I've not had a chance to have a proper look at the book yet, but I brought home from the library The Story of Classic Crime in 100 Books by Martin Edwards last week. It covers only the first half of the 20th century but gives a broad overview of the history of early detective fiction. As my own reading pendulum seems to have swung in that direction it was a serendipitous find and I can't wait to immerse myself into the book. I am sure I will be adding lots of new-to-me authors as even browsing through the list I found there are lots of books I am unfamiliar with (along with lots of authors I would expect to see--Arthur Conan Doyle, Dorothy Sayers, Ethel Lina White, Ngaio Marsh . . .
Now I have turned my attention once again to my stacks of mysteries that have been ignored for a while, and which I think it is high time I read a few of them. So here is my own list of favorite detectives that I need to get back to, as well as a few that I have been meaning to read. (By the way, I'm leaving off my favorites that you would expect to see here, Maisie Dobbs, Mary Russell, Mirabelle Bevan etc.
Colin Dexter's Last Bus to Woodstock is a reread for me. I think it is the lone Inspector Morse book I have ever read, but it has been so long that to revisit it now will be like an entirely fresh read. "Beautiful Sylvia Kaye and another young woman had been seen hitching a ride not long before Sylvia's bludgeoned body is found outside a pub in Woodstock, near Oxford. Morse is sure the other hitchhiker can tell him much of what he needs to know. But his confidence is shaken by the cool inscrutability of the girl he's certain was Sylvia's companion on that ill-fated September evening. Shrewd as Morse is, he's also distracted by the complex scenarios that the murder set in motion among Sylvia's girlfriends and their Oxford playmates. To grasp the painful truth, and act upon it, requires from Morse the last atom of his professional discipline."
I've read a smattering of books by Peter Lovesey, a few of them have been DS Peter Diamond books, but a few years ago I decided I should start at the beginning, read the first and then promptly moved on not to return for a while. Next up is Diamond Solitaire. "Fired from the police force for insubordination, Peter Diamond is reduced to working as a security guard at Harrod’s. Turns out he can’t even hold that job—he gets fired after finding an abandoned Japanese girl in the store after closing."
The same thing can be said about Peter Robinsons's DCI Alan Banks. I've read some of his standalones and a book or two of the series out of order and now it is time to get on with the next book, A Dedicated Man. "A dedicated man is dead in the wild outdoors—a former university professor, wealthy historian and archaeologist who loved his adopted village. It is a particularly heinous slaying, considering the esteem in which the victim, Harry Steadman, was held by his neighbors and colleagues—by everyone, it seems, except the one person who bludgeoned the life out of the respected scholar and left him half-buried in a farmer's field."
I have very mixed feelings about Elizabeth George. I actually quite like Inspector Lynley and his DS Barbara Havers, but I have gotten away from her later books. I know a lot of readers have stopped following her and I admit that I also think her later stories are a bit too long and unwieldy, yet I can't quite abandon the series. Her early novels are wonderful, but things got messy. I am up to Believing the Lie (two further mysteries came out since then and another is slated to be published next year). She is one of the few mystery writers whose works I have mostly read all of. "Inspector Thomas Lynley is mystified when he’s sent undercover to investigate the death of Ian Cresswell at the request of the man’s uncle, wealthy and influential Bernard Fairclough. The death has been ruled an accidental drowning, and nothing on the surface indicates otherwise. But when Lynley enlists the help of his friends Simon and Deborah St. James, the trio’s digging soon reveals that the Fairclough clan is awash in secrets, lies, and motives."
Liz has given me many wonderful recommendations when it comes to crime fiction and one author who has been sitting close to the top of the pile is Ken Bruen. I have The Guards, the first Jack Taylor novel, waiting. "Stark, violent, sharp, and funny, The Guards is an exceptional novel, one that leaves you stunned and breathless, flipping back to the beginning in a mad dash to find Jack Taylor and enter his world all over again. It's an unforgettable story that's gritty, absorbing, and saturated with the rough-edged rhythms of the Galway streets. Praised by authors and critics around the globe, The Guards heralds the arrival of an essential new novelist in contemporary crime fiction."
