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May-16-2004 16:41

Hi any body has read or is a fan of Nancy Drew, The Hardy boys, Trixie bendel? Puhleez post!
P.S. If so do ya have a fave?
A book lover - Mag

Jul-11-2005 21:04

I have to say I enjoy Kathy Reichs' mysteries - they are more thrillers than mysteries, but if you like Dan Brown or Patricia Cornwell you would probably enjoy her series. They are also making a TV series based on her novels "Bones" on FOX.

Aug-27-2005 22:57

I highly recommend Ngaio Marsh!

She is a New Zealand author / playwright, and has written a whole lot of murder mysteries, many of whom feature Chief Detective Inspector Roderick Alleyn for Scotland Yard.

Her books have the flavour of Agatha Christie, but unlike her in that she doesn't hide any information from the reader - and you can actually work them out if you're smart enough.

Here are some of her titles: "Scales of Justice", "Tied up in Tinsel", "Vintage Murder".

Aug-28-2005 01:34

If anybody wants a recommendation of a good mystery, here's mine. Complicity, by Iain Banks. Very tense, very dark... One of my favourites of his.

I'm a big fan of his straight fiction and also his sf-genre stuff (which he writes under the name Iain M. Banks. He's highly prolific, and has a great talent for inventing concepts and telling stories. His books are darkly comical, satirical and stylish. The first Banks book I read was called The Bridge. Without spoiling it for anybody, most of the action in that book takes place in the mind of a man who is dreaming, while laying on his back on a hospital bed in a coma. I think this guy is one of the best contemporary novelists.

Oct-10-2005 08:58

I noticed someone mentioned "The Eyre Affair" by Jasper Fford. I found it a little hard to start but am glad I did. It's now the first of four books. They're funny and quirky- it was nice to read something different. I highly reccommend them.
For a light humourous and chick read, the Shopaholic series by Sophie Kinsella were laugh out loud funny as was her other book "Can you keep a secret?"
One of the top chick authors I've found is Marion Keyes. A little deeper than Sophie Kinsella and a lot more pro-woman than those frightful BJ Diary books.
As for Sleuth, I'm surprised no one mentioned Jeffery Deaver. He wrote "The Bone Collector" and more books about Linclon Rhyme. He seems to go the extra mile in his books and doesn't just finish on the expected twist.
There's also a series of books by an author Laurie R King which are about a young woman Mary Russel and her mentor-Sherlock Holmes. It was nice to see a spin on Holmes from a female prespective.
I also adore Stephen King, especially his earlier stuff and love Harry Potter.
One of my favourite books is a book by a German author Michael Ende "Momo". He also wrote "The Never-Ending Story".

Nov-21-2005 05:56

Was a huge Trixie Belden fan - had the whole series, read tons of Nancy Drew but something about her always annoyed me. Got given Sherlock Holmes books for birthdays. Then at 10 I found Stephen King and have been on a quest collecting all of his work ever since. I dont get much time to read anymore, wife and mum of young kids most i get to read these days is Dr Suess!! But they're great too. Do you like green eggs and ham?

Jan-14-2006 13:10

Bumps for Mr Brock.

Jan-27-2006 13:46

Lady Devon, I LOVE Jeffery Deaver books too. I'm trying to collect all his books, except those that he wrote as William Jefferies. I bought Hell's Kitchen and didn't like it. :-/ His Rhyme series are awesome. Other authors' books only have twists in the end, while his has several twists scattered throughout the book. That's why I love his stories.

Another author that I always read is James Patterson. His Cross series are good, especially the first few books. Lately though I feel that Patterson's books lacks something, I don't know what. I'm not satisfied with his later works.

I'm also a Harry Potter. Other authors I read are Michael Crichton (his "Timeline" is my favorite book right now), John Grisham and Stephen King.

Feb-20-2006 12:25

I'm also an Agatha Christie junkie, I read Nero Wolfe and am very glad that someone still reads Josephine Tey, she's excellent. I also like Ngaio Marsh and P.D. James, but my favourite is Iain Pears and the novels from his art history mysteries like "The Bernini Bust" (there are 7 of them). He also wrote a beautiful novel, "An Instance of the Fingerpost", which is not a thriller, but has all the elements of a mystery.
Those who liked "The da Vinci Code" will also like "The Romanov Prophecy" by Steve Berry. I'm reading it now and it's a very good blend of history and mystery. And I liked very much "The Secret History" by Donna Tart.
But my special favourite is an older Dutch author, Robert van Gulik, who wrote novels about the ancient China in the manner of the classical Chinese detective novel. His detective, Judge Dee, was a historical person and a prominent politician in his day.
I also love the novels by the Spanish author Arturo Perez-Reverte, especially "The Flanders Panel" and "The Club Dumas" which was made into a film, "The Ninth Gate", starring Johnny Depp.

Feb-20-2006 15:56

As a kid I really enjoyed The Three Investigators and their underground hideout in the junk yard (as a result my brother and I spent a lot of time excavating in our back yard) also Enclopedia Brown. Sherlock Holmes definitely. I'm a bit of a 'period piece' fan. So I really like Lindsey Davis and her Falco series set in ancient Rome, Ellis Peters mediaeval Brother Cadfael series, similarly PC Doherty & Candace Robb. I'm an Elizabeth Peters addict and love her character Amelia Peabody series (set in early 1900's). There's lots of others but they're the main ones.

Mar-9-2006 01:01

LMAO holy crap squirrel, I haven't thought about Encyclopedia Brown for years! I used to read those over and over again. Who was his little platonic girlfriend...Sally or something? Around the same time, I was also reading Enid Blyton. This takes me back!

This was a pretty long thread so sorry in advance if I'm repeating what others have said. I really loved the Spenser novels by Robert B. Parker, the Kinsey Millhone books by Sue Grafton and I used to -get this- skip classes in high school and spend the time reading the Travis McGee books by John D. MacDonald.

More recently I've enjoyed Philip Kerr's mysteries...Berlin Noir is a great trilogy for example. I also think Carl (might be Karl) Hiaasen's mysteries are great, but they're as much farce as they are mystery.

Oh (wow go this thread for jogging my memory) Tony Hillerman mysteries are also great, they are set in the American southwest and he does a nice job of incorporating the belief and cultural systems of the Native American groups in that area into his stories, very cleverly weaving those threads in with the standard genre. Makes for a really unique style of writing mysteries.