Crime, Thrillers, Horror and Mystery Recommendations

Bighuey · Post by **Bighuey** » 07 Aug 2011, 19:57

Fran wrote:
Bighuey wrote:
Fran wrote: I remember ages ago watching a documentary about the making of Casablanca and it was amazing the amount of effort and detail that went into coordinating the wardrobes for Bacall & Bogart ... I mean the movie is in black & white! It was a real 'nerds' prog but absolutely fascinating.
Nowadays they wear so little I guess they don't have a lot to work with most of the time ... expect for The Devil Wears Prada!
I like those old B+W film noir movies like the ones with Alan Ladd and Veronica Lake. My daughter wont watch B+W movies, she says they are out of date and for old farts like me. But some of them wouldnt be good in color.
I love the old b & w movies ... real actors IMO. Great late at night or on a wet Sunday afternoon in November

I guess Im old and obsolete but they dont make movies like they used to. I buy a lot of movies and maybe 1 out of 10 is halfway decent. Theres no superstars anymore like John Wayne, Spencer Tracy, Kirk Douglas, Burt Lancaster and Clark Gable. The women were more glamorous back then, too. Olivia DeHavland, Judy Garland, Lana Turner, she oozed sex, as did Ava Gardner and even Angela Lansbury was a living doll before she got old and ugly. I dont know, maybe I live in the past too much.

Pigs on the Wing · Post by **Pigs on the Wing** » 08 Aug 2011, 10:03

I really, really, really, really want to read The Godfather because it is my favourite movie of all time so I would absolutely LOVE to read the book it was based on!

Bighuey · Post by **Bighuey** » 08 Aug 2011, 10:24

Pigs on the Wing wrote:I really, really, really, really want to read The Godfather because it is my favourite movie of all time so I would absolutely LOVE to read the book it was based on!

You will definetly like the book, it is 10 times better than the movie. I read the book before I saw the movie and I was dissapointed with the movie. Not that the movie is not good, it is a good movie. Its just that the book is so much better.

Fran · Post by **Fran** » 08 Aug 2011, 12:11

@Pigs on the Wing

I agree 100% with Bighuey ... a fantastic book you will love it. And I agree on the movie too ... one of the ones they got right.

Pigs on the Wing · Post by **Pigs on the Wing** » 08 Aug 2011, 12:26

Well then the next time I have the chance I will be 100% sure to pick it up

Dooberry · Post by **Dooberry** » 12 Aug 2011, 19:48

i have been reading mostly patterson and kellerman and was just looking for some suggestions for something different that i wouldnt normally pick up any ideas please

Bighuey · Post by **Bighuey** » 12 Aug 2011, 21:47

Dooberry wrote:i have been reading mostly patterson and kellerman and was just looking for some suggestions for something different that i wouldnt normally pick up any ideas please

What exactly are you looking for? Mysteries, or thrillers?

Fran · Post by **Fran** » 13 Aug 2011, 04:41

Dooberry wrote:i have been reading mostly patterson and kellerman and was just looking for some suggestions for something different that i wouldnt normally pick up any ideas please

You might try C J Sansom ... his Shardlake series feature a lawyer turned investigator but with the twist that the setting is Tudor England which means of course we're talking pre DNA, Fingerprinting & all that CSI stuff.

I think there are about 5 books in the Shardlake series but they are individual books and do not need to be read as a series. I finished his Heartstone last week and loved it. He reminds me somewhat of Ken Follett's style.

Dooberry · Post by **Dooberry** » 13 Aug 2011, 08:50

im looking for new crime and mystery bighuey just trying to find books i wouldnt normally read im open to any suggestions you might have thanks.and thanks to fran ill try those they sound up my street much appreciated.

Bighuey · Post by **Bighuey** » 13 Aug 2011, 09:04

Im not too familiar with the newer authors but if you like the older stuff you might check out Agatha Christie, Mary Roberts Rinehart, Mickey Spillane, Richard S. Prather's Shell Scott books, Ed Mcbain who wrote the 87th Precinct books. Those are some of my favorite crime books.

