{A Different Sort of Throwback Thursday Post}
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“Kings and statesmen, business men and professional men read mystery stories for relaxation, for fun, and to sharpen their wits for the daily battle of life.
Don’t let yourself go stale. These books are better than a radio drama and cheaper than a good movie for the family and keep you alert. Have your bookseller send you the books listed below and save over 65% from the former $2.00 price.”
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SO I FOUND THIS Sun Dial Mysteries 1930s [?] bookmark in an old book that happens to be in a large stack of old books that happen to be in our basement. I was charmed by the sexist copy on the bookmark, and I was intrigued by the titles of the books listed on it.
I knew that Leslie Charteris wrote The Saint books, but I’ve never read one. And I knew that Georgette Heyer was a contemporary of Agatha Christie, but I’ve never read one of her books either. The rest of the authors were new to me.
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I HAVE NO IDEA who these oldtime mystery writers might be. I can’t even keep up with the current mystery writers, which is why I thought that I’d ask you, my gentle readers: which mystery writers do you enjoy the most? Or, if you don’t read mysteries, what do you read that I should be reading, too?
Heaven knows, I must remain alert and not go stale!
THE SPECTACLED BEAN 
That’s a fabulous bookmark (things must be viewed in context of times – and besides “-men” used to be spelling for everyone – and I’m not looking to be offended so rarely am…)
I do remember as a small child being aware of a general concept that mystery readers were smarter than other readers – They read the words , created images in their minds of the characters, settings, and incidents plus they worked harder and used their brains to put clues together to solve the puzzle. It was active reading rather than passively being told a story. Isn’t that funny? Had forgotten.
Being an annoying child I purposely avoided mysteries (unless they had horses or dogs). Mother thought it was to irritate her, but actually a lot of those children’s mystery series were pretty much a formula and boring. I read some now.
(Dorothy Dunnett is an older times author of several really good series I stumbled upon – she writes historical fiction that’s not sappy, a lot about Scotland and political intrigues in Europe/Mediterranean which turn it into mysteries as you are always trying to figure out who’s on what side and who’s responsible for what. One of her books is based on who she thought King MacBeth actually was You’ll have to run to keep up…never let you get stale or fatty brained.The Lymond Chronicles would be a good start. )
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philmouse, you’re right about the bookmark. It is an example of the times in which it was created, so hardly worth getting upset about. It made me laugh, truth be known.
I didn’t know that mystery books were supposed to make you smarter! I’ve read different series over the years [Nancy Drew, Miss Marple, Spencer, Southern Sisters] but got out of the habit of looking for them anymore.
Recently a friend handed me a Joe Sandilands mystery to read, which made me realize how long it had been since I had read a mystery. Thanks for your suggestion. It sounds like something that I’d enjoy.
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I don’t read much at all… but if I were ever going to go into the lucrative career of professional murder, I would definitely “sharpen my wits” with the books on this list!
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evilsquirrel13, interesting. Somehow I suspect that this bookmark was not printed with that particular goal in mind, but I could be wrong. It was a different era after all.
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That’s true… murder may not have been outlawed just yet…
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🙂
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I don’t read mysteries anymore; I think I burned out on them when I was a kid, reading all those Nancy Drew, Bobbsey Twins, and Trixie Belden books. But, oh, how I loved them back then! Even Encyclopedia Brown. I guess I’m very stale now!
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nance, I read some of those books, too. The world of mystery books has grown exponentially since we were youngsters. I’m kind of in the mood to get hooked on a good sleuth again. One who is an adult, that is.
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Love the old book mark. I wonder if it was saying that women should not read mysteries.
I love anything by David Baldacci. I also like John Grisham. I’ve read several works by Dean Koontz that are really weird!
Sometimes I feel like I should take notes on the books I read so that I can remember all the characters and how they are involved.
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Beth, I’ve heard of those authors but never read anything by them. Good suggestions. Thanks.
