# Crime novel recommendations please



## markedwards (Jan 20, 2011)

I need someone to recommend me a brilliant crime novel that costs less than £5 ($ - I love Michael Connelly, Jason Starr, George Pelecanos, Val McDermid... I like stuff that's hard-boiled but not featuring a wise-cracking PI. I like things to be gritty and dark and they need to be well-written (not trashy like James Patterson). My favourite ever novel is The Secret History so always love books of that ilk.

Any recommendations? 

Thanks


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## bluetiger1941 (Mar 20, 2011)

My favorite detective stories are the James Lee Burke series set in Louisiana. For example:


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## JFHilborne (Jan 22, 2011)

I enjoyed The Innocent by Vincent Zandri


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## Ruth Harris (Dec 26, 2010)

Robert Crais does superior work.  Demolition Angel (among others) really delivers.


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## sully5live (Jun 9, 2010)

Try this: "The Hanging Shed" by Gordon Ferris

Product Description
Glasgow, 1946: The last time Douglas Brodie came home it was 1942 and he was a dashing young warrior in a kilt. Now, the war is over but victory's wine has soured and Brodie's back in Scotland to try and save childhood friend Hugh Donovan from the gallows. Everyone thought Donovan was dead, shot down in the war. Perhaps it would have been kinder if he had been killed. The man who returned was unrecognizable: mutilated, horribly burned. Donovan keeps his own company, only venturing out for heroin to deaden the pain of his wounds. When a local boy is found raped and murdered, there is only one suspect... Donovan claims he's innocent but a mountain of evidence says otherwise. Despite the hideousness of the crime, ex-policeman Brodie feels compelled to try and help his one-time friend. Working with Donovan's advocate Samantha Campbell, Brodie trawls both the mean streets of the Gorbals and the green hills of western Scotland in their search for the truth. What they find is an unholy alliance of church, police and Glasgow's deadliest razor gang, happy to slaughter to protect their dark secrets. As time runs out for the condemned man, and the tally of murdered innocents rises, Brodie reverts to his wartime role as a trained killer. It's them or him&#8230;

http://www.amazon.com/The-Hanging-Shed-ebook/dp/B004G5YVT6/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&m=A317O7WZ1CN6AQ&s=digital-text&qid=1302383688&sr=1-1


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## Iain Rowan (Mar 5, 2011)

Mark, The Secret History's just about my favourite novel, too. Wonderful book. Did you like The Little Friend?

Have you read Tana French? Her first novel, In The Woods, is very good, but you might find her second novel, The Likeness...interesting. Don't get me wrong, it's a good read, but as you read it, you start to wonder if The Secret History is maybe her favourite book too. Not in the sense of plagiarised at all, but the feel of the setting, the close group of characters...is maybe just a little too reminiscent. Under a fiver for Kindle, and quite dark, and definitely well-written.

Daniel Woodrell's an excellent writer: would start with The Death Of Sweet Mister or Winter's Bone, but checking Amazon you'd have to turn to paper for those, sadly. If you get on with very (very) stylised prose, then David Peace's Red Riding Quarter is unlike most other crime fiction, and will also give you as much dark and gritty as you could possibly want - the UK equivalent of James Ellroy. Not easy reading, but worth it, and stays in your mind after, and that _is_ on Kindle.

Or, for something completely different, crime but also...something stranger: China Mieville's The City and The City.


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## SebastianDark (Apr 3, 2011)

Two recommendations.. one is a short story, the other.. well, it's a _new_ story:

---

*Barry Eisler's THE LOST COAST:*

Amazon link here

A description:
It's a great read - a quick story and a fantastic ending. Good development, better than you'd expect for such a short piece of fiction.


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## Jon Olson (Dec 10, 2010)

I''m another Secret History fan, though Little Friend, not so much. If that's your favorite book, though, Mark, I don't think "crime novel" is quite right, somehow -- maybe not enough. Secret History takes in multitudes, as they say. Maybe you'd like Richard Price, like Clockers, or something, as it's crime, sure, but a whole subculture.


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## Daphne (May 27, 2010)

sully5live said:


> Try this: "The Hanging Shed" by Gordon Ferris


I can endorse this recommendation as I am currently three quarters of the way through the book and _really_ enjoying it. The book is top of the UK bestselling Kindle books list at the moment, so I'm not alone.


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## markedwards (Jan 20, 2011)

Thanks everyone. I have quite a few of the other books mentioned here - The Hanging Shed (I enjoyed but got a bit bored towards the end), I've also got In The Woods and have tried James Lee Burke, China Mieville and Robert Crais. None of them really did it for me.