Maud Fitch · Post by **Maud Fitch** » 13 Aug 2011, 09:42

"Bones" is based on Kathy Reich's Temperance Brennan novels and I can recommend them, great crime stories, better than the TV version.

Noseinbooks · Post by **Noseinbooks** » 23 Aug 2011, 09:43

Maud Fitch wrote:
Geili001 wrote:Just finished True Blue by Baldacci-pretty good.
I've read "Last Man Standing" by David Baldacci and enjoyed it, too.

Just read a brilliant article in The Wall Street Journal about ageing detectives in crime fiction whom avid readers refuse to let go, even when they hit retirement.

Entitled “The (Really) Long Goodbye” with sub-heading “He's got a gun, a badge—and rheumatoid arthritis. The iconic detectives of best-selling authors from Michael Connelly to Ruth Rendell are fighting a new foe: old age” and this is causing concern for some of their creators:

Michael Connelly - LA homicide detective Harry Bosch will be 60.

Lee Child - laconic drifter Jack Reacher has stopped the clock in his mid-40s.

Their age doesn’t bother me but maybe a younger assistant or a ‘cold case’ or two will come their way. Even possible knee-replacement surgery as a result of those foot chases! Any comments?

(Reference: WSJ, 1st July 2011, Alexandra Alter).

I am absolutely in love with these two "old timers". I am 22 and Michael Connelly and Lee Child are two of my favourite authors. I love that their characters, Bosch and Reacher, are mature and still feel they have something to prove. It is their minds that I am interested in anyway, rather than their ageing bodies!

For any Lee Child fans I would definitely recommend 'Killing Floor', its like a prequel/introduction to Jack. I read it over two train journeys.

Barbarabillig · Post by **Barbarabillig** » 25 Aug 2011, 17:47

Indie novelist, Terry Callister, is an engrossing writer with his first novel. The tale he spins shows he himself to be a world traveler and a profound thinker.

Starting out in an American setting, he has woven his tale around the idea of Communism making an ideological terrorist comeback. His protaganist character, David Levy, is handsome, an educated banker, successful in his career, and in his past life, special forces in the military. His Japanese banker associate,Yi, informs him that he has seen a copy of a memo and has evidence that Peru's banking system is systematically being squeezed out of the credit market and set up to fail, bankrupting the country. Soon Yi is dead and as David investigates, he finds himself a target to be killed.

The story progresses to England, Hong Kong, the Phillipines, Canada, and finally back to the United States. David Levy's adventures are full of cultural nuggets of wisdom – why the far eastern dope trade is so successful, the standard greetings of the English versus the Americans – thoughts on the unfairness of democracy versus communism – media fairness and accuracy. But the action never stops in this adventure novel. David Levy and Jackie Lean, the widow of his best friend, twist and turn their way around the world, barely escaping asassination attempts as they try to unravel the plot against the United States and ultimately the world's freedom.

This book is a great read AND thought provoking. The plot is imaginative and refreshingly new. The writing is rich in texture and words.

Harry64 · Post by **Harry64** » 26 Aug 2011, 12:42

ideaman wrote:I just read Lee Child's Persuader. It was okay, kind of dark, but at the end I wondered why I had read it. Didn't leave a good feeling. It was a good read though. Are any of his other books better?

In my view all of the Lee Child books are 1st class reads.
Try others in the "Jack Reacher" series, feel sure you will become a fan.

The next book is being published at the end of September. "The Affair"

GoodBookGuru · Post by **GoodBookGuru** » 02 Sep 2011, 12:06

For those of you who like crime novels that integrate wholesome, real-life courtroom experience, "D.A. Diaries" by Kenneth Eichner is a refreshing read.

It is about a homicide prosecutor, Clay, who is assigned to a high-profile case in Washington D.C. Throughout the case, Clay's personal life becomes more complicated and he becomes reconnected with an important love interest. The complexity of Clay's life becomes more apparent as the complexity of the case unfolds and pretty soon everyone seems like a suspect.

This book intrigued me because the storyline just kind of sucked me in and the characters were extremely real. Eichner is a prosecutor himself so it was interesting to read a work of fiction that had some experience to it. I got it for my Kindle, which was convenient, and definitely recommend it as an entertaining fall read.