ylris611203
New Member
Can you recommend a British detective, (and author).
Recommend as many as you like, but please say Who your favourite is?
Recommend as many as you like, but please say Who your favourite is?
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Can you recommend a British detective
- Thread starter ylris611203
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New Member
Good English detective writers
Agatha Christie
Margery Allingham
Dorothy L. Sayers
Josephine Tey
P.D. James
Ruth Rendell
Val McDermid
Simon Brett
Harry Keating
Reginald Hill
Ron Ellis
Robert Barnard
and many more, plus
Ian Rankin (Scottish)
http://www.thecwa.co.uk/ for lots more.
Agatha Christie
Margery Allingham
Dorothy L. Sayers
Josephine Tey
P.D. James
Ruth Rendell
Val McDermid
Simon Brett
Harry Keating
Reginald Hill
Ron Ellis
Robert Barnard
and many more, plus
Ian Rankin (Scottish)
http://www.thecwa.co.uk/ for lots more.
blueboatdriver
Member
Dirk Gently: He may not actually be British but Douglas Adams certainly is. 
good British detectives...
Sherlock Holmes is, of course, THE true detective!!
More recently, any of the Inspector Rebus series by Ian Rankin.
Also, a really great crime story but not because of a great detective is The Sacred Art of Stealing by Christopher Brookmyre. Brookmyre (Scottish) has written others but I reckon this is a good starting point!!
Sherlock Holmes is, of course, THE true detective!!
More recently, any of the Inspector Rebus series by Ian Rankin.
Also, a really great crime story but not because of a great detective is The Sacred Art of Stealing by Christopher Brookmyre. Brookmyre (Scottish) has written others but I reckon this is a good starting point!!
In my younger days, I read a great many of Agatha Christie's Hercule Poirot mysteries, but Poirot isn't British, so . . .
You might do well to start with something like the anthologies edited by Hugh Greene (the first of which is called The Rivals of Sherlock Holmes) to get a taste of a lot of different writers.
You might do well to start with something like the anthologies edited by Hugh Greene (the first of which is called The Rivals of Sherlock Holmes) to get a taste of a lot of different writers.
violette
New Member
I've been a big fan of medieval whodunits since the day I fell in love with Ellis Peters' Brother Cadfael series, so I guess this one can still be counted as my favourite (he's more Welsh than British, actually, but most of the stories happen in Shropshire, during the fight for kingship between Stephen and Maud. So I guess that makes it British enough). It's also been turned into a TV show of varying interest, depending on who gets to play Cadfael's sidekick and friend, Hugh Beringar (3 different actors for only 13 episodes).
As for "real" British medieval detectives, you can try Paul C. Doherty's three main series : those are :
- the Hugh Corbett series he wrote under his real name, and where the main character is a clerk to Edward I,
- the Kathryn Swinbrooke series, by C.L. Grace, my favourite, where the main character is a lady doctor during the War of the Roses,
- the Brother Athelstan series, by Paul Harding, where the main character is the assistant of the London coroner, at the beginning of Richard II's reign.
And of course there's also Kate Sedley's Roger Chapman, who's a... chapman, during the War of the Roses.
Oh, and she's not British, but I'm currently reading the Sister Fidelma series by Peter Tremayne, and she's a damn good detective too ! And the whole series is a wonderful trip inside 7th-century Ireland, and its very particular laws and habits.
As for "real" British medieval detectives, you can try Paul C. Doherty's three main series : those are :
- the Hugh Corbett series he wrote under his real name, and where the main character is a clerk to Edward I,
- the Kathryn Swinbrooke series, by C.L. Grace, my favourite, where the main character is a lady doctor during the War of the Roses,
- the Brother Athelstan series, by Paul Harding, where the main character is the assistant of the London coroner, at the beginning of Richard II's reign.
And of course there's also Kate Sedley's Roger Chapman, who's a... chapman, during the War of the Roses.
Oh, and she's not British, but I'm currently reading the Sister Fidelma series by Peter Tremayne, and she's a damn good detective too ! And the whole series is a wonderful trip inside 7th-century Ireland, and its very particular laws and habits.
letterHead
Member
After seeing the televisinon series I would suggest R D Wingfield's Inspector Frost books, and if you like university educated detectives then maybe the Gervase Fen stories by Edmund Crispin.
VTChEwbecca
kickbox
British Detectives
I second Dorothy L. Sayers...love her mysteries, as well as Lord Peter Wimsey
I also enjoy Carola Dunn, who writes cozy mysteries
I second Dorothy L. Sayers...love her mysteries, as well as Lord Peter Wimsey
I also enjoy Carola Dunn, who writes cozy mysteries
imhere4beer
New Member
I love Mo Hayder, who is a relatively new author. She has written 2 books (Birdman and The Treatman) that are detective stories. They are quite graphic, so if you don't mind a bit of gore, they are great books.
nickupton
Member
Surely you can't beat Sherlock Holmes? Anyone who can tell what the murderer had for lunch last friday just by the sound of his footsteps has to be the best detective ever? My favourite story is the dancing men - I once used this story in an English class in Thailand and the students very enthusiastically made their own dancing men code. The parents were very impressed when they found out their 9 year-old kids had been studying Sherlock Holmes!