Looking for some mindless holiday reading.
Any tips on which books to try first as I guess the order of publication isn't always the best route?
Or maybe some other tips on decent crime novels?
Cheers

Michael Connelly's Harry Bosch books are a great read

Fazz wrote: ↑

Sun Jun 15, 2025 4:14 pm

Michael Connelly's Harry Bosch books are a great read

seconded

Anything by Bernard Cornwell (the guy who wrote Sharpe). Reading ‘Harlequin’ in Greece at the moment.

I would start with any of the Reacher books written by Lee Child rather than the later ones co-written with his younger brother. The Harry Bosch and Lincoln Lawyer books are also good. Another of my favourite authors is Greg Isles - particularly his Penn Cage series dealing with racism in Natchez - these would have to be read in order that they were published though.

Try Stuart McBride's Logan McRae series. Dark, but funny
For a lighter read any Terry Pratchett book.

David Baldacci has some interesting characters.... Some free audiobooks on Youtube as well

The Black House series by Peter May. Excellent. His descriptive prose is second to none.

Jane Austen never disappoints.

But Michael Connellly is good or Simon Mason for something a bit different

Anything by James Ellroy or George Pelecanos.

The Roy Grace detective novels by Peter James, set in Brighton. They've since been made into an ITV drama ('Grace') with John Simm.

Scott Mariani's books on the character Ben Hope are a good holiday read.

I find that Matthew Reilly's books fit the bill here, especially his Jack West series.
Imagine Indiana Jones meets Mission Imposssible/Da Vinci Code/Die Hard for fast paced action and ancient conspiracy.
Read the books in order, counting down, Seven Ancient Wonders, Six Sacred Stones, etc

If on a winter's night a traveler - italo calvino - great holiday reading

There is a small two or three book run in the middle of the Reacher series that are very loosely connected but ultimately they are always standalone. Some are set further back in Reachers Army days, some when he has left.

I would begin at the beginning - Killing Floor, unless you have seen series 1 on Amazon, which that is based on. So going to book 2 - Die Trying - would be worth it (and is excellent).

Would also recommend

Tripwire
Echo Burning
Nothing To Lose
Gone Tomorrow

As good starting points.

Also worth adding that Lee Child is a Villa fan and often puts names his characters after players. So one of the characters in a later book - "Make Me" is named after "our" Ashley Westwood.

CaptainKirk wrote: ↑

Sun Jun 15, 2025 4:08 pm

Looking for some mindless holiday reading.
Any tips on which books to try first as I guess the order of publication isn't always the best route?
Or maybe some other tips on decent crime novels?
Cheers

Publication order is probably best as some occasionally follow on or reference earlier characters. Plus the earlier books are better, the latter ones are pretty poor.

The Slow Horses series or other books by Mick Herron.

David Gatward. Grim Up North series.

A little bit of a left-field suggestion as it is a bit sci-fi (though not very) and a definite engaging mystery - I recently picked up "Wool" by Hugh Howey. It's set in a future where the world outside is incredibly toxic and the last 10,000 people on Earth have been living in a fully self-contained underground silo for a couple of centuries. The only view of the outside world is through a camera. The main rule is that can never say the words "I want to go Outside", because you will then be sent Outside with one ask - to clean the camera. And the people inside will see you go Outside and they will see you clean the camera and they will see you die.

But things are not exactly as they seem. I picked it up on holiday over Christmas and was thoroughly hooked. A clever idea very well executed.

It's been turned into an Apple TV+ series - "Silo" which I can also recommend.

Cheers for the replies. Much appreciated.

Alex Cross series by James Patterson

CaptainKirk wrote: ↑

Sun Jun 15, 2025 4:08 pm

Looking for some mindless holiday reading.
Any tips on which books to try first as I guess the order of publication isn't always the best route?
Or maybe some other tips on decent crime novels?
Cheers

Whilst each book us stand alone, there is some character progression, so reading them in order would be my suggestion. I also think the earlier books are the better ones. Has got a little formulaic over time.

Try the orphan x series by Gregg Hurwitz if you’re after some action hero stuff. Excellent series and easy to read

White Jazz: James Ellroy. Reading it for the second time. You have to concentrate.

Chris Brookmyre is an incredible writer thats worth delving into. Start with Quite Ugly One Morning and work from there.

Another excellent series are the Linoln Rhyme books by Jeffrey Deaver, starting with The Bone Collector of which a film with Denzel Washington and Angelina Jolie was made