Mystery Recommendations, Please!

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Jenn+books
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Mystery Recommendations, Please!

Post by Jenn+books »

I love mysteries, but it's been a while since I've read many mysteries. I don't care for ubiquitous blood and gore. I love a good detective/leading character, some good twists and turns, and a well-written story. Some authors I love are Elizabeth George, John D. MacDonald, Patricia Highsmith, Conan Doyle and Poe, of course. I would love some recommendations for some really good current mystery authors. Thanks in advance!
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Post by SarahPapesh »

I always say go for the classics, so definitely keep with Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and Poe (although he is a bit macabre). I also love Agatha Christie, although some of her books can be a bit short, but she is definitely one you want to check out. (Another classic for you!)
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Post by Jenn+books »

SarahPapesh wrote:I always say go for the classics, so definitely keep with Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and Poe (although he is a bit macabre). I also love Agatha Christie, although some of her books can be a bit short, but she is definitely one you want to check out. (Another classic for you!)
Thanks, Sarah! I always love the classics. I've read one or two by Agatha Christie, but I know there are lots of hers I've missed. What's your favorite of hers?
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Post by Ibanezakame »

I myself haven't read it, but have you read "Hostage"?
Music doesn't lie. If there is something to be changed in this world, then it can only happen through music.

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Post by Jenn+books »

Ibanezakame wrote:I myself haven't read it, but have you read "Hostage"?
No, I haven't read a book by that name. Who is it by?
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Post by shirleyawilson »

Have you tried J.D.Robb's Death series? I can connect with Eve and what woman doesn't want a man like Roarke in her life?
The author always does a great job of "who done it" in the plot. I highly recommend this series.
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Post by booklvr62 »

Have you read any by Carol Higgins Clark?Decked (Regan Reilly) by Carol Higgins Clark 230 pgs
When Los Angeles PI Regan Reilly is in Oxford, England, for the 10th reunion of her semester-abroad college class, the body of her former roommate Athena is found buried in the woods nearby. Though Athena had disappeared at the end of term a decade ago, everyone had thought that the Greek girl had simply fled for home. Now Regan is appalled to learn that Athena was strangled to death. Another reunion surprise is the engagement announcement of shy instructor Philip Whitcomb, whom Athena adored. Once Regan realizes that she can't help the local police with their investigation, she agrees to accompany spry Lady Exner, who is Philip's aunt and was a friend to all the girls when they were in school, on her ocean crossing to New York. On board are also Regan's parents (her mother is a noted suspense author, her father a funeral director) and someone with plans to kill Lady Exner and her companion. Clark deftly ties the plot playing out on the ocean liner to Athena's murder in a suspenseful climax in this lively
series launch.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.
The daughter of a successful mystery writer and a P.I. with pizzazz, Regan Reilly is attending her class reunion at St. Polycarp's England, when the long-dead body of her former roommate turns up under the bushes. It's a case Regan would love to solve, but a prior commitment puts her on a transatlantic cruise. She shouldn't have fretted. The clues to the crime are following her on the Queen Guinevere. Here, on a ship awash with secret lovers, a fortune hunter, a jewel thief and an assassin, Regan is sailing home - and into the hands of a young girl's killer.
surprisenly good and humorous..., July 31, 1998
By [email protected] (somewhere) - See all my reviewsThis review is from: Decked (Regan Reilly Mysteries, No. 1) (Mass Market Paperback)
I had been eyeing this book for weeks, debating with myself over whether I should buy it or not, and whether it would be as good as Mary Higgins Clark's suspense novels- I'm so glad I finally bought it! It was fiercly entertaning, and funny, with suspense and intrigue all tied up into a little package.DECKED is a lot less serious and not as hardcore as her mother's books, but it is obvious that Carol inherited her mother's suspense writing genes.

