Mysteries

Everything by Agatha Christie
Nothing can touch the Christie stories for plot. She is the reigning queen, with no contenders on the horizon. My method is to read them all, forget them, and then reread them all again every ten years. This way I can enjoy these masterpieces at least 5 or 6 six times during my lifetime. If I become more forgetful in my advancing years, maybe I can shorten the span to every five years!

The "Lord Peter Wimsey" series by Dorothy Sayers
Dorothy Sayers is the runner up in this category. This series has a romance running through it, so I have prepared a list of these books in chronological order that I bestow upon my lucky friends! The butler's character in this series, Bunter, is very much like Wodehouse's Jeeves, and adds a dimension of humor to the reading.

The Dorothy Sayers List of Lord Peter Wimsey/Harriet Vane Mysteries

1. Whose Body?
2. Unnatural Death
3. Clouds of Witness
4. Unpleasantness at the Bellona Club
5. Documents in the Case
5. Strong Poison
6. Five Red Herrings
7. Have His Carcase
8. Hangman's Holiday
9. Murder Must Advertise
10. Nine Tailors
11. Gaudy Night
12. Busman's Honeymoon
13. In the Teeth of the Evidence (Collection)
14. Thrones, Dominations by Sayers and Jill Paton Walsh (This was written in 1998, using a partial manuscript and notes of Sayers. It is excellent.)


"Joe Leaphorn" and "Jim Chee" series by Tony Hillerman
These are reasonably good mysteries, but they are a Master's level course on Navajo history, culture and religion. The combination of these two things makes the whole series a real treat. As with all of the series books, I think they are more fun in chronological order.

The "Peter Decker, Rina Lazarus" series by Faye Kellerman
This series contains a bit more crime than I usually like in a novel, but her portrayal of Orthodox Judaism is as good as any religious studies text without having to suffer from the boring, dried up style of the average textbook.

The "Day the Rabbi…" series by Harry Kemelman
After learning all about Orthodox Judaism from Faye Kellerman the next logical step is to read these books, which describe Conservative Judaism. Kemelman is a little more prosaic than Kellerman, and he offers a pretty thorough examination of Jewish thought and life in a broad sense. He also helps readers understand the variations among Jewish tradition. After reading these two enlightening series, I realized that most people I'm acquainted with knew as little about Judaism as I did. It seems a shame that we don't know more about each other as a matter of course.