(no subject)

[mrv3000]

Would anyone have any book recs for mystery/detective series? More...polite Miss Marple-type mysteries rather than anything that uses the words "gritty," "real," "dark" or anything similar to describe it.

I love period mysteries (especially the 1930s) since there's just something so polite about murder back then. XD Of course, I did enjoy the No 1 Ladies' Detective Agency, as well as the Thursday Next series. (Those are far from "gritty" so it's probably no wonder.)

Bonus points if it's a female sleuth. Oh, Poirot is all right, I guess, but give me a Precious Ramotswe, a Harriet Vane or a Thursday Next any day. (I've decided that my old-spiration is Miss Marple. I'll take up knitting and solve crimes and drink tea. I might have to move to the English countryside though, since there seems to be a murder at an estate at least once a week, and I'm sure they'll all need solving.)

So does anyone know of anything I could try?

(P.S. You know what could be fairly awesome? A geared-for-adults series of Nancy Drew. One where she dumps Ned and hooks up with Frank Hardy, obviously.)

Comments

[doddlebot.livejournal.com]

Have you read Jasper Ffordes Nursery Crime Novels? (the Big Over Easy and The Fourth Bear) both really good crime novels, a bit grittier than Thursday Next but with the same whimsical (did I spell that right?), brilliant writing.

[mrv3000.livejournal.com]

I haven't read those yet. I might have to give them a try!

[fiona-conn.livejournal.com]

If you're into Holmes, give Carole Nelson Douglas a go. She wrote a series based around Irene Adler from "A Scandal in Bohemia", in which Irene -- along with a newfound friend she rescues on the streets, Miss Penelope Huxleigh -- sleuths mysteries.

Here's the first: http://www.amazon.com/Good-Night-Mr-Holmes-Irene/dp/0812514300

:)

[mrv3000.livejournal.com]

Interesting! Thanks!

[muneca-brava.livejournal.com]

I don't think they're easy to find (though there should be some on Amazon) but I love the novels by Nicholas Blake. They're written and set in the thirties/fories. It's a male detective, but his girlfriend/wife helps out in some of them and she's pretty awesome! They're very much the British-tea drinking-body in the library style XD

[mrv3000.livejournal.com]

Ooooh! Sounds perfect!

[goodtoast.livejournal.com]

I'm seconding the Jasper Ffordes recommendation. I don't like the Nursery Crime novels quite as much as the Thursday Next ones, but they're oh so much fun.

And for when you want something heavier, you really should read the Millennium Trilogy books (Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, etc.). For as much as they're being hyped right now, they really, really, deserve it. I'm not usually a violent-book lover, but these sucked me in. And it's not too difficult to skip over the really violent bits anyways. Lisbeth Salander is every bit of awesome as the media has made her out to be.

[mrv3000.livejournal.com]

I really should pick up a Nursery Crime novel. And I'll have to take a look at that Millennium Trilogy. The nice thing about library books is you can stop reading if it's not working for you, and not feel guilty. :D

[dettiot.livejournal.com]

They're modern, not period, but Donna Andrews' Meg Langslow mysteries might work for you. They're definitely on the cozy side of things, in that while murders happen, they're not gruesome and there's no language or sex. Meg is a blacksmith with a large and wacky family, and she's a problem-solver for everyone. This means that when she stumbles upon dead bodies, she can't help but want to fix this problem, too, by finding out the identity of the murderer. They're very funny, and Meg is a great character. All of the books have a bird in the title, often combined with a pun. The first one is Murder with Peacocks.

[mrv3000.livejournal.com]

Ooh, sounds good! Thanks!

[sumeria.livejournal.com]

Give Elizabeth Peter's Amelia Peabody series a try. It follows the live of a rather formidable british lady and her family of Egyptologists from about 1890-1920s. Novels are written as though exerpted from the heroine's journals, and she has a somewhat... flamboyant style, but the overall effect is charming.

[mrv3000.livejournal.com]

That could be interesting! Ta!

[makingmywayhome.livejournal.com]

More Holmes novels: Laurie R. King wrote a series surrounding Mary Russell, a young girl who becomes a retired Holmes' protege. There are something like ten books out now. The Beekeeper's Apprentice comes first.

[mrv3000.livejournal.com]

Interesting! Thanks!

