Detective Fiction

[allstar1234]

Hey all, just wondering if there are any people on here that read detective fiction novels and would like to post suggestions for novels/short stories that others may love as well.

As for me i finished reading most of The Gentlemen Thief(Arsene Lupin)stories by Maurice LeBlance and thought they were great. They were some of the most entertaining stories i have read. My favorite collection was the opener, "The Gentlemen Thief/Burglar". Any fan of KID or Lupin would love these stories and see just how much these characters are based off the original.

As for the Sherlock Holmes stories, I always liked the story of the Red Headed League and The Boscombe valley mystery.  Holmes's deduction and keen eye in these cases are excellent.

Right now i picked up the Hercule Poirot mysteries of Agatha Christie and " Then There Where None" and so far enjoying them very much.

Anybody else  have detective stories/novels they know that are good to read or share their experience reading some of the works in this genre?

[Holmes]

Well, you´ve mentioned Agatha Christie (I´ve read 3 novels by her), Sherlock Holmes (mostly all of them when I was younger) and I´ll mention Ellery Quenn, I´ve only read two of them but they are greater than the other ones, for me. ( The Greek Coffin Mystery and The French Powder Mystery) I´ll have to keep buying them but here where I live doesn´t have "ancient" stories.

[allstar1234]

I meant to pick up some Ellery Quenn but the Barnes and Noble here didnt have any. Still havent read any of the works.  Seems liek B&N here doesnt like carrying "Ancient" /less well known to the US books like the Gentlemen Thief books. I had to view those on project gutenburg and munsy's

[NotSoFluent]

For those looking into Ellery Queen, the books are a real tough find, so I'd recommend some of the old episodes of the television show from the 70s.  There are a couple of his books floating around on Amazon as well.

Anything Agatha Christie as well, even if the vernacular is confusing.  Another set of books I'd like to recommend is Thomas Harris's books, particularly Red Dragon and The Silence of the Lambs (watch the film adaptation of this one if you can; IT'S AMAZING).  They're a little twisted and pretty violent, but they're cleverly set up, especially on the angle that the detective type character helping out is actually a psychotic killer.

[kirite]

I've been reading a lot of Sue Grafton and Rex Stout novels lately.  I won't say Sue Grafton is the classic Detective Novel though...more thriller I would say.  However I do enjoy her twisted and interesting characters, especially the villian and detective in T for Trespass (she kinda ruined the end for me though).  Rex Stout is just fun, especially "Too Many Cooks" which I'm reading now. 

Agatha Christie, Conan Doyle, Ellery Queen. and Maurice LeBlanc are the basics for DC fans I think, all great reads.

Rant:

WHY is it that every single mystery novel I read these days (the more current ones) contain at least one "ancient mystical cult"?  People dying in a small town = ancient mystical cult.  Insane killer on the lose = guy who practices in an ancient mystical cult or makes up one on the spot.  Not to mention all their "weird and intricate murders" are all pretty simple....they just LOOK "weird and intricate".  And why is it that bookstores keep insisting that Thriller = Mystery?  I'm sick of weeding out books that have "dark and mysterious" incidents that end up as a male version of a chick lit.

/Rant

[CherryTonic]

One book that I particularly enjoyed, The Tokyo Zodiac Murders, a very interesting book that was translated into English and published in 2004. The book itself even encourages the reader to solve the mystery before reading on and gives diagrams of the clues found by the duo.
If your tastes are more modern, or even a little futuristic, you could check out J.D. Robb(Also known as Nora Roberts) with the In Death Series.
I should have more suggestions but I haven't been following the "Mondays are Murder" thing going on at my local library.