Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with novels and mystery

Looking for great crime novels with some depth

1901gunner — Sun, 02 Dec 2012 06:36:44 -0800

Seeking recommendations for (non-American/British) crime novels that also serve as interesting social commentary I've made an effort this year to expand my reading of English-in-translation lit and in the process have particularly enjoyed crime novels that go beyond simple mystery or suspense to say something about the culture of their setting as well.

Examples of authors I enjoy who fit this criteria: Natsuo Kirino (Japan), Jo Nesbø (Norway), Tana French (Ireland). While I very much enjoy Alexander McCall Smith's "No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency" series in Botswana, that's the sort of thing a bit cozier than what I'm searching out. Also, works set in Eastern Europe, Asia, Africa, or South America would be particularly good to hear about (and must be available in English).

Thanks!

Mysteries without conventional detectives

echo target — Fri, 03 Jun 2011 10:29:34 -0800

I need mystery novel recommendations! Looking for good mysteries with unconventional characters as the lead. The better half has read all the Holmes on the Range books by Steve Hockensmith. She likes the cowboy narrators. What other good mysteries have as their lead character someone other than a cop or a detective?

Humor's good, but not strictly required.

Let's solve a mystery (novel)!

synecdoche — Tue, 07 Sep 2010 09:52:20 -0800

I want to read fun books like what I read when I was young. Yep, yet another book recommendation question.

I'm a graduate student studying literature, and so much of my time is spent reading. I'm trying to find some books that I can read to unwind and relax, that don't take quite as much brainpower to get through. Basically, I'm looking for stuff that will take me back to the stuff I used to read before I went to university, when I'd spend an afternoon tearing through novel after novel.

I used to really love mystery novels, but it seems to me that most of the new stuff is all of the "dark psychological serial killer thriller" bent. I'm not so into that. Nor am I into CSI-style forensic thrillers. What I did love were whodunnits where the killer wasn't some socially maladjusted deviant, but a relative with a secret to hide or who was worried he/she'd been written out of the family will. In my younger days, I loved Lillian Jackson Braun's "The Cat Who…" novels, but I'm not feeling the main premise these days. But that is the type of thing I'm looking for, I guess: a sleuth who isn't tracking down a crazy psychotic killer whose bizarre fetishes mirror his or her own, but an interesting plot with memorable characters. I'm a huge Sherlock Holmes fan and know about Agatha Christie, obviously, but I'd love a new paperback series that runs along similar lines. (Just a few more data points of stuff I loved as a kid: The Three Investigators and The Hardy Boys, Encyclopedia Brown, and so on.)

Lost in Skane, without any sandwiches

Admiral Haddock — Mon, 28 Jun 2010 07:09:21 -0800

I've been making my way through Henning Mankell's Wallander series and I hoped MeFi could give me some context about a few things. Including sandwiches. Fair disclosure: I don't love these books, and perhaps that's something you can help with. But I have two more I bought used, and by hook or by crook I'm going to read them.

First, can someone put Skane and Ystad in a U.S. context for me, to the extent such parallels exist? Ystad seems to be about 400 miles from Stockholm, but it is closer to Sweden's European neighbors. Is Skane Sweden's insular backwoods (say, Maine)? Or simply a less populated periphery (say, Cape Cod)? I presume some of this context may have appeared in the first book, Faceless Killers, but I read that when it came out in the U.S. years ago, and can't remember.

Second, as an American, Wallander's constant bewilderment over crime seems, at best, quaint. Virtually everything is beyond the pale. I realize that the "decline" of Swedish society is a, if not the, central theme of the Wallander books--but is it accurate? Is Mankell/Wallander voicing a zeitgeist of the mid to late 90s Sweden, or was it out of touch even then? Contrast the Larsson books, written a few years later, which are significantly more sophisticated in their treatment of crime (noting that Larsson was, essentially, a crime reporter and had more contact with the criminal element).

Third, is Mankell a bad writer, or are we just getting bad translations? Take these gems from The Fifth Woman, which I'm reading now: "I can't accept a normal motive--if there is such a thing for taking someone's life." Do Swedes talk like this, or does this sound less stilted in Swedish? Similarly, a kidnap victim teeters on the edge of madness after days of isolation in the dark: "Beyond the growing madness, these were the only things he had left to hold on to. Everything else had been taken from him, not merely his identity, but also his trousers." Ugh. Once every other chapter there is a similarly groan-worthy line.

Fourth, is there a simple online resource, preferably with audio, that would help with Swedish pronunciation? Wikipedia provides some help, but generally only with geography, and generally not with audio. See Skane, which doesn't have IPA.

Last, what is it with Mankell and sandwiches? Is this a Swedish thing? Dozens of times in the stories and novels I've read so far, characters are described as eating, generically, "sandwiches." Never "a sandwich" or "a herring sandwich" or "cucumber and cheese sandwiches." Just "sandwiches," as in "Wallender went to the restaurant and ordered a coffee and sandwiches." It's like a sandwich mania.

Tack så mycket!

help me complicate my life

grumblebee — Fri, 04 Jun 2010 06:24:31 -0800

Please recommend mystery/thriller novels with incredibly complex plots. I've almost finished reading the final book in the Millennium Trilogy, and I'm already pining for more.

In addition to liking the characters, I really love the dozens of plot threads that start all confused and separate and then gradually come together to form a clear picture of a crime or conspiracy. It feels like a very satisfying game of solitaire -- all the cards falling neatly into place.

Can you recommend more books like this? Complex crimes are good, but even better are mysteries or thrillers with a lot of interconnected subplots and characters.

I have already read most of Dennis Lehane's, Lee Child's, Ridley Pearson's and Nelson DeMille's books.

I've also read most of P.D. James's books, and I love them, but they don't have the number of subplots I'm interested in here. I'm not just looking for good mysteries. I'm looking for mysteries with LOST/Dickensian plot tangles.

Looking for good mystery novels/films centered around missing persons.

SmileyChewtrain — Sun, 11 Mar 2007 19:51:07 -0800

I'm doing research (for a writing project) into Film Noirs and Mystery Pulps, and I'm looking for good selections of a certain plot type: the "missing person" scenario. Any recommendations for books or movies that are good examples of this "follow-the-clues" style story would be greatly appreciated. I'm fairly familiar with the genre, but as is usually the case when in need, I've forgotten most of the films and books I've come across that fit the bill for this project. As far as movies go, some examples I can give off the top of my head are "The Vanishing," "Chinatown," or "The Third Man." Unfortunately I can't think of any good Chandler, Hammett or Spillane books at the moment that fit this plot, but I'm sure I've come across a few.

I'm really interested in finding stories in which a small "personal" investigation gradually unravels to reveal a situation of a much larger scope. "Kiss Me Deadly" has this type of stake raising, only the investigation centers around a missing object, not a person.

Examples of this plot type that have struck you as unique takes on the subject would be excellent, as would more typical (though "quintessential" would be preferred) examples. Thanks very much!