Here are some informed suggestions along the lines of ‘if you like writer A, you should investigate writer B'. This does not mean that the authors in question are imitators; far from it! But you will find that they work in a similar mood and/or genre, and evoke some of the same reading pleasures and are likely to satisfy your thirst for outstanding crime and mystery tales. And the same of course applies in reverse should you somehow have missed out on some of the genre’s biggest talents, by mere omission or because you had somehow gained the wrong impression from word of mouth or reviews about what they write.

Like Raymond Chandler; Read Michael Connelly
Both these American master storytellers principally write about Los Angeles and its boulevards of broken dreams and toil in the so-called hardboiled streets. Their respective heroes, Philip Marlowe and Harry Bosch act as avenging knights decades apart but the sense of anger at corruption and the spread of evil is the same. Click here to read more...

Like Dashiell Hammett; read Tony Black
Hammett back in the 1930s brought a darkness and suitably complex characters to crime and mystery books, where Sam Spade’s or the Continental Op’s personalities and emotional heritage was as important as the plots they became involved in. Tony Black’s Gus Dury is an Edinburgh journalist whose life has been destroyed and, through involuntary crime investigations, is being rebuilt piece by piece. Click here to read more...

Like James Lee Burke; read John Connolly
Few crime writers flirt with the supernatural, as its essence basically denies some of the major rules of mystery writing, but both Burke and Connolly do so and you never feel cheated. Burke’s Louisiana investigator Dave Robicheaux talks with the dead, while Connolly’s mourning cop Charlie Parker lives with the ghosts of his past. Click here to read more...

Like Sara Paretsky; read Tara Moss
Alongside Sue Grafton and Marcia Muller, Paretsky created the modern archetype of the modern female detective: V.I. Warshawski roams the mean Chicago streets with a feminist sense of righteousness, anger and fallibility and has inspired countless other authors and characters. Click here to read more...

Like Martina Cole; read Mark Timlin
The effervescent Martina Cole has established a new genre of empowered, strong female-led crime books that has taken her to the top of the bestseller lists, but she is also one of the best chroniclers of modern London and its suburbs and much of the reason for her success is the way the places she writes about are familiar to her readers. Click here to read more...