The most recommended detective books

This is somewhat of an underground, little-known novel that I came across deep in the midst of a rural second-hand bookshop a few years back.

Set in 1958, the novel follows its deputy sheriff protagonist on a journey from the mid-west to Los Angeles via the famous Route 66. It has elements of noir, suspense, romance, adventure, and a good-guy vs mafia dynamic, all while tipping its hat to the American Road genre.

As a reader, you feel like you’re just another guy along for the ride, passing through state lines, watching the story unfold.  

I love this book because it’s the best fictional example I’ve ever seen of a character’s disability being eclipsed by his talent. Lincoln Rhyme is paralyzed, but his talent as a criminologist is far more important—and Deaver showcases Rhyme’s genius and passion as often as he details the difficulties of disability.

I find the book’s mystery compelling and the characters well-written, and I couldn’t get enough of the relationship between Lincoln Rhyme and Amelia Sachs. I’ve never seen a better portrayal of a partnership based solidly on mutual respect and admiration. I’m so grateful for how this story demonstrates that disability doesn’t need to stop you from making a real impact through the gifts and talents you’ve been given.

This book got a lot of well-deserved buzz when it was published in 1976, about a year after North Vietnamese tanks rolled into Saigon. It’s not hard to remember tear gas and chants of “Hell no, we won’t go.”

Thornburg captured a mood and feel of what was like out on the street, an America divided. Cutter is wounded badly in Vietnam. Bone had a loathing of self, and the novel opens with, “It was not the first time Richard Bone had shaved with a Lady Remington, nor did he expect it to be the last.” He and Cutter were odd, but somehow, they fit into the zeitgeist. If you come across it someday, read it. 

Tori Winters learns she has inherited a house in Granbury, Texas, and the timing is perfect. As a hospice nurse, she is the primary witness in a homicide. To escape the threats, she packs up and heads to Texas, where she finds a house and a family history that she never expected.

Ms. Dickason is a retired Dallas police officer who wove a little-known part of Dallas’ prohibition history into this novel. The characters and plot are believable and well-written. I am looking forward to the second book.

It is a believable storyline.

I am so in for this combination of mystery, history and intrigue set during the Cold War. I feel like this pivotal period is untapped as a setting pulsing with paranoia, propaganda, high-stakes politics, and general unease.

Young Jake stumbles into a world of espionage and must rely on his bravery and resourcefulness to navigate his newfound circumstances. I’m a sucker for a ‘things are not as they seem’ novel and this one delivers. Yelchin is a beautiful writer and the art adds to the dark, moody vibe of this book.

This story is filled with quirky characters, a beautiful backdrop, suspense, and sweet romance, perfect for a romantic comedy. Escaping an abusive fiancé, Laurel McDowell flees with her feisty feline Rufus and her few belongings to her family home in California’s Big Sur. Trouble quickly follows. Soon, she is embroiled in a money laundering conspiracy and finds herself in the cross-hairs of the Russian Mafia. Luckily, FBI forensic accountant Jake Carlson is on the case. This author has a gift for humor, and I found myself chuckling as I read. The supporting characters—Laurel’s restaurateur mother, her two artist sisters, and a high school friend—are likable to the point I wish I could take a cross-country drive to visit. 

I almost didn’t include this Newbery Medal winner book by Louis Sachar on my list of magical middle-grade books set in the real world. Is it really magical? Is it set in the real world? With a fourteen-year-old protagonist, Stanley Yelnats, is it even middle-grade?

Here’s why my love for this book won out. Sachar weaves together a quirky, complex story, just interconnected enough to qualify as “magical.” The setting, a juvenile prison camp with a sadistic warden, is “real-world” enough. And Stanley, though emotionally young for fourteen, is a kind, thoughtful kid well worth rooting for.

About halfway through reading, its darkness almost prompted me to lay this book aside. I’m so glad I didn’t. In the end, its themes of perseverance, hope, and redemption shone through.

A good book can never be too thick, and Elisabeth George's books are always nice and thick.

After just a few hundred pages it seemed like the mystery was solved, but then there was a plot turn and it was in fact not solved after all. I really couldn’t put the book down because I was so curious about what would happen on the next page.

The solution wasn’t obvious and I had many different suspicions on the way. I really like books that doesn’t just take the straight, pre-determined way to the finish line but things happen along the way and the characters have many different sides, both good and bad ones, and I think that this book really had that.

This is a new book in what I hope will become a series for John Sandford. Lettie Davenport, adopted daughter of Lucas Davenport has become a police officer. While Lucas had hoped she would change her mind about law enforcement, Lettie has embraced it. She finds herself entangled in her first case. Schooled in martial arts and the best shot in her graduating class, she is prepared for most situations. The book is fast paced and keeps you turning the pages. I finished this one well into the wee hours of the morning. I am looking to see Lettie appear in many more books.