[stardreemer.livejournal.com]

I saw someone recommended Elizabeth Peters, you might also want to try her Vicky Bliss series. They are a little more modern (they take place in the 1970s, except for the last book), but they are really good!

[mrv3000.livejournal.com]

Ooh, thanks!

[shinyopals.livejournal.com]

How about the Daisy Dalrymple series. They're written in the modern day but set in the 20s. Very silly and light-hearted and you can probably plough through one book in an afternoon. I've read the first five or six.

And have you read the Mary Russell/Sherlock Holmes books? I don't know if I'd call them "dark", but they're perhaps a little darker than Daisy Dalrymple (I'm only on about the fifth). Also set in the 20s, at least at the moment.

There were another couple of books I've started and not finished yet of a similar nature, but they're in England so I can't remember the names.

[mrv3000.livejournal.com]

Hot diggity! That looks like exactly my taste! :D

[cheekygal.livejournal.com]

You know what could be fairly awesome? A geared-for-adults series of Nancy Drew. One where she dumps Ned and hooks up with Frank Hardy, obviously.

Get to your library and see if they have Confessions of a Teen Sleuth by Chelsea Cain. It's a hysterical Nancy Drew parody, with appearances of almost any series character you can shake a stick at, such as Encyclopedia Brown, Cherry Ames, and Tom Swift.

[mrv3000.livejournal.com]

XD That sounds fantastic! Unfortunately I just looked at my library's web site and they don't have that one.

[elirrina.livejournal.com]

Have you read the Tommy and Tuppence books by Agatha Christie? Tuppence is a female sleuth, and possibly the more energetic half of the detective team. :)

I also really like Sharan Newman's Catherine Levendeur mysteries, they're set in the Middle Ages.

[mrv3000.livejournal.com]

I have read those! It's been a while though.

And I'm intrigued at the idea of a mystery set in the middle ages...

[jesidres.livejournal.com]

If you'd like a period mystery with a bit of sci-fi/fantasy/steampunk flavor, with lots of snark and a fun female protagonist, I can't recommend enough Soulless (The Parasol Protectorate) by Gail Carriger. The first book, Soulless, is stand alone, but it's followup, Changeless sets up for a bigger story arc to be continued in Blameless (out Sept 1).

[mrv3000.livejournal.com]

Ooh, that sounds like it could be fun!

[http://users.livejournal.com/_thirty2flavors/]

Nancy Drew was my jam back in the day. I have no recommendations because I haven't read mystery novels in eons and the ones I have been have been the more "gritty" type, but yeahhhh Nancy Drew.

[mrv3000.livejournal.com]

I think I've read just about all of them, and at one point I had a pretty big collection I got through garage sales. :D

[mornea.livejournal.com]

I would LOVE a geared for adults nancy drew! It's kind of funny to talk about an "innocent murder mystery" but that's almost what you are talking about. Your mystery solver is civilized and has manners, instead of being traumatized and flawed and quasi evil themselves (not that this can't be written well, I'm just kinda tired of it). I've read only one No. 1 Detective Agency story, but I loved it and loved Precious Ramotswe. She had morals and dignity without being unreal. It's refreshing.

I'm going to have to ask my mystery nut daughter for recommendations- she knows about every mystery book out there. I'll get back to you with her comments.

[mrv3000.livejournal.com]

I would LOVE a geared for adults nancy drew! It's kind of funny to talk about an "innocent murder mystery" but that's almost what you are talking about. Your mystery solver is civilized and has manners, instead of being traumatized and flawed and quasi evil themselves (not that this can't be written well, I'm just kinda tired of it).

That's it exactly. It's very romanticized, but that's what appeals to me.

I've read only one No. 1 Detective Agency story, but I loved it and loved Precious Ramotswe. She had morals and dignity without being unreal. It's refreshing.

Very! I wound up reading all 10 (or how many ever there are now) and it's the literary version of sitting on the porch with a cup of tea. :)

[mornea.livejournal.com]

Although you seem to prefer female protagonists, what about the Nero Wolfe mysteries? My daughter loved those, and was quite in love with his investigator, Archie. These are pretty much period pieces 30s/40s/50s depending on the story.

[mrv3000.livejournal.com]

I've heard the name, but other than that I don't know much about it. I'm a sucker for that period though, so I'll have to at least try one. Thanks!

