The list starts with the author, then the setting, and a good starter title.
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Gillian Linscott |
Suffragette solves crimes in early 20th Century Britain |
Sister Beneath the Sheet |
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Laura Lippman |
Downsized reporter Tess Monaghan becomes Baltimore P.I. |
Baltimore Blues |
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David Liss |
Jewish ex-boxer works as “thief-taker” in 18th Century London |
A Conspiracy of Paper |
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Mary Logue |
Single mother is deputy sheriff in small-town Wisconsin |
Blood Country |
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Peter Lovesey |
Curmudgeonly Inspector Diamond in Bath, England |
The Last Detective |
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John D. MacDonald |
Florida’s Travis McGee in prototypical tough-guy P.I. tales |
The Deep Blue Good-by |
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Marianne Macdonald |
Antiquarian bookseller finds murder in London |
Death’s Autograph |
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Ross Macdonald |
Classic hard-boiled L.A. stories with P.I. Lew Archer |
The Moving Target |
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Charlotte MacLeod |
Educated couples investigate Massachusetts crimes |
Rest You Merry |
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Rett MacPherson |
Missouri genealogist finds skeletons in the historical closet |
Family Skeletons |
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Barry Maitland |
New detective and mentor solve murders for Scotland Yard |
The Marx Sisters |
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Shane Maloney |
Australian political aide in darkly witty mysteries |
Brush-Off |
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Henning Mankell |
Dark police procedurals set in Sweden |
The Faceless Killers |
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David Manuel |
Brother Bartholomew investigates from Cape Cod’s Faith Abbey |
A Matter of Roses |
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Irene Marcuse |
NY social worker solves crimes among the elderly |
The Death of an Amiable Child |
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Margaret Maron |
N. Carolina Judge Deborah Knott is on the case |
Bootlegger’s Daughter |
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Ngaio Marsh |
Inspector Alleyn leads one of the classic British series |
A Man Lay Dead |
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Evan Marshall |
Widowed literary agent in kitty cozies |
Missing Marlene |
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Edward Marston |
A variety of English historical mysteries |
The Queen's Head |
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Allana Martin |
Trading post owner on Tex-Mex border in western mysteries |
Death of a Healing Woman |
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Nancy Martin |
Three sisters in comic/romantic Philadelphia society mysteries |
How to Murder a Millionaire |
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Sujata Massey |
Young antiques dealer and Eng. teacher in Tokyo mysteries |
The Salaryman's Wife |
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Alex Matthews |
Chicago psychotherapist sleuths with cat Starshine |
Secret's Shadow |
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Archer Mayor |
Vermont police procedurals with strong characterization |
Open Season |
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Ed McBain |
American police procedurals started in his 87th precinct |
Cop Hater |
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Alexander McCall Smith |
Young Botswana woman opens detective agency |
The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency |
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Lise McClendon |
Strong woman P.I. in WWII-era Kansas City |
One O'Clock Jump |
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Sharyn McCrumb |
Appalachian stories and ballads woven into mysteries |
If Ever I Return, Pretty Peggy-O |
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Forensic anthropologist doubles as amateur detective in South |
Sick of Shadows |
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Gregory Mcdonald |
Reporter Fletch in clever comic mysteries |
Fletch |
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Michael McGarrity |
Santa Fe police procedurals with a homespun tone |
Tularosa |
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Jill McGown |
Hill and Lloyd are police partners and lovers in East Anglia |
A Perfect Match |
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Ralph McInerny |
Father Dowling solves mysteries with a moral |
Her Death of Cold |
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Brothers, a NY P.I. and a Notre Dame philosophy prof., fight crime |
On this Rockne |
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G.A. McKevett |
Ex-cop and dessert lover becomes California P.I. |
Just Desserts |
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Ann McMillan |
A young widow and a freed slave sleuth in Civil War times |
Dead March |
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Mardi Oakley Medawar |
Kiowa healer tracks murderers in 1860s Oklahoma |
Death at Rainy Mountain |
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Leslie Meier |
Wife, mother of four, and sleuth in holiday-themed tales |
Mail-Order Murder |
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Maan Meyers |
Authors follow Dutch family in New Amsterdam/NY over 300 yrs. |
The Dutchman |
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Larry Millett |
Sherlock Holmes moves to 1890s Minnesota |
Sherlock Holmes and the Red Demon |
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Marlys Millhiser |
Hollywood literary agent is also single mom and amateur sleuth |
Murder at Moot Point |
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Denise Mina |
Scotswoman fights mental illness and alcoholism while solving murders |
Garnethill |
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Camille Minichino |
Retired physicist is crime consultant for science community |
The Hydrogen Murder |
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Kirk Mitchell |
Native American FBI agent and Indian Affairs investigator |
Cry Dance |
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Miriam Grace Monfredo |
Plucky feminist librarian in mid-19th century Seneca Falls, NY |
Seneca Falls Inheritance |
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Skye Kathleen Moody |
Undercover Fish and Wildlife agent investigates with quirky style |
Rain Dance |
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Deborah Morgan |
Ex-FBI agent becomes antique picker but still finds crime |
Death is a Cabaret |
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John Mortimer |
Pompous, slovenly, lovable Rumpole tells of his legal career |
Rumpole of the Bailey |
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Walter Mosley |
