Some of us here at the Bitchery love a good mystery. Elyse especially. Historical mysteries. Creepy mysteries. You name it. Put one under a propped up box and just wait. Elyse will show up.
If you caught our most recent batch of Lightning Reviews, Elyse gave The Oxford Inheritance a B+. If it seems up your alley, we have not one, but two copies to giveaway. Just in case you’d prefer to go into the book blindly, I will warn that it does contain some dark and possible triggering elements.
To enter, just comment below with some of your favorite mysteries or thrillers. We’re always looking for more book recommendations! The giveaway will end and the thread will close Friday, March 4, 2016 at noon, EST, so be sure to comment before then!
Standard disclaimers apply. We are not being compensated for this giveaway. Void where prohibited. Open to US/Canadian residents where permitted by applicable law. Must be over 18 and prepared to solve any case with your trusty magnifying glass and notebook. Watch out for any meddling kids that are looking to steal your thunder!
Winner update:
Congrats to Camille and Melissandre!
I do love a good mystery! This one looks like a good one to pick up in the summer – on a sunny day with no dark corners for anything scary to hide in… My current favourite mystery authors are Elizabeth George (though not her last couple of books), C.C. Benison, and Kathy Reichs.
I really like the Cormoran Strike mysteries by Robert Galbraith (JK Rowling) and the Murder Squad books by Alex Grecian
My favorite mystery series right now are Louise Penny’s brilliant Three Pines mysteries (starting with “Still Life”) and J.K. Rowling’s (writing as Robert Galbraith) Cormoran Strike mysteries (starting with “The Cuckoo’s Calling.”)
I’ve been loving the Graveyard Queen series and C.S. Harris’s Sebastian St Cyr series. Both have new entries out next month!
Recently I’ve been reading the Cormoran Strike series and it has really captured my interest. They are kind of dark at times, but very intriguing. I also am in love with the In Death Series and am waiting to get my hands on the newest copy of that as well.
I honestly don’t read too many mysteries, having been burned too many times by authors withholding crucial clues from the reader until the big reveal, but I did recently read the first two Cormoran Strike novels and they did a lot to restore my faith in the genre.
If you like cozy mysteries, I like the Sofie Ryan and Sofie Kelly mysteries (same author with two different series). For more traditional mysteries, I love the Dorothy Sayers Lord Peter series, although be ye prepared for British 30s anti-semitism to appear at the most random moments.
Anything by Charles Todd, Charles Finch…..
I love a good mystery with twists that I dont see coming. I love Sharon Bolton/Tana French and waiting to get my hands on the latest Graveyard Queen book from Amanda Stevens.
I love the Cormoran Strike mysteries by Robert Galbraith.
my favorite mystery is Georgette Heyer’s Why Shoot a Butler? It also has a romantic plot line so that makes it even more my cup of tea.
I love Tana French’s mysteries (though the first in the series is forever my favorite thus far), and Lisa Lutz’s Spellman Files series, which has one of my favorite heroines ever and is utterly hilarious.
The Sebastian St. Cyr series by C S Harris probably holds the top stop on my list but I also enjoy the Simon Serrailler series by Susan Hill, the Spymaster series by Joanna Bourne, the Fergusson/Van Alstyne series by Julia Spencer-Flemming, and the Cormoran Strike series by JK Rowling.
In historical mysteries, I love Ellis Peter’s Brother Cadfael. My other historical mystery series are Anne Perry’s Thomas & Charlotte Pitt and “Inspector” Monk.
And I’m always game for a new historical mystery!
My contemporary mystery love are Dick & Felix Francis.
I love the Elly Griffiths Ruth Galloway series. Ruth is a forensic archaeologist in Britain.
I enjoy Laurie King’s Mary Russell series, I like pretty much all John Sandford. I have enjoyed much of Greg Iles, Harlen Coben’s stand alones, early Janet Evanovich, Agatha Christie, J.A. Jance, Dick Francis, Sue Grafton, actually so many! I have also really liked the Ellis Peters series and Ariana Franklin and Teresa Grant – and all the other historicals. Need to stop now, don’t I.
