The Outlandish Companion - Diana Gabaldon [317]
Lindsey Davis
A different series set in ancient Rome, featuring Marcus Didius Falco, a fourth-century B.C. gumshoe, and his girlfriend, the Lady Helena Justina. Much lighter than Saylor’s books, and a matter of taste; many people like the spoofing modern tone, some don’t.
Sharan Newman
The Catherine LeVendeur series (four books so far) is set in medieval France. Engaging characters, with a sense of humor and a strong sense of the times.
Walter Satterthwait
Walter has a contemporary mystery series, which is excellent, but has also written a couple of single title historical mysteries. One of these—Wilde West—is unfortunately out of print, but worth looking for; it features Oscar Wilde as detective. Two more recent mysteries, Escapade (with Harry Houdini), and Masquerade, feature Beaumont, a Pinkerton operative.
Dorothy L. Sayers
One of the writers who was an important influence on my own writing. While not originally written as “historical” mysteries—they were contemporary, at the time—the Lord Peter Wimsey mysteries are some of the best, in terms of evocation of social and physical ambiance, rich, three-dimensional characters, engaging plots, and what my husband refers to as Deep Meaning (i.e., moral questions with implications that go beyond the immediate story. “Does this have lots of Deep Meaning?” he asks, when I give him a new excerpt to read).
CONTEMPORARY FICTION
Sharyn McCrumb
The Appalachian series:
If Ever I Return, Pretty Peggy-0
The Hangman’s Beautiful Daughter
She Walks These Hills
The Rosewood Casket
The Ballad of Frankie Silver
McCrumb has a series of light contemporary mysteries, which I also like, but I particularly recommend the “ballad” novels, set in modern-day Appalachia, but with strong roots in the past of that region.
Dana Stabenow
Stabenow’s mysteries are well plotted, and star a fascinating central character—Kate Shugak, an Aleut investigator, living on her own homestead in Alaska—but are included here because of their skill in showing both the details and the emotions of a different culture.
Reginald Hill
One of the best of the contemporary British crime writers. Hill has two series, and a few single titles; I like them all, but am fondest of his Pascoe and Dalziel books, and his most recent series, starring Joe Sixsmith.
SCOTTISH FICTION
Iain Banks
The Crow Road Complicity Feersum Endjinn The Wasp Factory
Banks’s other books are probably good, too—he’s one of the most popular modern Scottish writers—but these are the ones I’ve read so far and can personally recommend. Some of Banks’s books are classified as science fiction, others as fiction. He has a wide range of style and character, and is an immensely talented writer.
M. C. Beaton
The series dealing with Hamish Macbeth is very light, quick reading, but with considerable charm and a sense of affection for the long, lanky, red-haired Highland policeman who is its hero.
William McIlvanney
At the other end of the literary scale, three of McIlvanney’s four books are about a Glasgow policeman, John Laidlaw (the fourth, The Kiln, is an autobiographical novel—also very good). Very lyrical, very gritty; not an easy combination to pull off. Very Scottish, too.
John Buchan
John Macnab Witch Wood
Classic Scottish tales.
D. K. Broster The Jacobite Trilogy
Three interlinked novels, set in and around the ’45.
John Greig The Return of John Macnab
A new telling of the Buchan tale; that is, a different (contemporary) story, but based on—and exploring some of the same issues as—the original John Macnab.
Irvine Welsh
Trainspotting
Marabou Stork Nightmares The Acid House Ecstasy Filth
Irvine Welsh is not for the weak. These books are simultaneously horrifying and hilarious. Also heart-wrenching. Trainspotting, Filth (and parts of Marabou), in addition, are written entirely in a heavy Edinburgh dialect, which some readers might find heavy going.
Ian Rankin
Knots and Crosses
Wolfman
Strip Jack
The Black Book
Mortal Causes
Black and Blue
The Hanging