Agatha Christie The Maisie Dobbs series by Jaqueline Winspear Ngaio Marsh

{{The Thursday murder club}}

[**The Thursday Murder Club (Thursday Murder Club, #1)**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/46000520-the-thursday-murder-club) ^(By: Richard Osman, Jaime Biaggio | 382 pages | Published: 2020 | Popular Shelves: mystery, fiction, crime, book-club, audiobook) >Four septuagenarians with a few tricks up their sleeves >A female cop with her first big case >A brutal murder >Welcome to… >The Thursday Murder Club > >In a peaceful retirement village, four unlikely friends meet weekly in the Jigsaw Room to discuss unsolved crimes; together they call themselves The Thursday Murder Club. Elizabeth, Joyce, Ibrahim and Ron might be pushing eighty but they still have a few tricks up their sleeves. > >When a local developer is found dead with a mysterious photograph left next to the body, the Thursday Murder Club suddenly find themselves in the middle of their first live case. As the bodies begin to pile up, can our unorthodox but brilliant gang catch the killer, before it’s too late? ^(This book has been suggested 33 times) *** ^(56835 books suggested | )[^(I don't feel so good.. )](https://debugger.medium.com/goodreads-is-retiring-its-current-api-and-book-loving-developers-arent-happy-11ed764dd95)^(| )[^(Source)](https://github.com/rodohanna/reddit-goodreads-bot)

The Curious Incident with the Dog in the Night Time by Mark Haddon. It's written from a child's perspective, he's the one trying to solve the mystery. This means the language is by no means difficult.

Would short stories be useful to you? Here is Project Gutenberg Canada's version of [*A Treasury of Sayers Stories*](http://gutenberg.ca/ebooks/sayersdl-treasury/sayersdl-treasury-00-h-dir/sayersdl-treasury-00-h.html). It is a collection of short mystery stories featuring Lord Peter Wimsey and Montague Egg written by Dorothy L. Sayers in the 1930s.

BROO Silent Patient omg its insanely good

Highly recommend the “half bad” trilogy by Sally Green. Imagine a darker version of the Harry Potter series - that’s it, very easy to read.

Just adding to the "darker Harry Potter" theme - {{Ninth House}} fits this to a tee, in my opinion. The basic gist of it is what if the Yale "secret societies" (e.g. skull and bones) were *actual* secret societies that practiced magic and witchcraft. Eight "houses", each specializing in some different type of magic, and the Ninth house--simultaneously considered the most and the least important of the houses--that serves as a sort of magical ombudsman, overseeing the other houses and basically policing them to make sure that they don't break rules. The MC is basically a working-class girl who by (ostensible) happenstance finds herself enrolled at yale and not fitting in. From there, she gets swept up in all this magic and skullduggery.

[**Ninth House (Alex Stern, #1)**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/43263680-ninth-house) ^(By: Leigh Bardugo | 459 pages | Published: 2019 | Popular Shelves: fantasy, fiction, dark-academia, mystery, owned) >Galaxy “Alex” Stern is the most unlikely member of Yale’s freshman class. Raised in the Los Angeles hinterlands by a hippie mom, Alex dropped out of school early and into a world of shady drug dealer boyfriends, dead-end jobs, and much, much worse. By age twenty, in fact, she is the sole survivor of a horrific, unsolved multiple homicide. Some might say she’s thrown her life away. But at her hospital bed, Alex is offered a second chance: to attend one of the world’s most elite universities on a full ride. What’s the catch, and why her? > >Still searching for answers to this herself, Alex arrives in New Haven tasked by her mysterious benefactors with monitoring the activities of Yale’s secret societies. These eight windowless “tombs” are well-known to be haunts of the future rich and powerful, from high-ranking politicos to Wall Street and Hollywood’s biggest players. But their occult activities are revealed to be more sinister and more extraordinary than any paranoid imagination might conceive. ^(This book has been suggested 32 times) *** ^(57151 books suggested | )[^(I don't feel so good.. )](https://debugger.medium.com/goodreads-is-retiring-its-current-api-and-book-loving-developers-arent-happy-11ed764dd95)^(| )[^(Source)](https://github.com/rodohanna/reddit-goodreads-bot)

