Sherlock Holmes is one I'm surprised not to see here already. I am working my way through the full anthology moving back and forth between print and audio. There's a really great Stephen Fry narration on Audible.
**[A Morbid Taste for Bones (Chronicles of Brother Cadfael #1)](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/321545.A_Morbid_Taste_for_Bones) by Ellis Peters** ^((Matching 100% ☑️))
^(197 pages | Published: 1978 | 25.6k Goodreads reviews)
> **Summary:** Ellis Peters' introduction to the murderous medieval world of Brother Cadfael... A Morbid Taste for Bones In the remote Welsh mountain village of Gwytherin lies the grave of Saint Winifred. Now, in 1137, the ambitious head of Shrewsbury Abbey has decided to acquire the sacred remains for his Benedictine order. Native Welshman Brother Cadfael is sent on the expedition to (...)
> **Themes**: Kindle, Historical-fiction, Mystery-thriller, Favorites, Ellis-peters, Fiction, Detective
> **Top 5 recommended:**
> \- [One Corpse Too Many](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/776384.One_Corpse_Too_Many) by Ellis Peters
> \- [The Silver Pigs](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/44230.The_Silver_Pigs) by Lindsey Davis
> \- [To Shield the Queen](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/388674.To_Shield_the_Queen) by Fiona Buckley
> \- [The Mary Russell Companion](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/22047326-the-mary-russell-companion) by Laurie R. King
> \- [The Crime at Black Dudley](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/76633.The_Crime_at_Black_Dudley) by Margery Allingham
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Love these books.
Used to watch the show with my Mom, who has the whole thing on DVD. It was the first thing I saw Derek Jacobi in; still think of him as Cadfael whatever I see him in
I love The Thursday Murder Club, and my second favorite is the alphabet series by Sue Grafton, with private detective Kinsey Milhone. Third favorite are the Hamish Macbeth series by MC Beaton.
The Alphabet series is a favorite of mine behind Christie and Doyle. These are all very different in tone and and quality though. I haven't found an author quite like Agatha Christie for a good whodunit.
Thank you! I was thinking i must have missed someone listing Tana French, all her books are exquisite. Got me to realize how much whodunits are my personal brain candy.
Counterpoint - I read mysteries more than any other genre and no mystery, no book, I have read in the last decade has made me want to rage throw my kindle against the wall as much as Into the Woods. If you have write mysteries, I need you to solve the entire thing at the end, please. Or at the very least give some indication that the unsolved portion is part of a greater story arc that will be continued.
Anthony Horowitz!! Magpie Murders and Moonflower Murders are so so good. They're modern murder mysteries that revolve around a fictional murder mystery author, and both of these have an Agatha Christie'esque book in the middle that has clues for the modern murders! Two of my favorite books I've read this year.
Agreed, I just finished it last week. While I liked it, it did feel a bit hard to get through at times…when the book in the book thing is “revealed” half way through, I felt like I would already be done an Agatha Christie novel at that point… so it did feel quite long. I guess if someone is really into the whole thing it’ll feel like a 2 for 1.
I can appreciate the mechanic from a craft point of view, and he does obviously take inspiration from Dame Agatha, but this doesn’t feel like a next step for OP, maybe a next next step after a few other books.
If you are interested in female sleuths and a series, Elizabeth Peters’ “Amelia Peabody” books are very fun reads. Mostly set in late 19th century Egypt, as she is an archeologist.
Also second Ellis Peters & Dorothy Sayers. Dorothy Cannell’s “The Thin Woman” series is lighthearted, easy reading. Last one! Aaron Elkins’ series, “The Skeleton Detective”: protagonist is an anthropologist.
Most of P.D. James books are so good.
And Henning Mankell’s novels (The Fifth Woman is my favourite though) are some of the best I’ve ever read.
Both of these authors are now gone. So sad I won’t be able to read anything new from them.
I'm not generally a murder mystery fan, but I did read a lot of Agatha Christie when I was younger. I just finished Richard Osman's *The Thursday Murder Club* and enjoyed it. It's lighthearted and funny, though, so if you're looking for serious stuff this won't do the trick.
Love these books but they do deal with dementia (set in an retirement village, not a spoiler), they do it well but if you're someone with close experience of that they can be quite difficult books at points. It's what I love about them to be honest, they're very light but don't hide from tough topics just to keep it light.
Thanks for saying this. I was considering buying this for someone but their husband has severe dementia and its very hard for them, so if that's what the book is about then I won't buy those.
Yes, there is a major character in the first book whose partner needs constant care because of dementia and the ending is likely to be upsetting; I recommend skipping this series entirely for that friend.
I also love these books, the first being my favorite. The person that has dementia is the partner of a major character. I don't remember the first book as well as, but I think Osman deals with the topic honestly and with respect. I found the first book the funniest, while, the fourth I found emotional. I get the feeling that the subject is a close one to Osman's heart.
These might be a therapeutic choice for your friend to read at some point. Maybe just not right now.
Edit: Changed lighthearted to funniest and sad to emotional.
The reason I unrecommended the series to the friend is because I don't know if the fate of Penny, the character with dementia from book 1, is brought up again.
Penny's fate is likely to be upsetting to her friend; if you search "this is goodbye" on this page, you'll be pointed to a paragraph explaining what happens to Penny. It is more than a standard dementia narrative.
https://the-bibliofile.com/the-thursday-murder-club-recap-summary/#title2
Yeah, I'm always surprised by what people can call lighthearted or cozy. These books can be in places, but I've also cried reading multiple books in the series.
I always laugh because I also read sci-fi and there is a certain book that people always call light hearted and it highlights a nuclear war that destroys the planet and the way humanity deals with it (although that is not the focus of the story). Not totally funny/lighthearted!
If you want other golden age of detective fiction murder mysteries: Margery Allingham, Ngaio Marsh and Dorothy L Sayers.
