<p>Try the Chet and Bernie mysteries by Spencer Quinn. They’re about a private detective and his dog, told from the point of view of the dog. What about the number one ladies detective agency series? Anything by Kate Morton such as The House at Riverton, Forgotten Garden?</p>
<p>Thank you, NYMomof2! Where has the Literature Map been all my life?</p>
<p>I’ll second Dennis Lehane and Carl Hiassen; I also like Laura Lippman very much.</p>
<p>I don’t know if you’d call her work escapist - it’s light in tone but there’s lots to it if you want to let it settle - but I love Barbara Pym, a British writer of comedies of manners from the 1940s and 1950s.</p>
<p>Sarah Addison Allen’s books are light and whimsical. I’ve read and enjoyed - Garden Spells, The Girl Who Chased the Moon, The Sugar Queen, and The Peach Keeper</p>
<p>Two series that I love are The Shetland Island Quartet by Ann Cleeves–the first in the series is Raven Black–and the Simon Serrailler series by Susan Hill, the first of which is The Various Haunts of Men. Both series are intelligent and engrossing. I love to find a series with four or five books that I can just fall into.</p>
<p>I love the Simon Serrailler series by Susan Hill and Julia Spencer-Fleming. Some of the Swedish series are good, anything by Nesser Hakan and Arnaldur Indridason. I also like Helene Tursten. Some of the Eva Ibbotson books are appropriate for adults, or as she put it: “intelligent women with the flu”…fun escapes. The Ibbotson are not mysteries or detective stories, but they are a kind of fairy tale. I have enjoyed them.</p>
<p>I like a number of the authors you mention, so here are some of my favorite authors.</p>
<p>Alexander McCall Smith - LAdies Number One Detective Agency series is the best known, but I actually am coming to prefer his works set in Scotland. I hate taking these out of the library because new books are due back in two weeks and I prefer to savor these in bite sized chunks. Wonderful characterization and writing.</p>
<p>MC Beaton - Agatha Raisin series, also Hamish Macbeth series. Not at all deep but a good vacation read.</p>
<p>Rhys Bowen - Evan Evans series, Molly Murphy series, Georgiana Rannoch series. Similar to Beaton, but both are relatively well written.</p>
<p>I’ve recently been reading Charles Finch’s books about Charles Lenox, a victorian era detective and enjoying them.</p>
<p>I second Laurie Colwin, both her fiction and her food writing (Home Cooking and More Home Cooking). It was a sad day when we lost her. I also like Allegra Goodman – The Cookbook Collector is a favorite of mine.</p>
<p>Love this thread! H and I are low on things to “read” (we mostly listen to audio) and there are some new ideas here.</p>
<p>My contribution: “The Cat Who” books by Lilian Jackson Braun would seem to fit your bill very well. There are oodles of them, and the order isn’t super important except starting with the earlier ones would be helpful. The author died a couple of years ago, and I really miss the books.</p>
<p>Also, if no one else has mentioned them, the Goldie series by Diane Mott Davidson.</p>
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<p>Bertie is one of my all time favorite characters. (Bertie is a six year old boy who is quite normal despite his mother–who has him in therapy already and does things like send him to his first day of kindergarten in pink overalls.)</p>
<p>If you like mysteries, Elizabeth George. Read them in order.</p>
<p>Big fan of Robert Crais and Carl Hiassen. </p>
<p>I read Gone Girl but prefer her other two books - Sharp Objects and Dark Places. Neither are light, however. </p>
<p>For a great light read, loved Bossy Pants by Tina Fey. Do the audiobook because she reads it. </p>
<p>Enjoying a beach-type book now - Beautiful Ruins. </p>
<p>Loved The Secret Keeper by Kate Morton. </p>
<p>Another light read is Stay by Allie Larkin, especially for dog lovers.</p>
<p>I second the recommendation for Michael Connelly, and isome of them have been really cheap on iBooks recently.
David Baldacci is also pretty good.</p>
<p>I just finished reading “Bossypants” and I really enjoyed it…</p>
<p>Thank you—so many good suggestions! I’ve read the Outlander series (love it), Big Stone Gap series, Gone Girl, Carl Hiasson, Sara Paretsky, Elinor Lipman (a favorite), Irish Country Doctor series, Laura Lippman, Laurie King, Kate Morton, Alexander McCall Smith, Lillian Jackson Braun, Beautiful Ruins, Bossy Pants (yes, the audiobook was wonderful!). I know I’ve missed some books by some of these authors—this is a good reminder to check and see what I’ve missed. I know I’ve missed a couple in the Irish Country Doctor series and Kate Morton’s newest. And several of these suggestions are totally new to me. I’m heading over to Amazon to gather info (and spend money.)</p>
<p>The literature map link is really nifty! Thanks NYMom!</p>
<p>David Sedaris is always highly entertaining.</p>
<p>Michael Malone’s Handling Sin is one of my all-time favorite novels–huge, huge fun and touching, too.</p>
<p>I will chime in on how funny and readable Hiassen’s books are! Definitely recommend.</p>
<p>Edit: Consider John Dufresne–quirky comic novels set in sort of gothic south of recent past–Deep in the Shade of Paradise, and Louisiana Power and Light.</p>
<p>I really think you’d like the Perri O’Shaughnessy (2 sisters who write under one pen name) series of Nina Reilly books.</p>
<p>Light mysteries by Agatha Christie, Elizabeth Peters, McCall-Smith. Barbara Pym books are funny in an ironic way. You would have to find them in a library, I imagine.</p>
<p>Jean Auel’s Clan of the Cave Bear and subsequent books in the series. </p>
<p>I also like nonfiction adventures, like Shadow Divers.</p>
<p>Joshilyn Jackson - Gods in Alabama was her first
Joanne Harris - Chocolat is her most famous. There are 2 related books
Camille Lackberg - Scandinavian mysteries.</p>
<p>A discovery of Witches and the sequel were far more engrossing than I expected</p>
<p>For mindless, but fairly well-written books, Jayne Ann Krentz is perfect. I always include her latest on my camping trips</p>
<p>I just finished the latest Susan Hill. Very good.</p>
<p>love David Baldacci</p>
<p>reading “Where’d you go Bernadette” recommended by my daughter who had borrowed it from her college friend’s mom – funny and entertaining</p>
<p>I have not read this book but I did read the sample. I’m only recommending it because it got really good reviews. Me before You by Jojo Moyes. It’s on my list to read.</p>