As the pandemic continues to spread, an unprecedented number of intelligent, well-read people are stuck at home. Working remote (for those of us lucky enough to still have jobs) can only fill up so much of the day, and crime fiction is a comfort in times in great stress, so we put out the call for our readers to send us all their recommendation needs.
This is likely to be an ongoing series. Feel free to tag us on Twitter or email us at crimereads@lithub.com, and we’ll make sure to help out with all your book recommendation needs.
Walter A. loves:
Hi—I’m looking for your recommendation. If you could suggest something that’s available in audiobook format, that would be icing on the cake! Here are some of my favorites:
The Name of the Rose, by Umberto Eco (as well as Foucault’s Pendulum and several other novels)
The Commissaire Adamsberg series by Fred Vargas (especially Climate of Fear)
The Inspector Montalbano series by Andrea Camilleri (especially all of them!)
I’m working my way through the Maigret books as well, and have read several of Colin Dexter’s Inspector Morse novels. While my list is made up entirely of European authors and European settings, I wouldn’t mind a recommendation for an American author/setting. I look forward to seeing what you come up with!
CrimeReads recommends:
Hi Walter, I’m going to recommend two series by Americans but set in Europe, so you can gradually transfer some of your reading tastes across the pond. Since you like The Name of the Rose and the work of Fred Vargas (who started out as a medievalist), I think you might enjoy Sharon Newman’s Catherine LeVendeur novels. Set in 12th century France, and as richly detailed as they are well-researched, these novels follow Catherine LeVendeur as she discovers her Jewish roots, marries a British nobleman, and investigates murders across the medieval landscape, including a locked room mystery in Scotland and a murder en route to the shrine of St. James. I also think you’d love Donna Leon’s Commissario Guido Brunetti series, set in Venice and full of the same gorgeous depictions of Italy that make the Montalbano series so compelling. Donna Leon’s series is available in audiobook format.–Molly Odintz, CrimeReads Senior Editor
Rebecca N. loves:
I’m looking for the next badass nihilist to join this club:
Sara Gran’s Claire DeWitt
Louisa Luna’s Alice Vega
Elizabeth Hand’s Cass Neary
CrimeReads recommends:
Rebecca, you have the coolest taste ever. Thanks so much for reaching out! Have you read Denise Mina’s Garnethill trilogy? I think you’d vibe with Maureen O’Donnell, the tough and unlucky protagonist of the trilogy. In the first book, Maureen goes undercover at an asylum to find out who killed her boyfriend; in the second, she goes to work at a battered women’s shelter and ends up investigating the brutal death of one of the residents; and in the final installment of the trilogy, Maureen’s selling cigarettes illegally at a flea market when one of her stall buddies ends up beaten and in the hospital, triggering one last investigation with strong emotional consequences for all parties involved. I also want to recommend Eva Dolan’s This Is How It Ends, where two tough women occupying a building to prevent its demolition have more than gentrification on their minds.–Molly Odintz, CrimeReads Senior Editor
Iulia I. loves:
John Green, Looking for Alaska
Patrick Modiano, In the Café of Lost Youth
William Golding, Lord of the Flies
And anything that was written by Fitzgerald
CrimeReads recommends:
Hi Iulia, always glad to make the acquaintance of another Modiano aficionado. Have you read any Juan Gabriel Vásquez? I always tie his work up with Modiano’s, for some reason; there’s a certain aching to remember and an ambiguity that their work shares. From Golding and Green, I’ll deduce that you like stories about young people with an edge, and I’m thinking you might be into Megan Abbott’s books, Dare Me or You Will Know Me. –Dwyer Murphy, CrimeReads Editor in Chief
Siham A. loves:
First of all I would like to say, thank you for doing this!
I really haven’t had a lot of time to read, what with my daughter home from school and all but I am a book lover and avid reader and I feel initiatives like this are really awesome.
So, without further ado, my favorite crime fiction books that I’ve read lately are:
Sharp Objects, Gillian Flynn
In Cold Blood, Truman Capote
In the Woods, Tana French
Although, I guess, technically, In Cold Blood would be True Crime.
