Father's Day (cont.)

Mysteries can be flip, hilarious, cerebral, weird, gory, formulaic, cozy, informative, noir, or nostalgic. Different dads prefer one or another of these sub-genres, so here’s a suggestion for each category.

Flip – Kinky Friedman’s series

Hilarious – Carl Hiaasen, especially Stormy Weather (©1995)

Cerebral – Dorothy L Sayers’ Lord Peter Wimsey series

Weird– The Bride Wore Black by Cornell Woolrich (©1940)


Gory – LA Confidential by James Ellroy (©1997), which makes the movie look tame, by the way

Formulaic – Agatha Christie or Ngaio Marsh

Informative – Emma Lathen’s John Putnam Thatcher series, especially Murder Against the Grain (©1967) or A Stitch in Time (©1968)

Cozy – Robert Bernard’s stand alone books set in England, such as Fete Fatale (©1985)


Noir – Raymond Chandler, of course

Nostalgic – The Thin Man series by Dashiell Hammett

Tomorrow, the male equivalent of chick lit.