy stuff, political corruption stories, and a host of memorable characters. “Chinaman’s Chance” is the best of them, IMO.
MattF
There’s Ross MacDonald, whose PI, Lew Archer, is a direct tribute to Chandler. Very readable stuff, somewhat psychologically inclined– in that the solution to the ‘problem’ in a given novel generally requires diving into the past.
ETA: As JMG says. MacDonald’s later novels get somewhat labyrinthine, IMO.
JN
Alan Furst. He’s written about a dozen of novels that take place in Europe just prior to and in the early years of WW2. They could be loosely categorized as spy thrillers, but much less James Bond and much more realism. Great characters, gripping stories.
Tom Levenson
I know this is exactly what you said you didn’t want, but Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel is fantastic. Second the recommendation on Nero Wolf. If you haven’t read the Alan Furst works, you’re in for a treat — thrillers more than mysteries set in the penumbra of WW II. Completely off your radar, but I and mine have dived into the Patrick O’Brian Napolonic War navy books feature Capt. Aubrey and Dr. Maturin. A 20 volume novel, just astonishing. (I read them before they became famous, due to sea-faring in laws.)
Oddball detective stories: Van Gulik’s Judge Dee mysteries set in ancient China. Emma Lathem’s banker-turned-detective series, really fun. Van de Wetering Amsterdam mysteries. Really good: the Berlin Noir trilogy by Philip Kerr. True hard boiled detection in Nazi Berlin (both pre and during the war.
BGinCHI
You should really try the Marseilles Trilogy, by Jean-Claude Izzo (pubbed by Europa Editions).
The first one is “Total Chaos” and it’s an amazing noir. Great food and wine along the way too, as well as lots of intrigue. You WILL want to go to Marseilles after reading these.
One of the great noir series I’ve ever read.
sharl
I’ve recently been wondering what books I read as a teen/young adult might be worth reading again with older eyes. “A Wrinkle In Time” is one I have in mind; I was utterly taken by it in my youth, but don’t know if it is adult-friendly. Maybe that would be something you could consider for your in-flight reading?
BGinCHI
@Tom Levenson: These are great suggestions, too.
Tom, have you read the Izzo series?
nanapple
James Patterson’s Alex Cross series, in order, from the beginning. Graham Greene. Patricia Cornwell’s Scarpetta series. Again, in order, from the beginning.
ixnay
Jo Nesbo. Norwegian crime thrillers. Harry Hole is his detective. Try the ‘Red Breast.’ Any of John D’s Travis McGee novels are great. Carl Hiaasen, dark and really funny too.
vheidi
Alan Furst, Joseph Kanon – both write about European spies during WWII, Furst is lighter, easier read. Kanon also wrote Los Alamos, which I just finished- quite good, takes place as they are building and about to test the bomb. It’s quite long.
ETA I see Tom got there before me
charles pierce
Given your apparent tastes, anything by the great George V. Higgins. Start with The Friends Of Eddie Coyle and go from there.
Also, kudos to whoever name-checked TR Pearson above. The Neely Trilogy is essential.
Gin & Tonic
I liked the Martin Beck mysteries/police procedurals by Sjowall/Wahloo (sp?) although they may be too Swedish for your taste. There’s ten in all, and they’re good to read in order because of the way they develop the Beck character.
Kathleen
David Baldacci, the King and Maxwell series.
Wag
@DougJ:
Start with an early book. The Spy Who Came in From the Cold is a good place to start.
aimai
@DougJ: You have to really settle in to task with the early Le Carre because its so complicated and nuanced. I’d say a plane trip was a great time to go all the way back and start with Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy or the others. I read so fast that I don’t like to take short books (Elmore leonard length) on trips. I just plow through them in an hour or so. For murder mysteries I love Dorothy Sayers, Robert van Gulick, and some others but I doubt if they would appeal. Have you thought about trying some big, sprawling, non fiction?
plaindave
Infinite Jest by David Foster Wallace. Good for several very long flights.
MattF
@MattF: Oops. Ross Thomas and Ross MacDonald are two different Rosses. Ross MacDonald is the noir one.
call_me_ishmael
The Hieronymus Bosch series. Lots of modernish LA noir type stuff that evokes the general style of Hammet or Chandler.
I loved Travis McGee 30 years ago, but it was pretty dated when I revisited it recently. Really pointed out how times have changed in the last 50 years though.
Also, if you liked John Macdonald, you might try anything by Carl Hiassen (he wrote the foreward to the modern reissues of the McGee series). Very Florida centric, but hysterically funny and often quite topical.
Gabe
The Phryne Fisher Murder Mysteries by Kerry Greenwood. Fiction but very well researched and a Mary Sue protagonist who isn’t grating. Up to 20 books and all nice fun quick reads which won’t require more from you than the plane leaves you to give
DougJ
@aimai:
I’m a slow reader. (As you might guess, I like to try to remember every good line for future use as a post title.)
Frankensteinbeck
My books, obviously!
…okay, no. They’re not mysteries at all. Someone suggested the Nero Wolf books above, and let me second, third, and fourth that. Rex Stout’s Nero Wolf short stories are the classics of the genre, fun and fascinating and with lots of personality. An interesting alternative are the Garrett PI books by Glen Cook, fantasy tributes to Nero Wolf. They’re a little more fantasy than mystery, but I would certainly still call them mysteries. Read the real thing first.
@catclub:
Joyce. Seriously. Joyce. You’re recommending James Joyce, the English language’s worst author, the crowning demonstration that the literary academics who decide on ‘the classics’ are more interested in being snooty than actual writing quality.
Yellowdog
Check out John Dickson Carr/Carter Dickson. Some of his many books are available on Kindle Unlimited.
cmorenc
If you might be into non-fiction, Neil Degrasse Tyson’s Death by Black Hole is a collection of wonderfully thought-provoking ten to twelve page essays about various cosmic subjects, no painful math or advanced technical knowledge required, yet still very deeply substantive and entertaining. The book title is taken from a wonderful essay on what exactly would happen to your body as you fell into a black hole – turns out the gravitational force differential between your feet (closer to the center of the hole) and your head (farther) would become enough to pull you apart as you transformed into a human strand of spaghetti. Every essay in the book is just as entertainingly thought-provoking and informative as the titular essay.
Omnes Omnibus
I have to second the recommendations for Alan Furst’s books.
narya
Eliot Pattison’s novels set in Tibet are awesome.
Daniel Abraham’s Long Price Quartet and Dagger and Coin series are not in your genre wheelhouse but are fabulous.
Peale
I’ve been enjoying the Procession of the Dead. It’s definitely plane-worthy. Some murder, some Inca dreams, some gangster, some nefarious city filled with evil types.
SiubhanDuinne
Shine 2: The Shining
http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shine_(film)
http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Shining_(film)
aimai
Oh, I do have a great suggestion for you if you like Hammet etc… Eugene Izzy He died way too young, and in the middle of a great career writing dark and funny detective style novels set in Chicago. I plowed through all of his books at one go and was so saddened by his death. Another great book, but in a different vein, is Ghosts of Belfast. About an IRA hitman who is haunted by 12 ghosts of people he has killed–until he can resolve their rage and get their vengeance for them.
Denny
Sounds like Don Winslow might be a good choice for you. I’ve read “The Winter of Frankie Machine”, “Savages” and “The Power of the Dog” and all were excellent. They are all crime dramas set in Southern California. “Savages” was made into a movie though I never saw it so I don’t know how good the adaptation was.
DougJ
@SiubhanDuinne:
Ha! I want to say it’s Sliver 2: The Slivering but I know that’s an SNL joke.
Beeb
John Sandford’s “Prey” series. Fair warning, though. You have to read them in order.
the Conster
Louise Penny’s Inspector Gamache series are great. They take place in Montreal and the eastern townships of Quebec. The first in the series (9, maybe?) is Still Life. She’s been totally off the radar, until recently.
Mnemosyne (iPhone)
I’m surprised there’s only one recommendation for Dorothy Sayers — she would seem to fit your bill almost perfectly. Not Victorian in the least, and some very tricky (if slightly gimmicky) puzzles.
FlipYrWhig
I thought “The [Blah]ing” formula was a reference to “The Bloodening” on The Simpsons, but I have no idea where The Simpsons got it.
Sister Rail Gun of Warm Humanitarianism
No sci-fi? Poo.
Everything mystery I’ve read recently is either cozy or SF/F (Scalzi’s Lock In, near-future procedural, early Harry Dresden series, noir with wizards)
I’m currently reading a thriller by Wesley Chu that came in my Hugo packet. Kind of a secret agent thing with a smart-ass alien along for the ride.
lgerard
Any of Stephen Dobyn’s “Saratoga” books would do the trick. Not exactly noirish, but quite entertaining.
Then there are the classic Noir authors….David Goodis ,Cornell Woolrich, and Charles Willeford
Belafon
Last God Standing by Michael Boatman, who you might recognize from Spin City.
Imagine God decides it’s time for Humans to be in charge of themselves so he has himself born as a black man who wants to be a standup comedian. It does a pretty good job of mixing the different pantheons and posing questions about the relationship between gods and humans. Maybe Fox could make it into a series after Lucifer is over.
Angry Bingo
James Ellroy is a total douche (with some justification, I’m sure–his mother was murdered when he was a boy). but I would suggest Clandestine, The Black Dahlia, LA Confidential, and White Jazz, in that order. Great if you love noir novels, especially about mid-century Los Angeles. (Long-time reader, infrequent commenter. Be gentle…)
MattF
Also, for relatively quick reads, Simenon is good. You can just plow through a half dozen.
Benw
@sharl: I’m rereading a lot of those to talk about them with my 11 year old who is a voracious reader. A Wrinkle in Time totally holds up, IMO, as do the Prydain books, Rats of NIMH, and Catcher in the Rye, to name a few off the top of my head.
