Crime writer recommendation please

egan2020

I really enjoy crime/thriller books, especially by the following authors:-Harlan Coben, Michael Connelly, James Patterson, Lee Child, Patricia Cornwell, Tess Gerritsen. I think I've read just about all their books so would like a recommendation on an author similar to these. Any suggestions?

Wicklowrider

I've enjoyed the authours you have listed and have also greatly enjoyed John Connolly - http://www.johnconnollybooks.com/

Wicklowrider

Dupe

thomasm

James Lee Burke is amazing, RJ Ellory is right up there also.
John Connolly as advised is a great read also.

dinorebel

James Lee Burke is very good as is Dennis Lehane.James Ellroy is a genius but people either love or hate his books as they can be tough going.George Pelecanos is also worth a read.

Manach

Rick Castle, but only if you are of a fan of the TV series.

mari2222

Paul Carson
Arlene Hunt
Donna Leon
Michael Dibdin

egan2020

Thanks so much for the replies. I'd forgotten about James Lee Burke. I've read all the Robicheaux novels but I see there's a few more that he wrote so I'll give them a try as well as John Connolly. Right then, off to amazon with me!

PattheMetaller

I'd recommend Mark Billingham, Stuart MacBride, Graham Hurly and Peter Robinson.

Also, try this website for reference

http://www.stopyourekillingme.com/

bullpost

THe crime novels of Andrea Camilleri are very good.

Set in Sicily . Big emphasis on his love of seafood if that floats your boat.

fontanalis

James Ellroy; real seedy underbelly stuff.

x_Ellie_x

I'd recommend Kathy Reichs and Jane Casey. Kathy Reichs is an American forensic anthropologist and the crime she writes about are fiction but are based on crimes she's seen throughout her career. Jane Casey is an Irish author and has only written 3 books so far but they have been very good.

Emiko

I quite enjoy an Elmore Leonard from time to time.

Always sharp characters and dialogue.

Norderburse

Having read Cornwell, Connelly and Gerritsen myself, I think you'd enjoy Mo Hayder and Linda Fairstein too

The Princess Bride

Lisa Gardner, Tami Hoag both worth a try.

Ciaran_B

Another vote for James Ellroy here - the best crime writing I've ever read.

Also recommend George Pelecanos, Ian Rankin and Ken Bruen.

doomed

Jo Nesbo - Top Notch Thrillers that will keep you reading till the small hours

Henning Mankell - all of the Wallander series

Michael Dibdin - Brilliant Aurelio Zen books - set all around Italy but a great style to them.

Gerald Seymour - not so much crime as thrillers but superbly written with a great grasp of detail

John Connolly - agree with previous posts

With the exception of Seymour, all of the above are best read in sequence.




Not recommended (based on much more limited sample of 1 in each case)

Mark Giminez
Benjamin Black
Alex Barclay

shaywest

robert b parker

shaywest

garry disher very good australian crime

Morlar

I'd second James Ellroy, the best crimewriter of all time in my opinion. Chandler is also very good. Elmore Leonard to a lesser extent. If you like the more pulpy ones Ed McBain is worth a quick read.

fontanalis

Someone else in the Ellroy category is David Peace; his Red Riding Quartet is very good. Takes a couple readngs to get what's really going on though.

x_Ellie_x

I'm just posting this here because I thought you'd all be interested in it since its for crime fiction. This website is selling the 1st ten novels in Kathy Reich's crime series for £9.99. That's 10 books for a £1 each, not bad. :cool:

shaywest

another one .the lucas davenport series by john sandford

E.T.

shaywest wrote: »

robert b parker

Only discovered him recently, and have been devouring his books as fast as I can read them.

If you like Harlan Coben, Dennis Lehane, Robert Crais, you'll definitely enjoy Parker, he influenced them!

I second the recommendation for Andrea Camilleri above, and Donna Leon is another author who sets books in Italy. Her Venetian based books are excellent.