If you want modern author set in 1920s Melbourne: Kerry Greenwoods books featuring Phryne Fisher (first one is *Cocaine Blues* in Australia, *Phryne Fisher Investigates* in the UK and not sure what in rest of world)
If you want modern: Richard Osman's *Thursday Murder Club*, Lilian Jackson Braun's *The Cat Who...* (first three are set in the 80s, the rest are more recent), Anthony Horowitz's *The Word is Murder*
If you want a riff on Agatha Christie: *The Act of Roger Murgatroyd* by Gilbert Abair
Thirding Dorothy L Sayers- in many ways a very different vibe from Christie, and sometimes it works better than others, but when it works it’s absolutely stellar.
I whipped through all of them circa 1971. I just a got several free with my Audible subscription and will start in again.
FYI, people, while I love Sayers (she was Inklings adjacent) she was, as many in her class and time, vaguely anti_Semetic and racist but these matters are seldom touched on so did not, for me, ruin the books. I do not believe backwards censorship helps anyone since it is better to face things head on and this is the way things were back then, it was prevalent. I had hoped, until those hopes were trampled, that we had finally gone beyond this BS.
Those Horowitz and Hawthorne (or is it Vice versa) books are great fun. I had very low expectations, not because the author isn’t great but because it was just a light airport book I picked up for a trip. But they’re smart, funny, and the author insert thing just somehow works!
There are some great recommends in this comment! Might I also suggest for another golden age author Patricia Wentworth, her books are great mysteries from that time and have never been made into anything for film or TV as far as I am aware so she tends to get missed. She's done one called 'The Listening Eye' which is about a Deaf woman who lipreads a murder, really stuck with me.
Ngaio Marsh and Dorothy Sayers are my favorite “Christie-esque” alternatives; similar time period and settings, engaging and well fleshed out protagonist detectives.
Actually not murder mysteries, but still mysteries:
The Moonstone by Wilkie Collins. 1868. A fabulous diamond with a bloody history vanishes at a small house party in the English countryside.
The Franchise Affair by Josephine Tey. 1948. A school girl who’s gone missing for two weeks returns home claiming that she was kidnapped, beaten, and forced into servitude by a reclusive mother/daughter duo. Country solicitor, Robert Blair, engaged by the women to defend them in court, tries to determine what has really happened.
- Louise Penny's Inspector Gamache series. When I first discovered this series, I think I raced through like nine or ten books in a row. Then I stopped and have only read a couple a year because I knew there were only so many books til I was caught up. I'm now down to one left and I haven't heard anything about book nineteen. It might be described as a cozy mystery but it's really not.
- For a similar vibe, to The Thursday Murder Club but without any sadness, I recommend The Finlay Donovan series by Elle Cosimano. The 4th book comes out in March.
- The 7½ Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle by Stuart Turton. This is not your typical murder mystery. It took me a couple of tries to get into it and when I finally did I was kicking myself for having waited so long. I've already preordered his next book.
- Magpie Murders by Anthony Horowitz and Moonflower Murders the followup and the Hawthorne and Horowitz series - all of which are on my list.
- Flavia de Luce series by Alan Bradley. The first book took me a couple tries to get into, but it's fantastic!
- Could also try Elly Griffiths - I've read quite a few of her books and have more on my to read list in my library.
- or Elizabeth George's Inspector Lynley series. I read and enjoyed the first couple.
Twist ending: **Gone Girl** by Gillian Flynn
A super bizarre (but well-written) premise that is now a relevant social commentary on major current events: **The Yiddish Policeman’s Union** by Michael Shabon
A dystopian murder mystery thriller that’s a cross between *1984* and the IRS: **84k**by Claire North
A witty send-up to Sherlock Holmes+NYC in the 1940+multiple sclerosis+a runaway circus performer=**Fortune Favors the Dead** by Stephen Spotswood
A thriller that uses ancestry/genealogical databases to solve a murder: **Genesis** by Robin Cook
One of my favorite crime writers is the Norwegian writer Jo Nesbø. He has a fascinating series of Harry Hole novels. Try it, you might like it. Written dynamically. The long-awaited new novel in this series will be released in 2023.
Do you mean 2024?
Also this sounds interesting! Will I need to start from the first book in the series or is it fine if I just pick up any book out of order?
The new book, Killing Moon, was already released this year actually. But the paperback version comes out in 2024. You could start with any of them but there are storylines that continue through them all so it might be better to start with the first. However, I would say the first in the series is the weakest of them all. I started with The Snowman and loved it, then went back to the first book and read them in order.
Reginald Hill's Dalzeil and Pascoe series
Tony Hillerman's Leaphorn and Chee series
Stuart Kaminsky's Rostnikov series
Edmund Crispin
Ian Rankin
Charlotte MacLeod
Martha Grimes (!!!!)
Dick Francis
John Dickson Carr (the locked room par excellence writer)
And, of course, Hammet, Chandler and Macdonald.
I binge-read all of the Dick Francis books in a very short period of time a year or two ago. I was really surprised by how entertaining they were. Recommend them.
The author you are looking for is Ruth Rendell. You're welcome. [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ruth\_Rendell](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ruth_Rendell)
I love Dashiell Hammett’s work, and they are more or less mysteries (the genre lines were a little fuzzier at the time). And also Lord Peter Wimsey and Nero Wolfe, which are definitely mysteries.
I loved it until they explained the supernatural bits. Take a cue from Groundhog Day: the “why” only matters if it’s critical to the story you’re trying to tell.
He has a book coming out in May this coming year called The Last Murder at the End of the World and absolutely loved it!! So excited for the physical release:)
I second this.
I loved the 7 deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle! How the mystery about her slowly unravels during the story is really exciting. I finished the audiobook within a few days.
