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Jenny
07-15-2005, 07:21 PM
I had to share my latest reading experience!

My favorite 2 types of books to read are romance (like Harlequin, Silhouettes, etc) for really easy, non-thinking books, and detective/police/PI type mysteries. I love authors like:

John Sandford (He writes "_____ Prey" books. A terrific series starring Lucas Davenport, police detective and war games designer in Minneapolis, Minnesota.)

Jonathon & Faye Kellerman (Alex Delaware, child psychologist in Los Angeles, California from him and Peter Decker, LAPD detective and Rina Lazarus, his wife in Los Angeles, California from her)

James Patterson (2 series that I love from him: Lindsay Boxer, homicide inspector; Cindy Thomas, reporter; Jill Bernhardt, assistant District Attorney and Claire Washburn, medical examiner, founding members of The Women's Murder Club in San Francisco, California. And Alex Cross, psychiatrist and homicide cop in Washington D.C. (2 of those have been made into movies starring Morgan Freeman as Alex Cross)

Janet Evanovich (her books are HYSTERICALLY funny as well. Stephanie Plum, bounty hunter in Trenton, New Jersey is so damn funny I tend to nearly wet my pants when reading them. Definitely Laugh Out Loud books. and Max Holt, a young genius, animal rights activist and Jamie Swift, an editor of a newspaper in Beaumont, South Carolina. Those are fantastic, too. I've read all but one of them and I need to add it to my list. heh)

Recently got turned on to Robert Crais. He writes Elvis Cole & Joe Pike, a pair of Hollywood private eyes in Los Angeles, California and I just went back and started from the beginning, since I'd only read one of them later in the series and wanted all the back stuff.

The last one is Sue Grafton, who writes about Kinsey Millhone, sassy private eye in Santa Teresa, California. She does what readers call the Alphabet Series. A is for Alibi, B is for Burglary, all the way to the latest being R is for Ricochet. As I was writing this, I checked and S is for Silence is coming out in December. Yay. I've been addicted to her for YEARS. I have been reading them since high school. Shortly after Scott & I got married, we started listening to them on tape/cd and we love them.

Currently I'm reading Stephen Solomita, who writes about Stanley Moodrow, a cop turned private eye in New York, New York (altho I'm only on book # 2, so he's still a cop). Pretty good. Little bit rougher than most of the others but definitely worth the read.

But the reason I started this post (not intending it to be hours long) is because of the great experience I am having with a new (to me) author. J.A. Jance writes about J. P. Beaumont, homicide detective in Seattle, Washington. She has 2 other series as well, but this is the one I'm currently reading. I had never read them so I started at the beginning when the book "Sentenced to Die" came out recently. It has the first 3 books combined into 1 big book and I loved it. I was on the waiting list for the 6th one for weeks, and just got it this week. So as soon as I finish the one I'm currently reading, I'm gonna dive right in.

Anyway, I emailed J.A. Jance the other day, saying how much I loved her books and how much they had immediately drawn me in, and not 45 minutes later, I received a personal reply from her, thanking me for the email and making a joke about how people have told her that her books are like Pringles, where you can't eat just one. I was really impressed that she had gotten back to me that quickly!

Hope this has turned you on to some possibly new authors! If you have any suggestions on someone else I might like, please post it!! :D

Kevster
07-15-2005, 07:28 PM
I'm reading 'The Big Nowhere' by James Ellroy right now. It is not one of those easy non-thinking novels, but I enjoy these kinds of stories. He also wrote L.A. Confidential, which was a fantastic book I just finished and a bit more complex than the excellent movie that was based on it (you can only do so much with 2-2 1/2 hours).

RIVERWIDOW
07-15-2005, 07:45 PM
Nora Roberts writing as J.D. Robb. Great books- set in 2050+. I have read every book Nora Roberts has ever written and all the JD Robb books. She is really good at trilogies. She likes to write alot of books with either Irish or Scottish characters. A++++ :)

Freelance Superhero
07-15-2005, 07:48 PM
I'm reading 'The Big Nowhere' by James Ellroy right now. It is not one of those easy non-thinking novels, but I enjoy these kinds of stories. He also wrote L.A. Confidential, which was a fantastic book I just finished and a bit more complex than the excellent movie that was based on it (you can only do so much with 2-2 1/2 hours).i second james ellroy. to be honest, he's the only writer i know of in the genre...

Jenny
07-15-2005, 08:07 PM
Nora Roberts writing as J.D. Robb. Great books- set in 2050+. I have read every book Nora Roberts has ever written and all the JD Robb books. She is really good at trilogies. She likes to write alot of books with either Irish or Scottish characters. A++++ :)


Oh oh oh! I completely forgot. I had her down on my list and in my editing process, must have erased it! 2 thumbs up!

Jenny
07-16-2005, 12:46 PM
YAY! My copy of J.D. Robb's latest, Origin in Death, that I had put a reserve on at the library was ready and we just picked it up. Fantastic! :D

ArkiStan
07-18-2005, 05:37 AM
These were big a little while back. I got a few for my GF and she really liked 'em. Have you read any Jenny? Rather than relying on hollywood-ish suspense or glamorous prose, the author pays a down-to-earth homage to the classic sleuth mystery. Good light reads~

The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency by Alexander McCall Smith
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/1400034779/qid=1121690104/sr=8-1/ref=pd_bbs_1/104-3175041-9698316?v=glance&s=books&n=507846

Jenny
07-18-2005, 09:20 AM
Hmm, no, never heard of em. I'll try it, thanks!