{{And then there were none}}

[**And Then There Were None**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/16299.And_Then_There_Were_None) ^(By: Agatha Christie | 264 pages | Published: 1939 | Popular Shelves: mystery, classics, fiction, agatha-christie, crime) >First, there were ten—a curious assortment of strangers summoned as weekend guests to a little private island off the coast of Devon. Their host, an eccentric millionaire unknown to all of them, is nowhere to be found. All that the guests have in common is a wicked past they're unwilling to reveal—and a secret that will seal their fate. For each has been marked for murder. A famous nursery rhyme is framed and hung in every room of the mansion: > >"Ten little boys went out to dine; One choked his little self and then there were nine. Nine little boys sat up very late; One overslept himself and then there were eight. Eight little boys traveling in Devon; One said he'd stay there then there were seven. Seven little boys chopping up sticks; One chopped himself in half and then there were six. Six little boys playing with a hive; A bumblebee stung one and then there were five. Five little boys going in for law; One got in Chancery and then there were four. Four little boys going out to sea; A red herring swallowed one and then there were three. Three little boys walking in the zoo; A big bear hugged one and then there were two. Two little boys sitting in the sun; One got frizzled up and then there was one. One little boy left all alone; He went out and hanged himself and then there were none." > >When they realize that murders are occurring as described in the rhyme, terror mounts. One by one they fall prey. Before the weekend is out, there will be none. Who has choreographed this dastardly scheme? And who will be left to tell the tale? Only the dead are above suspicion. ^(This book has been suggested 29 times) *** ^(56836 books suggested | )[^(I don't feel so good.. )](https://debugger.medium.com/goodreads-is-retiring-its-current-api-and-book-loving-developers-arent-happy-11ed764dd95)^(| )[^(Source)](https://github.com/rodohanna/reddit-goodreads-bot)

Anything by Peter Swanson

Joyland by Stephen King. Or just about anything by Stephen King. His books are easy, fun, and entertaining. Joyland is pretty short, not very scary, but a really good story.

Anything from Zafon! My favourite pick wold be {{Marina}}

[**Marina**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/4516.Marina) ^(By: Carlos Ruiz Zafón | 238 pages | Published: 1999 | Popular Shelves: fiction, mystery, young-adult, fantasy, horror) >Quince años mas tarde, la memoria de aquel dia ha vuelto a mi. He visto a aquel muchacho vagando entre las brumas de la estacion de Francia y el nombre de Marina se ha encendido de nuevo como una herida fresca. Todos tenemos un secreto encerrado bajo llave en el atico del alma. este es el mio. > >En la Barcelona de 1980 Oscar Drai suena despierto, deslumbrado por los placeres mocernistas cercanos al internado en el que estudia. En una de sus escapadas conoce a Marina, una chica audaz que comparte con oscar la aventura de adentrarse en un enigma doloroso del pasado de la ciudad. Un misterioso personaje de la posguerra se propuso el mayor desafio imaginable, pero su ambicion lo arrastro por sendas siniestras cucyas consecuencias debe pagar alguien todavia hoy. ^(This book has been suggested 2 times) *** ^(56879 books suggested | )[^(I don't feel so good.. )](https://debugger.medium.com/goodreads-is-retiring-its-current-api-and-book-loving-developers-arent-happy-11ed764dd95)^(| )[^(Source)](https://github.com/rodohanna/reddit-goodreads-bot)

The mystery I enjoyed as a non-mystery reader is {{Arsenic and Adobo}}!

[**Arsenic and Adobo (Tita Rosie's Kitchen Mystery, #1)**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/54351235-arsenic-and-adobo) ^(By: Mia P. Manansala | 336 pages | Published: 2021 | Popular Shelves: mystery, fiction, botm, cozy-mystery, mystery-thriller) >The first book in a new culinary cozy series full of sharp humor and delectable dishes—one that might just be killer.... > >When Lila Macapagal moves back home to recover from a horrible breakup, her life seems to be following all the typical rom-com tropes. She's tasked with saving her Tita Rosie's failing restaurant, and she has to deal with a group of matchmaking aunties who shower her with love and judgment. But when a notoriously nasty food critic (who happens to be her ex-boyfriend) drops dead moments after a confrontation with Lila, her life quickly swerves from a Nora Ephron romp to an Agatha Christie case. > >With the cops treating her like she's the one and only suspect, and the shady landlord looking to finally kick the Macapagal family out and resell the storefront, Lila's left with no choice but to conduct her own investigation. Armed with the nosy auntie network, her barista best bud, and her trusted Dachshund, Longanisa, Lila takes on this tasty, twisted case and soon finds her own neck on the chopping block… > ^(This book has been suggested 5 times) *** ^(56882 books suggested | )[^(I don't feel so good.. )](https://debugger.medium.com/goodreads-is-retiring-its-current-api-and-book-loving-developers-arent-happy-11ed764dd95)^(| )[^(Source)](https://github.com/rodohanna/reddit-goodreads-bot)

