Registered: Dec 2003
Location: a constant state of wrath
Posts: 1284

Paint,

I think a while back, you were asking for suggestions on light reading detective/crime novels. I suggested Michael Connelly. I just picked up Lost Light & it made me think of you, since it heavily features the Patriot Act/Homeland Security gone awry.

This book is the sixth or seventh in a series of crime novels with the protagonist being a cop named Hieronymous Bosche. His stories are usually pretty good. One step up from Grisham, though, admittedly that is not saying much.

-- tj

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Registered: Jul 2000
Location: Location Location
Posts: 26415

Awesome. Thanks, I've been meaning to start this thread myself.

I'm looking less in the Grisham vien and more in the Elmore Leonard, Raymond Chandler school.

I may have to check out your suggestion on the name of the dick alone, though.

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Registered: Aug 2001
Location: Hilbert Space
Posts: 35656

Micheal Connelly is good (I have all his books, I think). I'd say that in reading the Bosche novels it is best to start from the first one so that you can see what courses his life takes (he isn't the best-realised character in literature by any means, but he is interesting enough). A definite good read for the crime ficiton fan. I don't like his other books, that don't feature Bosch, so much.

However, James Lee Burke is the mutt's nuts as far as American crime fiction goes, I'd say (so good it is almost a waste that he just sticks to crime fiction). I don't think that you have to be a fan of crime fiction to read these, although the central character, who is relatively well-realised, gets a bit irritating over time, in my opinion; it feels as if Burke is writing Robicheaux, his main character in most of the books, as what he would like himself to be (former alcoholic whose only flaw appears to be violent temper when bad people deserve to be hit). Of course, you get the same feeling in reading Colin Dexter's Inspector Morse (middle-aged clever guy who drinks too much who women find strangely attractive) books and also (bleuch) in reading Patricia Cornwell's Scarpetta books (capable woman in high profile job who men find threatening).

Just read a legal/crime thriller by Simon Tolkien (grandson of JRR Tolkien who is a barrister specialising in criminal law), which was average. Amusing that the main family are named Sackville.

For British crime fiction I like Colin Dexter's Inspector Morse books, The Rebus books by Ian Rankin and (best of all, although there are only five) the Frost books by RD Wingfield. Wingfield's books are fabulous; funny (black humour) and clever and much better than the TV series (although the TV series has a certain charm, I suppose).

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