Books like Partners in Crime — picked by fans

I love the absolutely authentic atmosphere of this book – the clothes, the music, the booze -- and the exploration of the dark side of the 1920s.

I find some of the characters sympathetic, some repellent, and some impossible to understand, just as in real life. Regardless, I feel that I really get to know them by the end of the book, even if I still don’t understand them. I can’t help but make comparisons with that time period and now, a century later. So much has changed, yet so much remains the same.

I’ll be honest that it can be a depressing read, so I have to be in the right mood for it, but when I am, nothing else will satisfy.

Another series of novels that I was introduced to through PBS and the BBC, and another that had me laughing hysterically.

This is the fourth in the series, but it brings together Miss Mapp and Mrs. “Lucia” Lucas as social rivals. I adore both women, although I would not want to have to work with either of them!

I love the English country setting, the competition between the two women for leadership, the eccentric secondary characters, and the clothes and the food and the music.

To be honest, I have worked with women like them at different times in my life. I think that’s why I love the books so much, as I get to laugh at them from the sidelines this time.

The pure and real absurdity of the stories in this book kept me coming back again and again. The cranky old backwoods-man, the paranoid mother, and the hard-as-nails grandmother all felt like real people to me, and you never knew when Strange the dog would show up. Experience the world through the eyes of a child growing up in early 20th-century backwoods America.

Life happens. The septic tank overflows. Girls get in fights. Boys track dirt over your best carpet. You are absolutely going to ruin their lives with your attempt to explain the facts of life. Erma Bombeck takes these realities and laughs at them. You can’t help but laugh along with her from her tiny suburban home to her efforts to “forgive her enemies.”

To little grade school me this book was high fantasy. A healer with amazing powers walking through another world. A vet doing his rounds in Pre-WWI Yorkshire. I laughed at every absurdity. The poodle that believed she was pregnant. The boxer that wouldn’t stop farting in his high-class lady’s house. Everything made me laugh while transporting me to a world where old men drink pints in pubs while their “wee bron doggie” sits under their stools.

It’s never the plot that draws me to a novel; it’s always other ingredients like people and place and, in these regards, Cranford is a stellar delight. The protagonist is a frequent house guest in the small town of Cranford, giving readers intimate access to the quirky social codes of its mostly female population. From the ones who care about social mores to the ones who care less, these wonderful vignettes document their attempts to outwit a visiting magician, or foil rumored night-burglars, or adapt to the losses of loved ones. Each woman has had a journey in some way stifled by the patriarchy of the 1800s but these ladies’ timeless and absorbing intelligence, compassion, loyalty, ingenuity, forbearance, and above all, wit, shine through.

I love the setting and atmosphere of the book, first and foremost. New York City in 1932, just before the end of Prohibition, so there are still bootleggers and gangsters and all that jazz (literally).

I love the characters of Nick and Nora Charles – witty, sophisticated, glamorous, and living a life I can only dream of (literally – I was born 50 years too late!). While it has its humorous elements, this is a hardboiled detective story.

I love the contrast between Nick and Nora and the underworld characters that they encounter, as well as the strong undertone of cynicism that runs through it. It feels more like real life than many other detective stories, where everything is resolved by the end. 

I was first introduced to Wodehouse when PBS aired the BBC adaptations starring Hugh Laurie as the silly ass, Bertie Wooster, and Stephen Fry as his gentleman’s gentleman, Jeeves.

As soon as I stopped laughing, I started looking for the books, most of which are collections of short stories. Published in 1925, Carry On, Jeeves is the third in the series, but it includes the story of how Bertie came to hire Jeeves, so it’s a good place to start.

I find the stories, which satirize the idle rich of London of the 1920s, incredibly funny, but never cruel or mean. Bertie means well. He’s just an idiot. Jeeves calmly and expertly comes to the rescue. We could all use a Jeeves in our lives.  

I had to choose a mystery by the absolute master of the genre, Agatha Christie (bonus—my dog's name is Agatha, if that tells you how much I love her books). Agatha had a way of writing non-graphic mysteries that could still get under your skin...along with villains that were unforgettable, as was the case in this one. I won't say more since I don't want to give spoilers, but I'll never forget the creep factor of the whodunit in this book. And it's a bonus that Tommy and Tuppence Beresford are the sleuths—married sleuths for the win!

I love the character of Kinsey Millhone because she’s so human and relatable. Her life is messy; she gets herself caught up in situations where she knows she ought to let things drop but just can’t let them go, and she has a kind heart. She also has the endearing quality of being self-deprecating and not taking herself too seriously.

This book is set in the 1980s, and I enjoy seeing Kinsey’s legwork to solve her case without the benefit of mobile phones or the internet. I also love her relationship with her elderly neighbor and how protective she is of him when she feels that new people in the neighborhood are taking advantage of him.