‘In the Woods’ by Tana French is an excellent choice for readers who appreciate a blend of police procedural and psychological depth. French’s Dublin Murder Squad series starts with a detective’s past intertwined with his current case, creating layers of mystery that are as haunting as they are gripping.
MMJFan on
The Luminaries is a unique murder mystery. Loved it.
Sergeant-Snorty-Cake on
Second the Tana French books! Also you can’t go wrong with the Cormoran Strike series by Robert Galbraith starting with Cuckoo’s Calling.
Horror-Perception936 on
If you are open to a lighter, very fun, slightly paranormal murder mystery, I loved *Grave Reservations* by Cherie Priest.
Witchazel55 on
And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie.
BunnyHopScotchWhisky on
More cozy murder mysteries, but I’ve been enjoying the Gaslight Mysteries by Victoria Thompson. It’s a long series, 20+ books, but they’re nice quick read
TheGhostOfSoManyOfMe on
I made a curated list of favorite thrillers and mysteries on my Bookshop page and so this way if a cover/title catches your eye you can get the synopsis right there:
Of course, Agatha Christie, the Poirot and Miss Marple books.
The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman is somewhat on the light side, but very witty and charming, I have really been enjoing them.
Ruth Rendell’s Inspector Wexford series are in the vein of Agatha Christie, only with a bit more sex and more pyschological exploration; they’re also set in small-village England and are also from an earlier time, but a little later than AC (i.e., 1960s, 1970s). If you like AC I think you’ll like Rendell quite a bit.
Louise Penny is a Canadian author who writes the Inspector Gamache series, set in a tiny village in Quebec. The two main characters (Gamache and his #2, Jean-Guy Beauvoir) are engaging characters, and she draws a very vivid pictures of life in Quebec during all the different seasons. She draws the village as an extremely idealistic view of small town life, and her characters get repetitive, yet, I find myself going back to keep reading the series. The interesting thing is you kind of find yourself getting to know HER, and her life, and she’s still writing, and has a newsletter, and that all makes it more engaging, if you like that sort of thing.
Very dark, film noir mystery, in a very different vein: the Bernie Gunther mysteries by Philip Kerr. Gunther is a police detective in Berlin in the 1930s and 1940s, no love lost for the Nazi, but he goes along to get along. VERY “film noir,” incredibly detailed in the way it conjures up the time and place–you honestly feel like you’re right there. The character is sardonic, bitter, dark, gallows humor, and Kerr incorporates a lot of actual time/place/persona, so again, it almost feels like real-life. Really a great series. 14 books. “Berlin noir.”
Another interesting and darker series is Inspector Singh Investigates by Shamini Flint. Inspector Singh is a great character, quite funny, very particular, but the stories tend to take a much darker turn (i.e., in one book he’s investigating the aftermath of the Cambodian Killing Fields many years later; in another, he’s trying to avert a terrorist bombing in Bali). I like the texture and tenor of the series though and enjoy reading them.
Ruby0pal804 on
The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman….good read and fun. A retirement community club forms and assists a local detective solve murders…oh yeah, one of the retirees is an ex-spy.
Ruth Galloway mysteries by Elly Griffiths….an archeology professor at a local college brings her expertise concerning dating bones to help the local police and gets drawn in to solving crimes.
IQ series by Joe Ide….Isaiah Quintabe, a young, black man becomes an accidental private eye and uses his Sherlock Holmes intellect and reasoning to help members of his community but gets drawn into deeper mysteries. Cleverly developed plots.
10 Comments
‘In the Woods’ by Tana French is an excellent choice for readers who appreciate a blend of police procedural and psychological depth. French’s Dublin Murder Squad series starts with a detective’s past intertwined with his current case, creating layers of mystery that are as haunting as they are gripping.
The Luminaries is a unique murder mystery. Loved it.
Second the Tana French books! Also you can’t go wrong with the Cormoran Strike series by Robert Galbraith starting with Cuckoo’s Calling.
If you are open to a lighter, very fun, slightly paranormal murder mystery, I loved *Grave Reservations* by Cherie Priest.
And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie.
More cozy murder mysteries, but I’ve been enjoying the Gaslight Mysteries by Victoria Thompson. It’s a long series, 20+ books, but they’re nice quick read
I made a curated list of favorite thrillers and mysteries on my Bookshop page and so this way if a cover/title catches your eye you can get the synopsis right there:
https://bookshop.org/lists/i-got-chills-they-re-multiplying
This one is quite a ‘dark read’ so not sure you will enjoy it…
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/123176500-julebord?from_search=true&from_srp=true&qid=20Z1TWtNYR&rank=1
Of course, Agatha Christie, the Poirot and Miss Marple books.
The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman is somewhat on the light side, but very witty and charming, I have really been enjoing them.
Ruth Rendell’s Inspector Wexford series are in the vein of Agatha Christie, only with a bit more sex and more pyschological exploration; they’re also set in small-village England and are also from an earlier time, but a little later than AC (i.e., 1960s, 1970s). If you like AC I think you’ll like Rendell quite a bit.
Louise Penny is a Canadian author who writes the Inspector Gamache series, set in a tiny village in Quebec. The two main characters (Gamache and his #2, Jean-Guy Beauvoir) are engaging characters, and she draws a very vivid pictures of life in Quebec during all the different seasons. She draws the village as an extremely idealistic view of small town life, and her characters get repetitive, yet, I find myself going back to keep reading the series. The interesting thing is you kind of find yourself getting to know HER, and her life, and she’s still writing, and has a newsletter, and that all makes it more engaging, if you like that sort of thing.
Very dark, film noir mystery, in a very different vein: the Bernie Gunther mysteries by Philip Kerr. Gunther is a police detective in Berlin in the 1930s and 1940s, no love lost for the Nazi, but he goes along to get along. VERY “film noir,” incredibly detailed in the way it conjures up the time and place–you honestly feel like you’re right there. The character is sardonic, bitter, dark, gallows humor, and Kerr incorporates a lot of actual time/place/persona, so again, it almost feels like real-life. Really a great series. 14 books. “Berlin noir.”
Another interesting and darker series is Inspector Singh Investigates by Shamini Flint. Inspector Singh is a great character, quite funny, very particular, but the stories tend to take a much darker turn (i.e., in one book he’s investigating the aftermath of the Cambodian Killing Fields many years later; in another, he’s trying to avert a terrorist bombing in Bali). I like the texture and tenor of the series though and enjoy reading them.
The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman….good read and fun. A retirement community club forms and assists a local detective solve murders…oh yeah, one of the retirees is an ex-spy.
Ruth Galloway mysteries by Elly Griffiths….an archeology professor at a local college brings her expertise concerning dating bones to help the local police and gets drawn in to solving crimes.
IQ series by Joe Ide….Isaiah Quintabe, a young, black man becomes an accidental private eye and uses his Sherlock Holmes intellect and reasoning to help members of his community but gets drawn into deeper mysteries. Cleverly developed plots.