I read many of the same authors that you do. A few authors that I like, but do not see on your list (who can possible list them all?) are:

J.A. Jance - three series
Helen MacInnes - many written in the 40's and 50's and most now available as e-books.
Laurie R. King - Sherlock Holmes/Mary Russell series
Stephen White - Alan Gregory series
Deborah Crombie
Michael Connelly
Julia Spenser-Fleming
Archer Mayor
Michael McGarrity
Marcia Muller
Nevada Barr
Dana Stabenow

I'm heading to the library today to pick up a Jo Nesbo book. I haven't read any of his stuff yet but a friend recommended it. He has a series of books about a police inspector from Oslo. (But I think you are from that area of the world? Maybe you're already familiar with him?)

I've liked the books by Louise Penny (French-Canadian police chief) and Susan Hill (British police detective).

After my Scotland trip, I was hooked on Ian Rankin's series on a police detective from Edinburgh.

I read the Dragon Tattoo series and the violence in the first one was very hard to read. I couldn't watch the movies, foreign or Hollywood, because I didn't want to see the violence, it was bad enough I read it and imagined it. I didn't want a visual of it burned into my memory.

ETA: oops, sorry, didn't notice Nesbo on your list until I looked again.

This post was edited by hhireno on Tue, Oct 1, 13 at 18:30

I just found a new author that I'm really enjoying and that is Alafair Burke. You might try her books, She has a couple of series.

There is also Karin Slaughter, Lisa Unger, Kathy Reichs and the Kellermans have a son who is also writing Jesse Kellerman

Here is a link that might be useful: alafair burke

For light detective mystery, the Sue Grafton alphabet mysteries (A is for Alibi...) are fun and for even more fun, the Janet Evanovich number series (One is for the Money...)

I also enjoy the Patricia Cornwell novels with Kay Scarpetta.

For old stuff, try Raymond Chandler and Dashielle Hammett...classic mysteries. And if you haven't read Daphne DuMaurier, you're in for a treat.

And my recent favorite gothic mystery novel is The 13th Tale by Diane Setterfield.

This post was edited by AnnieDeighnaugh on Tue, Oct 1, 13 at 13:48

I don't read too many mysteries these days, though it used to be my favorite genre. However, two authors that I read over the last year that I liked are foreign writers. Camilla Lackberg is one - she is Swedish. I only read The Stonecutter but it was pretty good. It was actually the third of a series, but was easily read as a stand alone book. My mother has read some of her others and said she really enjoyed them.

The other is Tana French, an Irish author...again, I've only read her first novel, In The Woods. Oops, I just reread your list and see that she is on it already.

I see you have Daniel Silva on your list but weren't crazy about him. Several people have recommended his latest book to me, The English Girl, but I haven't read it yet. I haven't read any of his books so no idea what his writing style is like.

I did like the latest Silva book, The English Girl, more than some of his others.

I'm adding some of these new-to-me names to my library list. Thanks.

Another Nevada Barr, Karin Slaughter and Patricia Cornwell fan here fun2b, blfelton and annie!

Just finished Touch and Go by Lisa Gardner. Highly recommend to those of us who like a good thriller. I've read most of hers and they are all good.

This post was edited by deedee99 on Tue, Oct 1, 13 at 17:46

James Lee Burke (Alafair's dad). Nelson DeMille.

Just thought of another one - Before I Go To Sleep by S.J. Watson. Only book I read by this author but it was really good.

Try Harlan Coben. I find his books to be very suspenseful.

Ooh, I really liked Before I Go To Sleep!

I just started the Kellerman series and I like them so far but I read the Stephen White books in the past and I liked them better (they are often compared).

I love the In Death series by J. D. Robb (Nora Roberts). It takes place in the future but not so far in the future that it overwhelms the story. The books definitely focus on the detective stories (murder/mysteries) and not the time period. They are so far from Nora Roberts usual style that I can't even tell it's her writing them.

Kay Hooper has a set of trilogy stories that are all based on her Bishop character. He's an FBI agent that forms a new paranormal unit within the FBI. His group is responsible for handling cases where the clues are non-existent or very little. The books all deal with hunting down serial killers. They are very good books--Shadows Trilogy, Evil Trilogy, Fear Trilogy and Blood Trilogy.

kitchendetective - I didn't connect James Lee Burke and Alafair Burke. Thanks for the info.

