The dagger in the library

    Did you know that library users can nominate their favourite (living) crime writer for "The Dagger in the Library Award", given by the Crime Writers' Association? Full details can be found here on the CWA website, and as you'll see, it is awarded for a body of work, not an individual book.
     If you look at the list of winners of that and other 'Daggers', you may well find some excellent additions to the TBR pile - it certainly looks like a good resource.
    I ought to get into crime a bit more (there speaks a lawyer who never practised criminal law, but did teach it for a time) - it's an area in which I'm not at all widely read, though we have much of it on our own shelves. I loved Margery Allingham's The Tiger in the Smoke which went down well with the book group, and I have her Flowers for the Judge waiting in the pile, but I'm not nearly as well up on the whole huge subject  - particularly contemporary writers - as many Cornflower readers are, so you experts should get your nominations in!

Comments

[melody]

Laura Wilson came to speak to our book club about her crime writing. She was a most entertaining speaker and won herself many fans here with her books set in London during the blitz such as The Lover and the first of a new series called Stratton's War.

[Karol/New York City]

Probably one of the greatest crime novelists of all time is P.D. James. She truly is a great writer who just happens to write about murders, most of which are always personal with a strong sense of correcting a long-ago injustice. I also adore the Iain Pears "Art History" mystery series, as well as his An Instance of the Fingerpost, a mystery that takes place in 17th c. England after the restoration of Charles II. Although I have read many Scandinavian mystery writers, I still think the master is Henning Mankell, although be forewarned that they are very dark and brutal. Two of my favorites are The White Lioness and Firewall. I also love Rennie Airth who has written 2 books of a projected trilogy (the third of which is scheduled to be published this spring in the U.S.). The two I have read are River of Darkness and The Blood-Dimmed Tide. Both take place after WWI, and the detective, John Madden, has returned home with some emotional battle scars but stoically resolves to get on with his life. I could go on and on with recommendations, but these should keep you busy for awhile.

[Dark Puss]

Let me strongly recommend the books by Donna Leon and Michael Dibbden both of whose detectives (Brunetti and Zen respectively) work in Italy.

[Donnafugata]

Henning Mankell is a favourite of mine too, Karol, esp Firewall, and I endorse the recommendations for both Donna Leon and Michael Dibdin - but my final vote has to go to the Inspector Montalbano series set in Sicily by Andrea Camilleri. Terrific atmosphere, fanciable detective, wonderful food - what more could a reader want?

[Simon S]

I really like Susan Hills crime fiction, I think what she has done with those if fabulous, even if you dont always get the ending you want which infuriated me and then I thought - oh how true to life and found it very clever. My guilty pleasure is Tess Gerritsen, its just dive in and divulge and read 500 pages in an afternoon griiping stuff. For fun crime another guilty read are any of the Agatha Raisin series! I want to try P.D James and Henning Mankell, I have a problem with haveing to read series in the right order! Oh, oh, oh and one of my new favourite crime writers is Sophie Hannah, chilling and with twists and a sudden bite you dont expect!

[Dark Puss]

I'll suggest a few more:

Patricia Highsmith The Talented Mr Ripley
Natsuo Kurino Out

and I have liked very many of the Inspector Maigret books by Simenon (one of my father's favourites). Perhaps he is not so popular now as I almost never see his work mentioned.