The Doctor, Donna, and Agatha Christie in "The Unicorn and the Wasp" (4.07)
It’s summertime, and in addition to being the season for certain movies it is also (for many of us) the season for certain books or certain types of reading (i.e. beach or other leisure-reading-spot-of choice). I’m pretty eclectic in my leisure reading, and these days seem mostly to gravitate toward nonfiction. However, I am also a fan of work across pretty much every genre. I thought for this edition of Thursday Night Trivia I’d share a few of my favorite mystery series … and get y’all to chime in on what amateur or not-so-amateur detectives you find satisfying to read.
1. Gideon Oliver (Aaron Elkins). Before there was Bones, there was Gideon Oliver. Oliver is a forensic archeologist who would love to spend his time working with the remains of long-dead people from ancient civilizations … but more often then not finds himself dragged in to consult on a modern-day crime scene. Elkins is also the author of two other series, one featuring an art historian and one a golf pro (co-authored with his wife), both of which are fun as well. I also enjoyed his free-standing novel/mystery Loot which is about the plunder of European art during WWII.
2. Amelia Peabody (Elizabeth Peters). Amelia Peabody is a single woman of means in Edwardian England who, following the death of her father, sets on a European tour that eventually takes her to Egypt where she meets not only murder and mayham but also a dashing Egyptologist named Radcliffe Emerson. My mother-in-law refers to these as the “shagging all over upper Egypt” series. The whole series, of which I’ve only read a handful, spans several decades of the early 20th century and includes an extended cast of delightful characters.
3. Homer Kelly (Jane Langton). Before I’d ever been to Boston, I read and loved the Homer Kelly mysteries by Jane Langton, which take place in the Boston area (where Langton lives) and often involve historical and cultural sites such as the Isabella Stuart Gardner museum and Emily Dickinson’s house. My personal favorites include Memorial Hall Murder (the first I ever read), Murder at the Gardner (takes place in the neighborhood I attended grad school and near where I work), and The Face on the Wall which draws on Langton’s affection for children’s fiction.
4. Mary Russell (Laurie R. King). Mary Russell is the woman who single-handedly caused me to re-think my irritation with Sherlock Holmes. Don’t read this series if you’re wedded to the Sherlock canon in a way that doesn’t allow for creative re-interpretation or if you want your Sherlock to be exclusively gay or asexual (just a head’s up). The series begins in Holmes’ retirement and posits the appearance of a teenage orphan (Mary) whom Holmes comes to mentor, work with, and eventually partner with. He’s a very different Sherlock than the one found in the new Sherlock (BBC) but I love them both in equal measure … and Mary is one of my most favorite female sleuths (and a theologist to boot!). Essential to start from the beginning, but I particularly enjoy Monstrous Regiment of Women and Justice Hall.
5. Clare and Richard Ringwood (Katharine Farrer). Author Farrer only gave her professional detective, Richard Ringwood, and his wife Clare three novels: The Missing Link (1952), The Cretan Counterfeit (1954), and The Gownsman’s Gallows (1957). However, for those who enjoy Agatha Christie and Dorothy Sayers these three are a treat. Go in to them expected some dated gender and racial sterotypes (often cringe-worthy), but if you’re a fan of the British cozies I’d highly recommend them. Rue Morgue Press put out lovely paperback editions in the early 2000s, though they currently don’t seem to be offering them through their catalog. Check your local library network for copies!
What mystery series do you recommend Harpies?
Maisie Dobbs, by Jacqueline Winspear. Set in the 1920s-1930s London. Maisie is a private investigator and psychologist, and had been a nurse in the Great War. The books clearly show the effects the war has even a decade or more after it ended. They expose the severe damage in every aspect of society. It’s a good read, a good think without being too challenging. Winspear doesn’t twist for the sake of twisting – there’s a reason for it, and a lot of times its hard to see coming. At least for me!
A friend and I were busily recommending them to each other when we realized we were talking about the same series. I didn’t realize there were 8 already – I’ve only read 3. I need to get cracking at the local library.
I absolutely LOVE Ariana Franklin’s medieval “Mistress of the Art of Death” series which stars a female doctor who’s the 12th century version of a medical examiner. The writing is first-rate, the heroine is one of the smartest and most original I’ve ever read, and if you like Sharon Kay Penman and Plantagenet-era fiction, the historical part is awesome (Henry II and Eleanor of Aquitaine are recurring characters).