Karin Slaughter is one of my favourites. Not dark in the same way as Jo Nesbo or Val McDermid, but set in meth-ridden, backwoods rural USA. The Grant County series are well worth a read.

hooplah

My current favourite would be Gene Kerrigan, he just writes incredibly well and his books have an air of realism thats lacking in a lot of crime writing.

Other Irish favourites would be Alan Glynn, Cormac Millar and Declan Burke.
For a resource on Irish crime writing people should really check out 'Down these Green streets', an anthology published this year containing essays, analysis and short stories. Great book altogether. The editor has a blog which is also fantastic and can be checked out here.

Further afield I'd go for James Ellroy, Walter Mosley (the Easy Rawlins series is great) and Chandler.

Lastly anyone interested in crime writing might be interested in attending the rest of a series of talks in the Central Library, ILAC Centre called 'Crime and The City: Crime and Drugs'. Speakers are John Lonergan (former governor of Mountjoy), Cormac Millar (author of the critically acclaimed 'An Irish Solution ' and 'The Grounds') and Paul O'Mahony (criminologist and author of 'The Irish War on Drugs'). Talks happen at lunchtime each Thursday in September. For further details check out http://bit.ly/qEZH2r

Hercule Poirot

Ian Rankin - a great scottish author who created Inspector Rebus

John Connolly - already mentioned a few times but well above many of his peers so he deserves another mention

Christopher Fowler - an english author for those who like there crime novels to be slightly off-centre, his May and Bryant series is fantastic

Have read the first Harlan Coben novel (Play Dead) it was ok, nothing major IMO.

Read 'Basket Case' by Carl Hiassen, thought it was a decent read.

Bearhunter

Definitely Rankin, a superb series of books.

Dennis Lehane, his books are excellent, gritty, well-plotted and funny in places.

Joseph Wambaugh - will never quite equal the Choirbys, but spins a great yarn.

Gordon Gecko

Colin Dexter's "Inspector Morse" novels are all excellent mysteries. For sheer enjoyment I'd recommend RD Wingfield's Frost novels and I'd also recommend a liberal helping of Conan Doyle because, well, it's Conan Doyle!

Caros

Karin Slaughter, Chelsea Cain, Lisa Gardner, Tami Hoag, Chris Carter are my recco's.

Tabnabs

I'd second Jo Nesbø (you can get some of his books cheap in tesco)

also

Karin Fossum
Arnaldur Indridason (quite bleak, but well worth a read)


I have good things about the Sjöwall-Wahlöö team, the original Scandinavian crime writers.

bobie

Michael Connelly, Harry Bosch series are very good, have read most of Tess Gerritsen and think there great and easy read,
Reading Lisa Gardner at the moment, very gruesome but good reading,
Laura Lipman is also very good, "What the Dead Know" is very good,
A very good site for listings of books and reviews and where you can keep your own Library of books you have read for your own record is
http://www.librarything.com/ should try it

dr gonzo

Without a doubt Raymond Chandler, if you havent picked up one of his yet i highly recommend it.

chenguin

Some one had said they did not like Alex Barclay but I quite liked Darkhouse and the follow up The Caller.
Plus one on Kathy Reichs, Karin Slaughter and John Connolly.

onzie

Ann Cleeves - esp the Shetland Quartet.

I love the idea of crime novels set in remote or unusual locations and where the cast of suspects and victims is pretty much locked down from the start.

louiseamd

:cool:

Caros wrote: »

Karin Slaughter, Chelsea Cain, Lisa Gardner, Tami Hoag, Chris Carter are my recco's.[/QUOT

LOVE LOVE LOVE Karin and Tami! They are 2 of my favourite writers ever. My last bf couldn't understand why I loved to read Karin Slaughter so much! I've read most of KS's books but not all of them, i kept telling him. I love the characters so much in her books, Jeffery Tolliver nom nom nom and Lena Adams. Tami is an amazing storyteller, even though she is not as graphic in her writing. Still Waters YAY! :cool:

neveah

+ 1 on the recommendations for John Connolly and Karin Slaughter

I have enjoyed all their books and although you can read them as stand alone novels, I would still recommend that you start the Charlie Parker series (JC) and the Sara Linton series (KS) from book 1 and read them through. Very good reads and they will keep you busy for a while

RichT

No one has mentioned The Millennium Trilogy by Stieg Larsson.