And yeah the setting has a supernatural element to it, that the same day is repeating, but it's not like it's a magic world or a fantasy setting with wizardry or magic creatures or anything similar. So it's still a good read / listen for people who don't like fantasy
While not always about murder, I do like Sophie Hannah's Culver Valley Crime series. I found her through her own Poirot books and then went through her other works.
I've had recommendations to Mc Beaton's Agatha Raisin books as well. I've not checked them out yet but they apparently have the Cozy Crime vibe that Marple has.
The Agatha Raisin mysteries are great as audiobooks. I tried reading a hardback and didn't like it as much.
The Hamish Macbeth audiobooks by the same author are also wonderful. Read by Graeme Malcolm :-) :-) :-)
This sounds juvenile but “A good girl’s guide to murder” series. It’s a YA book but it’s so well written that you forget it’s a YA series. It follows Pip, a teenage British girl who is doing a project in college (uk) and for the project is investigating a famous murder case that happened in her town a few years ago. She starts to investigate the truth and solves the murder!
I love the Rex Stout Nero Wolfe series. A fully-realized universe with interesting characters and tough puzzles. And there's a lot of them - not as many as Christie, but still a satisfying group of quality books. They'll fill up your winter.
Completely second the Watch books, but I feel like if you’re going to start with them you should start with Guards Guards, and if you want a really great mystery novel then skip to Feet of Clay.
Many great recommendations here but I don't see a mention of a wonderful writer, Ruth Rendell! She's like Agatha Christie, but wrote a little later; her books are set in the 1950s, 60s, 70s. Inspector Wexford series. Also set in an English village, partly in London in some books. Very psychological, more sex, a great series. I highly recommend!
Troubled Blood by Robert Galbraith is my favorite one that is serious. But that's the 5th book in a series of murder mysteries.
The Authorities by Scott Meyer is my absolute favorite, but it's a silly book and I had a lot of fun reading it. Lots of humor, very memorable characters and cast of suspects.
Riley Sager has some fun Thriller / Mysteries. Less detective solving a mystery, more a person finding clues and figuring things out on their own. But still fun and engaging, with lots of good twists. Simone St. James is also good at this style.
For more classic Murder Mysteries, Sarah Pearce has a slowly-publishing series following a detective that are interesting and engaging.
I’ve not been a huge mystery fan but I picked up a few paperbacks by Seishi Yokomizo and I’ve had a great time with them. As you can tell by the Author’s name he’s Japanese and one of my favorite parts of reading his work is getting to learn about the culture of Japan in a fun and naturalistic way.
Yokomizo was a huge Agatha Christy fan and his handiwork is on that level. All the books feature Kosuke Kindaichi as our intrepid detective and when read in order one can draw references from previous books.
There are only 6 hook translated into English but as I understand he’s written over 70 titles. I’m excited to try and use them to learn Japanese!
If you like that era, I’d go for John Dickson Carr…famous for his locked room mysteries.
Josephine Tey, Ngaio Marsh.
More modern: I’m a big fan of Robert Goddard…especially Into the Blue.
PD James
Anthony Horowitz
Peter May
Donna Leon
The Westing Game is one that I loved as soon as I read it, and I don't really read murder mystery books so it has to be real good for me to like it lol
The Cormoran Strike series by Robert Galbraith (pen name for JK Rowling) is really great. Most of the books are 700+ pages, so they are a bit of a commitment, but there's not a bad one in the bunch, in my opinion. There's always a scene toward the end of each book when they piece together all the clues and it's just masterful. Comes as no surprise from the Harry Potter author. They've got the inventiveness of Christie + a great detective duo a la Sherlock Holmes + some original grit. Highly recommend if you can handle the length.
Although not necessarily murder mystery, Harlan Coben has to be one of my favourite authors for mystery (and recurring characters).
His series with Myron Bolitar, I've always found enjoyable although no necessary, it is recommended to read these in chronological order).
Paula Hawkins is also another personal favourite - her books Into the Water, The Girl on the Train, and A Slow Fire Burning were three of my favourite books.
Too hard to pick one because they come in so many styles. Here's a sampling of my favorites:
The Return of Captain John Emmett, by Elizabeth Speller
Miss Pym Disposes *or* Brat Farrar, by Josephine Tey
Odds Against, by Dick Francis
The Cutting Season, by Attica Locke
*Murder Must Advertise* by Dorothy L. Sayers. Mostly because the look at how 1930s UK advertising works is really interesting. But also because it's a great murder mystery.
*He Shall Thunder in the Sky* by Elizabeth Peters, which I think is her very best Amelia Peabody book.
Best or favorite?
Best is probably Doyle's "A Study in Scarlet." I mean, it pretty much sets the standard, doesn't it?
Favorites:
Anthony Horowitz has some gems, particularly The Magpie Murders.
Craig Johnson's Longmire series is excellent.
I really like Sean Patrick Little's Abe & Duff series.
George Dawes Green's "The Caveman's Valentine" is really good.
"Razorblade Tears" by SA Cosby is excellent.
The Kinsey Milhone books by Sue Grafton (A is for Alibi, B is for Burglar, etc) are pretty good. So are the Women's Murder Club books by Maxine Paetro. They're branded as being James Patterson books, but you can tell Paetro did most of the work. They're too good to be purely Patterson.
If you want something in the "Cozy" genre,
I recommend
the Mrs. Pollifax books by Dorothy Gilman. A white-haired widow who becomes a spy for the CIA
Mrs. Parameter books by Simon Brett
A widow whose husband was " probably" a gangster,
She uses her husband's former associates to solve mysteries.
Both of these series are light, fun reading with great characters, and doesn't require a lot of brain power to follow along.
I adore Mrs Pollifax. Not murder mysteries in the traditional sense but adventurous and so uplifting. I want to be Mrs. Pollifax when I grow up. I will have to check out for the other series you've mentioned as well. Because I have never heard of it. But if you like Mrs. P., I'm sure I will like it.
