[fluffy bunny]

Can anyone recommend some decent whodunnits (eg was it Ogg, Sammie, Frostie, Kahn, Kater, Elda, or myself that stole Hobbit's packet of hobnobs?)? Decent ones with 'motive, means and opportinity' are hard to come by.

I'm after well written ones with plenty of clues, leading to a decent 'parlour scene' where the detective goes over the clues and how they obviously point to the murderer when you look at the clues in a certain light (ie not one where the murder suddenly comes out of left field, cheapening the experience for the reader).

Any suggestions?

[Ouroboros]

Some ideas...

Historical fiction : 'Name of the Rose' by Umbert Ecco. A bit of a classic, and as engrossing as the movie it spawned.

SF : The Greg Mandel novels by Iain M. Hamilton are action / detective novels, but the second book in particular ( 'A Quantum Murder') is very much in the vein of a classic "whodunnit".

[Eldanuumea]

The Alienist and Angel of Darkness by Caleb Carr.

[dragondrool]

In the line of very classical whodunnits, there's always Agatha Christie (Ten Little Indians is her best, IMHO). Another very good series is Ngaio Marsh's Roderick Alleyn mysteries. They're a bit less 'cozy'.

[Eldanuumea]

I like Elizabeth George's books about Inspector Lynley and his sidekick, forensic scientist St. James. There are really no "drawing room" scenes, though, except for maybe one or two of them.
And then for great fun, there are the Brother Cadfael mysteries by Ellis Peters.

Another fun series, but with appeal mainly for women, I suspect, is the Jane Austen mystery series written so cleverly by Stephanie Barron. Those are great reads.

[raggedyman]

The Judge Dee novels by Robert Van Gulik are good whodunnits. They take place in China about 700 a.d. during the Tang dynasty. Also the Gideon Fell novels by John Dickson Carr starting with the "Three Coffins" , very spooky. You might want to try his "Devil In Velvet" a book about a man who sells his soul to the devil in order to investigate a murder in 17th century England. And finally the Harry Bosch novels by Michael Connelly .They are the best police procedurals being written today imho. Start with the "Black Echo" then read the rest if you like it.

[Leiali]

This is a slightly different tack, but I went to a murder mystery dinner at a friends just before Christmas set in the 1920's. It was absolutely hilarious. We were all in character (everyone dressed up) throughout the night, had a lovely dinner and really got into the xmas spirit - a bit early as it was the end of November! I recommend them as a great deal of fun if you have friends who don't mind cooking dinner for a hoard. Oh, and it was pretty easy to work out who did it. But it was fun making accusations and elaborations on the whole truth!

[fluffy bunny]

Originally posted by dragondrool
Agatha Christie (Ten Little Indians is her best, IMHO).

Is that the same as the book 'And then there were none'? All these name changes for political correctness are starting to befuddle me.

[dragondrool]

Yes, Ten Little Indians is the same as And Then There Were None.