I was never much of a mystery girl

I have a few genres I like to read... horror, sci-fi/fantasy, general fiction, chick lit, non-fiction, "classics", etc. The only thing I normally won't read is a romance novel, although I have been tricked on an occasion or two, realizing 1/4 of the way in that the general fiction book I picked up was not what it appeared to be. Another genre I never really got into was mystery.

That started to change when I took a grad course in it. Tony Hillerman was the first author we read in the class, and I have to say, he hooked me. I have read a few more of his books since then, and I've enjoyed them. I'll most likely read a few more. His characters are interesting, and the history of the Native Americans he wraps up into his novels make them right up my alley.

Lately, I've been reading some Peter Straub novels. Mr. Straub co-wrote my all time favorite book, The Talisman, with my main man, Stephen King. I've already read quite a few of Peter Straub's other novels; some I've like, some I've really rather detested.

A few months ago, I came across a used copy of Koko at the library. It took a couple of weeks to get through, but I found it fascinating. When I googled the book, a wiki entry came up and announced that it was actually part of a trilogy. Score.

In the past month, I've finished up reading that trilogy. Mystery, the second novel, was a page-turner, to say the least. I devoured it. The main character, Tom Pasmore, is extremely likable. I was hoping he'd be in the last novel, too.

And he was! The Throat finished the trilogy with not only my old pal, Tom, in it, but Tim Underhill, one of the characters from Koko, was the main character. I devoured this book, too. I wanted more, more, more!

I just finished it this morning and immediately went to amazon.com to buy copies of the last two. I'd borrowed them from the library, but I know I'll want to read them again in the future. THAT'S how good they are.

So if anyone has any mystery novel suggestions, I'm all ears.