Stepping Out

We’ve all got a steady one, the one we come back to time and again. But there is a huge benefit to stepping out with a new one every now and then.

No, I’m not talking people and infidelity, I’m talking genres.

Reading is one of the most flexible forms of entertainment available. And that is what I’m advocating. Get flexible with it. I’m not a huge fan of Mark Twain, but the guy did say some useful things, here’s one of his quotes:

“Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts. Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one’s lifetime.”

Okay, so he was talking about travel, and I don’t know your situation, but global travel is rather beyond my reach, but that’s the beauty of reading, I can go anywhere in the pages of a book and it’ll cost anything from nothing to £25. Whether a physical book, an ebook, or audio book, and owned book or a borrowed one (libraries are fantastic places), books can transport you to anywhere, anytime, with anyone. The important thing is to get out of a rut, not to burn yourself out, and to take a break from your norm.

We’re all here because we like crime fiction, and within that there is a wide range of sub genres. You might like a police procedural, or a spy thriller, or an international thriller, or a cosy mystery or an amateur sleuth. You might want contemporary or historical or even futuristic. You might like local, national, international, global or even universal. You might even like a series or prefer standalones. They are all out there and many more.

Whatever your preferred type of crime, why not try something else as well? When it comes to crime fiction, I tend to enjoy contemporary, UK based, thrillers, usually written by white authors.

So, for the last couple of years, I’ve been trying to mix it up and try different types of stories that are still crime but not necessarily all the above stated criteria. I’ve loved many of new stories that this has shown me, it offers ways of seeing the world that I hadn’t glimpsed before. Without the determination to try something different, I would never have read Khurrum Rahman’s East of Hounslow or Luke Arnolds Last Smile in Sunder City. I have said that I can’t stand things like Agatha Christie, and I can’t, but I know this because I’ve read her work. She’s actually one of the reasons I don’t read historical crime, but determined to step out of my comfort zone, I have now read more historical crime fiction and loved it. I still prefer UK based crime fiction, but I’ve also enjoyed reading Philip Gwynne Jones’ Venetian series.

So, if like me, you’d like to try something new that’s still crime – or at least crime adjacent – below are some options you might like to consider. Where possible I’ve given links to reviews so you can have a look at my thoughts on these books – other opinions are available.

Of course, this list can’t be exhaustive, there are so many books out there. The point is, of course, that by stepping out of your crime comfort zone you might learn something new, or enjoy something different, and to quote Mark Twain again:

“I have found out there ain’t no surer way to find out whether you like people or hate them than to travel with them.”

So go out and travel the pages with a few new writers/characters/situations and find out what else you might like.

Classics of Crime (Contemporary when written)

Desmond Bagley – High Citadel
Raymond Chandler – the Philip Marlowe series (the only one I’ve read The Long Good-Bye)
Agatha Christie – The only one I’ve bothered to review was The Mysterious Affair at Styles

Historical Fiction

Chris Lloyd – The Eddie Giral series (starting with The Unwanted Dead)
Alis Hawkins – The Oxford Mysteries (starting with A Bitter Remedy)
Howard of Warwick – The Chronicles of Brother Hermitage (starting with The Heretics of De’Ath), this is also historical and comedic.
Other authors you might want to look at are Mark Ellis, Paula Harmon, Vaseem Khan.

Comedy or Lighter crime

Anything Janet Evanovich, I’m particularly enjoying the Fox and O’Hare series.
Antti Tuomainen – The Rabbit Factor
Jasper Fforde – The Thursday Next series, The Nursery Crimes series, or any of them.
You can also look for anything by M C Beaton, Christopher Brookmyre (the earlier the better)

Scotland Based

Caro Ramsey – latest series is DCI Christine Caplan, and The Devil Stone
James Oswald – The Tony McLean series (starting with Natural Causes)
Others I can heartily recommend are Jackie Baldwin, Denzil Meyrick, Ann Cleeves, Alex Grey, Stuart MacBride, Val Penny and Douglas Skelton.

Ireland Based

Anything from Bateman (tends towards the comic), the works of Sam Blake or Gwyneth Steddy.

Wales Based

Myfanwy Alexander – DCI Daf Dafis (Myfanwy’s books are mostly available in Welsh and English languages)
Alis Hawkins – The Teifi Valley Coroner series (also Historical)
Works of people like: Cathy Ace, Rosie Claverton, Graham Miller, John Nicholl, Gwen Parrot, Sarah Ward and Nigel Williams, and many more, just see Crime Cymru’s membership.

Non-UK based

Anything Philip Gwynne Jones (Italy), Janet Evanovich (USA), Yrsa Sigrdardottier (Iceland), Antti Tuomainen (Finland), Helen Fitzgerald (Australia).

Cosy Crime

T E Kinsey – The Lady Hardcastle Series (also historical – 1910s) (starts with A Quiet Life in the Country)
Also look at Cathy Ace, MC Beaton, and many more.

Romantic Thrillers

I don’t actually read many of these, but I recently read Summer in San Remo by Evonne Wareham which I enjoyed. I’ve also recently read Raven by Scarlett Finn which is definitely for adults only.

Supernatural Links

Ben Aaronovich – The Rivers of London Series (starting with Rivers of London)
Harry Bingham – The Fiona Griffith series (starting with Talking to the Dead)
James Oswald – The Tony McLean series (starting with Natural Causes) or the Constance Fairchild series
Phil Rickman – the Merrily Watkins series (starting with The Wine of Angels)

Location Thrillers

Well, I have to mention Louise Mumford here, because this term was coined for her. She’s three stand alones out so far, Sleepless, The Safe House, and The Hotel, which has only just been released and is next on my to read list.

Steampunk/Fantasy/Sci Fi Crime

Luke Arnold – Last Smile in Sunder City
Pip Ballantine and Tee Morris – The Ministry of Peculiar Occurrences
Genevieve Cogman – The Invisible Library series
Harry Harrison – The Stainless Steel Rat
Jodi Taylor – The Time Police series (starting with Doing Time)

On My Shelves – High Citadel by Desmond Bagley

On My Shelves is a new thread I’m adding to this blog, where I’m going to work my way through my older books and share some love for the stories that have been out there for a while.

Blurb

When Tim O’Hara’s plane is hijacked and forced to crash land in the middle of the Andes, his troubles are only beginning. A heavily armed group of communist soldiers intent on killing one of his passengers – an influential political figure – have orders to leave no survivors. Isolated in the biting cold of the Andes, O’Hara’s party must fight for their lives with only the most primitive weapons…

Review

I first read this when I was 17 or 18, I borrowed it from a library, Kent Library Service. Not my local library, which was in the same area, but one from the next town over.  I enjoyed it so much I borrowed it several times, causing my sister to ask it all the books from that library were covered in the same way. In other words, I loved this book.

The copy I now own is old (a full paperback priced at £1.25) it’s falling apart, the last page has totally detached from the rest of the book – I still have it though. Just checked, this edition (which has the cover showed above) was printed in 1981.

It is still however, a very readable and enjoyable book.  What’s really nice about it, though the technology has moved on massively since the book was first written, the situation that the characters are put in wouldn’t be any different today.  Well not unless one of them had a Breitling Emergency watch (look it up, it’s got PLB).

The situation really shows the personalities of each of the characters in very different ways, and though it is a far from ideal situation, they are all under a huge amount of stress, they have to work together as a team if any of them are to get off the mountain alive.

Now I admit that I may well be bias by my early impressions of this book, but this was a great read, so well worth giving a shot if you’re into old style action and adventure.