How about the books that became the series Wire In the Blood by Val McDermid? It's got a messed up university psychologist profiler who helps out the local gritty police chief.

Eileen Dreyer writes excellent murder mysteries. The early ones are pretty much all set in hospitals, and the later ones deal more with forensics. (Eileen was a burnt-out trauma nurse when she started writing romances in the mid-'80s, and then went back to school for her certificate in forensics about 7-8 years ago.) My favorite of hers is "Nothing Personal"--very dark humor that kept me giggling throughout and also made it a fave of my nurse mom and her fellow nursing friends.

Also, while on vacation I lent my mom my copy of Caleb Carr's "The Alienist" while I finally got around to reading its sequel, "Angel of Darkness." Both of these are fantastic if you haven't read them already.

In not-mystery recs, if you haven't read "The Time Traveler's Wife," well, why haven't you? Great read if a little dizzying in the different time streams.

Thanks! The Eileen Dreyer books sound good. Yes, I've read The Alienest and TTTW. Both good, though not as fluffy as I'm looking for now.

I am a big fan of the Mr. and Mrs. North books. [link]

Fluffy and stylish and fun.

For mysteries in the Christie style (but with better writing and characterization), I like Ngaio Marsh's Inspector Alleyn mysteries and Ellis Peters' Inspector George Felse.

How about JD Robb, aka Nora Roberts? "Naked in Death" is the first of the series, and a lot of people love them.

how bout the jill churchill series ? one is about a widow mom ( jane jeffery) and they have titles like Grime and punishment, war and peas , a quiche before dying and then there are the Grace and favor Mysteries by her. Depression era. rich brother and sister that are no longer rich that end up in a tiny town living in old mansion -

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Jennifer Crusie and Janet Evanovich are both good convalescent reads, because they're entertaining but not intellectually demanding.

Other series you might like include one's by Jane Langton, set in Concord and often referencing Concord's writers; Anne Perry (I'm partial to the William Monk books, set in London in the early 19th century.); and Linda Barnes and Laura Lippman. Ellis Peters' Brother Cadfael books are good and usually soothing, in that the violence is usually off screen and often unintended, plus her pictures of a 12th century monastery seems so real. Josephine Tey's "The Daughter of Time" is excellent for convalescence, since the main character becomes obsessed with solving solving the mystery of Richard III and the little princes while convalescing.

Josephine Tey's "The Daughter of Time" is excellent for convalescence, since the main character becomes obsessed with solving solving the mystery of Richard III and the little princes while convalescing.

This is most excellent! Also along the same line is the Inspector Morse book by Colin Dexter called "The Wench Is Dead." Morse is in hospital for an ulcer and solves a Victorian murder from the bed.

I like Jan Burke's Irene Kelly series -- they're pretty easy. And am obsessed with Lee Child, but they are thrillers, not mysteries.

Did anyone mention Dorothy Sayers yet?