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 TOTAL RECALL
by Sarah Paretsky
This is my favorite in Paretsky’s V.I. Warshawski series. However, if you’ve never read one, you might want to begin with an earlier and simpler novel, like Burn Marks. Grafton’s Kinsey Millhone is pretty tough, but Paretsky’s V.I. Warshawski is way tougher. All Paretsky’s books have strong socio-political dimensions. The books are set in Chicago. This complex and moving novel features a financial crime plot involving Holocaust victims and identity theft.
 PENNIES ON A DEAD WOMAN'S EYES
by Marcia Muller
While we are on the subject of women detective novelists, I’ll mention Marcia Muller. This is the thirteenth in Muller’s Sharon McCone series, which is set mostly in San Francisco and is now close to thirty volumes. I like the earlier books in the series—including this one. Here McCone attempts to clear the name of a convicted murderer. Her investigation takes her to the heart of power politics in San Francisco during the 1950’s. In the early volumes, McCone is a lone operator like Kinsey Millhone and V.I. Warshawski. In the later volumes, she becomes famous, runs a large agency that involves a sprawling supporting cast. For me, the overall effect is diluted.
 THE MOONSTONE
by Wilkie Collins
Let's talk about some English detective novels. The Moonstone was written in 1874. Being a fan of Victorian novels, I love this one. The labyrinthine story is told through a series of interesting first person narrators.
A warning. I put this on the booklist for a detective fiction class several years ago. Students rebelled. It was the closest I ever came to a public stoning. One student wrote, "This is the absolute most boring book ever written in the annals of human history!" I was impressed that he knew the word "annals." This book apparently requires more patience than most college students can muster.
 THE HOUND OF THE BASKERVILLES
by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
Here's more heresy. The Sherlock Holmes stories are overrated. The memories of them--and the movies--are better than the fiction itself. Conan Doyle's style simply hasn't weathered the passage of time very well. Dickens'style is dated, but there is a vitality and originality to it that transcends his age. Not so with Conan Doyle. However, The Hound of the Baskervilles is the best of the four Sherlock Holmes novels. These books were so popular, and influenced so many writers who came afterwards, that if you haven't read one, you should. Interestingly, even though these are English stories, they have one overwhelming similarity with American detective fiction--Holmes works outside the system rather than as a part of it.
 DEVICES AND DESIRES
by P.D. James
People either like P.D. James a lot or hate her. I like her. Students complain--perhaps "yelp" is a better word--that her books are slow. I prefer the word "deliberate." Her novels feature complex plots, characters and sentence structures. But receptive readers find themselves immersed with atmosphere and mystery. This is one of her more accessible books. Her detective, Commander Adam Dalgliesh (who is a poet on the side) takes a much needed vacation only to find himself caught up in a series of murders--and some deep community secrets--in a remote, rural community.
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