aka Romans Policiers as I think they are known over here.
It all started with Agatha Christie in early teenage years really. I was hooked on the twists and turns, the surprises, these books were all so well written. And there were plenty at home (though my Dad was also/mostly an Exbrayat fan, but I think I’ve only ever read one from him). A few early favourites were Le Crime de L’Orient-Express, Dix Petits Nègres (which I believe has now been renamed…), Meurtre sur le Nil, Les Quatre. I read quite a few then. And then I read other things and I think for many years I didn’t read much again (but don’t quote me on that, maybe I read books but don’t associate those years with reading books), and then much much much later, I started to read her books again, this time in English, starting from the first and progressing. But then I got into other books, met someone who got me into more modern crime fiction, and so I read from quite a few authors as recommended by her, and these are most of the ones I mentioned below. Because I ery much enjoyed them.
Next up, and I don’t know if she totally qualifies as a crime fiction writer, as her books also cover specific themes, or maybe ‘psychological thrillers’, etc, is Arlene Hunt. Who also happened to be Mrs Arseblog, which is how I first encountered her works obviously. But I thoroughly enjoyed her books, very very well written page-turners in the main, and they often leave a few things/questions pending at the end. I have a special fondness for the first few, starting with Vicious Circle (maybe the best ending?), and the QuicK series. There’s maybe a couple of her books I found personally a little less enjoyable (I found The Chosen a difficult read), but the (to date) latest two picked up again, and While She Sleeps finds her back to her best in my opinion, I really really appreciated that one.
Ian Rankin’s Rebus series is always very enjoyable and has a lot of music references (many of the books are actually named after famous songs).
Jo Nesbo‘s Inspector Harry Hole novels are also modern classics, and incidentally, I also bought an album on the back of one of this novel (though it was an album by Beach House, so I did own works from them before). Some of his other non HH novels are also worth a read, like his reinterpretation of Macbeth.
For all the (over the top in my opinion) controversy about some of her opinions and especially in that third novel under the pseudonym of Robert Galbraith, I found J.K. Rowling’s Cormoran Strikes novels a good read. [2026 update: now after book 8, I found myself just too irritated in the non-plot parts in the later books, think that’s the end for me, makes me slightly uncomfortable and is not that interesting in terms of characters dynamics in my opinion]
Lesser known, discovered through other people, but just as enjoyable or more, works by Robert Bryndza and Isabelle Grey get my vote.
And I am currently slowly working my way through the Inspector Banks series from the very recently deceased Peter Robinson. All excellent so far. The characters analysis are very interesting too, and Banks himself is just an excellently rich persona. [finished the whole lot a while ago now, all very good, so also checked his non Banks books and most are equally as good]
I thought I had mentioned Mark Billingham but I see I hadn’t. Well I had only read one book from the Inspector Thorpe series. Not bad, but maybe I was put off by the main character being a Spurs fan. Anyway, so earlier this year [2026] I found myself at WHSmith at St Pancras, looking to see if I could find a book to read as I had run out of books, and checked his section and managed to pick a book that wasn’t part of that Thorpe series. And so I got hold of Rabbit Hole. Maybe I was also attracted by the fact it was taking place in a psychiatric hospital, though I’m not sure it was that conscious, only on starting to read did I appreciate that. So a few memories and points of comparisons made it interesting to me, not sure all of it was realistic though. The plot itself is kind of interesting, though the ‘epilogue’ or post-conclusion once the murders are successfully resolveld (in a not totally unexpected twist, I wouldn’t have him as a master) feels a bit excessive to me. Why? Because while I wholly believe that to an extreme, you can suggest to someone that they were guilty of something by insinuating lots of doubts in an already troubled mind, I am fairly skeptical about the ability to convince someone that they filled that role in places they hadn’t even been, in situations that they weren’t even peripherally part of. Sure I’m not an expert, but I think that’s really stretching it.