What are you reading in 2024?

[Cadence]

I think I got through the last of those I hadn't previously read over last summer. They're fine, and kind of an interesting (if slightly distorted) window into the time period they're set in, but I definitely preferred the short stories to the novels. The latter overstayed their welcome for me a bit. Probably did not help that I got them in a whole box of mysteries that included a fair few Rex Stout books and a nearly complete run of Ngaio Marsh, and Sayers does not compare very well to either of them IMO.

I have the full run of Nero Wolfe on the shelf behind me (two full read throughs so far and follow the Wofle Pack on social media) and just finished Ngaio Marsh last month

Before Marsh I did Josephine Tey. I thought Ms. Pym Disposes and Franchise Affair were absolutely spectacular, but I didn't like her Inspector Grant* ones nearly as much as the later Alleyn ones by Marsh (although Tey tries some non-standard-for-the-genre things). I've also tried Dashiell Hammett (including Maltese Falcon), but it hasn't sucked me in.


* Franchise Affair isn't really a Grant one as he is just a background character in it.

 

[Wofano Wotanto]

Ooh. I have not. Thank you!

Hope you enjoy it. I suspect it doesn't get more buzz because it may be getting mis-categorized as YA scifi, which it really isn't. A teen certainly could read and enjoy it, and the protags are fairly young and have to deal with older characters (the ship's ranking officers) as opposition figures, but it's serious speculative fiction with reasonably firm science and none of the angsty YA stuff in sight. The plot is involved and twisty enough to occupy an adult all by itself, and that's without unpacking unearthly cultural norms that really never get an explicit exposition dump explaining them.

I have the full run of Nero Wolfe on the shelf behind me (two full read throughs so far and follow the Wofle Pack on social media)

I've lost count of Stout re-reads over the years. Tend to grab a Wolfe book whenever I feel the need to read some really well-written dialog. Just plain a soothing comfort read at this point, like Wodehouse or Jack Vance. Although I do wish Dol Bonner had gotten more page time. She deserved more than one novel of her own.

I've also tried Dashiell Hammett (including Maltese Falcon), but it hasn't sucked me in.

Big fan personally, although I slightly prefer Raymond Chandler in that sub-sub-sub-genre. Almost mandatory reading for mystery buffs and fans of crime/detective pulp, of which I am both.

 

[dragoner]

Red Harvest is my favorite Hammett.

 

[prabe]

That reader senior year of high school also had Repent Harlequin and Omelas, so maybe I will do Ellison and Le Guin short stories next.

You could do much worse. I don't exactly disagree with @Autumnal about some of Ellison's stories not aging as well as others, or with the recommendation you pace yourself with them, but the thumbnail description of him as "an naughty word who wrote like a dream" is spot-on. I haven't done any deep reading of Le Guin, but I have no doubt her reputation is well-earned.

 

[Irlo]

I’m three stories in and already emotionally gut-punched three times.

The first story was co-authored by Jay Lake. I didn’t have the direct pleasure, but he was a friend-of-a-friend. I was invited to his pre-mortem wake but am incredibly bad with funeral-adjacent things, so missed it. I regret not going. Great story, too.

The second story focuses on the last days of the Spanish Civil War, an event I am incredibly fond of studying. The piece features two Republicans and their tank named Don Quixote. Wonderful story with a painful end.

And the third piece in the anthology is the fantastic and emotionally-captivating story of a dying Russian sniper in hospital.

Damn. I wish I’d heard of and read this so much sooner. Great stuff so far.

Based on your review, I ordered this book this morning.

 

[overgeeked]

Based on your review, I ordered this book this morning.

Wow. Hope you dig it as much as I am.

I’m halfway into the fourth story and it’s another gut punch. Won’t spoil it, or any others. The anthology is worth the cover price just for these four. And there’s 17 more to go. Man. I hope the rest hold up to the quality so far. Because…damn.

 

[Irlo]

Wow. Hope you dig it as much as I am.

I’m halfway into the fourth story and it’s another gut punch. Won’t spoil it, or any others. The anthology is worth the cover price just for these four. And there’s 17 more to go. Man. I hope the rest hold up to the quality so far. Because…damn.

I love gut-punch short stories, and this is a genre I'm not more than passingly familiar with. Looking forward to it.