If you can handle some light sci-fi, DougJ, both Snow Crash and Ready Player One are fun, easy reads.
Geeno
Would “Blah II: the Blahening” be a Rick Santorum film?
jluba
I really enjoyed Philip Kerr’s Berlin Noir trilogy. Detective stories of Pre-and post war Berlin.
Sister Rail Gun of Warm Humanitarianism
@Mnemosyne (iPhone): I figured Sayers would be to cozy-like for his taste. If not, Doug, by all means! I’ll third the Sayers.
Mnemosyne (iPhone)
@sharl:
I somehow managed to read that series backwards — I started with “A Swiftly Tilting Planet” instead. Not sure why, except that the description sounded more interesting to me.
I re-read “The Twenty-One Balloons” recently, which is one of my all-time favorite world building kids’ books. I also tracked down a copy of “The Incredible Umbrella,” which is not a kids’ book, but is made for book lovers.
“Bit of a fey quality, I fancy.”
Missouri Buckeye
Aw. The least you caould have done is link to a video of “Mystery Achievement“.
Sheesh.
Percysowner
Not exactly a mystery but Guards!Guards! by Terry Pratchett is a riff on noir mysteries. It’s funny as all get out, but it parodies a lot of the noir tropes. It’s also the first book in the City Watch part of Discworld so if you like it you can continue with that part of the series. Since I love Discworld I’ll suggest it.
marianne19
Not mentioned yet: Patricia Highsmith. Elmore Leonard, Dennis Lehane’s Kenzie and Gennaro series. , Also Scott Turow’s Pleading Guilty (caper story not courtroom).
Culture of Truth
A good modern book fitting your criteria is “Fatherland” by Robert Harris.
I’ve read Dobyns Saratoga books. They’re pretty good.
John
If you like Elmore Leonard, you might like Carl Hiaasen. I really liked Sick Puppy. I second the James Ellroy recommendation, although I’d start with the LA Quartet. Also, you might try Walter Mosley’s Easy Rawlins mysteries. Start with Devil in a Blue Dress and proceed from there.
AliceBlue
@Gordon, the Big Express Engine:
I second the recommendation of Stephen King’s JFK book (actual title is 11/22/63). It’s a little hefty, but a ripping good page turner.
Dave
Check out the Parker series by Richard Stark (nom de plume of Donald Westlake). Parker is a professional thief, and the books are of the heist genre. They are quick reads; Westlake uses a very spartan style that suits the character & genre perfectly.
sparrow
Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries! Set in Melbourne in the 1920s, and since it’s a modern writer, the heroine is made appropriately feminist and ball-busting. Very easy reads but not brain-dead either.
There is also a fun TV series of the same name.
John
Apparently, I don’t know how to close a tag.
Tom Traubert
Greg Ives.
jacel
Read the Isaac Sidel novels by Jerome Charyn, of which the first is Blue Eyes. The focus character, a ping-pong playing detective, is quite compelling. But be very sure of reading the series in order.
lawguy
Ross MacDonald as good as Hammett and better than John D. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ross_Macdonald. The movie Haraper with Paul Newman was based on one of his books.
Mnemosyne (iPhone)
@Sister Rail Gun of Warm Humanitarianism:
I was surprised at how un-cozy Sayers really is. Circumcision, lesbians, gigolos, drug dealers, people living together outside of marriage — it’s all in there.
Elmo
It’s urban fantasy, not sci-fi, so I can recommend the Dresden Files series with a clear conscience. Wizard detective in Chicago. Great stuff.
RSA
For light reading with a hard-boiled flavor, I’ll second the Harry Bosch novels by Michael Connelly; you might also like the Dave Robicheaux novels by James Lee Burke. If you haven’t tried a Reacher novel by Lee Child, they’re fun popcorn mystery adventures with an entertainingly bleak anti-hero. I like the novels of Thomas Perry, such as the Jane Whitefield series.
boatboy_srq
@DougJ: Ditto on LeCarre. Constant Gardener (the book) is amazing – the bits that get filled in (that the movie missed)….
Scott Peterson
The John Rain books by Barry Eisler aren’t in the Chandler/Hammett mode but are great airplane fare. They’re action-adventure mysteries about a Japanese-American ex-CIA agent turned professional assassin and are quite although not at all obtrusively political. (Eisler himself is ex-CIA and has often written about politics from a very leftward POV.) Very highly recommended.
DanaS
Dennis Lehane – Mystic River or Gone, Baby Gone
Jim, Foolish Literalist
Ian Rankin’s Inspector Rebus novels make great books for long flights. I wouldn’t consider Tinker, Tailor an airplane book, but a great vacation read. I can’t imagine reading it without TT and Smiley’s People (probably my favorite Le Carré, the (Secret) Lion in Winter) as background (and most of Le Carré’s books), but I love The Secret Pilgrim, a book of short stories about Smiley’s world, and his successor. The most recent (?) A Delicate Truth is highly cromulent to the discussion of domestic spying and the Patriot Act.
Mnemosyne (iPhone)
Also, too, if anyone wants to recommend escapist books for a very bright nine-year-old girl, I’m collecting titles. So far, I have the aforementioned “Twenty-One Balloons” and “From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler” on my list.
retr2327
If you’re looking for something not too light, not too dark, and not too far-fetched, I like George Pelecanos. Most of his are set in Washington D.C., and involve race/class relations and music. OTOH, if you’re into over-the-top southern gothic, then James Lee Burke is a good one.
qwerty42
@dmbeaster: One of Le Carre’s books actually was a murder mystery. A Murder of Quality I think. I read that after the “Tinker, Tailor” series and “The Spy who came in from the cold” and it was upbeat and cheerful in comparison.
burnspbesq
Walter Mosely’s Easy Rollins series. This is detective literature, not detective fiction.
Scott Turow.
Tony Hillerman.
Dick Wolf, the creator of “Law & Order,” has written a couple of counter-terrorism procedurals that I enjoyed.
dr. luba
Another vote here for Nero Wolfe. The books are marvelous, don’t have to be read in any order (the protagonists do not age, only the city does), and are eminently re-readable.
I am not the least bit a fan of the fantasy genre, but began reading Terry Pratchett’s Discworld series a year or two back. Funny as hell, more social commentary than adventure. Highly recommend if you like trenchant humor. Sort of Sci-Fi, but not really. He reminds me a bit of Douglas Adams, in a very good way.
And a big yes to Hiaassen and Mosely, both.
scav
@Mnemosyne (iPhone): Large chunks of Murder Must Advertise are grand about the role of advertising, pretense and consumption in society. Without wallowing in dour preachieness.
Rand Careaga
@Tom Levenson: I warmly second the recommendation of the magnificent Wolf Hall even though it falls outside of Doug J’s criteria; likewise (and far more in line with what he had in mind) Philip Kerr’s Berlin Noir trilogy and the half-dozen follow-up novels he’s published since then. I mean, Philip Marlowe in late-thirties Berlin (and later in postwar Argentina, where Eva Peron lets the protagonist cop a feel)–what’s not to like?
Wiesman
The “Movie 2: The Blahening” pattern I think is a reference to “Highlander 2: The Quickening” which was a truly horrible sequel to a pretty good (but overrated) movie. But that doesn’t exactly match the criteria you specified, so I dunno.
Aardvark Cheeselog
@ixnay:
Came here to say this (though I would have figured out the alt-num combo to get the o with the line through it, that’s the kind of guy I am). But since you already said it, I’ll just second the motion.
One thing the Dragon Tattoo books did for me was open my eyes to the fact that gritty Scandinavian crime novels are a thing.
See also.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@John: There’s an article at NY Mag that I haven’t gotten around to reading yet, but the author knew just how to get my attention:
I love Hiassen.
MattF
@dr. luba: If you’re thinking of reading a Nero Wolfe book, check the publication date. If it’s in the 1930’s, go for it.
Rekster
@Tom Traubert: Greg Iles! Must read the Penn Cage books in order!
DougJ
@Wiesman:
It must be that, I must be misremembering.
mai naem mobile
I was going to say LeCarre first as well. Reading candy : Ken Follett, Robert Ludlum( he wrote a lot more than the Bourne stuff), Dick Francis and Desmond.Bagley, Jeffrey Archer.
Kevans
Used to be hooked on thrillers, mysteries, etc. but tired of them as they seemed to be the same thing over and over. Recently needed an “easy read” for a long trip and read I Am Pilgrim by Terry Hayes. Best thriller I’ve read in years, didn’t want it to end. Highly recommend.
Culture of Truth
I also recently read this noirish story set in Russia with a true anti-hero. It’s dark, but readable, if you like that sort of thing.
Volk’s Game
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/06/24/AR2007062401378.html
Sister Rail Gun of Warm Humanitarianism
@Mnemosyne (iPhone): Considering that Christie is considered cozy these days….
And don’t forget Sayers’ take on PTSD. That kind of jumped out at me, especially in The Unpleasantness at the Bellona Club.
Rekster
CJ Box Joe Pickett series, must read in order. Love them.
http://danielsilvabooks.com/ These are quite good. Must read these in order also.
JPL
Although it has been mentioned, the Chief Inspector Armand Gamache series by Louise Penny is good if you like strong character development. A little grittier is Benjamin Black’s Quirke series. Benjamin Black is the pen name of John Banville.
aimai
@Shakezula: Oh I love Thomas Perry!
dr. luba
A particular favorite mystery series not yet mentioned (although it might be by the time I finish typing) is Donna Leon’s Commissario Brunetti series. Set in Venice, and mostly about art. Should probably be read in order (people age in this one), and very enjoyable. The opposite of noir.
And Ruth Rendell……mysteries, psychological, well written, not very cosy.
SiubhanDuinne
Completely O/T, but Sepp Blatter has resigned as FIFA President!
