We know many readers love crime fiction because they love to follow the exploits of a strong lead character. Characters like Poirot, Miss Marple or Rebus, but have you dipped your toe into the world of some more recent unforgettable and fascinating creations? Maxim Jakubowski, a new resident ‘expert voice’ to the Lovereading team has picked his favourite eight. Read on to set your heart and mind racing.
Who is Maxim Jakubowski?
We’re pleased to welcome a new Lovereading team-member, to join Sarah Broadhurst and Julia Eccleshare as another expert voice, helping you dig beyond the obvious best-sellers to find your next great read. Maxim Jakubowski, who set up one of the UK best crime book shops, Murder One, has reviewed books for Timeout and The Guardian for many years, makes his Lovereading debut by recommending you the very best new crime series characters. Read on to find out more.
A word from Maxim on his favourite crime dectectives
Nothing delights the reader of mystery and thriller books more than a strong recurring character. Once you come across a hero (or heroine) that you take a liking too, you want to follow them through new adventures and investigations, test their abilities to overcome peril, empathise with their troubled life, get under their skin. Maybe you even identify with them on occasions.
But there are so many on offer; where to begin?
Here is an initial selection that I hope will satisfy any criminal appetite. A blend of crime and thrillers, contemporary and historical, dark and gripping as well as sometimes even humorous, cops and amateur sleuths and sleuthettes, private eyes, spies and adventurers. All unforgettable and fascinating characters made of flesh and blood whose stories will resonate with you long after you’ve closed the book and that you will want to follow for years to come, as all these current series are still ongoing. I can guarantee they will become your new favourites.
Mark Billingham – DI Tom Thorne; a dogged London cop whose beat somehow invariably crosses into the dark side and confronts evil at its cleverest. DEATH MESSAGE is the 7th in the series, and BLOOD LINE appears next in August.
John Connolly – Charlie Parker; the travails of a haunted American detective whose past always catches up with him as he hunts down fiendish killers. Poetic and sometimes supernatural ambience. THE REAPERS marks his latest appearance. THE LOVERS comes next in July.
Brian Freeman – Lieutenant Jonathan Stride; a small town American cop with a troubled love life whose investigations are invariably complex and gripping as he confronts scheming killers with a wild imagination. THE WATCHER is the 4th in the series, with THE BURYING PLACE out in September.
Mo Hayder – DI Jack Caffery; a London cop in self-exile in Bristol who is running from his past, now working in tandem with a local female police diver. Not for the faint-hearted, a series that explores the heart of darkness and chills to the bones. SKIN is the 4th in the series.
Graham Hurley – Joe Faraday; the investigations of a Portsmouth cop and a fascinating look into crime on the British coast. If you like Ian Rankin’s Rebus, this should be your next step. NO LOVELIER DEATH is the 9th book in the Faraday series.
Philip Kerr – Bernie Gunther; a German cop who has moved from the Nazi 1930s to the post-war period, with mixed loyalties but a strong sense of duty which often gets him into trouble. A QUIET FLAME was his 5th outing and IF THE DEAD RISE NOT appears next in September.
Elizabeth Peters – Amelia Peabody; the most entertaining Egyptian adventures of an American suffragette and archaeologist; a younger Miss Marple with a sense of humour and a taste for a good fight. You read one and you want to read them all. TOMB OF THE GOLDEN BIRD is the 18th in the series.
Malcolm Pryce – Louie Knight; the madcap and often poignant adventures of the only private eye in Aberystwyth. As if Monty Python had met Chandler’s Philip Marlowe. Affectionate and quite unique in tone and plotting and a sheer delight. FROM ABERYSTWYTH WITH LOVE is the 5th in the series.
Peter C :: May.04.2009 ::
General Book News ::
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