I like Charles Todd’s mysteries but I have not read a lot of mystories in general. I would start 🙂
I’ve been reading Ann Cleeves and Deborah Crombie lately. Very good. Dorothy Sayers is always good. I like too many mysteries to name them all.
I’m not usually a mystery reader, but I have been getting into the Matthew Shardlake series by C.J Sansom. I study the English Renaissance period, and these books about a hunchback lawyer set during the reign of Henry VIII feel very authentic. I’ve only read a couple, but the worked very well as both mysteries and historical novels.
I love love love mysteries, especially historical mysteries.
Ariana Franklin books – medieval mysteries with a fantastic female sleuth with medical training.
Andrew Taylor, The American Boy, Anatomy of Ghosts
Also CJ Sansom, Shardlake books – brilliant!
and more spy thriller, but still terrific, pretty much anything that Alan Furst has ever written.
Rebecca Cantrell – the Hannah Vogel books, which I think SB introduced me to – if that was the case, thank you, thank you very much!
I’m a big Jonathan Kellerman fan. I actually sourced him in my final thesis in college(Psychological Aspects of Childhood Cancer and Helping the Fearful Child then years later, while reading the first Alex Delaware book, couldn’t figure out why the authors name was ringing a bell. Got me a big fat A and years of reading pleasure from one wonderful writer.
Also loving the Maggie Hope books by Susan Elia MacNeal.
And this morning I finished “Rubbernecker” by Belinda Bauer. A real page turner. So full of twists you wish your neck was made of rubber and several blessedly unreliable narrators. I’ve read so many first person singulars lately that third person subjective was a sweet relief.
I’ve recently been trying to read some of the classic mysteries I had never read. Really enjoyed Dorothy Sayers, Elizabeth Peters and Agatha Christie. Unfortunately was kind of disappointed in Georgettey Heyer’s Envious Casca as a I love her romances, but really couldn’t bring myself to like any character in that book very much.
I love the Inspector Gamache series by Louise Penny, which offers a lovely mix of darkness and light. Tana French’s Dublin Mirder Squad books can serve as stand-alone mysteries because they follow different detectives in each book. My favorite is the Secret Place, which has great characters and a paranormal aspect that French leaves ambiguous. Robert Galbraith (aka JK Rowling) has three books in the Comoran Strike series that are great as audiobooks, too (alas, not Jim Dale, but still excellent). On the Nordic crime side, I love Henning Mankell’s flawed and frustrating Kurt Wallander and Camilla Läckberg’s mysteries, too. Jø Nesbo is excellent, but I have to be in a mood to tolerate the darkness.
The Dandy Gilver series by Catriona McPherson. Interwar Scottish mysteries solved by middle-aged mum Dandy and her younger, handsome sidekick.
I used to read a ton of mysteries, but I’ve slacked off quite a bit the past few years. I just got overloaded on serial killers and the shock-value violence–and it seemed like women and children have become the primary victims to a disproportionate degree. As a result, I’m reading more historical mysteries (Alan Bradley, CS Harris, Candace Robb, Charles Finch, etc.) and cozy mysteries (Marty Wingate). I’m currently working my way through Shirley Rousseau Murphy’s Joe Grey series (although I’ve taken a little break in the middle of my glom) and am really looking forward to the upcoming book in Amanda Stevens’s Graveyard Queen series (the audiobooks have been really enjoyable for these, so I hope they continue with the same narrator).
Thanks for the giveaway, and the chance to read everyone else’s suggestions.
I’ll read any mysteries by Deborah Crombie and Phil Rickman–the latter has a certain level of spookiness in his novels.
I’m also a fan of Elizabeth George and the Comoran Strike books.
For one that hasn’t been mentioned yet, I really enjoyed the audio book version of The Thirteenth Tale – it is considered “Gothic suspense” not a mystery, but since there is a mystery at the heart of the story I would consider it a good choice a an alternative to a traditional mystery novel.
