The Murderous Month of May

According to Booklist, May is Mystery Month, but really any day of the year is the perfect time to read a mystery as far as I'm concerned.
I'm often asked who my favorite authors are, and really it's impossible to nail down just one or two. So in celebration of this murderous month, I'll give you a list of my favorite mystery writers.
You may not be familiar with some of these names, but isn't that a good thing? There's nothing better than stumbling on a new series of fabulous books or an incredible new (to you) writer.
Feel free to send me your favorite mystery titles and authors, too. My reading stack is a little low.

Favorite Mystery Writers

Jussi Adler-Olsen

Hailing from Denmark, Adler-Olsen lightens the Nordic Noir genre with his world-weary detective Carl Morck, who feels like he's been put out to pasture in his new Department Q, featuring a team of just one detective (Carl) and one odd assistant.

Fiona Buckley

After a seven year hiatus, Buckley (aka Valerie Anand) has picked back up with her terrific Ursula Blanchard series. The Tudor-era detective in this case is a dead ringer for Queen Elizabeth I, a fact that makes her both a pawn and a tool for the Queen.

Ann Cleeves

Her Shetland series, featuring Detective Jimmy Perez, is engrossing and perfectly captures life on the remote Shetland islands. She has another great series that features DI Vera Stanhope. I'm diving into those books this summer.

Lindsey Davis

I'm completely in love with Marcus Didius Falco, the savvy, witty, and infuriating Roman detective that stars in Davis's 20-book series set in 70AD. I've hooked many a reader on this terrific group of books.

Dick Francis

Every single one of his 40-some mysteries involves horse racing in some fashion, and the books are always a quick read. But don't make the mistake of thinking they're shallow. There's a reason that I worked hard to put every single one of his books on my shelves.

Tana French

French's set of Irish detective novels has been heaped with awards, with good reason. They are gritty, stark, and utterly compelling. Start with Into the Woods, an absolutely incredible novel for any genre.

David Fulmer

Take the infamous New Orleans red-light district of Storyville, add the evocative time period when Jazz was just taking form, and then mix in Creole detective Valentin St. Cyr and a heaping helping of real-life crooked politicians and criminals and you have an intoxicating (and additive) brew.

Elizabeth George

I defy you to find a writer that is better at giving you fully developed and completely alive characters. I catch myself thinking of Detective Inspector Thomas Lynley and Detective Sergeant Barbara Havers as people who truly live in my world. George is one of the top writers of our era. Period.

Sue Grafton

Her alphabet series may have started out as a fun way to write a series, but the private detective Kinsey Milhone took mysteries to a whole new level. Is the series stale after so many books? Quite the opposite. I think the newest book (V for Vengeance) is one of the best in the group.

Arnaldur Indridason

Iceland is the perfect setting for crime, with a rugged and forbidding landscape as a backdrop to dark deeds. Detective Erlendur takes it one step further as a loner fighting his own personal demons.

Stieg Larsson

Unless you've been living under a rock, you don't need me to describe Larsson's trilogy to you. I'll just say: It's worth all the hype.

Peter Lovesey

You gotta love a curmudgeon and Peter Diamond, a detective in modern-day Bath, is a rumpled, grumpy, lovable guy with a nose for solving crimes.

Denise Mina

It's a man's world when it comes to detectives and police procedurals, and that's what makes Mina's DI Alex Morrow so amazing. Who else could solve mysteries and whip her squad into shape, all while pregnant with twins? A fabulous case of Tartan Noir.

Jo Nesbo

The king of Nordic Noir, Nesbo's detective Harry Hole is conflicted, afflicted, and addicted. If you like your mysteries dark and deep, this is the series for you.

Nordic Noir

There's a chill in the air. Yes, I know it's practically spring (and some of us are enjoying 80-degree weather), but a cold wind is ushering in a fabulous new trend for mysteries. It's Nordic Noir, featuring twisty tales and freezing landscapes. Long nights and little sun seem to produce taciturn detectives and deeply disturbed villains. Here are three of my favorite dark tales.

The Keeper of Lost Causes
by Jussi Adler-Olsen
His name may not be familiar to those of us in countries other than his native Denmark, but Adler-Olsen is one of his country's top crime writers. This first installment in the Department Q series shows us why.
Carl Mørck was also at the top of his game, until a shootout with a criminal left him with a wound, and a serious case of survivor's guilt. He's shocked when he is promoted as soon as he returns to his detective post, until he finds out he's in charge of a cold-case department with few prospects for success. Saddled with an assistant he doesn't understand, in a steamy basement office with leftover goods, Mørck is prepared to sleep his way through the job. That is, until a missing person's case grabs his attention.
This engrossing mystery is as dark as any in Nordic Noir, but with a gentle sense of humor that lightens the mood, and puts you firmly behind Department Q and its lost causes. The next book from Adler-Olsen (The Absent One) will appear in August, just in time to cool us down. (Penguin Group - 2011)

Hypothermia

by Arnaldur Indridason
Blowing in from the island of Iceland is a cold tale of suicide. Or is it murder? Inspector Erlunder has a feeling that all is not as it seems, even though the coroner has deemed the death a clear suicide.
A loner by nature, Erlunder follows his hunch, quietly probing the idea that the victim did not hang herself and was helped to her death. But who did the deed? Was it the grieving husband who seems to have something to hide? Or perhaps it was one of the many psychics that the poor woman visited after her own mother's death.
At the same time, Erlunder is visited by the father of a long-ago missing person. The same intuition leads him to re-examine the details of that case, determined to find resolution in both mysteries.
This is the sixth book in what is known as the Reykjavik Thriller series, but the first I've read. After finding myself pulled into the spell of Indridason's writing, I'll be searching out the previous five. (Picador - 2011)

The Leopard

by Jo Nesbø
I first discovered Jo Nesbø with The Devil's Star and I've been hooked ever since. His taut writing and fast-paced storylines are reminiscent of Stieg Larsson, but better.
Don't get me wrong, I love Larsson's trilogy, but I do think it could have used a little editing to quicken the pace and clear out a few "dead" spots (pardon the pun). Unfortunately, at 528 pages, the only thing about this book that gave me pause, other than the unexpected turns, was the fact that it would have been much better if it had a been a bit shorter. See tomorrow's post on editing.
Meanwhile, back to The Leopard, which is still an amazing return to detective Harry Hole's strange world. As defective as the criminals he hunts, Hole has descended into his addictions and is hiding in Hong Kong. He refuses to return home, until he's enticed there by the idea that another serial killer is on the loose. Two women have died, but there is nothing at all to link them except very strange stab wounds in their mouths. Hole travels back to Norway and then to the Congo in his quest to track an elusive animal.
Nesbø is a thrilling writer who never fails to surprise – I have to say that the murder weapon in this case completely freaked me out. If you've never read his books, see my review here of The Snowman. (Knopf Doubleday - 2011)

And now for a personal note - happy birthday to my daughter, Aana! I can't wait to see how the story of your life unfolds.