I've really been enjoying the Kinsey Millhone books by Sue Grafton and the JD Robb books, and would like to find more that are similar.  I also like the Stephanie Plum books because they are funny, but after a while her incompetence got kind of old.  Can anyone recommend some more detective books with a strong and/or funny lead character?

Laurel, you might try the Deborah Knott series by Margaret Maron or the Sarah Booth Delaney series by Carolyn Haines.

Someone recommended the Nancy Bush series to my daughter: Candy Apple Red; Electric Blue and Untraviolet. I haven't read them. My daughter liked them but was disappointed that there are only the 3 books so far.

The series by Nevada Barr and either series by J.A. Jance

The Deborah Knott series is my current favorite, so would definitely recommend it.  She is a lawyer turned judge and very bright--no Stephanie Plum incompetence!

The Nancy Bush books were a good mix of humor and mystery and I, too, was sorry there weren't more availabile.

Laurel,

You may enjoy the Maddie Springer "High Heels" series by Gemma Halliday.  She wrote five books, wrapped up the storyline nicely and ended that series before it could become tedious.  Maddie is both funny and likeable and there are some screwball characters along the way.

I also highly reccommed JA Jance and would add Michael Connelly (the Harry Bosch series in particular), and Tammy Hoag mysteries ( be careful to avoid her early sappy romance novels, but her myseries are great).

I loved Sparkle Hayter's Robin Hudson books.  Very funny.

You might like Marcia Muller's Sharon McCone series or  Sara Paretsky's  V.I. Warshawski series.
 

You also might enjoy Catherine Coulter's FBI series. She has quite a back list. It isn't absolutely necessary to read them all in order, but I think the development of the characters is helpful.  Also John Lamb has a Teddy Bear series. Don't get put off by the fact they are called Teddy Bear books, the main character, Brad Lyon, is a retired San Fransico Homicide Inspector, and these are really good police procedurals. Brad is an absolute riot.

I started reading Marcia Muller about the same time I picked up Grafton. I STILL adore Marcia Muller's books.  They're definitely worth the read.

Try Gillian Roberts' Amanda Pepper books. There are about a dozen of them so far. I think the first one is "Caught Dead in Philadelphia".

They are so good that I've read some of them twice and I almost never do that. You can also try Jessica Spearts' Rachel Porter books, they're also very good.

I second the Michael Connelly suggestion and also would recommend Sara Paretsky's V.I. Warshawski series.  The V.I. series is more like Kinsey Millhone then Stephanie Plum.

I agree that Stephanie Plums incompetence can get old, but you have to keep reading to find out what Grandma does next!

Have you tried the Cozy series by Miranda Bliss?  The author really writes these in a cute, funny way...I find myself laughing sometimes.

The first book in the series is called Cooking up Murder.

I agree with Melissa on the Miranda Bliss series. I also recommend Stuck on Murder, the first in a new series by Lucy Lawrence. There are some very comical characters in the setting of the book. I laughed out loud several times. Also, had no idea who did it until it was revealed at the end.