Whodunit?

I love a good mystery novel with a detective solving the crime.  I usually turn to them during the winter when I can curl up in front of the fireplace while I read.  But I have been known to enjoy one during the heat of the summer in an Adirondack chair in my backyard.

There are several good "whodunits" that have been published recently.  Det. Supt. Diamond, of the Bath Police, reappears in Peter Lovesey's latest work, Stagestruck, and this time the murder takes place in the Theater Royal on opening night.  In, Death at the Chateau Bremont, Mary Lou Longworth introduces the detective duo of Antoine Verlaque, a local magistrate and Marie Bonnet, his ex-lover.  Longworth's debut novel, set in Aix-en-Provence, is steeped in the rich, local flavors of Provencal France.  Another new face on the detective scene, Sarah Quinn, appears in Maureen Carter's latest novel, A Question of Despair. DI Quinn is called upon to solve a mystery involving the kidnapping of a child in Birmingham, England.  On the Swedish front, Inspector Van Veeteren investigates the murder of a young girl at a holiday camp in, The Inspector and Silence, by Hakan Nesser.  Conor Fitzgerald's detective, Alec Blume, is an American ex-pat living in Rome, who speaks Italian fluently and knows the "Eternal City" like the back of his hand.  Fatal Touch, the second in a series, has just been released and deals with an art forgery.

Speaking of reading in my backyard...Last summer I discovered Kate Atkinson and read all of her novels featuring, the semi-retired PI, Jackson Brodie. They aren't officially a series, but Brodie's story is woven in and out of the books so you might want to start with Case Histories and read them in order.  I've placed a  hold on her latest, Started Early, Took my Dog, and can't wait to read it!

Who's your favorite "tec" right now?