Sister Rail Gun of Warm Humanitarianism
@Mnemosyne (iPhone): Ooh, Frankweiler. Love that book.
If you can find a copy of The Hero from Otherwhere, grab it. Another favorite from the children’s shelves that hasn’t been visited by the Suck Fairy is Enchantress from the Stars.
dr. luba
@MattF: I’ve read them all, twice (at least). I got into the series when they were republished back in the 90s (I think) with intros from contemporary mystery writers, telling how they had discovered Wolfe and how it had affected them. I read them more or less in order, as they were published that way.
But I’ve always though that it was kind of cool the way that Archie and Nero never age, but the world around them does. The house with the library, the yellow chair and the orchids is a never-changing bit of an ever-changing world.
scav
@SiubhanDuinne: ! Sepp Splatter!
dirk
Richard Stark’s (Donald Westlake) Parker series. The Hunter is the first.
Joe R. Lansdale’s Hap and Leonard series. Savage Season is the first.
John
@Culture of Truth: The thing I love about “Fatherland” is that it is gripping even though you know what the mystery is from the very beginning.
NotMax
There’s always good old reliable Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.
Neither of these first two matches 100% of your strictures, but both are well-written and intensely riveting. Everyone whom I’ve foisted them upon agrees that they fall squarely into “can’t put it down” territory.
The Alienist Caleb Carr
Undaunted Courage: Meriwether Lewis, Thomas Jefferson, and the Opening of the American West by Stephen Ambrose
Also too:
Blue Highways by William Least Heat-Moon
Dance of the Tiger by Björn Kurtén
Sarum by Edward Rutherfurd
catclub
@SiubhanDuinne: wow
What Have the Romans Ever Done for Us?
If you like dark page turners Bernard Cornwell’s Sharpe series are that. They’re kind of a low-rent, Army based analog of the Patrick O’Brian novels set in the same era – they feature an Army company fighting in the Napoleonic wars in Spain and Portugal. They have no where near the literary merit of O’Brian (I cannot stress this enough – O’Brian is legit literature, Cornwell is pulp fiction) but do offer lots of action and are impossible to put down once you start them. Many of the books feature femme fatal characters so in that sense they’re kind of noirish.
BGinCHI
@Frankensteinbeck: This is a really fucking stupid comment.
Seriously.
fronobulax
Try “Learning to Swim” by Sara J. Henry. A nice mystery by one of my high school classmates.
MattF
@dr. luba: I read them in grad school– and now and then in my real life. They start off spectacularly good, and then gradually peter out, IMO.
Cheap Jim, formerly Cheap Jim
If you like dark contemporary stuff, go Swedish. Hakan Nesser has written a number of police stories set in a fictional European country. There’s all kinds of nastiness in there, set against a social-welfare state. Start with The Mind’s Eye, involving a man who can’t remember if he killed his wife during a drunken blackout.
Or you could check out some Jim Thompson. Not mystery so much, but lots of seamy noir unpleasantness.
Mnemosyne (iPhone)
@Sister Rail Gun of Warm Humanitarianism:
This is a hobbyhorse I ride pretty often, but I will always maintain that movie censorship (and later TV censorship) give us a very odd and distorted idea about what literature and plays were like from the 1930s forward because most people have only seen the sanitized movie or TV versions.
Frankensteinbeck
@Mnemosyne (iPhone):
Uh… in that case, I *can* recommend my books, yes! At 9, the only one she’s ready for is probably the light and fluffy Please Don’t Tell My Parents I’m A Supervillain.
SiubhanDuinne
@catclub:
Zandar has a new thread about it upstairs.
SiubhanDuinne
@scav:
:-)
Paul in KY
‘Soldier in the Great War’ was a damn good book.
Huggy Bear
Let Me Off at the Top!: My Classy Life and Other Musings by Ron Burgundy
Perfect for any occasion. Mandatory for any classy occasion.
NotMax
And of course, no soon hit the publish button than remembered The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco and John Mortimer’s Rumpole series.
aimai
I think no one has mentioned Inspector Zen–those are fun little novels.http://www.amazon.com/Ratking-Aurelio-Mystery-Michael-Dibdin/dp/0679768548/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1433264749&sr=8-1&keywords=inspector+zen
by Michael Dibdin. Don’t know the order they were published but you can find out on Amazon. There is something else, tickling the back of my mind, that no one else has mentioned but for some reason I’m unable to remember. There is a great, dark (very dark) series set in Apartheid South Africa with an Afrikaans and a “Kaffir” hero partner. But I can’tfind it or its name at the moment.
NotMax
@Mnemosyne
Bowdler trod that path beforehand.
catclub
@Mnemosyne (iPhone): Redwall series I think was around then. Dealing with Dragons series
was also fun. Dealing with Dragons had a lot of good feminism.
Melissa
Second the Louise Penney suggestion: I read three or four at a time, then have to put them down for a bit. Ngiao Marsh is good, also many of Dick Francis’ books are pretty good reads – and not all are about horse racing. Sue Grafton has a whole series that could keep you busy for a long time.
pamelabrown53
Not yet recommended: P.D. James, Inspector Adam Dagliesh (sp) series. Love both the character and the story. Easy airplane reading but with decent writing.
cckids
@Mnemosyne (iPhone):
When my daughter was nine, she was devouring David Eddings’ Belgariad and Mallorean series (total of 9 books), also anything by Tamora Pierce, (especially her Lady Knight books) she writes wonderful female leads who are smart & independent, with great animal companions to boot.
Harry Potter, Artemis Fowl, the Septimus Heap series, the Warrior books (cat-centric clans), Garth Nix’s Keys of the Kingdom series. The Kite Fighters, Bridge to Terebithia, the Anne of Green Gables books.
And, of course, Pratchett’s Wee Free Men.
I’ve got lots more, but I’ll stop now :)
I spent a few years frantically reading lots of YA-type books, trying to keep ahead of my daughter; she was reading at an 11th grade level in 1st grade & I wanted to be able to either steer her clear of some books or at least be able to talk about them from an informed point.
Miss Bianca
Along the lines of Stuart Neville’s _Ghosts of Belfast_ would be a collection called _Belfast Noir_, edited by him and Adrian McKinty. Features a really creepy Lee Child story, if youre into him.
dedc79
Inspector Montalbano series. – Sicilian mysteries, easy/fun, sometimes dark, sometimes humorous reads.
Elizabelle
@call_me_ishmael: Seconding Michael Connelly’s Harry Bosch series. Great sense of place with LA, and psychological.
His non-Bosch books are good too. Void Moon, etc.
DaveEO
You can’t go too far wrong with Neil Stephensen. Great books that are well thought-out, have a bit of mystery to them, and are also funny.
Plus, they’re usually really long (his latest, I’ve heard, clocks in at around 1000 pages).
Start with Cryptonomicon.
Mnemosyne (iPhone)
@cckids:
I’m not sure if she likes science fiction or fantasy, but it’s probably never too early to start. I’m trying to steer away from books with tragic deaths in them (like “Terebithia”) because this is the niece whose father has lung cancer and he isn’t doing well. So books with already-dead loved ones or loved ones who die early on are okay, but tragic death plot twists at the end are right out.
Sister Rail Gun of Warm Humanitarianism
@Mnemosyne (iPhone): (New rock because link limits)
I haven’t revisited What the Witch Left, but I have very fond memories of it despite losing the book years ago.
And add Please Don’t Tell My Parents I’m a Supervillain to your list. It really is wonderful. *waves at Frankensteinbeck* I push it on everyone.
At 9, I was reading Andre Norton and Doc Smith. Norton’s juveniles have dodged the Suck Fairy better than Smith has.
BrianM
The Amos Walker mysteries by Loren Estleman are very much in the Chandler vein. Set in Detroit, with a decent sense of place. They decline in quality over time. At least the first (/Motor City Blues/) is available on Kindle Unlimited.
The Matthew Scudder series, about an alcoholic (of the life-destroying sort, not just a heavy drinker) unlicensed PI in New York is good once past the first book. By Lawrence Block. The series declines as well, somewhere around /A Dance at the Slaughterhouse/.
K.C. Constantine’s Mario Balzik series also has a great sense of place: blue collar rustbelt Pennsylvania with a strong ethnic milieu (mainly Serbs and Italians). Plus great dialogue: not exaggerated/mannered like Leonard, but just as distinctive. The main character is a sheriff, not a PI. The series… wait for it… declines around /Cranks and Shadows/. /The Man Who Liked Slow Tomatoes/ stands out.
Of the three, I’d go with Constantine.
Elizabelle
@pamelabrown53: Yup. The late, great PD James. Sympathetic killers, on occasion.
I liked JK Rowling’s two mysteries, written as “Robert Galbraith“, introducing private investigator Cormoran Strike and his girl Friday, Robin.
Preposterous plot in the second book (The Silkworm), but London and the publishing world, sharply observed. Vic in the first book (The Cuckoo’s Calling) was a top fashion model; celebrity and its perils on display. Great sense of London and daily life in UK.
mawado
If you want a little comedy mixed in with your mysteries, I loved the Fletch series and Flynn from Gregory MacDonald. The Dortmunder novels by Donald Westlake are caper novels that were funny the first time, and somehow, more funny the farther we get from the time they are set in.
Second the Aubery series. Great historical sea stories.
Patrick Thompson
Nero Wolfe, by all means, and yes to Van Gulik’s Judge Dee, and also maybe a stack of Simenon’s Maigret. Or, you could try Denis Johnson (National Book Award for Tree of Smoke, Pulitzer finalist for same and also Train Dreams): a couple of his more recent lean toward noir (Nobody Move) and Graham Greene territory (The Laughing Monsters).
