Here are 100 books that Big Sky fans have personally recommended if you like
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Iām a former rock writer turned television critic, but in my teens, I became hooked on Raymond Chandlerās hardboiled Philip Marlowe detective sagas. The plotting was intricate, the writing exquisite and poetic. I also loved the no-nonsense pulp fiction of Mickey Spillane and his Mike Hammer character. So Iām always on the lookout for authors who combine realism and pace with great proseālike James Crumley, whose writing was like Chandler crossed with Hunter S. Thompson. Through journalism and band management, I came into contact with real gangsters and have always aspired to reflect their three-dimensional reality rather than glorifying them as television and Hollywood tend to do.
Los Angeles private eye Happy Doll is ticking along nicely, subsidising his detective work by protecting the women at a Thai spa massage parlour from over-amorous clients.
Everything is hunky-dory until he gets into a ferocious fight with a customer who ends up dead. Well-crafted crime noir that manages to be witty and quirky as well as occasionally violent, with pleasing echoes of Marlowe and Lew Archer.
In this deliciously noir novel from the creator of HBO's Bored to Death, idiosyncratic private detective Happy Doll embarks on a quest to help a dying friend in a sun-blinded Los AngelesĀ as "quirky, edgy, charming, funny and serious" as its protagonistĀ (Lee Child).Ā
Happy Doll is a charming, if occasionally inexpert, private detective living just one sheer cliff drop beneath the Hollywood sign with his beloved half-Chihuahua half-Terrier, George. A veteran of both the Navy and LAPD, Doll supplements his meager income as a P.I. by working through the night at a local Thai spa that offers its clientsā¦
It is April 1st, 2038. Day 60 of China's blockade of the rebel island of Taiwan.
The US government has agreed to provide Taiwan with a weapons system so advanced that it can disrupt the balance of power in the region. But what pilot would be crazy enough to runā¦
I studied history in college and, after a few misspent years in broadcasting, worked in marketing and public relations for several companies. In my free time I wrote articles and books on historical events and people. A dozen years ago, on a trip to San Francisco and Alcatraz, I conceived of an idea for a novel. True to my background, it was based on a real historical event ā the 1962 escape of three men in a raft from the prison. It wasn't until my mid-sixties when I felt ready to step out of my non-fiction comfort zone and write my first novel. Can't wait to start the next one.
It would be obscene to read this on a Kindle. This early Dashiell Hammett novel has to be read in paperback, the older a copy you can find, the better.
It has everything a great pulp novel should have; murder, crooked cops, gangs, and a rumpled too-honest-for-his-own-good hero. What I love about this book is how Hammett uses his own experience working for the Pinkerton Detective Agency (who were basically hired thugs) and a real historical event (a labor dispute in Montana that resulted in several deaths) to weave a solid crime novel.
Detective-story master Dashiell Hammett gives us yet another unforgettable read in Red Harvest: When the last honest citizen of Poisonville was murdered, the Continental Op stayed on to punish the guilty--even if that meant taking on an entire town. Red Harvest is more than a superb crime novel: it is a classic exploration of corruption and violence in the American grain.
My family did not take vacations when I was young. We went to a hotel in Connecticut once (from New York), but my father got sick and we went home. So I always had an idealized vision of the sorts of family vacations you see in movies, where people sit in glamorous locations and drink bottles of wine and share intimate thoughts. I wanted to tap into that fantasy in writing Merry and think about what happens when reality and fantasy collide.
I love when Agatha Christie writes about family vacations (which she did a fair amount) because she pushes everything to extremesāwith the highest stakes possible.
Appointment with Death is my favorite of her family vacation mysteries because the plot twist is so satisfying and the mother so evil.
What Christie does, in an over-the-top sort of way, is show how claustrophobic family vacations can be.Ā Grown children are forced to behave like a younger version of themselves, and they are stuck in a remote location. In this case, Petra, in Egypt. All those dormant grievances have a chance to flourish.
I donāt think thereās ever been an Agatha Christie opera, but there should be.
In this exclusive authorized edition from the Queen of Mystery, the unstoppable Hercule Poirot finds himself in the Middle East with only one day to solve a murder.
