Long-running mystery series that are still top-notch...

Certainly while some authors should have stopped writing after the 6th book, others have been able to continue to write, book after book, and still write top-notch mysteries. What long-running series (say, series over ten books) would you recommend?

P.D. James, Reginald Hill and Ian Rankin would be my top choices. I've read all of P.D. James over the decades but only started reading the Rankin and Hill series relatively recently. Reginald Hill's Pascoe & Daziel series is excellent and I would certainly put him in the league with James. Seems I started somewhere about book 14. I had been collecting them for quite a while but just needed a kick to pick the first one up. Ian Rankin's Rebus series is also terrific and I started those with The Falls, I think. He probably got a nice bump in sales when the TV series aired, but I never did watch that.

While it's nice to start at the beginning and get all the character's history, it's not always possible; so start anywhere. Really.

I love the J. D. Robb "In Death" series; there has to be at least 20 books out in it & it just keeps getting better & better.

Also love Janet Evanovich.

I still eagerly await the newest Elvis Cole and Pike adventure. Robert Crais does go outside of this series, but this is the mainstay of his writing.

Second on the P.D. James. She's one who can be counted on to put out high quality material every time.

Disagree on the Evanovich. {shudders}

I had given up on the Prey series from John Sandford but a recent novel might have saved it.

Bookmarque - sorry you disagree on Evanovich; guess she's not everyone's cup of tea. I just love the humor & zany characters; they are definite laugh out loud (in public) books. But I will agree, they are not serious crime/mystery/thriller/suspense books. :)

I think John Sandford should definately be on the list.

I would also put Margaret Yorke and Peter Robinson on there as well.

I have a few Evanovich's on my Mt TBR but haven't read one yet, although I have heard a lot of good things about her.

If you like historical mysteries Elizabeth Peters' Amelia Peabody series is remarkably consistent as to voice, plot, feminism and Egyptology.

Hm, no touchstone for the author. The first title in the series is The Crocodile on the Sandbank.

Elizabeth Peters was listed in the touchstone area, apparently by virtue of the touchstoned title. However, if you put the brackets inside the apostrophe, it does do the author touchstone for itself.

I think Jane Haddam's Gregor Demarkian stories have gotten stronger over time, although the most recent Hardscrabble Road had a weak denouement, I thought. Carol O'Connell still is writng very good books in her Kathy Mallory series, though it is not as long running as some other mentioned.

I've started Archer Mayer's Joe Gunther series and am half way through. I really like it. Ed McBain's 87th Precinct was excellent all the way through. And of course, Michael Connelly's Harry Bosch is a winner.

Forgot about Nevada Barr's Anna Pidgeon series. Murder and mayhem in the national park system - woo hoo! Seriously, I like the way Anna has changed over the years and developed as a character. She still has a core of iron, but she is starting to become more realistic and flexible in her approach to her life.

J.A. Jance's J.P. Beaumont series has held up well.

I think Janet Evanovich has been able to keep it together with the Stephanie Plum series, but she did lose it for some books in the middle. Books 1 to 3 were great and book 3 has possibly the funniest scene in history with Stephanie kicking Joe out of the car and into the street in the middle of the night.

But then the books seemed to be rather limp, and repetitive, like she had no more ideas. But around book 7 or 8 I think she got it back. I have really enjoyed the recent ones, and can't wait for the current one to go into paper. They are very light and fluffy, they are not meant to be serious, but rather humorous.

I also like Donna Leon's Guido Brunetti mystery series set in modern day Venice. I think they have gotten better as they go on. I love her characters and the experience they have personally and professionally trying to deal with the stupid and corrupt bureaucracy of modern Italian life.

Barbara Hambly's Benjamin January series is also very good. It follows a free black man trying to live in pre-civil war New Orleans.

I'll second Connelly's Bosch stuff and add Lehane's Kenzie and Genarro work.

Agree w/the Lehane series, but not sure it qualifies as long running with only 5 books. Am dying for a new one though.

How about J.D. Robb's Eve Dallas series? I read one of the later ones Visions in Death and liked it enough to buy the first three. I'm halfway through the first, and it doesn't look like Roberts/Robb lost a step in between.

