DEREK ADAMS

Miles Diamond - Adult/Mystery/Thrillers

Miles and his pal Rudy are such cool characters - I love em! But these are ADULT books and contain scenes of GRAPHIC (homosexual) sex, so if that sort of thing offends you - don't read em! Miles is a private detective, but all-in-all, he's not very good at it. He has an uncanny knack for getting himself into trouble (usually as a result of his insatiable libido), but he has good friends, so things usually work out. The situaltions he gets himself into are hilarious, though - I'm only sorry Adams only wrote three of these books.

He died way too soon. His off the wall, irreverant sense of humour was/is an inspiration. Short stories, radio plays, screen plays, novels, video games - even though he's best known for his Hitchhikers Trilogy (which has four volumes, by the way), he could do it all.

"I felt like a short length of chewed string." What's not to love with similies like that? Always LOVED Chandler's hard boiled detective, Philip Marlowe.

LEE CHILD

Jack Reacher - Mystery/Thrillers

Just discovered this author and this is his first series of books. The character of Jack Reacher is just so cool! He's a drifter and I won't say trouble follows him everywhere because it doesn't - he just can't seem to keep his nose out of things! It's usually his own fault that he gets into trouble and while he rarely starts anything, he invariably finishes it. And at 6'5" and 250 pounds of muscle with blond hair and blue eyes - hell, he can finish with me any time, honey! (Grrrrrwwwwwwllllll)

LINDSEY DAVIS

Marcus Didius Falco - Mysteries

My Mom gave me the first book in the Falco series for Xmas several years back and I loved it! I have always had an interest in Roman history and detective stories and this is the first series I've found to combine both! Marcus Didius Falco is a private detective in Ancient Rome. Evidently, they called the profession Informing back then and his title is Private Informer. Get it? PI? Huh? (grin) Anyway, he often works for the Emperor Vespasian, though the Emperor hates to admit he needs his talents. Short and wirey with unruly dark curls, Falco has a knack for finding trouble wherever he goes.

First started reading his books after I saw the film The IPCRESS File with Michael Caine as secret agent Harry Palmer. What really intrigued me about Palmer was that he wore glasses - you never see spies with glasses! So, I found the book and then had to read em all. There's another series of books he writes about a spy named Bernard Samson that I like too. In addition, Deighton writes non fiction books about WWII. I know I've read his book about The Battle of Britain and it's a really good one.

Holmes is the epitome of gentleman detectives and I learned to read with these stories.

We all know 007, right? Yeah, not the best written series of books, but always lots of fun! I used to be able to recite all the titles in order, but now? Forget it!

JONATHAN GASH

Lovejoy - Crime Thrillers

Ever see the BBC series based on these books? It was called, oddly enough, Lovejoy and was aired on the A&E network here in the States. Ian McShane was a fabulous Lovejoy, played him as a loveable scamp. Well, he is a loveable scamp, but in the books, he is also one ruthless SOB. Lovejoy - and we never learn his first name (at least, I never did) - is the sole owner, proprietor, et cetera of Lovejoy Antiques Inc. He's an antique dealer in East Anglia. Not just any antique dealer, though. You see, Lovejoy has a very special gift - he's a divvie. As in diviner - like a water diviner has a nose for water? Lovejoy, however, gets a gonging sensation deep in his chest whenever he gets near a genuine antique. His skills are highly sought after, you'd think he'd be rolling in gelt, right? He's a brutally honest crook, a hopeless womanizer, perpetually broke, always on the look-out for the next great find ... How the heck does he get himself into the fixes he always finds himself in? Read the books and find out!

Richard Cypher is a simple woods guide without a care in the world. You know that can't last! Come to find out, his kindly old grandfather is actually First Wizard and Richard is destined to become the Seeker of Truth! He falls in love with the Mother Confessor before he even knows what that means, and then finds out he is not only the bastard son of an evil wizard, but he himself is the first War Wizard born in three thousand years! The series has gotten increasingly preachy and long-winded, but over all, I've enjoyed the first six enough to read them more than once. (I wouldn't bother reading #7 at all - it's crap - and would suggest checking the rest out of the library rather than buying them).
Titles:
(1) Wizard's First Rule | (2) Stone of Tears | (3) Blood of the Fold | (4) Temple of the Winds | (5) Soul of the Fire | (6) Faith of the Fallen | (7) Pillars of Creation | (8) Naked Empire | (9) Chainfire | (10) Phantom | (11) Confessor