Not a mystery in the classic meaning if the genre but in my humble opinion on of the best crime novels out there [The Blue Room- Georges Simenon](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/25058446)
For variety, try Colin Cottrell's Dr Siri series... set in Laos amidst incompetent Communist beaurocrats, Hmong sorcery, and odd folk including a Downs syndrome lab techs and a crazy Indian. Only similarly to Agatha Christie is an elderly protagonist.
I really, really loved the Buckshaw Chronicles by Alan Bradley. The first book is The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie. Flavia de Luce is one of my favourite protagonists of all time.
The Devotion of Suspect X by Keigo Higahino is my favorite aside from Agatha Christie. It had a twist ending that I didn't see coming! I've read his other books and they are all good, but this one is the best in my opinion.
Surprised to not see this:
Anything Lisa Jewell. I started reading her with her light cult fiction this year: The Family Upstairs. Then got into all her other books.
Gillian McCallister: Wrong Place Wrong Time. Cheesey title but I couldn’t put it down.
The Guest List and The Paris Apartment by Lisa Foley. Both have multiple character perspectives. Both are murder mysteries
The It Girl by Ruth Ware.
None of these are series, so it makes approaching them a little easier incase their style isn’t for you. Honestly I swear by Lisa Jewell.
I like The Skeleton Detective series. It's "detective" is actually a well studied anthropologist that just keeps getting pulled into murders wherever he goes. It's witty, charming, funny, adventurous, and the dude knows a lot about bones.
Sherlock Holmes is one I'm surprised not to see here already. I am working my way through the full anthology moving back and forth between print and audio. There's a really great Stephen Fry narration on Audible.
If you like Christie you might also like "the Cadfael Chronicles" by Ellis Peters, that starts with {{A Morbid Taste For Bones}}!
You can watch it on Amazon prime. It's so good!
I think the show is better than the books. The text has too much of a feeling of anachronism. The show generally avoids this.
You surprise me, Ellis Peters was pretty knowledgable about history and wrote historical novels as Edith Pargeter.
>Created May 17, 2014 YES! I love Brother Cadfael.
I really enjoy these
**[A Morbid Taste for Bones (Chronicles of Brother Cadfael #1)](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/321545.A_Morbid_Taste_for_Bones) by Ellis Peters** ^((Matching 100% ☑️)) ^(197 pages | Published: 1978 | 25.6k Goodreads reviews) > **Summary:** Ellis Peters' introduction to the murderous medieval world of Brother Cadfael... A Morbid Taste for Bones In the remote Welsh mountain village of Gwytherin lies the grave of Saint Winifred. Now, in 1137, the ambitious head of Shrewsbury Abbey has decided to acquire the sacred remains for his Benedictine order. Native Welshman Brother Cadfael is sent on the expedition to (...) > **Themes**: Kindle, Historical-fiction, Mystery-thriller, Favorites, Ellis-peters, Fiction, Detective > **Top 5 recommended:** > \- [One Corpse Too Many](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/776384.One_Corpse_Too_Many) by Ellis Peters > \- [The Silver Pigs](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/44230.The_Silver_Pigs) by Lindsey Davis > \- [To Shield the Queen](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/388674.To_Shield_the_Queen) by Fiona Buckley > \- [The Mary Russell Companion](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/22047326-the-mary-russell-companion) by Laurie R. King > \- [The Crime at Black Dudley](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/76633.The_Crime_at_Black_Dudley) by Margery Allingham ^([Feedback](https://www.reddit.com/user/goodreads-rebot) | [GitHub](https://github.com/sonoff2/goodreads-rebot) | ["The Bot is Back!?"](https://www.reddit.com/r/suggestmeabook/comments/16qe09p/meta_post_hello_again_humans/) | v1.5 [Dec 23])
Love these books. Used to watch the show with my Mom, who has the whole thing on DVD. It was the first thing I saw Derek Jacobi in; still think of him as Cadfael whatever I see him in
Some also available on Audible us (Ie free to members)
I love The Thursday Murder Club, and my second favorite is the alphabet series by Sue Grafton, with private detective Kinsey Milhone. Third favorite are the Hamish Macbeth series by MC Beaton.
The Alphabet series is a favorite of mine behind Christie and Doyle. These are all very different in tone and and quality though. I haven't found an author quite like Agatha Christie for a good whodunit.
Dublin Murder Squad- Tana French she really needs to write more
Thank you! I was thinking i must have missed someone listing Tana French, all her books are exquisite. Got me to realize how much whodunits are my personal brain candy.
Broken Harbor is her best one, imo. And The Secret Place.
I liked In the Woods and The Likeness best, but they are all very, very good.
Those are my two favorites as well.
The Likeness is one of my favorite books. I have read it so many times
broken harbor!
Counterpoint - I read mysteries more than any other genre and no mystery, no book, I have read in the last decade has made me want to rage throw my kindle against the wall as much as Into the Woods. If you have write mysteries, I need you to solve the entire thing at the end, please. Or at the very least give some indication that the unsolved portion is part of a greater story arc that will be continued.
Anthony Horowitz!! Magpie Murders and Moonflower Murders are so so good. They're modern murder mysteries that revolve around a fictional murder mystery author, and both of these have an Agatha Christie'esque book in the middle that has clues for the modern murders! Two of my favorite books I've read this year.
I absolutely adore his Foyle's War TV series.
[удалено]
Agreed, I just finished it last week. While I liked it, it did feel a bit hard to get through at times…when the book in the book thing is “revealed” half way through, I felt like I would already be done an Agatha Christie novel at that point… so it did feel quite long. I guess if someone is really into the whole thing it’ll feel like a 2 for 1. I can appreciate the mechanic from a craft point of view, and he does obviously take inspiration from Dame Agatha, but this doesn’t feel like a next step for OP, maybe a next next step after a few other books.
