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/lit/ - Literature

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5607349 No.5607349 [Reply] [Original]

What're some good detective novels?

I'm a big fan of Sherlock Holmes as well as The Curious Casebook of Inspector Hanshichi, and I'd love some more recommendations. Collections of short stories would be preferable

>> No.5607358

>>5607349
I'd like to know this too, I'm reading through Sherlock right now :^)

>> No.5607691

>>5607349
I'm interested too. Never found a detective as interesting as the pre-reichenbach Holmes.

>> No.5607716

agatha christie wrote very good novels, as for stories... try chesterton if you are looking for classic detective short stories, but they are rather poetic/didactic than purely detective

>> No.5607741

>>5607349
>>5607349

The name of the rose ! You will love it !

>> No.5607749

At the risk of being called a pleb, JK Rowling's Cormoran Strike books are very entertaining.

>> No.5607753

>>5607349
Did you guys check the wiki?

R Austin Freeman is good for the golden age of detection. Find a copy of The Rivals of Sherlock Holmes and The Further Rivals of Sherlock Holmes and see who you like.

There's a quasi-locked room mystery that I like a lot called The Red Right Hand, by Joel Townsley Rogers.

I second the Agatha Christie rec. Her work has "literary" qualities and her detection is good.

>> No.5608776
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5608776

> Not reading Father Brown

>> No.5608783

Thomas Ligotti writes some good detective-ish stuff. Also consider Poe's early works.

>> No.5610620

>>5607716
Ended up buying Hercule Poirot: The Complete Short Stories

Still looking for recs though

>> No.5611031

>>5610620
If you like golden age of detection stuff, google the haycraft-queen list.

And when I say check out R Austin Freeman, I specifically recommend the short stories over the novels.

Simenon's Maigret books are a good bridge between classic detection and the psychological school. Hammett also has decent detection.

As others have said, Father Brown is good, and Casares and Borges' Don Isidro Parodi plays like a philosophical cross between Father Brown and Mycroft.

That poirot book is physically massive!

>> No.5611640

And a few semi-canonical works:

The Murder of Roger Ackroyd
Trent's Last Case
The Face on the Cutting Room Floor
The Double Death of Frederic Belot

All of them play around with classical detection. I think even Dupin was a sort of tongue-in-cheek detective even though Poe was basically inventing the form. Poe was like that.

>> No.5611650

>>5608783

He does?

>> No.5611771

>>5611650
I dunno the answer to that, but /lit/ isn't widely read in horror or mysteries (or anything?) and so a lot of boilerplate stuff gets posted. Ligotti is a go-to meme author like draining fossil solace and Cormac McCarthy, so he becomes kind of an all-purpose rec for a dozen different kinds of threads.
. <--- grain of salt you should take

>> No.5611814

>>5611771
I think you're right. I've read most of his short stories which was why I was confused by that post, maybe my memories bad but I don't remember too much detective anything in them.

Laird Barron on the other hand, a horror writer similar to Ligotti, has a lot of hard-boiled detective influence in his work.

>> No.5611839

>>5610620
her novels are probably significantly better than her short stories, nobody suggested you christie for stories

>> No.5611910

>>5607349
If you haven't read Agatha Christie's "Ten Little Niggers" you are LITERALLY gay.

>Inb4 read "And then there was none"
>inb4 read "Ten Little Indians"

They're not the same books.

>> No.5612074

>>5611910
why is it not the same? because of the fucking rhyme?

>> No.5612080

>>5611839
Oh, whoops

I enjoy stories more anyway

>> No.5612107
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5612107

>>5607349
The Child 44 series.

Takes place in KGB-era Soviet Union.
Protagonist is a KGB detective who slowly starts to question the morality of his work as he's ordered to arrest innoccent people and cover up murders, doing the generally all-around shabby policework common even in today's society, until he eventually manages to leave the force and start his own investigation bureau. The plot is a thriller, full of twists and the like.

Personally, I have read the first book twice and the third one almost twice.

Recommend 10000%

>> No.5612734

>>5611814
I don't know a lot of supernatural detection stuff:

-Carnacki
-John Silence
-William Hjortsberg
-Le Fanu's Dr Hesselius

I guess I'd recommend Carnacki first?

There's also a lot of pseudo-horror detective fiction: stuff by PM Hubbard, the aforementioned Joel Townsley Rogers. Some fiction is just gruesome or menacing, like John Dickson Carr/Carter Dickson stuff, or Woolrich's Night Has a Thousand Eyes.

>> No.5612739

>>5611839
>NOBODY SUGGESTED THEM READ WHAT I SAY WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU
>WHY DOESN'T THE WORLD CONFORM TO ME?

>> No.5612742

>>5611910
faggot

>> No.5612750

What's a good book/author for someone who really enjoys Holmes and likes Agatha Christie, I don't read mystery novels that much so I wouldn't know.
Already know about Asimov.

>> No.5612814

>>5612750
http://www.worlds-best-detective-crime-and-murder-mystery-books.com/haycraftqueentable.html

You probably want to skip any "gentleman thief" volumes. Start at Holmes and move forward (there are some gems before Holmes, though: Vidocq, Poe, The Leavenworth Case, The Moonstone). The classical detection starts to wane in the late 20s, although there are still representatives in the 30s and 40s (the Boucher is very golden age-y, but the solution to that particular novel is unsatisfying). I would also skip Jacques Futrelle; his stories are too inconsistent. That said, some of the "rivals of Sherlock Holmes" are pretty good. If you see a copy of The Rivals of... or The Further Rivals of..., pick it up. You can also look for single author volumes in old Dover editions. The American Rivals of... is too specialist. It has some decent stuff, but it's more for historical interest or for die hards. I especially like R Austin Freeman's "inverted stories," which paved the way for psychological suspense fiction. The science is well-researched and the detection is entertaining, logical, and fair. Look for a volume of Dr Thorndyke stories instead of a novel.

The Golden Age wiki will give you some good leads:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Golden_Age_of_Detective_Fiction

>> No.5612981

>>5612814
>The science is well-researched and the detection is entertaining, logical, and fair. Look for a volume of Dr Thorndyke stories instead of a novel.
This is exactly what I was looking for, thanks.

>> No.5613053

Try Raymond Chandler and Dashiell Hammett.

For novels, start with The Big Sleep (Chandler) or The Maltese Falcon (Hammett). For short stories, go for the collections Trouble is My Business (Chandler) or The Continental Op and The Big Knockover (Hammett).

Hammett has better-constructed mysteries, while Chandler's focus is on the writing style and atmospheric scenes. I prefer Chandler, but if you're more into the puzzle-solving aspect, Hammett might be your preference.