Winter's Bone looks really good - it's a movie now, isn't it? 

I thought The Little Friend was very funny but only about a tenth as good as The Secret History which I re-read every year. When I started writing I had to try to stop myself from just copying it because I loved it so much. I wish Donna Tartt would hurry up and finish her third novel!


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## Ruth Harris (Dec 26, 2010)

Winter's Bone...I haven't read the book yet but the movie was my favorite film of 2010.  Harsh, authentic & moving.


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## Will Write for Gruel (Oct 16, 2010)

Crime fiction? I'd recommend Elmore Leonard. Freaky Deaky, Killshot, Get Shorty, Stick, and many others. He wrote a lot of good westerns too, such as 3:10 to Yuma and Hombre.


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## Harry Shannon (Jul 30, 2010)

Winter's Bone. Anything by James Lee Burke. Try UK author Mo Hayder, very dark and riveting (just skip Pig Island). Ever try Dave Zeltserman, sexy Vicki Hendricks and the other members of Top Suspense Group? Hey, or for whacky and wild Joe R. Lansdale? If not, you should.


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## Carolyn J. Rose Mystery Writer (Aug 10, 2010)

Have you tried any of Loren Estleman's Amos Walker books? Amos is a private eye based in Detroit. Excellent writing.


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## djledford (Oct 21, 2009)

I highly recommend Gregg Hurwitz. His books are smart, suspenseful, always a wild ride. My favorites are TRUST NO ONE and THEY'RE WATCHING


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## markedwards (Jan 20, 2011)

Harry, I absolutely love Mo Hayder. The Treatment (scariest book ever) is set in the part of London where I live.


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## fancynancy (Aug 9, 2009)

What you describe sounds like Ian Rankin to a tee.  Really good writer, the stories are on the dark side, and Inspector Rebus is real, gritty and down-to-earth.


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## typo (Jul 30, 2010)

"The Straw Men" is a great read:


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## hsuthard (Jan 6, 2010)

Sara Paretsky (V.I. Warshawski series) comes immediately to mind, as does Lawrence Block (Bernie Rhodenbarr is more humorous and Matthew Scudder is more hard-boiled). I love both of their works.


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## DYB (Aug 8, 2009)

I'll second a recommendation for David Peace's "Red Riding Quartet." (The books are _1974, 1977, 1980, 1983.)_ At the moment they're expensive, so keep an eye out for the price to drop.



There's also Thomas Harris. At the moment "Red Dragon" is $9.99 (the first to feature Hannibal Lecter, and arguably the best novel of the series; it'll scare the bejeezus out of you!), but "The Silence of the Lambs" and "Hannibal" are $7.99. And so is the unrelated "Black Sunday" (terrorists try to blow up the Superbowl.)


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## trip (Dec 27, 2010)

Check out anything by John Lutz...crazy good


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## grahampowell (Feb 10, 2011)

If you're interested in something a bit more literary, I'd suggest Derek Raymond and Ken Bruen.  If not, then Anthony Neil Smith and Victor Gischler.


Graham


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## LaRita (Oct 28, 2008)

I didn't see Carol O'Connell's Kathleen Mallory series mentioned.  Very well written and might meet your criteria for noir.  Also, most of the series is priced at $7.99.


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## victoriaallman (Mar 25, 2011)

I just finished a fabulously fast-paced, well-written series set in Paris. The Amiee Leduc novels have just jumped to the top of my favorite crime series.

http://www.amazon.com/Murder-Marais-Aim%C3%A9e-Leduc-Investigation/dp/1569479992/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1309210843&sr=8-1-spell

From Publishers Weekly
The initial installment of a projected series of mysteries set in Paris, this standout first novel introduces dauntless private investigator Aim?e Leduc. The French-American, whose specialty is computer forensics, is confronted with a seemingly mundane task: to decipher an encrypted photograph from the '40s and deliver it to an old woman in the Marais (the historic Jewish quarter of Paris). When Aim?e arrives at the home of Lili Stein to present the photo, however, she finds the woman dead, a swastika carved into her forehead. Thus begins a thrilling, quick-paced chase involving neo-Nazis, corrupt government officials and fierce anti-Semitism. With the help of her partner, Ren?, a computer hacking expert, Aim?e uncovers tantalizing clues relating to German war veteran Hartmuth Griffe, the Jewish girl he saved from Auschwitz, a French trade minister and other enigmatic figures. But the data Aim?e and Ren? come up with only takes them so far. In order to understand the true motive behind the killing, Aim?e must delve into history, confronting older residents of the quarterAwho'd prefer she leave the past aloneAand doing some undercover work. The suspense is high as she fraternizes dangerously with the enemy, even becoming briefly involved with an Aryan supremacist. Black knows Paris well, and in her first-rate debut she deftly combines fascinating anecdotes from the city's war years with classic images of the City of Lights. (July) 
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.


