Recommend me a Detective Novel

[Adrian_Selby]

Surely Arthur Conan-Doyle's Sherlock Holmes stories?

[JMack]

Surely Arthur Conan-Doyle's Sherlock Holmes stories?

Except for the "not British" in the OP.
Though hopefully we can cure @Eclipse of that strange reverse-nationalism sometime.  

[eclipse]

Maybe I should update to say modern  British crime stories don't do anything for me,Victorian British crime stories are fine through 

and I loved The Shardlake Series but is that historical fiction or a mystery fiction or both?

[Rostum]

Have you read the ellis peters stuff? Or given name of the Rose a go?

[ultamentkiller]

My Mom has been raving to me about the Pendergast series. She basically told me the plot of the third book, Cabinet of Curiosities, and it was pretty awesome. So check them out.

[Nestat]

Looking out for a non-fantasy Detective Novel

I  like Reading Jack Reacher,Travis McGee,Harry Hole and Harry Bosch , I prefer reading a Series but if there's an Outstanding stand alone I will try that. For Fantasy I enjoy Dresden, Thraxas ,Garret and Burton & Swinburne

Also I prefer reading American or European Detectives over British ones for some reason

When it comes to crime, I mostly read noir. Here are a few of the best:

First Blood - David Morrell. I bought this when I saw the words "Based on the novel" in the opening credits of the film. If you like Jack Reacher, you'll love this. Sheriff Teasle is a much more sympathetic character and he's also portrayed as a (Korean) war hero., as the book is an involved critique of how Vietnam vets were treated when they returned home.
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/113110.First_Blood?from_search=true&search_version=service

Another Reacheresque thriller is I Am Pilgrim by Terry Hayes. A high-octane thriller about a secret agent tracking down a terrorist before he strikes. It tells the story of the agent's investigation and the terrorist's life as he plans mass murder.
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/18144124-i-am-pilgrim?from_search=true&search_version=service

And another brilliant read in that vein is Child 44 by Tom Rob Smith, inspired by the Rostov murders in the 1950s. It's the story of a young MGB agent who discovers a serial killer on the loose in Russia. As Stalin's government recognises itself as the perfect state, they declare the agent a traitor and he has to go on the run while tracking down the child killer.
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2161733.Child_44?from_search=true&search_version=service

And while we're in eastern Europe, I should mention Polar Star by Martin Cruz Smith. It's the second Arkady Renko novel - feel free to read Gorky Park first. But this one was absolutely amazing. Renko is a detective hiding on the Russian fishing fleet after the fiasco at Gorky Park. Then there's a murder and it all goes to hell in a handbasket for him...
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/778285.Polar_Star?from_search=true&search_version=service

Someone mentioned Dashiell Hammett and Raymond Chandler earlier. I loved Marlowe, I didn't much care for Sam Spade. But the second-best noir I ever read was Point Blank (aka Hunter aka Payback) by Richard Stark: "Double-crossed, shot, and left for dead — by his wife." It's a very large, angry man taking on the mafia.
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/3148466-point-blank?from_search=true&search_version=service

And the best I read was Chester Himes' A Rage in Harlem. In a genre full of angry misogynists, this was the most visceral noir I've ever had the pleasure of reading.
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/565816.A_Rage_in_Harlem?from_search=true&search_version=service


I hope that's enough to be getting on with!

[ultamentkiller]

Huh. I had no idea Child 44 was based on a book. Good thing I didn't watch the movie.

[Rostum]

I read a Lawrence Block short story last night thought it was competent but predictable. He seems to be huge in the States so maybe his longer stuff is better.

[Adrian_Selby]

If non fantasy includes sci-fi, then can I recommend Altered Carbon?

[Shay_Fox]

I recommend the Denis Lehane Kenzie & Genarro series.

Its really a great ben thanks for sharing this. I am also start to read this !!

[RJ Barker]

I'm currently reading The Spenser series by Robert B Parker and they are wonderful. I'm a real lover of modern american noir and I'd be willing to place money on Parker being a huge influence on both Robert Crais and Harlan Coben. They're just brilliant, if American crime is your thing I'd advise picking up the first Spenser novel 'The Godwulf Manuscript' as soon as you can.

[JMack]

I'm currently reading The Spenser series by Robert B Parker and they are wonderful. I'm a real lover of modern american noir and I'd be willing to place money on Parker being a huge influence on both Robert Crais and Harlan Coben. They're just brilliant, if American crime is your thing I'd advise picking up the first Spenser novel 'The Godwulf Manuscript' as soon as you can.

I read and read Spender until Parket started to repeat himself. Took a looooong time for that to happen. Great stuff.

[Pwibble]

I have read everything I could find by Henning Mankell. The Wallander books are very good, and provide a real feeling of small town Sweden in places (if that interests you!). Fred Vargas has a series featuring Commander Adamsberg which are also very good (pseudonym for a [female] French historian and archaeologist) are also recommended. I think though that my highest recommendation would be for Arturo Perez Reverte. Spanish ex-war correspondent who has four novels in particular: The Flanders Panel, The Fencing Master, The Seville Communion and most famously The Dumas Club that I think would qualify as crime, or at least mystery (not hard-boiled crime like some of those mentioned). I really enjoyed all four, although I lost interest in his nautical Captain Alatriste novels. For something a bit different you could try Death and the Penguin but Andrey Kurkov. Slightly surreal but entertaining nonetheless.

[youandibooks]

I would recommend James Patterson's early Alex Cross novels such as Along Came A Spider, Kiss The Girls, and Jack and Jill.) These are the books I approach when I need a short, sharp thrilling fiction adrenaline hit.

As someone mentioned previous, the original Sherlock Holmes stories are very much worth reading. I would perhaps recommend reading Adventures of Sherlock Holmes first. If you do wish to do them chronologically then the first is A Study In Scarlet but some people don't like it (as much) as only half the story follows Sherlock but it does have a few famous scenes where Sherlock meets Watson and such.

At a similar sort of time when Sherlock Holmes stories were released, a French author called Gaston Leroux (of The Phantom of the Opera fame) wrote mystery books about an amazing young detective called Joseph Routabille (...he might have been a journalist but he used his deduction skills to solve crimes.) The first of these is The Mystery of the Yellow Room. It is cited as being the first ever "closed room" mystery. This is one of my personal favourites and I think you can get this one cheap or maybe even free on Amazon.

[Alex]

If you want something to give your investigative brain a real puzzle to work out, White Lies by Jeremy Bates.