Mysteries
Hits: Failed to execute CGI : Win32 Error Code = 3
Patricia Wentworth's Miss Silver Mysteries If you loved Agatha Christie's Miss Marple, you will love Patricia Wentworth's Miss Silver. They are different personalities but the flavor is just as good. I only discovered Miss Silver in the last year or so. The local used book store had 10 or so different mysteries by Wentworth. When I tried to get more I discovered that many of the books are out of print. I ordered others from Amazon; scrounged through used book stores; ... The effort was wothwhile. Books in the series:
A sad day. Chronologically the last of the Inspector Morse novels. I started reading the series after watching the PBS series. John Thaw is Chief Inspector Morse and Kevin Whately is Detective Sergeant Lewis. Others in the series:
The video Morse:
Stuart Kaminsky's Blood and Rubles
Crime in post-communist Russia. Inspector Rostnikov tries to find a kidnap victim before his kidnappers execute him; Deputy Inspector Sasha Tkach must find the gang of childred battering drunks to death; Policewoman Elena Timofeyeva joins the tax police in a raid on a house filled with Czarist treasures, worth billions of rubles. The next day every last relic and work of art has disappeared without a trace; and Inspector Emil Karpo must find the Russian gang that is trying to sell nuclear weapons.
The descriptions of Russian courts is particularly chilling. If you think your life is difficult, read on. Gritty mystery to say the least.
Ellis Peter's Brother Cadfael
I was a fan of Cadfael well before the PBS Mysteries Brother Cadfael series. I have read the series, listened to the tapes and watched the PBS series. brought Cadfael to life. He also narrates most of the audio tape versions. If you are a mystery reader, try the books. If you listen to tapes while traveling, get the audio tape versions. The videos with Jackobi is his best work since . Ellis Peters medieval mystery series is a best seller in England. It takes place in the 1100s. It brings this little known period (to most Americans) to life.
Monk's Hood
One Corpse Too Many
The Leper of St. Giles
St. Peter's Fair
The Virgin in the Ice
A Raven in the Foregate
The Rose Rent
A Morbid Taste for Bones
Many of the 20+ books are now going out of print but they are readily available in most used books stores.
13th in Hillerman's excellent series featuring Navajo tribal police officers Joe Leaphorn and Jim Chee. I have read everyone and enjoyed them immensely! I can hardly wait for the next book. You learn a lot of Navajo concepts and traditions. Do you know what a skinwalker is? What the Blessing Way is? If you read Hillerman, you will. These are all available as audio books. I have listened to several going back and forth to work and enjoyed Leaphorn and Chee in a totally different media. I find that having read the book does not detract from listening to the tape. The experience is too different. Others in the series:
Kinky Friedman
Kinky is a country and western singer making a "living" in NY as a sleuth. He lives in loft one floor down from the lesbian dance class. The stories involve fictional episodes in famous peoples lives with Kinky coming to the "rescue". For example who is trying to kill his buddy Willy Nelson, or who is trying to kill Abby Hoffman? I like his use of language. Others might call is juvenile. I think its funny. Particularly enjoy the audio tape versions read by the author. Sophisticated, its not.
Armadillos & Old Lace
Blast from the Past
Elvis, Jesus and Coca-Cola
God Bless John Wayne
The Love Song of J. Edgar Hoover
Road Kill
Spanking Watson
Hillerman captures the Navajo culture, Van Gulik paints the ancient Chinese culture. His mysteries are based on a legendary but historical judge, Judge Dee. Like the Hillerman novels, I have read all of the Judge Dee and recommend this. A very different legal system including legal torture. Others in the series:
I recommend any of Aaron Elkin's mysteries with my favorites featuring Gideon Oliver, a forensic anthropologist. "Loot" introduces Ben Revere, a museum curator. It has particular appeal as an excellent example of Elkin's writing with the added bonus of being based on the continuing looting of art stolen by the Nazis. Its an ugly ongoing story involving most of the governments involved.
Simenon wrote many, many Maigret mysteries. PBS successfully captured the atmosphere in its dramatization - interesting given the English actors. Simenon was French and wrote only in French. All the novels have been translated. You don't notice it.
Simenon was a notorious womanizer (god that sounds antique) and his novels reflect that attitude. I like books that have characters that take me into their world. These stories take you into Paris and Europe that no longer exists. The neighborhoods, the customs. Maigret knows the criminals, they know him. I don't have any idea how many were published. I have read all these and more. They were tremendously popular at one time and now are almost forgotten. These are all reprints:
