My 5 crime fiction recommendations…
I’m Judy and I am the manager of Oystermouth Library. I have been an avid reader all my life and worked in book retail before working for Swansea Libraries.
I used Sketty library as a second home as a child and my first ‘crossover’ author from Junior to Adult fiction was Agatha Christie and my love of crime fiction was born. I read a lot of other genres, non-fiction in particular but I always return to crime fiction as a ‘comfort read’.
I am good at guessing a twist in a story so I like fiction that surprises me or is a bit different from the standard crime procedural novel. These are five books that I have read from the library that stand out (in no particular order :))
I read this in lockdown 1 – I have read all of Swanson’s novels which are excellent but this one really appealed to my inner crime fiction geek. The premise of the tale is about a bookshop owner, Mal Kershaw. He is approached in his bookstore by an FBI agent who wants to question him about a blog post he had written entitled ‘My 8 favourite murders’. The blog references murders in books by Patricia Highsmith (Strangers on a Train), Agatha Christie (The ABC murders) amongst others. The agent is investigating unsolved murders with the same modus operandi. No spoilers here but it is like reading several books within a book which leads me nicely to my second choice.
This is an amazing read. A book within a book. It tells the tale of an editor, Susan Ryeland, reading a manuscript by an author, Alan Conway. Conway specialises in Agatha Christie/Dorothy L Sayers style crime fiction set in cosy village locations. His detective is Atticus Pund and the manuscript is called ‘Atticus Pund takes the case’.
The manuscript had three missing chapters as Alan Conway is dead having apparently committed suicide. Ryeland becomes convinced that Conway was murdered and seeks to find the missing chapters. She believes that there are clues within his novel. As a reader, you become immersed in both stories – the Pund novel is presented as a separate book which is as enjoyable as the main novel.
There is a follow up book called The Moonflower Murders which is equally good.
Another very different style read – You have to really concentrate on this one, no skimming. It is worth it though trust me. Set in a country manor, this is the tale of the murder of Evelyn Hardcastle, the young daughter of the house. So far so straightforward, but this tale is told in seven different ways. Until her murder can be solved by one of the other guests, the day will repeat itself over and over again. Each day will end with a pistol shot but told from the perspective of the different guests. It has a similar vibe to The Time traveller’s wife and it is utterly intriguing and totally original.
What a book. One of my absolute favourites and one I always recommend to my library customers.
Set in New England, this is the story of a group of elite scholars studying Classics. One of them, Richard Papen, finds he can’t enrol in Professor Julian Morrow’s class as enrolment is limited to five students. As Richard finds out more about this group, it becomes apparent that one of them, Edmund ‘Bunny’ Corcoran is blackmailing the group over an accidental death that occurred during a bacchanal. When Bunny threatens to expose this secret, the group decide to kill him.
The tale is narrated by Richard looking back on it many years later. A review describes this book as an ‘inverted detective story’ which is a perfect description. I have loved Donna Tartt’s other books, The Goldfinch in particular but this one has stayed in my mind nearly a decade after reading. Thoroughly recommended.
I have to end on the book that started it all. This is the first Agatha Christie that I read at the tender age of 11. It may not be my favourite but I can still remember ‘whodunnit’ which I can’t say for her other books.
I watched a TV adaptation of it last year and enjoyed it whilst knowing all along who the killer was.
It is a Miss Marple story and I think because it was the first Christie novel I read, I always preferred Miss Marple to Hercule Poirot (Although I also read all of his stories).
Elspeth McGillicuddy, a friend of Miss Marple is a passenger on a train. As another train passes hers, she witnesses a murder – a man is strangling a woman in the other train. As there are no other witnesses and no corpse, who will believe her? Over to you Miss Marple.
I hope you liked my choices, in spite of all the death and destruction I am a very happy and chilled person :)
Happy reading!