Elizabelle
Props on the call-out to Chrissie Hynde. Go Pretenders. Still one of the best debut albums ever. Listened to (OK, blasted) it in the car a few times last week.
pajaro
You might want to try Child 44, by Tim Rob Smith (set in Soviet Union) or The Imperfectionists, by Tom Rachman (set in Rome).
JPL
@Elizabelle: I thought the Bosch series on Amazon was good.
dad23g
James M. Cain is an excellent noir writer. Margaret Atwood is an excellent writer: The Handmaid’s Tale, The Blind Assassin, The Penelopiad, all excellent (not noir, but a vacation is the perfect time to branch out). Early LeCarre is excellent (before The Little Drummer Girl, which is just ok), but you need to start at the beginning, as most of them are part of a story line (other than A Small Town in Germany as I recall); the Spy Who Came in From the Cold is one of the great dark espionage books of all time; heck, all of them are pretty dark; is there such a thing as noir espionage? Len Deighton’s trilogy Berlin Game, Mexico Set and London Match is also very good espionage.
Chris
@BGinCHI:
“Corsican Honor” by William Heffernan was set in the same city. The plot is nothing extraordinary, but what’s nice is the setting. The main characters are U.S. intelligence people and their allies in the Corsican mob, and the story jumps back and forth between the post-WW2 reconstruction era (when the CIA first got a foothold and the mob was eager to get in on the Cold War politics), the 1980s era of hunting “red” terrorist cells, and the 1990s era of the war on drugs. Been looking for other books that tread on the same ground for a while, since I think Marseille is quite possibly the best city in the world to hold these kinds of thrillers.
Jon Land’s series of Ben and Danielle series is another series where I’m crazy about the setting and the basic concept (the two main characters being a Palestinian and an Israeli detective), just not the execution, which rather boringly follows the usual conspiracy storylines.
Paul in KY
@cckids: Dragon Riders of Pern series (unless that’s too old for her at this point).
Edit: See this should have gone to Mnemoysne
Jon Keffer
I liked Tony Hillerman’s stuff, too. But it may not be exactly up your alley. They are decent mysteries, but they have a decidedly Western angle. They follow a pair of tribal police on modern reservations in the Southwest. So, there’s a bit of a different cultural feel to them than other mystery novels.
NotMax
@Menmosyne
Possibly Zenna Hederson’s The People stories?
jackmac
Anything by Carl Hiaasen. Inventive ways of killing off characters and the recurring character of Skink (a former Florida governor) is a hoot. (That’s also the name of one of Hiassen’s kids books — which are also very good reads).
Randy P
Ever read any Lawrence Block? He has a few very different series. The Matthew Scudder books are probably closest to the noir stuff, but you might enjoy the dark sense of humor he shows in other books, especially short stories.
And if you go for humor in your mysteries, I I recommend Donald Westlake.
kc
Donald Westlake, if you haven’t already read him. Any of the Dortmunder books.
NotMax
Zenna Henderson, not Hederson.
(no edit function.)
kc
Anything by James M. Cain.
cckids
@Mnemosyne (iPhone):
Ah. Then I’ll double down on my Tamora Pierce rec – maybe her Circle of Magic books. They obviously have magic, but not the Tinkerbell kind, and all the characters have had losses/troubles, but they acknowledge the pain & live on . Will depend on your niece’s personality & likings.
Chris
@Chris:
Boy, that was eloquently put, wasn’t it?
I’m sorry; I’d edit it, but FYWP is being all FYWPish and not letting me.
Ajabu
As some one who’s read all Elmore Leonard and Sandford’s Prey series I have to agree with several other commenters on Michael Connelly. I’d even go beyond the great Bosch series and read some of his others. (Lincoln Lawyer series,and the standalones: The Poet, The Scarecrow, Chasing the Dime)
Connelly is definitely the contemporary heir to Chandler and knows the hell out of L.A.
I came to Connelly from the Clint Eastwood film “Blood Work” based on one of his novels.
Interestingly enough, when Connelly revisits the same characters in a later book, one character is complaining that Clint Eastwood made him the villain in the movie – when he wasn’t – and that Eastwood “is too damn old to play Terry anyway”.
Art imitates life imitates art…
Mnemosyne (iPhone)
@Paul in KY:
There’s some weird sex in those, so not yet. I may get my other niece (who’s 15) the Dragonsong trilogy. There’s a little sex in the third one, but she’s old enough.
cckids
@Paul in KY: There is a fair amount of sexytime goings-on in Pern. Depends on the kid & parents.
ETA – what Mnemosyne said.
piratedan
Lawrence Block has been mentioned, but I would enthusiastically recommend the Burglar books and the Keller series of stories. JA Jance has a decent series out about a female sheriff in rural Arizona, the Joanna Brady stories. Also second the Hiaasen novels. If you’re looking for something off the beaten path, I would recommend the Chesbro series featuring Mongo the Magnificent (former circus dwarf turned PI). For detective noir in a fantasy setting, the Garrett PI series by Glen Cook is also quite fun.
pamelabrown53
@Elizabelle:
It appears we have similar tastes in music and books! I’m going to read your comments more carefully from now on.
karen marie
@Dave: I second Westlake. His comic crime capers are second to none. His non crime novels are well worth a visit as well – esp Adios Sheherezade. And of course there is always PG Wodehouse who never grows old.
Steeplejack
@aimai:
You are thinking of the Kramer and Zondi novels by James McClure: The Steam Pig (1971), The Caterpillar Cop (1972), The Gooseberry Fool (1974) et seq. They were very good when I read them way back when, but I wonder if they would be dated now.
I also like the Aurelio Zen novels by Michael Dibdin: Ratking (1988), Vendetta (1990), Cabal (1992) et seq. For potential readers: Zen is a detective for the national police, and each novel is set in a different city or region of Italy where he gets called in. Lots of atmosphere, both scenery and corruption, etc.
kc
Has anyone else read any Alan Williams? I remember some of these as being terrific reads.
Steeplejack
I second retr2327’s recommendation above for George Pelecanos, particularly the Derek Strange series: Right as Rain (2001), Hell to Pay (2002), Soul Circus (2003) and Hard Revolution (2004). There is a fifth one, What It Was (2012), but I haven’t read it and am a little leery, what with it coming so late after the others.
Strange is a middle-aged black private detective and former police officer in Washington, D.C., and the books, beside being damn good stories, have a lot of the dense subtext that went into The Wire (on which Pelecanos was a writer and producer).
Randy P
@burnspbesq: Mosely very much yes. Not just the Easy Rawlins books either. And how could I have forgotten Hillerman and his Navajo detectives?
Sort of related to that culturally, or geographically anyway, is the trilogy of Anasazi Mysteries by Kathleen and Michael Gear
Elizabelle
Was the movie you’re thinking of “The Conjuring”? Heard that was plenty scary.
Director is James Wan; second movie comes out in 2016. Will be “The Conjuring: The Enfield Poltergeist” (although informally peeps call it The Conjuring 2 …)
Could it be “The Ring” or “The Ring 2” (first is based on Japanese flick, “Ringu”).
Percysowner
@Mnemosyne (iPhone): Patricia Wrede’s Dealing with Dragons and the sequels are great fun and have strong women protagonists. They list as age 12 and up for reading level, but if she is advanced they should be fine. Donna Jo Napoli does some great fairytale retellings, but they can get dark. Scholastic puts most of them at an interest level of grades 6-8 and a reading level of grade 5-6.
Chris
@karen marie:
I was wondering where I knew Donald Westlake’s name from, until I looked him up and found out he was the author of “Parker.”
Are the novels anything like the Jason Statham movie? I’m not saying it’s a dealbreaker if they’re not, just trying to get a sense of them since that film is my only foray into that universe so far.
glawnog
Definitely on the light side, but no one has mentioned Dick Francis. They’re formulaic but fun, fast reads. Stoic everyman discovers a conspiracy, gets beat up for his trouble, sets a trap for the bad guys and sees them get what they deserve in the end.
Steeplejack
Lots of good recommendations in this thread, although I am a little surprised how quickly people threw out DougJ’s noir guideline.
I have found Wikipedia to be an invaluable source for determining the order of series novels—better than Amazon, actually. What with writers seeking to build a franchise, many of their novels demand to be read in order because of continuing/recurring characters and story arcs.
Aaron Evan Baker
I see Lawrence Block has already been recommended. His books about the burglar, Bernie Rhodenbar (correct spelling?), have a lightly humorous touch you don’t always get in crime fiction.
different-church-lady
Yes, that’s the name of it.
kansi
Thanks for this. I hope to get some good summer ideas, too.
Agree with dad23g re: Len Deighton’s Bernard Samson series, starting with Berlin Game. Set in London in the ’80s, it’s a spy story with some of the most descriptive scenes and a hero who is both cynical and endearing. The series is a set of three trilogies and I have read them all at least twice.
Emily B.
Ross MacDonald’s Lew Archer novels. He picks up where Chandler and Hammett left off.
Elizabelle
@Ajabu: The Scarecrow was an elegy for newspapers as we knew them. Some touching scenes of Connelly’s former workworld, on its way out … An executive referred to as The Cereal Killer (if memory serves), because he’d brought his downsizing skills from packaged goods to journalism … That’s cribbed from someone real at the Los Angeles Times (no longer there, and no more beloved …)
BruceFromOhio
Neal Stephenson, Zodiac. It’s not sci-fi, has plenty of laugh-out-loud one-liners, is
accessible plot-wise, and is just a good read.
Any of the Lee Child/Jack Reacher novels are pretty attainable as well if you are simply looking for distraction.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@kansi: Game, Set and Match; Hook, Line and Sinker, IIRC… what’s the third? I think I missed it.
Also, for trilogies, and I think you could call it political noir, ish, the original House of Cards series, by Michael Dobbs.
Efren
The Leonid McGill mysteries by Walter Mosley, for something a little less mainstream than Easy Rawlins. Similar to Chandler, but enough different to make it interesting.