FAYE KELLERMAN

Peter Decker/Rina Lazarus Series - Suspense Thrillers

I discovered this series through the author's husband, Jonathan (see below). This series is unique in that there are heavy religious overtones, but for the most part a good balance is kept. Peter Decker is an LAPD Detective called out to the Yeshiva (a Jewish school) on a rape case. There, he meets the beautiful and captivating Rina Lazarus. They are both attracted to eachother immediately, but no way could they ever have a relationship because Peter thinks the younger Rina is way out of his league and Rina could never get involved with a goy. It's hopeless. Of course they overcome these obstacles and get married. It is interesting to see how an Orthodox Jewish cop gets along on the job (just as it's interesting to see how a gay cop gets along in Jonathan's books). Family life plays a big role in this series - nothing is more important to Peter than family, but they sure do push his buttons.

JONATHAN KELLERMAN

Alex Delaware - Psychological Thrillers

Yeah, my friend Nans got me hooked on these books {Thanks, Nans!} Alex Delaware is a clinical Psychologist who usually works with kids. He is semi-retired due to burn-out, but he still does some court-ordered work - custody cases mostly. Milo Sturgis is his best friend and happens to be a gay police detective, so Delaware does a lot of consulting with the LAPD. His curiosity is insatiable and he is incapable of minding his own buisness, so Milo really has his job cut out for him trying to keep his friend safe. And, yeah, I love Alex, but I really adore Milo too.

I found The Spy Who Came in From the Cold in our bookcase - my Mom probably got it with a book club. The dust jacket said it was better than James Bond and so I read it! It's a great book, made a GREAT film with Richard Burton and led me to read every single thing I could find by this author. The best was a series involving British spy George Smiley.

I read the Spenser books when I find them and I enjoy them, but I don't go out of my way to get my hands on them. Spenser is a PI in Boston. Jesse Stone, however, is Police Chief in Paradise, MA and I really do enjoy these books - I'm hunting them down. Jesse is a good cop, but he drinks too much and he has an unhealthy attachment to his ex-wife.

He wrote the best horror stories - and poems - and he also wrote the very first detective story. Great stuff - all of it.

I've always enjoyed vampire stories, fiction or non. These are very sensuous novels. And speaking of sensuous, she has also written a very smutty version of Sleeping Beauty.

Well, everyone knows The Bard, right? All those plays and all that poetry? Great stuff.

I sought the books after seeing the A&E series starring Timothy Hutton and Maury Chaykin. The relationship between Nero Wolfe, the brilliant but agoraphobic detective, and Archie Goodwin, his flippant assistant is just priceless! They are very well written and always a joy to read.

F. PAUL WILSON

Repairman Jack Series

Someone named Brett (Hi, Brett!) saw my Reacher (Lee Child) page and thought I would like Repairman Jack, so I have him to blame for this obsession. Anyway, Jack is a shadow character. So far as any government agency is concerned, he doesn't exist at all, which makes him impossible to find, but also makes certain business arrangments difficult. He fixes situations - dishes out a little poetic justice - for a price, of course. His best friend is Abe, a kvetching old gun-runner. His only other real friend is Julio, who owns the cafe where Jack meets most of his prospective clients. His girlfriend Gia almost dumped him when she found out what he truely does for a living, but Jack and her little girl Vicky are pretty inseperable, so she had to give in. And there is usually a supernatural twist to each story.

He was the foremost writer of the Irish Rennaissance and later became a member of Parliament of the newly founded Irish Republic.

• MARGERY ALLINGHAM: Peter Davison played Albert Campion in the series and he's just so cute. Campion is from a wealthy family who sort of frowns on his detective work. I've read a couple of the novels and they're very charming.     A Web Site
• COLIN DEXTER: John Thaw was just so great as Morse, the hard drinking, opera loving Chief Inspector from Thames Valley Police. I've read many of these novels and have thoroughly loved each and every one. Dexter finally killed off his detective and ironically, John Thaw himself died just shortly after filming the final episode in which Morse died.     A Web Site
• P.D. JAMES: Adam Dalgliesh is particularly interesting because he writes and publishes poetry on the side.     A Web Site