Crime fiction about London?
January 30, 2011 6:07 PM Subscribe
I'll be spending three months in London this spring, and I'm looking for more novels or stories--mysteries, thrillers, or other variations of crime fiction--that offer a really great sense of London but that aren't historical fiction. Barbara Vine's King Solomon's Carpet, the Sherlock Holmes stories, and Dickens's Bleak House all work, but I don't much care for Anne Perry novels or Bruce Alexander's Blind Justice, for example. Suggestions for crime fiction that gives a great sense of London?
The Clear Light of Day
And while they're not crime stories, I think all the books Patrick Hamilton wrote are wonderful.
posted by Ideefixe at 6:28 PM on January 30, 2011
And while they're not crime stories, I think all the books Patrick Hamilton wrote are wonderful.
posted by Ideefixe at 6:28 PM on January 30, 2011
Dorothy L. Sayer's detective series about Lord Peter Wimsey is renowned for its historical accuracy spanning from the late 1920s up to 1940 or so.
posted by His thoughts were red thoughts at 6:32 PM on January 30, 2011
posted by His thoughts were red thoughts at 6:32 PM on January 30, 2011
More gangster fiction than strict mystery/detection: JJ Connolly's Layer Cake. The film's not bad either.
posted by Fiasco da Gama at 6:34 PM on January 30, 2011
posted by Fiasco da Gama at 6:34 PM on January 30, 2011
Peter Ackroyd's Hawksmoor has some historical-fictionny-stuff, but is like 50% modern London crime fiction!
posted by davidjmcgee at 7:07 PM on January 30, 2011 [1 favorite]
posted by davidjmcgee at 7:07 PM on January 30, 2011 [1 favorite]
I just read _A Madness Of Angels_, and while it's definitely fantastical, it was fun to read and recognize various bits of London.
posted by novalis_dt at 7:32 PM on January 30, 2011
posted by novalis_dt at 7:32 PM on January 30, 2011
Her Fearful Symmetry has a lot about Highgate Cemetary in it.
posted by Wantok at 7:37 PM on January 30, 2011
posted by Wantok at 7:37 PM on January 30, 2011
The Peculiar Crimes Unit series by Christopher Fowler takes place almost entirely in London, ranging in time between the Second World War and now.
posted by Francolin at 7:42 PM on January 30, 2011 [1 favorite]
posted by Francolin at 7:42 PM on January 30, 2011 [1 favorite]
All the Dorothy Sayers Peter Wimsey novels and stories.
Also, the hilarious four mysteries Sarah Caudwell wrote before her untimely death.
posted by heigh-hothederryo at 8:00 PM on January 30, 2011 [1 favorite]
Also, the hilarious four mysteries Sarah Caudwell wrote before her untimely death.
posted by heigh-hothederryo at 8:00 PM on January 30, 2011 [1 favorite]
Robert Louis Stevenson's The Suicide Club trilogy.
posted by vacapinta at 8:31 PM on January 30, 2011
posted by vacapinta at 8:31 PM on January 30, 2011
Dorothy L. Sayer's detective series about Lord Peter Wimsey is renowned for its historical accuracy spanning from the late 1920s up to 1940 or so.
I came in here to say the same thing. I recognized many London streets when I was there by being an avid reader of these books.
posted by oneirodynia at 10:53 PM on January 30, 2011
I came in here to say the same thing. I recognized many London streets when I was there by being an avid reader of these books.
posted by oneirodynia at 10:53 PM on January 30, 2011
I'd suggest the From Hell graphic novel by Alan Moore (and Eddie Campbell). It's a fictionalized account of the Jack the Ripper murders that's mostly about London society, architecture, and history.
posted by Lifeson at 1:00 AM on January 31, 2011
posted by Lifeson at 1:00 AM on January 31, 2011
P D James' The Murder Room is set in Hampstead. Bonus: it's a great book.
posted by Ziggy500 at 2:07 AM on January 31, 2011
posted by Ziggy500 at 2:07 AM on January 31, 2011
Seconding Hawksmoor, and firsting Dan Leno and the Limehouse Golem, also by Ackroyd.
posted by HandfulOfDust at 5:29 AM on January 31, 2011 [1 favorite]
posted by HandfulOfDust at 5:29 AM on January 31, 2011 [1 favorite]
The quality varies wildly between the stories in the London Noir anthology but they're all fairly solidly grounded in one part of the city or another
(not necessarily parts you'll want to visit though)
posted by VoltairePerkins at 6:43 AM on January 31, 2011
(not necessarily parts you'll want to visit though)
posted by VoltairePerkins at 6:43 AM on January 31, 2011
It's urban fantasy, but the London-bred mister says that Mike Carey's Felix Castor series, set in the grittier bits of the city, is spot-on.
posted by evoque at 7:26 AM on January 31, 2011
posted by evoque at 7:26 AM on January 31, 2011
I came into to recommend From Hell, but Lifeson beat me to it. Avoid the movie as it is aggressively bad.
posted by slimepuppy at 7:44 AM on January 31, 2011
posted by slimepuppy at 7:44 AM on January 31, 2011
Seconding the Peculiar Crimes Unit series. Great reads and lots of info about London then and now.
posted by saffronwoman at 8:11 AM on January 31, 2011
posted by saffronwoman at 8:11 AM on January 31, 2011
Modern, slightly seedier sides of London you might not otherwise see:
Mo Hayder's Birdman captures Greenwich perfectly (and I mean without using touristy cliches).
Ditto anything by Mark Billingham.
posted by vickyverky at 12:20 PM on January 31, 2011
Mo Hayder's Birdman captures Greenwich perfectly (and I mean without using touristy cliches).
Ditto anything by Mark Billingham.
posted by vickyverky at 12:20 PM on January 31, 2011
I've just read one of Christopher Fowler's books as a result of Francolin's recommendation, and can third the amount of detail it has about London - in a different league from that point of view from something like Sayers.
Having said that, you might like some of Margery Allingham's books, especially Tiger in the Smoke, wch has lots of London atmosphere.
posted by paduasoy at 10:27 AM on February 2, 2011
Having said that, you might like some of Margery Allingham's books, especially Tiger in the Smoke, wch has lots of London atmosphere.
posted by paduasoy at 10:27 AM on February 2, 2011
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posted by elsietheeel at 6:19 PM on January 30, 2011