I realised the other day that I’ve enjoyed lots of murder mystery games and shows, but I’ve hardly read any mystery novels. The only ones that come to mind are Altered Carbon and some of the Discworld Watch novels (all great!).
Can anyone recommend me some of their favourite books in this genre? I don’t really mind the setting, as long as it’s a satisfying mystery with a great payoff.
Just about any Agatha Christie mystery is worth reading. I personally love the Hercule Poirot and Tommy and Tuppence series. Another series I enjoyed is the Lord Peter Wimsey novels by Dorothy L. Sayers. I guess the narrow genra I usually read is a cozy mystery because it’s easy.
Just finished listening to Murder on the Orient Express narrated by Kenneth Branagh. Wish he would do them all, but so far just two are out (Death on the Nile being the second).
Do Agatha Christie’s series need to be read in any particular order, or are they standalone? I was tempted by And Then There Were None
Short answer is it doesn’t matter. And Then There Were None is a great starting point.
They can be order chronologically, but aside from very casual and occasional references to other cases it doesn’t matter, each story is entirely self contained.
I read both of Stuart Turtons mystery novels last year and couldn’t recommend them enough.
The Devil and the Dark Water and The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle
I read both and enjoyed both, but definitely preferred Hardcastle. Though that could be because I read it in early 2021 with an unidentified case of Covid (false neg) and was kind of in a dream state of exhaustion which made the slightly trippy loop even more engaging. Lol
Actually I think I preferred Devil in all honesty, although I’m willing to put that down to me having a bit of a thing for stories set on ships.
Thanks for these suggestions - I hadn’t heard of the author. The first one you mentioned has a particularly interesting setting, on an East India ship!
Isaac Asimov, Ellery Queen, and Agatha Christie are all pretty much “can’t go wrong”. And I’m just talking “straight up mystery novels”
Since I see sci-fi/fantasy on your list I’d mention:
- Glen Ccok’s fantasy series (they all have a metal in the title of the book, and are all set in a fantasy world, where the main character is a gumshoe - “Sweet Silver Blues” is the first.)
- Mary Robinette Kowal’s “The Spare Man” is a sci-fi version of the “Thin Man” movies (married couple, witty banter, clever and light).
- Isaac Asimov wrote mysteries in two ways - the “R.Daneel Olivaw “ stuff (Caves of Steel), and the “Black Widower’s club” short stories. Both are fantastic
- Simon R Green has written several “Ishmael Jones” novels that are typically locked room mystery (and caper/heist as well), and his Nightside novels are (sometimes very) loosely mystery they feature a detective as protagonist, and the Ghost Finder novels have something of a mystery solving component.
- David Brin’s “Kiln People” - can’t remember the mystery component, but the main character is a detective
- Vernon Vinge “Marooned in Realtime”
- Larry Niven/Stephen Barnes’ “Dream Park” novels have at least one murder-mystery, unsure if there are more.
- Harry Turtledove, “the case of the toxic spell dump” is urban fantasy (though set in a far more magical world) *George Alec Effinger’s “When Gravity Fails” certainly fits.
There is also a decent amount of urban fantasy (the Dresden files comes to mind) that are essentially mysteries.
Many thanks for this list! Some great looking books in there, and I do enjoy the sound of unique sci-fi/fantasy settings
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The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins.
The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco. Feels heavy at first but really captivating as you go.
If you like a little bit of horror and the supernatural thrown in the Detective Pendergast books are great.
Agatha Christie’s are classics, of course - and Dorothy Sayers - but there are so many variations.
Maybe check out Ann Cleeves, or Andrew Vachss is you prefer darker, or Ruth Rendell and Patricia Highsmith for psychological -
The Mystery of the Yellow Room. And if you’ve read Conan Doyle, and Poe’s Dupin stories, you’ll enjoy the jabs to both.
“The Snowman” by Jo Nesbø. Most of the Harry Hole series are pretty great
An Elderly Lady Is Up to No Good by Helene Tursten