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## Ty Johnston (Jun 19, 2009)

Anything by Ed McBain, but my personal favorites were his 87th Precinct series of police procedurals. There were about 50 or so novels altogether, most fairly short, running the years from the very early 1960s through about 2005 (when the author passed away).

The earlier books have a somewhat hard-boiled edge to them, but this softened somewhat over the last few decades.


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## tim290280 (Jan 11, 2011)

I'd echo the James Lee Burke recommendation for you. Ian Rankin is probably another good choice, but I didn't particularly like his last Rebus novel, so might want to start at the begining of the series.


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## Harry Shannon (Jul 30, 2010)

Mark, if you like Mo Hayder (who gets quite violent and dark) check out South African author Roger Smith, WAKE UP DEAD, DUST DEVILS. His stuff is rocket-fast noir, beautifully written. You'll love it.


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## CNDudley (May 14, 2010)

Jon Olson said:


> I''m another Secret History fan, though Little Friend, not so much. If that's your favorite book, though, Mark, I don't think "crime novel" is quite right, somehow -- maybe not enough. Secret History takes in multitudes, as they say. Maybe you'd like Richard Price, like Clockers, or something, as it's crime, sure, but a whole subculture.


Minor thread hijack--Wish we could sit down and have a Secret History book club. I think I didn't get it. What was with Bacchus in the forest? I really tore through The Little Friend and would rank that one higher.

Back on topic, I'm an In Cold Blood fan, although I see it's $9.99 on Kindle...


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## Tony Rabig (Oct 11, 2010)

It's priced at 9.99, I'm afraid, but try THE FRIENDS OF EDDIE COYLE, by George V. Higgins.


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## RJMcDonnell (Jan 29, 2011)

Two novels by Darcia Helle are right on target with what you are seeking: "No Justice" and "Beyond Salvation."


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## G. Henkel (Jan 12, 2010)

If I'm not too late to the party, I'd like to throw in Shaun Jeffrey's *The Kult *in the mix. It's an awesome read and a pretty intense book. One of my favorites of last year.


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## Lursa (aka 9MMare) (Jun 23, 2011)

DYB said:


> There's also Thomas Harris. At the moment "Red Dragon" is $9.99 (the first to feature Hannibal Lecter, and arguably the best novel of the series; it'll scare the bejeezus out of you!), but "The Silence of the Lambs" and "Hannibal" are $7.99. And so is the unrelated "Black Sunday" (terrorists try to blow up the Superbowl.)


Good call. I wish he had more out there.....


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## JETaylor (Jan 25, 2011)

If you're looking for a gritty dark crime novel - give Vengeance a try.


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## Lursa (aka 9MMare) (Jun 23, 2011)

As I am new to ebooks and indie authors, I'm afraid I dont have any such authors to recommend. And looking at the description of The Secret History, the crime novels I read are pretty different. (I like suspense and lots of forensic evidence....SH looks like it may have the suspense?)

However for more mainstream, I would recommend:

--Ridley Pearson, the Lou Boldt series esp.
--Kathy Reichs (TV series Bones is based on her character.....books are much better)
--Nevada Barr, an ex-park ranger writing excellent unvarnished crime fiction set (mostly) in our national parks
--Jeffrey Deaver. Wrote Bonecrack (turned in to movie) and has main character as a quadrapalegic. New character on West Coast is a woman who specializes in reading people during interrogations. I like her alot.

Ridley Pearson set many stories in Seattle. The first book I read, Undercurrents, took place a few blocks from my house, and used the QuickStop where I shopped, the park where I walked my dogs....etc. Scared the crud out of me!  The Lou Boldt books did wind down IMO tho, when they became too oriented around Lou's home life. But Ridley has moved on to stories set in Sun Valley...they're pretty good.


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## Julia444 (Feb 24, 2011)

You didn't mention whether you've read (or liked) the Stieg Larsson books, but my son and I just read one of Jo Nesbo's crime novels (THE REDBREAST), and it has the same sort of cold and lonely setting (but Norway instead of Sweden).  While we're on the subject of Swedish crime, Henning Mankell's novels are good, and the one that got me hooked on him was FACELESS KILLERS.

