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P.I. books

SFG75

SFG75

Well-Known Member
Recently purchased Robert Parker's book Melancholy Baby and I absolutely love it. I'm about 3/4ths the way through it and just can't put it down. Any other P.I. books that you would recommned? You know the genre-run down office, a guy ruminating about a client that walks in........:p
 
I have read a few by Loren D. Estleman's "Amos Walker" series. This was mostly due to the city they take place in. I have enjoyed them. I am not sure where they rank on the genre scale though, since I mostly only read sci-fi / fantasy until recently.
 
Scooter13,

I am a big fan of the crime genre. Robert B. Parker is good, especially if you get into the Spenser series. I also like reading Robert Crais, Randy Wayne White, and Ed McBain.
 
cshigh said:
Scooter13,

I am a big fan of the crime genre. Robert B. Parker is good, especially if you get into the Spenser series. I also like reading Robert Crais, Randy Wayne White, and Ed McBain.
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Rober Parker!? I'm reading Melancholy Baby right now and will have it done tonight, the guy is awesome!. I'll have to look up the Spenser series, though right now I'm hooked on Sunny Randall.:)
 
Robert Crais is an old favorite. I also love the Alex McKnight series from Steve Hamilton, set in snowy Paradise, Michigan.
 
SFG,
I'll recommend the novels of Rex Stout. I've recently discovered Parker myself, and was surprised by how much his style resembled Stout's - a sort of easy wittiness, funny but not cutesy, hard-boiled without being a cliche. Start with Fer-de-Lance if you can find it, but Stout's books don't have to be read in any particular order.
 
funes said:
SFG,
I'll recommend the novels of Rex Stout. I've recently discovered Parker myself, and was surprised by how much his style resembled Stout's - a sort of easy wittiness, funny but not cutesy, hard-boiled without being a cliche. Start with Fer-de-Lance if you can find it, but Stout's books don't have to be read in any particular order.
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Yeah, Parker's style is very easy but addictive. I picked up the book at Wal-Mart on a whim. I was going to pick out a more popular fiction writer, but then again, I'm one to try new writers and see if the given work is worth my time. The book is one of Penguin's "great read guarantee" ones where if you aren't thrilled with it, you can mail it back to them with a brief explanation and they'll send you money for the book-though who would seriously go through the time and effort to do that?

I'll have to check Stout out(rhyming pun not intended) When it comes to P.I. books, I guess it's tough to get around the stereotype of the drunken P.I. in his run down office, which is bare with only the P.I. and his thoughts until a beautiful woman walks in and. . . .:rolleyes: Readability is nice, too many writers get bogged down in trying to add some pretense to what they are writing about.
 
A friend of mine just asked me for a suggestion of a mystery author. She's looking for something similar to Patricia Cornwell's Kay Scarpetta mysteries. The only snag is that she's into ebooks, not paper. I told her I had heard Sue Grafton was good. Do any of you mystery buffs know if the above suggestions would work for her?
 
My favorite of the P.I. genre are Sue Grafton's Kinsey Millhone series ( A is for Alibi, B is for Burglar etc.) The main character is a female P.I. and she's got attitude. I also like Janet Evanivich's Stephanie Plum series ( One for the Money, Two for the Dough, etc.). Sassy chick leads are a fav of mine ;)
 
mehastings said:
A friend of mine just asked me for a suggestion of a mystery author. She's looking for something similar to Patricia Cornwell's Kay Scarpetta mysteries. The only snag is that she's into ebooks, not paper. I told her I had heard Sue Grafton was good. Do any of you mystery buffs know if the above suggestions would work for her?
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Mehastings

If your friend is looking for a book on the same lines as patricia cornwell i would recommend Kathy Reichs or Tess Gerritsen! :)
 
Of course, if your interested in the "hard-boiled" school, you have to read Raymond Chandler and Dashiell Hammett, but the list hardly ends there. I've read one of Crais' books, which was OK; and Sue Grafton's Kinsey Milhone reminds me more of Jim Rockford than Sam Spade (not a criticism).
If you are interested in something odd, but squarely in the tradition, check out the Rex novels by Eric Garcia. Even though some of the characters are dinosaurs, the "hard-boiled" tone is perfectly done (much like Jim Lethem's Gun, with Occasional Music, though it strays a little towards parody).
Lawrence Block writes a series, or two, that are supposed to be "hard-boiled" but I can't recall the character's name. I think one of the titles is When the Sacred Gin Mill Closes.
Beyond that, I'll have to give it a little thought.
 
If you like Robert Parker's Spenser:
Raymond Chandler was a major influance on Parker:
Writers that were influenced by Parker include:
Harlan Coben’s Myron Bolitar
Robert Crais’s Elvis Cole
Dennis Lehane’s Patrick Kenzie (probably the best of the bunch)
Janet Evanovich - Stephanie Plum
Boyle, Gerry – Jack McMorrow
Actually I do not think of Spenser as that "hard boiled" the way I would define it and the books above are less so. Myron Boiltar and Jack McMorrow are down right suburban. But they all run in the same vien.

I read all Robert Parker as soon as they come out, but I prefer the earlier Spenser books (say pre-1990).

Lawrence Block's Matt Scudder – Written like a PI book though Scudder is not officially a PI. Scudder is a little more pathetic than likeable.
 
I like Lawrence Sanders' Archy McNally. They're written by Vincent Lardo now. But I can't take too much of him-once every few months is plenty for me.
 
Hi y'all...........I like the Sue Grafton series as well, just ordered the last in the series. But I had to read them in sequence. The first time I tried her out, I picked up N is for Noose and was not pleased. About a year later, I started it from the beginning, and just loved it. Go figure!

I also agree that the the Kathy Reich series is well worth the time to read. But I read them in order as well. It makes a difference. I like Cornwell, but haven't read them in sequence, but it seems the more I read of her the more descriptive (gory wise) she gets. Not for me. To me Reich makes the science of it more interesting.
 
If it's in the style of Parker you want Robert Crais is the way to go.

Dennis Lehane, James Lee Burke, and John Connolly are my favorites.

Lawrence Block's Hitman series is good too
 
I'm going to jump in and pitch Walter Mosely again. I completely love his Easy Rawlins series. It's not especially traditional, but with spot-on California locales, a little Hollywood, mostly LA suburbs from the nineteen fifties/sixties. Sweet dialects are very true to the region.

Here is an NPR synopsis of Little Scarlett with a sample segment. Also included is an interview with him about the book and a linked list of other interviews with the author at the bottom of the page.
 
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