I am reading fairly uncomplicated books right now in order to purge my brain of the odyssey that was The Redbreast. So I offer instead several of my starred books from my reading list.
The Alienist by Caleb Carr. This book takes place in late 19th century New York City and Carr does an excellent job of painting an engaging picture of the time and place. It's a psychological thriller; boy prostitutes are being murdered and the alienist, Laszlo Kreizler, joins up with a reporter and twin detectives in order to solve the case. Alienist was the old-fashioned term for psychiatrist. The detectives use new-fangled methods like fingerprints (which weren't accepted as evidence in the U.S. at the time), Kreizler works up a profile on their suspect and the reporter does his own investigating. It's an absorbing read with very evocative descriptions. I found the ending a little disappointing because their wasn't as much resolution to the case as I would have liked but overall it was worth the time.
His second book, Angel of Darkness, featuring the same characters wasn't nearly as good. The first person narrator is a young boy named Stevie, a character from the first book. When the reader's perspective is tied to that of a particular character, we see only what they see. Stevie is not allowed into the grown-up meetings so we spend a lot of time with him missing the first part of the conversation while he finds a way to eavesdrop. Then he's merely a watcher, he doesn't participate in the discussion which means we don't participate. Or he waits until someone comes and tells him what's going on. He does his own thing as well but mainly he is an observer and that's just not as exciting. A lot of the book is courtroom drama which sounds way more interesting than it is.
I would also recommend his Sherlock Holmes book, The Italian Secretary. It's a much shorter read but tightly plotted and well paced.
Two more crime authors I would recommend are Batya Gur and Arnaldur Indridason. Batya Gur wrote six novels featuring her Jerusalem detective Michael Ohayon. He has a very thoughtful approach to his work and there's a very gentle quality in her work. It's more about understanding people than just solving a crime. It's been a while since I read them but each case introduces him to some institution that makes investigation difficult and his people-oriented approach is necessary to get the information and trust he needs.
Arnaldur's work features an Icelandic detective named Detective Erlendur. He's a rather quiet, introspective detective as well but he's also older and more worn down by life. He has problems with his grown children that weave their way throughout the series as well. The crimes that he investigates have generally either taken place in the past or have a connection with something that happened long ago and the chapters set in the present are often interspersed with ones that take place in the past. Arnaldur is absolutely amazing when it comes to creating extremely intense scenes and situations. His works are overlayed with an almost mournful quality; an understanding that even when the murder is solved it won't make anything better, especially when the crime happened forty years in the past. I would tack on a trigger warning for these books however. They deal with heavy issues, rape, domestic abuse, and they describe them well.
My favorite reads tend to focus on character exploration and development as well as setting description and atmosphere. I also enjoy books with inventive or poetic prose. Anything with a truly dreamlike quality appeals to me as well. This isn't for everyone. Fortunately different people like different things which means there's all sorts of things out there. Life would be so boring if we all liked the same stuff.
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