One interesting thing about the ...in Death series is that when Ms. Roberts had a character tell Eve something that was a major contradiction of an important statement from an earlier book she 'fixed' it in another conversation a couple or maybe three books later. Not every author would bother.

Haile, that's interesting. I wonder if she's written screenplays; continuity is a fixation there, I've heard.

My goodness that woman is prolific.

Lee Child's Jack Reacher thrillers are my all-time favorite. They are great right from the very start of the series. I particularly liked Killing Floor, Tripwire, and Persuader. I didn't much care for Running Blind because it was a little creepier than most and that isn't my cup of tea. But they are all fast-paced, exciting, and clever.

Killing Floor (1997)
Die Trying (1998)
Tripwire (1999)
Running Blind (2000)
Echo Burning (2001)
Without Fail (2002)
Persuader (2003)
The Enemy (2004)
One Shot (2005)
The Hard Way (2006)

I'm surprised no one has mentioned the Travis McGee books by John D. Macdonald. I mean, they're not still being written, obviously, but they went on and on and were fabulous the whole time.

gg - I have to disagree on Lee Child. I loved Reacher to start, and he's certainly not lost anything, but he hasn't gained anything, either, and I like some growth and development in character.

Love John Connelly's Bosch, and I adore John Connolly's Charlie Parker, though the series isn't long-running yet. I can't wait to see what Parker gets up to next...Dark Angel was so weird it's hard to imagine what could happen next!

adeptmagic, I own all of the McGee books and would have mentioned them but for the criteria that the series be ongoing. I miss MacDonald a lot. I've been reviewing some of his non-McGee books as I re-read them and putting them into my LT reviews.

He was one of a very few that made the crossover from the pulps to the Original Paperback without missing a beat. Everytime I'm in a used bookstore I look for some of the old (1950s-1960s) books I don't already own.

I like John Connolly and Michael Connelly. Lee Child doesn't do it for me. Just my opinion.

I am interested in trying a J.D. Robb, but expect to be put off by the romance aspect. Any comments or suggestions?

etrainer, start with the first one (Naked in Death) if you're interested in sticking with it. The romance isn't overly intrusive, but be warned: it's pretty graphic when the two recognize the attraction. I was surprised. No blushing , no chaste kisses and cut to new paragraph or chapter.

Linkmeister, thanks for the advice. I guess if the 'romance' is there, the graphic-er the better! I'll try it.

Ed -

Do read them in order as part of the fun is the relationship progression and seeing which minor characters stick around for the next book and (sometimes) have a relationship of their very own.

I would tend to classify these as mystery/suspense with the occasional romantic/bedroom interlude. There is also a futuristic element though it doesn't seem nearly as strong as it did ten years ago when I first discovered this series. Not that Robb has changed her version of NYC but our everyday technology has changed pretty rapidly in the last decade.

Yeah, anybody who tags this "sci-fi" hasn't read much of the real thing. ;) I tag 'em as "crime, police procedural" myself.

And Haile's (are you from Hawai'i?) right, the relationship progression is a subplot running through the books.

I tag them as "futuristic police procedural". It's definitely NOT sci-fi or romance.

A word about the romance aspect. JD Robb is also Nora Roberts, but as Nora Roberts she writes full-on romance, so don't be fooled into thinking that if you like the Robb work you'll also like the Roberts work.

Or the other way 'round. A lot of people who like Roberts in a romantic mood don't like Robb at all.

(Never been to Hawai'i. Try South Carolina.)

I do think of them as 'futuristic' but mostly as 'police procedural'.

Tricia

Tricia,
Reason I asked, Haile is a not uncommon name among the Hawai'i community (the folks whose families have been here for 800 years or so).

I lived in Charleston when I was about four.

My favorite long-running mystery series that are still going strong are the Harry Bosch mysteries by Michael Connelly, the Elvis Cole mysteries by Robert Crais, and the Easy Rawlins mysteries by Walter Mosley. On the advice of someone on one of these boards, I'm going to try Mosley's Fearless Jones mysteries next.

adeptmagic,

You are right that Jack Reacher never changes or grows as a character, which I can understand has its limits, but I think that is the point. He is suposed to be an archetype, a White Knight superhero, not a real guy. But I certainly understand how that type of herodoesn't appeal to everyone.

