Name your favorite crime or mystery author

I read a lot of different crime and mystery authors, as I know many of you do as well. Sometimes I find myself jumping back and forth between authors, because even though their are many writers that I enjoy, I sometimes find myself concerned about how which great writers or characters I might be missing. I am usually at a loss when anyone asks me for my favorite author or book, however.

So, my question for this thread is, who is your absolute favorite author of crime or mystery genres? It can be anything in these genres, whether it is from the classic British whodunits, American hard-boiled novels, or more contemporary thrillers.

John Dickson Carr

Agatha Christie & M C Beaton, I can't help it, I like cozy mysteries

So many, but my favorites for psychological suspense are Michael Robotham and Tana French.

Dorothy L. Sayers, no contest.

Hmmm...based on quantity consumed, Anne Perry. Based on quality of what was consumed, Jacqueline Winspear. However, Charles Todd is coming up on the inside.

This is a tough one. Sorry, Julia, Louise, and Tana, I'm gonna go with Dennis Lehane.

Jim53, I enjoy Dennis Lehane too. Did you read the Kenzie Gennaro Novels?

The classics -- unquestionably Rex Stout is #1 with me. But Sir Arthur Conan Doyle is not too far behind.

A favorite in memory and greatly missed,Reginald Hill

>8 Dr_Flanders: yes, and I enjoyed them, but they're not better than lots of other series, and IMHO not as good as Louise Penny's Gamache series, Julia Spencer-Fleming's Clare Fergusson series, or Tana French's Dublin Murder Squad series. My favorite Lehane is The Given Day, with its sequels and standalones like Mystic River and Shutter Island also rating high.

Another vote for Rex Stout. The once and future King for me. I like Lehane and French and others, too, but Rex is top shelf.

Jim, though I think I probably liked Mystic River the most, I was really excited when I learned that Lehane was going to continue the story of The Given Day, which I thought was a great big wonderful novel. I was a little disappointed with Live by Night and even a little more disappointed World Gone By. I didn't think they were bad novels, I just felt like both paled in comparison to The Given Day. How did you feel about them?

I have never read Rex Stout, but I have thought about checking him out a few times. I might have to make a point of doing that sometime soon.

I'm not particularly widely read in the area, but my vote would be for Michael Innes.

Just one? Ian Rankin I guess. If I really need to pick just one (it is inhumane to ask for only one).

There are so many I like, including some already mentioned. Right now, I have to say my favorite is Will Thomas who writes the Barker & Llewelyn mystery series.

AnnieMod, I just picked up the first Rebus novel by Ian Rankin. I haven't started it yet, but I am excited to start it soon.

Rex Stout and Ruth Rendell/Barbara Vine

>18 Dr_Flanders: Is that Knots and Crosses? I liked that one a lot. That's one of several series of which I keep thinking I want to read more.

>13 Dr_Flanders: The two books that focus on Joe were definitely an adjustment after The Given Day. I don't recall them in detail, but as I recall I thought the second half of the second book was quite good. The third one had lots of unpleasant details about Joe's associations with a crime family, but I thought it was a very interesting portrait of a person who has tried to leave all that behind, but is finding that he can't. None of the three are exactly mysteries, although as I recall there were small mysteries to be solved in each.

Jim53, yes the Rebus novel is Knots and Crosses. I am looking to start it after I clear a couple of other novels off the list.

I agree that the Joe Coughlin novels were good, but I was really blown away by the scope of The Given Day. Apparently Dennis Lehane has a new novel in the works that we will see in the next year or so, called Since We Fell. It is described as a psychological thriller.

Love Ian Rankin and loved Knots and Crosses, a really good introduction to John Rebus. One favourite author, how do you choose one. I'm going to cheat and name two : An American author - Harlan Coben and an English Author - Robert Goddard but could easily name another 20!

Rex Stout, Mary Roberts Rinehart, Tony Hillerman, Elizabeth Peters early stuff, Minnette Walters early stuff, Carol O'Connell, Daniel Silva. It isn't possible to pick one or even three, but these are the ones I've saved and re-read.

nhlsecord, I have some Tony Hillerman on my bookshelf, that I haven't gotten around to reading yet.

I appreciate all the replies from everyone. I know I started the thread with "who is your absolute favorite author of crime or mystery" but I really don't mind if people want to name more than one.

Someone else I will throw out there that I have recently started reading is Charles Willeford, whom I am enjoying quite a bit. I also love most of James Ellroy's stuff and I wish more people read James Sallis, who is awesome.

The Crime Fiction writer I return to most frequently is that superb stylist Raymond Chandler For me no- one evokes the LA of the 30's and 40's like him. I should also mention the great Dashiel Hammett who wrote in a very different style but was also a master of the same milieu.

>24 Dr_Flanders: I've read a couple of James Sallis and liked them quite well, particularly The Long-Legged Fly. Just haven't read enough to put him in my list of favorites. I will investigate Charles Willeford, thanks (I think). I just picked up another Lehane, The Drop, at the library.

