Books like the Death series?

Hiya. I am new. I have had a bit of an Agatha Christie phase this summer. I am 3/4 of the way through her books so I was looking for something else before they dried up. Tried all sorts. Found most to grim. Just seems to be too much about unpleasant people and a nasty side of life. I have liked some of the other pre-war stuff too.

Then I found naked in death. I read it 3 times. I am not sure why. Its pretty grim. I think I like the couple in it. But I am trying not to think that as that might mean I like romance books?? I think its because they make a good couple and I don't feel that a few books it its going to all get broken up. Why can't people who should be together stay together? I have been trying to find similar books. I also like sci-fi, fantasy, Japanese fiction and have liked the Dresden books.

I wondered if there was something similar about? Or something with crime and sci-fi? Hopefully the Eve/Roarke is just a one off.

Agatha Christie is great, and good for you for reading so many. Her consistent high quality always amazes me.

You might like Dorothy L. Sayers' Lord Peter Wimsey series. They're all good, and his multi-book romance with Harriet Vane beginning in Strong Poison is quite involving.

If you like Japanese fiction, Haruki Murakami is great. There also is a fantastic element to much of what he writes. Kafka on the Shore and The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle were standouts for me.

AmberUK,

I am a huge fan of the in death series. J. D. Robb has written about 28 novels in the series. There is romance in the books & some pretty gruesome crimes, but there is humor as well. Each book wraps up a case. The couple stay together & the books show the progression in their relationship; the secondary characters are great, also. Like I said, I love these books, have all of them & buy the new one as soon as it comes out. If you read Naked in Death three times, I'm pretty sure you'll like the books in the series.

I am reading strong poison atm. There was a series on the TV in the UK that had 3 of the stories.

I have read all of murakami.

I have 4 of the death books on order from the lib, so I don't have to wait so long btw books. Atm I have two at home and hickory dickory dock by Christie too. Our lib gets things in quick so its a great service and only 50p a go!

>>But I am trying not to think that as that might mean I like romance books??

Why should that matter? If you like a book, why does it matter what arbitrary genre someone puts it in?

But that's a larger question. There are a whole bunch of mysteries that fall into the category of "traditional mystery" or "cozy" and they are generally not particularly grim. They also often have ongoing gentle love stories (not graphic or overly stressed, just a developing relationship.) You can see my library of cozy titles here: http://www.librarything.com/catalog/adeptmagic&deepsearch=cozy

It says you have no catalogue, am I using the link wrongly?
amber

>6 AmberUK:
it's probably better to use this link instead of the deep search one: http://www.librarything.com/catalog/adeptmagic&tag=cozy&collection=-1 (the deep search one seems to be playing and not showing now and then)

By the way "But I am trying not to think that as that might mean I like romance books??" - so what? There are romance books and romance books. I cannot stand the Harlequin type romances (might have something to do with reading 100+ from them in my teens) but I am reading a lot of other romance books. Besides - the only label that matters is "I like the book"/"I do not like the book".

Thanks that second link worked. I just got some more of the deaths today from the lib, I have been ordering them in bulk. So I am settling in for a few days on the sofa, nursing my cold but having a good read.

I think I am kinda a bit put off by the idea of romance books cos of 1) the covers 2) the titles 3) seems a bit middle aged lonely woman. (I am hitting 36 this month so that last bit is the worrying bit!) 4) I always remember my granny with books with bad titles/covers on what I was a kid.

Its non the sex/romance in the death books I have enjoyed. Its the personal relationship btw eve and roarke. Is that romance?

Yeah, it is, as long as they are not Harlequin type :) But again - there is romance and romance. Not to mention that these days a lot of the fantasy books have covers that were once reserved for the romance books.

Harlequin type? Clown sex?

Nope - the type of romances that you do not like :)

http://www.eharlequin.com/

A good romance is often primarily about the relationships. A bad one tends to be formulaic or primarily about sex and doesn't have enough of the other elements such as suspense, relationships, adventure to overcome its faults. My two cents.

gosh some of the covers on that site look sooo slimey, erk!

"I think I am kinda a bit put off by the idea of romance books cos of 1) the covers 2) the titles 3) seems a bit middle aged lonely woman. (I am hitting 36 this month so that last bit is the worrying bit!) 4) I always remember my granny with books with bad titles/covers on what I was a kid."

1) Stay away from romances with covers you don't like ;D Seriously, though, as others have said, there are various kinds of romances, and they don't all have cheesy covers!

2) ditto

3) I started reading romances with Mary Stewart and Phyllis Whitney when I was in my early teens. I avoided them for a few years due to literary snobbishness and embarrassment in my late twenties to early thirties because I didn't want anyone to know I read "things like that". I switched back to them later when I realized I didn't care what other people thought about my reading habits. So I don't think it's about age or loneliness!

4) Romance novels have come a long way since then!

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"Its non the sex/romance in the death books I have enjoyed. Its the personal relationship btw eve and roarke. Is that romance?"

In short, yes. You might try some romantic suspense, though much of it is gruesome in terms of the crimes, the best ones have really good relationships that develop along with the criminal element. But I really think you'd like some of the cozy mysteries. Try the Blackbird Sisters mysteries by Nancy Martin. There's almost no romance, though there's a developing relationship, and the series is only about six books long. (It's complete, too, which is nice--it doesn't go on forever.)

Thanks, I will check them out.