I love these threads because they remind me to go back to favourite authors and see if they have written anything recent that I may have missed. I read a great author and then get onto another one and forget to go back to a previous one.

oh speaking of which - I don;t know if Clive Cussler fits in here but he's another favourite.

This post was edited by blfenton on Tue, Oct 1, 13 at 17:08

This is my favorite genre too! I've read books by many of the authors listed, and am taking notes about ones I don't know.

My contribution is a thumbs up for Marcia Clark's first 2 novels:
Guilt by Association
Guilt by Degrees

You may remember her as the prosecutor in the O.J. Simpson trial.

Her books are entertaining. The stories are compelling and she's quite witty.

Delete 2nd post from spazPad

This post was edited by seagrass on Tue, Oct 1, 13 at 19:34

I forgot to add one of my favorites...any of Brian Haig's books with Sean Drummond...they are terrif.

I haven't read any of the books, but the TV show Longmire, which is based on the Walt Longmire mystery books, is super...I'll have to look them up...

Alan Folsom's The Day after Tomorrow was terrific. I do like Daniel Silva but some were better than others. Love James Lee Burke, the older stuff anyway, and most Nelson Demille.

Love the Inspector Rostnikov series by Stuart M. Kaminsky and some Stuart Woods. Chiefs was really good.

I like the author John Hart.

I really enjoyed the book Defending Jacob

I think if I had to pick my all time favorite mystery/thriller writer it would be Stuart Kaminsky, he's that good.

LOVELOVELOVE Sanford Prey series-if you haven't read the Virgil Flowers series, try it too. Not as intense as the Prey, but still thrilling and a bit witty. The Kidd series are good, too...again, nothing like the Prey series, and Kidd has a bit more sexual tension-nothing graphic, but nothing offensive or overbearing.

I'm also a big Cornwell (Scarpetta) fan, and I too love Sue Grafton. I like Harlan Coban, haven't read a lot of his yet, but what I have read I enjoy tremendously. Tami Hoag is ok-not such a big fan of Iris Johansen. I feel like Cornwell and Sanford have set the bar really high.

I noticed you don't mention the Jeffrey Deaver books-the Lincoln Rhyme series are AMAZING. Probably the best of the genre as far as I'm concerned. He wrote The Bone Collector-if you saw the movie don't despair-that book is nothing like that stupid flick. The female protaganist is nothing like portrayed in the movie.

If you like British P.D. James has many books and I have read and enjoyed most of them..

I just scanned the previous posts-sorry if somepne has already mentioned this. I just finished "The Cuckoo's Calling" which is by J.K.Rowling writing as Robert Galbraith. It is the best I've read in a long time.

I read a few of your favorite authors. I especially enjoyed The Camel Club by David Baldacci.
Another series I have enjoyed is the Odd Thomas books by Dean Koontz. The only other book I've read by him that I really like is "Fear Nothing". It all takes place in 24 hours and has to be the best thriller I have ever read. The Odd books are a combo of thriller and humor. Much lighter than "Fear Nothing".
Have you read the James Patterson Maximum Ride series? They're written for teens, but are really quite interesting. Both my hubby and I have read them.
I also like reading the series by Michael Connelly with Detective Harry Bosch.
I've recently started reading Sue Grafton's Alphabet books. Each book in the series about PI Kinsey Millhone is named according to the letter of the alphabet.
That's all I can think of for now. We have a library full of books in our home since both hubby and I are avid readers.

So I went to the library today and got out a Marcia Clark and a couple of Kaminsky's to try.

Then I remembered.

If you haven't read Trevanian, you are in for a real treat...The Eiger Sanction, the Loo Sanction, and best of all Shibumi.

A series I really enjoyed was the Pendergast series by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child. DD and DH also really liked them.

Beth P

Thanks everybody! I do see some new ones I've not read before and several I didn't list, just figured the list was getting to be too long, but are really good.

Got a Stephen White to try as that among the Burkes were completely new to me and few other authors I'd forgotten I liked and should look up what else they have now as it's has been a while.

I have a few questions though. If it wasn't for me spending money on them it wouldn't be a big deal, and I may leave them to try when/if I can get them from the library..

