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help need new crime author

I've just finished 'One Step Behind' by Henning Mankell. It's the first of his books I've read and I couldn't read it fast enough! Seemingly he has won awards for some of his Crime books. A very enjoyable read!
 
P D James

I've just finished "The Murder Room", the latest novel in the long-running series of Adam Dalgliesh stories by the British crime writer P. D. James. This is actually the first of her novels I have ever read, though I had some awareness of the central character from tv adaptations.

James has been criticised, most recently in a Guardian newspaper review, for unconvincing dialogue. Apparently she is not very good at capturing the way some of her characters, presumably those from the wrong side of the tracks, would really speak. Whilst I can see where this point is coming from, I still found the book an engaging and entertaining read.

Dalgliesh, a published poet, is another of those "cultured" fictional detectives, in the vain of Inspector Morse. Whilst I find this sort of character attractive, I can't help thinking that the hard-drinking, risk-taking, rough-talking John Rebus, of Ian Rankin's novels, is perhaps a closer reflection of your average detective. If you like your crime novels gritty and urban, then James may not be for you. If, however, you just like good yarns, and appreciate a bit of romance in the background, then this is right up your street. The romance is very much in the background, but it isn't giving much away to say that it makes for a great ending, complete with reference to Jane Austen.
 
My sister got a book from Lulu called Bon Appetite! by C. D. Moulton that was very good. It's the first book in a series.

Have any of you read Sax Rohmer? The Fu Manchu books? I think they're great! I got into that and John Dickson Carr from a boxful of those old books my mother had in the atic. Rohmer sets a mood as well as anyone I ever read. I don't know if you can even get his books anymore.
 
Wow, Helen, I didn't think that anybody read Sax Rohmer anymore. As you say, he was a master of the Victorian/Edwardian atmosphere (all gaslights and fog and such). Unfortunately, his fiction is tinged by a sort of racism. (That is not to say Rohmer himself was racist. I don't know. But his characters have some rather unpleasantly stereotypical ideas about Asians.)
I've only ever tried one Carr book (The House at Satan's Elbow ) and found it a little tedious.
 
Hi David
I think the first Wallander novel is Faceless Killers. There are nine novels in the Wallander series altogether. The books haven't been published over here in the correct order though. I think the latest one to be published is The Dogs of Riga which is actually the second book of the series.
I could be wrong on the last bit though. Hope that helps anyway.

cheers.
 
Hey! Thnx for the plug, Rexie!
I found Carr a bit tedious, too, and his solutions a bit obvious in some, but he did a few that were exceptional.
Rohmer, I agree. A true master of mood. You have to remember that those were written in another politico-social time. We had WWII and "The Yellow Peril" and all that going on. I think he made Fu Manchu a true genius, and he did tend to sympathize with certain situations, such as the way the Orientals were compartmentalized in a given society, and the psychological factors that brought into play.
When we allow "political correctness" to dictate what is offered and promoted in books, I think we do everyone a disservice. Rohmer didn't seem a racist to me, he merely described the way Orientals were viewed at the time. We can learn from the work on that level. I grew up in the early fifties when "the races" were separated in society. I was really ostracized by my own strata, and even hassled by the police in certain sections because my best friend was black. We were also ostracized in his society because he was a friend of a whitey. We tend to forget that that kind of crap works both ways. Blacks, Orientals, Amerinds, Spanish, Italians, Jews, Arabs, Irish and any other sub-group were held BY EACh OTHER in suspicion and contempt. That is a sad part of what the human race can be.
 
I loved Dennis Lehane's Patrick Kenzie/Angela Gennaro series and Greg Rucka's Aticus Kodiak series. Both have 5 books in the series.
 
cdm,
I didn't mean to say that people shouldn't read Rohmer. I think, on balance, they are a lot of fun. Like I said, Rohmer was a master of atmosphere. Plus, the books read like an old serial, with most chapters ending in a cliff hanger of some sort. My mention of the race aspect was strictly informational. If anybody out there is offended by that sort of thing, then Rohmer's books might not be for them.
But, as you say, they are products, also, of the time during which they were produced, and of the times in which they are set.
Anyway, I certainly didn't mean to say that people shouldn't read about Fu Manchu. I certainly don't think that authors should be censored, even much after the fact. I've always subscribed to the doctrine that, if you don't like what you are reading/hearing/watching, change the channel, shut it off, move on to the next thing.
 
Henning Mankell

I've finally got around to starting "Faceless Killers", the first of the Wallender novels mentioned above. I'm nearly half way through and really liking it.

It also makes a pleasant change to be reading a novel that isn't either set in London, Ireland or the US! Not that there is anything wrong with any of those places.
 
