Skip to main content

Mystery Writers As and Bs

So, here it goes... some of my favorite authors and series of mysteries.

1. Jussi Adler-Olsen
After the worldwide success of Steig Larsson's Millennium trilogy (The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, etc.), nordic noir became a thing and many more books from Norway, Denmark, and Sweden were translated into English. That's a good thing for us. Adler-Olsen's Department Q series is thrilling and funny. Carl Morck, our protagonist, has been pushed into the cold case unit because like so many other detectives, he doesn't always follow the rules. There are only three books in the series so far; definitely start with the first: The Keeper of Lost Causes. (Denmark)

2. Benjamin Black
I read Christine Falls by Black (the pen name of John Banville, who's known for his literary fiction, among other works), but I didn't really love it and I'm afraid his books are not currently on my must-read list. (Ireland)

3. Alan Bradley
Bradley's Flavia de Luce mysteries are only police procedurals if you believe someday teenager Flavia will become a detective. She's more than likely to become a chemist, though. For her, chemistry doesn't produce better living, it solves crimes. Yeah, she's a CSI detective before her time. These lovely, funny, poignant books take place in post-World War II England. You won't read them for the mysteries, per se, but to get to know Flavia, her family, and her village. Start with The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie, the first, and hope that the fifth book comes out soon because the fourth left us with a huge cliffhanger. (England)

4. Ken Bruen
Another author I'm not really keeping up with, but someday I will. I did like his first novel in the Jack Taylor series, The Guards, very much, and I might have read The Killing of the Tinkers, but I don't remember. (Ireland)

More to come in the days and weeks ahead (I have a big list).





Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Harry vs. Septimus

Sometimes, I like the Septimus Heap series more than the Harry Potter series. There I said it. It’s a secret I’ve kept from all but my kids for a long time. Don’t get me wrong: I’m wild about Harry. I’ve knitted Harry Potter bookmarks (in Gryffindor colors, naturally). I’ve thrown at least two Harry Potter-themed birthday parties, complete with a sorting hat I made. I’ve stood at line overnight at Barnes and Noble waiting for the next book to come out three times. I read Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire  in one day. But, often, I like Angie Sage’s Septimus Heap books ( Magyk , Flyte , Physik , Queste , Syren , and the just published Darke ) more. And I’m not entirely sure why. My current theory is that the Septimus Heap books are better written and, while also highly derivative, much more charming. The characters are human (muggles, even) and fraught with faults. Also, the Harry Potter books are, rightly so, about Harry. Everything is from Harry’s perspective. Sadly, we don...
1 comment
Read more

The Little Things

I’m not perfect. I’m certainly not a perfectionist. I don’t even have any OCD tendencies (I’ve taken quizzes!). But, as a former copy editor, I do tend to correct mistakes (especially when watching television). It’s a habit. I bring this up because I’ve been bothered by things I’ve read in two books I recently had the opportunity to review. They’re somewhat little things, but I think someone should have checked on them. Like I said, I’m a former copy editor. It was part of my job to check things. But my personality is also such that I’m not always very assertive (luckily, I worked with very, very talented writers and editors who made my job easier). A story that still bothers me: My boss had written the phrase “a tough road to hoe” in one of his columns. I knew it was “row to hoe,” but I figured, he’s the boss, maybe he wants to use “road” because he was talking about paths we take. I wasn’t really brave enough to ask the boss if he knew he had gotten it wrong. Silly on my par...
1 comment
Read more

“I Am Number Four,” by Pittacus Lore

I really wanted to read I Am Number Four by Pittacus Lore after I read a review of it a few months ago. I remember the reviewer saying that the author’s name is obviously a pseudonym, then just filed the title away. (I actually have a “book book” – a little book in which I write titles of books I want to read, organized by author. My kids tease me about my book book, but when you’re a motherboard with limited RAM, you need to write things down.) More recently I heard that it’s already been made into a “major motion picture” (due out in February!), so I knew I had to read it soon. And it was OK. The idea – aliens living among us, waiting to get strong enough to go back to rescue their home planet from horrible monsters who now might be coming to conquer Earth – was rather interesting. But the book was just OK. I liked it enough to keep reading it, but probably not enough to bother with the sequels. It’s certainly not as good as Suzanne Collins’ Hunger Games trilogy, which is also...
1 comment
Read more