If I like Rendell, Vine.....

Susan Hill is a definite.

Victoria Hislop is brilliant. The sort of books you live the story. I have The Sunrise waiting for time to start.

Tana French's Dublin Murder Squad series is absolutely brilliant, plotting & writing are superb.

In The Woods (1)
The Likeness (2)
Faithful Place (3)
Broken Harbour (4)
The Secret Place (5)

Number 6 - The Trespasser, is due out very soon, can't wait.

Vine is Rendell by the way. Minette Walters and P D James are very good.

I love crime and mystery novels & many of my favourites have been mentioned here. I don't think anyone's suggested Kate Ellis, whose 20th murder mystery featuring Inspector Wesley Peterson has just come out. They are set in Dartmouth, Devon, thinly disguised as Tradmouth, and I think they're excellent. Unlike Elizabeth George, whose most recent Inspector Linley novel I found rather pompous and about 200 pages too long, Kate's writing shows no sign of time passing & each book is as fresh as the last. I also adore Peter Robinson's books about Inspector Banks - I've read them all but haven't watched the tv series as there's no way Stephen Tompkinson matches the description in the books & my idea of what he looks like!

PLEASE try anything by Diana Norman and her alter ego Ariana Franklin, mostly historical but about ordinary people, not all kings and queens. The Vizard Mask is superb. She has also written a couple of more modern books. I also love the books by Norah Lofts, written a good while ago but still wonderful reads. I would particularly recommend the two trilogies, The House at Old Vine, The Town House and The House at Sunset, and Knight's Acre, The Homecoming and The Lonely Furrow. Patricia Wendorf's books are the kind that you can reread many times-- I've just read the Larksleve trilogy for the third time and enjoyed it just as much as before. What about trying the wonderful historical books by C.J.Sansom about the hunchback lawyer detective in the time of Henry VIII? For a really rollicking yarn, get a secondhand copy from Amazon of Playing the Jack by Mary Brown, also her fantasy novel The Unlikely Ones. I think that's enough from me!!Happy reading.

Anyone mention Ann Cleeves? The Vera Stanhope and the Shetland series are wonderful!

Funninly enough grandMattie, I love the Shetland novels of Ann Cleeves but can't get on with Vera Stanhope...but I enjoy the tv version! Strange!

I'd agree with Susan Hill's Serailler books ( apparently she is not writing any more of them now.) I've read all of them.
C J Samson's Shardlake books are great if you like history & of course Hilary Mantell.
Ann Cleves very good & as someone has said J K Rowling writing as Robert Galbraith is brilliant- I can't wait for no. 4. Our Reading Group gave them all 10/10.
Try Lissa Evans Crooked Heart for something a bit different- I got it from Gransnet & it is a very good unusual story- don't be put off by title- it is not a romance!

Nicci French is brilliant. Start with Land of the Living. It was the first of theirs I read and ruined a weekend away as I couldn't put it down! So many good suggestions on here and I must concur that Louise Penny's inspector Gamache is brilliant. I think I'm a bit in love with him! It's so great to see all these suggestions and see there are other bookworms out there! Sometimes I fear I'm alone in my little bookish world! ?

Love Jo Nesbo, also either of the Kellermans (husband and wife)

How about Deborah Crombie and her Gemma James/Duncan Kincaid police procedurals. There are quite a few of those to enjoy - best read in order.
There are a couple of good websites -
www.fantasticfiction.co.uk and www.lovereading.co.uk where you can look up an author to see a list of their books in series order and find suggestions for other similar authors.
I like Barbara Cleverly too. Her detective is
early Edwardian and travels about the world in his work.
Another one to try is Mark Mills. They are crime novels - modern day - different characters - interesting backgrounds.
William Brodrick's Father Anselm series is very, very good. Father Anselm is a modern day Augustinian friar who is drawn into detection. These books have real quality.
Thanks for all the suggestions on here. I shall try many of them.

I agree with chicken - try anything by C.J. Sansom where the crime is set in Tudor England and the (very interesting) main character and protagonist is a disabled lawyer called Matthew Shardlake. The described disability is a touch of genius by Sansom, as disability then was thought to show that God had punished you for misdeeds committed in a former life.This balances out Matthew's otherwise privileged position in society and limits his options as a crime solver. All Sansom's characters are believable, and his historical research thorough.
Enjoy!

The late P.D. James was a great writer, Val McDermid, Stuart MacBride, Mark Billingham and Peter Robinson are 4 of the greatest current British writers, the Roy Grace series (brilliant, but need to be read in order) are by Peter JAMES, and do try Jeffrey Deaver for the best of American crime writing. His Lincoln Rhyme books are fantastic.

Jane10, yes, you are of course right that Guy Fraser-Samson continued EF Benson's Mapp and Lucia series, apologies for not giving due credit to EFB!
I'm now getting into, and enjoying, his 'Death in Profile' about serial murders, set in the Hampstead area.

Completely agree. Bereft when I finished the series!

This was meant to be a comment on an earlier reply about Louise Penny and her Inspector Gamache series! Obviously got a lot to learn having, up to now, been a passive observer on this site!

I'm so glad to have so many suggestions to try out. Thanks all. I'll be loading up my trusty kindle!

Why not order from your library ours is great I can order up to 24 books ( they have to hve them in my area ) and I get some which are newly published ? All for free too .

My bookclub have now got Jeffrey Deaver's The Sleeping Doll. I may have to find something to cover it in as I'm put off by the damaged doll! Might need a comforting Cadfael or Marcus Didius Falco as an antidote!! Precious Ramotswe even! I've already poured the Redbush tea!

If you like historical fiction you may like Ariana Franklin's Adelia Aguilar series. They are 13th century whodunnits, starting with "Mistress of the Art of Death”. Only four, unfortunately.

I was surprised to hear Susan Hill was not writing any more Serailler books as the last one left everything up in the air. I enjoyed the books a lot.