SBD what I want

I'm reading a bunch of category romances and I need something to counteract them. Some sour to go with the sweet.

I think a book like Perfume would do the trick, except I read that already, maybe as long as 20 years ago now, but I'm not ready to read it again.

How about a good hardboiled cynical detective? Anyone got one? I'd like some fluff in it though. An early Spenser would be good---pre-Susan Silverman. Except I've read them all.

And Dexter would be good too, except I've read those as well.

Comments

  1. jmc11:01 PM

    Have you read any of the HQN reissues of the hardboiled detective mysteries from the 50s and 60s? The blurbs seemed a little campy but fun.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Kate10:07 AM

    yeah, those sound perfect...except the misogyny in those books from the 50s seems universal.

    I know! Lawrence Block is what I want. Now.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Charles R. Rutledge2:35 PM

    I was thinking Block, but not much fluff there. Eight Million Ways to Die is a Classic. Might try one of Loren Estleman's Amos Walker mysteries or one of Stephen Greenleaf's John Marshall Tanner books. Those are both in the Chandler/Parker tradition. Robert Crais's early Elvis Cole books are fairly Spenser-ish. The Monkey's Raincoat is the first. Indigo Slam is good. Les Roberts' An Infinite Number of Monkeys is the first in his Saxon series. Lot of fun. Maybe one of Bill Pronzini's Nameless Detective books.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Kerry Allen10:34 AM

    Charlie Huston does gritty so well, you can feel it between your teeth. Already Dead if you want a vampire PI meddling in vampire gang politics. Caught Stealing if dodging the Russian mafia and the NYPD, sans fangs, is more your thing.

    John Sandford's Lucas Davenport books are good, too. I think Rules of Prey is the first.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Kate8:35 AM

    Charles and Kerry! Thank you for the suggestions. I've taken notes. I'm on these books as soon as I finish the last of the category romances.

    ReplyDelete

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