CrimeReads recommends:
Hi Siham! Since you like Sharp Objects, I want to recommend Emily Elgar’s Grace is Gone, which has a similarly horrifying take on motherhood. You might also want to check out Sara Sligar’s new book Take Me Apart, which delves into the story of returning home and complex relationships with parental homes in a way that feels very complementary to Sharp Objects. Since you like In Cold Blood, you should give Casey Cep’s Furious Hours: Murder, Fraud, and the Last Trial of Harper Lee, a nonfiction work that recounts the role played in Capote’s investigation by Harper Lee, his longtime friend who contributed much of the research that would inform In Cold Blood, as well as delving into a serial murder trial Harper Lee covered as a journalist.–Molly Odintz, CrimeReads Senior Editor
Derek C. loves:
Love the idea, and always looking to add to the TBR pile. So here’s some of the things I tend to enjoy—would love to find something new to explore that checks a couple of these boxes.
Some Madcap Tendencies (i.e.—Anything Johnny Shaw, Anthony Bourdain’s crime novels, The Talented Ribkins by Ladee Hubbard, etc.)
Georgia/Atlanta based stories, since it’s home (e.g. Thomas Mullen’s Darktown books, Brian Panowich, Karen Slaughter, etc.)
Strong sense of place (William Kent Krueger, Greg Iles, Shaw again, Joe R. Lansdale, etc.)
CrimeReads recommends:
I am so, so glad you mentioned The Talented Ribkins. That is one of the best books I’ve ever read and I have no idea why it isn’t a TV show already. Have you ever read Kinky Friedman’s mystery novels? He’s one of my hometown heroes (I’m from Austin, and I went to a summer camp his dad founded), and his mystery novels have a strong sense of place and are about as madcap as they come. I’d also recommend Fran Ross’ Oreo—not really a mystery novel, but it’s laugh-out-loud funny and has a similar focus on surreal journeys to The Talented Ribkins. I’d also encourage you to check Lisa Lutz’s mysteries, especially The Spellman Files, where a family of detectives gets up to all kinds of shenanigans. I also want to recommend South Village, by Rob Hart—it’s not set in Atlanta, but it does take place in a commune in the Georgia backwoods! –Molly Odintz, CrimeReads Senior Editor
W. loves:
Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby
Ernest Hemingway, A Moveable Feast
James Ellroy, My Dark Places
CrimeReads recommends:
I like how you went from those classics and then took a dark left turn to Ellroy’s memoir; I didn’t see that coming. Imagine A Moveable Feast with a noir bend and you have the work of French Nobel laureate Patrick Modiano, so there’s one place to go. Also, Nina Revoyr’s excellent recent novel, A Student of History, had strong Gatsby-meets-Sunset Boulevard atmospherics, so I think you’d enjoy it. Consider the novels of Lawrence Osborne, too. He has that pitch darkness of Ellroy, but with a controlled, disciplined, graceful style of writing that might appeal to you. –Dwyer Murphy, CrimeReads Editor in Chief
David Hesson loves:
I have been digging lately some non-English native authors such as:
Weeping Waters by Karin Brynard
Time is a Killer by Michael Bussi
And my absolute faves—the 2 novels in English by Mallock:
The Faces of God
The Cemetery of Swallows
Any help is appreciated! And you guys are great!!!
Hi David,
I see you’re a fan of Europa Editions—a fantastic publisher! Since you mention The Faces of God, I’m going to recommend two twisted international reads that I think you’ll love. The Tenant, by Katrina Engberg, is a twisted serial killer novel from a newly arrived Danish talent. A young woman is murdered, and her downstair neighbor, a retired professor turned mystery novelist who spends most of her time drinking wine, has described the murder exactly in her manuscript. She swears she’s innocent, and so do the members of her writing group, whom she insists are the only ones to have seen the book. It’s up to a mismatched couple of detectives to learn the truth. I think you’d also love the works of South Korean writer You-Jeong Jeong, who has one book out in the states already (The Good Son) and another soon to be published this June (Seven Years of Darkness). –Molly Odintz, CrimeReads Senior Editor
Catherine O. loves:
Jean-Philippe Blondel, The 6:41 to Paris
Milena Busquets, This Too Shall Pass: A Novel
Idra Novey, Ways to Disappear
CrimeReads recommends:
Great choices, Catherine. From Ways to Disappear I’m going to recommend you check out the novels of Rubem Fonseca, Brazil’s postmodern literary crime master. Maybe start with Crimes of August, or with Vast Emotions and Imperfect Thoughts. From your other selections, you might like Katie Kitamura’s A Separation and possibly Daniel Alarcon’s At Night We Walk in Circles. –Dwyer Murphy, CrimeReads Editor in Chief
Karrie S. loves:
I currently work at a library and miss giving recommendations to our patrons. I also LOVE seeing what other people recommend for me. Thanks!
