crime novels that aren't whodunnit mysteries?

[hbfilmz]

Would anyone recommend crime novels or writers not in the whodunnit detective genre, similar to Elmore Leonard?

[PeterL]

Much of Robert Parker's writing was not who done it. That's just one; I'll think of others.

[Chilly]

Read In Cold Blood by Truman Capote. Also, look into the True Crime Genre, there will be others there.

[PeterL]

Then there are things like the Fafrd and Mouser story by Fritz Leiber. Those stories are fantasy (sword & sorcercy) and f5rom the criminals' POV.

[Calidore]

Carl Hiaasen's crime novels aren't whodunnits, and they're hugely entertaining.

[Eiseabhal]

Patricia Highsmith and James Cain are writers who wrote about crime and I wouldn't call their work Whodunnits.

[qimissung]

You might also check out Joseph Wambaugh. His are kind of procedurals, I guess, but he actually was a policeman, and they are considered realistic and gritty. He has some acclaimed non-fiction, also.

[kiki1982]

The Wallander stories by Mankell are always more than whodunit. Essentially, yes, but the characters and their personalities are alwaus important too.

[kev67]

The Raymond Chandler books were never really Whodunnits. It was usually some random Mr Big, although he was often put up to it by the vampish female.

[Ecurb]

“Crime and Punishment” is certainly not a “whodunit” (we know who did it from the moment the crime is committed).

[PeterL]

I I suppose that there probably are plenty of who dunnits, but I usually read classic of crime fiction, and the crime is often secondary to other matters. Dashiell Hammett wrote about crimes, but determining what the crime was (or whether there was a crime) often was more important than the crime itself.

If you want to read crime fiction, then I would suggest that you flip to a random page and read a sentence or paragraph to determine whether you enjoy reading it. After that you can figure out which sort you want to read.

[qimissung]

There are also the crime novels of Maj Sjowall and Per Wahloo, a husband and wife writing team. Their novels are a bit older, but still in print and very well thought of.They wanted to write about their society, and their novels get increasingly darker as they do that. Here's a short article from NPR about them:


http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=129081110

[kiki1982]

I saw documentary about Scandinavian crime a while ago. About the kind of fear Scandinavians have felt in terms of their society being very calm in nature, very open, etc., but under the suface that there might be all kinds of nasty things. Was it Stieg Larsson who came through as one of the first on an international level with this kind of unsettling stuff, but that it became more popular (due to the fact that we in the less inclusive countries start to feel the same)?

[Emil Miller]

Brighton Rock by Graham Greene