Easy Rawlins tackles race issues and crime across L.A. decades |
Devil in a Blue Dress |
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Marcia Muller |
Sharon McCone was the first female hard-boiled private eye |
Edwin of the Iron Shoes |
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Katy Munger |
Southern-born, Northern-minded female P.I. in witty series |
Legwork |
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Shirley Rousseau Murphy |
Cat learns to talk, becomes detective |
Cat on the Edge |
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Lynne Murray |
Big woman lives life large as plus-size amateur sleuth |
Larger than Death |
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Tamar Myers |
Eccentrics at an Amish inn in humorous hijinks |
Too Many Cooks Spoil the Broth |
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Quick-reading cozies in a NC antiques store |
Larceny and Old Lace |
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Magdalen Nabb |
Florence-set police stories with an emphasis on character |
Death of an Englishman |
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Barbara Neely |
Witty take on class and race in series featuring cleaning woman |
Blanche on the Lam |
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Kris Nelscott |
Unlicensed black P.I. in Memphis-set hard-boiled series |
A Dangerous Road |
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Sharan Newman |
Young, scholarly woman sleuths in 12th century Paris |
Death Comes as Epiphany |
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Charles O’Brien |
Actress and teacher of the deaf sleuths on eve of French Revolution |
Mute Witness |
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Carol O’Connell |
Complex characterization of NYPD featuring tough woman cop |
Mallory’s Oracle |
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Carol Anne O’Marie |
Retired nun in ultra-gentle cozy series |
A Novena for Murder |
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Abigail Padgett |
Social workers and psychologists as detectives |
Child of Silence |
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Katherine Hall Page |
NY woman marries minister, moves to murderous Mass. |
The Body in the Belfry |
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Robin Paige |
Freethinking Am. woman sleuths with Eng. lord in Victorian era |
Death at Bishop’s Keep |
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William J. Palmer |
Wilkie Collins and Charles Dickens as detectives |
The Detective and Mr. Dickens |
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Sara Paretsky |
V.I. Warshawski, woman attorney turned tough Chicago P.I. |
Indemnity Only |
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Barbara Parker |
Corporate lawyer investigates Miami crimes |
Suspicion of Innocence |
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Robert B. Parker |
Tough guy Spenser in the classic Boston P.I. series |
The Godwulf Manuscript |
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His other Boston P.I.—conflicted, reflective Sunny Randall |
Family Honor |
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Small town Mass. police procedurals with Jesse Stone |
Night Passage |
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T. Jefferson Parker |
Strong stand-alone police procedurals, usually in California |
The Blue Hour |
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P.J. Parrish |
Bi-racial cop in Michigan, and later Florida, settings |
Dark of the Moon |
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Owen Parry |
Civil War historical mysteries |
Faded Coat of Blue |
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James Patterson |
Alex Cross in psychological D.C. police procedurals |
Along Came a Spider |
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Various professionals form San Francisco’s Women’s Murder Club |
1st to Die |
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Eliot Pattison |
Former detective now solves crimes in Chinese labor camp |
Skull Mantra |
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Rebecca Pawel |
Police procedurals in post-Civil War Spain (late 1930’s) |
Death of a Nationalist |
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Michael Pearce |
Adventures of the British secret police in pre-WWI Cairo |
The Mamur Zapt and the Return of |
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Iain Pears |
English art dealer solves crime in Italian settings |
The Raphael Affair |
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Ridley Pearson |
Seattle police procedurals with Boldt & Matthews |
Undercurrents |
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George Pelecanos |
Tough Greek-American bartender and P.I. Nick Stefanos in D.C. |
A Firing Offense |
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Derek Strange, ex-cop African-American P.I. in D.C. |
Right as Rain |
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Sharon Kay Penman |
Bastard son of a bishop sleuths in 12th century England |
The Queen’s Man |
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Arturo Perez-Reverte |
Historical relics, gentlemen’s hobbies in literate Spanish mysteries |
Club Dumas |
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Anne Perry |
Victorian London inspector Thomas Pitt and wife Charlotte |
The Cater Street Hangman |
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Amnesiac Victorian London Inspector William Monk |
The Face of a Stranger |
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British intelligence officer in London just prior to WWI |
No Graves as Yet |
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Elizabeth Peters |
Victorian era Egyptologist Amelia Peabody and friends |
The Crocodile on the Sandbank |
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American art historian Vicky Bliss solves Bavarian crimes |
Borrower of the Night |
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Ellis Peters |
Brother Cadfael, 12th century English monk as detective |
A Morbid Taste for Bones |
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Clyde Phillips |
Jane Candiotti is a San Francisco homicide detective |
Fall From Grace |
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Nancy Pickard |
Foundation director partners with policeman to solve crimes |
Say No to Murder |
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David Pirie |
Arthur Conan Doyle as medical student and investigator |
The Patient’s Eyes |
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Bill Pronzini |
Hardboiled series about the Nameless Detective |
The Vanished |
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Robert J. Randisi |
Fast-paced tales of NYPD detective Joe Keough |
Alone with the Dead |
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Ian Rankin |
Scottish noir: dark Edinburgh procedurals with John Rebus |
Knots and Crosses |
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Lev Raphael |
Gay Mich. prof. in mysteries full of humor and pop culture |
The Death of a Constant Lover |