'Classic' Detective Stories you have enjoyed.

[vinteuil]

Sorry, I couldn't stand Dornford Yates but after so long can't remember why.

As Alan Bennett put it in Forty Years On - “Sapper, Buchan, Dornford Yates, practitioners in that school of Snobbery with Violence that runs like a thread of good-class tweed through twentieth-century literature.”

[aeolium]

As Alan Bennett put it in Forty Years On - “Sapper, Buchan, Dornford Yates, practitioners in that school of Snobbery with Violence that runs like a thread of good-class tweed through twentieth-century literature.”

I think, though I haven't read much of Sapper or Yates, that the snobbery element was much stronger in Yates than in either Sapper or Buchan - in the latter it was contempt for indolence, physical ease and weakness, which were just as likely (more likely) to be found in the monied classes and the aristocracy. Perhaps the snobbery with violence mixture was perfected by Ian Fleming, who openly admitted Sapper as an influence.

[Flosshilde]

I realise this is possibly a minority taste, but there is quite a sizeable genre of American detective and crime fiction featuring gay protagonists. The series of Brandstetter novels by Joseph Hansen are probably the best known, featuring the hero as a death claims insurance investigator. They are set in a similar California locales as Chandler or Ross McDonald, and follow the hero as he ages from book to book. Another fine writer is Michael Nava, whose hero is a lawyer taking cases that others refuse.
These are not books about gay detectives, but books about detectives who are gay, and the sexual element is secondary. They do however shine a light into secret closeted worlds and the jealousies and disloyalties that can happen in them.

Ferret, I'm a great fan of the Brandstetter novels - HBansen's style had echoes (in a good way) of Chandler. My big regret was that they weren't long enough (I usually finished them at a sitting - normally long into the night) & he didn't write enough of them!

I'm sure I've come across another gay detective, but can't bring it/him to mind at the moment. Then of course there are several lesbian detectives - I'll have to check on them as well. I've recently come across a French crime series as well, by Dominique Manotti, featuring a gay detective in the Paris police.

Like others here I'm a fan of the Dorothy Sayers books, & Ngaio Marsh, but find some of the 'social attitudes' uncomfortable; even allowing for the context of the times doesn't help, & with Marsh I feel that she certainly didn't keep up with the times in her later books; the same goes for some of our current grande dames of detective fiction.

Does anyone else here read Donna Leon's books about Commissario Brunetti in the Venice police? Good plots, usually with a sardonic comment about Italian politics, & some nice domestic detail.

[Curalach]

Does anyone else here read Donna Leon's books about Commissario Brunetti in the Venice police? Good plots, usually with a sardonic comment about Italian politics, & some nice domestic detail.

I am a huge fan and enjoy the Brunetti novels immensely. I recently got into Dibdin's Zen books after seeing the all too short lived TV series. I also enjoy the Montalbano novels of Andrea Camilleri.
Mind you, I love Italy so that helps a lot.

[Don Basilio]

Does anyone else here read Donna Leon's books about Commissario Brunetti in the Venice police? Good plots, usually with a sardonic comment about Italian politics, & some nice domestic detail.

My other half is a great Donna Leon fan - we love Italy and he loves the detailed account of Italian meals.

I mentioned Michael Dibden's Zen series earlier. We worth while, and a whole sight blacker than others mentioned here.

The other half is also a great fan of Lawrence Block's Burglar books.

[DoctorT]

What an interesting thread this is!
Last year I read for the first time 'Trent's Last Case' by E C Bentley - highly recommended as a classic.
Another book which might interest those who have contributed is 'Talking about Detective Fiction' by PD James, where she surveys (mostly) the 'golden age' of detective fiction.

Among modern authors, I rather like Susan Hill's Simon Serrailler novels, although I don't particularly warm to the main character.

[Ferretfancy]

Reading anything by PD James is like watching paint dry, does anybody agree?

[Mahlerei]

Reading anything by PD James is like watching paint dry, does anybody agree?

Oh God, yes.

[Curalach]

Again, not really "classic", but another author I have been enjoying recently is Martin O'Brien and his Inspector Jacquot novels which are set in France and have a strong sense of place.

[Flosshilde]

My other half is a great Donna Leon fan - we love Italy and he loves the detailed account of Italian meals.

Yes, the meals are a feature! La Professoressa Brunetti is, perhaps, a bit to good to be true? (mind you, perhaps I'm just a teensy bit jealous of her ) & I do wonder if even a Commissario - especially one as incorruptible as Brunetti - can afford to live in Venice.

[amateur51]

Reading anything by PD James is like watching paint dry, does anybody agree?

Oh thank goodness!

I thought it was just me - I have so many chums who rave about her, quality writing etc.

Dull as ditch-water and plots like a muesli bar - and Adam Dalgliesh and his poetry, maundering on! - sorry about that rant!

[charles t]

Haven't read every posting...Hope someone mentioned the Charles Paris ('a failed actor') novels by Simon Brett?

[salymap]

charles t. Yes a brief mention of Brett but no-one mentioned the chaotic life of Charles Paris, very funny books. Weren't they also on TV?

[Pianorak]

I quite enjoyed reading these two well-written and brilliantly plotted books by Elizabeth George: A Suitable Vengeance (an Inspector Lynley Mystery) and In Pursuit of the Proper Sinner.

[salymap]

A last thought on Agatha Christie. Does anyone agree with me; I mostly enjoy Miss Marple and Poirot stories but cannot stand 'Tommy and Tuppence'. They are not worthy of her IMO.