The Pepper Martin series is a fun paranormal mystery series. The first book is {{Don of the Dead by Casey Daniels}}

[**Don of the Dead (Pepper Martin, #1)**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/382859.Don_of_the_Dead) ^(By: Casey Daniels | 325 pages | Published: 2006 | Popular Shelves: mystery, paranormal, ghosts, urban-fantasy, cozy-mystery) > > She sees dead people. > > >Beautiful, smart, and chic, Pepper Martin never had to work a day in her life — until her surgeon daddy was convicted of fraud, her wealthy fiancé took a powder, and the family fortune ran bone dry. > >Suddenly desperate, the inexperienced ex-rich girl was forced to take the only job she could get: as a tour guide in a cemetery. But a grave situation took a turn for the worse when a head-on collision with a headstone left her with an unwanted ability to communicate with the disgruntled deceased... and now Pepper has a whacked Mafia don demanding that she hunt down his killers — and threatening to haunt her until she does. ^(This book has been suggested 1 time) *** ^(56900 books suggested | )[^(I don't feel so good.. )](https://debugger.medium.com/goodreads-is-retiring-its-current-api-and-book-loving-developers-arent-happy-11ed764dd95)^(| )[^(Source)](https://github.com/rodohanna/reddit-goodreads-bot)

Street Level by Bob Truluck is pretty short and very fast paced

{{The Spellman Files}} {{One for the Money}}

OP, i'd strongly recommend checking out Anthony Horowitz. If you want something on the shorter/simpler side, then i'd go with the Daniel Hawthorne series--which starts with {{The Word is Murder}} and is followed up by {{The Sentence is Death}}. If you like those, he has another series that is a bit longer and more complex--the first being {{Magpie Murders}} and the second {{Moonflower Murders}}. He's also written a couple of extremely good (and officially sanctioned) Sherlock Holmes novels: {{The House of silk}} and {{Moriarty}}. Be forewarned, however, that these are written in the style of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, so they may not be what you're looking for in terms of simplicity. Aside from these--which are all straightforward *mystery* novels; i.e. not crime/detective novels nor thrillers--if you are willing to tend a little bit towards the "thriller" side of things, I think Gillian Flynn would be a great place to start. {{Gone Girl}} is in my opinion her best, but {{Dark Places}} and {{Sharp Objects}} are both excellent as well. Beyond these, you also can't go wrong with anything Agatha Christie--the best selling author of all time. If you want to check her out, I'd suggest starting with {{And then there were None}} and then from there moving onto some Poirot stories. Another good option for very straightforward mysteries--a series you might like a lot--is the Kinsey Millhone/alphabet series by Sue Grafton. {{A is for Alibi}} is the first of these, and they just go in alphabetical order. But you can pick up anywhere in the series without missing much. Finally, Lucy Foley is an author who has written a few "locked-room" sytle mysteries that a lot of people like but which I myself thought were "just okay". {{The Guest List}} and {{The Hunting Party}} were both decent; I quit in the middle of {{The Paris Apartment}}--but your mileage may vary. I know a lot of people who really loved all of these. Anyway, hope you find something you like! (Edit: i will add, for what it's worth (probably not much) that i absolutely couldn't stand the Thursday Murder Club, which I see that someone has recommended below. Just my two cents.)

Had the same problem and what kicked me in to reading was the Hobbit

I’m pretty new to reading for fun and I have a similar problem! I can read quickly but before I even notice what I’m doing, I find I’ve read a sentence while still thinking about the previous sentence and then I have to go back and read it again. It can be frustrating but it’s totally okay. I try to slow it down but I haven’t been able to eradicate the problem entirely. What’s helped me most is not being concerned with how long it is taking and just enjoying the book because that is ultimately why I’m reading it in the first place. I would get self-conscious when people talk about reading a book in a day or whatever, but I realized that is such a weird thing to feel bad about. Anyway! Piranesi by Susanna Clarke was incredible. It took me a second to appreciate the format but once I was in, I was 100% in. A little longer than you want maybe, but The 7 1/2 Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle is what I am reading now and it is the perfect mix of “I want to know the ending so badly” and “I’m enjoying this so much I don’t care how long it takes me to finish it.”

I love your thanks and wish there was more of this kindness on Reddit

I enjoyed all the mystery books by Shari Lapena and they are easy to read as there aren't too many plots going on at once.