Mystery Authors that currently rock, and their series openers
Argggh, I accidently deleted this post, and will rewrite it. I assure you my first version was wittier and better written.
Charlaine Harris
Shakespeare's Landlord - a thought provoking series with one of the most tough, well-written characters I've come across. Shakespeare, by the way, is a southern town in this century.
Dead until Dark - much lighter, but no less astute. These books are still mysteries, and the vampires and whatnot are added in for extra interest and scenarios. You don't have to like horror or fantasy to find this interesting.
Real Murders - if you can find this opener to her first series, it kicks ass and defies pigeonholeing. I would recommend that you read these books, even if you can't find all of the first few installments. The main character is a librarian with the heart of a tiger in the body of a respectable southern woman, with fascinating results. My favourite thing about this author is that she doesn't pull her punches, and everything isn't necessarily okay in the end, though each book is very satisfying. She also gets a hell of a lot written with less words and more realism than any author that comes to mind.
Grave Sight - the first book in her newest series, which is again darker in tone yet entirely enthralling, a bit more like the Shakespeare series, but with a slight psychic undertone. A few ideas she raised in this book still creep me out when I think about them too long. The main character has the ability to find dead people, and makes her living from it - to the desperate hope or disgust (sometimes both at once) of others. Her job puts her in some very interesting situations, with some very hostile people. The characterization is superb.
Margaret Maron
Bootlegger's Daughter starts of my favourite series, again set in the southern states for extra un-cloying colour. The main character has seen too many bigoted judicial rulings in her career as a lawyer, so she snaps and decides to run for a seat as a judge herself, with some very interesting results.
One Coffee With is a very different series, and was written earlier and set in New York City. The main character, a female police lieutenant, first comes off as something of a repressed cold fish . . . though she has a sharp intellect and a flair for her job. With an excellent mystery as the background for each book, we watch as she slowly gains a life and emotional colour, courtesy of a very non-traditional love affair, some assorted friends, and the unravelling of an unfinished story set around her father's death when she was very young.
Jennifer Apodaca
Dating Can Be Murder - A newly widowed soccer mom wakes up and gets a life after she realizes her late husband was a cheating sleaze that ruined them financially in some shady business before he kicked off. She revamps her career and herself (buying a matchmaking business, a boob job, and a sexy wardrobe) while actually becoming a better role model for her two sons. It's like Janet Evanovich at her best: light, and not nearly so goofy. The best friend with the surveillance tools (used in her hobby of stalking her asshole ex-husband). The series heats up with the interesting cop and private eye characters that take interest in the heroine's new look, but the series doesn't use them to continually save the main character when she continually bites off more than she can chew.
More mystery authors to come in a later installment, for which I will not promise a deadline.
Charlaine Harris
Shakespeare's Landlord - a thought provoking series with one of the most tough, well-written characters I've come across. Shakespeare, by the way, is a southern town in this century.
Dead until Dark - much lighter, but no less astute. These books are still mysteries, and the vampires and whatnot are added in for extra interest and scenarios. You don't have to like horror or fantasy to find this interesting.
Real Murders - if you can find this opener to her first series, it kicks ass and defies pigeonholeing. I would recommend that you read these books, even if you can't find all of the first few installments. The main character is a librarian with the heart of a tiger in the body of a respectable southern woman, with fascinating results. My favourite thing about this author is that she doesn't pull her punches, and everything isn't necessarily okay in the end, though each book is very satisfying. She also gets a hell of a lot written with less words and more realism than any author that comes to mind.
Grave Sight - the first book in her newest series, which is again darker in tone yet entirely enthralling, a bit more like the Shakespeare series, but with a slight psychic undertone. A few ideas she raised in this book still creep me out when I think about them too long. The main character has the ability to find dead people, and makes her living from it - to the desperate hope or disgust (sometimes both at once) of others. Her job puts her in some very interesting situations, with some very hostile people. The characterization is superb.
Margaret Maron
Bootlegger's Daughter starts of my favourite series, again set in the southern states for extra un-cloying colour. The main character has seen too many bigoted judicial rulings in her career as a lawyer, so she snaps and decides to run for a seat as a judge herself, with some very interesting results.
One Coffee With is a very different series, and was written earlier and set in New York City. The main character, a female police lieutenant, first comes off as something of a repressed cold fish . . . though she has a sharp intellect and a flair for her job. With an excellent mystery as the background for each book, we watch as she slowly gains a life and emotional colour, courtesy of a very non-traditional love affair, some assorted friends, and the unravelling of an unfinished story set around her father's death when she was very young.
Jennifer Apodaca
Dating Can Be Murder - A newly widowed soccer mom wakes up and gets a life after she realizes her late husband was a cheating sleaze that ruined them financially in some shady business before he kicked off. She revamps her career and herself (buying a matchmaking business, a boob job, and a sexy wardrobe) while actually becoming a better role model for her two sons. It's like Janet Evanovich at her best: light, and not nearly so goofy. The best friend with the surveillance tools (used in her hobby of stalking her asshole ex-husband). The series heats up with the interesting cop and private eye characters that take interest in the heroine's new look, but the series doesn't use them to continually save the main character when she continually bites off more than she can chew.
More mystery authors to come in a later installment, for which I will not promise a deadline.
posted by Lu Hill at 2:58 p.m.
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