(reading/writing craft) Hi, my name is Val Ford, and I have a problem.

[vg_ford]

Lordy, do I have a problem, and it is called British Murder Mysteries.

I'm addicted to them in just about any form. Film, TV, books, books on tape, podcasts - hopeless. You are, after all, talking to someone who seriously loved Midsomer Murders enough to request all the seasons on DVD from her hubby for Christmas.

So, I just started reading the Adam Dalgleish mysteries by PD James (I've listened to a few of them on audio, but I wanted to read all of them and they aren't all available via audio, darnit!), but I was wondering if anyone else out there had some good detectives to offer. I've already read:

- Brother Cadfael
- Pretty much all the Agatha Christies
- Sherlock Holmes (the originals - I haven't read much of the pastiches)
- Lord Peter Whimsy
- Most of the Thomas Pitt mysteries (Anne Perry)
- Rumpole of the Bailey (I canNOT believe I forgot to put him on!)

I'm pretty open - as long as it's got a Brit detective, takes place in the UK and has bodies, I'll try it.

Any suggestions?

Comments

[1crowdedhour.livejournal.com]

Depends on what you like about mysteries, I suppose. I'd recommend
Edmund Crispin and Sarah Caudwell unreservedly. Margery Allingham with a caveat. Try Michael Innes, perhaps Appleby's End , to see if he's for you. The name, like Crispin's, is a pseud. The author was J.I.M. Stewart, a professor of English literature. His later mysteries are highly stylized. All are written with great style, but I suspect you'd have more fun with the early ones than the late ones.

[vg-ford.livejournal.com]

Hmm, never heard of any of them! Thanks - I'll check them out!

[1crowdedhour.livejournal.com]

I know I shouldn't, but I always visualize Gervase Fen, Edmund Crispin's sleuth, as looking something like the Doctor. (Which Doctor, I've never quite decided.)

[suelder.livejournal.com]

We (BF and I) have been working through the DVD's of Cadfael and Rumpole of the Bailey. I think you'd like Rumpole - he's a defense attorney/barrister in London at the Old Bailey, where he defends petty criminals and solves the occasional murder. He's really quite the Character.

I agree with the comment about Margery Allingham - recommended w/ cavaet.

[vg-ford.livejournal.com]

I ADORE Rumpole! I can't believe I forgot to put him on the list!

I actually have a tee-shirt somewhere that says "She Who Must Be Obeyed." :D

[empath-1111.livejournal.com]

Val McDermott (lots of bodies with her work, it's brutal), and Ian Rankin come to mind.

[vg-ford.livejournal.com]

Hmm, haven't heard of either of them - will check them out! Thanks!

[empath-1111.livejournal.com]

The BBC made a TV series out of Val McDermotts books, called Wire in the Blood. They made six seasons and it's excellent!! I like the series even better than the books, because of the tighter focus.