September MysteryKIT: Mismatched ? Detectives

The idea I have in mind, is partners who don't always get along. Conflict and contention, or just different ways of seeing the world, or different ideas on how to detect. Whatever the reason, if they often generate conflict between themselves they fit.

Some series I believe fit the topic

Elizabeth George - The Lynley/Havers partnership. He's upper crust, she's council flats. And they often go toe to toe.
Stephen Booth - The Cooper and Fry series. Mostly on her side, she's intimidated by his local knowledge and tends to take him the wrong way because of it.
Jussi Adler-Olson - Department Q. Talk about a bunch of mismatched folks! Of course it ends up working, but sometimes it takes a bit to get them all headed in the same direction. Hearding cats!

I might even suggest Rivers of London series by Ben Aaronovich.

I'm sure there are a ton of other similar pairings. Hope you find some you enjoy!

Update the wiki please: https://wiki.librarything.com/index.php/MysteryKIT_2021#September:_-_Theme:_Mism...

I've been thinking of re-reading Ruso and the River of Darkness by Ruth Downie. If I've understood you correctly, it should fit. He's a doctor with the Roman Army, she's a native British Celt.

>2 Robertgreaves: yes. Definitely fits.

I am thinking the first book in the Department Q series, The Keeper of Lost Causes looks like it will fit.

I'm considering one of the books from Reginald Hill's Dalziel and Pascoe series.

Hm. Would Elvis Cole and Joe Pike count as mismatched? Their world views are very different, as I recall...

Abir Mukherjee's Wyndham and Banerjee books fit this theme - I am ready for Death in the East, which is book four. The first book in the series is A Rising Man, and it is very good. Set in 1919 Calcutta, it pairs a former Scotland Yard detective (Captain Sam Wyndham) who served in WWI with one of the few Indian recruits (Sergeant Banerjee) to the local police force. These books are also excellent on audio.

>6 MissWatson: >7 Crazymamie: Both sound as though they'd fit. And, eep, book bullet for Wyndham and Banerjee.

I usually use tags to help me choose what to read, but this is a tricky one. I'm not sure if anyone uses a tag for mismatched detectives!

This will take a bit of time to figure out if I have anything on my tbr that might fit, I think.

If I go based on suggestions here, I do have a Joe Pike/Elvis Cole book on my tbr.

If that works, I might go with:
The Promise / Robert Crais

>7 Crazymamie: Oh, good idea! I've got one of those on the TBR, too!

Thanks to >5 VivienneR: above for the idea, I am also going to read one of the Dalziel and Pascoe series, A Pinch of Snuff just happens to be sitting on my shelf.

>11 MissWatson: They're so good, aren't they?!

>12 DeltaQueen50: Glad I was able to help, Judy. I have A Cure for All Diseases on the shelf. But also on the shelf is The Dark Angel by Elly Griffiths (Ruth Galloway and DI Nelson) and Resurrection Men by Ian Rankin (Rebus and Siobhan Clarke) both of which are next in the series for me. I might read all of them.

>13 Crazymamie: Oh yes!

>14 VivienneR: The Dark Angel is my favorite of that series. If Ruth and Nelson count as mismatched, then I am all in for my next in line The Night Hawks
I am also considering going forward with The Kopp sisters series. The Sheriff and the sisters are definitely mismatched, but work well together in the end.

I like the Kopp sisters! That might work for me. Many cozy mysteries also have sleuths and police using different methods to work together.

For this challenge, I'm going to return to Millers Kill, NY, and enjoy the dance between guilt-ridden widow Police Chief Russ Van Alstyne and former-Army helicoptor pilot and current Episcopalian priest Clare Fergusson in Out of the Deep I Cry.

I just finished Ashley Weaver's A Peculiar Combination, which I think works for this KIT. Thief and safecracker Ellie McDonnell must team up with a duty-bound intelligence agent to thwart German spies during World War II. They frequently butt heads but are also attracted to each other, which is a fun dynamic. I enjoyed the book!