For a long-running series with incredible amounts of character developement for a whole group of characters, I like the Dismas Hardy series by John Lescroart:

The Motive (2005)
The Second Chair (2004)
The First Law (2003)
The Oath (2002)
The Hearing (2001)
Nothing But The Truth (1999)
The Mercy Rule (1998)
Guilt (1997)
A Certain Justice (1995)
The 13th Juror (1994)
Hard Evidence (1993)
The VIG (1990)
Dead Irish (1989)

Linkmeister, Haile is actually my husband's family name and it's English, pronounced like hail as in ice falling from the sky and comes from the same word as Hall and Hale. We both came from Tennessee and most of our family is still there.

Another author (actually two in collaboration) of a long running series is Emma Lathen. Her Wall Street mysteries held up pretty well but the last one I know about was written nearly ten years ago so its not really ongoing.

gg--

Actually, the Reacher-type hero *does* appeal to me (you have to understand, I study Medieval romances for fun...I spend hours with Gawain, the prototypical "White Knight") but I got tired of Jack himself after a bit. I think I read them too quickly one after the other, so the sameness started to get really stale. It really hit me after whatever book it is that he meets the woman he's theoretically been in love with his entire life, and then in the next book it's "off with the one woman, on to the next".

I think my favorite long-running "superhuman" hero is Hawk from the earlier Spenser books. (The whole early Spenser stuff was great and the tv series is probably the best television adaptation of any mystery series I have ever seen...better even than the BBC Poirot stuff which is pretty darned good.) I love Spenser himself, but it's his very humanity that makes him wonderful.

Some of my favs other than those already mentioned are Martin Cruz Smith (Gorky Park is a classic!), Jonathan Kellerman, James Lee Burke (I can't get enough of Dave Robicheaux) and Stephen Hunter. Stephen Hunter's Earl Swagger novels are definitely tough guy "super" hero. So far they do not seem to be the same novel over and over like the Lee Child novels. As my father would say, the Lee Child novels are like bubble gum. Chew 'em up and spit 'em out. But I love them, too!

I concur with avaland re. Ian Rankin. Consistently good series from a fine writer.

Ditto, also, EdGoldberg's nomination of Ed McBain. The interesting thing about McBain is that the 87th Precinct series was around for so long! The earlier books - from the 1950s and 60s - ran around 150 pages, while the later titles were more than double that. I think the change was more a product of marketplace demands than anything artistic. The quality of the storytelling remained consistent for fifty years!

I'm surprised no one mentined Lawrence Block. His "Bernie Rodenbarr" series and his "Matthew Scudder" series have lasted a long time, and despite evolving, I think they've remained very good.

One of my favourites is the Sharon McCone series by Marcia Muller. Wonderful San Francisco and California settings, a love interest, cats for those who like such things (not intrusive) - recommended

RE Robb:

I bought the first three of the in Death series (boxed set) yesterday and started the first one today (taking a break from my effort to go completely through the Nero Wolfes). I've only read a few pages and only cringed once at a hint of 'romance'. Or maybe I'm just anticipating. Anyway, I'll be sure to give my opinion when I've read enough to have one.

etrainer, sounds like you got the same boxed set I did while Christmas shopping for other things entirely.

That could be a shock to your system, going from Stout's urbane Goodwin to Robb's Dallas. ;)

Re: 30

I love Lescroart's Hardy and Glitzky stuff.

I agree that Lawrence Block's Matthew Scudder series has maintained a consistently high quality while evolving over time.

I think Peter Tremayne' s Sister Fidelma series is great. Good mysteries and a great history lesson on Ancient Ireland.

C.J. Box's "Joe Pickett" series follows a game warden in a rural Wyoming town, and I've enjoyed all of them (six so far)--although the third, Winterkill, is my favorite.