Iced (Regan Reilly) by Carol Higgins Clark 313 pgs
It's Christmas in Aspen and P.I. Regan Reilly is vacationing with her parents and hoping to meet an unmarried man. Soon, however, all thoughts of romance turn to sleuthing when million-dollar paintings start disappearing, along with an old friend of Regan's--who happens to be an ex-con. The snow is falling, the plot is thickening, and the danger is closing in on Regan.
After assorted hijinks, adventures, false alarms, and--yes--plain old silliness, the plot finally gets all tied up in a nice, neat, mostly happy ending that will no doubt charm even the most Scrooge-like reader. Solidly entertaining, mostly clever, occasionally funny, and always fun, this one is sure to please the author's growing audience.
From School Library Journal
YA?Regan Reilly, private investigator, finds mystery on her Christmas vacation in Aspen, Colorado. She wonders who is stealing the paintings from wealthy owners as she doesn't believe that it's the person the police have accused. Readers know part of the answer, but they don't learn until the climax the surprising identity of the "Coyote," who has been glimpsed throughout as he makes plans to steal from the thieves. This fun, fast-paced novel is a good choice for teens, who will enjoy the wit, the characters, and the modern setting. The text is mainly easy-to-read dialogue and there is plenty of action. Although there are many supporting characters and the chapters shift frequently between them, the plot is simple to follow as the mystery develops.?Claudia Moore, W.T. Woodson High School, Fairfax, VA
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Burned: A Regan Reilly Mystery by Carol Higgins Clark 384 pgs
Regan Reilly and her best friend, Kit, are on vacation in Honolulu, intent on having a Hawaiian adventure. They won't be disappointed!
When we last saw L.A.-based private detective Regan Reilly, she'd recently become engaged. On the opening pages of Burned, Regan gets a call from Kit, urging her to come to Hawaii for one last girls' weekend before she ties the knot. The snowstorm of the century is blanketing the East Coast. Regan can't get to New York to visit her fiancé, Jack "no relation" Reilly, and Kit can't get back home to Connecticut. So Regan packs a bag and is on her way.
At the Waikiki Waters Playground and Resort, where Kit has been staying, the body of Dorinda Dawes, who wrote the hotel newsletter, washes ashore. Around her neck is an exquisite and historically valuable shell lei that once belonged to a Hawaiian princess, a lei that had been stolen from the Seashell Museum in Honolulu thirty years before.
Will Brown, the manager of the resort, doesn't believe that it's an accidental drowning. In the three months Dorinda had worked in Hawaii, she had become a controversial character who had a reputation for pointing out the very worst in people. Will is afraid that she was murdered and that the murderer might still be in their midst, perhaps a guest at the resort.
Besides Dorinda's death, strange things have been happening at Waikiki Waters. Luggage has gone missing, food has been tainted, and tubes of suntan lotion are being dropped into the toilets. Could someone be trying to bring down the whole establishment?
Lucky for Will, he happens to meet Regan Reilly in the hotel lobby and convinces her to get on the case. Since Kit is infatuated with a new love interest -- Steve, a fabulously wealthy thirty-five-year-old retiree living on Oahu who is eager to spend time with her -- Regan is free to take the job. But once she starts digging, she comes across all sorts of suspicious characters. And the closer she gets to the truth, the more danger she's in.
Can Regan find out what really happened to Dorinda before it's too late for someone else? Before it's too late for her?
Is the culprit someone from the tour group visiting from Hudville, a town where it rains 89 percent of the time? Is it one of the employees at the hotel? Could it be Jazzy, a social climber who has a job house-sitting on the Big Island? Just who had it in for Dorinda? Regan's investigation takes the reader on a fast-paced ride from Waikiki to the Big Island of Hawaii and back again.
Carol Higgins Clark's trademark light touch, humor, and quirky characters make Burned yet another wonderfully unpredictable mystery, complete with a thoroughly satisfying denouement.
When the body of Dorinda Dawes washes ashore on the beach of Waikiki Waters, Will's life as general manager of the recently renovated resort takes yet another turn for the worse. Thankfully, Regan Reilly, noted L.A. investigator, booked a last-minute trip to this very vacation spot, so Will enlists her help. Although the police rule Dorinda's death an accident, Will can't shake the feeling that foul play was involved, particularly because Dorinda's gossip-mongering in the resort's monthly newsletter had incurred all sorts of ill will. And what about the rare shell lei, stolen from a Hawaiian museum 30 years ago, that was found around the victim's neck? Suspects abound, of course: Might Will be covering for his own misdeeds? Are certain members of an oddball group of travelers from the Northwest in cahoots? It's a silly plot with a formulaic arc, but what Clark (daughter of romantic suspense master Mary Higgins Clark) lacks in style, she makes up for in entertaining storytelling and likable characters. Mary
Frances Wilkens
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Hitched: A Regan Reilly Mystery by Carol Higgins Clark 288 pgs
The date is Saturday, April 2. Five April brides discover their wedding dresses have been stolen. One of the brides is private investigator Regan Reilly. Her wedding is in seven days.
Regan Reilly and her fiancé, Jack "no relation" Reilly -- head of the NYPD Major Case Squad -- are getting married! Regan had the perfect dress made by two young designers on Manhattan's Lower East Side. Arriving at the bridal salon to pick up her gown, Regan discovers the shop has been broken into, the designers bound and gagged, and wedding dresses for four of the April brides (her dress included) are missing. A fifth dress is in shreds on the floor. Even though it's a week before her wedding, Regan gets on the case, and in the process she meets an unusual mix of brides and grooms-to-be, or -- perhaps "not-to-be."
Over at One Police Plaza, Regan's bridegroom, Jack, is trying to solve a perplexing series of bank robberies. The robber, nicknamed "The Drip" by the NYPD because he always strikes during rainstorms, has been eluding the police for months. Jack is determined to crack the case before his upcoming nuptials.
Carol Higgins Clark fuses the two seemingly unrelated mysteries with an ingenious twist, taking readers from the streets of New York City, to the casinos of Atlantic City, and finally to that most popular wedding spot -- the one and only Las Vegas. She weaves a web of mystery around a charming, humorous tale of five April brides and the trials and tribulations they face planning their weddings.

