Agatha Christie Lovers discussion

Are there author(s)who write as good as Christie with more mystery content and less emotions and romance?Can anyone plz suggest good crime novels.
Thanks.

You might try Ngaio Marsh, who wrote around the same time period as Christie. Also, Josephine Tey is fantastic. Her most popular book is The Daughter of Time.
I also like Rex Stout and his sleuth, Nero Wolfe.

Maybe Ian Rankin with the John Rebus stories, or Henning Mankell, with the Wallander series. There is definitely no much romance in them!!

Reginald Hill
His Pasco/Dalziel series is quite good.
The early Lord Peter Wimsey books are another series that you might enjoy by Dorothy Sayers

jennifer wrote: "You might try Ngaio Marsh, who wrote around the same time period as Christie. Also, Josephine Tey is fantastic. Her most popular book is The Daughter of Time.
I also like Rex Stout and his sleuth, ..."

I second Ngaio Marsh and Josephine Tey. Also Dorothy L. Sayers is really good too.

Uhh maybe try James Patterson. He did a whole bunch bunch of mysteries.

How about Dorothy Simpson's Inspector Thanet mysteries.

I might also suggest the Peter Diamond series by Peter Lovesey. They are intricate and well done.

what about Elizabeth George and P.D. James? I love to read their mysteries..

Have you read the Sherlock Holmes stories? They were written a long time ago, but aimed towards the science of deduction. The author is Arthur Conan Doyle. You can get all of the books in the public domain, so if you have a Kindle or something similar it is a free download :D

I agree with everything everyone has said except for E. George... she's a bit rough for me. I don't like children involvment in murders and the ones I've read put them in the center... maybe its just the choices I've made in her books. Ngaio Marsh is definately a great Agatha replacement but she didnt write as much. I just bought a collection of Miss Marple Short Stories... I found some I had never read and I thought I'd read them all. Would someone give a synopsis of Sittaford (?) so I can tell if I read it and just don't remember the story? I couldn't find it yesterday at B&N and don't want to continue my search if I have already read it. And just a side note... I write a good mystery myself. Check it out on my blog (lorainescott.blogspot.com) or here in goodreads under my name.

Sittaford starts with a seance, where the murder is spelled out by the table (the table raps out each letter, 1 rap for A, 2 for B, etc.). The murdered man's friend trudges over there, through a blizzard, to discover him dead from a blow to the head. A police detective investigates, as well as a newspaper reporter, teamed up with the fiance of the prime suspect. Everyone has a motive for killing the guy -- plenty of red herrings.

Loraine wrote: "I agree with everything everyone has said except for E. George... she's a bit rough for me. I don't like children involvment in murders and the ones I've read put them in the center... maybe its ju..."

Agreed, there is nothing cozy about Elizabeth George mysteries - many a time, these are stark and scary. Still, I love her books - I keenly follow her police detective Barbara

Veronica wrote: "Are there author(s)who write as good as Christie with more mystery content and less emotions and romance?Can anyone plz suggest good crime novels.
Thanks."

there is some series on a couple of middle aged sisters (or cousins, rather) who go on solving crimes, I love to read those. I forgot the author.

Hi, try Francis Durbridge, my personal favourite is the Tyler Mystery.
Also I have heard that James Anderson is a but like Agatha Christie.
Hope this helps :-)

Thanks for the synopsis on Sittaford. It sounds familiar so I won't track it down. Also, appreciate the suggestions on other writers. Haven't heard of some.

You are most welcome. If you like, check the discussion of Sittaford. It does contain spoilers, however.

Patricia Wentworth is another one I forgot to mention.

Our beloved Agatha, is mentioned many times during this discussion on 'First Tuesday Book Club'

Some fantastic writers and critics discussing 'crime' and sharing their MUST-READS...

http://www.abc.net.au/tv/firsttuesday...

I can suggest my favourites Patricia Cornwells Scarpetta Series and Henning Mankells Wallander Series and Donna Leon's Commissario Brunetti. The first two write at times about really gruesome crimes but if you are not scared about that just go for it. All three are great writers.

Thanks for the link Melissa - I was upset at first thinking there was this great US show that I'd never heard about. Whew, it's from Australia. I'll watch the link!

Hello People,
i just got the latest translation of the Inspector Salvo Montalbano stories by Andrea Camilleri 'The Potters Field' - I really enjoy his books. They can be fun and not gruesome, but more realistic than Donna Leon. There is also a TV series from Italy with subtitles, which is just great:)