Among the towering red cliffs of Petra, like some monstrous swollen Buddha, sits the corpse of Mrs. Boynton. A tiny puncture mark on her wrist is the only sign of the fatal injection that killed her.
With only twenty-four hours available to solve the mystery, Hercule Poirot recalled a chance remark he'd overheard back in Jerusalem: āYou see, don't you, that she's got to be killed?ā Mrs. Boynton was, indeed, the mostā¦
A Duke with rigid opinions, a Lady whose beliefs conflict with his, a long disputed parcel of land, a conniving neighbour, a desperate collaboration, a failure of trust, a love found despite it all.
Alexander Cavendish, Duke of Ravensworth, returned from war to find that his father and brother hadā¦
I wear many hats:Ā veteran, PTSD-survivor, gardener, national security and law enforcement worker, certified beer judge, gardener, husband, and father. These last two are the most important by far. So, for my list, I wanted to pick my top five reads that your dad absolutely wonāt be able to put down if you were to gift him one of these for Fatherās Day! There are all kinds of reading dads out there, from History Dads to Thriller Dads to Fantasy Dads. This list has wonderful, unput-downable, slightly under-the-radar books for all the reading dads you know!
As a writer of crime thrillers, I also read a TON of crime thrillers. I also work in national security and law enforcement, and so finding a crime thriller that rings true is one of my great joys.
Don Winslow is an acknowledged master of crime fiction, one of the greatest of all time. But this book flies under the radar because itās not a standalone novel or a chapter in one of his longer crime saga series. Rather, itās a collection of six knock-down, drag-out crime novellas. Some of the stories follow familiar Winslow characters or take place in settings heās already explored, butĀ through a new lens. Every story is different, with characters and settings I loved, all imbued with Winslowās gift for verisimilitude and wry turns of phrase.Ā
'You can't ask for more emotionally moving entertainment' Stephen King
A riveting collection of original fiction from the revered #1 international bestselling author of The Cartel trilogy and The Force
No matter how you come into this world, you come out broken...
In six intense, haunting short novels, Don Winslow returns to the themes that are the hallmarks of his acclaimed body of work - crime, corruption, vengeance, justice, loss, betrayal, guilt, and redemption - to explore the savagery and nobility that drive and define the human condition.
In Broken, Winslow creates a world of high-level thieves and low-life crooks,ā¦
I think there are two great mysteries in our lives: the mystery of the world and the mystery of how we live in it. The branches of literature that explore these conundrums magnificently are science fiction for the world and murder mysteries for how we live. So, it is no wonder that the subgenre that most excites me has to be the science fiction murder mystery, in which, as a reader, I get to explore a strange new world and find out how people live (and die!) in it. This is why I read and, it turns out, what I write.
What I love about a murder mystery is joining the dots, connecting all the different elements together.
Dirk Gentlyās Holistic Detective Agency is all about connections. Whether it is the aliens whoāve been secretly living on Earth for millions of years; or the ghost of the murder victim trying to leave a message on his sisterās phone; or Richard, the bookās hero, attempting, with the "help" of the ever-unreliable Dirk, to figure out what is going on here and why.
I was simply lost in the convolutions of a plot that also involves time travel and the highly vexing question of how a sofa came to be impossibly stuck on a landing. Itās ALL connected, and the solution makes sense of (nearly) everything.
From Douglas Adams, the legendary author of one of the most beloved science fiction novels of all time,Ā The Hitchhikerās Guide to the Galaxy, comes a wildly inventive novel of ghosts, time travel, and one detectiveās mission to save humanity from extinction.
