Oh! What a genre.

I love mystery books and in the past years I've discovered amazing authors.

Sometimes, I would even download 2 or 3 Kindle samples and read then in parallel to choose the best to continue.

I like also how these books settle the environment for a murder to happen. They present the suspects, geography and potential motives.

Certainly, there are different kinds of mystery novels, from cozy ones, police/detective agencies, forensic and so on.

My list hopefully would prove to be diverse, with classic and modern titles. Let's get to it!

The Bookseller's Tale (Oxford Medieval Mysteries, #1) - Ann Swinfen

One of the first striking things from this book is reading English from the 14th century. Dialogues, words and expressions which sometimes need a second thought.

It's hard to imagine a world where cars, book printing and the internet do not exist. The main character is a scriber and also runs a bookshop. His wife died of a disease and he lives with her sister.

A student from a university gets murdered and that triggers a big investigation between towns and cities.

The funny thing is, also the "time holes" the book exposes and takes advantage of. Like, when a character has to walk for a very long time between spots (just because there are no transportation services).

The plot keeps its pace and sometimes the author adds a bit of a romantic language in some passages. Very, very recommended.

The Murder of Roger Aykroyd - Agatha Christie

In the past months, I've reading Agatha Christie like crazy. I was in Mexico a couple of weeks ago, where I found many of her books in Spanish (sometimes I like to read in Spanish).

By far, this is the best I've read, from the 4 first ones from detective hero Hercules Poirot.

Compared to other mystery authors, Christie keeps the plot very fluent with some level of darkness in between.

Mr. Roger Aykroyd gets murdered on a Friday night, after dinner and among his family and acquaintances. The narrator of the story, Dr. Sheppard is supposedly the last one who saw him alive, and later he founds him dead in the same room where he left him in the first place.

The ending is amazing and totally unexpected. This is a classic, released almost 100 years ago. Give it a try!

Violets Are Blue (Alex Cross, #7) - James Patterson

James Patterson has written hundreds of books, but I think his best series is the one from Alex Cross. I started reading this one some years ago.

It follows the stereotype from the detective that starts falling behind in his personal life, because of all the things that happen at work.

Alex Cross is the example of a polite, responsible and passionate detective. He also has a very active romantic life in these books.

The reason I picked the 7th book from the series, is because there's a recurrent and old character, that turns its back to the main character. In this book, Alex Cross has to capture him, since the enemy becomes a big threat to the nation.

It has a great climax, and I'd suggest reading book #6 also to get more context.

Blindsighted (Grant County, #1) - Karin Slaughter

This unique book is the one that heavily involves details from forensic and detective procedures. I'd say, its language and crudeness is something that surprised me. Very explicit and rough.

The main characters are a couple that got divorced some time ago. They have to go through a murder together and keep the professional side healthy.

It's not as you'd expect and the romantic part is set aside, and contrary to other books, the murderer is not 100% part of the plot, but more of an outsider.

This is the only book I've read from Slaughter. I have also "The Good Daughter" which I'm planning on reading next.

Still Life (Chief Inspector Armand Gamache, #1) - Louise Penny

I've written about Louise Penny in previous posts. She has become my favourite Canadian author. It makes me want to travel to the Quebec area to live what happens in this series.

Penny is the modern Agatha Christie. She takes more time to develop the story and creates more tension than any other of these books listed here.

I've read 4 of her books and this is still my favourite. The murder happens in the woods and within a very small town. The sad part is that the murderer is amidst a community of people which thinks of them as a family. They spend a lot of time together, either having dinner, in a coffee shop or just chatting in their neighbourhood.

Lastly, Penny adds sets the scene with very detailed description of the events, which makes the book even more interesting and enjoyable. 5 out of 5.  

I hope you have enjoyed these recommendations! Let me know if you have other ones in the comments below.