"The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency" series by Alexander McCall Smith?
Fred: Oh my God! Angel, you're…cute! Angel: Fred, don't! Fred: Oh, but the little hands! And the hair! Angel: Hey! You're fired.
'Smile Time'
Literary Buffistas 3: Don't Parse the Blurb, Dear.
There's more to life than watching Buffy the Vampire Slayer! No. Really, there is! Honestly! Here's a place for Buffistas to come and discuss what it is they're reading, their favorite authors and poets. "Geez. Crack a book sometime."
Dana - Nov 27, 2007 4:17:39 am PST #4355 of 28260
I'm terrifically busy with my ennui.
Ginger - Nov 27, 2007 4:24:56 am PST #4356 of 28260
"It didn't taste good. It tasted soooo horrible. It tasted like....a vodka martini." - Matilda
Nevada Barr? Kathy Reichs? Sharon McCrumb's ballad books? My Robert Ludlum-loving 65-year-old cousin likes them.The first two have women protagonists, but certainly can't be described as girly. Has he read Robert Parker's Spencer books? They've had their ups and downs as the series has aged, but the first 10 are great. James Lee Burke's Dave Robicheaux books are wonderfully written.
Connie Neil - Nov 27, 2007 5:38:12 am PST #4357 of 28260
brillig
Laurie R. King Sherlock Holmes series
I wouldn't call them girly, but they are pretty feminist-oriented, to my mind. Plus Mary Sue as all get out. t has own issues with some chick getting her hands on the Great Detective.
JZ - Nov 27, 2007 6:12:17 am PST #4358 of 28260
See? I gave everybody here an opportunity to tell me what a bad person I am and nobody did, because I fuckin' rule.
Mary Sue and all, the Laurie R. King books might be a good fit for your dad, flea. There's also Deb Grabien's murder ballads series -- mystery + ghost story + a dash of cozy (though the last two are also pretty skeery and disturbing). And yesyesyes to the Alexander McCall Smith series.
§ ita § - Nov 27, 2007 6:16:44 am PST #4359 of 28260
Well not canonically, no, but this is transformative fiction.
Good call, JZ. I'd recommend much of Deb's work as fitting your description, flea.
Dana - Nov 27, 2007 7:27:41 am PST #4360 of 28260
I'm terrifically busy with my ennui.
Patricia Cornwell asks her readers to prove that they are true fans by posting positive reviews on the internet. Because the government has organized a bad-review conspiracy against her.
hippocampus - Nov 27, 2007 7:47:57 am PST #4361 of 28260
not your mom's socks.
Flea - what about Tony Hillerman? a little cozy, a lot of southwest. they're a good friend's 'airplane books'.
Kathy A - Nov 27, 2007 8:26:42 am PST #4362 of 28260
We're very stretchy. - Connie Neil
I haven't read Hillerman, but I like the adaptations on PBS, starring Adam Beach and Wes Studi (who is amazingly sexay in them).
askye - Nov 27, 2007 9:13:26 am PST #4363 of 28260
Thrive to spite them
I'd recommend CF Roe's books about a Scottish doctor, whose name I can't remember. It's sort of country house murder stye, with the doctor juggling responbsilities of being a doctor, a mom, and solving crimes.
My dad likes those and he really liked the No 1 Ladies Detective Agency stories as well.
erikaj - Nov 27, 2007 9:16:17 am PST #4364 of 28260
Always Anti-fascist!
Patricia Cornwall has lost what remains of her shit. I think she is down to forensics and a three. Which makes me sad, at the risk of sounding like one of those "I used to love x, but then he/she did y" posters.