Two weeks ago, I listed my Five Top Fantasy Novels (so far), a process made difficult because of the many brilliant books I have read in that genre. This week, I tackled must-read mystery novels, which was difficult for a very different reason. Historically, mystery has not been a genre I have dealt with very much. I am not drawn very often to that area of a bookstore, and when I am, I find myself buying a book that is shelved in the area due to the author, even if the book itself is not a mystery (not all authors decide to write in other genres under pseudonyms à la Anne Rice/A. N. Roquelaure). So I actually did not have as wide of a pool of books to draw from when forming my opinion as I would have liked. Nevertheless, I have read some pretty amazing mystery novels and novels that I would consider mysteries even though the bookstores refuse to agree with me in their shelving location. These are the ones I would place firmly in my top five.

5 Must-Read Mystery Novels:







The Kid’s Book

What kid read From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler and did not want to spend a few nights sleeping out in a museum? E.L. Konigsburg (may she rest in peace) gave us the story of young and intelligent Claudia Kincaid, and her younger brother Jamie, who run away to the Metropolitan Museum of Art and find themselves embroiled the mystery of the true provenance of the statue of an angel. I distinctly remember one illustration of the Renaissance bed the two choose to sleep in – it captivated me and made me what to run away myself. Apparently, when it came to being enchanted by this scene based on a piece of furniture I wasn’t the only one. This is a classic read that I will pass on to my own children.

The Cozy Mystery

The “cozy” mystery is one of the staples of the mystery genre. Understandably, “cozies” are cozy to read. They often involve certain earmarks, depending on the series – varied historical settings, hyper-intelligent cats, gardening clubs, quilting circles, rural farming communities, etc, and give one the feeling of watching an episode of “Murder, She Wrote,” or perhaps the more recent British television saga of “Midsomer Murders.” They are the kind of “dark and stormy night” mysteries that never become too gruesome or graphic. And they are very, very popular, so at least one had to make it on this list, even though they are not generally my cup of tea. The one I recall enjoying the most I actually read back at age 17 or so. I wonder how I would feel about the book if I re-read it now, but at the time I liked it quite a bit, and definitely felt the “cozy” pervading the text. If the historical “cozy” is your thing, you might like following the strong Elizabethan character of Susanna, Lady Appleton in Facedown in the Marrow-bone Pie , as she investigates the death of her husband’s steward.







The Private Detective

I am a bit biased when it comes to Kate Atkinson. She ranks in my top five authors of all time, so I, therefore, doubt I could have made this list and left her off of it, even if I wanted to. Private detective Jackson Brodie is one of the most interesting characters I have ever encountered. We meet him in Case Histories, the first in the detective series that has recently been turned into a BBC miniseries by the same name. Fair warning to those faint of heart: this book is, in parts, very disturbing. To me, however, there was nothing written purely for shock value. Also fair warning, this is one of those books that stores will shelve in the “fiction/lit” section in an effort to keep all of the author’s books together.

The Oddball

Who writes a mystery with fairy tale characters? Jasper Fforde, that’s who. It started in The Big Over Easy, when inspector Jack Spratt investigated the death of Humpty Dumpty, but I have to say I enjoyed the follow-up novel, The Fourth Bear even more. Who could resist a book in which “Nursery Crime” detectives track down the psychopathic cookie, The Gingerbread Man? These books are simply, wonderfully strange.

The Even Odder Oddball

I was tempted to not put this book on the list because it is very hard to classify. Back in June 2013, Cyndi and I reviewed Sam Taylor’s The Amnesiac, a book that follows protagonist James Purdew as he tries to regain the knowledge of three missing years of his life. The truth is a mystery to him and to the reader, but this book certainly cannot be classified as any traditional kind of mystery in any way. I highly recommend it for those readers who like mysteries that are well-written, if completely off the wall and bizarre.







**Note – You have probably noticed the absence of any classic mysteries from this list. This is for two reasons. One, I will probably write about classic novels later on in this series. Two, the mysteries ware written in the 18th and 19th centuries are quite different than the mysteries released today, so it would be a bit like comparing apples and oranges.

**Second Note – As with the list of my Top Five Fantasy novels, I had a close runner-up for this list. In fact, if I had not wanted to represent the “cozy” mystery sub-genre, this book probably would have hit my top five. So consider Christopher Fowler’s Full Dark House an honorary member of this club.

So there you have it, folks. After much consideration, Renee’s Reads list for the Top Five Mystery Novels. Once again, I’ll throw in the caveat that this is the list so far. Mystery is a genre that I have not read extensively enough to say that this list would even survive a year if I put my mind to heavy mystery reading. But for now, I will stand by this list, and I wish you all happy reading!

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