If you like stories with a Western/outdoor/rural setting, you'll most likely enjoy these. Each book explores a major issue of the West (for example, The Endangered Species Act or Mining Rights), but Box does a nice job of using the issue to frame a story, without getting preachy about any specific stand. His main character, Joe Pickett, is an admirable Everyman. And C.J. Box himself is a very gracious, wonderful person.

I like C.J. Box as well. I read Savage Run within a week of visiting the canyon and mountain where it was set. He captured the local environment well and I could fill in the reality the scenes he described from my own visit to the area. The exploration of Joe's marriage in Out of Range is also well done. It came together well In Plain Sight. I have really enjoyed the series.

I like Child's reacher, at least the quality has not dropped off.

Another long running author is sue grafton and her Alphabet series of Kinsey stories. Light reading but enjoyable, and with the exception of P whihc I though very very contrived they are equally enjoyable all the way through. O or maybe R have been my favourites. I'm about to read them all through in order again as I've just bought S which is as far as she's got.

No-one has mentioned Agatha Christie yet. All of her prolific work is superb especially the Miss Marple. And then there's Doyle's Sherlock Holmes again a large body of stories. Don't read anything else he's written though. Lost World is bareable everything else is rubbish.

The White Company and Sir Nigel were both great read None detective reads by Doyle

Conan Doyle also wrote some pretty good horror stories.

OK, I finished Naked in Death yesterday on an airplane. I thought it was OK, not great, but OK. The "detection" didn't lead to solving the case - I suppose this is why it was classified as a 'police procedural'. The romance was not terribly intrusive, but for me, it added nothing useful to the story. Oh yeah, pages 219 through 250 were missing from the paperback!! I don't know exactly what I missed.

I bought the book as part of a three book set. I expect if I had bought it individually that I would not have purchased the other two. I will try to read the two since I have them - unless Borders offers to take the whole set back because of the missing pages.

My favs are Walter Mosley & James Lee Burke, but let us not forget the classics. No one has yet beaten Chandler, to my mind.

>47 littlegeek:

Agree that Chandler is best. Ross MacDonald is second, in my opinion.

James Lee Burke, Robert Crais and what about Tony Hillerman and his Navajo series.

have any of you read books by martha grimes?
i really enjoy the humor and layers of description in her richard juries series, and have yet to find a similar type of mystery author.

if anyone knows her works, can you suggest similar authors?

also, anne perry's monk and pitt series are ones that i'm pretty familiar with. i'm buying them as used books from our county library but there are certain books in the series that i cannot find as easily.

Up to a point (her last two Jury books and The End of the Pier are very weak) Grimes was one of my favorite light-reading writers. Try to read the Jury series in order of publication - there is a lot of "history" developing among the characters. (No spoilers for the crimes, but some for the relationships among the crew). I, frankly, don't care for her non-Jury books (I've written about this elsewhere).

In case you need it, an excellent source for determining the order of any author's series works is fantasticfiction.com.

I agree with those who mentioned Reginald Hill and Elizabeth Peters, and I completely agree with artisan about Martha Grimes.

Favorite series that are still going that haven't been mentioned yet in this thread are Ruth Rendell's Wexford mysteries and John Mortimer's Rumpole stories.

I, too, am a fan of Anne Perry's Thomas and Charlotte Pitt series, although I've never much cared for her William Monk series.

It took me a while to get into Elizabeth Peters's Amelia Peabody series, but now I can't wait for them to come out. I wish she'd resume her Jacqueline Kirby series, though. The last one, Naked Once More, is more than 15 years old now. (Yes, it's really a mystery: the title is meant to mock the publishing adage that using the word "naked" in a title increases sales.)

Sharan Newman's Catherine LeVendeur books, a medieval series which starts with Death Comes as an Epiphany, is another series that I follow closely.

webgeekstress, I think Peters is done with Amelia. For news/talk about both Peters and Amelia, you could try the Amelia group at Yahoo.

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/amelia/

The latest news, as I recall, is that she's signed a contract for a couple more books. When I'm 80 I hope I have that kind of desire. ;)

I totally agree about Reginald Hill and Tony Hillerman. Both just keep getting better and better. I love Minette Walters, though I don't find her books to be all of the same standard - but she is quite brilliant at her best, and the quality goes up and down, not gradually downhill.