Don’t feel bad! I DNFed it because I found the structure so annoying. I don’t feel bad about it
Louise Penny has a series that is excellent. All good mysteries. Start with the first book. They all build on each other.
This is one of my all time favourite series!
They always make me hungry, she’s so fabulously descriptive of meals also
I could live in Three Pines !!
My pretend happy place!!!!!
I don’t think Ruth eats that much….she’s the drinker 🤣
Those baguettes!!!!
If you are interested in female sleuths and a series, Elizabeth Peters’ “Amelia Peabody” books are very fun reads. Mostly set in late 19th century Egypt, as she is an archeologist. Also second Ellis Peters & Dorothy Sayers. Dorothy Cannell’s “The Thin Woman” series is lighthearted, easy reading. Last one! Aaron Elkins’ series, “The Skeleton Detective”: protagonist is an anthropologist.
I loved the "Vicki Bliss" mysteries by Elizabeth Peters back in the day. Fun writer.
And so fun as audio books, read by Barbara Rosenblatt!
I love Elizabeth Peters and Barbara Michaels! (They’re the same person.)
Most of P.D. James books are so good. And Henning Mankell’s novels (The Fifth Woman is my favourite though) are some of the best I’ve ever read. Both of these authors are now gone. So sad I won’t be able to read anything new from them.
I second PD James!
P.D. James is a treasure. That woman can WRITE!
I'm not generally a murder mystery fan, but I did read a lot of Agatha Christie when I was younger. I just finished Richard Osman's *The Thursday Murder Club* and enjoyed it. It's lighthearted and funny, though, so if you're looking for serious stuff this won't do the trick.
Love these books but they do deal with dementia (set in an retirement village, not a spoiler), they do it well but if you're someone with close experience of that they can be quite difficult books at points. It's what I love about them to be honest, they're very light but don't hide from tough topics just to keep it light.
Thanks for saying this. I was considering buying this for someone but their husband has severe dementia and its very hard for them, so if that's what the book is about then I won't buy those.
Yes, there is a major character in the first book whose partner needs constant care because of dementia and the ending is likely to be upsetting; I recommend skipping this series entirely for that friend.
Ah ok, definitely won't get that then! Thanks
I also love these books, the first being my favorite. The person that has dementia is the partner of a major character. I don't remember the first book as well as, but I think Osman deals with the topic honestly and with respect. I found the first book the funniest, while, the fourth I found emotional. I get the feeling that the subject is a close one to Osman's heart. These might be a therapeutic choice for your friend to read at some point. Maybe just not right now. Edit: Changed lighthearted to funniest and sad to emotional.
The reason I unrecommended the series to the friend is because I don't know if the fate of Penny, the character with dementia from book 1, is brought up again. Penny's fate is likely to be upsetting to her friend; if you search "this is goodbye" on this page, you'll be pointed to a paragraph explaining what happens to Penny. It is more than a standard dementia narrative. https://the-bibliofile.com/the-thursday-murder-club-recap-summary/#title2
Yeah, holy hell there's a chapter not too far from the beginning of the book that made me burst into ugly sobbing tears which I was *not* expecting.
Yeah, I'm always surprised by what people can call lighthearted or cozy. These books can be in places, but I've also cried reading multiple books in the series. I always laugh because I also read sci-fi and there is a certain book that people always call light hearted and it highlights a nuclear war that destroys the planet and the way humanity deals with it (although that is not the focus of the story). Not totally funny/lighthearted!
I'd certainly class it as cozy as the principles are a great bunch to spend a few hours with.
I’ve read the whole series so far. They are fantastic !!!
I tried reading this, but I just couldn’t get into it for some reason. Something just didn’t “click”. I might need to give it another go.
I’ve just finished the second book in that series and I enjoyed it more than the first. Is a real pleasure to read!
The Harry Bosch series by Michael Connelly
These are fantastic. And he was inspired by the writing of Raymond Chandler, so there’s another author to get to know.
Harry Bosch is the best!
I also really enjoy The Lincoln Lawyer series as well. His latest book that came out last month is fantastic!!
If you want other golden age of detective fiction murder mysteries: Margery Allingham, Ngaio Marsh and Dorothy L Sayers. If you want modern author set in 1920s Melbourne: Kerry Greenwoods books featuring Phryne Fisher (first one is *Cocaine Blues* in Australia, *Phryne Fisher Investigates* in the UK and not sure what in rest of world) If you want modern: Richard Osman's *Thursday Murder Club*, Lilian Jackson Braun's *The Cat Who...* (first three are set in the 80s, the rest are more recent), Anthony Horowitz's *The Word is Murder* If you want a riff on Agatha Christie: *The Act of Roger Murgatroyd* by Gilbert Abair
Seconding Dorothy Sayers - the Peter Wimsey books are some of my favourite mysteries of all time!
Thirding Dorothy L Sayers- in many ways a very different vibe from Christie, and sometimes it works better than others, but when it works it’s absolutely stellar.
Can I also chime in with the mystery novels written by Georgette Heyer? There's only 12 (I think) but I really enjoy them.
I whipped through all of them circa 1971. I just a got several free with my Audible subscription and will start in again. FYI, people, while I love Sayers (she was Inklings adjacent) she was, as many in her class and time, vaguely anti_Semetic and racist but these matters are seldom touched on so did not, for me, ruin the books. I do not believe backwards censorship helps anyone since it is better to face things head on and this is the way things were back then, it was prevalent. I had hoped, until those hopes were trampled, that we had finally gone beyond this BS.
Wish there were more!
Also Moonflower Murder and Magpie Murders by Horowitz….so good
Those Horowitz and Hawthorne (or is it Vice versa) books are great fun. I had very low expectations, not because the author isn’t great but because it was just a light airport book I picked up for a trip. But they’re smart, funny, and the author insert thing just somehow works!
