Mystery Lovers! discussion

A neighbor of mine has never read a book to completion. He dropped this bomb on me during a dinner at my house. At that point I was confronted with two choices, kick him to the street, or throw some titles his way and take on the task of converting him.

Seeing how I have to live next to the guy, I decided to suit up and take on mission convert an idiot.

What titles would you reccomend if this happened to you? Mysteries of course.

I gave him a couple easy reads:
Charlie Huston- Caught Stealing
Robert Crais - LA Requiem

And a classic
James Crumley - The Last Good Kiss

How about Ross Thomas?

james patterson books are a quick easy read. that's how i got my hubby and brother to read.

I agree, James Patterson is a good start. Stuart Woods would be a good choice, too. Robert Parker might be good, his Spenser series.

And a classic
James Crumley - The Last Good Kiss"

As an old neighbor of Crumley's ...it is a good suggestion ....great "guy" book. Wish Crumley was still around.

I agree about James PAtterson. His books are full of suspense and are very quick reads. They wouldn't make it boring or take too much time to read.

If he can't finish any of these then I'd say kick him to the street-
The Firm- John Grisham
The Pelican Brief- John Grisham
Tell No One- Harlan Coben

Go with the best, Doyle's Sherlock Holmes. Start him with the short stories, they're easier to read.

Chris wrote: "A neighbor of mine has never read a book to completion. He dropped this bomb on me during a dinner at my house. At that point I was confronted with two choices, kick him to the street, or throw som..."

Child 44. Also, Steig Larsson's books if you think he has patience (they start a bit slow). The September Society is a great cozy mystery.

If he's into masculine, Hillerman's "cozy" type novels are good to read. They're Westerns and short enough too. I also like James Doss,who also does Westerns. but with a more comic edge.

I'm in the process of doing a library tour where I teach parents how to get nonreading adult children interested in books. When my Rock & Roll Mystery Series launched in 2008, a national paper did an article on how an analysis of an ad campaign my publisher did on MySpace showed that half of the buyers were self-proclaimed non-readers. Several made statements like, "I hate books," and "I don't read," in the Books section of thier profiles.
RJ McDonnell
www.rjmcdonnell.com