High-quality Mystery/Crime/Detective/Suspense Fiction?

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High-quality Mystery/Crime/Detective/Suspense Fiction?

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1taz_
Modificato: Ott 16, 2009, 5:27 am

I'd like recommendations for works with higher literary value than the usual potboilers. I've read a few of the super-popular mystery/thriller writers (Harlan Cobain and Preston/Childs, off the top of my head), and they aren't my thing at all, at all.

I'm also not a big fan of "cozy mysteries." I seem to trend toward darker psychological dramas with complex characterizations and excellent (or at least good, strong) writing. For my purposes, I'm talking about books about a crime or crimes (which usually tend to be murder), a mystery, and suspense in the unraveling of the tale - so it's pretty much a wide open field, as you'll see from this list of some of the mystery and/or suspense fiction I've enjoyed:

The Alienist, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (and sequel), The Talented Mr. Ripley, Alias Grace, Generation Loss, Out: A Novel, Smilla's Sense of Snow; Perfume: The Story of a Murderer; The Name of the Rose; The Secret History; The Wasp Factory ... and I'm forgetting many others.

See? Really open. Series books are fine, historical mysteries, gritty urban thrillers, international... whatever. So, watcha got? Even if my tastes may not seem clear, that's okay; if you like it, I'm interested in checking it out.

2taz_
Ott 16, 2009, 5:27 am

Hm. something a little buggy here... I don't know why The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo won't link. It shows up as linking in edit, but not after submit. Anyway, here it is: http://www.librarything.com/work/1541442

3shothotbot
Ott 16, 2009, 9:24 am

Alan Furst writes good, moody mysteries set in backwaters of the second world war. I havent read them in a few years and no one really stands out in my memory. I am currently reading James Ellroy (not sure why thats not loading) trilogy about 1960-1970 America, a delicious paranoid fantasy which starts with American Tabloid. The better Ross Macdonald books are very good, The Ivory Grin for example. I believe languagehat has recommended a coffin for dimitrios before, though I haven't read it. Many people also like Ward Just, though he is not my cup of intrigue. Hope this gives you something to chew on.

48dot3
Ott 16, 2009, 10:26 am

Taz-
I am beyond a fan of Laurie R King. She's got some standalone novels and two series - I have not read the series that is a fictionalized reinterpretation of Sherlock Holmes, but I've read all of her others. Her writing is fantastic. To Play the Fool is a great one from one of the series and Keeping Watch and Folly are two of the solid standalones. Keeping Watch in particular blows me away ever time.

5russilwvong
Ott 16, 2009, 10:36 am

Gorky Park, by Martin Cruz Smith. A police procedural set in Brezhnev-era Moscow. I really enjoyed Smith's ironic humor.

6yerfatma
Ott 16, 2009, 12:40 pm

I think A Conspiracy of Paper and its sequel would fit the bill.

7GoBanana
Modificato: Ott 16, 2009, 3:18 pm

I just discovered Ian Rankin's Inspector Rebus series and I really enjoy it. Might fit your bill. I'd recommend reading them in order if you can.

8juv3nal
Ott 16, 2009, 3:26 pm

Philip Kerr's Berlin Noir, The One From The Other & A Quiet Flame are amazing. Imagine a German Marlowe during and after WW2 replete with cameos from historically infamous Nazis.

9brocaine
Ott 20, 2009, 3:31 am

I just spent 20 minutes compiling a list only to lose it, so I'm going to give a shorter one with the caveat that literary mystery is not exactly my genre.

Alex Bledsoe had a strong debut novel with the genre bending The Sword Edged Blonde.
Katherine Neville just came out with The Fire twenty years after she wrote The Eight.
Barbara Hambly's Benjamin January series set in 1830s New Orleans.
Walter Mosley's Easy Rawlins series.
Arturo Pérez-Reverte's Club Dumas, The Fencing Master, The Seville Communion

10hurdy_gurdy_girl
Nov 24, 2009, 3:08 am

Our household is obsessed with the Scandinavian mystery writers. Henning Mankell's Kurt Wallander series (set in Sweden), Arnaldur Indridason's Erlandur series (set in Iceland--one of the best in the series is The Silence of the Grave, IMO), and Jo Nesbo's Harry Hole series (set in Norway) are all excellent. They tend to be rather male dominated, but I do also like the Detective Inspector Irene Huss series by Swedish author Helene Tursten. The writing and plots of these series are excellent, and none seem to have suffered from translation.

And dark themes...well, one of Helene Tursten's books is called The Torso, if that gives you an indication. I have found several of her books quite disturbing indeed (but in a good way).

11juv3nal
Nov 24, 2009, 1:29 pm

Just remembered, Timothy Findley's Telling of Lies is quite good.

12adamvasco
Dic 8, 2009, 3:35 pm

Raymond Chandler is still well worth a read. In fact I reread his books every couple of years. The mystery is there. The suspense is there and the writing is just so damn fine that it's always slightly sad when you get to the end.

13GoBanana
Dic 15, 2009, 7:06 pm

I totally agree, adamvasco. Just reread P.D. James' Unnatural Causes, and damn, is that ever a a good book. Also rereading the Ngaio Marsh catalogue.

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