The Mystery, Crime, and Thriller Group discussion

Hey everyone! Are there any older Myster/Crime/Thrillers you read this year? I read all of the books in Karin Slaughter's Grant County series this year. I was surprised at how progressive they were, considering many were published in the early 2000s. Overall, I really enjoyed them. What about you?

Lauren wrote: "Hey everyone! Are there any older Myster/Crime/Thrillers you read this year? I read all of the books in Karin Slaughter's Grant County series this year. I was surprised at how progressive they were..."

Books published in the early 2000s are older mysteries?
:)

I was going to say the same thing Nancy. I try to read 50 books a year and about 7-8 of them are probably from the last five years. To answer the question the best older books (at least 30 years old) I have read this year are The Big Nowhere by James Ellroy from 1988 and The Choirboys by Joseph Wambaugh from 1975. Both stone cold classics and must reads.

The oldest I have read this year is one Sherrlock Holmes from 1887, a Nero Wolfe from 1930s. Both show their age and reading either series won't be a priority. But I read a lot of Ross Macdonald books from the 50s that hold up pretty well and I will keep reading them next year.

Nancy wrote: "Lauren wrote: "Hey everyone! Are there any older Myster/Crime/Thrillers you read this year? I read all of the books in Karin Slaughter's Grant County series this year. I was surprised at how progre..."

LOL I should have added some context! Everyone talks about new books/book released this year. I mean books that haven't been released recently :)

I have rediscovered my fondness for Agatha Christie.Read five of her books in a week,wasn't bored and would like to read all her books inside a year or two.

Nancy wrote: "Lauren wrote: "Hey everyone! Are there any older Myster/Crime/Thrillers you read this year? I read all of the books in Karin Slaughter's Grant County series this year. I was surprised at how progre..."

Thanks to both Nancy and Lauren - I needed a good laugh today.

While I certainly try to be on the lookout for older mystery and thriller novels to sample, it has been pretty lean for me this year. COVID has slowed down my usually robust bookstore and library browsing. But some of the better "older" novels that stuck with me this year were...

THE SWEET FOREVER by George Pelecanos (1998), the third novel of his D.C. Quartet.

ASHES TO ASHES by Tami Hoag (1999), the first book in her Kovacs and Liska series.

NEEDFUL THINGS by Stephen King (1991), a blend of both horror and thriller, but a good read that kept my attention.

COME BACK DEAD by Terence Faherty (1997), the second novel in his long running Scott Elliott mystery series.

I’ve read a lot of older authors. In fact, I mostly read older authors for the writing, plots, and escapism, but even the most progressive of most older authors can be weak on things. Even Dickens and Wilde, who are known today for being progressive Victorians, have racism and anti semitism in their books (Fagin in Oliver is mostly referred to as “the Jew”). Most 20th century mystery writers up to a point had racism and sexism, even the female authors (as they didn’t want to “rock the boat” on gender roles). I mostly take into context when books were written, and enjoy for arts sake, although I’m very progressive. I’m more turned off by bigotry and backwards stuff in newer media, because....well...they should know better.

I would highly recommend Sue Grafon’s books. I believe all or almost all her novels were part of the Kinsey Milhone series of alphabet title books, A is for Alibi, B is for Burglar, etc. It started about 40 years ago, and she finished it before she died a few years ago. There’s much more progressive mysteries today, but as far as older, I think that’s a major turning point. Also, PD James wrote a lot of great books, including the Cordelia Gray books, about a female private eye, which actually predates Graftons books.

My personal favorite mysteries overall are the Sherlock Holmes stories, books by Raymond Chandler, Dashiell Hammett, PD James, Agatha Christie, Margery Allingham, Josephine Tey, John Buchan, Leslie Charteris, and the first two Langdon books by Dan Brown (I was extremely disappointed by the ones after that).

Jan C wrote: "Nancy wrote: "Lauren wrote: "Hey everyone! Are there any older Myster/Crime/Thrillers you read this year? I read all of the books in Karin Slaughter's Grant County series this year. I was surprised..."

Any time. I also laughed.

I don't remember where I saw it, and kicked myself for not bookmarking it to share because it was so eye catching, but I read someone's review of a book who said as part of it that he tried reading books written in the 20th century, and just didn't like them. I think I spewed coffee laughing so hard.

Lauren, my middle name should be "older mystery/crime/thrillers." I've enjoyed many in my time, ranging from the 18th century onwards (although not progressive). Throughout 2021 I'll be reading as many books from this list as I can find, mixing in more current reads along the way:

http://www.borgesdebioycasares.com.ar...

I still love the classics
Christie is my girl.