Top Murder Mystery
Novels
List of Recommended Series and Dark Mysteries
by Patti Wood
Kate Atkinson -If you have not read her work, start with behind the Scenes
at the Museum and go from there. Her novels are lovely, complex reads. The
detective novels are the Jackson Brodie novels. In When Will there be Good
News -Atkinson writes about
truly horrific matters, often involving violence against women. She brings such
remarkable tonal range to her material—four revolving narrators alternate
between wit and somber reflection. Human Croquet (1997). There is one passage
where a character who was adopted as a baby by an older couple is discussed;
that says they were an old couple who only knew about gin and canasta, so they
taught him both. Oh my gosh, I love it. She describes the character's little
quirks of body language so very well. Other writers have adapted the four
Jackson Brodie novels for the BBC under the series titled Case Histories, featuring Jason
Isaacs as
Brodie. I have read everything she has ever written. I love her work.
Defiantly one of the best
murder mystery series in modern fiction.
Elizabeth George – Her Inspector Linley Mysteries are so well
written. Linley's partner Barbra Havers is one of the most interesting,
vulnerable, and authentic mystery characters I have ever had the pleasure of
getting to know in fiction. If you read all her novels, you will get the
painful delight of seeing how she handles a moral dilemma in a case involving
her neighbor and the neighbor's daughter. I loved traveling the arch of her
character. She is one of those fictional characters that feel like a family
member, a troubled family member, but a family.
Henning Mankell - I loved all his dark, disturbing, and
prose-filled novels. Wallender has an interesting relationship with his father
and his daughter that is fascinating to follow throughout the series. The best
of the books is told from his daughter's perspective. There are 13 books in the
Wallander series, and he also has other excellent novels. Unfortunately, the
BBC version of the stories was dark as well.
Tana French - The best of her novels is "The
Secret Place" A year after the brutal murder of a young man at
a posh school for girls, the case remains unsolved. Then 16-year-old Holly
Mackey approaches Detective Stephen Moran with a tantalizing clue. French
brilliantly and plausibly channels the craziness of youth and shared bonds of
friends. Her other books are ok, but this one was special.
Peter Hoeg- I have only read this Danish
author's work, "Smilla's Sense of Snow" The main character is an
expert on ice/snow, and she helps solve a murder case with her expertise in a way
that speaks to the quirkiness of my body language expertise. Smilla is 37, unmarried, and, like Isaiah, part
of Denmark's small Eskimo/Greenlander community. She is also a minor Danish
authority on the properties and classification of ice. Smilla is never
less than believable in her contradictions--caustic, caring, thoughtful,
impulsive, determined, and above all, rebellious. The best translation of
a book I have ever read, the translator Nunnally won an award for best
translation.
Dennis McFarland - A Face at the Window, Wow! What a book. It's a deep, disturbing ghost
story, a page-turner, and a sophisticated bit of literature. I loved how it got
me inside the head of an intelligent and troubled man. In that respect, it
reminded me of another good read from years ago, Presumed Innocent. FYI another
book that was better than the movie. A quote for A Face at the Window.
"One
Monday morning about a year and a half ago, in late autumn, I woke with a vague
awareness of a long dullish instrument of some kind, maybe the butt-end of a
medieval halberd, being alternately inserted and withdrawn at the small of my
back." The best modern ghost story I have ever read. Read this and then
read Frankenstein, the best horror book of all time, written by a 17-year-old
girl.
Steig Larson –"The Girl with the
Dragon Tattoo." I read the other Larson novels and found them too
disturbing, and for a gal that's read well over 1,000 murder mysteries, that
says a lot.
Paula Hawkins – I loved The Girl on the
Train. But not because it was
an exceptionally well-written novel. I found the journey of the Girl and the
story so addictive sad, and disturbing. It's one of those books like "Her
Husband's Secret." I wanted my friends and family to read it so I could
talk to them about what this character did and what they thought about the
effect of her choices.
Michael Chabon- I love his work. He is such an
incredible writer. "The Yiddish Policemen Union" draws on the
obscure historical fact that FDR proposed Alaska become the postwar Jewish
homeland. Chabon constructs a nightmarish world in frigid Sitka, where black
humor is a kind of life-supporting antifreeze and where a browbeaten detective,
Meyer Landsman, must stave off Armageddon. The novel combines satire, homage,
metaphor, and genuine suspense in delectable prose seasoned with all manner of
Yiddish wordplay.
Patti
Wood, MA - The Body Language Expert. For more body language insights, go to her
website at www.PattiWood.net. Also, check out
Patti's website for her new book "SNAP, Making the Most of First
Impressions, Body Language and Charisma" at www.snapfirstimpressions.com.
