I need book recommendations for crime/mystery novels?

Take a look through Jeffrey Archer's book list. I've read practically everything he's written and it actually started with his 3 real prison diary books. So, so, so well written and addictive, I then started reading his novels.

Maybe, as a suggestion, start with 'not a penny more, not a penny less'. It's about some guys who get screwed over for money through an fake investment and they create the perfect plan to get their money back...to the penny :) Really good story and his writing style is clever, unpredictable and the characters are always very believable.

Never bloody or gory, just very cleverly written stories.

My other favourite author is David Baldacci. He is an American author and writes some really exciting crime novels the last of which I read was called the whole truth. Here's the description from good reads.

"So begins David Baldacci's new book--a thriller unlike any he's written before. "Matt" is Mathew Pender, of Pender Associates--a shadowy organization that specializes in managing seemingly impossible situations for its clients. Sometimes, those services extend to managing--and creating--armed conflict. When Matt Pender is asked by his client--the largest defense contractor in the world--to manipulate two nations against each other, a shocking and surprising series of events are set in motion that will possibly bring the world to the brink of World War III.*

In this epic thriller with a global backdrop, David Baldacci delivers all the twists and turns, compelling characters, and can't-put-it-down pacing that readers have come to expect from this master storyteller."

He writes books featuring the same characters in series which I love because you never want his stories to end! :)

I hope this helps :)

Happy reading!...Show more

Agatha Christie's books of course.
Dorothy Sayers
Ngaio Marsh

The Sherlock Holmes series by Arthur Conan Doyle
The Raffles books by E.W. Hornung

Most of the old timers of pre world war two vintage were not gorey. Well, not as gorey as the post-war stuff

Red Stout
Dashiel Hammer
Raymond Chandler
Earle Stanley Gardner...Show more

Dorothy L Sayers wrote some excellent crime fiction. Most are murders but in one book, Gaudy Night, no-one gets killed (the plot is around the hunt for someone plaguing a university with a campaign of vandalism and anonymous letters).

Fred Vargas is also very good. Try 'Seeking whom he may devour' or 'The Three Evangelists'....Show more

You can't beat Raymond Chandler. He's one of my all-time favourites. I love him so much that when I was a kid I named my dog Raymond. Check out "The Big Sleep", "Farewell, My Lovely", and "The Long Goodbye" as well as any short story collections that you can find.

Graham Greene's "Brighton Rock" is another favourite of mine.

I thought Jonathan Lethem's "Motherless Brooklyn" was great....Show more

I really like Patricia Cornwell’s Kay Scarpetta books. The Body Farm has won pretty much every award possible for a crime novel.

Another good one is John Sanford’s Prey series....Show more