 

[Eyes of Nine]

I've lost count of Stout re-reads over the years. Tend to grab a Wolfe book whenever I feel the need to read some really well-written dialog. Just plain a soothing comfort read at this point, like Wodehouse or Jack Vance. Although I do wish Dol Bonner had gotten more page time. She deserved more than one novel of her own.

I've read probably all the Wolfe books over the years, but never did a dedicated read-through. Same with Christie (Poirot and Marple) and Marsh (Alleyn) - read all; but not in any sort of organized fashion. I did read all the Wimsey novels in publication order, and while I enjoyed, don't feel the need to re-read in the near future, if ever

I've added Allingham, Dickson Carr, and Simenon to my list of classic mystery authors to try to track down (many of their books sadly are not carried by the local library system). I'm going to try 2 novels of each and hope for the best - maybe one will hook me

I didn't like Man in the Queue by Tey and doubt I'll read any more of hers

Also! If folks have never read The Floating Admiral, it was an interesting experiment and includes a chapter by both Christie and Sayers. I read it in my early 20's, and as would be expected found it uneven and disjointed. Probably I should read again having read much more of Christie and Sayer's respective oeuvres. Although it might be even more interesting if I read the work of the other authors as well to get a sense of their authorial fingerprints (pun intended...?)

The Floating Admiral - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

And hey, if we're on the topic of mystery novels, here are 4 modern series that I really like, in order of my likeyness:

Author - Character(s)
Louise Penny - Armand Gamache
Jacqueline Winspear - Maisie Dobbs
Elizabeth George - Inspector Lynley/Sgt Havers
Deborah Crombie - Duncan Kincaid/Gemma James

 

[Wofano Wotanto]

Much the same - I'm not one for organized full read-throughs on bigger mystery authors, it's enough trouble just getting everything (or was, before e-books). Read them as I could get them as a kid, mostly, which led to occasional jarring temporal glitch like Archie dealing with Hoover's FBI in one book and then being in Army intelligence during WW2, or Alleyn & Whimsey's being married, then suddenly single. Still, relative few are sequential enough to spoil anything - the big one is probably A Family Affair from Stout, which you don't want to read early on. Probably also better to read his Too Many Cooks before A Right To Die too, and ignore the mains' increasingly apparent immortality - no doubt derived from that formula Lord Greystoke uses. There must be a fanfic where Wolfe and Archie get Tarzan or Jane off on a murder rap while they're visiting NYC or something.

If you want a couple of more series to consider, I enjoyed Barbara Hambly's Benjamin January novels (grim as their time period is), although their mystery elements are sometimes a bit of a sideshow to the setting and character development. Of course she also wrote a fair bit of quite decent and often atypical fantasy in her earlier days, of which the Darwath series was my favorite. Still strange to me that she's known mostly as a mystery writer these days.

I'd also suggest looking at Robert van Gulik's Judge Dee stories, both the English translation of the original 18th century Cases of Judge Dee (or Di, if you prefer) and his numerous self-written sequels to it. While he obviously wasn't Chinese, van Gulik is respectful of the historical culture he's drawing upon and pastiches the style of historical novel pretty effectively while adapting the writing style and plot structure to be more accessible to "modern" (ie 1960s, so almost 70 years ago - this stuff isn't perfectly PC, obviously) English readers. Interesting albeit fictionalized look at Tang Dynasty China and the Confucian justice system, if nothing else. Just don't go into it expecting a supernatural SFX show like the modern movies you may have seen. None of that to be found here.

 

[WayneLigon]

Last several things I read:

The White Ribbon and the Heart of the Night (The Signalverse) -- Nelson, Blake Michael - Nice sequel the previous White Ribbon book
Cave 13 (Rogue Team International Series, 3) - Maberry, Jonathan - Excellent as always
Saevus Corax Deals With the Dead (The Corax trilogy, 1) - Parker, K. J.
Evil Is a Matter of Perspective - Ed. Tchaikovsky, Adrian - short story collection
Spook Street (Slough House) - Herron, Mick
The Institute: A Novel - King, Stephen
Real Tigers (Slough House) - Herron, Mick
Spider-Man: The Darkest Hours: The Darkest Hours -- Butcher, Jim
The King Must Fall - ed. Tchaikovsky, Adrian - - short story collection
Red River Seven -- Ryan, A. J.

The Slough House series is a major departure for me, reading straight espionage, but the writing style and characters keep drawing me back. Something to consider: Don't get really attached to anyone.