Josh R
If you aren’t adverse to graphic novels, the Criminal series by Ed Brubaker & Sean Phillips is pretty great. Series of interconnected stories. Should hit your noir buttons.
Mnemosyne (iPhone)
@Sister Rail Gun of Warm Humanitarianism:
Thanks! Her family circumstances suck right now (sick dad, estranged mom who doesn’t want any of her kids around), so I want to lean more towards either strict escapism or a “sucky things happen and here’s how you get through them” message rather than the sudden tragedy at the end that’s so popular in kids’ books. When you’re already dealing with tragedy in your own life, those books just seem like they were written by unfeeling assholes. (My mother died when I was young, so this is why I’m coming from that headspace.)
Just Some Fuckhead, Thought Leader
I’ve been re-reading the American classics, trying to glean from them what my teenaged self didn’t or couldn’t 35 years ago. So far, the only one to hold up for me is To Kill a Mockingbird.
Elizabelle
This has been a great thread. Thanks, dudes and dudettes, for several summers worth of catching up on favorite authors and series … including the YA lit. Appreciated.
forked tongue
Late to the party so I’ll just second some of the above:
Ross MacDonald–my favorite: The Chill, The Underground Man, The Barbarous Coast, The Ivory Grin
James Ellroy before he went kinda off the rails: The Black Dahlia, The Big Nowhere, LA Confidential
George Pelecanos: The Derek Strange series
Don Winslow: California Fire & Life, The Power of the Dog, The Winter of Frankie Machine, The Death and Life of Bobby Z
All are top notch.
MomSense
@Frankensteinbeck:
So I think I told you that my son read Please Don’t Tell My Parents I’m a Supervillain to me which was a great experience for both of us. He reminded me the other day that when school finishes later this month we have a date with I Blew Up the Moon.
msdc
@retr2327: Second (or third) on the Pelecanos. I especially like Hard Revolution, which is hard-boiled crime fiction set during the 1968 riots. He also did a series of novels set in different decades of DC history: King Suckerman is the only one I can recall off the top of my head. Good stuff.
patrick II
You might want to try Robert Crais. Crais is similar to Parker, but better. He has a sixteen book series featuring private detective Elvis Cole and his very tough guy sidekick Joe Pike. He has written some standalone books as well, in the same general genre, and some of those characters work their way back into the Cole/Pike series.
If you like dogs, “Suspect” is a fine standalone, which also gives a feeling for Crais’ writing. One of the first person views is from “Maggie”, a German Shepard wounded in Afghanistan, but now used in the LA police force by an officer who has also been wounded in the line of duty. The two help each other find their way back from their various wounds.
msdc
Oh, and if you haven’t tried them already, I highly recommend David Simon’s books Homicide and The Corner.
aimai
@Steeplejack: Thank you! Yes, Kramer and Zondi by McClure. I think they read now as period pieces, from a (mercifully) now dead world. I remember them as being so very nested in South African society and culture that they were very puzzling, but fascinating. What the characters took for granted you often did not understand.
Steeplejack
@DougJ:
Re Title and Title II: The Titling, I want to say it comes from some ’80s horror movies (vampire subsection), but the names elude me. At first I thought it could be Howl and Howl II: The Howling, but that seems not to be the case. Maybe it does come from Highlander II: The Quickening, as someone suggested above.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Steeplejack: My memory went right to The Howling, also, too.
jetkestrel
If you’re a noir fan, you might enjoy S.J. Rozan’s mystery novels – she alternates between the perspectives of two PI partners, one per novel, a young Chinese-American woman and an older Midwestern man.
The former, Lydia Chen, narrates in a fast-paced style and spends a lot of time on traditional/modern and Chinese/American culture clashes; the latter, Bill Smith, narrates in a deeply philosophical, noirish, reflective style that reminds me strongly of Chandler.
Bex
@Randy P: Hillerman’s daughter is continuing the series. Her second Jim Chee/Joe Leaphorn is out or should be soon.
fidelio
Besides the others mentioned, I’d add Barbara Hambly’s Benjamin January books. The protagonist is a free man of color in late 1830s/early 1840s New Orleans, and so while it’s not true noir, there’s a dark tone hanging over things, simply because of his personal situation–the more so as New Orleans is becoming more Americanized and less tolerant of free blacks. They should be read in order, starting with A Free Man of Color and then Fever Season, Graveyard Dust, Sold Down the River, Die Upon a Kiss, Wet Grave, Days of the Dead, Dead Water, Dead and Buried, The Shirt on His Back, Ran Away, Good Man Friday, and Crimson Angel. If it helps, they are available for both Kindle and Nook.
The settings are well-handled, and both the protagonist and the supporting cast are memorable and (mostly) sympathetic, although January’s mother Livia rates high among the candidates for a Jeopardy category: Less Than Endearing Fictional Parents.
Chris
@msdc:
I think I read that book in college for an English class… Thanks to you and the others for bringing him back to my attention, I’d completely forgotten Pelecanos and remember loving his stuff the one time I tried it.
BruceFromOhio
@cckids: @Mnemosyne (iPhone): Oh, cckids, you saved me all the typing! I would only add Diane Duane’s ‘Young Wizard’ series to the fine list of titles you have provided.
a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q)
@Rekster: Second (at least) vote for CJ Box Joe Picket series. I suspect I’ll spend the rest of my life in search of Nate Romanowski in real life.
Robert Crais, the Elvis Cole series. I may also spend years in search of Joe Pike.
Daniel Silva’s Gabriel Allon novels. Sort of a Le Carre genre set from Israel The Kill Artist and The English Assassin are the first 2. I missed that after Pickett!
The Dresden Files are great fun. And Carl Hiassen should always be on any list of must reads,
The Blue Nowhere, Jeffrey Deaver, is fascinating.
Randy P
@Just Some Fuckhead, Thought Leader: I do that occasionally when I feel I’ve been reading too much junk. I kind of enjoyed revisiting Hawthorne. The Great Gatsby was ok but I don’t understand why it’s so revered. And I can’t get enough Mark Twain.
Never read any Ambrose Bierce in high school or college but I devoured his stuff when I discovered it as an adult.
Elizabelle
@pamelabrown53: (a) good to hear and (b) they may not stand up to scrutiny!
aimai
@Mnemosyne (iPhone): Something fun for lsitening on tape (and I’m sure the books are great too) are the Hermox Tantamoq books. We listened to these on tape from the library and they are the funniest noir novels with a mouse hero–the actor who reads them is side splittingly deadpan even as the names and the storyline are absurd. I found them witty enough that an adult could enjoy them, btw.
Also: Whales on Stilts a spoof of the Hardy Boys, Nancy Drew, and Tom Swift with three “pals” who each represent one of these types of heroes. This book is so funny that I have listened to it on tape myself, alone, and my daughters and I still repeat lines and incidents from it. Again–this is completely deadpan and matter of fact. None of the characters seem to know they are in a spoof or that it would be weird for one of them to have a parent working in an office run by a whale masquerading as a person who eats krill for snack and who is manufacturing stilts.
Difficult but maybe distracting is the series Gregor the Overlander by the woman who wrote The Hunger Games. Its for a younger crowd but its very powerful. Again: the tapes are very well done if you want to get tapes instead of books.
aimai
Damn: I’m in moderation for recommending three sets of books to Mnemosyne with links to amazon! That’s what I get for being so punctilious and helpful!
MuckJagger
Andrew Vachss’s “Burke” series is pretty decent.
Jamey
I believe that was “Jaws 2: The Jaws-ening.”
dougie
Skimmed through the comments and may have missed an earlier reference, but you really should read Walter Mosely, especially the Easy Rawlins series.
eta: Oh, now I see a mention in post 71.
Steeplejack
Copyediting rant: it’s Ross Macdonald, people, unlike John D. MacDonald.
The Lew Archer novels (1949-76) are pretty good, a little more low-key and “psychological” than Chandler, but good midcentury California atmosphere. They don’t need to be read in order, and I think the ones from the late ’50s to mid-’60s are the best and most representative, e.g., The Barbarous Coast (1956), The Far Side of the Dollar (1965), Black Money (1966).
The Drowning Pool, taken from the second novel and with Paul Newman playing “Harper” instead of “Archer,” was on TCM last night. A little Hollywooden but not bad. You might catch it (or Harper) the next time it’s on.
Kay Eye
Always Outnumbered, Always Outgunned, the first Socrates Fortlow mystery by Walter Mosley; Lee Child’s Jack Reacher series (close your eyes and don’t imagine Tom Cruise, a hideous casting mistake).
Steeplejack
@Cheap Jim, formerly Cheap Jim:
Håkan Nesser’s Van Veeteren novels are great. Not really noir, but dense and dark. I really love the whole construct of the unnamed country. All the place-names and surnames sound so plausible, and you’re halfway through the first book before you’re like, “Hey, wait a minute—where exactly are we?”
NotMax
@Jamey
Or perhaps Birth of a Nation 2: The Republicans.
(Although have a feeling DougJ is obliquely alluding to Rambo: First Blood II.)
BruceFromOhio
Swear that’s a TBogg post from his daze at FDL. Cheney 2: The Cheneying or some such grief.
cckids
@Mnemosyne (iPhone):
Oh, do I relate to this!!. One of my nieces, who’s now 12, wouldn’t read fantasy (“I like REAL stories”), and loved, LOVED those tragedy-of-the-month books. Some of them are excellent, but man. . . depressing.
Of course, she’s from a very intact, loving, upper-upper middle class family, lots of money on dad’s side so great schools, homes, vacations, etc. Maybe she recognizes how smooth her life has been & is working on empathy? She is a great kid, so I guess it works.
