Other Crime Writers

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Comments

  • Perhaps the closest to AC is Ngaio Marsh. She has more multidimensional Characters, but is less cosy and satisfying. However, I liked most of her books. 
  • Tommy_A_JonesTommy_A_Jones Gloucestershire, United Kingdom
    She only has one sleuth doesn't she I have some of her books, one being A Man Lay Dead.
  • Right. "A Man Lay Dead" is her first, "Light Thickens" is her last (published posthumously). She has several "country house" mysteries (e.g. "The dancing footman", Tied up in tinsel") and country village mysteries (e.g. "Scales of Justice" and "Overture to death") which AC fans might like.
  • Talking about other writers, I think Charlotte Macleod, writing as Alisa Craig, hints either at Agatha Christie (Three blind mice) or at Ngaio Marsh (The dancing footman) when she writes, in "Murder goes Mumming" (situated in a snowbound family house in Canada) :  "Over in Britain, some sweet middle-aged lady with a penchant for gore and a driving lust for an advance royalty check would be pounding out a mystery novel about a house party trapped in a blizzard."


  • I like Ngaio Marsh's books, there are thirty-two of them and I had a lot of fun tracking them all down.  Her detective is Roderick Alleyn.  He's the younger son of a baronet, so shades of Wimsey there.  It's true that she's not as "cosy" as Agatha Christie, but then AC wasn't always cosy either (think of Endless Night).

    Georgette Heyer wrote twelve detective novels, she is more AC-like than Ngaio Marsh I think.  


  • Yes! I didn't think of her, Georgette Heyer is a lot more like AC. she also has more than one detective, though in her case they are all male and professional police officers. Another woman writer who writes about a similar background is elizabeth lemarchand.
  • Oh yes, I forgot about Elizabeth Lemarchand.  I actually have two of her books, Death of an Old Girl and Alibi for a Corpse, and enjoyed both of them.  I should try to get more of her books but it's difficult here in SA, because our postal service has collapsed so there's not much point in ordering anything via the internet, it will never be delivered.  I will have to search the charity shops and second-hand bookshops.

    There is also the "Death in ..." series by M.M. Kaye.  I only have the two African ones, Kenya and Zanzibar, and they aren't very Christie-like, but they are still quite fun.  The others are set in Cyprus, Berlin, the Andamans and Kashmir.  You've got me really thinking now, thanks for giving me something to do this chilly winter Sunday afternoon!

  • In that case, here are another couple of authors you might want to look at: Elizabeth Daly and Dorothy Simpson.

  • Thank you, I'll add them to my list.
  • Sorry Del, I meant Catherine Aird and not Elizabeth Daly.
  • S_SigersonS_Sigerson United States
    You should keep Elizabeth Daly. Her plots are well thought out and her writing is good. Like Christie she plays fair with the reader. I've always thought of her sleuth, Henry Gamadge as a combination of Sayer's Lord Peter Wimsey and Freeman's Dr. John Thorndyke. Similar to Sayer's books in that they are set in the upper echelon of society. A few years ago, Felony and Mayhem, a publisher here in the US started to reissue her mysteries.
  • Tommy_A_JonesTommy_A_Jones Gloucestershire, United Kingdom
    Dorothy Simpson Books are excellent, you have to read them in order but only because the Lifeb f The Detective Luke Thanet progresses and his 2 Children get older and his Side-kick Mike Lineham becomes a Father, (I think Mike is a Batchelor at the beginning but wouldn't swear to that) They don't give Spoilers of previous Books, I started reading them when I lived in Gloucester, There are 15 (I think) they helped me when I lived somewhere I hated, I alternated them with Bettty Rowlands Mel Craig Books and Christie's, Funnily enough when I read them something in my life corosponded with the one I was reading, I gave them away eventually because of Lack of Space, I meant to read them again but never did, I began to work out who the Murderer was and then the 'Code' Changed, I learnt Interesting things while reading them. They are Excellent.
  • @Tommy_A_Jones ;

    Thanks for that info, Tommy.  I've just done a search for Dorothy Simpson on Loot (our local equivalent of Amazon) and they advertise several of her books, all of them with the message "This item is a special order that could take a long time to obtain".  I know what that means, six months waiting and double the price if they ever arrive, plus hefty courier charges because we no longer have a postal service.  The existing prices are astronomical too, as the Rand is now almost R20 to the GBP, so I'll have to give up that idea and try to find second-hand copies if possible.  

    Last night I had a look at my existing book collection, if I were to re-read everything I already have it would probably see me through the next decade, so maybe I'll do that and save my money for generator fuel and candles which we need for the almost daily blackouts here.  
  • Tommy_A_JonesTommy_A_Jones Gloucestershire, United Kingdom

    You make me Greatful for Britain's Postal Service, I assume by Blackouts you mean Powercuts, You make me thankful for our Electricity, pity you haven't got a Freecycle or better still, a British friend who can buy the books and bring them to you from GB.


