Great Crime Sleuths
selected by crime aficionado
Maxim Jakubowski
Great Male Sleuths 2012
So, you've read all the Hercule Poirot meticulous investigations and you've roamed the dark streets with Philip Marlowe, and continued your criminal journey with James Lee Burke's Dave Robicheaux, Mark Billingham's Thorne, Peter Robinson's Inspector Banks, Inspector Morse, Peter James' Roy Grace and countless other hardy detectives both on the page and on TV and you still want more?
Well, no need to fret, the world of crime and mystery fiction is still full of untold treasures and sleuths in every colour of the rainbow, from enduring cops to accidental everymen on a necessary course of discovery, from private eyes with a rapid repartee to dour loners with a deep set hankering for the truth and justice, from avengers to spectators, from plodders to action men.
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Maxim has compiled the Mammoth Book of Best British Crime, a must have anthology of the best short crime fiction. Click here to find out more.
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The following palette of detectives might not be as familiar to the reader quite yet, but each one is unique and fascinating, demonstrating with bravura that finding out whodunit is just the tip of the imaginative iceberg.
DR DAVID HUNTER - The Calling of the Grave by Simon Beckett
DC NICK BELSEY - The Hollow Man by Oliver Harris
DC BEN COOPER & DS DIANE FRY - The Devil's Edge by Stephen Booth
JOE PICKETT - Nowhere to Run by C.J. Box
LOGAN McRAE - Dark Blood by Stuart MacBride
BLOTTO AND TWINKS - Blotto, Twinks and the Ex-King's Daughter by Simon Brett
INSPECTOR GHOTE - The Perfect Murder by H.R.F. Keating
DETECTIVE ARCHIE SHERIDAN - The Night Season by Chelsea Cain
MAGNUS JONSON - Where the Shadows Lie by Michael Ridpath
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Click here To view previous Great Crime Sleuths...
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Maxim Jakubowski's
Great Female Sleuths 2011
We all know that the female of the species can often be the deadliest of
them all, or, at any rate, when it comes to crime and mystery writing,
the more intelligent and assiduous sleuth. Or should I even venture to
say 'sleuthette'.
On the hallowed ground trodden by Miss Marple, a cohort of lady investigators have followed with brilliance and determination and have thrilled generations of readers of both genders: Kinsey Milhone (Sue Grafton), V.I. Warshawski (Sara Paretsky), Anna Lee (Liza Cody), Mama Ramotswe (Alexander McCall Smith), Sharon McCone (Marcia Muller), Kay Scarpetta (Patricia Cornwell), Temperance Brennan (Kathy Reichs) and Kate Brannigan (Val McDermid) proving empowering pioneers. With feisty heroines like these who needs the guys?
But there are more heroic heroines emerging from the crime scene. And all well worth a detour, and not just for their looks!
DC MAEVE KERRIGAN - The Reckoning by Jane Casey
RUTH GALLOWAY - The House at Sea's End by Elly Griffith
D.I. VERA STANHOPE - Silent Voices by Ann Cleeve
DI GERALDINE STEEL - Dead End by Leigh Russell
ELLIE HATCHER - City of Lies by Alafair Burke
MAGGIE O'DELL - Damaged by Alex Kava
ALEXANDRA COOPER - Hell Gate by Linda Fairstein
JO BECKETT - The Liar's Lullaby by Meg Gardiner
JANE RIZZOLI & MAURA ISLES - The Killing Place by Tess Gerritsen
SERGEANT GUNNHILDUR - Frozen Out by Quentin Bate
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