Detective mysteries like Ian Rutledge and Bess Crawford
November 18, 2018 3:39 AM   Subscribe

Looking for more Detective mysteries like Ian Rutledge and Bess Crawford or Leaphorn and Chee.

More interested in stories that develop characters, and are immersive in a time or place. Don't want gore or suspense or creepy.
posted by mightshould to Writing & Language (13 answers total) 17 users marked this as a favorite
 
Best answer: I haven't read any of the authors you mention, but from Googling them, I think you might like Dandy Gilver, Joe Sandlilands and Maisie Dobbs.
posted by paduasoy at 4:35 AM on November 18, 2018


Best answer: And maybe Kate Burkholder, though these are a bit more gory.
posted by paduasoy at 4:39 AM on November 18, 2018


Best answer: PB Ryan's Nell Sweeny mysteries.
posted by Constance Mirabella at 6:44 AM on November 18, 2018


Best answer: It has been a long time since I read them but you could try Stuart Kaminsky's Porfiry Rostnikov series beginning with Death of a Dissident set in late Cold War Moscow.
The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency series by Alexander McCall Smith is lighter with no murders that I remember. Set in Botswana, the mysteries mostly involve moral failings.
Ellis Peter's Brother Cadfael series is set in 12th Century England near the Welsh border. The period details are wonderful.
posted by Botanizer at 7:11 AM on November 18, 2018 [1 favorite]


Best answer: Seconding Dandy Gilver, and along those lines, Kate Shackleton.

Colin Cotterill's Dr. Siri Paiboun series may fit your criteria, depending on whether the slight supernatural/spirits element counts as creepy (but if Rutledge is okay, then this probably is, too). It's full of character development and a strong sense of time and place (1970s Laos). I also found the Julian Kestrel series character-driven and immersive, but the character development over the course of the series is limited, as the author sadly passed away after writing only four books.
posted by mixedmetaphors at 7:46 AM on November 18, 2018 [2 favorites]


Best answer: Maybe also the St Cyr mysteries.
posted by paduasoy at 8:17 AM on November 18, 2018


Best answer: You might enjoy the Kate Shugak mysteries by Dana Stabenow.
posted by mogget at 8:44 AM on November 18, 2018


Best answer: An exceedingly English set of four mysteries by Sarah Caudwell: Hilary Tamar mysteries. Caudwell died of cancer and I was sad there were to be no more of these dryly funny and interesting legal stories.
posted by MovableBookLady at 8:44 AM on November 18, 2018 [4 favorites]


Best answer: The books by Nicola Upson in which Josephine Tey appears as a character.

The original Josephine Tey books are also excellent. In fact, most of the "old masters" of detective fiction are quite short on gore and sex by modern standards. You would want the ones who approach being novelists like Tey, and Dorothy Sayers.
posted by SemiSalt at 9:46 AM on November 18, 2018 [1 favorite]


Response by poster: I'm excited to try all suggestionsb hope more are coming. And my local library thanks you for putting more books into circulation.
posted by mightshould at 12:01 PM on November 18, 2018


Best answer: C J Box might suit you, as the hero is a game warden.
posted by Enid Lareg at 1:18 PM on November 18, 2018


Best answer: I picked up the first book in the Jackaby series because it was described as "like Sherlock Holmes meets Buffy the Vampire Slayer" and am enjoying it.
posted by Lexica at 1:39 PM on November 18, 2018 [1 favorite]


I really like the Tana French Dublin Murder Squad books, and I'm about to read the Witch Elm standalone book. Then tend to be checked out at the library, but you can put a hold out on them. The audiobooks are particularly lovely, but I'm a sucker for an accent.
posted by answergrape at 12:56 PM on November 26, 2018


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