Jim53, if you try out Willeford, I recommend starting with Miami Blues which is the first of four Hoke Moseley novels. I love it.

>14 Dr_Flanders: Dr -- should you decide to give Rex Stout a go, I will paraphrase from the Wizard of Oz: It's always best to start at the beginning... Fer-de-Lance is the first book in the series, and still my favorite!

I'm going to add Ross Thomas to this list because he was amazing. Mostly he wrote what I call caper novels; you know, double-crosses, heists, elaborate schemes. Sizzling dialog, excellent characters who really play off each other in a way most other writers can't manage. I love him to bits.

I have been reading quite a few of the Scandanavian authors, such as Henning Mankell, Helene Tursten, Camilla Lackberg, and Jo Nesbo. I have found them very well written and worth reading. The only issue I have is knowing how to pronounce some of the names of towns, streets, etc. Has anyone else found this an issue?

Favourites: Tana French and Deon Meyers, who writes police procedural in South Africa.

>29 Bookmarque: any particular Ross Thomas favorites? My library has a lot and I don't know where to start.

>27 Dr_Flanders: I've got Miami Blues on my list. Thanks.

Most of his books were stand alones, but a few weren't. One of those is Chinaman's Chance featuring Artie Wu and Quincy Durant. They are in 2 or 3 more books. The Eighth Dwarf is a stand alone and is excellent. Briarpatch won an Edgar I think. All have great sly humor too. You can start almost anywhere though those are some off the top of my head. Oh and The Cold War Swap is the start of another trilogy I think. Great stuff.

I'm surprised no one mentioned John Sandford, Michael Connelly, or Daniel Silva. Louise Penny and Agatha Christie are re-reads when I can't seem to latch on to someone new.

Another favorite of mine is Donna Leon who writes the Venice Commissario Guido Brunetti police procedurals.

Ian Rankin, J.A. Jance (J.P. Beaumont) series and Robert Crais. Peter Robinson.

>36 cindysprocket:

Now pick 1 :)

>37 AnnieMod: Robert Crais

vivienbrenda, I am a big fan of Michael Connelly. I just read his latest The Wrong Side of Goodbye in December.

Not easy to find, but my favorite private detective writer is Stephen Greenleaf (John Marshall Tanner series). Am a big fan of Julia Spencer-Fleming.

>40 owlie13: I'm a big Julia fan too, but it's been so long...

I am a huge fan of Ian Rankin, James Lee Burke and Michael Connelly but I also have to mention a Canadian writer that I think is as good as those, Giles Blunt. His first book Forty Words for Sorrow has just been made into a miniseries and is being shown on CTV right now. The detective, John Cardinal, is just as scarred and intense as John Rebus, Dave Robicheaux and Harry Bosch.

>42 gypsysmom: Will have to check him out!

>42 gypsysmom: I was completely awed by Forty Words for Sorrow. It was quite the book.

#42 gypsymom

I am taping the series so I can watch it in a marathon.
Love Giles Blunt books.

So many good ones that I have enjoyed mentioned that thinking about one makes my head spin. But since I just finished 10 in a row of the Louise Penny Inspector Gamache series , I guess that makes her my current favorite by default.

I've been trying to choose. I love so many, but I think I have to remain with my long-time favourite - Arthur Upfield, creator of 'Bony' a half-caste Australian aboriginal who is such a good policeman he gets to choose which cases he will take.

Oh Dear, where to begin; Deaver, Connelly, Crais, Coben, JD Robb, Sandford, Kellerman, Rankin, Gerritsen, Patterson, Jance, Penny, Perry. wow and I'm just getting started. love the subject though.

>42 gypsysmom: i stumbled across a copy of Forty Words for Sorrow in a used book store in West Chester this week. I would have kept stumbling, but because of your mention here I splurged and spent a couple of dollars on it. I'm looking forward to giving it a try--thanks!

My favorites change with time & mood but here it goes: I love Bruce Alexander's Sir John Fielding mysteries; Dick Francis, Kate Ross, Louise Penny, Andrea Camilleri, and many of the Golden Age writers such as Agatha Christie, Dorothy L. Sayers, Josephine Tey etc.

For the past year or so, I have been on a John MacDonald & Ross MacDonald kick -- I don't think these will ever be in my top 10 but they are enjoyable enough that I keep coming back to them.

Just one absolute favorite? Brad Meltzer. Leaning a bit toward contemporary thriller, but The Inner Circle and connected series are American history-steeped mysteries, as was The Book of Lies.

I like my mysteries rich in the minutiae of some specialized world or other; history, art (hat tip to Daniel Silva for the latter one).

>42 gypsysmom: I found a copy of Forty Words in a used bookstore in a town we visited, and have just started it. He does a nice job of hinting at things we're going to have to learn about eventually.

The Mad Dog and Englishman series by J.M. Hayes is pretty awesome. Too short and he doesn't write them often enough though.
For volume and never disappointing me I would have to say Sanford.