Am reading "A Great Deliverance" by Elizabeth George for this

>20 bookworm3091: Oh dear. Book bullet. ;)

I will be reading Troubled Blood by Robert Galbraith for this challenge. Cormoran Strike and Robin can never agree on how to investigate. He tells her what to do/not to do and she just does her own thing.

I just finished Hunting Shadows by Charles Todd. I'm counting it here, because Ian Rutledge has a 'ghost' in his head, a man who he'd fought with in the war. Hamish hates/cares for Ian. Ian, for his part, cares deeply for what is left of Hamish and lives with the guilt over Hamish's death during the war. Hard to explain until you read the books.

I plan to read one of the books from the Sugarcreek Amish Mysteries series, which I own and finally unearthed from being packed away. The sleuths are two women, one Amish and one non-Amish/Englischer.

The Promise / Robert Crais
3.5 stars

P.I. Elvis Cole is investigating, looking for someone at a home where no one answers the door. As he is leaving, police descend and he sees someone run out of the house. He runs after, but is stopped by police officer Scott James and his dog Maggie. There is also someone dead inside and a room full of explosives. Before James ran into Cole, though, he and Maggie came face-to-face with the guy who ran. They clearly saw each other’s faces.

This was good. It’s a lot of testosterone, maybe darker than much of what I prefer in a mystery, but what brought the rating up a bit for me was Scott and Maggie. I love their relationship! I also like that we are given the same scene (or important parts of the scene) from a few different perspectives. This is only the second book that follows Scott and Maggie. It’s too bad there aren’t more, as I find them so much more interesting than Elvis Cole and Joe Pike who have far more books in their respective series.

I actually ended up reading The Case of the Drowned Pearl which was a World Book Day giveaway in 2020. It is a YA mystery that involves two teenage girls as sleuths--one is quite proper and methodical, and the other is much more flamboyant. They are modeled on Holmes and Watson. One girl is Asian and the other is English.

>26 LadyoftheLodge: I read a book in that series recently and enjoyed it! Maybe I'll return to it next month for "mysteries with diverse protagonists."

I finished Well-Schooled for Murder by Elizabeth George the third in the Inspector Lynley series. The partnership of Thomas Lynley and Barbara Havers has become agreeable to both but they remain very different people.

Superintendent Dalziel and Inspector Pascoe, based in an unnamed Yorkshire town, are opposites: Dalziel old-school copper, Pascoe a university graduate who keeps catching himself doing something Dalziel would do. They're the detectives in a lengthy series by Reginald Hill; I read about them in A Pinch of Snuff.

>29 NinieB: Have you seen the TV series? I've only ever seen the occasional episode when visiting my parents.

>30 Robertgreaves: No! Didn't know there was one.

>29 NinieB: I also read about Dalziel and Pascoe in A Pinch of Snuff and can certainly agree that these two are exceedingly mismatched! I enjoyed reading about the two detectives but the actual plot wasn't a big hit with me.

>32 DeltaQueen50: My thoughts on this book exactly!

Here's Octobers thread: https://www.librarything.com/topic/335518

A necessary evil is the second case for Captain Wyndham and Sgt. Bannerjee who investigte the assassination of the crown prince in one of the princely states.

I read A Cure for All Diseases by Reginald Hill featuring detectives Andy Dalziel and Peter Pascoe. The differences between the two detectives are stunning: Pascoe, university educated, goes by the book; Dalziel is ribald, his speech littered with folksy Yorkshire phrases, and he is not averse to breaking rules. This was my favourite Reginald Hill book so far.

>30 Robertgreaves: I watched the Dalziel and Pascoe series faithfully on TV. With Warren Clarke as Dalziel, (and in the movie Clockwork Orange for people like me who are old enough to remember it) and Colin Buchanan as Pascoe.

Just noticed that I missed posting here that I read The Dark Angel by Elly Griffiths for this challenge too.