Books & Magazines Discussions

I also started reading a lot of Agatha Christie books, particularly after I saw the excellent film Murder on the Orient Express. Very good stuff. Some of my current faves are Dick Frances, Robert B. Parker and Sue Grafton (A is for Alibi, B is for Burglar, etc.). If you don't mind a mystery bent with humor, romance and action, the Stephanie Plum series by Janet Evanovich is an absolute hoot and highly recommended.

If you want to stretch your mind a little further, Isaac Asimov wrote a series of science fiction/mystery novels featuring a human/robot team -- the robot detective (Daneel) is clearly the model for the character of Data on Star Trek: The Next Generation. Some of the titles from this Asimov series are The Caves of Steel, The Naked Sun and The Robots of Dawn. Don't be put off by the thought that these are esoteric scifi novels -- they are genuine mysteries with real characters and stories. The Robots of Dawn even has (gasp!)... sex. (As I recall, the central storyline is about a woman who is killed after having sex with an android. Remind anyone of Data and Tasha Yar on Star Trek: TNG?) Good stuff!

--Bob

Patricia Cornwell, The Kellermans, Sue Grafton as well, Robin Cook. I just love best selling mysteries that catch my attention and that I can't put down.

Another Robert Parker fan? Which ones do you like best? Spenser? Jesse Stone? Sunny Randall? Or the stand alones? He has a new Spenser book coming out this fall & I've got it ordered through Mystery Guild.

gaelforce said…

Another Robert Parker fan? Which ones do you like best? Spenser? Jesse Stone? Sunny Randall? Or the stand alones? He has a new Spenser book coming out this fall & I've got it ordered through Mystery Guild.

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I like all of them, although I've only done two Sunny Randall and one Jesse Stone books. When a Spenser book is hot, it's hard to do much better than that. Most of Evanovich's Stephanie Plum books make me laugh out loud, though. I can't get enough of those.

If you haven't read any Dick Frances, you should try. One of my faves by him is Flying Finish... very exciting.

--Bob

You've got to read: Kay Hooper, Iris Johansen and Jeffrey Deaver. They each have a on-going series, as well as stand-alone novels. Try very hard to get the first in the series to follow the story line. All 3 are excellent writers.

Must reads are the james Patterson Women's Murder Xlub series and his Alex Cross..the best! Makes for great audio book listening on a long trip too!! Also Greg Iles..Blood Memory!

I love Patricia Cornwell's Kay Scarpetta series (her other books not so much), I also love the James Patterson Alex Cross series, women's murder club is good, but not as good as the Alex Cross.  For fun, try the Janet Evonovich Stephanie Plum series - it's a total hoot!  I'm loving them!

Can't get enough James Patterson. But he is so prolific, I have to struggle to stay up to date with his newest. Don't care for the ones with the winged kids though.

I love Robert B Parker, Patricia Cornwell, James Patterson, Robin Cook, Michael Palmer, Michael Connelly, Judith A Jance. I know there are others but I can't think of them right now.

I am addicted to Joanne Fluke mysteries and Ayelet Waldman.I had someone suggest them to me and they are soo good.Joanna Fluke have a dessert in the title the main character is Hannah Swensen a real good light read.Ayelet Waldman her series it called mommy track series a stay at home mom turned PI.

Frederick Forsythe

Dean Koontz

I know there are more. LOL!

Dean Koontz

James Patterson

My faves in no particular order...

Raymond Chandler ; Ruth Rendl, Rex Stout,  Michael Connelly, Scott Turow, Edgar Allen Poe,  Ellery Queen, Harlan Coben, Agatha Christie, Janet Evanovich, Dashiel Hammett, Arthur Conan Doyle, John le Carre, James M. Cain, Daphne du Maurier,  Donald E. Westlake,  Mickey Sillane,  Grahem Greene, Jim Thompson, Patricia Highsmith, Joseph Conrad, W.R. Burnett,  P.D. James, Nicholas Meyer, Colin Dexter, Andrew Vachss, Elmore Leonard, James Ellroy, Dick Francis, Gregory McDonald,  Leigh Brackett, Chareles Willeford, Sara Paretsky

Mines are. Catherine Coulter,Dean Koontz,Arthur Conan Doyle. Agatha Christe also.

I used to really love Mary Higgins Clark but I've read so much of her stuff that I can usually figure out "whodunnit" before she reveals it at the end so I'm kind of over her.

After burning out on Clark, I read a few Dean Koontz novels and found them pretty good but kind of long and sometimes too sci fi for my liking.  Somehow I managed to pick all the ones with aliens or weird things like that which didn't appeal to me.

Lately I've been reading a lot of James Patterson and I reallllly like him.  I love that he writes those short chapters like Clark does so they leave me hanging until he picks up the storyline again a few chapters later.

 

I read a lot of true-crime, but for fiction, I like:

Jonathan Kellerman

Richard North Patterson

Alex Kava

Harlan Coben

Sara Paretsky! I fell her characters in the Victoria Warshawshi series. The characters grow on you and become family. Vick's neighbor downstairs, her friends the doctors, her father's friends and family...it all connects together well. Vick is a champion of the truth even if it hurts. Pick up the series and start reading today. Lord knows it will make you cry, laugh out loud, and aggravate you just like real life. Check out Ms. Paretsky's other books too.

I've also read a couple of Sara Paretsky's V.I. Warshawski novels and they're pretty good. And let's not forget Sue Grafton's Kinsey Milhone novels... I'm still waiting for "U is for [whatever]".

I mentioned a couple of Isaac Asimov's science fiction mysteries. Asimov also had a couple mainstream mysteries. One that my wife and I read (and both enjoyed) was "Murder at the ABA."

--Bob

Back in my youth, before I could afford a television in my apartment, something I COULD afford was the "Mystery of the Month Club."  Two or three dollars a month paid for a hard-bound mystery, many of which I have to this day.  I had always been a mystery fan though, even back in the eighth grade when I was already reading every Earl Stanley Gardner (Perry Mason) book that came down the pike.  By that time I had already gobbled up Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes stories as well even though our librarian was shocked that my father was letting me read "stuff like that."

I loved John McDonald's "color-coded" stories ("The Deep Blue Goodbye," etc. --- can't remember the name of the Florida detective in those offhand) and Agatha Christie's stuff as well.  For sheer creepiness, you can't beat Ira Levin ("Rosemary's Baby", "A Kiss Before Dying" and "The Stepford Wives") but I agree that Dorothy Sayers is the undisputed champ.  I have heard it said that her "The Nine Tailors" may be the best mystery ever written and I believe that too.

This was a great thread, I love discussions like this.

P. S.  And OH YAH, "The 39 Steps" -- I am having a senior moment and can't recall the author's name.