My Favorite Detectives (and Honorable Mentions)

Mysteries are by far and away my favorite reading genre and I have so many favorite series detectives.  I don’t care if the novels are violent and trashy, bring it on!  Strangely, I don’t like that in movies, but in books, I do.  Go figure.

To qualify as one my top favorite detectives means that I’m sad when the book ends and cannot wait for the next book to come out.  It means I’m invested in their lives and wish they were my friends.  It means I know they have serious character flaws, but I’m rooting for them nonetheless.

I was going to call this post “My Five Favorite Detective Characters,” but you can see, I had a really hard time nailing down a small population, and I didn’t even include my first BFF, Nancy Drew!

• Kinsey Milhone (I have a cat named for her)
• Archie McNally
• Stephanie Plum
• Maisie Dobbs
• Jack Reacher
• Patrick Kenzie
• Harry Hole

My honorable mentions are still characters I love, but for some reason just not as deeply.

• Harry Bosch
• Kay Scarpetta
• Cork O’Connor
• Harry Dresden
• Pendergast
• Deborah Knott
• Will Trent

There are tons of other series I have read, want to read, have not been written yet, but if you want a recommendation, you can’t go wrong with any of these.  If you want me to wax more poetically in greater detail on any of them, drop me a line and I’ll gush for you.

What I’m Reading

Not a mystery, but I picked up The Home Edit by Clea Shearer and Joanna Teplin.  It’s a book about organizing, and it’s a little foo-foo for me, but I love these young women and their writing.  They talk about embracing a low bar, which is just what I love, of course, and basically what my whole blog is about.

Here is what they say:

Low-Bar Lifestyle Rules to Live by

Our general code of conduct looks like the following:

Applying heat to food is considered cooking.

A pizza is kind of a salad with lettuce…you’ve got cheese, tomatoes, and an extra big crouton.  No shame in our pizza game!

Workout clothes are for every day, because getting through LIFE is a workout.

Champagne is basically sparkling water.

Trips to the store count as cardio.

From The Home Edit

Applying baby steps to accomplish goals – yes!  And with champagne!

I finished The Quick:  A Novel by Lauren Owen.  Part two in the narrative radically changes, and I have to say, I was almost done with the book at that point. But after skimming through that, it sort of redeemed itself.  The book switches perspectives and spaces in time without any grace in my opinion.  It’s not horribly written, but it’s not a recommendation.  Dang, I am really Jonesing for a good scary novel!

On audio I finished Reincarnation Blues which is read by one of my favorite narrators, Mark Bramhall.  It was witty and creative, but honestly, way too long.  I wasn’t thrilled with the ending either.  Spoiler:  Instead of the characters elevating to cosmic perfection, they go right back to reincarnating.  What?!!?  Well, it is fiction.  I hope.

I am now listening to Blood Hollow, a Cork O’Connor mystery by William Kent Krueger.  This series just keeps getting better. And Cork made it to my honorable mention list of favorite detectives. Krueger wrote This Tender Land which I raved about here.

What I’m Eating

This isn’t really fancy, but I think I’ve foxed up my oatmeal enough that it might be the best thing I’ve eaten since I’ve been on this elimination diet.  It is probably about 2,000 calories but I don’t care, I eat every last bite. Here’s what I do:

Steel Cut Oats with the Works

• 2.5 cups salted water
• ½ cup quick cooking steel cut oats
• 1 TBS flaxseed
• 1 TBS chia seed
• 1 tsp brown sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla
• ¼ cup chopped walnuts
• 1 cup frozen mixed berries

Add first five ingredients to boiling water.  Simmer for 30 minutes (you may need to add more water), stirring frequently.  Add mixed berries and cook an additional five minutes.  Top with chopped walnuts and serve.

What I’m Doing

On video I checked out Yesterday which I thought was clever and not too bad.  I have to admit I was doing blogging while I was watching it, so it wasn’t 100% captivating.  I watched Hobbs and Shaw Fast and Furious with Dwayne Johnson (I’m still calling him The Rock, btw) and Jason Stratham.  Of course, it had fighting and driving.  But I could have used a tad bit more plot and a tad less blaring background noise.  I even fell asleep before the end.  It really isn’t a BAD movie, but frankly, not my genre, so partially my fault.  Total nonsense, but obviously, there’s a market for it.  Also in the nonsense category was the Men in Black International.  Chris Hemsworth was using some strange accent and I honestly couldn’t understand a word he said.  I pretty much got skunked in the movie department this week.

There are a lot of mixed messages out there about this dang corona virus.  If you’re a praying person, please remember to pray for a stop to the spread of this virus and the adverse effects it’s having on our globe.

On one other note (which, you may have noticed, is generally a cat note), this little nugget was helping me get ready this morning by marking and head butting my mirror.  Man, did it make her purr.  This is Kinsey, BTW (see above).