I used to read a lot of different series, and eventually whittled them down until I was reading pretty much only women. Robert Parker (of blessed memory) was always a fun read. You could read one of his books in a couple of hours and there was usually a laugh or two along the way.
I also like Laurie King a lot, although I wish there were more Holmes in the last few.
I’m a huge fan of Sara Paretsky, whose VI Warshawski series takes on serious issues and it unapologetically feminist. Her latest one concerns the body as art-good stuff.
The Kinsey Milhone alphabet series by Sue Grafton is reliably entertaining every time.
Marcia Muller’s Sharon McCone series is worth reading. The character has developed a lot through the series and it’s fun to be part of her life.
The 2 sort of “comfy” series I read are the Goldy Schultz one by Diane Mott Davidson and the China Bayles one by Susan Wittig Albert. Neither is a strain and you get recipes with both!
I always look forward to a new Barbara Holloway. Kate Wilhelm writes the best courtroom scenes in the business. The best.
Finally, the Kate Atkinson series with Jackson Brodie is terrific. She weaves multiple plot lines together with ease and wit. I highly recommend them.
I adore the Elizabeth Peters – Peabody / Emerson books! I am not a huge mystery book fan, but I love those.
There is another series I enjoyed years ago, the Thomas and Charlotte Pitt books by Anne Perry. I thought it was such a nice refreshing egalitarian marriage portrayed during victorian times.
Joan Hess – she’s got two series’ – one starring Sheriff Arly Hanks in the tiny town of Maggody, the other starring amateur detective Claire Malloy in Farberville (a stand-in for Hess’ hometown, Fayetteville, Arkansas). They’re funny, they’re quick, they actually are decent mysteries, and they feature two grown women handling their business
@Becky – I don’t normally have visceral reactions to scary/gross things in books (one of the few I can remember is the whole maggot situation from The Dante Club), but damn, the reveal at the end of Mistress of the Art of Death (the first book) was freaky as all hell. Definitely a good payoff. I’m looking forward to reading more — as you say, the protagonist is a very well-done character.
Thanks for these – I love mystery novels. I’m slowly getting all the Agatha Christies from charity shops as there are just too many of them to buy new. They’re proper comfort reading for me, brings back memories of reading my grandmother’s copies when I was tiny.
Dorothy L Sayers’ Peter Wimsey/Harriet Vane novels are cracking, proper novels with characters and plots and everything, and remarkably enlightened (about most things) and feminist for books written in the 1930s.
Ngaio Marsh’s Roderick Alleyn mysteries are less well known than the other two, she was a contemporary of Christie and Sayers, and they’re in a similar vein, intelligently written and absorbing but not taxing.
I will be checking out some of these recommendations!
I recently listened to the first Phryne Fisher book by Kerry Greenwood and thought it was brilliant: Phryne is an independent-minded, unconventional heiress in the roaring 20s, and a proper flapper to boot. She travels back to her native Melbourne (left when her poor family unexpectedly inherited a British fortune) and decides to right wrongs and sleuth fearlessly while always looking fabulous of course (and having flings all over the place *g*
I really enjoyed the book (which has some nice social commentary among the fluff) and can’t wait to read more!
Oh, I forgot a couple: the Anna Pigeon series by Nevada Barr and the Temperance Brennan by Kathy Reichs. The latter is the series from which the tv show “Bones” was taken, although I’ve never watched it.
Sometimes I read stuff other than mysteries, although that may be hard to believe. :-0
Agatha Christie’s Poirot series is one of my faves. I love to watch the David Suchet episodes especially. I also really like Midsommer Murders, which is another tv series set in England. One of my favorite books series is the Inspector Wexford mysteries by Ruth Rendell. I’m not quite sure what it is about all these British series that I enjoy so much, but they just seem to be fascinating to me. Maybe it has something to do with the “stiff-upper-lip” mentality of the detectives.
I’m late to this party, but I have a huge soft spot for Fiona Buckley’s series about lady-in-waiting to the Queen Elizabeth I, Ursula Blanchard. Plus, the author is one the people I hope to be when I’m older – completely sweet, respectable scholar, delightfully frumpy, British, and very smart.