Been away

I've been in Paris for awhile, and didn't have a comp to keep up with things - nor the time. I'm going back next week, so will probably not be around much.
I did get the rest of the Nick Storie books before I left, and spend what little time I have reading them. (Not to mention they're only a couple of bucks for ebooks!) The only thing I don't like is that they're in PDF, and that's a pain. CD posts here sometimes, so maybe he'll see this and do something to make them OK for my Palm Pilot without all the ... stuff.
This thread was about new authors, so I can say that, of the 14 Nick Storie books I've read, twelve were very good, and the other two were sort of average. That's still worth a couple of bucks.
Three to go, then I'll try the other series!
Everybody have a good time 'til I get back again! - Rexie
 
Could give my novel a try...

Hi-- If you're looking for a crime thriller, I have a recently published novel, Pattern of Violence (by C. Hyytinen) that you may like. It's available at Amazon.com for 30% off and I'd sure like to hear your feedback (love, hate, whatever...) Sorry for the shameless salesman pitch :D
 
Dogs of Riga

I really enjoyed the second in the series of Wallander novels, set in Latvia in the dying days of the Soviet block, it's crime novel meets political thriller. Just to demonstrate that different people like different things, it generally gets slated in the reviews at Amazon.co.uk. If you find a positive review there it is probably mine!
 
I like the Robert Tanenbaum books, his series with Butch Karp and Marlene Ciampi (I don't think I spelled her name right) are awesome. There is the in the criminal law in the court house and outside and then it gets involved with family and stuff, they are awesome books as long as you don't read the first 3 or 4 books, his writing definately got better as he wrote more books!
 
David181173 said:
I really enjoyed the second in the series of Wallander novels, set in Latvia in the dying days of the Soviet block, it's crime novel meets political thriller. Just to demonstrate that different people like different things, it generally gets slated in the reviews at Amazon.co.uk. If you find a positive review there it is probably mine!
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I've read four of his books. I've still to read "The Fifth Woman". I noticed somewhere it didn't get that great a review but ...what the heck...each to their own! ;) :D
 
I've recently discovered Kathy Reichs and her Temperance Brennan novels. Set in Montreal, Temp is a forensic anthropologist. The first book, Deja Dead, had me up until 2 in the morning, it was that gripping.
 
Simon Kernick

Simon kernick is a good up and coming crime author. You could do a lot worse than read his debut, The Business of Dying, which I reviewed on [ahem] another site:

This is the debut novel by Kernick, and one I picked up at the Bodies in the Bookshop event last week. Given that a usually slothful reader like me managed to whip through it in less than a week is testament to the pace of the book.

Before the event, I hadn't heard of Kernick, but a brief bit of research beforehand made it clear that he was probably for me the most interesting bloke there. His novels (there are three currently published, including this one) are variously described as 'dark', 'savage' and 'rancidly rendered' - which makes perfect crime reading for me.

The Business of Dying, despite being pretty bleak at times, is nothing like David Peace or James Ellroy. There isn't the sense of total desolation that seems to accompany books by those gloomy writers, and indeed throughout the book, until perhaps the climactic closing chapters, a black humour is ever present. I'm never certain about so-called 'humorous' crime books, though here the laughs are on the periphery and largely stem from the fairly misanthropic hero. The writing is less stylised too, and perhaps more in line with the likes of Rankin and Booth. No fancy typographical tricks here.

The story, then. DS Dennis Milne is a pretty fed up detective with too many unsolved cases on his hands than he'd like. Oh, and he also earns a bit of cash on the side as a hit man for a dodgy local 'businessman'. The story begins with Milne capping three blokes in a hotel car park before rushing to the scene of another murder, this time of a teenage prostitute. As Milne digs deeper, his grip on both his police work and his grisly side line begins to loosen and by the last third of the book he loses control almost completely.

Kernick manages to control the plot superbly, the twists and turns are never obvious nor unlikely, and Milne is a likeable if flawed anti-hero. My main criticism of the book stem purely from my own personal taste: I think more could have been made of Milne's hopelessness during the beginning of the end of the book - he seems to adapt to life as a fugitive from justice rather quickly. Likewise, the revealing of the final details of the plot comes to late for me - more time could be spent with Milne trying to come to terms with what has happened without too much negative impact on the pace. Lastly, Kernick includes an epilogue which ties up some loose ends. I think I prefer my ends to remain loose.

This is not to detract from an excellent crime novel, particularly when you consider that it is his first. More crime fiction should be like this, where the lines between the good guys and the bad are blurred, and the ending is not really all that happy. With The Business of Dying, Kernick has proved that he should do well in the business of writing.
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letterHead said:
I've recently discovered Kathy Reichs and her Temperance Brennan novels.
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I read one of those - can't remember which, some of the titles are very similar - but it didn't really spark my interest. Further proof I suppose that, even within a genre, different people go for different things.
 
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