4MK Thriller Series by J.D. Barker
Magpie Murders by Anthony Horowitz
Bad Blood: Secrets and Lies in a Silicon Valley Startup by John Carreyrou
Hi Karrie,
Since you like The Magpie Murders, I want to recommend another metadetective novel for you—check out Gordon McAlpine’s Holmes, Entangled; McAlpine is the master of meta, and in Holmes, Entangled, Sherlock is retired and working as a professor when he receives a strange call from a middle-brow author of adventure fiction named Arthur Conan Doyle, who’s convinced that someone is trying to kill him. And if you like J.D. Barker, you might want to read the masterfully choreographed Security by Gina Wohlsdorf, or check out Riley Sagar’s Final Girls. –Molly Odintz, CrimeReads Senior Editor
Linda M. loves:
Fred Vargas—anything by her but especially The Three Evangelists
John le Carre—I’ve read and re-read all of his work, in particular Smiley’s People, The Honourable Schoolboy and Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
Jose Carlos Somoza—The Athenian Murders
Help!
Hi Linda,
You have impeccable taste! I’m going off of your Fred Vargas and Jose Carlos Somoza mentions for the following recs. It seems that you enjoy mysteries set in classical times, so I want to recommend one of my favorite historical series—Steven Saylor’s Gordianus the Finder novels, set in Ancient Rome right around the time of Caesar, in which Gordianus encounters many of the most tantalizing and disgusting scandals of a very over-the-top society. I also want to recommend Elizabeth Kordova’s The Historian and Lucy Atkins’ The Night Visitor since you enjoyed The Three Evangelists, those both feature historians either investigating or committing crimes.–Molly Odintz, CrimeReads Senior Editor
Maria D. loves:
Graham Greene
Thomas Hardy
Jane Austen
CrimeReads recommends:
Honestly, Maria, my first instinct is to suggest you dive right back into that excellent trio; there’s no exhausting Austen / Hardy / Greene, is there? But, if you want to move to something new, let’s see, somewhere in the overlap between Greene and Hardy lies the elusive, introspective, witty novels of Javier Marías. Start with A Heart So White and if the rhythms work for you, give The Infatuations a shot next. For the Austen part of your soul, how about a modern epic of big ideas and big emotions, something like Tayari Jones’s An American Marriage? –Dwyer Murphy, CrimeReads Editor in Chief
Matt B. Loves:
Such a big fan of your site, which is the first thing I look up in the morning now that I’ve given up on reading the news.
I’m hoping you could recommend me a book in the vein of Elmore Leonard’s Rum Punch, Carl Hiaasen’s Stormy Weather, and Ross Thomas’s The Fools in Town are on Our Side.
Thanks!!
Hi Matt,
Aww, shucks. We’re happy to be your replacement for the news (I’m trying to avoid it too these days, especially since we’re at the epicenter now). I think you’d really dig Steven Wright’s The Coyotes of Carthage, it’s gonna scratch the same itch as The Fools In Town Are On Our Side—it’d be laugh-out-loud funny if it weren’t so sad and true. A political campaign manager gets one more chance to keep his job after a colossal f-up, but its a doozy: his boss sends him to the Carolina backwoods with 250K of dark money to fund a ballot initiative that will open up the area’s beloved wilderness to the destruction of mountain-top mining. One of the most brilliant and disillusioned debuts I’ve ever come across. And speaking of brilliant and disillusioned (with more than a touch of humor), have you read Viet Thanh Nguyen’s The Sympathizer? I think you’d love this story of double agents, American hubris, and Hollywood snafus. –Molly Odintz, CrimeReads Senior Editor
Sharon H. Loves:
What a wonderful selection of recommendations for Reading in the Time of Quarantine. CrimeReads is absolutely my sanity in this insane world.
I will be reading some of your suggestions by supporting my local indie bookstore.
My question is what would you recommend for my favorites:
In Cold Blood by Truman Capote
The Long Goodbye by Raymond Chandler
The Friends of Eddie Coyle by George Higgins
In a Lonely Place by Dorothy B. Hughes
Honorable mention:
The Gunther series by P. Kerr
The Ripley series by P. Highsmith
The Archer series by R. Macdonald
The City & The City by C. Mieville
Although I have no cats, I do have a dog. His name is Chandler, after Raymond Chandler. I swear if he could smoke a pipe too, he would.
Thanks again for the breath of fresh air even if it is filtered through the cigarette smoke of dark alleys and mean streets.
Hi Sharon!
That’s an excellent dog name, and I assume also a very good dog :). Thanks for reaching out! You have wonderful taste. Here are a few suggestions that you might enjoy.
