Fifteen of the Best

I have a bit of an enthusiasm for fiction which keep me guessing. I love something that gives my "little grey cells" a workout, but that doesn't have too much gore, and is fairly realistic. No ghosties, no woo. Not profligate spraying of blood up the walls: if I want horror, I will read Stephen King. 

The books pictured accompanying this post represent my favourite series. Some authors are no longer with us (Christie, Rendell, Hill, Mankell, Le Carre, Francis, half of the Charles Todd partnership). The Francis franchise is being carried on by the original author's son, and are also an enjoyable read. Deighton appears to have retired from writing for publication. The rest are still publishing, though Jo Nesbo says he is done with Harry Hole... and then wrote another one. 

They are in no particular order, but those who are still writing, whenever they release a new book, I will buy it. Some authors are on my list for a single series: Hill's Dalziel and Pascoe; Templeton's Marjory Fleming;  Robinson's DI Banks; Silva's Gabriel Allon; Nesbo's Harry Hole; Mankel's Kurt Wallander; Penny's Inspector Gamache; Rendell's Inspector Wexford, Le Carre's George Smiley, Herron's Slough House. 

Some authors - like Christie - are prolific, providing multiple main characters. I like both the Marple series and the Poirot. With the Charles Todd books, I prefer the Bess Crawford series over the Ian Rutledge. With Brookmyre I enjoy both the Jasmine Sharp and the Jack Parlabane series (though I am not quite so keen on the standalone novels). 

Some are spy and espionage novels: Silva; Le Carre; Deighton; Herron. Some are police procedurals: Templeton; Rendell; Penny; Hill; Robinson; Todd; Nesbo; Mankell. Some are more focused on private detective work (or skip around too much to identify): Christie; Brookmyre; Francis. 

Some feature a very flawed main character: Mankell; Nesbo; Todd. Some feature master strategists: Herron; Silva; Le Carre; Penny; Christie. While they are set all over the world - Sweden, Norway, Canada, Israel - most of these books are written and set in the UK. Two writers are American: Silva; Todd. Two are Canadian: Robinson; Penny. The remainder are from the UK. 

A few series missed a getting a spot. I might write an also-rans list later. Only one nearly missed making this list - Todd. I had initially selected a 'for laughs' spy series, Bowen's Lady Georgiana Rannoch. But it lacked the realism of the others, so I selected Todd instead. I also considered Fleming's James Bond, but funnily enough the writing did not stay with me. Good, but not enough for a revisit. 

But all are fabulous reads, if you enjoy practical escapism which has the cogs whirring.

Sam