Laced: A Regan Reilly Mystery Carol Higgins Clark 357 pgs
A haunted castle, a pair of international jewel thieves, and a hotel fire -- so begins Regan and Jack Reilly's honeymoon in Ireland . . .
Private Investigator Regan Reilly and her husband, Jack, head of the Major Case Squad in New York City, have just gotten hitched! They've headed to Hennessy Castle, a romantic spot in western Ireland -- seemingly the perfect place to escape the world and the criminals they deal with daily -- to begin their lives together. But Hennessy Castle is hardly relaxing!
Their first afternoon in Ireland, Regan and Jack go out for a jog, stopping at an old graveyard at the edge of town. The first tombstone they see is marked REILLY. Turns out May Reilly, who died in 1822, was a talented lacemaker who made an exquisite tablecloth for a banquet at Hennessy Castle but was never paid. Legend has it that May has haunted the castle ever since.
Awakened in the middle of the night, Regan spots a mysterious woman on the back lawn of the castle. At the sound of Jack's voice, Regan turns her head for a moment. When she turns back, the woman is gone. A moment later, the hotel's fire alarm goes off.
In the ensuing melee, Regan and Jack meet a young American Irish couple, Sheila and Brian O'Shea, who have started a business selling Irish memorabilia -- but on this trip to Ireland their "business" is to pick up paintings they've commissioned from a superstitious amateur artist who doesn't realize the value of her work. The last thing these two online entrepreneurs want is for Regan and Jack to figure out what they're up to.
The following morning, May Reilly's famous tablecloth is discovered missing from the memorabilia room at the castle, and a note has been left for Jack by an elderly couple who checked out immediately after the fire. The "elderly" couple is, in fact, two international jewel thieves in disguise, who refer to themselves as "Jane and John Doe." Taunting Jack, who has been on their trail for more than a year, they claim responsibility for the theft of May Reilly's tablecloth, knowing full well that Jack won't be able to enjoy his honeymoon when he finds out they were right under his nose and may still be in Ireland.
With the help of Regan's Irish cousin -- Galway resident Gerard Reilly -- Regan and Jack hunt for the thieves who have eluded law enforcement for too long. Their search takes as many twists and turns as the winding country roads of the Emerald Isle, as they travel from tiny villages to the crowded pubs of Galway and back to Hennessy Castle -- where May Reilly is not resting in her grave!
Filled with Irish history and lore, and a cast of quirky characters on both sides of the Atlantic, Laced will take you on a journey that will keep you laughing, turning pages, and maybe even believing in ghosts!