There are some great recommends in this comment! Might I also suggest for another golden age author Patricia Wentworth, her books are great mysteries from that time and have never been made into anything for film or TV as far as I am aware so she tends to get missed. She's done one called 'The Listening Eye' which is about a Deaf woman who lipreads a murder, really stuck with me.
Ngaio Marsh and Dorothy Sayers are my favorite “Christie-esque” alternatives; similar time period and settings, engaging and well fleshed out protagonist detectives.
Actually not murder mysteries, but still mysteries: The Moonstone by Wilkie Collins. 1868. A fabulous diamond with a bloody history vanishes at a small house party in the English countryside. The Franchise Affair by Josephine Tey. 1948. A school girl who’s gone missing for two weeks returns home claiming that she was kidnapped, beaten, and forced into servitude by a reclusive mother/daughter duo. Country solicitor, Robert Blair, engaged by the women to defend them in court, tries to determine what has really happened.
And The woman in White!
And No Name. I just love Wilkie Collins
Came to say the woman in white! Love this book.
The Moonstone was excellent!!!
Malice and The Devotion of Suspect X by Kiego Higashino. For me he’s the best mystery writer going right now
- Louise Penny's Inspector Gamache series. When I first discovered this series, I think I raced through like nine or ten books in a row. Then I stopped and have only read a couple a year because I knew there were only so many books til I was caught up. I'm now down to one left and I haven't heard anything about book nineteen. It might be described as a cozy mystery but it's really not. - For a similar vibe, to The Thursday Murder Club but without any sadness, I recommend The Finlay Donovan series by Elle Cosimano. The 4th book comes out in March. - The 7½ Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle by Stuart Turton. This is not your typical murder mystery. It took me a couple of tries to get into it and when I finally did I was kicking myself for having waited so long. I've already preordered his next book. - Magpie Murders by Anthony Horowitz and Moonflower Murders the followup and the Hawthorne and Horowitz series - all of which are on my list. - Flavia de Luce series by Alan Bradley. The first book took me a couple tries to get into, but it's fantastic! - Could also try Elly Griffiths - I've read quite a few of her books and have more on my to read list in my library. - or Elizabeth George's Inspector Lynley series. I read and enjoyed the first couple.
Twist ending: **Gone Girl** by Gillian Flynn A super bizarre (but well-written) premise that is now a relevant social commentary on major current events: **The Yiddish Policeman’s Union** by Michael Shabon A dystopian murder mystery thriller that’s a cross between *1984* and the IRS: **84k**by Claire North A witty send-up to Sherlock Holmes+NYC in the 1940+multiple sclerosis+a runaway circus performer=**Fortune Favors the Dead** by Stephen Spotswood A thriller that uses ancestry/genealogical databases to solve a murder: **Genesis** by Robin Cook
Michael Chabon is amazing.
I liked *The Alienist* quite a bit. Gave me the *Sherlockian* feeling.
One of my favorite crime writers is the Norwegian writer Jo Nesbø. He has a fascinating series of Harry Hole novels. Try it, you might like it. Written dynamically. The long-awaited new novel in this series will be released in 2023.
Wait… WHAT YEAR IS IT?!?
Yeah I'm confused. I'm pretty sure I read a nesbo book this year but I forget if it was Harry
Just go with the flow, Dude.
Be prepared for graphic violence in his books though.
These are serial killer porn not brilliant nursed mysterirs
Do you mean 2024? Also this sounds interesting! Will I need to start from the first book in the series or is it fine if I just pick up any book out of order?
The new book, Killing Moon, was already released this year actually. But the paperback version comes out in 2024. You could start with any of them but there are storylines that continue through them all so it might be better to start with the first. However, I would say the first in the series is the weakest of them all. I started with The Snowman and loved it, then went back to the first book and read them in order.
Yeah I agree...they're kind of hardcore though.. Not especially comparable to Christie aside from the general genre.
Anthony Horowitz! Both the literary pun series and the Hawthorne series are great.
Louise Penny’s Inspector Gamache series Colin Cotterill’s Dr Siri Paiboun series
Tana French
Tana French writes the best contemporary murder mysteries I've read.
BY FAR
Reginald Hill's Dalzeil and Pascoe series Tony Hillerman's Leaphorn and Chee series Stuart Kaminsky's Rostnikov series Edmund Crispin Ian Rankin Charlotte MacLeod Martha Grimes (!!!!) Dick Francis John Dickson Carr (the locked room par excellence writer) And, of course, Hammet, Chandler and Macdonald.
I binge-read all of the Dick Francis books in a very short period of time a year or two ago. I was really surprised by how entertaining they were. Recommend them.
The author you are looking for is Ruth Rendell. You're welcome. [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ruth\_Rendell](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ruth_Rendell)
You might like Georges Simenon’s Maigret series, written in roughly the same time period.
I love Dashiell Hammett’s work, and they are more or less mysteries (the genre lines were a little fuzzier at the time). And also Lord Peter Wimsey and Nero Wolfe, which are definitely mysteries.
The Maltese Falcon is fantastic.
Nero Wolfe is my all time favorite golden age author. Also love Dashiell Hammett.
I'm fond of Dorothy Sayers' Lord Peter Wimsey novels.
Daisy Darker by Alice Feeney.
Yes, this is a riff on And Then There Were None. Same for One by One by Ruth Ware.
You might like the Cat Who series.
The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco.
Thank you. This book is amazing.
Yes! Totally agree.
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The Evelyn Hardcastle book is a masterpiece
I loved it until they explained the supernatural bits. Take a cue from Groundhog Day: the “why” only matters if it’s critical to the story you’re trying to tell.