I have enjoyed most of John Sandford Prey series. I enjoyed all of Jill Churchill Jane Jeffries series. My most favorite is Anne George Southern Sisters.

Well the review copy I saw was definately The Death of Dalziel.

#57 Yes, I saw that in the publisher catalog over here. Something about him being in the hospital because of a bomb. I thought I had missed a previous book! I hope he is not taking a cue from Colin Dexter and really killing off one of his two main characters...

#57, #58: Death Comes for the Fat Man is the title, to be released in hardcover March 13. The beginning of the Publisher's Weekly review tells you what you need to know:

"Hill, who has created and artfully guided the destinies of Yorkshire policemen Det. Supt. Andy Dalziel (aka "the Fat Man") and his DCI Peter Pascoe through 22 remarkable adventures, doesn't give anything away until the very last page of this excellent mystery (after 2004's Good Morning, Midnight). Only then do we learn whether or not the bomb blast that starts the story marks the end of Dalziel's life." (There's more)

#59, surely one cannot name a book that and not deliver a death. Unliess another fat man steps in take the death for him.

Not necessarily, for Death may "come for" and go away empty-handed.

"Not necessarily, for Death may "come for" and go away empty-handed."

Just ask Terry Pratchett.

The Death of Dalziel in the UK title, Death Comes for the Fat Man is the US title. Uk issue date March 12, US issue date March 13. Go figure.

The reason for different US and UK titles is bizarre. The publishers decided that US readers could nor pronounce Dalziel.

neither can the english

LOL, Simon!

US readers were taught to (mis)pronounce Dalziel by the TV series.

Have I touched a nerve? I did say it was the publishers decision. By the way the name is Scottish and I am Irish. So there you are.

So, what IS the proper way to pronounce Dalziel?

The person who originally recommended Reginald Hill's books to me, a regular in the store and an Australian btw, pronounced it like "Day ell" and I think he told me it was Welsh. Since I started the series somewhere in the middle and never saw the television show, I wouldn't consider myself an expert.

I think I recall in one of the later books the point being made to someone that it was pronounced "Dee ell", which probably would make the Aussie pronunciation as above.

On this (sub)topic, I need to know how a Brit would pronounce two names from Martha Grimes' "Richard Jury" books: Ruthven and Macalvie. With regard to the first, I am sure the British penchant for dropping letters must apply, and with regard to the latter, which syllable receives the emphasis?

I know that Ruthven is pronounced "Riven", but only because Melrose Plant makes a point of saying so to Aunt Agatha in the first (maybe second) book. She still insists on calling him Ruth-ven. "If he wanted it pronounced Riven he should have changed the spelling" or something to that effect.

I've read them all, almost always on the first week of issue, so that must have been long ago, and I either missed the pronunciation or forgot. Thanks.

Mac al vee um no strong emphasis but if there was it would be MAC al VEE

Dayell is the correct way to pronounce Dalziel. It is Scottish. I apolgise for starting this. I would say Mc Calve ee. But then I am Irish.

Now isn't that interesting? It is apparently harder than I thought to type syllabic emphasis. Or perhaps it's just harder to hear the typed sound. I should have offered a multiple choice:
MAC alvee
ma CAL vee
macal VEE

I apologize, but I just can't quite pronounce a three-syllable word without any emphasis: Mac al vee or Mc Calve ee.

well of the three I would go for the first and for completness sake I should add that I am welsh.

Simon

Margaret Maron's Deborah Knott series is and remains excellent. Starting with Bootlegger's Daughter, it never lets up.

Also (although mentioned in other threads) Andrea Camilleri's series with Inspector Montalbano. And joy, joy, there's another one coming out soon! Highly recommended. Makes you lust after Sicilian food.