  • S_SigersonS_Sigerson United States
    edited June 2015
    Amazon recommended a book to me called The Golden Age of Murder by Martin Edwards. It's about the members of the London based Detection Club that included such luminaries as Christie and Sayers. I've only just started reading it so I don't really have an opinion yet. Those who are interested in the writers of what is popularly known as the Golden Age (mysteries written between the two World Wars) might find this book of interest. Martin Edwards is a crime/mystery writer himself. His also a member of the Detection Club, as well as being their official Archivist. Over the years he has written/developed several series of crime/mysteries including one that takes place in the Lake District of England. It looks like there are six books in the series so far. I've never read them, but they sound interesting. And that part of England is quite beautiful; in which case, I might give one of the books a go.
  • @Tommy_A_Jones

    Yes, I do mean power cuts, we get them for several hours almost every day now and there's no sign of it getting better, only worse.  I have several friends and family members living in Britain, unfortunately they don't want to visit SA any more.  

    I pulled out my Georgette Heyer detective novels this morning and have started reading Footsteps in the Dark.  It's so long since I last read it that I don't remember a thing, so it's as good as reading a new book. On Saturday I might toddle off to the Hospice bookshop and see what treasures I can find.
  • MarcWatson-GrayMarcWatson-Gray Dundee City, United Kingdom
    I'm about to start a Murder Mystery by Mavis Doriel Hay......Death on The Cherwell (1935)
    Has anyone ever read this or her other two books ?
  • AnubisAnubis Ontario, Canada
    Hi Marc, 
    Yes, I read this some months ago. I won't say much about it, so as not to ruin any surprises for you, but I'd say it's typical of the "Golden Age" mystery. I enjoyed it but not as much as, say, AC.

  • Tommy_A_JonesTommy_A_Jones Gloucestershire, United Kingdom
    I might buy a Copy.
  • Yes, it appeals to me, as from that era
  • MarcWatson-GrayMarcWatson-Gray Dundee City, United Kingdom
    Then another I'd recommend is The Cornish Coast Murder...John Bude......Vicar Investigates a murder...Really enjoyable,atmospheric, of the time.
    However, The Lake District Murder also by John Bude...(In my opinion)not so good.
    Very monotonous detail of a delivery truck times....very detailed and probably very realistic,but as a famous actress once said "If it's real life you want, go and stand on any street corner"
  • Great to get the recommendations! It is good to have some where to go when the AC compendium has been finished.
  • MarcWatson-GrayMarcWatson-Gray Dundee City, United Kingdom
    The only downside is,when i'm reading someone else..I miss Agatha Christie !!!
    I even interrupted my beloved Charles Dickens to read A Pale Horse.
    And whilst reading Mavis Doriel Hay,I'm already planning a trip down the Nile Poirot style !!!
  • Tommy_A_JonesTommy_A_Jones Gloucestershire, United Kingdom
    I have Got The Cornish Coast Murder but have yet to read it, It looks Excellent
  • tudestudes Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
    The only downside is,when i'm reading someone else..I miss Agatha Christie !!!
    I even interrupted my beloved Charles Dickens to read A Pale Horse.
    And whilst reading Mavis Doriel Hay,I'm already planning a trip down the Nile Poirot style !!!
    I know exactly how you feel. I feel the same. It's very strange to read a detective/crime story and not to think about A. C!
  • AnubisAnubis Ontario, Canada
    Me too! I love reading all kinds of books, not just fiction and not just mystery, but as good as they may be, they aren't AC. P.S. Marc, I went on a trip down the Nile some years ago and had a great time.
  • MarcWatson-GrayMarcWatson-Gray Dundee City, United Kingdom
    Hopefully you will like it Tommy.
    As you guys have said (Anubis/Tubes)we all compare other writers to Agatha Christie.
    She has set a standard (or a style)that touches us inside when we read them. And even though most of the stories are not of our time,we somehow connect with them (both characters and situations).
    On a bad day,there is something reassuring about and Agatha Christie book.
  • Definitely reassuring. I think it is her sense of right and wrong which does it.
  • MarcWatson-GrayMarcWatson-Gray Dundee City, United Kingdom
    Agreed.Griselda....
  • AnubisAnubis Ontario, Canada
    I'm embarrassed to say this, but in all the decades I've been reading AC, it has never once occurred to me to appreciate the sense of right or wrong or justice / injustice in her books. I just like the very natural way her characters speak (like real people) and the big reveal at the end. Or at least, that's what I thought. Maybe I liked the sense of right and wrong all along without being aware of it.
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