DIRK GENTLYāS HOLISTIC DETECTIVE AGENCY We solve theĀ wholeĀ crime We find theĀ wholeĀ person Phone today for theĀ wholeĀ solution to your problem (Missing cats and messy divorces a specialty)
Douglas Adams, the āmaster of wacky words and even wackier talesā (Entertainment Weekly) once again boggles the mind with a completely unbelievable story of ghosts, time travel,ā¦
I have been fascinated by mysteries of all kinds for as long as I can remember. Even as a child, I enjoyed Earl Stanley Gardnerās Perry Mason books, which I found on my grandparentsā shelf, as well as the mysteries left to us by ancient cultures. The truth, for me, has always been something to be sought and treasured: mysteries and conundrums, things to be figured out and solved. But while credibility in all types of fiction is vital, it has to be about the characters for me, not just the plot. The people have to be real, no matter how unlikely the scenarios they are involved in.
One of the best books I've read in ages. Why haven't I heard of this author before?? Gripping. Horrifying. Compelling. A no-holds-barred thriller that hooks you from page 1 and doesn't let go.
There are elements of horror here, but not supernatural: itās purely in the way the all-too-real stalker targets his victimāand then, also, the newly licensed young female PI with more than enough problems of her own who takes on the case of the woman heās fixated on. With the police refusing to accept that he even exists, the two women are left to catch him on their ownābefore he kills one or both of them.
From New York Times bestselling author Jana DeLeon, the first in a new thriller series.
Everyone wondered about Shaye Archerās past. Including Shaye.
Shaye Archerās life effectively began the night police found her in an alley, beaten and abused and with no memory of the previous fifteen years, not even her name. Nine years later, sheās a licensed private investigator, with a single goalāto get answers for her clients when there arenāt supposed to be any.
And maybe someday, answers for herself.
Emma Frederick thought her nightmare was over when she killed her abusive husband, but someone is stalking herā¦
The Duke's Christmas Redemption
by
Arietta Richmond,
A Duke who has rejected love, a Lady who dreams of a love match, an arranged marriage, a house full of secrets, a most unneighborly neighbor, a plot to destroy reputations, an unexpected love that redeems it all.
Lady Charlotte Wyndham, given in an arranged marriage to a man sheā¦
My whole family shared a love for classic British mysteries, especially light-hearted, witty ones. With the enduring popularity of Agatha Christie and Dorothy L. Sayers, people sometimes forget there were lots of other great writers from the āgolden ageā of mysteries. I first found most of these books on my parentsā bookshelves when I was a bored teenager growing up in snowy central Maine. Several of the paperbacks were so well-worn the cellophane was peeling off their covers. For me, reading classic mysteries is like listening to Mozartāthey are endlessly stirring and fascinating, and in the end, order is restored, and all is right with the world.
This book introduces one of my favorite sleuths, Albert Campion. But whatās fun is that Allingham never tells the story from Campionās point of view.
We only see him from the outside, as others do. This adds to the fun and intrigue. And thereās lots of that. In a spooky old English country mansion full of strangers, the host is murdered, and the rest of the crew goes on a twisty, scary roller-coaster ride driven by an assortment of secrets and criminal schemesāwhich we must slowly figure out.
This one had me on the edge of my chair, wondering what outrageous turn the plot would take next.
Classic Crime from the Golden Age, the first in the Albert Campion Series. Margery Allingham is J.K. Rowling's favourite Golden Age author.
George Abbershaw is set for a social weekend at Black Dudley manor, hosted by Wyatt Petrie and his elderly uncle Colonel Combe, who enjoys the company of Bright Young Things. With Meggie Oliphant in attendance, George looks forward to the chance of getting closer to the girl he's set his heart on. But when murder spoils the party, the group soon find out that not only is there a killer in their midst, but the house is underā¦
My first book love was Agatha Christieās And Then There Were None. The game between author and reader that centers a whodunit has always delighted me. The breadcrumb trail of clues, the misdirection, the inevitable I should have seen it! are my jam. Now an author of whodunitsāI have one series published and a second on the way, along with several short stories ā I read mysteries with greater scrutinyāin admiration and with a selfish desire to learn from other authorsā envious talents. Each of the books on my list excited me for their excellent storytelling. In the end, I found them just plain entertaining. I hope you do too!
As much as I love this bookās hero, former television commercial star Dayna Anderson, her tight circle of got-your-back friends is what made this mystery really shine.