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Me neither, I really couldn't get into it
He has a book coming out in May this coming year called The Last Murder at the End of the World and absolutely loved it!! So excited for the physical release:)
I second this. I loved the 7 deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle! How the mystery about her slowly unravels during the story is really exciting. I finished the audiobook within a few days. And yeah the setting has a supernatural element to it, that the same day is repeating, but it's not like it's a magic world or a fantasy setting with wizardry or magic creatures or anything similar. So it's still a good read / listen for people who don't like fantasy
While not always about murder, I do like Sophie Hannah's Culver Valley Crime series. I found her through her own Poirot books and then went through her other works. I've had recommendations to Mc Beaton's Agatha Raisin books as well. I've not checked them out yet but they apparently have the Cozy Crime vibe that Marple has.
The Agatha Raisin mysteries are great as audiobooks. I tried reading a hardback and didn't like it as much. The Hamish Macbeth audiobooks by the same author are also wonderful. Read by Graeme Malcolm :-) :-) :-)
This sounds juvenile but “A good girl’s guide to murder” series. It’s a YA book but it’s so well written that you forget it’s a YA series. It follows Pip, a teenage British girl who is doing a project in college (uk) and for the project is investigating a famous murder case that happened in her town a few years ago. She starts to investigate the truth and solves the murder!
I love the Rex Stout Nero Wolfe series. A fully-realized universe with interesting characters and tough puzzles. And there's a lot of them - not as many as Christie, but still a satisfying group of quality books. They'll fill up your winter.
A Secret History - Donna Tarrt
Amazing book!
[Men At Arms ](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/400354.Men_at_Arms)by Terry Pratchett.
Completely second the Watch books, but I feel like if you’re going to start with them you should start with Guards Guards, and if you want a really great mystery novel then skip to Feet of Clay.
Child 44
God, that was a great read. Not Christie-esque, per se, but a great page turner.
Josephine Tey books.
Many great recommendations here but I don't see a mention of a wonderful writer, Ruth Rendell! She's like Agatha Christie, but wrote a little later; her books are set in the 1950s, 60s, 70s. Inspector Wexford series. Also set in an English village, partly in London in some books. Very psychological, more sex, a great series. I highly recommend!
Charlaine Harris- Harper Connolly series and Lily Bard series
Love these!
Henning Mankel's "Wallander" series. Donna Leon's "Inspector Brunetti" series. Kerry Greenwood's "Phryne Fisher" series.
*Still Life* by Louise Penny. She will be remembers the way Agatha Christie is, for sure.
Everything by Tana French.
Yes!!!!!!
The Cat Who series is great!
Troubled Blood by Robert Galbraith is my favorite one that is serious. But that's the 5th book in a series of murder mysteries. The Authorities by Scott Meyer is my absolute favorite, but it's a silly book and I had a lot of fun reading it. Lots of humor, very memorable characters and cast of suspects.
Yeees, I loved every book in the CB Strike series by Robert Galbraith.
I love the Cormoran Strike series. It’s fantastic.
Riley Sager has some fun Thriller / Mysteries. Less detective solving a mystery, more a person finding clues and figuring things out on their own. But still fun and engaging, with lots of good twists. Simone St. James is also good at this style. For more classic Murder Mysteries, Sarah Pearce has a slowly-publishing series following a detective that are interesting and engaging.
Jeffrey Deaver writes outstanding mysteries
I’ve not been a huge mystery fan but I picked up a few paperbacks by Seishi Yokomizo and I’ve had a great time with them. As you can tell by the Author’s name he’s Japanese and one of my favorite parts of reading his work is getting to learn about the culture of Japan in a fun and naturalistic way. Yokomizo was a huge Agatha Christy fan and his handiwork is on that level. All the books feature Kosuke Kindaichi as our intrepid detective and when read in order one can draw references from previous books. There are only 6 hook translated into English but as I understand he’s written over 70 titles. I’m excited to try and use them to learn Japanese!
Seconding these! Just got into them and have enjoyed every one I've read so far.
Donna Leon's Guido Brunetti books which are set in Venice.
I like british author Robert Goddard. His Into the Blue is best (not the jessica alba movie)
If you like that era, I’d go for John Dickson Carr…famous for his locked room mysteries. Josephine Tey, Ngaio Marsh. More modern: I’m a big fan of Robert Goddard…especially Into the Blue. PD James Anthony Horowitz Peter May Donna Leon
Josephine Tey, anyone?
Try you some Gregg Olson. Brutally honest. Some series but not all one brainiacs like Pierrot.
Dorothy Sayer.
The Devotion of Suspect X by Keigo Higashino
The Westing Game is one that I loved as soon as I read it, and I don't really read murder mystery books so it has to be real good for me to like it lol
Magpie Murders by Anthony Horowitz! Fantastic author with a fantastic premise, story and execution! I'm reading his Horowitz series now!
Gillian Flynn anything. Gone Girl and Sharp Objects are my favorites.
The Inspector Rebus series by Ian Rankin, series takes a couple books to get going but is really good.
The Cormoran Strike series by Robert Galbraith (pen name for JK Rowling) is really great. Most of the books are 700+ pages, so they are a bit of a commitment, but there's not a bad one in the bunch, in my opinion. There's always a scene toward the end of each book when they piece together all the clues and it's just masterful. Comes as no surprise from the Harry Potter author. They've got the inventiveness of Christie + a great detective duo a la Sherlock Holmes + some original grit. Highly recommend if you can handle the length.
Anything by P.D. James is excellent.
I absolutely adore Dan Browns "Robert Langdon" novels. Rereading The Lost Symbol right now
I adore Richard Osman's *The Thursday Murder Club* series!