Wrecked (Regan Reilly Mysteries) by Carol Higgins Clark 276 pgs
Private Investigator Regan Reilly and her husband, Jack "no relation" Reilly, head of the NYPD Major Case Squad, are about to celebrate their first wedding anniversary. They are looking forward to a quiet romantic weekend out of town. Wouldn’t you know their choice of destination provides them with anything but!
Regan and Jack had considered going to Bermuda, but instead they decide to spend four days at his parents’ beautiful beachfront home on Cape Cod, a wonderful spot where they’d never been alone. During the summer the house overflowed with Jack’s family, bubbling with activity from morning until night. But to be up there for a weekend in April, just the two of them, sounded like a perfect escape.
Arriving at the Cape late at night, Regan and Jack are just in time to experience the beginning of a major storm. The next morning, Cape Cod Bay is quite a sight, churning with whitecaps. The wind is howling ferociously. Sheets of rain are pelting the house. Regan is looking forward to settling in the den with Jack and watching the storm.
However, the best laid plans . . .
In the bedroom, Regan opens the curtains to find Skip, the Reillys’ young caretaker, pressing his nose against the glass, supposedly checking for leaks. A moment later, Jack arrives home from the market, two gossipy older women who live up the street in tow. A branch crashed through their living room window, and they need a place to stay. When Regan thought things couldn’t get any worse, Skip comes running into the house, distraught that he’d just discovered Adele Hopkins, the woman renting the house next door, in a heap at the bottom of her staircase to the beach. Regan and Jack run back down with him, but huge waves are crashing on the shore. Hopkins is gone, presumably swept out to sea.
Who was Adele Hopkins? No one knows. The sixty-ish loner, who moved in five months ago, shunned her neighbors. Even her landlords, friends of the Reillys, have no idea how to locate her next of kin. Discovered in her dining room are stacks of apology cards she’d not yet sent and bags of decorative pillows that are embroidered with the saying grudge me, grudge me not.
Regan and Jack begin an investigation to help their friends track down Hopkins’s family. They start by interviewing two young women who own the shop where Adele had bought the pillows. Pippy and Ellen opened Pillow Talk after they both lost their jobs. When a newspaper article revealing the terrible way the women had been treated by their former employers was posted on the Internet, business took off, they started to become well-known, and the Pillow Talk website became a place for people who had had similar experiences to vent their feelings.
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Jenn+books
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Post by Jenn+books »

booklvr--Wow, thanks for that! I haven't read her, but you sold me. I think I'll try Laced first. I love gothic novels too so that one sounds great.
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Post by booklvr62 »

Hi Jenn, I actually haven't read these myself yet,just added them all to my TBR list the other day,because like you,I don't want mysteries with gruesome murder details,and I also love gothic/suspense type books.I think these will really appeal to me,for the added fact that reviewers say that she writes with a touch of humor,as well.Her Mother- Mary Higgins Clark is also very well known,and I totally loved her book 'A Cry In The Night' and want to read her 'Loves Music, Loves to Dance'.Hope we both get much enjoyment from these.

-- 15 Oct 2013, 08:29 --

Thought you might find this info useful~http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cozy_(genre)
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Jenn+books
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Post by Jenn+books »

I downloaded a sample of "Laced" on my Kindle--I'll let you know how it goes. Also, I figured Carol Higgins Clark was related to Mary Higgins Clark. Mother and daughter--that's really cool!
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Post by booklvr62 »

Great I'll be anxious to hear,as I have too many other books to get through right now,to try hers yet.

-- 18 Oct 2013, 07:30 --

BTW,a series that I have read,loved and highly recommend is this Amish/mystery /romance series set in an Amish community in Kentucky.I read my library's copies.Missing: The Secrets of Crittenden County, Book One by Shelley Shepard Gray
The Search: The Secrets of Crittenden County, Book Two by Shelley Shepard Gray
Found: The Secrets of Crittenden County, Book Three by Shelley Shepard Gray
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Post by lyla_ibrahim »

I recently read two books by Harlen Coben, Deal Breaker and The Woods. Try them out. I thoroughly enjoyed them and currently on the lookout for more books by this author.
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Post by Paliden »

Love Mary Higgins Clark (Daddy's Little Girl was one of my favorites)
Agatha Christie is great too!
I LOVE Victoria Holt (romance/mystery)
I recently read "The Gingerbread Man". Can't remember who wrote it, but it's on Amazon. It is a GREAT mystery/suspense book! Highly recommend it!
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Post by Tony Vella »

May I suggest the following: Biggers, Rohmer, Leblanc, Souvestre, Marquand and Vance. For lighter stuff, perhaps, Wallace.

Ah! To forget Simenon is unforgivable.
Last edited by Tony Vella on 19 Oct 2013, 14:14, edited 1 time in total.
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Post by dorie »

Jo Nesbo's series featuring Swedish detective Harry Hole are excellent detective mysteries. Translated from Swedish they begin with the Bat but its not necessary to read them in order. I personally started with the Snowman. Harry Hole is a seriously damaged individual but you will ove him. Also Rosamund Luptons, sister is an excellent read
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