Next Thursday 11/4 my book club is going to nominate and decide on all of the books that we'll read next year.  I would REALLY like to nominate a mystery or two, but in general mysteries don't offer enough "meat" for a discussion at a book club.  There are definitely some out there that would work for a book club, though.  The Da Vinci Code, for example (and no, I'm not nominating that one).

Any ideas?  I've only got one idea so far - Blood Hollow by William Kent Kreuger.  It's the third or fourth book in the Cork O'Connor series, and was pretty deep (had to do with religious issues).  Plus it's a Minnesota book - and we try to have at least a few books by Minnesota authors every year.

Lynne,

We did Maisie Dobbs by Jacqueline Winspear in my book group. It is set before during and after WW1 so a long with the mystery you can discuss a lot of how War changes people, and how society reacts to them. Also discuss about veteren homes and hospitals. I was a good discussion, but it is one of my favorite historical mysteries.

Alice

Lynne - these are some of the authors that I found on that website (mysteryplaces.net) that I want to read and it's mainly because they DO sound "meaty":

Deon Meyer

Colin Cotterill

Margie Orford

Jassy MacKenzie

You may find even more -oh, and BTW, have you read any of Thomas Perry's books?

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime is a big fave with book clubs, in case you haven't read that yet.  It's a special book and a quick read.

Shoulder the Sky, by Anne Perry is set in WWI and is deeper than your average mystery.  There are at least 3 in this series, but Shoulder is the first.

There's a great series by a Chinese author and set in China so there's lots of cultural information and context. The first in the series is Death of a Red Heroine by Qui Xiaolong.

Great question - Good luck!

Philomene

Yes the Anne Perry WWI series is very good. The first book is No Graves yet. An excellent book. It is set in July 1914 right before WWI starts.

Alice