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Default Buying myself a good thriller/crime novel

July 11th, 2009, 23:56
… is harder than I expected. Because, for once I wanted a story where the dectective persona

- does not have a troubled past that surfaces as the story progresses
- is not recently divorced/betrayed by wife/lover
- has not lost a dear one under unclear but probably similar circumstances
- does not have a problem with alcohol or other substances
- is not at odds with colleagues at the police department or his boss
- has not been degraded or deported to nowhere because of in duty actions
- is not the only one that can solve the crime
- does not have to break promises to family to solve the crime
- does not in any way become involved with the perpetrator, no romance, no stalking and no end of story face-to-face action because the perpetrator broke into home or other place where detective persona stays alone

At the very least the above mentioned issues should not play an important part of the story.

It turns out that such novels are a bit hard to find.

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July 12th, 2009, 01:15
Originally Posted by lghartveit View Post
At the very least the above mentioned issues should not play an important part of the story.
If not playing an important part of the story is enough then I can recommend some of Nelson DeMille's books if you have not read them yet. The detective is John Corey, former NYPD (but, no, the reason that or why he is ex-NYPD does not play a central role in any of the novels). The Corey books are highly entertaining because the guy is just plain hilarious. I'd recommend to read the books in order, i.e. Plum Island, The Lion's Game, Night Fall and Wildfire. Good stuff!
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July 12th, 2009, 01:51
Well, your bullet list eliminates about two thirds of the genre, Igharveit, but I have to admit, I agree that it would be nice to see a lot less of all of that.
My first thought for pure mysteries is any Josephine Tey novel. All different, all off the beaten track. They are somewhat dated, and they do have that thirties English mystery atmosphere very heavily though, so if you dislike that they might not work.

I can also second Moriendor's Nelson DeMille rec, which is closer to thriller than detective but isn't a bad mix if you want that taste, which I frequently do. He's a step up from some of the pure silly thriller writers (whom I also enjoy) as is the team of Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child, who add an irritating reporter, enigmatic FBI agent/sort-of zen master and lots of unlikely romances to your list of annoyances plus a pseudo-Lovecraftian tad of the paranormal.

If you want something closer to pure mystery and detection, Aaron Elkins, aside form an occasional bit of non-promiscuous sex, has a nice series featuring a forensic anthropologist who specializes in bones--set all over the world, and fairly light and humorous.

Marcia Muller has a series of very well written hardbitten private eye novels with the twist that the PI is a woman, doesn't drink, and aside from obligatory family problems doesn't have anything on your list except maybe a tendecy toward social consciousness. Nevada Barr is also good, if a bit depressing--again with the lost love problems--but her main character, also a woman, is an *extra* hard-bitten park ranger, and all the novels are set in survivalist mode in US national parks.

Stand alone mysteries that are just different that I liked:
The Pale Blue Eye, by Louis Bayard (totally bizarre historical featuring satanic worship, insanity and a very well done Edgar Allen Poe)
The Book of Air and Shadows,by Michael Gruber (a genre twister--contemporary lawyer, lost Shakespeare manuscript, rather humorous letters from the 16th century, Russian gangsters, and perhaps more angst than you may be looking for, but very well-written and funny.)

Good luck finding something.
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Last edited by magerette; July 12th, 2009 at 01:55. Reason: spelling
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July 12th, 2009, 10:46
May be you have to go back to Agatha Christie, about whom Raymond Chandler said something like:

She writes the best boring detective novels in the world.

(I personally agree to "boring", but not to "best".)

Edit: Chandler also anticipated your concerns a little bit:

Chandler's famous essay "The Simple Art of Murder" credits Hammett with giving "murder back to the kind of people who commit it for reasons, not just to provide a corpse." Chandler recognized, however, that there were pitfalls in the hard-boiled approach: "The realistic style is easy to abuse. It is easy to fake; brutality is not strength, flipness is not wit, edge-of-the-chair writing can be as boring as flat writing."

(cited from this site).
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July 12th, 2009, 11:25
Hmm…

If you don't mind that one of the leading characters is gay, try the "Alex Delaware" novels by Jonathan Kellerman. It's ok stuff IIRC.

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July 12th, 2009, 12:15
There are some good swedish crime novels which was translated to english, they kind of fit your description… but the plot is a bit unusual as it is mostly about the criminals and very little about the police. The police are more like some faceless bunch of people who the criminals despise very much.

The books are written by a top lawyer in sweden, so he really knows what he is talking about……
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July 13th, 2009, 10:42
@all-of-you: Thanks for suggestions.

@Zakhary:No problems with gay leading characters.

@GothicGothicness: The name of the author? Being norwegian, I have no problem with reading swedish, btw. Btw2: I've read several of the Sjöwall/Wahlöö books, and enjoyed those.

@Magerette: I've actually read one by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child: Relic. I liked that one.

@Bkrueger: I like Agatha Christie - in small doses. After a couple of novels I tend to get tired of her everything-solved-in-a-final-chapter-monologue mode of operation.

Regarding my list - it's not absolute, of course. I realize that an ultrarealistic novel about an average police department solving an average murder case (random violence, armed robbery) would be very boooooring. But - to give you one example. For a while I did enjoy Patricia Cornwell's Scarpetta novels, I liked the setting, and her attention to detail. But eventually her personal involvement became too much. It felt like every novel ended in an at night how-can-she-survive-this-time-encounter with the perp. It all became too stereotypical.

One series of books - which violates several of the items in the list, but which I still like very much, is John Connolly's Charlie Parker novels (no, it's not about the musician). I guess it depends on the writing, how it's handled. For the record: I found it very hard to put down the last book I read ("Black Angel"). It's been years since I've had that experience.

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July 14th, 2009, 15:38
jens lapidus - snabba cash, aldrig fucka up

maybe you heard about them? In my opinion it is really different and fresh, I was so dead tired of the crime genre before I read them.
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July 14th, 2009, 16:29
Originally Posted by lghartveit View Post
For a while I did enjoy Patricia Cornwell's Scarpetta novels, I liked the setting, and her attention to detail. But eventually her personal involvement became too much. It felt like every novel ended in an at night how-can-she-survive-this-time-encounter with the perp. It all became too stereotypical.
I understand completely. All this relationship angst with Benton and Marino is just tiresome. I'm a few books behind now with the Scarpetta series and I just haven't been in any hurry to get caught back up. I'll be checking out a few of the recommendations here, so thanks to everyone from me as well.
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July 14th, 2009, 21:27
I can second GG's suggestion, especially for Snabba Cash. It's a very refreshing take on the crime genre IMO (and we have A LOT of them books here as you may know…).
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