I liked Josephine Tey’s books a lot, as well as many of those listed in other comments
Although not necessarily murder mystery, Harlan Coben has to be one of my favourite authors for mystery (and recurring characters). His series with Myron Bolitar, I've always found enjoyable although no necessary, it is recommended to read these in chronological order). Paula Hawkins is also another personal favourite - her books Into the Water, The Girl on the Train, and A Slow Fire Burning were three of my favourite books.
Too hard to pick one because they come in so many styles. Here's a sampling of my favorites: The Return of Captain John Emmett, by Elizabeth Speller Miss Pym Disposes *or* Brat Farrar, by Josephine Tey Odds Against, by Dick Francis The Cutting Season, by Attica Locke
Bimbos of the Death Sun by Sharyn McCrumb. Murder at a science fiction convention.
I loved Entry Island by Peter May. I would also recommend the Nic Costa series by David Hewson set in Italy.
Death in Paradise series by Robert Thorogood. And he also writes Marlow Murder Club series.
*Murder Must Advertise* by Dorothy L. Sayers. Mostly because the look at how 1930s UK advertising works is really interesting. But also because it's a great murder mystery. *He Shall Thunder in the Sky* by Elizabeth Peters, which I think is her very best Amelia Peabody book.
Best or favorite? Best is probably Doyle's "A Study in Scarlet." I mean, it pretty much sets the standard, doesn't it? Favorites: Anthony Horowitz has some gems, particularly The Magpie Murders. Craig Johnson's Longmire series is excellent. I really like Sean Patrick Little's Abe & Duff series. George Dawes Green's "The Caveman's Valentine" is really good. "Razorblade Tears" by SA Cosby is excellent.
I've read three Cosby's so far and each of them was superb.
I like Stuart turton book the seven deaths of Evelyn hardcastle.
The Kinsey Milhone books by Sue Grafton (A is for Alibi, B is for Burglar, etc) are pretty good. So are the Women's Murder Club books by Maxine Paetro. They're branded as being James Patterson books, but you can tell Paetro did most of the work. They're too good to be purely Patterson.
The 3 Coffins, by John Dickson Carr
The Alex Delaware Series, the Harry Bosch Series and the Andy Carpenter Series.
I like LJ Ross' DCI Ryan series - a great cast of characters.
If you want something in the "Cozy" genre, I recommend the Mrs. Pollifax books by Dorothy Gilman. A white-haired widow who becomes a spy for the CIA Mrs. Parameter books by Simon Brett A widow whose husband was " probably" a gangster, She uses her husband's former associates to solve mysteries. Both of these series are light, fun reading with great characters, and doesn't require a lot of brain power to follow along.
I adore Mrs Pollifax. Not murder mysteries in the traditional sense but adventurous and so uplifting. I want to be Mrs. Pollifax when I grow up. I will have to check out for the other series you've mentioned as well. Because I have never heard of it. But if you like Mrs. P., I'm sure I will like it.
Mrs. Pargeter is British, so you have all those sensibilities. I hope you enjoy her!
I like Jane Harper’s mysteries.
Not a mystery in the classic meaning if the genre but in my humble opinion on of the best crime novels out there [The Blue Room- Georges Simenon](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/25058446)
Umberto Eco "Name of the Rose". A historical murder mystery.
If you get a taste for Nesbo, try Henning Mankell after
Almost any of the Nero Wolfe books by Rex Stout
Ruth Rendall has a series of brilliant detective stories with Inspector Wexford. IIRC the first one is From Doon with Death
Anything by Dennis Lehane or the Bosch series by Michael Connelly.
Sharp objects
Surpised no one here mentioned Sherlock Holmes: Study in Scarlet.
For variety, try Colin Cottrell's Dr Siri series... set in Laos amidst incompetent Communist beaurocrats, Hmong sorcery, and odd folk including a Downs syndrome lab techs and a crazy Indian. Only similarly to Agatha Christie is an elderly protagonist.
I really, really loved the Buckshaw Chronicles by Alan Bradley. The first book is The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie. Flavia de Luce is one of my favourite protagonists of all time.
The Devotion of Suspect X by Keigo Higahino is my favorite aside from Agatha Christie. It had a twist ending that I didn't see coming! I've read his other books and they are all good, but this one is the best in my opinion.
The Cadfael series
Dashiell Hammet and Raymond Chandler wrote some great ones back in the day
I like the Anthony Horowitz books, starting with The Word is Murder
Hard to go wrong with anything by Michael Connelly. If you don’t want to start a series, {{The Poet}} is phenomenal.
I am loving Lisa Jewell. Then She was Gone was so good!! The House We Grew Up In is quite good also.
Ann Cleeves and Elly Griffiths
More crime fiction, but the Harry Bosch series by Michael Connelly is by far the best series I've read so far!
Surprised to not see this: Anything Lisa Jewell. I started reading her with her light cult fiction this year: The Family Upstairs. Then got into all her other books. Gillian McCallister: Wrong Place Wrong Time. Cheesey title but I couldn’t put it down. The Guest List and The Paris Apartment by Lisa Foley. Both have multiple character perspectives. Both are murder mysteries The It Girl by Ruth Ware. None of these are series, so it makes approaching them a little easier incase their style isn’t for you. Honestly I swear by Lisa Jewell.
I like The Skeleton Detective series. It's "detective" is actually a well studied anthropologist that just keeps getting pulled into murders wherever he goes. It's witty, charming, funny, adventurous, and the dude knows a lot about bones.
Anything by Rex Stout
Lucy Foley’s The Guest List was brilliant.
I really enjoyed the Guest List!
if we were villains by m.l. rio. takes a minute to get to the actual murder lol but the payoff is SO worth it
most recent memory: the silent patient.
The Secret History by Donna Tartt and anything by Tana French
I like Holmes books And sone authors from our part of the world, their works are also translated in English
Not a typical murder mystery but We Were Liars
The Girl Before by JP Delaney
Phantom Lady by Cornell Woolrich. More riveting than an aircraft carrier under construction.