>52 Jim53: Any more thoughts on Forty Words for Sorrow? Sorry I didn't respond earlier. We were travelling and then when we got back life got pretty hectic for a while so I just now checked this forum.

Andrea Camilleri (love the Montalbano books) and Dame Agatha (who is so reliable).

>55 jnwelch: I also love the Montalbano series by Andrea Camilleri.

>55 jnwelch: Glad to hear it. :-) The Italian Montalbano tv movies are really good, too.

>57 jnwelch: Not seen the TV movies yet, I will have to search them out.

>54 gypsysmom: Here's what I said in my reading thread:

I recently finished Forty Words for Sorrow, based on a recommendation over here. John Cardinal is a complex, interesting character, dealing with a frustrating murder case in Algonquin Bay, trying to respond to his wife, who is hospitalized for severe depression, and harboring a secret guilt. His partner, Lisa Delorme, is a recent transfer to the murder squad and is surreptitiously investigating whether Cardinal is the "inside man" for a criminal who seems to know when busts might be coming. We see the murderers and know who they are; in that sense it's less of a traditional mystery than a thriller, answering not whodunnit but whatsgonnahappen. For Cardinal and Delorme, it's a standard police procedural. I was impressed by the care that Blunt took with the characters, and I'll keep an eye out for more of this series.

ETA: there are some grisly scenes here; the book is not for the weak of stomach.

Elmore Lenord, Loren Eastleman

>59 Jim53: Yes, that's pretty much what I thought of Forty Words as well. I've got the rest of the books and I have to get to reading them soon.

I first started loving mysteries after reading every Ellery Queen I could get my hands on. Now I read every Jacqueline Winspear and P. D. James (amongst others) that I can find. Cozy mysteries are my favorite!

Myself, https://www.librarything.com/catalog/Adil-Aijaz

Not enough Michael Connelly in this thread!

Agatha Christie LOVE her work and then Mary Higgins Clark close behind

I can't choose but from English classic detectives I still love Albert Campion, so my favourite there is Margery Allingham. My favourite American detective writer is Phoebe Atwood Taylor for her Asey Mayo books. My favourite modern author is Louise Penny and my favourite foreign author is Andrea Camillieri for the Inspector Montalbano books. I really couldn't choose just one.

>33 Bookmarque: I finally got around to reading Briarpatch and enjoyed it a lot. I'll be looking for more of his.

>60 brone: Two of my favorites.

Yay! Glad you liked it. There's a lot of goodness in his catalog.

pick ONE favourite??? almost impossible.....
but since you ask...trying to put them in order....
1. Peter James
2. Peter Robinson
3. Ian Rankin
and 4. the late great Sue Grafton
Honourable mention for Agatha Christie

>davybhoy- I'm with you on Peter Robinson. I have just finished When the Music's Over and greatly enjoyed it. I think that Ian Rankin is the best writer as a writer of the three you mention and he would be my equal first. Both of these writers have a terrific sense of place and I love this in a novel.

Next for me would be Sue Grafton, simply for the sheer nostalgic enjoyment her books have given me and my love of her central character.

Margaret Millar
Patricia Highsmith
Dashiel Hammett
Marcia Muller
Fred Vargas
Dana Stabenow
Janwillem Van de Wetering
Lee Child

I enjoy Kate Morton and John Sandford.

Not a self-described fan of mysteries and thrillers, although I've read plenty in my lifetime. About my only requirement is that there be no shoot-outs and no car chases. That probably explains my preference for historical settings in this genre. Hence, I like:

C. J. Sansom -- Shardlake, who investigates in the Tudor era
Ellis Peters (nom de plume for Edith Mary Parteger) -- Brother Cadfael, who investigates in Medieval Britain
Bruce Alexander -- Sir John Fielding (brother of Henry Fielding), who investigates in 18th C. London, in spite of being totally blind
Alexander McCall Smith -- Mma Precious Ramotswe, who investigates in her beloved homeland of Botswana

Special mention goes to a new-to-me writer, Kevin Wignal whose thriller, People Die is an extraordinary examination of an assassin's mind and a lyrical novel about killing that addresses the theme, 'Can Good ever come out of Evil?'.

James Patterson ~ I listen to his stand-alones and his NYPD Red series

and

J. D. Robb (Nora Roberts) ~ I listen to her Eve Dallas series (40+ books, now!)

Deborah Crombie
Val McDermid
P.D. James
Lee Child

Sara Paretsky and Agatha Christie

Louise Penny
Fred Vargas
Maurizio de Giovanni
Ausma Zehnat Kahn
Elizabeth George

Believe it or not, I have never read any Agatha Christie. Anyone have any recommendations for where to start? I've always planned to read And Then There Were None but I have never gotten around to it.

>80 Dr_Flanders: You must It is a great book to read!

>80 Dr_Flanders: Good Doctor, while I also enjoyed And Then There Were None, I prefer her detective stories. And it's always best to begin at the beginning: The Mysterious Affair at Styles for Hercule Poirot, and Sleeping Murder for Miss Marple.