Detective novels recommendation

[chongjasmine]

Recently, I am into reading detective kind of novels.
Besides Sherlock Holmes, and the stories by Agatha Christie, are there any other recommendations?

 

[J Riff]

How hardboiled do ya want it? Chandler, Donald Westlake, even Asimov wrote some.

 

[Jayaprakash Satyamurthy]

On the hardboiled front, I always recommend Georges Simenon's brilliant Maigret series.

If looking for a more traditional old-school mystery with flair and wit, you ought to try Dorothy L. Sayer's Peter Wimsey (and Harriet Vane!) mysteries. GK Chesterton's Father Brown is also a memorable sleuth of the old school, and Chesterton's prose often evokes a weird atmosphere that approaches the sublime, even if it is eventually deflated by the down-to-earth priest-sleuth.

 

[ravenus]

Father Brown is quite alright, although sometimes like with some other series, the mysteries themselves aren't all that. Conan Doyle is the person who has delivered most consistently in this regard so far as my reading goes. Differing opinions? Would love to know of other reccos.
And damn, bookstores here don't seem to stock any of this Maigret business.

 

[J Riff]

Oh, there's a lot of stuff out there.. specificaly detective tho.. Anthony Oliver - The Pew Group, the only good mystery I've read lately.
Arsene Lupin by Maurice Leblanc, monsieur...

 

[dask]

WALTZ ACROSS TEXAS by Maxwell Crawford.

 

[Rodders]

As a Science Fiction fan i thought that Alastair Reynolds Chasm City and the Prefect have a detective theme. Also Altered Carbon, Black Man (thirteen in the US of A) by Richard Morgan. There's also the K.W. Jeter Blade Runnder follow ups too. (Although i really would not recommed these.

 

[Montero]

Allingham - same period as Dorothy Sayers and Agatha Christie. Not at all hard boiled. Quirky with very vivid descriptions. A few were turned into a rather well done TV series. Peter Davison I think. A gently eccentric gentleman detective. You will either find them charming or mannered.

Ellis Peters - Brother Cadfael. Medieval herbalist monk and former crusading soldier as main character.
Ellis Peters - Felse series - twentieth century ones some set in the Welsh borders. Two are set in India. Mourning Raga and Death to the Landlords. Starts focussed on the police detective, stories sometimes wrap in his family including his young son (but not in a soap opera way). Some of the later books are focussed on his son once grown up.

Ngaio Marsh. Another gentleman detective, this one a serving police officer. Set pre and post World War 2. Ngaio Marsh was also an artist and theatre director and puts a lot of that in the background and the plots.

 

[J Riff]

And not to forget Charlie Chan...and Fu Manchu vs. Nayland Smith.
Locked room mysteries. J.D. Carr (Carter Dickson)
I have a book here- 'The Armchair Detective book of lists'..authors list their faves etc.
Fredric Brown(lot SciFi too) Cornell Woolrich, Dashiell Hammett.

 

[Cayal]

Are there any similar to Holmes?

 

[j d worthington]

Holmes? You might try August Derleth's Solar Pons. If you enjoy those, there's also his Judge Peck series.

Solar Pons - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

(I'll let you sift through to find the Peck series at this site):

ADS: A Chronological Bibliography of Derleth's Works

Hardboiled? Try Ross MacDonald's Lew Archer series:

Lew Archer - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

And then there's John D. MacDonald's Travis McGee, for a somewhat different take (but very good):

Travis McGee - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Earl Derr Biggers Charlie Chan, Judge Dee (by Robert van Gulik); The Old Man in the Corner, by the Baroness Orczy....

You might want to give a read to Agatha Christie's Partners in Crime story collection, which gives a nod to a number of popular fictional detectives. Here's the Wiki article on the collection, which identifies them:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Partners_in_Crime_(short_story_collection)

I would also highly recommend Dorothy L. Sayers' Lord Peter Wimsey stories:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lord_Peter_Wimsey#Bibliography

Then there are the novels of the 87th Precinct detectives, by Ed McBain, many of which are fine books:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/87th_Precinct#The_87th_Precinct_Mysteries

And Luis Mendoza, by Dell Shannon (Elizabeth Linington):

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dell_Shannon#Moniker_employed:_Dell_Shannon

(Other of her works are also often rather good.)

And the Martin Beck series, by Maj Sjowall and Per Wahloo:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maj_Sjowall_and_Per_Wahloo#Martin_Beck_series

As said, the list goes on and on and on....

 

[Musky]

Here's a list of hard boiled crime and detective fiction that could keep you busy for a while. Excellent stuff, but by no means anything like Sherlock Holmes.

Black Lizard - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

[Jayaprakash Satyamurthy]

Jerry's list reminds me I havethe Wordsworth Charlie Chan omnibus lying around and I really should dive into it to balance out my recent forays into Sax Rohmer's highly exciting Fu Manchu novels.

 

[mosaix]

They don't come any harder boiled than the Philip Marlowe stories of Raymond Chandler. I've just re-read The Big Sleep and now I've nearly finished Farewell My Lovely.

I'd forgotten just how well they were written. I can't recommend them too highly.

 

[J Riff]

Jack.
I think Arsene Lupin was the francais~ take on Holmes.

 

[Connavar]

No one does detective fiction better than Dashiell Hammett and other PI hardboiled i would recommend are Lawrence Block(Scudder),Ross Macdonald(Lew Archer),Ken Bruen(Jack Taylor),James Sallis(Lew Griffin),Raymond Chandler,Elmore Leonard(Carl Webster US Marshal in 20s US)

Police,other crime detective i would recommend is Ed McBain's 87th series,Martin Beck by Swedes Sjöwall & Wahlöö,Harry Bosch by Michael Connelly.

I usually read hardboiled crime PI or other types of noir. Few police procedural or ameuter detective stories i enjoy. Sherlock Holmes is my favourtite there.

 

[Montero]

Are there any similar to Holmes?

Just wondered which part of Holmes interested you.

Brother Cadfael has an underlying methodology that is similar. He is observant of plants, wounds, mud, shoe prints etc and does his detecting that way. In character he is very different, friendly, stocky, stubborn ex-soldier. Motivated really by a sense of justice as much as a sense of curiosity and puzzle solving. (Holmes in films comes across as puzzle solver. Haven't read the books in a very long time so can't remember whether he is as much as a pure puzzle solver there.)

 

[dask]

You might try this. The flyleaf calls this "A superb collection of detective stories by the acknowledged first lady of American suspense fiction..." If the title story is any indication this is no hyperbole.

 

[Waiting]

'Whole Wide World' by Paul McAuley is very good. The books of the Peculiar Crimes Unit Mysteries series by Christopher Fowler are also very enjoyable.

 

[kurzon]

I would second the recommendation of Ngaio Marsh, and add Josephine Tey's (sadly small) collection of novels ("The Daughter of Time" is one of my favourite novels - a very untraditional piece of detection).

Also in the mildly gentlemanly police procedural line is Georgette Heyer's mysteries ("A Blunt Instrument" is hilarious).

If you're looking for a more American detective, try Rex Stout's Nero Wolf novels.