• Welcome to BookAndReader!

    We LOVE books and hope you'll join us in sharing your favorites and experiences along with your love of reading with our community. Registering for our site is free and easy, just CLICK HERE!

    Already a member and forgot your password? Click here.

Which book set you off on a life of crime (reading)?

Nellie

Nellie

New Member
I was ambling around by bookshelves and found my copy of A Summer In The South By James Marshall.

It's a children's whodunnit, and has the traditional detective and sidekick along with a cast of dodgy characters, any of whom could be up to no good for a variety of reasons. I adored this book, and can remember seeking out all sorts of mysteries after reading this.

So, which book led you to a life of crime reading?
 
I used to read few thrillers but without method,just as a nice break.
Then i read The Hunter by Richard Stark and could not stop.I paced myshelf and i'm unfortunatly near the end of the serie the 17th.Comeback.(I shall re-read the best of them when finished,The outfit,slayground,the mourner...)
I read also read nearly all Dortmunders by Westlake and currently the last Get real.
 
When I was in 9th grade, my English teacher required outside "pleasure reading." Bookworm that I am, I started plowing through the Sue Grafton alphabet series ("A is for Alibi," "B is for Burglar," etc.). I went through them 2-3 a week until my teacher FORBADE me to read them anymore. She said that they were too easy for me and that I should read something more challenging instead. I was pissed, considering that everyone else was permitted to get away with 1-2 "young adult" books a month, so I disobeyed and continued to read them on the sly ;-)
 
Comeflyaway said:
I went through them 2-3 a week until my teacher FORBADE me to read them anymore. She said that they were too easy for me and that I should read something more challenging instead. I was pissed, considering that everyone else was permitted to get away with 1-2 "young adult" books a month, so I disobeyed and continued to read them on the sly ;-)
Click to expand...

How rude of her!

There is a whole new thread there isn't there...? The "How did you read on the sly as child" thread!
 
I am not sure what book lead me into reading crime novels but in probably a novel by Agatha Christie. My mother was an avid reading of many genres including crime fiction and I started reading many of Mum's books when I was a teenager (more than 30 years ago).
 
I read Agatha Christie when I was young too, and it became rather an obsession for me. I think it is the total Englishness of it all. I grew up in a small English village, much like St Mary Mead, although there were far few deaths!
 
I moved to Australia as a teenager. English is not my first language. A friend introduced me to Christopher Pike's books and I'd be hooked my murder/mystery/thrillers since. His books really got me interested in reading English books (which were a struggle previously.)
 
Early crime reading

This started in the later 1950's and onward. Having and older sister I started reading her Nancy Drew and Cherry Ames books while in elementary school and then the library opened up to me the Hardy Boys and Tom Swift books. There was another series of books I read which I cannot remember the name of, but the hero was a photographer and science guy who used his wits in his crime solving. I cannot remember his sidekick. From then on I would read whatever was in the house my mom had, what appeared interesting in the library card catalog. And I still enjoy crime stuff.
I'm an old guy now and have always enjoyed reading.
 
I bought "The Killing Hour" by Lisa Gardner back when I was about 16 when my power went out at home for a week and had nothing better to do than to read.

LOVED that book, and started reading all her other books. And then moved onto other crime books :)
 
I remember getting a hold of an Agatha Christie. Once I read one I plundered the local library until I had read all that they had.

I also remember reading a book called "Down A Dark Hall" that I really enjoyed. I just loved it. It had a nice creep factor. I looked it up on Amazon and it's still available! I was amazed. The fact that I remember this book all this time later amazes me. I may order it and revisit my youth. For anyone else interested the author is Lois Duncan.
 
Arrowsmiith by Sinclair Lewis, as a required reading in High School.
I wasn't much of a reader before then, but when I finished it over a weekend and realized I could read a "grown up" book (i.e. one without pictures), and with a real story, I was hooked forever. Started reading everything in sight and haven't stopped since. Next one was The Wings of the Morning, a romance from my mother's bookshelf. And then Sherlock Holmes.
 
I wish I could give an original answer, but for me were the usual classic suspects: Poe's stories of ruthless criminals and logical puzzles, Doyle's Sherlock Holmes, Agatha Christie's fast-paced mysteries.
 
I remember reading an Inspector Maigret novel sent to me by a book club about 50 years ago, since then I have collected and read many Simenon novels as well as lots of other crime authors. Ed McBain being my facourite with his 87th precinct novels.
 
I wish I could remember but I'm an old babe and there's no way I could ever pinpoint my first mystery!

As a kid, my mother and I would fight over who first got to read the true crime story in the New York Daily News so my lust for mystery probably started then.

I can probably safely say that one of the early mystery novelists I read was Agatha Christie. I only guessed the villian once in all of her books and only guessed that one by all the wrong deductions on my part ... Christie just never gave enough clues ... that's my story and I'm sticking to it!! (LOL)
 
Mine started with Jack & Jill by James Patterson. Although now that I look back on it,it was a bad book,but it was pretty unique at the time I read it. You see I was 13 at the time,and was heavy into the fantasy genre,then I was leafing through by dad's books and found Jack & Jill. I got a couple pages into it,and was pretty freaked out at what was inside. It was weird that my first mystery novel was a adult novel. But now I hardly read anything but mystery thanks to James Patterson's Alex Cross character :lol:. I've even caught up to the latest Alex Cross book.
 
James Patterson's 1st To Die.I read some of the Cross series,though it did not motivate me enough to read more of Mystery.Then my brother convinced my mom to buy 1st To Die,which led me to the adventures of The Woman's Murder Club.He did not like it so he let me have it.At the time I had a blast with the series.But,now I hate the series,and moved on to better Mysteries like Harry Bosch,and Sean Dillion.
 
In terms of authors, it has to be Ian Rankin. I was once a policeman, and hated crime novels because they were so false. Then I read one of Rankin's early Rebus novels (Knots and Crosses, maybe? Not sure). I got hooked on them, and I read all of his work. It was realistic, in line with my own experiences in the police. I also love Kathy Reichs' stuff, and Michael Connelly.
 
PlaypitsPark said:
In terms of authors, it has to be Ian Rankin. I was once a policeman, and hated crime novels because they were so false. Then I read one of Rankin's early Rebus novels (Knots and Crosses, maybe? Not sure). I got hooked on them, and I read all of his work. It was realistic, in line with my own experiences in the police. I also love Kathy Reichs' stuff, and Michael Connelly.
Click to expand...
Connelly is okay. Although I've only read 3 books from him. One of them I didn't like,but the other two were decent.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top