Since you like Philip Kerr’s Bernie Gunther series, you should definitely check out Joseph Kanon’s novels; in particular, I recommend Defectors, which follows an American publisher trying to get a memoir out of his double agent brother, who’s busy getting sloshed with a bunch of other has-been spies in a dacha near Moscow. The publisher heads to Russia, where he finds himself in the middle of Who’s Afraid of Virginia Wolf: The John le Carre edition. It’s fantastic. And surprisingly funny! Also, since you liked The City and the City (one of my favorites too!) you should check out Unravelling, by Karen Lord—a forensic therapist who lives in an unnamed island city with sharp divisions between privileged citizens and those who work for them investigates a murder. Here to help her (or at least, in a nearby realm) are two immortals, Trickster and Chance, in a tale that plays with Caribbean folklore, scifi tropes, and of course, murder mysteries. –Molly Odintz, CrimeReads Senior Editor
Jane W. loves:
A.S. Byatt, Possession
Kazuo Ishiguro, Never Let Me Go
Tana French, the Dublin Murder Squad mysteries
CrimeReads recommends:
Hi Jane, I think you might have a taste for modern mysteries with gothic tones, so how about checking out the work of Sarah Waters (if you haven’t already)? Start with Affinity or Fingersmith and see what you think. And where you liked Tana French’s series, you might enjoy Sara Gran’s Claire DeWitt books, which take a very different approach to crime but have a similarly strong voice and innovative spirit. –Dwyer Murphy, CrimeReads Editor in Chief
Michael G. loves:
Nico Walker, Cherry
Wanted to know if you had any suggestions of books like this one (current crime world – almost documentary style realism).
CrimeReads recommends:
If you haven’t read it before, I’d recommend checking out Hard Rain Falling, by Don Carpenter, a moving and hard-boiled tale of surprising bonds formed during incarceration. I’d also recommend Meditations in Green, by Stephen Wright, a gorgeous meditation on the nature of trauma and addiction post-Vietnam. –Molly Odintz, CrimeReads Senior Editor
Melisa Y. loves:
Jane Austen, Persuasion
Ruth Ware, In a Dark, Dark Wood
The Dead Files tv show on Travel Channel
CrimeReads recommends:
If you like Ruth Ware, then have I got some recommendations for you! Ware’s books impress with their signature mixture of gothic, psychological thriller, and traditional mystery (plus they’re super fun!). Here are a few books that also like to mix things up in these genres: check out Shari Lapena’s An Unwanted Guest, Rachel Howzell Hall’s They All Fall Down, and (especially for those who enjoy the disastrous party element of In a Dark, Dark Wood) try Lucy Foley’s upcoming The Guest List, or if you don’t want to wait till June, her equally good The Hunting Party. –Molly Odintz, CrimeReads Senior Editor
Josiah H. loves:
Gillian Flynn, Gone Girl
Donna Tartt, The Goldfinch
Don DeLillo, Cosmopolis
CrimeReads recommends:
Hi Josiah, I like your choices; each one very different and excellent. How about trying Jonathan Lee’s High Dive, then following it up with Patrick Hoffman’s The White Van? If you’re enjoying the progression of this strange little mixtape, you could then read some Tana French, maybe her most recent standalone, The Witch Elm. A strange combination, but I think it might work. –Dwyer Murphy, CrimeReads Editor in Chief
P f loves:
Laurie King’s Mary Russell books
The Outlander series
Lawrence Sanders, First Deadly Sin
Eric Von Lustbader’s The Ninja
CrimeReads recommends:
Howdy! I also love the Mary Russell books. Have you tried Cara Black’s Aimee Leduc series? They have a very different setting, but for me, anyway, they itch the same scratch. I would also encourage you to read A Gentleman’s Murder by Christopher Huang if you’re craving that postwar setting. –Molly Odintz, CrimeReads Senior Editor
Gary S. loves:
Haruki Murakami, Norwegian Wood
Han Kang, The Vegetarian
Stieg Larsson, The Girl Who Kicked The Hornet’s Nest
CrimeReads recommends:
Gary, I think you’d love Natsuo Kirino’s Out, a novel in which four women who work in a factory making bento boxes conspire to cover up the murder of one of their spouses—while something even more mysterious and menacing lurks in the shadows. It’s not quite as weird as The Vegetarian, but it’s much weirder than Norwegian Wood, and it won Japan’s biggest prize for crime fiction. –Emily Temple, Lit Hub Senior Editor