1. The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo

2. The Girl Who Played With Fire

3. The Girl Who Kicked The Hornets Nest

Have read the first two and thoroughly enjoyed them. Am saving/teasing myself for the last book.

Eoin

I think they're appalling books

Well, the first was OK - slow and could see the end coming a mile off, but quite good to read. The second was just ridiculous. The third was awful - may as well have been called "all men are bastards". Not to mention the painful detail of brand names, coffee drinking and dinners.

I'm not a fan of Karin Slaughter; I've tried 3 or 4 now, but I think they're aimed at a female audience.

jensennhook

Edgar Wallace
Agatha Christie
Edgar Allan Poe Jr
John Grisham
Sydney Sheldon

egan2020

OP here. I've just finished reading John Connolly - Every Dead Thing and thoroughly enjoyed it. Couldn't put the book down. Let's just say my 5 month old baby has spent lots of time watching the Disney channel over the last couple of days

moonbloom

Ive read all Michael Connellys books, most of them really good. Recently I read RJ Ellory The Anniversary Man then A quiet belief in angels. Such different styles for one writer, amazing. Will have a few lined up for after Saints of Newyork, Brilliant. My all time favourite writer is Philip Margolin, read them all, never see them in book shops but all on amazon. Larsson, ya! :cool:, good but couldnt face the third one yet but will one day.

Grievous

Raymond Chandler, Dashiell Hammet and Agatha Christie.

Eoin

Just finished the new Michael Connelly book (The Drop) - pretty underwhelming

thomasm

Eoin wrote: »

Just finished the new Michael Connelly book (The Drop) - pretty underwhelming

Could not put that down. Read it in about 2 days

Eoin

I was a bit disappointed for a Bosch book, but I think it was still an improvement over the Haller books.

still - at least Bosch still has up to 5 years left with a badge!

thomasm

Reading RJ Ellorys Bad Signs at the moment. What a book. He is leagues ahead of other writers imho

Lady von Purple

The Kellerman family are excellent

Actually, I haven't read anything by Faye Kellerman but Jonathan Kellerman has long been a favourite crime author of mine and then along came Jesse Kellerman following in those footsteps. Jesse has 3 novels out, I'd say Jonathan has a few dozen at this stage!

(I'm a big fan of James Patterson too, but I prefer Kellerman and I don't think they've been mentioned yet.)

Lady von Purple

The Kellerman family are excellent

Actually, I haven't read anything by Faye Kellerman but Jonathan Kellerman has long been a favourite crime author of mine and then along came Jesse Kellerman following in those footsteps. Jesse has 3 novels out, I'd say Jonathan has a few dozen at this stage!

(I'm a big fan of James Patterson too, but I prefer Jonathan Kellerman and I don't think he or his family have been mentioned yet.)

eire4

Wicklowrider wrote: »

I've enjoyed the authours you have listed and have also greatly enjoyed John Connolly - http://www.johnconnollybooks.com/[/QUOTE]

I totally agree I love John Connolly's books. A new Irish crime writer I just came upon is Declan Hughes. Very promising what I have read of his so far.

Autosport

Karin Slaughter, Karen Rose, James Patterson, Andrew Gross *He co-wrote with James P* Richard Montanari, Chris Carter, The Kellerman family, Michael and John Connolly, Mark Billingham, Val McDermid, Lee Child, Jeff Abbott, Alex Kava, Tana French, JD Robb and Jeffery Deaver are some of my favourite authors