Also, I like the novels of Peter Robinson and Jill McGown--both British and both terrific.  Not quite as dark, but certainly not sassy heroes or funny stories.

Julia


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## scl (Feb 19, 2011)

How about Steam Pig: A Lieutenant Kramer and Detective Sergeant Mickey Zondi Investigation I read it a while back and it was an interesting and different sort of crime novel based in South Africa.


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## Chris Culver (Jan 28, 2011)

I like crime novels quite a bit, and the grittier the better. If you haven't read any of Lawrence Block's Matthew Scudder series, they're worth picking up. Scudder is a great character who develops over the entire series. Well worth reading.

You might also consider Charlie Huston's Hank Thompson trilogy. They kindle editions are over your $8 budget, but they're also worth reading.


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## Casper Parks (May 1, 2011)

Just about anything by John Sandford. He recently started a new series, so won't take much to catch up on. The cop is named, Virgil Flowers. You can find more info at his website.

http://www.johnsandford.org/


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## DYB (Aug 8, 2009)

C. Culver said:


> I like crime novels quite a bit, and the grittier the better. If you haven't read any of Lawrence Block's Matthew Scudder series, they're worth picking up. Scudder is a great character who develops over the entire series. Well worth reading.
> 
> You might also consider Charlie Huston's Hank Thompson trilogy. They kindle editions are over your $8 budget, but they're also worth reading.


I loved Huston's _Hank Thompson Trilogy._


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## Garrard Hayes (Aug 30, 2013)

Hi Mark,
You can't go wrong with any Ken Bruen Novel. Irish crime fiction became my candy of choice. Try London Boulevard, American Skin, Tower or the Jack Taylor series which starts with The Guards.
Cheers,
Garrard


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## Garrard Hayes (Aug 30, 2013)

You also can't go wrong with anything by James Lee Burke or Dennis Lehane.


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## JETaylor (Jan 25, 2011)

Great series by Cat Connor:

     

I think that's in the right order...


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## johnlmonk (Jul 24, 2013)

Ok, I know you asked for a novel, but what about a biography that's so good it reads like a novel and you get the same thrill? Try this, about America's most famous/awesome cat burglar:

Confessions of a Master Jewel Thief
http://amzn.com/0375760717


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## LDB (Oct 28, 2008)

+1 Ed McBain, Cop Hater which started it all is a good place to start.
+1 Robert Crais, especially if Joe Pike plays a significant part.


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## Gone 9/21/18 (Dec 11, 2008)

If you like outdoorsy stuff, try C.J. Box's series featuring Game Warden Joe Pickett, especially the earliest books in the series like _Savage Run_.


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## jdcore (Jul 2, 2013)

Ty Johnston said:


> Anything by Ed McBain, but my personal favorites were his 87th Precinct series of police procedurals. There were about 50 or so novels altogether, most fairly short, running the years from the very early 1960s through about 2005 (when the author passed away).
> 
> The earlier books have a somewhat hard-boiled edge to them, but this softened somewhat over the last few decades.


I second the Ed McBane.


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## Thomas Pluck (Nov 10, 2011)

I'll second Tana French and James Lee Burke, both stunning writers and influences on my own.

I just finished Started Early, Took My Dog by Kate Atkinson; if you like Val McDermid, give her a try. But begin with the first, Case Histories.
She paints characters in great detail with only a few strokes. Truly masterful, realistic storylines, gritty as all hell without falling into common tropes and storylines.

Reed Farrel Coleman's novels are similar, set in New York. For New York crime you can't go wrong with Lawrence Block, either. The Matt Scudder mysteries are some of the best novels written about the city.

For Edinburgh crime I like Tony Black, though his DI Gus Dury is very funny. He has to be, he uncovers worlds of pain in that dirty old town...


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## Redbloon (Mar 27, 2013)

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson is currently $4.99.


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## CraigInOregon (Aug 6, 2010)

markedwards said:


> I need someone to recommend me a brilliant crime novel that costs less than £5 ($ - I love Michael Connelly, Jason Starr, George Pelecanos, Val McDermid... I like stuff that's hard-boiled but not featuring a wise-cracking PI. I like things to be gritty and dark and they need to be well-written (not trashy like James Patterson). My favourite ever novel is The Secret History so always love books of that ilk.
> 
> Any recommendations?
> 
> Thanks


I thoroughly enjoy Blake Crouch. His three-story (so far) Letty Dobesh series is quite engaging. It begins with THE PAIN OF OTHERS, continues in SUNSET KEY, and the most recent is GRAB.

