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Thread: Mysteries

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    Sometimes old is better, Ive read all the Rex Stout Nero Wolfs series and Mickey Spillanes Mike Hammer and other old Mystery series books.

    Some of the new however are better because of the more recent setting. Nero Wolf series starts in the 1920s it doesnt make the books any less entertaining
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    Quote Originally Posted by Common View Post
    Sometimes old is better, Ive read all the Rex Stout Nero Wolfs series and Mickey Spillanes Mike Hammer and other old Mystery series books.

    Some of the new however are better because of the more recent setting. Nero Wolf series starts in the 1920s it doesnt make the books any less entertaining
    I should go back and re-read Spillane. Check out the Hammer books by Max Allan Collins. Collins collaborated with Mickey on some things before the latter passed away, and some of the Hammer books are actually things that Collins completed from fragments that Spillane left, and others are completely his, but perfectly Spillane-esque. Before he died, Mickey told his wife to "Give it all to Max...he'll know what to do with it". I recently read one of the posthumous collaborations, 'Lady, Go Die!', and it was amazing - Mickey would have loved it!
    Civilized men are more discourteous than savages because they know they can be impolite without having their skulls split, as a general thing.” - Robert E. Howard

    "Only a rank degenerate would drive 1,500 miles across Texas and not eat a chicken fried steak." - Larry McMurtry

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    Quote Originally Posted by Standing Wolf View Post
    I should go back and re-read Spillane. Check out the Hammer books by Max Allan Collins. Collins collaborated with Mickey on some things before the latter passed away, and some of the Hammer books are actually things that Collins completed from fragments that Spillane left, and others are completely his, but perfectly Spillane-esque. Before he died, Mickey told his wife to "Give it all to Max...he'll know what to do with it". I recently read one of the posthumous collaborations, 'Lady, Go Die!', and it was amazing - Mickey would have loved it!
    You may really enjoy Rex Stouts Nero Wolf, to give a quick synopsis, Nero Wolf is an obese eccentric genius, who charges HUGE fees and rarely leaves the house. He has full time live in Leg man who is the real star and a chef and horticulturist to tend to his 10,000 orchids.

    He solves intricate mysteries sitting in his oversized chair based on information given to him by his man friday

    Try the first novel its a quick read, for me they got addictive and I read All of them.
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    Quote Originally Posted by Common View Post
    You may really enjoy Rex Stouts Nero Wolf, to give a quick synopsis, Nero Wolf is an obese eccentric genius, who charges HUGE fees and rarely leaves the house. He has full time live in Leg man who is the real star and a chef and horticulturist to tend to his 10,000 orchids.

    He solves intricate mysteries sitting in his oversized chair based on information given to him by his man friday

    Try the first novel its a quick read, for me they got addictive and I read All of them.
    It may have been in another thread - but I mentioned that I actually did try to read the first Nero Wolfe, 'Fer-de-lance', and couldn't really get into it. I may try another some time - maybe one of the later books.

    One author who was active even earlier than Rex Stout, but whose work really holds up in terms of style and pacing is Sax Rohmer (actually Arthur Henry Sarsfield Ward, and yes I had to look that up), who created and wrote about the original "yellow peril", the insidious Dr. Fu Manchu. The first book in the series was published in 1913. Absolutely first-rate adventure-suspense writing. Racist as all Hell, so it's necessary to sort of filter that out, but great story-telling.
    Civilized men are more discourteous than savages because they know they can be impolite without having their skulls split, as a general thing.” - Robert E. Howard

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    Quote Originally Posted by Standing Wolf View Post
    It may have been in another thread - but I mentioned that I actually did try to read the first Nero Wolfe, 'Fer-de-lance', and couldn't really get into it. I may try another some time - maybe one of the later books.

    One author who was active even earlier than Rex Stout, but whose work really holds up in terms of style and pacing is Sax Rohmer (actually Arthur Henry Sarsfield Ward, and yes I had to look that up), who created and wrote about the original "yellow peril", the insidious Dr. Fu Manchu. The first book in the series was published in 1913. Absolutely first-rate adventure-suspense writing. Racist as all Hell, so it's necessary to sort of filter that out, but great story-telling.
    I will look for that book, I remember Fu Manchu stories, actually I had his mustache when it was envogue

    I love books that have different plots 2 or 3 all in different directions with different characters that all meld together near the end. Im reading James Rollins series now and he really grasps your attention, its like reading 3 books at once and they all come together seamlessly. Im on the 4th in the series.

    I finished Barry Eislers rain series, rain is a half japanese/half american american govt hit man

    I am fortunate that my very limited education taught me to read well before I left the 8th grade. I am a voracious reader
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    I read all the Sherlock Holmes by Arthur Conan Doyle and Dracula by Bram Stoker, all those books where you dont learn nothing but still keep you engrossed.