My daughter, who had lots of stresses in her life, LIVED for fantasy books.
kbuttle
Late to the thread, but
The Brothers K
by David James Duncan
Beautiful story of a family in Oregon in the 1970s, the patriarch a pitching prospect in minor league baseball. A really compelling, wonderful book.
g
Try “In a Lonely Place” by Dorothy Hughes – great ’40s noir. Made into a movie that completely twisted the plot differently.
Also, Meghan Abbott is a crime writer whose work echoes noir and pulp-mystery, and features women villains and heroines.
Nancy Cadet
How about Philip Kerr’s Bernie Gunther series? This is a police procedural, featuring a tough but honest Berlin detective during and after the Nazi era–moves from Germany to Cuba & Argentina settings after WWII, along with nefarious war criminals and other euro flotsam.
Has the cynical world view, with touches of historical details, of classic noir.
I also second the recommendation of Izzo ‘ s Marseilles trilogy.
Nancy
Terry Pratchett is a great recommendation. I like Neil Stephenson’s shorter books. The long series is great but all the volumes might crowd your travel bag. I also recommend the recent William Gibson novels
NotMax
Put into wrong thread earlier.
@Jamey
Or perhaps Birth of a Nation 2: The Republicans.
(Although have a feeling DougJ is obliquely alluding to Rambo: First Blood II.)
a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q)
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: Is it Faith, Hope, and Charity? Which I haven’t read. I’ll correct that soon.
NotMax
Wrong thread for #182.
Apologies.
JustRuss
Could the “Blah” be a reference to Highlander 2: The Quickening? Doesn’t exactly fit your format, but but there may be no sequel in filmdom more worthy of mockery.
cckids
I’ll throw in an adult rec for Pratchett/Gaiman’s Good Omens. Funny & light, great plane/vacation reading.
NotMax
Okay, FYWP is really screwy today. Things I aim at one thread showing up in another.
aimai
@Mnemosyne (iPhone): Mnemo has she read The Golden Compass? Is that too grown up for her. I have three other recommendations in moderation for you:
Hermux Tantamoq (Noir mysteries featuring a Mouse who makes watches and his aviatrix girlfriend Lina Perfliger. The names are hysterical.
Whales on Stilts, a parody of all the hardy boys/tom swift/nancy drew type novels which is laugh out loud funny.
Gregor the Overlander (might be too dark, about a 12 year old boy whose father goes missing and who follows his baby sister down into an underground world filled with clear skinned people, giant rats, and giant bats and cockroaches. Very gripping and a great series but not for everyone.
Also she might like (if she is old enough) the Bujold novels Cordelia’s Honor and Barrayar.
Steeplejack
@Chris:
The Parker novels (under Westlake’s pseudonym Richard Stark) are pretty good but really dated and of their time—in a good way (if that makes sense). Parker is a self-described “heister” who gets involved with other heisters to pull off big jobs—knocking over banks, burgling rare art, stealing the take at a racetrack, etc. People in his line of work are not trustworthy, so there are always (violent) complications.
The first one, The Hunter (1962), has been movie-ized several times, first and best as Point Blank with Lee Marvin. If you like that movie you will like the books. The next ones are The Man with the Getaway Face (1963), The Outfit (1963) and The Mourner (1963).
There was a hiatus from 1974 to 1997, and the ones after that are a little weird, because there is this growing tension between Parker’s essentially midcentury, Mad Men world and the encroaching “modern” world. But everything up to ’74 is solid.
guachi
My wife is a huge mystery fan and will read/watch/listen to them over and over again.
She loves Nero Wolfe – whether it’s the books, the old radio show, or the fabulous A&E TV series. I like it, too.
Ngaio Marsh is a favorite of mine. Christie-esque in that it involves a solo detective (Roderick Alleyn) solving crimes and she started writing in the ’30s. Although he’s actually part of the police force. NZ author so there is a bit of fun with that.
Also, I’ll join the chorus for Sayers. Christie-esque as well. British. Solo (amateur) detective. Set in ’20s and ’30s in England.
lgerard
I think Jim Thompson’s reputation as a noir writer is somewhat overblown, but both “A Swell Looking Babe” and “The Grifters” are excellent examples of that particular style and quite good.
BC
Try the Jacqueline Winspear novels featuring Maisie Dobbs. There are 11, so enough to keep you reading.
Steeplejack
Also, don’t know if they’re available on Kindle, but Joseph Hansen had a good series of California cool novels about insurance investigator Dave Brandstetter, starting with Fadeout (1970), Death Claims (1973) and Troublemaker (1975). The hook was that Brandstetter is gay, and that colors the subtext of the series. Lots of murk and complications in a time when it was not yet okay to be gay. But the books are about more than that.
Steeplejack
@msdc:
The D.C. Quartet: The Big Blowdown (1996), King Suckerman (1997), The Sweet Forever (1998) and Shame the Devil (2000). All very good.
Rich (In Name Only) in Reno
If you’re looking for more hard boiled, then I recommend “Fast One” (1933) by Paul Cain, another of Cap Shaw’s Black Mask boys. It was his only novel, and like a lot of Hammett’s early novels, based on several short stories originally published in Black Mask. Chandler liked it.
chris murphy
Anything by George V. Higgins, “The Friends of Eddie Coyle” is a classic.
Steeplejack
@BruceFromOhio:
Ah! I do agree that TBogg is probably the one who made Title 2: The Titling things a meme.
Culture of Truth
Personally, I am a fan of Williams Gibson, but that’s arguably sci-fi, so I guess it doesn’t qualify.
kansi
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: Faith, Hope and Charity. Where all is revealed. Can’t really say resolved.
Sandia Blanca
All the Mac/McDonalds–John D., Ross, and Gregory.
Walter Mosley.
Craig Johnson (Walt Longmire series).
Eric
George Peleconos
Allan Furst
Dennis Lehane
Philip Kerr
Sandia Blanca
Oh, and of course to Nero Wolfe!
catclub
@Jamey: Fast and Furious 2: The Fastening?
KithKanan
@DougJ: maybe you’re mixing Highlander II: The Quickening together in your memory with Die Hard 2: Die Harder? Both came out within a year or two of each other.
CatHairEverywhere
I agree with Elizabelle. The Galbraith (Rowling) books are great detective mysteries. I love Cormonran Strike and Robin. They are nice and long and perfect for a place ride.
Snarkworth
Love this thread!
Barry Eisler has a very noir hero in John Rain, if you like that sort of thing, but his other books include my favorite, Fault Line, in which he uses actual bloggers’ names for some of the characters.
For fast-page witty thrillers, try Mike Cooper’s Clawback, and the sequel, Full Ratchet.
Iain Pears’ art history mysteries or his historicals.
CatHairEverywhere
Also, Kate Atkinson’s Jackson Brodie books, beginning with Case Histories
Sister Rail Gun of Warm Humanitarianism
@Mnemosyne (iPhone): I fully support you nixing McCaffrey. I read my Pern books enough to memorize them, but they definitely need context. Lie back and think of England, indeed.
A lot of what I read at 9-12 has either been stomped on by the Suck Fairy or is long out of print. I adored Christopher Syn by William Buchanan, but you can’t find a copy for love nor money. Likewise Stranger from the Depths by Gerry Turner. I bought the Scholastic abridgement new and read it to pieces. Those Scholastic editions go for $30 in “acceptable-to-good” condition and around $100 in VG. Someday I’ll have the $350 to buy the unabridged hardcover….
For something a bit newer: I haven’t read these yet, but they’re been pushed at me almost as hard as I push Don’t Tell my Parents etc. The Lunar Chronicles is a retelling of various fairy tales in an SF setting. They’re supposed to be aimed at 12-18.
I’m almost done with my Hugo reading. I think it’s time to get on the library’s waitlist for the first one.
Tom F
A couple of repeats – Charles Willeford for wry noir; Sue Grafton for what doesn’t seem like noir on the surface, but is when you look back on the people and situations in the books. Plus she’s current; if you acquire a taste there are a few more books in her series before she’s done.
Indy
Walter Mosely, in keeping with the mystery genre, or John LeCarre.
CatHairEverywhere
The Carl Hiaasen books mentioned above are not detective mysteries, but they are a lot of fun. It is satisfying to see the bad people get their creative comeuppance.
Oh, and I completely agree with the Sue Grafton recommendation. I love those.
DougJ
@KithKanan:
Could be.
aimai
@Snarkworth: YES! John Rain (by Barry Eisler) is very good. I just read the most recent, which was a prequel. Loved the entire series.
Benedict Arnold Schwartzenager
For noir action about a guy back in LA out for vengeance against the ones who put him away, “Sandman Slim” (the first, not its many sequels) has fun, crisply-written action among LA’s low-lifes — *very* low-life, as the villains “put him away” to Hell, literally. SF chronicle sez: “A sharp-edged urban fantasy, drenched in blood and cynicism, tipping its hat to Sam Peckinpah, Raymond Chandler, and the anti-heroes of Hong Kong cinema….A bravura performance.”
Sister Rail Gun of Warm Humanitarianism
@aimai: No. NoNoNoNoNoNo on the Bujold.
I adore Bujold. She is number one on my “always buy” list, eARC and hardcover.
BUT.
If McCaffery is problematic for Weyr mating rituals, Mnem does not want to wade into Serg Vorbarra, Ges Vorrutyer, and Konstantin Bothari.
Ethan of Athos, for a kid from a sufficiently enlightened family, maybe. (It’s been a while since I’ve reread that one.)
gogol's wife
@CatHairEverywhere:
I just ordered that (it’s out of print, so it’s coming used), because we really like the show with Jason Isaacs we just started watching.
I liked her first novel about the museum in York. The one about the person who keeps dying and being born again sounds good too. She’s a very readable writer.
Re Tom Levenson’s recommendation up top: No one loves Wolf Hall more than I do — I’m starting to read it for a second time and am sure it won’t be the last — but I wouldn’t want to try to read it on an airplane. Even here at home I have to read every sentence twice, and I’m a literature professor.