[outforawalk.livejournal.com]

I am more of a Stephanie Plum reader, but my customers highly recommend the Aunt Dimity books and the Jane Austen mysteries. Aunt Dimity is actually in my stack of TBR.

[mrv3000.livejournal.com]

Oooh, thanks!

[amberfocus.livejournal.com]

Anne Perry writes two Victorian era detective series that might fit your bill. They have strong female protagonists to match the male ones. http://www.anneperry.net/ has a description of both series right on the opening page.

[mrv3000.livejournal.com]

Thanks! Sounds interesting!

[captaintish]

Have you tried the Mary Russell/Sherlock Holmes books? They're by Laurie King, and they're AWESOME.

[mrv3000.livejournal.com]

I haven't! Thanks!

[nicachick007.livejournal.com]

ZOMG I DIDN'T KNOW YOU LIKE MURDER MYSTERIES!

I'm currently working my way through the entire works of Agatha Christie. She's totally my favorite ever. I've finished all the Poirot's, who I completely adore, and am now reading all the Miss Marple's. Is she not a genius? I love her so much. I'm reading them in chronological order, since, as I'm sure you're well aware, Christie goes back and refers to past cases and such. I'm currently about halfway through The Moving Finger.

I think that together Miss Marple and Hercule Poirot would make the best grandparents ever. I want them.

And while I really can't recommend you anything else to read, since I'm so caught up in the Christies, I think you might really enjoy the TV show Castle. It's a murder mystery cop show but it's ridiculously funny and stars sci-fi veteran and total stud Nathan Fillion. See teh iconz! Just finished up its second season and OMG THERE IS SO MUCH UST it's just amazing.

Just watch it.

[mrv3000.livejournal.com]

Have you watched any of the new Marple (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agatha_Christie%27s_Marple)? *squishes Miss Marple* She's so awesome. :D

[janetmaca.livejournal.com]

Anne Perry- let me say this: stick with the William Monk or Thomas Pitt series. She has another series set in WWI that isn't nearly as good as the other two.

Elizabeth Peters- the Peabody series, while I don't like her stories nearly as much as Perry's, there's still something rather amusing about her writing.

Rex Stout- okay, okay. Not what you're looking for- hell, the female characters are almost interchangeable (the main characters are male) but there's this charm in the stories, and Stout used New York City to his advantage.

[mrv3000.livejournal.com]

Awesome! Thanks for the info! I've gotten into the habit of reading for an hour or two before bed, and I need lots of material to keep it up!

[erikau.livejournal.com]

nthing Amelia Peabody, they're wonderful. The Mary Russel novels are good (and Lord Peter himself makes a cameo in one of them!), but don't pick up Laurie King's other books if you don't like gritty. If you like contemporary cozies the Meg Langslow books by Donna Andrews are enjoyable. Charlotte MacLeod's books are amusing--she had two series under that name, and another series (set in Canada!)written as Alyssa Craig. You might like the Hamish McBeth stories by M.C.Beaton.

If you'd like actual, period books...Edmund Crispin has an Oxford don named Gervase Fen who is a smidge quirky--they're set a bit later than the twenties though.

Marjorie Allingham--she wrote the Albert Campion novels. Ngaio Marsh, Mary Roberts Rinehart. Hmm. It's been a VERY long time since I read any of the classics.

And, although they aren't mysteries, Wodehouse is hilarious (OMG Fry and Laurie as Jeeves and Wooster!). For a really interesting take on things, alternate reading Peter Wimsey and Bertie Wooster novels.

[mrv3000.livejournal.com]

Oooh, sound like great suggestions! Thanks!

[logicisfailing.livejournal.com]

Lolz, there were some Nancy Drew novels geared for young adults where she was on college or something... Never read them, they're probably horrible but you never know.

Haha, I found it: http://www.amazon.com/Lives-Loves-Nancy-Drew-Campus/dp/0671527371/ref=sr_1_8?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1281587898&sr=1-8

I don't seek out mystery books too often - they're ok, just not something I'm drawn to - so I haven't read any lately (but if I remember any I'll let you know :-)

[mrv3000.livejournal.com]

:D Thanks!

[grav-ity.livejournal.com]

There's always The Murdoch Mysteries. Kind of cheesy, but...detective-ish.

ETA: Crap, you said "book" series. These are TV, and my mind went straight there. ;)

[mrv3000.livejournal.com]

I'll take it! I've never heard of it! Thanks!