I love a good mystery, especially historical a. Anne Perry, Laurie R King…I like contemporaries by Louise Penny, Anne Cleeves, and Robert Galbraith
I’m currently on book 6 of Maisie Dobbs series by Jacqueline Winspear. Also enjoyed The Other Side of Midnight by Simone St James, which I think was an SB rec.
I haven’t read this book, but based on Elyse’s review, if you like this kind of thing, you might enjoy the Oxford Whispers series by Marion Thomas. (I hope I’m spelling that right since I’m going by memory.) American from Louisiana at Oxford, romance, gothic atmosphere, mysterious goings-on, mystery, etc.
I seem to prefer British authors. Dorothy Sayers, Agatha Christie, Josephine Tey Marion Babson. Sarah Caudwell is fantastic. Sadly she died young of cancer. Thus Was Adonis Murdered is a must read.
I’ll add my name to the recco’s for Tana French and Henning Mankell, and add the following: Andrew Taylor, particular the excellent The Anatomy of Ghosts (there is romance here as well and it is so well done). Laura Lippman, Ruth Rendell – very misanthropic but compelling, and, for children, John Bellairs’ Lewis Barnavelt series that starts with The House with the Clock in its Walls.
The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield
Agatha Christie is my all time favorite, but I also adore Tana French, and JD Robb
Golly, every time I read the comments section here my TBR list doubles. So much catnip!
I’m a sucker for Mary Stewart’s books, like The Ivy Tree, Airs Above the Ground, and Touch Not the Cat… Basically her entire catalog. You can never quite tell who the goodies and baddies are; there’s usually a historic/scenic location; and her heroines may be bound by the times they’re in (post-WWII), but you’d have a hard time telling them so. Sadly, I think a lot of her books are now out of print, but I can sometimes find them at book sales. I’m hoarding my own copies, of course!
Lately I’ve been getting into Susannah Kearnsley, thanks to SBTB, and love that she writes in a similar vein.
If you are weary of breathless ladies and their gowns described in detail, the Ashley Gardner’s “A Soupçon of Poison” is just for you. Kat Holloway is a great chef and she knows it. Sadly, the class system in Victorian London would not allow her to be more than a cook in the house of a loathsome, lecherous man. Kat is smart, savvy and not to be messed about with. When the lord dies of poison, Kat must clear her name. This book is a great look at what goes on below the salt. Kat has friends and enemies in her fellow servants. She also has a mysterious handsome Daniel and her own intriguing back story. Oh yes, and she’s not a perfect size 6. It’s great fun and delicious!
I love mysteries, second only to romance. One of my favorites is the Fiona Griffiths series by Harry Bingham. They are in the police procedural category but the protagonist is very unusual. I also really like Julia Spencer-Fleming’s series and would really like to know when the next one is coming out!
Oh, so many favorites 😉
Classics like Dorothy L. Sayers, Agatha Christie, Ngaio Marsh, Patricia Wentworth, Josephine Tey.
More contemporary like Miranda James, Laurie R. King, Kathy Reichs, Faye Kellerman, Deborah Crombie, Ian Rankin, Aaron Elkins, Ann Cleeves, Peter May. Lots of others that I’ll remember as soon as I click submit 😉
A few less well-known: Kate Ellis {contemporary police mystery paired with a somewhat parallel historic archaeological mystery in each book}, Catherine Aird {bordering on parody of the cozy procedural genre, but fun…. and the audiobooks read by Robin Bailey hit just the right undertones for the semi-parody in the reading}, and Jeanne Dams {American amateur detective living in England}. Also Lee Harris’s holiday-themed series {very, very light reading} and Lee Martin’s Deb Ralston series {except for the last couple, where she went too religious}
I’m an Agatha Christie girl all the way… my fav from her is “The Mysterious Affair at Styles”
I’ve read a lot of mysteries but have mostly gone off that genre due to my ability to solve the mystery by about the third chapter. n Having said that, two authors who did stump me were Ngaio Marsh and Faye Kellerman’s series about the Orthodox Jewish detective who had to convert in order to marry the woman he loved.