I have not read his Luther Kite books, yet, so I can only speak to the Letty Dobesh series. But generally, once I trust a writer, I find that most of their stuff, I end up enjoying.

Looking over other people's responses, I'm not sure I define CRIME novel the same way many people do here.

To me, mystery/detective novels are a different beast than crime novels, in that in mystery/detective novels, the focus is often on the detective. To me, crime novels are about the damaged people we know are criminals, but that somehow we end up kinda rooting for, even when they're committing a crime. It's a difference of perspective, perhaps, but an important one. To me, at least.

So, a lot of the names like Ed McBain and Robert B. Parker and Steigg Larsen (a trendy choice, but I hated his prose), are perhaps not quite on-target, methinks. Quality writers, all.... (well, for me, maybe not in the case of Larsen, but I digress...) ...but not CRIME writers, per se.

(Though Elmore Leonard definitely is a crime novelist.)

I agree that Lawrence Block, though a more veteran writer these days, is a solid choice. Matt Scudder is more of a detective fiction series for him, but his Bernie Rhodenbarr series is great if you can rid your mind of the idiotic Whoppi Goldberg movie, BURGLAR.

Also, he has a series focused on a hit-man named Keller. (Starting with HIT MAN.) It's pretty good, too.

And finally, I simply HAVE to mention a name no one's brought up yet, a classic guy who's been writing since the 70s and is still around and active thanks in part to both HARD CASE CRIME and to Amazon's THOMAS & MERCER.

MAX ALLAN COLLINS

Now, some people don't respect him because he takes a lot of work that most authors would turn down. Like novelizations of movies and add-on books to TV series. (CSI, Bones, etc.) He was also the author of the DICK TRACY comic strip for many years, and has worked in comic books, too.

Whatever you think of that, though (and he thinks of it as work that helps pay his bills), Collins is an excellent crime and detective novelist with many years of experience.

The first series I tried by Collins is more along the detective side: His Nathan Heller series of historically-based crime novels have been expertly researched and yet remain engaging. The initial trilogy (TRUE DETECTIVE, TRUE CRIME, and THE MILLION-DOLLAR WOUND) paint a compelling portrait of Frank Nitti, the "business man" who took over the Chicago mob once Capone was in prison. The series has continued sporadically over the years, landing at Thomas & Mercer shortly after they launched.

High-water marks for the Heller series include STOLEN AWAY, which covers the Lindberg kidnapping; FLYING BLIND, about the Amelia Earhart disappearance; ANGEL IN BLACK about the Black Dahlia case; and his two most recent, TARGET LANCER and ASK NOT, about the Kennedy assassination.

Other great series by Collins, that are more crime-oriented:

The Mallory series is about an Iowa mystery writer who solves crimes.

The Nolan series, about a professional thief. (SPREE is a great installment; Nolan tries to take down an entire mall.)

My personal favorite series, Quarry, about a professional hitman, which continues thanks to Hard Case Crime talking Max into bringing it back to life a few years back. The latest in that one, THE WRONG QUARRY, is due in January 2014.

And he also did the comic book and novel that Tom Hanks turned into a movie, ROAD TO PERDITION.

He even has something he calls "The Disaster Series," which centers around big national/global disasters, and murders that occurred in the midst of them, using the disasters as a cover. More of his clever historical stuff that he was writing when he'd stepped away from the Heller series for a decade or so.

Disasters he covers include Titanic, Lusitania, Hindenberg, Pearl Harbor, the London Blitz, and the War of the Worlds panic.

All of Max's stuff is cool.


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## CraigInOregon (Aug 6, 2010)

Also, I personally have loved everything John Locke has done, including his westerns... but if you consider James Patterson "not up to snuff," there's no point in mentioning Locke.

Even though I find his stuff both clever and hilarious.


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## Sarah Stimson (Oct 9, 2013)

I have very similar tastes in books to the OP.  If you like Val McDermid, I thoroughly recommend anything by Peter James.


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## Tstarnes (Sep 25, 2013)

Any of the John Sandford Prey series are great.  Although is that more of a detective novel then a crime novel?


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## Clarketacular (Mar 3, 2013)

The Parker novels by Richard Stark (first one is The Hunter) are really good, very gritty, lots of action. Highly recommended. Also you can get graphic novel versions with art by Darwyn Cooke, who's AMAZING.


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## Debbie Bennett (Mar 25, 2011)

Paul Finch Stalkers. Love it. And the follow-on.


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