Sue Grafton - have the later ones gotten a bit different as I read a few of the earlier ones with the PI Kinsey and just couldn't get into them as those were at least in my memory slow and predictable. This was in the early/mid 90's though. Kind of why I said some Sandra Brown as the later ones seem to be better to me though still a bit too much romance for my taste with the Sandra Brown ones.

Lisa Gardner - I've only read Alone and had mixed feelings about it. Like I mentioned Tami Hoag in my list, there has been some I really liked by Hoag and some I've had similar mixed feelings about like my one try with Lisa Gardner (and some of Hoags and others on my list I didn't like at all) Is there a chance I just happened to pick the wrong one to try and some of Gardners will appeal to me more than others?

Lyfia, I've only read three of Sue Grafton, U, P and S. LOL I just realized how funny that looks. I liked all three of them.
Do you have a Half Price Books in your area or another other used books stores? My hubby and I recently started buying most of our books there, only buying newly released on regular bookstores. The average price we pay is $6.99 and many of the books are like new. They have a corner clearance area where I've gotten well over a dozen books the last two times we've gone for only $2.00 each.

Lyfia, I've only read three of Sue Grafton, U, P and S. LOL I just realized how funny that looks. I liked all three of them.
Do you have a Half Price Books in your area or another other used books stores? My hubby and I recently started buying most of our books there, only buying newly released on regular bookstores. The average price we pay is $6.99 and many of the books are like new. They have a corner clearance area where I've gotten well over a dozen books the last two times we've gone for only $2.00 each.

Sorry for the double post. It kept spinning like it wasn't posting so I refreshed it.

The Sue Grafton ones don't change. They pretty much stay the same throughout. They are simple and I consider them a good summer read. If you don't have a kindle you could download the kindle app on your smartphone and try checking out some of the books from the electronic library.

I am an avid reader. You all have listed many of my favorite authors. I second the Harry Bosch series by Michael Connelly. A great Michael Connelly book is "The Poet." Harry Bosch is not in this one but it is a very good read. It's up there with "The Bone Collector" by Jeffrey Deaver.
If you like Vince Flynn (read those books in order), give Brad Thor a try.
The Joe Pike, Elvis Cole series by Robert Crais can be entertaining. Joe Pike kind of reminds me of Jack Reacher (by Lee Child).
John Sandford is one of my favorites too. I love Lucas.
Lisa Gardner- I'll have to look up her books & see which ones I really liked.
I really need to keep a list of the books I've read. My Mom, 86 y/o, keeps an index card catalog (no computer).
I read these years ago, but if you like the Agatha Christie, Miss Marple series, try Helen Wentworth's, Miss Silver series. Dorothy Sayer is another British mystery series I enjoyed.
I'm so glad to see all these authors I haven't read. I'm hitting the library tomorrow.
Edit: Patricia Wentworth, Miss Silver series. Those were written in the 1920's - 1940's. I read them a long time ago. Probably pretty tame compared to what I read now.

This post was edited by romy718 on Sat, Oct 5, 13 at 23:51

Romy, I love that you Mom keeps track of her books via index cards. That's a great idea and small enough, well maybe LOL to take along to the book store with you.
After hubby finished the bookcases in our home library and I had the books set up I started taking photos of the books before we left to buy new ones so we had an easy reference without having to take the time to write the name of each down. Though I one day plan on having a filing system for our computer of all our books, I plan on still using my phone before we go shopping.

Justgotabme, have you ever seen www.goodreads.com? It's a great way to keep a catalog of books you have read or want to read. If you have an iPhone or iPad with camera, you can download the goodreads app and then scan the barcode of all the books you already own and it will immediately log them for you. Every time you read a new book, you can scan the barcode. You don't need a camera or the app to log your books though - you can type them in as well. You can also add books you want to read, then after you read them, switch it to your "already read" list. I usually don't use the app to scan books but rather add books that I want to read when I hear about them, but it is a great feature for someone who wants to add a lot of books they already own as its very quick to do.

I usually always have my iPhone with me when I go to the library or bookstore, so I can just open the app, pull up the list of books I want to read, then find what I'm looking for. Especially handy because you can sort it alphabetically by author so you can then easily look for books at the library that way.

I admit that I'm an avid user of goodreads mainly because I read a ton of books and would never remember what books I had already read or wanted to read. I'd started keeping an excel spreadsheet my computer but that didn't help if I forgot to bring it with me. Since I pretty much always have my phone on me, I always have my list of books accessible. The other great feature is that I can see what my friends are reading - I find a lot of interesting books that way.