Kelly
I would suggest Louise Penny’s Inspector Gamache series (best read in order). Also Alan Bradley’s Flavia DeLuce books starting with The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie. Lastly, The 100 Year Old Man Who Jumped Out the Window and Disappeared.
gogol's wife
@scav:
But isn’t that the one with the endless cricket scene? Okay if you understand the rules of cricket, I guess.
Bill from PA
“Nightmare Alley” by William Lindsay Gresham is a noir masterpiece. I also second the recommendation of “In a Lonely Place” by Dorothy B. Hughes.
Paul in KY
@Mnemosyne (iPhone): Yes, you are right about that. Had forgotten.
Dee Loralei
very late to thread, but Ace Atkins mysteries, before he started re-doing the parker stuff. You’d love them musicologist from LA turned hard boiled detective. Leaving Trunk Blues and several others. My late mother and I loved those books. Lots of old blues music references. Start from beginning of series.
Sister Rail Gun of Warm Humanitarianism
@gogol’s wife: Cricket. Yep. I still can’t really make sense of that scene, but I can translate enough of it into baseball to get the basic point of it.
HRA
One author I keep on re-reading is C.J. Sansom who writes mysteries about the days of old Henry VIII England. I also recommend the already mentioned Michael Connelly, John Sandford, Nero Wolfe, Jeffrey Deaver, both of the Kellermans (husband and wife) books, Daniel Silva, etc.
Culture of Truth
Oh, I just remembered a very recent work, “The Farm,” by Tom Rob Smith. I couldn’t put it down, so to speak.
What Have the Romans Ever Done for Us?
@cckids: When I was that age, it was the Lloyd Alexander’s Chronicles of Pyrdain, of which the most well known title is “The Black Cauldron”, though the first book is The Book of Three, The Wizard of Earthsea series (which I still think is fantastic – at least the original first three, I haven’t read the later books), and the Chronicles of Narnia. I was also reading Anne McCaffrey’s Dragon Singer, Dragon Song, and Dragon Drums – the other Pern ones (Dragonriders of Pern) are more adult-ish (they feature sex) but those three are more kid friendly if I recall correctly, and the main protagonist is a girl character. The Wrinkle in Time series was another that I liked back then. Also Susan Cooper’s The Dark is Rising series, which is how the series is referred to even though the first book is entitled Over Sea, Under Stone – the second one is The Dark is Rising.
I read Tolkein of course but I’m a guy, and I’m not sure those books have quite the same draw for women/girls because of a complete lack of compelling woman characters. The Harry Potter ones are really good but they aren’t exactly under the radar at this point.
gratuitous
Page search reveals one vote for the master of the locked room mystery, John Dickson Carr (or Carter Dickson). I’ll put my oar in to second that, and recommend “The Problem of the Green Capsule” or “The Man Who Couldn’t Shudder.”
A mini-series could be made of Dr. Gideon Fell mysteries; I could see David Ogden Stiers doing the character justice.
Marina
Absolutely yes on Westlake’s Dortmunder books–perfect plane reading. Also James M. Cain (The Postman Always Rings Twice).
Anybody know where the line: “It was dark and getting darker” comes from? Cain? Ross McDonald? It’s not Hammett or Chandler…
Thanks. This is going to bug me and Google is no help…
KithKanan
@DougJ: Well, I mean not just you but pop culture in general. It could be one of those things like the Hockey Mask and Chainsaw trope where everyone knows the phenomenon you’re talking about even though it’s a mishmash of elements from different things.
Valdivia
I chose the worst days to step away from the blog missing the best threads. Le sigh.
I would recommend (if someone hasn’t yet) the Montalbano mysteries by Andrea Camilleri. Very readable, interesting characters, lots of Italian flavor. The Shape of Water is the first book.
Also this, as @Steeplejack said.
CatHairEverywhere
@gogol’s wife: Life After Life is excellent, and a sequel was recently released.(A God in Ruins) I have seen a few of the Jason Isaacs as Jackson Brodie shows, and would love to see more. (there are four books in that series, I believe)
divF
@NotMax:
I’m taking a long trip myself next week, destination Avignon, France. I’m taking along the The Name of the Rose, even though I’ve read it many times (First time was on a trip to Japan in 1985).
Even though he is associated with science fiction, Philip K. Dick’s The Man in the High Castle is set in San Francisco and Colorado in 1962 in an alternate future in which Germany and Japan won WW II. Since someone mentioned Fatherland I thought it was fair game.
Nero Wolfe, Terry Pratchett, Carl Hiassen – all +1.
gelfling545
This one is noir, yet different. I liked it but I haven’t heard much talk about it: Something More Than Night by Ian Tregillis
ixnay
@Randy P: FWIW, Hillerman’s daughter is continuing his work.
TEL
I have a couple of suggestions that are both modern interpretations of Hammet/Chandler style mysteries.
I got “The Wrong Quarry” by Max Allan Collins for a friend who is also a Hammet and Chandler fan, and he loved it.
Another book he enjoyed was “Bangkok 8” by John Burdett. What particularly stood out about this book was the author’s thorough familarity with the location and culture.
Karla
Another movie that doesn’t quite fit, but was the first to come to mind, was Piranha II: The Spawning.
El Caganer
I’d recommend John Connolly’s Charlie Parker books. The series builds (somewhat) on previous stories, so it’s best to start with the first one, Every Dead Thing. They’re not really like anything else I’ve read.
celiadexter
Pretty much anything by SJ Rozan is good, particularly the Bill Smith/Lydia Chin mysteries. You won’t be sorry.
WereBear
There’s nothing like the Quiller series by Adam Hall. You’ll have the armrests tied in a bow by the time you get to the end. A spy with a real heart.
carolus
Allow me to do the biggest favor (bookwise) of your life.
James Crumley
carolus
Just a taste to whet your whistle:
WereBear
Also worth checking out is Trevanian. His Shibumi is just about a perfect spy/adventure novel with lots of cynical asides and a touch of mysticism.
Jane Gagle-Bennett
The What’s Next website maintained by the Kent County Library is a good source for finding the order in which books are written.
Nicolas Freeling who did the VanDerValk series has a French dectective series also that’s quite good.
There are two new series I’ve discovered that I’m drawing a blank on – maybe someone else is familiar. There’s another South Africa series – like the James McClure ones – which are great, but instead of being a successful team, the protagonists are really screwed by the system, mainly because the one character is outed for being colored, instead of white. Then there’s the Laotian coroner set after we left VietNam – old revolutionary, trained as a doctor in France, and now wants nothing more than to retire, but the system keeps him working.
All the suggestions bring back some great reading memories.
patrick II
@JustRuss:
Roger Ebert on Highlander 2:
Ghost of Joe Liebling's Dog
@Menmosyne – maybe Cynthia Voight’s “Dicey Tillerman” books? I think “Homecoming” was the first. And as someone has mentioned, Susan Cooper’s “The Dark Is Rising” series, which I remember as being really good (with some reservations about the first one – it’s a bit “young” even for YA – and the last, which ties up an awful lot of loose ends … ). No secksytime, but the Tillerman story arc starts in a hard place.
Ghost of Joe Liebling's Dog
@Ghost of Joe Liebling’s Dog: well, phooey, I wanted to spell Mnemosyne correctly, and add a vociferous Oh Hell Fuzzy Yes re: James Crumley, they should have named a county after that guy!
Guess I missed the edit window
:-/
Valdivia
Here’s a new site dedicated exclusively to mysteries and with a section dedicated to noir. They do reviews and feature different writers. This site does reviews of international noir. I have picked up quite a few good recommendations from there.
Shana
@Mnemosyne (iPhone): I loved, as did my girls, the Betsy-Tacy series about girls in a small Minnesota town growing up early in the 20th century. They start at around the age of 7 or 8 and end with Betsy grown up and married. Nothing she couldn’t read now, romance but no sex, and written at a higher level than a lot of kid’s lit.
Harriet the Spy!
The Mary Poppins books.
Little House
Hal
If you like hardboiled detectives, look into Michael Chabon’s Yiddish Policemen’s Union: funny as hell, poignant, and just plain fun.
Also, I own but haven’t read yet Anonymous Rex, one of a series of detective novels featuring dinosaurs as gumshoes. It got a glowing recommendation from a librarian!
KJSBrooklyn
@Mnemosyne (iPhone): Harried the Spy.
Miki
@the Conster: Love, love, love Louise Penny’s Armand Gamache series.
Valdivia
@the Conster: @Miki: I love those books too. I had a marathon of reading them last fall. You get so attached to those characters.
Snarkworth
@Valdivia: Ooh! Thank you for the links.
Chris Mealy
Another vote for Maigret.
This just came out today:
http://www.amazon.com/Inspector-Maigret-Omnibus-Saint-Pholien-Providence/dp/0141396881/
peggy
@Mnemosyne (iPhone):
The Earthsea Cycle by Ursula LeGuin- Wizard of Earthsea, Tombs of Atuan, and The Farthest Shore are excellent books. The young characters confront evil within and without, overmaster fear, and survive to safe harbors
cosima
Philip Kerr’s Berlin Noir series. And for lighter entertaining detective stories, Robert Crais’ Cole/Pike books are great.
Miki
Louise Penny (Armand Gamache series), Peter Robinson (Alan Banks series ), Elizabeth George (Inspector Lynley series), Deborah Crombie (Duncan Kincaid/Gemma James series), James Lee Burke (Dave Robicheaux series), Jonathan Kellerman (Alex Delaware series), Faye Kellerman (Peter Decker/Rina Lazarus series), Julia Fleming Spence (Russ Van Alstyne/Claire Fergusson series) ….
James Carroll writes brilliantly – Prince of Peace is, IMNSHO, his best. WWI in all its gory, gruesome glory.
