Irritable Bowel Syndrome Message Boards

Hey, I wouldn't recommend reading Evanovich if you don't like racy books -- hers have sex, violence, and incredibly vulgar language. On the plus side, they ARE funny. They really start to spiral downhill as the series goes on, though. The last 4 or so have been pretty bad, though still funny in spots. And you can tell that she reads WAY too much Junie B. Jones.

Elizabeth Peters is awesome! I love her books. My favorite series is Vicky Bliss, though Jacqueline Kirby is a close second (I totally agree about wanting to be her when I grow up). If you've ever been addicted to romance novels, "Die For Love" is a must-read. My favorite book period by her is probably "The Camelot Caper". It's an earlier one (you can tell because the heroine puts on driving gloves) -- it's pretty innocuous, very fun, cute romance. Second-favorite is "Silhouette in Scarlet" (which is one of the Vicky Bliss mysteries). There is one bit in there that cracks me up every time, where one of the villainous thugs becomes shocked when he realizes that the heroine is cheating at Scrabble.

Elizabeth Peters also writes under Barbara Michaels. I like these books as well -- they are Gothics, though, not typical mysteries the way the EP books are. The best Barbara Michaels stuff was written in the 80s and 90s. In the last several years she's pretty much only written Amelia Peabody mysteries. I haven't kept up on them, I think the series kinda went downhill beginning when Nefret entered the picture.

What's funny is that I LOVE Charlotte Macleod, but I never read the Peter Shandy series because I thought they were boring. I did read (and love) the Sarah Kelling and Max Bittersohn mysteries. I've started buying the Peter Shandy books when I see them and plan on giving them another go.

I also love "Daughter of Time", but anything Josephine Tey writes tends to be good. I also really like "Brat Farrar".

Also concur about Mary Stewart -- she is great, though I haven't read the Merlin trilogy yet because I only have two of the books. Her standalone Gothics/mysteries are good.

Someone recommended "Nun in a Closet" to me, but I still haven't found a copy. (I VERY rarely buy new books, by the way, so I am generally limited to what I can find in used bookstores, thrift shops, and library book sales.)

When I'm in my mystery phase (and I haven't been for ages), I always liked Nancy Pickard, K.K. Beck, Margaret Maron, M.C. Beaton (who wrote a zillion romances under the names Marion Chesney, Helen Crampton, Ann Fairfax, and Jennie Tremaine -- I own nearly all of them and I love every single silly formulaic one of them) ("Molly" by Jennie Tremaine is like one of my favorite books ever), Dorothy Sayers, Ellis Peters, Karen Kijewski, Ruth Rendell, Sharyn McCrumb (Elizabeth MacPherson mysteries), Dianne Day, Dorothy Cannell, and Mollie Hardwick (Doran Fairweather books). Also love Rumpole but forget now who writes them. John Mortimer? Oh, and G.K. Chesterton's stuff is GREAT.

My FAVORITE SERIES EVER is a sf series by Lois McMaster Bujold about Miles Vorkosigan. I LOVE HIM. I would so marry him. If he were real. I'm not sure you'd like them, Ruchie -- they are pretty raw. Not sexually (there's some sex, but not much), but lots of violence, mind stuff, and one book (Mirror Dance) has a LOT of heavy-duty sick torture stuff.

Sand -- that's true about series getting darker. I think it's because the more you write, the more you get a sort of uneasy feeling that you ought to be tackling Serious Dramatic Happenings, instead of just witty musings on, um, like, the thread count of towels or whatever.

Wow, this thread is totally long. Maybe it needs a fresh start or something. Or maybe we all need to keep quiet about books. I think I am using too many capital letters.

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jen

"It's one of the most serious things that can possibly happen to one in a battle -- to get one's head cut off." -- LC

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