    Have you read any John Grishams books ? The firm was one of his best I thought
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    Quote Originally Posted by Standing Wolf View Post
    You mean Lew Archer, of course. 'The Underground Man' is my favorite of his.

    Speaking of favorites, check out Jeffrey Deaver's 'Garden of Beasts' some time. (Not to be confused with 'In the Garden of Beasts' by Erik Larson.) Unforgettable, and with a twist near the end that you will not see coming. JD told me that it's the book he's most proud of, and he's written about forty.
    That wouldn't happen to be the same Erik Larson of comic book fame, would it?
    "For all sad words of tongue and pen, The saddest are these, 'It might have been'." John Greenleaf Whittier

    "Our minds control our bodies. Our bodies control our enemies. Our enemies control jack shit by the time we're done with them." Stick

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    Quote Originally Posted by Standing Wolf View Post
    It may have been in another thread - but I mentioned that I actually did try to read the first Nero Wolfe, 'Fer-de-lance', and couldn't really get into it. I may try another some time - maybe one of the later books.

    One author who was active even earlier than Rex Stout, but whose work really holds up in terms of style and pacing is Sax Rohmer (actually Arthur Henry Sarsfield Ward, and yes I had to look that up), who created and wrote about the original "yellow peril", the insidious Dr. Fu Manchu. The first book in the series was published in 1913. Absolutely first-rate adventure-suspense writing. Racist as all Hell, so it's necessary to sort of filter that out, but great story-telling.
    Try this book SW, The death of the detective by Mark Smith, first published in 1974 I read it back in the 70s. If you like Murder Mysteries you will like this one

    Description

    Mark Smith’s Literary Masterpiece of Crime Fiction.
    A National Book Award Finalist
    The blockbuster New York Times bestseller.

    “Remarkable for both its ambition and its accomplishment, it reads as though it were written by a resurrected Charles Dickens, one chilled by a hundred years of graveyard brooding…every page is a pleasure to read,” New York Times

    A killer calling himself The Deathmaker is on the loose, pursued by Arnold Magnuson, a grief-stricken detective on the verge of a mental breakdown. Magnuson’s dogged investigation to find the killer, and himself, takes him deep into urban Chicago, laying bare the corrupt city and its seething soul in all its macabre, heartbreaking, and violent complexity. It’s a sprawling, utterly compelling story, widely regarded as a stunning literary achievement and perhaps the best detective novel ever written.

    “A masterpiece . . . raises Dickens’ benign ghost to remind us again that we're all connected, all both innocent and guilty,” Kirkus Reviews

    “A brilliant and arresting novel which so far transcends the detective genre that inspired it as to stand in a category of its own,” Arkansas Gazette

    “In its sustained vitality, power and scale, it is unlike any other fiction I have read....A complex and unforgettable novel,” The Times (London)
    LETS GO BRANDON
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    Quote Originally Posted by Hal Jordan View Post
    That wouldn't happen to be the same Erik Larson of comic book fame, would it?
    No, not the Savage Dragon artist. This other EL is a non-fiction author who wrote 'The Devil in the White City', about H.H. Holmes (no relation to Sherlock), the famous serial killer who built and operated a literal death house during the 1893 Chicago Expo, among other books. I haven't read his 'Garden of Beasts' book - I just mentioned it as not being the one by Jeffrey Deaver that I was recommending.
    Civilized men are more discourteous than savages because they know they can be impolite without having their skulls split, as a general thing.” - Robert E. Howard

    "Only a rank degenerate would drive 1,500 miles across Texas and not eat a chicken fried steak." - Larry McMurtry

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    Quote Originally Posted by Common View Post
    I love books that have different plots 2 or 3 all in different directions with different characters that all meld together near the end
    'Nightbloom' by Herbert Lieberman. Also his 'City of the Dead'.

    I've recently discovered an author who - and he did a signing here a couple of weeks ago, and I was able to talk to him about this - is practically unique, in my experience, even among really good authors, in that he never uses stereotyped characters and his plots are never predictable. His name is C.J. Box. He is best known for writing the Joe Pickett series, about a Wyoming game warden, but he has written some great stand-alones (like 'Blue Heaven', which won the Edgar Award) and a four-book, loosely-connected storyline called the Highway Quartet. As an example, I was reading one of Box's books a few years ago, and exactly halfway through the character whom I had assumed was the protagonist and main character gets himself shot in the head and killed. I had to go back and re-read that page again to make sure I didn't mis-read it. He keeps you on your toes and guessing - that's for sure.
    Civilized men are more discourteous than savages because they know they can be impolite without having their skulls split, as a general thing.” - Robert E. Howard

    "Only a rank degenerate would drive 1,500 miles across Texas and not eat a chicken fried steak." - Larry McMurtry

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