Yup, McCrumb.

I love Archie Goodwin with body and soul. We're currently TiVoing all the Timothy Hutton Nero Wolfes.

Somehow or other, I've managed to never really get into the American modern mystery. It's weird; I love my old ones, my Stouts and my Chandlers and my Hammets. I prefer the UK ones most of the time, but those three, I love.

But somehow, I've never been able to enjoy Paretsky et al the way I do, say, Catherine Aird or P.D. James.

I recently picked up Deborah Crombie's mysteries featuring Duncan Kincaid and Gemma James. She's another American author writing British mystery, and Duncan is an Inspector, so it's procedural. At first she seemed a little bit like Elizabeth George Lite to me, but as the series has progressed, she's really hit her stride. Dreaming of the Bones (the fifth book) was just gorgeous, about a very Sylvia Plath-like poet, dead for five years, and the woman writing her biography, who happens to be Duncan's ex-wife.

She follows Gemma and Duncan's lives as much as presenting the mystery, too, and I'm just loving them. I've read all of the Elizabeth George Lynley mysteries, and I adored them up until the last two. In trying to tell the story from other points of view, she's getting too far away from Tommy and Barbara. And Deb is a bit whiny for my taste.

I must mention Laura Lippman's Tess Monaghan series. She also has a couple of stand alones. Based in Baltimore.

And Lehane's Angie Gennaro is probably my favorite female in mysteries so far (I am admittedly not that well-read in mysteries).

And Deb is a bit whiny for my taste.

Assuming you mean her character....?

I've heard raves about Crombie. She's on my TBR list, assuming I ever sit down and read again.

I just read two books by Richard K. Morgan. Interesting mix of hard-boiled gumshoe and cyperpunk.

Laurie R. King has a few good series out. One is contemporary and features a lesbian detective in San Francisco and the other is based around WWI and after, featuring a young woman who becomes Sherlock Holmes' apprentice. The first one in that series is called "The Beekeeper's Apprentice."

I am so frustrated right now. Reading response journals of some of my students who just totally don't get The House on Mango Street is so hard. Accusing Cisneros of being a poor writer who has no talent, etc. I know that this shouldn't bother me, but it so does.

Sigh.

I don't expect them all to like every book, but I've tried so hard to instill in them the understanding that liking a book is not the same thing all the time as appreciating its unique style and writing.

Hi hun e! There are a bunch of King fans around here. I love the Russell/Holmes ones, but some folks find them too Mary Sueish to enjoy.

I love the Russell/Holmes ones too, despite the fact that the most recent was a bit of a let down. Jesse, did you read The Game ? (Is that the title?) If so, what did you think?

hun_e - I really like the San Fran ones as well. I also really enjoyed (wrong word -- more like appreciated, was caught up in) Folly, Keeping Watch and A Darker Place.

I think the last one I read was with the two brothers?