Can anyone recommend any good thrillers/detective novels?

My neighbour gave me two Lynda La Plante books a couple of months ago that he was otherwise going to throw away, and now I am hooked (having never read thrillers before).  I've now got 6 of her novels and am about to finish number 5. 

I am looking for other writers within this genre, if anyone can recommend any other writers and/or specific books to me?

As an aside, I am going to take the first five LLP books I'm finished with to a charity shop soon unless someone would like to collect them from me (West London) - please PM me if you want them.

Personally I really enjoy Patricia Highsmith.  Sara Paretsky is good too.

Elizabeth George is my absolute favourite contemporary detective writer. She's amazing! If you're going to try her books, I'd suggest starting at the beginning because a lot happens to the main characters along the way. I also like Ruth Rendell and Boris Akunin.

As for classics, you can't go wrong with Josehine Tey, Margery Allingham or Dorothy L. Sayers. 

Happy reading! 

Ian Rankins books about his detective Rebus are pretty good.

By author:

Karin Slaughter (American coroner & detective team, set in the south; series)
Walter Mosley (American PI, set in South Central LA in the 60s; series)
Mo Hayden (not a series but writes good mysteries)
Michael Connolly (American detective series, set in current LA, LAPD offshoot)
Robert Crais (American detective series, set in current LA, some connections to LAPD)
Greg Iles (not a series, but good one off mysteries)
Dan Fesperman (American author, Bosnian detective, 2 in the series; also has other thrillers that are good)
Ian Rankin (Rebus, the Scottish detective we all know & love; series)
Ruth Rendell (Inspector Wexford mysteries, series)
Robert Wilson (British author, Spanish detective series)
Stella Remington (Former MI5, two novels so far)
Arturo Perez Reverte (Spanish mystery novels, not a series but very good)
Peter Tremayne (Sister Fidelma, Irish nun and her Anglo Saxo co-hort solve mysteries in early Ireland; series)
Ellis Peters (Cadfeal, the Welsh monk who solves mysteries in his spare time; series)

That should keep you busy for a while, all the books should also be easily available at your local library.
 
Love mysteries!!   


Those should keep you busy for awhile.

I can't recommend the book Sharp Objects enough.  It is by a new author and I loved it.  It is a mystery but very creepy as well.

Kathy Reich!!!!!

Tempy Brennan...LOVE them!!!!!!!

I also love John Sandford, he writes a series of "Prey" books.

I absolutely love Iris Johansen she is an American author. she did write a few romance novels but I immensely enjoy reading her suspense thrillers.    

Wow, thanks everyone - really appreciate all of your responses!  Am ready to start my next book so will see what the local library has to offer....

Thanks again!   

I'm hooked on this guy right now.

http://www.leechild.com/books.html

I'm hooked on this guy right now.

http://www.leechild.com/books.html

I've heard good things about him! The thriller writer everyone in the UK seems to be raving about at the moment is Christopher Brookmyre. I haven't read any of his, but I've ordered one from Amazon as a present for someone ... and I might just have time for a sneaky peek through it before I wrap it! 

P.D. James' Adam Dalgliesh series is interesting, if a bit stodgy, mysteries. Psychological might be the term.

Whoever suggested Arturo Perez-Reverte is right on the mark. The Club Dumas is a fascinating, brilliant book that will absolutely wrap you up. The Fencing Master and The Flanders Panel are also top-notch. I enjoyed his other books, but they didn't leave the same impression as those three.

Me, me! I did! I love Arturo Perez Reverte! I have never met anyone else who has ever read him before! You are right about those books. Have you read The Nautical Chart and Queen of the South? Nautical Chart took me a bit longer to get into but when I did, it was great. Both of them are a bit different from the Fencing, Flanders and Dumas books, but still have the methodical detail. It is the Captain Alaistare (sp) books I have not been able to get into at all.

Ooh, so excited someone else knows Perez Reverte!

Have you read The Crimson Petal and the White? Or The Historian?


Due to this thread I have picked up a Brookmyre book at the library today. I'll let you know how I get on with it.

Also going to read Dennis Lehane's Gone Baby Gone this week too.

Eugenio Fuentes is worth hunting up if you like Spanish mysteries, btw.