Good Reads

Wenn Sie auf unkomplizierte Art Englisch lernen wollen, lesen Sie am besten spannende Krimis. Margaret Davis stellt Ihnen Lektüre vor.

Who said crime doesn’t pay? Reading crime novels and thrillers certainly pays off for language learners. That’s because these novels have a clear structure that makes them easier to follow than more literary novels. On these pages, we present some of our favourites.

Private detective V.I. Warshawski has been investigating crime and corruption in Chicago for 25 years. Warshawski, the fictional creation of Sara Paretsky, is intelligent, funny and independent. Trained as a lawyer, she specializes in solving
corporate crime. Paretsky’s own background in the insurance industry gives her an insight into the world of business. In Paretsky’s latest novel, Fire Sale (Hodder Paperback, ISBN 978-0-340-83910-2, €9.60), Warshawski is drawn into the dark world of immigrant factory workers.

• Sara Paretsky
  

Sue Grafton has created another popular female detective. Kinsey Millhone is a former police officer in the Californian town of Santa Teresa. Her job as a private investigator takes her into various areas of business and public life. Beginning with A is for Alibi, each book includes a letter of the alphabet in its title. Her most recent, T is for Trespass (Putnam Publishing Group, ISBN 978-0-230-01480-0, €17.60), came out in December. It deals with identity theft and elder abuse.

• Sue Grafton
  

If you’re interested in forensic medicine and are not easily shocked by horrifying details, try Patricia Cornwell and Kathy Reichs, who both explore this area. In Book of the Dead, Cornwell’s forensic pathologist Dr Kay Scarpetta solves her 15th case (Little, Brown, ISBN 978-0-316-72423-4, €21.30).

• Patricia Cornwell
• Kathy Reichs