'Classic' Detective Stories you have enjoyed.

[Curalach]

Lots of ideas to pursue in this excellent thread. I too enjoy Rankin very much, also his Edinburgh colleagues Quintin Jardine and McCall Smith.
I found the Mankell Wallander series much to my taste and had no difficulty following the Stieg Larsson trilogy which I thought absorbing and well written.

In fact, looking at my modest contributions to this thread I have realised that the authors I enjoy most are those who develop a strong sense of place in their writing. When that is combined with good characterisation and a compelling plot I am hooked!

An author I have given up is Brookmyre. I enjoyed his early books which were quirky, irreverent and amusing but have disliked his more recent work.

[amateur51]

An author I have given up is Brookmyre. I enjoyed his early books which were quirky, irreverent and amusing but have disliked his more recent work.

Sadly I have to agree, Curalach

But the early ones are wonderfully sparky

[antongould]

Lots of ideas to pursue in this excellent thread. I too enjoy Rankin very much, also his Edinburgh colleagues Quintin Jardine and McCall Smith.
I found the Mankell Wallander series much to my taste and had no difficulty following the Stieg Larsson trilogy which I thought absorbing and well written.

In fact, looking at my modest contributions to this thread I have realised that the authors I enjoy most are those who develop a strong sense of place in their writing. When that is combined with good characterisation and a compelling plot I am hooked!

.

I too like Quintin Jardine but cannot get through Larsson at all - Wallander yes and I cannot recommend Indridason highly enough!

[Curalach]

I cannot recommend Indridason highly enough!

Thanks Anton. I don't know this author but will rectify that on your good advice.

[PatrickOD]

I've also found that some writers get tired, (or is it me?) after a good run of success.
I don't see many American writers listed - Ed McBain got a mention, and I read a good few of his before he(I) got tired.
I enjoyed four or five of the novels of:
Michael Connolly, whose never-give-up LA detective hero is called Hieronymous Bosch - Harry to his friends;
and James Lee Burke, and his troubled and violent cop Dave Robicheaux operating in the Louisiana swamplands.

[Mahlerei]

John D McDonald's Travis McGee is an endearing 'tec who lives on a houseboat he won in a poker game - it's called The Busted Flush - and drives a Rolls-Royce that has been converted into a truck. I loved reading them when I was a teenager but not sure what I'd think of them now. Then there's another American, Ross McDonald, whose 'tec is Lew Archer. IIRC one of his books was made into a film called The Drowning Pool, with Paul Newman as Archer.

[Chris Newman]

The Brother Cadfael novels started before 'The Name of the Rose' - 'A Morbid Taste for Bones', the first, was published in 1977; 'Name of the Rose' in 1980 in Italian & English in 1983, so Ellis Peters can be rest assured that she (?) started the trend

I stand corrected, Flossie.

[amateur51]

John D McDonald's Travis McGee is an endearing 'tec who lives on a houseboat he won in a poker game - it's called The Busted Flush - and drives a Rolls-Royce that has been converted into a truck. I loved reading them when I was a teenager but not sure what I'd think of them now. Then there's another American, Ross McDonald, whose 'tec is Lew Archer. IIRC one of his books was made into a film called The Drowning Pool, with Paul Newman as Archer.

Thanks for reminding me about John D McDonald and Ross McDonald, Mahlerei.

They were great favourites of my father, as was Gavin Lyall - much more in the Geoffrey Household 'thriller' department, as was the at one-time extremely popular Alistair MacLean whose novels blended spy stories with the high drama thriller genre, a fact not lost on film-makers on the time.

I'm in danger of veering significantly off-topic here (who dear? you dear? never dear! ) but your post jostled my memory

[vinteuil]

Kyril Bonfiglioli, anyone? - The Mortdecai Trilogy - where the central character is a cross between a Bertie Wooster with the brain of Jeeves, Raffles, and Falstaff...

"It was still only nine o'clock when I set off on the last leg of my journey, feeling old and dirty and incapable. You probably know the feeling if you are over eighteen."

[Pianorak]

Kyril Bonfiglioli, anyone? - The Mortdecai Trilogy - where the central character is a cross between a Bertie Wooster with the brain of Jeeves, Raffles, and Falstaff...

"It was still only nine o'clock when I set off on the last leg of my journey, feeling old and dirty and incapable. You probably know the feeling if you are over eighteen."

Thanks for providing the first chuckle of the day, vinteuil! - Never heard of him but have just ordered the trilogy. Better be good!

[Flosshilde]

Let's not forget Norman & Henry Bones, boy detectives. I did read them, but can't remember much about them And for the girls there was/is Nancy Drew.

[Ferretfancy]

Here's a weird one. At school in the early fifties we had a French textbook called "Inspector Hornleigh sur le piste" which was supposed to help us, although it didn't do me much good ! However, it was quite fun to struggle with. I don't remember the author, but it was only many years later that I discovered that there was a real series of his books, that they were truly English, and some had been made into films during the 1930s.

In the happy days when the BBC 2 showed historic movies in the small hours, a couple of them turned up. They starred Alfred Drayton as Hornleigh, and a delightful newcomer called Alastair Sim. As I remember, they were very low budget "quota quickies " Did any of us read the books or see the films?

[salymap]

Don't remember that Ferret but I remember Flossie's Norman and Henry Bones, the boy detectives on Children's Hour surely before any of you were born.

[Ferretfancy]

salymap

I certainly remember Norman and Henry Bones, in fact I go back as far as Meet Dr Morell on Monday Night at Eight, with his droopy secretary Miss Frail!

Incidentally, One of the Bones was a young Charles Hawtrey, whose performances still pop up regularly on those endless Carry On repeats.

I was incorrect about Inspector Hornleigh, he was played by Gordon Harker and not Alfred Drayton, there were at least three films, and looking down the cast lists on the IMDb I found a lot of names that became well known a bit later, Phyllis Calvert for example, and Michael Dennison in his first role.

Did you hear the repeats of some original Dick Barton stories awhile back? Wonderfully creaky acting, but great fun!

[salymap]

Ferret I always forget BBC7, now BBC 4 extra. I see this very night they are doing The Teahouse Detective The Dublin Mystery by Baroness Orczy, 1909 murder mystery

No,I missed Dick Barton.