Hallo DLP,

I'm trying to get some good recommendations about Detective/Crime/Cop/Mystery/Whatever Fiction to read. It's my favorite genre apart from variations on the Fantasy theme, which is probably why I like the Dresden Files so much (it combines the two). Hell, maybe this even includes the "Thriller" or "Suspense" genres, but I tend to think of Thrillers as having more action than anything else (which isn't quite what I'm after, but might still be good).

Character driven stories are a plus, though all the ones I list as liking are not character-driven (Poirot and Holmes being the most notable exceptions).

Fiction in this Genre that I read and liked:

• Sherlock Holmes (all) by Arthur Conan Doyle
• Hercule Poirot (many) by Agatha Christie
• The Dresden Files by Jim Butcher (more Fantasy than Detective, but putting it here anyway)
• And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie
• Without Remorse by Tom Clancy
• The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas (not detective fiction but it was sort of a Mystery/Suspense in places, and as it's one of my favorites any list is incomplete without it)

Fiction that I read in this or a related Genre and thought was 'alright':

• Dirk Pitt stories by Clive Cussler (not really in the crime/detective category, but there was generally some version of a mystery to solve and Pitt did work for the Government)
• One of the James Bond novels by Ian Fleming -- I can't recall which one I tried as it was many years ago, but it didn't overly impress me at the time
• Most of the stuff John Grisham has written (some better than others, a few like A Time to Kill might move into the "good" category)
• Other books by Tom Clancy that I have read (half a dozen perhaps)
• Various books by Patricia Cornwell
• Alex Cross novels by James Patterson

Fiction in this Genre that I read and did not like (at the time at least):

• Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy by John le Carre
• Two Harry Bosch novels by Michael Connelly (these weren't that bad, but I didn't enjoy them much either)
• The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown

I know that I could Google "Good Crime/Detective/Whatever Fiction" and come up with some lists, but what I really want is good recommendations from people who I know share at least some of my taste in reading material. No doubt some of the famous "classics" of this genre are classics in the same sense that Frankenstein is -- and I loathed having to read that damned book. Alternatively a lot of Patterson's books seem to have an almost cult-like following, but I don't think they're that great.

I'm partial to series as opposed to stand alone books because I like to "get to know a character/protagonist" as we go along (I.e. Harry Dresden). Holmes and Poirot are an exception as we never really get to know them that well; the stories themselves focus on the plot and not the detectives quite as much, but there are a lot of those stories. I prefer male leads to female leads as a general rule.

There's probably a lot of books that I didn't list, but if I tried to get "everything" written down I'd be here all night.

So, any suggestions?

 

Honestly anything that might fall into the "middle category" is something I want to try. It's hard for anyone to make a "perfect" recommendation for someone else, so I gave three categories in an attempt to help people get a general idea of what I'm after.

So I'll give Alex Delaware a go. I'm not familiar with him at all so something new might be just the thing.

I haven't tried anything from Cussler other than the Pitt books, which to me are the equivalent of a fun summer movie flick, so I'm willing to give some others of his a go. Do you suggest trying Ryan or Bell or what next as far as Cussler goes?

I've read two Holmes books by people other than Doyle. I quite enjoyed both of them, though neither really "felt" like Holmes, so I'll be on the lookout for the new one by Horrowitz... *googles* Aha! I knew I recognized that name -- according to Wikipedia he did adaptions of a lot of the Poirot novels for TV, and the TV shows of those were damned good. Now I've got something to look forward to reading--thumbs up for that.

If I get desperate I'll give Bond another go. I am a fan of the movies and it seems like something I'd like reading, so I'm not sure why I had such a "meh" impression from last time. If I do read them again I'll try one of the ones you mention. Question though -- does Bond... grow as a character throughout the books (like Harry Dresden) or does he more or less stay the same and just have different assignments (like Sherlock Holmes).

 

Young Bond is also written by Fleming? Or did Horrowitz write some? Sorry got a bit confused there.

Gotcha, for some reason your post made me think not of Jack Ryan but of Cussler's other Main Character (who I couldn't think of at the time) in the Oregon Files (which I haven't read).

I've read Executive Orders, which I remember thinking was damn good. Debt of Honor was not quite as good, but still excellent if I recall. It's been probably 10 years since I gave those a read though. I thought Patriot Games wasn't quite as good as the later ones, and of course Without Remorse is fantastic. Rainbow Six was good but not great. Read a few of his others too, like Clear and Present Danger (meh), Hunt for Red October, and... hell, the names evade me. I have read very few of his latest ones though.

Cool stuff so far -- glad to see some quality responses this quick.

 

I haven't tried Nero Wolfe -- I'll give that a go. Any specific tome you'd suggest starting with in that series or just from the first published?

I've heard of PN Elrod, but I can't remember if it was positive or negative. I'll add it to the list at any rate, though I am generally skeptical of anything vampire related. The Hunt for Atlantis appears to have a female protagonist, which might be fun for something new, so I'll try that at some point if I want some new "action" novels.

Thanks on all counts so far!

 

I have heard a hell of a lot of people talking about the Lies of Locke Lamora, but until now I had no idea what it was about. Thanks and I'll definitely give it a go.

 

I thought I'd put this here just in case anyone else was following the thread:

Greywalker Series by Richardson

I asked a question similar to this elsewhere and I was told to try these books as they are "just like Harry Dresden in most ways." I'm a bit hesitant, and it's not what I was looking for (it's more fantasy than anything), but there it is.