Mystery stories

[Karen2005]

I loved watching Jonathan Creek on TV - seemingly impossible-to-solve mysteries, but have a very down-to-earth conclusion. I also loved Enid Blyton mystery stories as a child!

Can anyone recommend well-written books that are similar? My favourite authors include George Orwell and Graham Greene if that helps you get an idea of what I'm into.

[shaneystar2]

Try Robert Goddard....brilliant ,
http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/g/robert-goddard/
This is a great website for all sorts of books,by the way.

[cosyrosy]

my other half loves robert goddard too- but he,s a bit convoluted for me. Peter Robinson's my favourite at the mo.

[robbo82]

Some of Edgar Allen Poe's stories (eg The Gold Bug, The Mystery of Marie Roget, The Murders in the Rue Morgue) are in a similar vein to the Jonathan Creek mysteries.

[woofgang]

for period detective fiction, try Dorothy Sayers "Lord Peter Whimsy" books or Marjorie Allinghams "Albert Campion"

[Quizmonkey]

John Dickson Carr is widely recognised as the master of the 'locked-room' mystery - the how-did-he-do-it rather than the whodunnit. He's from the 'golden age' of crime fiction and probably mostly out of print these days - but you can often find his work in second-hand bookshops.

[Whickerman]

Any of John Case's books are great - just get past the new covers with labels like 'before the DaVinci code, there was...'

[robbo82]

Paul Auster's The New York Trilogy also deserves a mention- postmodern detective fiction at its best.

[eurocrime]

Bloodhounds by Peter Lovesey, set in Bath it's a police procedural which pays homage to locked room mysteries. Also have a rummage on my website - Euro Crime : http://www.weatherwax.co.uk :-)

[shaneystar2]

And ...I forgot to mention the Bryant and May stories by Christopher Fowler.I am reading one at the moment.
Seventy Seven Clocks.Indeed a mystery.. as an old wealthy family get bumped off one by one by various means including being bitten by a cottonmouth snake in the Savoy Hotel,cyanide poisoning at the opera and spontaneous combustion on the tube.
Can't wait to see how it ends!!

[snook]

You'll love Isaac Asimov's Black Widowers mystery stories! What a writer!!

[eurocrime]

Re Christopher Fowler - I've listened to the first two on audio and as well as a convoluted and fact filled plot you get a superb narration - the Water Room had me laughing outloud on the train! Review: http://www.weatherwax.co.uk/reviews/The%20Water%20Room.h tml

[Karen2005]

Thanks everyone for your suggestions. There's plenty to get my teeth into here! Just reading Catch-22 at the moment and then mysteries here I come!

[auntiebertie]

Agree with the Robert Goddard recommendation - fantastic - and suggest you start with 'out of the blue'