The Pepe Carvalho books by Manuel Vázquez Montalbán are great. They are a combination of detective novels, late 20th century Spanish social history class, and Spanish cuisine recipe books.

There are loads of them, about 16 I think, but only a few have been translated into English.

I’ve read ‘Tattoo,’ ‘Murder in the Central Committee’ which is about the self-destruction of the Spanish Communist party, and ‘An Olympic Death’ which is about the 1992 Olympics and the transformation of Barcelona.

They are great. But of the 3 you've mentioned, I found the Barcelona Olympics one very difficult to read (in Spanish) and found the Central Cttee one a bit predictable, so I think you've got all his best ones still to come...

I just read Denise Mina's three Paddy Meehan books. They're all decent thrillers, about corruption and grimness in 80s Glasgow and the way the Irish Troubles affected the city. I read her Garnethill trilogy ages ago and that was also very good. She's kind of like Glasgow's David Lawrence, or he's maybe London's Denise Mina.

"... and found the Central Cttee one a bit predictable.."

You must be much more intelligent than me, Felicity.

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I'd like to big up Jacob Arjouni's Kamakayan books.

Kamakayan is a Turkish private detective in modern day Germany.

'Happy Birthday Turk' and 'More Beer' are probably the blackest 'noir' books I've ever read. You could argue that the intensity of their pitch-blackness is a weakness, in that if all the characters are so dark, there can be no light and shade.

Still, great books though.

Anyone read Peter (son of elmore) Leonard's debut "Quiver" yet? Nothing but good reviews so far BUT theres a recession on around these parts and £17 is way too much. Will wait untill paperback.

It's only £8.99 on amazon, with free UK delivery.

I've just been re-reading a couple of early Le Carré novels, and although Smiley's in it, A Murder of Quality is basically a classic crime novel.

It's all dank, bleak February nights in threatening West Country landscapes; unhappy, quietly desperate, public school masters and vicious snobbery type stuff. It's beautifully written and hugely atmospheric.

It's not crime fiction, but I'm currently reading Kate Summerscale's The Suspicions of Mr. Whicher, and it's terrific - well worth a read for fans of detective fiction, I'd say. Not only is it the story of a real life whodunnit, it also has a mini-history of the genesis of detectives and detective fiction running through the narrative.

The Purple Cow wrote:

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If there is still anyone around who hasn't read the 'Berlin Noir' books by Phillip Kerr 'March Violets' - 'The Pale Criminal' and 'A German Requiem' they are great, great books.

Yup. The last two are also excellent.

I've enjoyed all of Martin Cruz Smith's Renko series lately - and I'm not a little sad that I've come to the end.

Is 'Stalin's Ghost' the last one then?

I've got it on my bedside table ready to read.

I thought the Chernobyl one, 'Wolves Eat Dogs' was really good.

I only read the first two Renko books. Which is the one that comes after the one on the fishing boat? - i.e the third in the series, I suppose.

Well there's one where he goes to Cuba (Havana Bay?).

Bear with me and I'll look it up:

This excellent website lists them thus: http://www.stopyourekillingme.com/S_Authors/Smith_Martin-Cruz.html#Renko


Gorky Park (1981), Polar Star (1989), Red Square (1992), Havana Bay (1999), Wolves Eat Dogs (2004)
Stalin’s Ghost (2007)

Found the latest Ian Rankin in my local second hand shop. Didn't realise it wasn't a Rebus until I started reading it and much like most of his non-Rebus stuff its okay so far, nothing special. Damn.

But I also found 3 Jim Thompsons for a couple of bucks each - The Alcoholics, The Criminal and another one (I can't remember which one it was) Which I'm overjoyed about.

I'd also recommend Derek Raymond. In particular the Factory series. British Noir at its best - and particularly gruesome with it.

Publisher Serpents Tail http://www.serpentstail.co.uk currently have them 3 for the price of 2 with free postage (well my sister now knows what to get me for Xmas)

I've really enjiyed the last two Kate Atkinson novels, featuring the detective Jackson Brodie: Case Histories and One Good Turn. They descend into farce towards the end slightly, but are very nicely paced, interwoven stories, especially the first.

The Purple Cow wrote:

QUOTE:
The Pepe Carvalho books by Manuel Vázquez Montalbán are great. They are a combination of detective novels, late 20th century Spanish social history class, and Spanish cuisine recipe books.

There are loads of them, about 16 I think, but only a few have been translated into English.

I’ve read ‘Tattoo,’ ‘Murder in the Central Committee’ which is about the self-destruction of the Spanish Communist party, and ‘An Olympic Death’ which is about the 1992 Olympics and the transformation of Barcelona.

I have only read the Buenos Aires Quintet in which Carvalho's uncle asks him to find his cousin in BA. It is very good, and from my non-fiction reading of the period of the "disappeared" in Argentina is well researched and insightful. It is set after that period, but in order to solve the case he has to delve into Argentina's "troubled past" as the blurb says.

There is also has some good writing about food and the culture of eating, especially at a big family asado if I remember rightly.

Another crime fiction character that has more than a passing relationship with food is Montalbano (by Andrea Camilleri) and the frequent parts where he is eating in trattorias and restaurants or finding sumptuous Sicilian dishes in the fridge made for him by his cleaner-cum-housekeeper are terrific.

As indeed are the stories. A few episodes are being screened on BBC4 in 2009, with subtitles, and the books and the TV adaptations are very good.

I think food adds authenticity to these characters; I really like it when Maigret sens out for beer and sandwiches.

I also think Dibdin's Aurelio Zen is good, and it was introduced to me by a professor of Italian History, who thought the political and institutional machinations very well done.

I have only recently gotten into Wallander (Henning mankell)and really like the pace and wider political/institutional commentary in them. I am told Kenneth Brannagh is to play Wallandar on British TV soon.

Thanks for the heads up on the Camilleri TV series. I read the 1st 3 books-didn't think a great deal of the 1st one, but they do improve.

Branagh as Wallender is a worse piece of miscasting than John Hannah as Rebus, which was bad.

And Dibdin's Aurelio Zen novels really do provide a brilliant survey of all that's wrong in Italian society-I love them. Maybe that's why I didn't immediately fall for Camilleri-by comparison it was somewhat low-key.