M Y S T E R Y P L A C E S . N E T
mystery novels with a sense of place


Places
A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | I | J | K | L | M
N | O | P | Q | R | S | T | U | V |W |X |Y | Z

Authors
A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | I | J | K | L | M
N | O | P | Q | R | S | T | U | V |W |X |Y | Z

This site now includes 345 authors, 64 countries and multi-country regions, 45 U.S. states, Puerto Rico, and the District of Columbia.

Featured Authors
Around the World | In the USA

Read and Recommended
For a few months, I had time to note specific books that I read and recommended. I had to stop for lack of time. If time is available, this section will resume.
2010: Jan|Feb|Mar
2009: Jan-Feb|March|Apr|May|Jun|Jul|Aug|Sep|Oct|Nov|Dec
2008: Jul-Dec

Read & Recommended 2010: Jan | Feb | Mar
2009: Jan-Feb | Mar|Apr | May|Jun | Jul | Aug|Sep|Oct|Nov | Dec
2008: Jul-Dec

August 2 - I didn't have time to update this website in June and July, but I did manage to read a few novels worth recommending. Those in June, all by reliably good writers, ranged from California to Weimar Germany to contemporary Spain, Germany, and Sweden.

By far my favorite is the last volume of Stieg Larsson's Millennium series, Luftslottet som Sprängdes, published in Sweden in 2007. It is just as good as the first two, and the English translation is coming out in October as The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest. If you have not read this trilogy featuring hacker Lisbeth Salander and investigative reporter Mikael Blomkvist, get started now. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo and The Girl Who Played with Fire are both available in English. These are all long novels, but crisply written and fast reads. If you are impatient and read even moderately well another language they are available in, it's worth trying to practice your reading. They are available in French, Spanish, German, Dutch, and other languages.

Robert Wilson's The Ignorance of Blood is also the last in a series - four thrillers set in Seville and featuring police investigator Javier Falcón. Like Le Carré's latest, A Most Wanted Man, set in Hamburg, Wilson's series is rich with both local color and a complex contemporary international milieu of both terrorism and international crime networks.

With Shadow and Light, Jonathan Rabb steps back in history to Berlin in the 1920s, with a preview of the Nazi period, a follow-up to his earlier Rosa. Pronzini's Schemers is the latest in his Nameless Detective series, following two parallel cases in his usual San Francisco and surrounding northern California setting.

More about these Authors

Stieg Larsson on Amazon UK | Bookmooch | Wikipedia
John le Carre on Amazon UK | Bookmooch | Wikipedia
Bill Pronzini on Amazon UK | Bookmooch | Wikipedia
Jonathan Rabb on Amazon UK | Bookmooch | Wikipedia
Robert Wilson on Amazon UK | Bookmooch | Wikipedia