Hi all, as title really.. I’m looking to explore this genre a little and wondered if there are any fans on here with strong favourites?

Jasper Fforde – The Big Over Easy

😉

James Ellroy – American Tabloid, The Cold Six Thousand, haven’t reread Blood’s A Rover yet. His LA trilogy is fantastic as well. Stay away from his memoirs, one sick little puppy, though entertaining in person!

Don Winslow – The Power of the Dog. Love this book, not sure about the rest of his output, feels like he’s writing screenplays in book form now.

Adrian McGinty – Bloomsbury Dead trilogy.

Christopher Brookmyre books are great for a read, but there’s only one fictional Scottish detective that I return to all the time;

Ian Rankin’s Rebus novels.

Elmore Leonard, Carl Hiaasen all good. Thought Stieg Larsonn was overrated mind, so have stayed away from Scando books, anyone want to set me right on this score?

Anything by Elmore Leonard

Current favourite is Fred Vargas. Just finished “seeking whom he may devour”. Some of her translators are better then others – “the three evangelists” is really well translated.

The Harry Bosch series by Michael Connelly

Or

The Elvis Cole series by Robert Crais

R J Ellory is worth a look. Novels are standalone and can be read in any order.

What genre are you after?
Noir
Hard-boiled
Historical
Whymsical
Norwegian *sighs*
Future
dystopic
there’s lots of different kinds out
Currently I’m liking
Bryant and May series
Inspector Carlyle series
Agatha Raisin series
Aberystwyth (Chandler-esque) series
Simon Kernick
Mark Douglas-Home
CJ Sansom

Another vote for Carl Hiaasen here. More whimisical black comedies (if that’s not an oxymoron) based around crime, rather than gritty crime fiction. Very well written and very funny though.

Also try the Jack Caffery series by Mo Hayder.

Jo Nesbo scando fiction

Miles better than Steig Laarson

Elmore Leonard, Carl Hiaasen all good. Thought Stieg Larsonn was overrated mind, so have stayed away from Scando books, anyone want to set me right on this score?

Try the Martin Beck series by Maj Sjowall and Per Wahloo…10 books set in Sweden in 1960s and 70s with huge influence on modern crime fiction….

For old school cops n’ robbers try Ed Mcbain

Fred Vargas, Karin Slaughter, James Lee Burke, Peter Robinson, Henning Mankell, Camilla Läckberg, John Connolly, Alex Barclay, Harlan Coben, Ian Rankin. I should probably try and vary my reading a bit more.

Can’t forget George Pelecanos and Richard Price.

If you liked the wire then you’ll be right at home with these two.

I tried varying the reading list but always end up back in the crime section…

Thanks for the Scando tips, MussEd

John Harvey’s Resnick novels set in Nottingahm were favourites of mine and recently been reading Stuart McBride

I’ll second RJ Elleroy, especially ” A quiet belief in angels”.

The Harry Bosch series by Michael Connelly

Or

The Elvis Cole series by Robert Crais

Love both of those , also really into of Harlan Coben at the moment .

James Ellroy.
I don’t do crime novels but bought one on a whim after hearing him being interviewed on the radio, was totally gripped and immediately read the others. (The LA quartet and underworld trilogy.)

This is how he introduces himself when speaking in public

“Good evening peepers, prowlers, pederasts, panty-sniffers, punks and pimps. I’m James Ellroy, the demon dog, the foul owl with the death growl, the white knight of the far right, and the slick trick with the donkey dick. I’m the author of 16 books, masterpieces all; they precede all my future masterpieces. These books will leave you reamed, steamed and drycleaned, tie-dyed, swept to the side, true-blued, tattooed and bah fongooed. These are books for the whole *****’n family, if the name of your family is Manson.”

not strictly crime but Normal Mailers harlots ghost is worth a read, all about the early days of the CIA/Cuba/JFK/Mafia and refers to the same characters and events as those in Ellroys books like leading mobsters, jack ruby, Howard Hughes, Monroe, the kennedys etc.
I now have a better grasp of post war American history from reading fiction 🙂

I think Sir Arthur Conan Doyle wrote a few as well 🙂

Walter Mosley just sprung to mind…

The Montalbano books by Andrea Camilleri (the first one “The Shape of Water” is my least favourite, so stick with them).

The Brunetti books by Donna Leon – set in Venice.

C.J. Sanson’s “Shardlake” series – Dissolution; Dark Fire; Sovereign; Revelation and Heartstone… set in the reign of Henry VIII

“The Name of the Rose” by Umberto Eco

Recently I’ve been enjoying Roman detectives – Steven Saylor’s “Roman Blood” etc, Lindsey Davis’ “Falco” books, and the “Ruso” stories by Ruth Downie.

Peter Robinson get my vote, read lots of his and thoroughly enjoyed all.

Kate Atkinson – Jackson Brodie series 🙂

Peter May’s Lewis Man trilogy were an excellent read, seemed to be a decent insight into island life, though no idea of whether it matches reality or not. 🙂

Philip Kerr’s Bernie Gunther series, the first three especially set in Berlin in the immediate pre and post war eras, are great reads as well, not least because of the setting.

Lance Armstrong- Its not about the Bike?

Kinda “Criminal Fiction”.. 😉

Any of the Parker books are good. (by Donald E. Westlake
aka Richard Stark)
The recent Parker movie with Jason Statham ruins everything…

Amazed that no one has mentioned Raymond Chandler, although perhaps a bit out of fashion at the moment. Don’t forget Dashiel Hammet as well to round off the ‘hard boiled’ school. Good to see that someone has mentioned Ed McBain. Once you start on his you will gallop through them but good to try to stick to them in chronological order as various characters emerge/reemerge throughout.
And finally, don’t forget Truman Capote’s “In cold blood”.

Amazed that no one has mentioned Raymond Chandler, although perhaps a bit out of fashion at the moment. Don’t forget Dashiel Hammet as well to round off the ‘hard boiled’ school. Good to see that someone has mentioned Ed McBain. Once you start on his you will gallop through them but good to try to stick to them in chronological order as various characters emerge/reemerge throughout.
And finally, don’t forget Truman Capote’s “In cold blood”.