Just thought I'd mention it to you as an easy way to catalog your books.

WOW thanks FourKids4Us! I love the idea of an app instead of just taking photos. So much easier to look up by author even though my photos were by author this sounds so much better. I just loaded it and also emailed my family about it. Thank you so much.

Fourkids4us- I just downloaded the Goodreads App too. Thanks much!

You are both very welcome. I use the website more than the app as it has more function than the app. However since you mentioned taking photos of your books, I remembered the app has that scan feature as I've used it a few times at the bookstore to quickly log books I wanted to read. I think there are others here who also use goodreads. Hope you like it!

I've already played with it a bit online FourKids4Us. If I have time this week I'll start logging the books in our library. It's going to be a busy week as I've an article to get finished that due Thursday and in order to finish it I have to purge my closet so I'll have photos to share with it. Not to mention buy a wedding gift for my cousin's son who's wedding we'll be attending this coming Saturday.

I've enjoyed these, and I recommend them:
Laura Lippman, the Tess Monaghan novels
Patricia Highsmith, the Ripley novels
Kate Atkinson, the Jackson Brodie novels

I'm making a nice list from this thread.
:)

I second Brad Thor books and John Lescroart's Dismas Hardy series.

So sad there won't be any more Vince Flynn books.

Oh a bunch of new additions and several more new to me. I really appreciate the suggestions.

I do a lot of audiobooks on my long commute, so cost is a factor even with audible and I've exhausted the selection at my library. I'm going to give Lisa Gardner another try, but will do it in actual book form from the library instead.

How could I forget him? Martin Cruz Smith is great.

I loved the Charlie Parker series written by John Connolly and I wish he would come out with another book in the series as I finished all of them. Hehas a very interesting way of writing, original plots and not anything trite.

I second AnnieDeighnaugh's recommendation for The Thirteenth Tale, one of my most favorite books ever. When people ask me for a recommendation I always ask if they have read that first off.
Trevanian, who I must have read 30 years ago is great too. (I may need to re-read those they were so exciting)
More recently I read, Learning to Swim by Sara Henry. It was a fabulous mystery, very well written and great plot development.
I stopped reading a lot of mystery writers because I felt they had started to get too formulaic, so I really appreciate when I find one that surprises me. Of course not all surprises are my cup of tea, last year's big hit Gone Girl was too evil for me to enjoy. Would love to hear your thoughts on that particular book.

When I was working, I would walk for 30 min and I had a 30 min rt commute, so I got 60 min of listening to audio books in every day, so I burned through a lot of audio tapes.

I started lisa gardner and they were good, but they got to be so much more of the same, that I'd read the blurb and have no idea if I'd read that one or not.

I read some of the prey series...eyes of prey was just too chilling...but given past life events, I can no longer do the super graphic serial killer type things any more...they are just too upsetting. The Grafton alphabets are much more my speed.

Now I get books on tape out of the library when we do a driving trip...the two of us have laughed our trips along listening to the Evanovich mysteries...makes driving much more pleasant.

Lyfia, send me an email and I'll send you some library info. The personal email I have for you doesn't work anymore.

De

I'm with JavaChik on feeling sad about losing Vince Flynn. I'd really hoped he'd beat the C beast. The same beast that took Musician Dan Fogelberg five years before. Both so young and talented. Author Tom Clancy is now gone too. His cause of death has not be released as far as I know.
I just came across a paperback of John Connolly and realized I started reading Michael Connolly books accidentally because of their last names. I like them both.

I have recently retired from teaching English and reading and am greatly enjoying the free time to read for pleasure. I appreciate the thread. The recommendations have greatly increased my "to read soon" list. I just finished THE WOMAN IN WHITE by Wilkie Collins which I enjoyed greatly although I thought it got off to a slow start. It is a mystery thriller written in the 1800's. Collins is said to have written the finest detective story ever- THE MOONSTONE. Is anyone familiar with it?

Yes, I read and loved the Moonstone...of course you have to be willing to put up with the flowery language of its time. I believe it's available for free now through project gutenberg. And if we're going back in time, the Sherlock Holmes novels are terrific...I loved them all...read them when I was in HS.

Annie - I love Project Gutenberg! Discovered it when researching food themes in literature.