The Dexter Series
Jeff Lindsay
I don’t really want to like the Dexter series, but then have a nasty habit of being quite good. Damn them. Now also a popular tv show, Lindsay follows the life of the mild-mannered blood-spatter analyst Dexter – forensics expert by day, sociopathic killer by night. The series follows Dex as he aids his foster-sister Deborah ( a Miami police detective) in solving bizarre and nasty crimes. His “disguise” of a girlfriend with children, social chitchat, faked smiles and boxes of donuts for the rest of the department fool many, but not all. Witty, devious, gory and always satisfying.
Great Mystery Presses
Rue Morgue reprints vintage mystery titles, mostly from the UK. Many are charmingly redolent of early Agatha Christie titles. Sheila Pim’s garden murder titles, set in WWII Ireland, are especially enjoyable. The mysteries are surpassingly complex with well-written characters and a peek at a life and time so far from my own that I often have to look up terms.
The other press, Midnight Ink, has a slew of excellent series:
Rex Graves Series – C.S. Challinor
St. Just Series – G.M. Malliet
Kate London Series – Susan Goodwill
Whiskey Mattimoe Mysteries – Nina Wright
Darby Farr Series – Vicki Doudera
Odelia Gray Series – Sue Anne Jaffarian
Murder-by-Month – Jess Lourey
I have yet to read a title from either press...
The Baker Street Letters
Michael Robertson
The premise of The Baker Street Letters is probably the best part of the book. Lawyer Reggie Heath rents the offices at 221B Baker Street. As part of his contract, all letters sent care of Sherlock Holmes are to be answered by a member of his staff. A letter sent by a little girl 20 years previously sparks a murder, Heath’s brother goes missing and he must leave his comfortable little world to head into the underbelly of L.A. A moderately good read with a rather weak ending. Still, the premise does hold through most of the book.
Murder at Graverly Manor
Daniel Edward Craig
By far the best mystery I’ve read in months, Murder at Gravely Manor is creepy and gripping. Former hotel manager Trevor Lambert decides that his life-long ambition is to own a B&B, despite never having mentioned this ambition previously. When he finds that he eccentric Lady Gravely is going to sell her historic B&B, perhaps at a steal, he enters into a bizarre month of training. Lady Graverly careens from one personality pole to the other. At times she dotes on Lambert – at other times threatens and berates him. The rest of the staff leave, one after the other, leaving Lambert alone with a women he is increasingly sure...
Some Danger Involved
Some Danger Involved – Will Thomas
I really enjoyed Thomas’ series of books featuring enquiry agent Cyrus Barker and his Welsh assistant Thomas Llewelyn. While their clients are often wealthy aristocrats, the people they associate with and investigate live on the margins of proper Victorian British society – Jews, Asians, Irish terrorists and the poor and destitute of Limehouse. Good plots, likable characters and some really wonderfully underhanded fighting tricks.
Caroline Graham Chief Inspector Barnaby Mysteries
Caroline Graham Chief Inspector Barnaby Mysteries
For some inexplicable reason, the Barnaby series covers could double for vapid romance novels from the 50s. However, the books are very recent and have very modern plots. While their is some continuity in the series, they can be read out of order. Two particular favorites are Written in Blood and Death in Disguise.
A good mystery will have lots of twist and turns with no clear end in site. A really good mystery will have well-written characters fully fleshed out and endearing to the reader. A great mystery will also be populated with some really nasty rat-bastards who are clearly fast closing in...