To say the cast has big personalities is like calling Hollywoodās Dolby Theater a quaint venue. I laughed out loud throughout and wished I could ride along with these ladies (there are some guys involved, a love interest in particular) as they doggedly unravel the deftly plotted mystery.
I am grateful to Garrett that there is a sequel to this first in the series, Hollywood Ending.
Dayna Anderson doesn t set out to solve a murder. All the semi-famous, mega-broke black actress wants is to help her parents keep their house. After witnessing a deadly hit-and-run, she figures pursuing the fifteen-grand reward isn t the craziest thing a Hollywood actress has done for some cash. But what starts as simply trying to remember a speeding car soon blossoms into a full-on investigation. As Dayna digs deeper into the victim s life, she wants more than just reward money. She s determined to find the poor woman's killer too. When she connects the accident to a notoriousā¦
Flannery OāConnor once said that all fiction is ultimately about the āmystery of personality.ā I agree. In fact, I have always suspected that all good novels, genre-based or otherwise, are secretly mystery novels, if only in the psychological sense. Conversely, many so-called genre novels have just as much depth, insight, and realism as any literary work. I have read a lot of genre and literary fiction in my time, and I have long been fascinated by works that blur the line between the two. My favorite kind of book is one that feels like a genre novel (that is, it has a great plot) but also has the depth and vividness of a literary novel.
One thing I really like about this mystery novel is the way it is told from multiple points of view, which is a very unusual technique in mystery fiction. Thatās one reason that it felt, to me, so much like a literary novel.
The first character is a brilliant, tortured artist named Margot, who is already dead at the start of the novel. The second character is Kate, an ex-cop turned P.I. who is hired to find Margotās killer.Ā
Both women are compelling, interesting characters, but I especially liked the way Kenna renders the hero, Kate. Sheās a single mom in recovery from a drug addiction. Her ex is a creep, and most of her old (male) cop colleagues are, too. Her struggle in solving the case felt completely real and human to me. And thatās the signature quality of literary fiction.
From debut author Alex Kenna comes a pulse-pounding tapestry of secrets, retribution, and greed for fans of Jeffrey Archer.
Kate Myles was a promising Los Angeles police detective, until an accident and opioid addiction blew up her family and destroyed her career. Struggling to rebuild her life, Kate decides to try her hand at private detective workābut she gets much more than she bargained for when she takes on the case of a celebrated painter found dead in a downtown loft.
When Margot Starlingās body was found, the cause of death was assumed to be suicide. Despite her beauty, talent,ā¦
This book follows the journey of a writer in search of wisdom as he narrates encounters with 12 distinguished American men over 80, including Paul Volcker, the former head of the Federal Reserve, and Denton Cooley, the worldās most famous heart surgeon.
In these and other intimate conversations, the bookā¦
I have been fascinated by mysteries of all kinds for as long as I can remember. Even as a child, I enjoyed Earl Stanley Gardnerās Perry Mason books, which I found on my grandparentsā shelf, as well as the mysteries left to us by ancient cultures. The truth, for me, has always been something to be sought and treasured: mysteries and conundrums, things to be figured out and solved. But while credibility in all types of fiction is vital, it has to be about the characters for me, not just the plot. The people have to be real, no matter how unlikely the scenarios they are involved in.
Tim Weaver has a way of getting under the skin of not just his characters but his readers, too. For me, it helped that his main character, like me, had lost his wife to cancer. I could instantly relate. But beyond that, the plot was gripping, drawing me in and holding my attention from start to finish.
While reading one of his books and for a long time afterward, your mind has only two ways to beāeither reading his book or thinking about his book.
Missing persons investigator David Rakerās heartstopping hunt for a motherās vanished sonābook one of Tim Weaverās international bestselling mystery series
One year ago, Alex Towneās body was found. One month ago, his mother saw him on the street. One week ago, David Raker agreed to look for him. Now he wishes he hadnāt. Ā Mary Towneās son, Alex, went missing six years ago. Five years later he finally turned upāas a corpse in a car wreck. Missing persons investigator David Raker doesnāt want the work: itās clearly a sad but hopeless case of mistaken identity brought to him by a womanā¦
