Books for my mom.

January 16, 2018 2:12 PM

Looking for recommendations for fiction books for my mom available in e-book format. She says she's willing to read most things but I know she doesn't much like Sci-Fi (or probably speculative fiction (vampires, zombies, elves) nor bodice rippers. Mysteries and westerns have been well received in the past.

Last round I gave her
Walt Longmire (good)
Confessions of a Slightly Neurotic Hitwoman
Cork 0'Conner
Anna Pigeon
Mrs Pollifax
Liz Sullivan

posted by Mitheral to Writing & Language (16 answers total)

Best answer: Maybe spy thrillers? This one reminded me of a drawing room mystery.
posted by tilde at 2:29 PM on January 16, 2018

Best answer: Marcia Muller's Sharon McCone detective series
Bill Pronzini's "Nameless Detective" series
(The above are husband and wife)
Sue Grafton's alphabet series(A is for etc)
Robert Crais' Elvis Cole detective series set in LA
Jonathan and Faye Kellerman, each has their own good series
Tony Hillerman's series set on a Navajo reservation.

An oldie but goodie, Ngaio Marsh's books set in England and New Zealand

Don't know about e book availability, but these are all good if she likes mysteries.
posted by mermayd at 2:54 PM on January 16, 2018

Bookbub.com is great for finding inexpensive and free ebooks. She just checks off her preferences and they send her a short list every day. It's a great way to find new authors and types of books. She can change her preferences whenever she likes. It's free to join.
If she likes old mysteries, she will probably like Miss Silver by Patricia Wentworth. For historical, the Captain Lacey mysteries by Jennifer Ashley/Ashley Gardner. If she likes funny, she should try the Miss Fortune mysteries by Jana De Leon.
posted by Enid Lareg at 3:10 PM on January 16, 2018 [1 favorite]

I like P.B. Ryan's Nell Sweeney mysteries, set in the Victorian era; they're also available at Smashwords without DRM. The first one in the series, Still Life with Murder, is free.
posted by ErisLordFreedom at 3:15 PM on January 16, 2018 [1 favorite]

Best answer: I really liked The Sisters Brothers. Sort of a western, some gratuitous violence.
posted by Ducks or monkeys at 3:16 PM on January 16, 2018

The Maisie Dobbs books might be a good fit.
posted by bunderful at 3:40 PM on January 16, 2018 [2 favorites]

Peter Dickinson, if you can find the mysteries featuring James Pibble, but all of his novels (some are YA) are wonderful.
posted by TWinbrook8 at 4:36 PM on January 16, 2018 [2 favorites]

The Lady Darby mystery series by Anna Lee Huber.
posted by ilovewinter at 4:41 PM on January 16, 2018

Best answer: Also Number One Ladies' Detective Agency
posted by bunderful at 4:45 PM on January 16, 2018

Best answer: The No 1 Ladies' Detective Agency. There are 18 books in the series, and they are all available on Kindle, I believe.
posted by elmay at 4:46 PM on January 16, 2018 [1 favorite]

Best answer: 2nd the Ladies’ Detective Agency books. My mom also loves the Kate Morton mysteries, and further finds Liane Moriarty pretty un-put-downable.
posted by charmedimsure at 4:54 PM on January 16, 2018

Best answer: Theodora Goss’s The Alchemist’s Daughter is fabulous.
posted by songs_about_rainbows at 6:50 PM on January 16, 2018

Best answer: How about the Lacy Flint series by Sharon Bolton. The first book is Now You See Me. All her books are excellent mysteries with unexpected twists. I read them all on Kindle.
posted by gemmy at 7:53 PM on January 16, 2018

The Phryne Fisher mysteries, set in late 1920s Australia. Full of wit and fabulous clothes, a rich young woman who becomes a lady detective. Great fun.
There's also the Corinna Clark(?) mysteries set in present-day Melbourne. She's a baker who get involved in all sorts of weirdness.
Both series by Kerry Greenwood
posted by MovableBookLady at 8:59 PM on January 16, 2018 [2 favorites]

Ashley Weaver's Amory Ames series. Think Nick and Nora Charles with a troubled marriage although it's clear to the reader Amory and Milo are wild about each other.

Deanna Raybourn has two mystery series, one starring Lady Julia Grey and the other starring Veronica Speedwell. Both are set in the Victorian era. Raybourn also has four stand alone mystery/intrigue novels. The first Veronica Speedwell book is available at Amazon and Kobo for $2.99 right now as a promotion for the third Speedwell book which came out today.

The Julia Grey books are also available in e-book bundles. The first three books come in a bundle for $8.49 and the final two are available (along with a novella) for $9.99.

Elizabeth Wein's Code Name Verity. It's about WWII, the French resistance, and spies.

Non-mysteries:

Michelle Cooper's The Montmaray Journals a trilogy about the impoverished royal family of a the fictional island nation of Montmaray right before and during WWII. The first book is reminiscent of Dodie Smith's I Capture the Castle (another recommendation if your mother hasn't already read it).

Heather Cocks and Jessica Morgan's The Royal We. An American girl falls for the third in line to the British throne.
posted by Constance Mirabella at 10:37 PM on January 16, 2018

Best answer: My mom got totally hooked on the Outlander series. They're hard to summarize in an appealing way but she blazed through them one after the other.
posted by workerant at 5:00 PM on January 18, 2018