Joycepa -- I am glad to hear someone mention Margaret Maron. I have not read all of her Deborah Knott series, but the ones that I have read I really like. I also read Last Lessons of Summer which is not part of the series. It was really good, too.

knittingfreak--good to hear about Last Lessons of Summer. Some of the reviews I've read haven't been so hot. Wondered whether Maron could step outside of Deborah Knott and wite a good stand alone. Thanks for the tip--will put the book on The List--which, no matter how many books I buy from it, keeps on growing longer! :-)

I love the Jack Reacher books. Remind me of the characters and tone of Elmore Leonard's works.

The passing of Ed McBain was a great loss. He kept putting them out over a very long period. Sadly missed. If possible, he just kept getting better.

Also, read just recently that Barbara Seranella passed away. She wrote the Munch Mancini books.

What do you think of Dorothy Sayers? I've heard her referred to, but haven't read any of her books.

#85 > Bibliophilus, Dorothy Sayers's Lord Peter Wimsey series is absolutely great.

Thanks! I'll get her into the "TBR" queue...

I think( pd james) is good .however (Peter lovesey)
(Colin Dexter) , (Susan Dunant)
(Peter Robinson) are better
than average mystery wriers.
I seem to prefer the British
writers

For more discussion of British Writers check out he British and Irish Crime Fiction group.

I love Janet Evanovich's Stephanie Plum series-- I especially love all the zany characters. Grandma Mazur is my favorite.

Love the J.A. Jance Joanna Brady series--all these books are consistenly good, with excellent character development. I haven't read the J.P. Beaumont series, other than Partners in Crime when J.P. and Joanna worked together to solve a crime.

And I agree with the above posters on J.D. Robb, the Eve Dallas books are all very suspenseful and keep my attention all the way throughout all of the books.

Love Anne Perry's William Monk series, no doubt because as a nurse I enjoy reading about Hester's work experience as she practices nursing during the Victorian era.

Not sure if Margaret Frazer fits the criteria because "she" started out as 2 collaborators for the first 6 books. The "Frazer" half, who wrote the first drafts of the doubly written books anyhow, is the one who continues the series on Dame Frevisse and they get better and better, IMO. Sorry for the little biography lesson. LOL

I’m on my seventh D.W Buffa novel (Trial by Fire) featuring Joseph Antonelli and they just keeps getting better.

Not a massively long running series (I think it's on it's 7th book), but the Tom Thorne series, by Mark Billingham is superb. Any fans of Ian Rankin's Rebus books would probably enjoy the series, although personally I prefer Thorne to Rebus.

What I really like about long lived series is the revisiting of old friends.......

No one mentioned Elizabeth George with her english detective and sargent - some of my favorite mysteries

I didn't see any mention of Peter Robinson's Alan Banks series which I love and is ongoing.

Two other series I can think of that are first rate throughout are the Kate Fansler series by Amanda Cross and the Rocksburg series by K.C. Constantine--I *think* that Constantine is still writing books set in Rocksburg but with a new main character.

I recently read the first J.D. Robb In Death book and was pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed it. Definitely brain candy but very yummy brain candy.

The touchstones seem to be actually getting worse lately!

Some of these have probably been mentioned, but there are so many good series. I usually prefer British mysteries because I want to live in a country where tea drinkers get respect, but I have a few American series I like. First, Archer Mayor's Joe Gunther books, Tony Hillerman's Chee and Leaphorn series, and the works of Ed McBain (sorely missed) , Lee Child, and the ever-enticing Michael Connelly.
In the British pantheon I miss the John Harvey series featuring Charlie Resnick, and will always love Ellis Peters, Peter Robinson and Colin Dexter.

Along the lines of Janet Evanovich, there is Sue Grafton. I stopped reading around J but liked them up till then. There is also Diane Mott Davidson with her Goldie the chef series.

James W. Hall writes an excellent series taking place in South Florida. Shades of Carl Haissen with a mystery thriller slant and some very twisted characters. He’s been called “The King of the Florida-gothic noir”.

I especially love reading Michael Dibdin police procedurals, which feature Aurelio Zen, a sometimes high-level and sometimes low-level policeman. Each book is set in a different part of Italy, and Dibdin evokes the spirit of place wherever the setting. For example, his descriptions of the ways that Venice sounds, smells, looks and feels take me right back. The Zen series is short, though, and Dibdin died last year, alas.