Martha Grimes is an author I am familiar with, but I have yet to read any of her Richard Jury novels. I recently asked about them and have found my copy of the first in the series, The Man With A Load of Mischief. "At the Man with a Load of Mischief, they found the dead body stuck in a keg of beer. At the Jack and Hammer, another body was stuck out on the beam of the pub’s sign, replacing the mechanical man who kept the time. Two pubs. Two murders. One Scotland Yard inspector called in to help. Detective Chief Inspector Richard Jury arrives in Long Piddleton and finds everyone in the postcard village looking outside of town for the killer. Except for one Melrose Plant. A keen observer of human nature, he points Jury in the right direction: into the darkest parts of his neighbors’ hearts…"
Matthew Scudder's 1970s-era NYC has a certain gritty appeal to it and I need to pick up Time to Murder and Create. "Small-time stoolie, Jake " The Spinner" Jablon, made a lot of new enemies when he switched careers, from informer to blackmailer. And the more "clients", he figured, the more money -- and more people eager to see him dead. So no one is surprised when the pigeon is found floating in the East River with his skull bashed in. And what's worse, no one cares -- except Matthew Scudder. The ex-cop-turned-private-eye is no conscientious avenging angel. But he's willing to risk his own life and limb to confront Spinner's most murderously aggressive marks. A job's a job after all -- and Scudder's been paid to find a killer -- by the victim...in advance."
One of those mean-to-read authors for me has long been Helene Tursten and her DI Irene Huss. Tursten is a Scandinavian writer, the books set in Goteborg, Sweden. In the first book, Detective Inspector Huss, "one of the most prominent citizens of Göteborg, Sweden, plunges to his death off an apartment balcony, but what appears to be a “society suicide” soon reveals itself to be a carefully plotted murder. Irene Huss finds herself embroiled in a complex and high-stakes investigation. As Huss and her team begin to uncover the victim’s hidden past, they are dragged into Sweden’s seamy underworld of street gangs, struggling immigrants, and neo-Nazis in order to catch the killer."
For fun I pick up an occasional Stephanie Plum novel by Janet Evanovich. Not a detective, she is a bounty hunter and manages to get herself into all sorts of trouble. The books are great fun and Three to Get Deadly. "In Three to Get Deadly, a "saintly" old candy store owner is on the lam---and bounty hunter extraordinaire Stephanie Plum is on the case. As the body count rises, Stephanie finds herself dealing with dead drug dealers and slippery fugitives on the chase of her life. And with the help of eccentric friends and family, Steph must see to it that this case doesn't end up being her last. . . ."
I also love Laura Lippman's Tess Monaghan, who is one of my more recent finds. I have picked up Charm City on numerous occasions and it tends to float to the top of my reading piles. "PI Tess Monaghan is ecstatic to hear the news that business tycoon Gerard “Wink” Wynkowski wants to bring pro-basketball back to Baltimore. But when Wink’s checkered past—which runs the gamut from domestic abuse and compulsive gambling to armed robberies and even manslaughter—makes the front page of the Baltimore Beacon-Light, aka the “Blight” his project is jeopardized. No one is more surprised at the exposé than the editors of the paper who were certain they killed the piece. Hoping to uncover who hacked into their computers, the newspaper hires Tess."
Chief Inspector Gamache is a favorite of many and a coworker has been following Louise Penny's series with much relish. She has been so enthusiastic of the mysteries of late that I gave in and ordered the next two books in the series (I've only read the first). I am waiting for my copy of A Fatal Grace. It sounds like a perfect fall read, so I hope it arrives soon. "Welcome to winter in Three Pines, a picturesque village in Quebec, where the villagers are preparing for a traditional country Christmas, and someone is preparing for murder. No one liked CC de Poitiers. Not her quiet husband, not her spineless lover, not her pathetic daughter―and certainly none of the residents of Three Pines. CC de Poitiers managed to alienate everyone, right up until the moment of her death."
My next Miss Marple mystery is A Murder is Announced. "The villagers of Chipping Cleghorn are agog with curiosity when the Gazette advertises 'A murder is announced and will take place on Friday, October 29th, at Little Paddocks at 6.30 p.m.' A childish practical joke? Or a spiteful hoax? Unable to resist the mysterious invitation, the locals arrive at Little Paddocks at the appointed time when, without warning, the lights go out and a gun is fired. When they come back on, a gruesome scene is revealed. An impossible crime? Only Miss Marple can unravel it."
I was all set to read my first Gervase Fen mystery, The Case of the Gilded Fly, by Edmund Crispin, when Dana Stabenow's Kate Shugak grabbed my attention. "Theater companies are notorious hotbeds of intrigue, and few are more intriguing than the company currently in residence at Oxford University. Center-stage is the beautiful, malicious Yseut – a mediocre actress with a stellar talent for destroying men. Rounding out the cast are more than a few of her past and present conquests, and the women who love them. And watching from the wings is Professor Gervase Fen – scholar, wit, and fop extraordinaire – who would infinitely rather solve crimes than expound on English literature. When Yseut is murdered, Fen finally gets his wish."
I could probably come up with my own list of 100 detectives. How scary is that! And I am sure I will add to my own list as I peruse the Crime Classics book. I've been toying (once again, since I am back on a detective novel kick) of taking this course. For now I am content with spending time with Kate in Alaska. And who knows where my next adventure will lead me.
Do you have a favorite (or a few favorites . . .) series you follow?