Philip Kerr’s Bertie Gunther, Michael Connelly’s Harry Bosch, Henning Mankell’s Kurt Wallender and Dennis Lehane’s Patrick Kenzie are all terrific, but the roll call of top-flight fictional crime-solvers seems to get longer by the billable hour. Here are even more dynamic detectives and the writers who created them.
Maureen O’Donnell. The tough-talking, hard-living heroine of Denise Mina’s gritty series set in impoverished areas of Glasgow is a troubled young woman who uses her wits — and her raffish friends — to fight for justice. Start with “Garnethill” (1999).
Claire Fergusson and Russ Van Alystyne. She’s a minister; he’s a cop. Together, they keep the peace in a small community in upstate New York in Julia Spencer-Fleming’s fetching series. The seventh volume, “One Was a Soldier” (St. Martin’s), was published last week.
Jack Caffrey and Flea Marley. Dark secrets keep Caffrey, a dedicated cop, up at night; the same things plague Marley, a female police diver. But they make an effective team in British author Mo Hayder’s beautifully crafted — but grisly — series. The latest, “Gone” (Atlantic Monthly Press), was published in February.
Joe Pickett. Forget those city slickers in their fancy shoes who run around solving crimes in alleys and high-rises. Pickett is a workaholic Wyoming game warden in the marvelous series by C.J. Box, one that features wide-open spaces and lots of outdoor action. “Cold Wind”(Putnam) was published in March.
Dr. Quirke. It’s an open secret that Benjamin Black, credited as the author of a series set in 1950s Dublin and featuring a brooding, crime-solving sawbones named Quirke — stained in equal measure by guilt and nicotine — is really John Banville, the renowned Irish literary novelist. “A Death in Summer,” the fourth installment in this moody, atmospheric series, is scheduled to be published by Henry Holt in July.