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/lit/ - Literature

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1997454 No.1997454 [Reply] [Original]

Hey /lit/, could you recommend me some detective novels? Could be sci-fi, comedy, or whatever other genre as long as it focuses on somebody trying to solve a mystery in a detective-like manner.


When I was a kid I went through a whole crime-stopping, solving mysteries, detective obsession phase and I was recently hit again with the same interest.

>> No.1997464
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1997464

>> No.1997468

You need some Asimov.

>> No.1997474

>>1997464
This right here.

>> No.1997555

>>1997464
>>1997464
seconding this, add some Raymond Chandler like The Big Sleep, The Long Goodbye. Dashiel Hammett's The Maltese Falcon.

For something more edgy and po-mo, there's Paul Auster's New York Trilogy.

I'd say start with the Pynchon and some Chandler. It's more hard-boiled pulp fiction, but quite entertaining.

>> No.1997560

>>1997468
The Robot novels are very excellent, and go much much deeper than your ordinary detective story. Asimov has written other mysteries, but I can't vouch for them personally. I'm sure they're good though.

>> No.1997564

There's also the Brother Cadfael novels, like One Corpse Too Many or A Morbid Taste for Bones, which are a little different because they're set in the 12th century and are solved by a random monk, rather than your normal police detective or little old lady.

>> No.1997566
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1997566

I liked this one alot.

>> No.1997570

Father Brown motherfucker. Not novels technically, but whatever. Father Brown rocks.

>> No.1997576

Six Problems for Don Isidro Parodi by Borges and Casares.

>> No.1997578

OP here, thanks for the suggestions!

Perhaps this information could yield some different results... I'm incredibly uncultured in literature and haven't read any detective/crime-stopping novels before. The closest novel to this which I've read is, dare I say, the Artemis Fowl books when I was younger. Other than that, the main source of media influence on my interest when I was younger was cartoons.
Perhaps that information would provide a different insight on books I should read? Like, the basics which I could have missed? Of course, Sherlock Holmes is on that list.

>> No.1997611

>>1997578
The big schism for mystery readers is whether they want everything to be a "Fair Play" mystery or not. Basically, Fair Play means that you the reader can (in theory) figure everything out, just from what you're provided.

Things like Sherlock Holmes... they are NOT like this. Fair Play mysteries are actually relatively rare, because they're extremely hard to write, and most authors don't bother. So you get things like Sherlock doing his ending exposition about things that have NEVER been mentioned before, or some random character shows up in the last five pages and turns out to be the culprit. If you don't care about being clueless the whole time, and are just along for the ride, then you probably don't care. If you want more of a thinkin' man's challenge, then try for a Fair Play mystery.

It can be hard to tell what's what, especially since the author isn't going to tell you, but generally anything by Agatha Christie or Isaac Asimov will be fair. Any Sherlock Holmes story that's actually narrated by Holmes (there's only a few) will also be like this.

>> No.1997627

If you're new to mystery, Agatha Christie is excellent. A lot of the "twist endings" are known by lots of literature buffs, and even more by theater buffs, but if you're new to the genre you probably aren't spoiled yet.

>> No.1997659

Bridge of Birds. Fantasy mystery set in ancient China. It's one of my favorite books.

>> No.1997791

>>1997611
I see. Then yes, it is most definitely Fair Play mystery I'm interested in. I don't mind being pulled along for the ride, but it does make me angry when, as you stated, the culprit is introduced randomly and revealed at the end.

>> No.1999365

>>1997791
Ross Macdonald is great for fair play. He's basically Chandler with less distinctive prose, more focus on realistic psychology (especially of disaffected youths and the sins of the parents falling on the children), and more coherent plot lines. Edmund Crispin and Michael Innes are also worth looking into. For Innes start with 'Hamlet, revenge' or 'Death at the President's Lodging.'

>> No.1999388

>>1997611
>ending exposition about things that have NEVER been mentioned before, or some random character shows up in the last five pages and turns out to be the culprit.
That's just bad writing, fair play or not. Mysteries that aren't fair play should at least mention the items and people that end up in the conclusion, even if they don't give enough hints at their connection that a reader could logically figure it out.

>> No.1999405

The Caves of Steel By Isaac Asimov
Along with being a great sci-fi it is also a great detective story. In my opinion it is bar none Asimovs best achievment