So many books, so little time.
Get a Kindle Fire HD, dear. Seriously. Sheesh.
Have a blast.
Miki
@Valdivia: I know! She is such a good writer. Her characters, the setting, the food – all of it. I fought off depression when I started her last book because I knew it would be a while until the next one made its appearance.
Another favorite quote:
Mnemosyne (iPhone)
@aimai:
Your previous comment with the links was freed from moderation, so I was able to read both — huzzah! She’s too young for “Golden Compass” and Bujold, but I love the idea of the noir mouse detective, so I’ll track that down. Thanks!
CatHairEverywhere
@Shana: Shana- there’s a listserv & society dedicated to the Betsy- Tacy books. They are great books. Maybe start her w Emily of Deep Valley, as it is about mustering one’s wits in the face of adversity. Heaven to Betsy is also great.
Another good preteen book is Just Ellsa
Valdivia
@Miki: Seems you and I have read a lot of the same series :)
@Snarkworth: So welcome. Once I started readings Scandinavian Noir (as someone mentioned above) I started looking for more and that site was invaluable.
Ann Schlee
@DougJ: Start with “Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy” or “The Spy Who Came In From The Cold”.
Dave
I second Jacqueline Winspear’s Maisie Dobbs series. An English domestic is provided an opportunity to attend university. When WW1 breaks out, she becomes a nurse tending to the wounded in France. Upon her return, her education is furthered when she comes under the mentor ship of a physician-investigator and takes over the investigative part of the trade. Her first few cases revolve around the awful consequences of the war. There are 11 books in the series and I think they are all excellent.
Germy Shoemangler
@charles pierce: Higgins wrote an excellent book about writing.
Germy Shoemangler
Life After Death For Beginners by Mike Gerber.
danielx
Second/third/fourth endorsement of Philip Kerr – just finished reading his newest, The Lady From Zagreb. Also Alan Furst, who’s even better than Kerr at evoking a particular time and place. Would recommend Night Soldiers and Dark Star.
And quick before I forget….
John Connolly – Charlie Parker novels, though these are more a mix of detective fiction and horror.
Ken Bruen – Jack Taylor novels, also the Det. Sergeant Brant series – the latter being an interesting character with very few redeeming qualities.
jacel
@SiubhanDuinne: Until I saw your comment I was thinking of suggesting “The Shining 2: The The Shininging”. So I didn’t. Oops, I guess I did.
Just Some Fuckhead
@Randy P: I felt like I wasted a couple hours on Catcher in the Rye. Whatever magic that book contains, I’m not sophisticated enough to pick up on it. It just bored me to death.
And Grapes of Wrath was simply amazing for the first two-thirds, then I couldn’t wait for it to be over. The last one third was grueling, like Steinbeck was just sadistically looking for more pain to pile on the Joads. It also looked like he couldn’t figure out how to end the book and then it was suddenly over. I wondered, what became of the Joads? Why no sequel?
Bill Murray
I would second many of the recommendations, but will mainly go with the Garrett, PI books by Glen Cook. Fairly noir-style mystery in a fantasy setting. I also liked the … Rex books mentioned before with the dinosaur PI. I would add Reginald Hill’s books, both Dalziel and Pasco, and Joe Sixsmith series’ are very good. I also love Phoebe Atwood Taylor/Alice Tilton and her Asey Mayo books and Leonidas Witherall books. Very funny mysteries, but not particularly noirish.
ConstitutionGroupie
Tana French’s “Broken Harbor.” Like nothing else you’ve read– mysterious and sad and full of sentences you’ve never read before. If you like series and travel combined, Nevada Barr’s national park mysteries can be suspensefully transporting.
evodevo
@marc_fields: Yes. One of my all-time favorites. Ross’s real name was Kenneth Millar. Wrote The Drowning Pool (don’t judge the book by the rather confusing movie) and probably fifteen others. I used to have them all (as paperbacks) but have lost track of them now. Another favorite in the same genre is Les Roberts – his Milan Jacovich series set in Cleveland.
tybee
@JMG:
seersucker whipsaw
SFAW
Anything by Dan Brown. Especially Digital Fortress.
No, not really. He may not be the worst writer ever, but he deserves a spot in that pantheon. His plots have some interesting concepts, but he really needs a ghost writer or some such.
And of course, Daniel James Brown (The Boys in the Boat) seems to want to write just as poorly as he who shares his name.
Martin Amis has nothing to worry about from those guys.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
That would be a good thread: Beloved/worshipped classics that left me feeling like Elaine watching the English Patient, but people do tend to take those things personally. I also don’t get the Gatsby worship, but it’s been more than twenty years since I read it, maybe I should try it again.
Suezboo
aimai : Re SAfrican cops. Do you mean Kramer and Zondi stories by James McClure ? I can highly recommend those – authentic, good mysteries as well as the background of SAfrican life as lived then.
Much like the No 1 Ladies Detective Agency in Botswana.
Halcyan
I also recommend Jim Butcher’s Harry Dresden series. Wizard Detective. Nice twist.
Suezboo
OK, Sorry. Should have read further before leaping to type.
betty ericson
Margaret Millar.Each of her plots were one of a kind. Some aspects are a bit dated (Mexicans and Native Americans were treated somewhat as exotics…Millar was the wife of MacDonald.
tybee
3/5 of a TBogg unit. not bad for a book thread.
gogol's wife
@tybee:
I was trying to remember what that unit was called.
And this book thread got visited by Charles Pierce, also too.
Bonnie
I love mysteries; but, prefer the malice domestic, which has only become a top seller in the past 25 years or so. Otherwise, you had to read about men like Sam Spade, Philip Marlowe, etc., for mystery thrills. I always wondered why a smart woman could not solve mysteries–a smart young woman. Many of the recommendations above are good; however, I will try to recommend something not from above. Although, I would like to add that Lawrence Block’s Burglar series is one of my very favorites. I would like to recommend the Trace mysteries by Warren Murphy; but, they may not be available since I searched many, many used bookstores to complete the series. But, they were good mysteries and quite funny. I also want to recommend the C.B. Greenfield series by Lucille Kallen; although, it is more in the malice domestic category but very funny with good mysteries. What I learned about Lucille Kallen that may make her more interesting is that she was the lone woman writer for “Your Show of Shows.” She wrote with Mel Brooks, Neil Simon, Woody Allen, Carl Reiner, and any one else from that time period who I may have forgotten.
Tokyokie
As usual, I’m late to the thread, but as we seem to have pretty much identical tastes in romans noirs, I cannot recommend Berlin Noir by Philip Kerr highly enough. It’s a trilogy of three detective novels involving the same main character set in German-speaking cities (Berlin for the first two, Wien for the last one) immediately before, during, and immediately after World War II.
Although Hitler and the Nazis have been written about ad nauseum, I’ve found that the best insight I’ve gained has been been from Marcel Ophüls’ documentary Hôtel Terminus: The Life and Times of Klaus Barbie; Die Wannseekonferenz, a German made-for-TV movie based on captured Wannsee Conferrence transcripts that takes place in real time; and Berlin Noir. I heartily recommend all three.
Tehanu
@narya:
The greatest science fiction/fantasy writer since Ursula LeGuin IMHO — so happy somebody else in the BJ community knows about him! The Quartet is an absolutely unique story of the entire life, from childhood to old age, of a man in a civilization that is totally creative and un-cliched. Really well worth reading. If you like space opera, the books he writes with a collaborator under the pseudonym James S.A. Corey are also top-class.
richard crews
“The Painter:, new book by Peter Heller. It’s about a fine art painter with a temper. After a bar altercation, he has to leave Santa Fe, but his temper follows him. GREAT wordage’ phrasing. very well written.
“Freedom” by Franzen is very well written; an enjoyable read.
Sister Rail Gun of Warm Humanitarianism
Just in case anyone looks back through here, I forgot to suggest this for people who tolerate a little near-future with their noir:
(Link is to a blog post with more info. If you’re not reading Scalzi’s blog for new book announcements, and you like SF/F, why aren’t you?)
RedDirtGirl
A Hero For Leanda, by Andrew Garve. A British sailing caper from the fifties that I reread every few years.
brantl
@Cervantes: The Nero Wolf novels by Rex Stout, are terrific mysteries. I second that.
marge
@Kay Eye: Love Jack Reacher. They are like candy.
marge
Cara Black series. Aimee Le Duc, French, young, hot and smart. Wonderful descriptions of Paris.
SFAW
@Kay Eye:
Agreed. I’ve read all the Reacher books, but refuse to go see the movie, because having 5-7 Cruise play the 6-5 Reacher is just fucking stupid. And arrogant of Cruise, casting himself as Reacher. Chris Hemsworth would have been better, at least from the body-type point of view, if he can fake the accent.
marv
@Marina:
Sounds to me like a shout out to Wallace Stevens and “13 Ways…”:
It was snowing
And it was going to snow
Steve Rafferty
I’ll 3rd the recommendations for James Crumley. His novels are as if Hammet/Chandler/etc were writing in the 1980s. Rather violent and very dark, but very well plotted and beautifully written.
300baud
Late to the party, but despite your “no sci-fi” notion, I’d suggest Richard Morgan’s “Altered Carbon”. It scratched my Chandler itch.
Red Right Hand
Since you’re not afraid of earlier material, have you already gone through Ellery Queen’s stuff? Siamese Twins, Chinese Orange, Finishing Stroke, etc?
Brian Kammer
George Pelecanos!
Ed
8th recommendation for Alan Furst, Really very entertaining.
Momus
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:Haven’t read the entire thread, but the third Deighton trilogy is, I believe, entitled, Faith, Hope, Charity.
Doug Wieboldt
Donna Leon mysteries. Great reads, fast paced and can totally tie you up for a couple of hours. All the stories take place in or near Venice. No brainer!