I hadn’t thought of the bookmark as being a warning against women reading mysteries. I figured it was just the way ppl talked back then. But now that you mention it, we may have a mystery of our own here!
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I think Lee Child writes a great mystery. I usually read Peter Robinson’s books, but his last couple have been meh. I really like Hank Phillippi Ryan’s The Wrong Girl and The Other Woman, her Jane Ryland mysteries. Plus, she’s just a freaking great person who deserves to be read. I’m going to be profiling a David Burnsworth mystery on my site in the next couple of weeks, so maybe you’ll win that one. It’s called Southern Heat. Of course, there’s always mine, which has mystery elements, but you’ve heard about it enough. I’ve given you plenty of other solid options here. I hope you’ll let me know what you add to your reading list.
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Andra, thanks for the suggestions. I haven’t heard of any of them, so it’ll be fun to have a place to start my quest for great mysteries. Don’t know why I’m so taken with that genre right now, but I am.
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It all depends on what kind of mysteries you like; it is my favorite genre and I read a TON of them. There are the Brits(more literary like P.D. James and Ruth Rendell), the Americans, often gritty or funny like Robert B. Parker’s Spenser series,anything by Michael Connelly, the Scandinavians like Jo Nesbo, Jussi Adler-Olsen and Stieg Larssen, the Scots like Ian Rankin(love his books), the beautiful Canadian writer Louise Penny, etc. I’m sure I’ve forgotten a bunch. Right now I’m hooked on Dana Stabenow who writes mysteries about Alaska with an Aleut female investigator.
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Margaret, you have explained this so well. Thank you. In the distant past I read British and funny American mysteries, but now there are so many sub-genres w/in mysteries.
I’m going to write down all the suggestions that I get here, then I’m going to do a bit of preemptive research about each author before I go to an actual brick & mortar bookstore to look at the books. How’s that for an old school sort of plan?
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Sounds great–on the amazon site you can often look inside a book too, just to see if you think you’ll like the style or the writing. Like your other commenter, I love Lee Child’s Jack Reacher series, although I wouldn’t classify them as mysteries, maybe more suspense. (there is some mystery to them, but they’re mainly about Reacher kicking butt and taking names) 🙂
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Good idea about Amazon. You raise an interesting point: what is the difference btwn mystery and suspense novels? Rhetorical question.
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I don’t read many mysteries. It’s not really my genre, with the following exceptions.
I really enjoy mysteries by Dick Francis. They all somehow interact with the world of horse racing. Francis was a champion steeplechase jockey before moving into writing, and I love his books. He passed away a few years ago, and his son, Felix, has taken over the helm. I like Felix’s books enough that I want to read them, but not as much as I liked Dick’s books. I got into these books back in the late 80s, because my friend’s mom loved them, and knew I loved horses and horse racing. I’ve been hooked ever since. I think Francis started writing back in the late 60s, so there’s certainly a flavor of sexism present. That was the world then, and I’m not offended by it.
I’ve read some John Grisham books over the years, and I like them fine. I don’t generally keep up and haven’t read anything of his in years.
I really liked the Easy Rawlins mysteries, by Walter Mosely. Easy Rawlins is a black investigator in LA in the 40s and 50s (I believe). So there’s a specific flavor of time and place and what it might mean to be black then and there.
More recently I read a book, “The Earth Hums in B Flat” which is sort of a mystery, but not really. It’s utterly charming, though. You might enjoy it quite a bit. It’s from the perspective of a girl in 1950s Wales, who flies around her village in her dreams, and hopes to solve the mystery of the death of one of her neighbors. Really good.
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J, I’d forgotten all about Dick Francis. Good reminder. Years ago I was never taken with Grisham, but maybe I’d like his books better now. I’ve never heard of the Easy Rawlins mysteries, but they sound intriguing if only because of the timeframe. Will look for “The Earth Hums in B Flat.” It sounds delightful. Thanks for adding your ideas to my reading list.
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