Can you recommend any crime/thriller books or authors?

Hi Robyn,

I have certainly enjoyed reading books by Karin Slaughter, Val McDermid, Tess Gerritsen and Stieg Larsson in the last 12 months and some of their other books are still on my 'to read' list 

Sam

I've just got into the Jack Daniels series by JA Konrath - they're funny, dramatic and I really like the characters. I agree that Patricia Cornwell has lost her edge, for me things went downhill after she switched to third person narration.... hasn't stopped me getting each new one and feeling disappointed though.

I've really enjoyed reading the 'Shardlake' series by CJ Sansom. I love my crime fiction and Sansom gives it a different twist by setting his series in 16th century England so you get 'ye olde worlde' crime fiction, which I've really enjoyed.

There are five books in the series so far: Dissolution; Dark Fire; Sovereign; Revelation and Heartstone and I've loved all of them.

Maxine (member of the Platform team)

Like Sam, I've enjoyed Stieg Larsson's trilogy and have also recently discovered Jo Nesbo, a Norwegian author of crime fiction; I recommend him. Dorothy

 I like the genre of Eurocrime including Stieg Larsson, Jo Nesbo, Johan Theorin, Camilla Lackberg as well as many others

I have to say I feel the same about Patricia Cornwell's books, but like you keep buying the new one in the hope that this time it will be better.  I also enjoy Val McDermid and Karin Slaughter.  My other favourites are Ian Rankin's Rebus and Quintin Jardine's Skinner books, especially as they are set in Edinburgh where I live.  Jeffrey Deaver is also another favourite author of mine - namely his Lincoln Rhyme books and the new character Katherine Dance. 

I note a few authors mentioned above that I have not read.  I look forward to trying them out soon.

Linda

If you don't mind American crime thrillers, (not to everyone's taste, I know), I think the the "Harry Bosch" series by Michael Connelly is worth trying. I read the first few books in the series some years ago, in paperback, (from the second hand shop), then when I was given a eReader as a present, I downloaded the other books  in the series from Kindle and have started reading them in order. Good characterisation all round, with a very interesting main character and the backgrounds so well described you can imagine yourself being there.

Im also reading all the usual suspects here, Patricia Cornwell is (was) a favourite and Kathy Reichs has a similar background professionally, and her character approach to crime is as a forensic anthropologist.
However a colleague recommended Mo Hayder a couple of months ago and I have read the first so far - Birdman. English writer with places and events you can recognise and the feel of a gritty London police investigator. Enjoyed it thoroughly, cant wait to get the next.
Another slightly odd English writer is Lee Child in this vein. He writes about an American ex military police guy called Jack Reacher who is a loner but whom trouble always seems to find. I have read three of these now and they are getting a bit 'same-y' but there are lots of them so it must get better as they are constantly on best-seller lists.

 I've tried Kathy Reich but just couldn't take to her like I did to Patricia Cornwell in the early days. I have a Lee Child book at home too - £1 from Asda, bargain! - so I need to dip into that at some point. Not heard of Mo Hayder but will certainly add them to my reading list, thanks Peter. And Linda Jeffrey Deaver is a fab author, such complex stories. Sam, Tess Gerritsen features heavily on my bookshelves Larsson's Millennium trilogy were my favourite reads of 2010 - amazing books! My trouble is I have a huge pile of books on my bedside table, just not enough time to read them. Must make more of an effort!

I must admit that I'm not a big fan of 'blood and guts' crime fiction, I like the ones that give you a puzzle to solve.  Agatha Christie has been forgotten due to many (some really terrible) TV dramatisations, but she wrote many one-off mysteries in addition to Poirot and Miss Marple. I've read all of her 80+ novels and enjoyed most of them. They are clearly influenced by the prejudices of her class and generation, but there are some darn good puzzles there and you can purchase them in ominibuses (or find them in libraries). 

More recently I've got into Susanna Gregory who has written 17 books about Matthew Bartholomew (a mediaeval doctor in the new Cambridge university solving murders that no-one cares about at a time of great ignorance); and 6 books about Thomas Chaloner (a spy working in London after the death of Cromwell, solving political murders for his master). I like the historical setting of these; she researches her material and puts a few pages at the back of the books to tell you how much of the story is true, conjecture or complete fiction.

For something wonderfully silly, Simon Brett has written eleven books in his Fethering series about two mature women who keep stumbling across corpses.  Very silly, but good fun - the titles give you a clue as to the kind of book you're getting. Simon Brett is a prolific writer, who wrote 17 books about an actor/detective called Charles Paris, but I haven't read any yet, so can't comment.  That said, I've enjoyed his writing so far and intend trying these.

Also, if you have a 'The Works' store near you, I'd strongly recommend calling in. They have a constant supply of fiction at 3 for £5 and titles change continually. (You can also order online, but there is more variety in the stores.) This is how I discovered these writers - you don't mind trying something new at that price, so it's a good way of discovering a whole range of new authors you may never have heard of. You might not see anything of interest for ages, then (if you're like me) pick up twelve books in one trip.

Another tip - some of these books are cheaper on the WH Smith site - so don't use Amazon without checking both.