Clean Reads discussion

Can anyone suggest mysteries that are clean? I've read tons of different authors....Christie (my favorite!), Sayers, Wentworth, Tey, and other golden age mystery authors...plus a few contemporary authors. Can anyone throw out as many clean mystery authors as they know of, please? Unfortunately I can only listen to audio which limits my selection, but I'm thankful there *are* audio books! Any suggestions appreciated! Thanks!

Following is a reply I recently made in response to the same question posted on the "Clean, non-religious - reads" group:

It's been years, but as I recall, these were good:
--Trent's Last Case by EC Bentley
--The Red House Mystery by AA Milne (of Winnie the Pooh fame)

More currently:
--The No. 1 Ladies Detective agency series by Alexander McCall Smith (although I'm not fond of his other series)
--the Rabbi David Small series, beginning with Friday the Rabbi Slept Late by Harry Kemelman (mild, but not G rated; some religion but definitely not preachy)
--Nero Wolfe series, by Rext Stout (sometimes more profanity than I want, but nothing worse than gd)
--Lord Peter Wimsey series, by Dorothy L Sayers
--Gideon Oliver series, by Aaron Elkins (most are PG13, but I'd skip the first two, which weren't very good and merit an R)
--Brother Cadfael series, by Ellis Peters
--Professor Bradshaw series, by Bernadette Pajer
--Adam Dalgliesh series, by PD James (I've only read one of these)
--Perry Mason series by Erle Stanley Gardner


The Jim Chee/Joe Leaphorn series by Tony Hillerman is excellent (best read in order)
The Cat Who... series by Jillian Jackson Braun is clean and the audiobooks are narrated by George Guidall--one of the best.
I enjoyed Deeper Waters, the first in the Tides of Truth series of Christian mysteries by Robert Whitlow.
Christian author Randy Singer writes good legal thrillers
The Riddle of the Sands, by Erskine Childers is purportedly the first spy novel--it's slow, but well-written.
Enola Holmes juvenile mystery series, by Nancy Springer (about the younger sister of Sherlock Holmes) is entertaining (btw, many people enjoy Laurie King's Sherlock Holmes novels so I'll mention them also, but I've been less-than-enthused about the two I've read).
By its Cover--first in the Inspector Brunetti series by Dona Leon was clean and pretty good.
The Theodore Boone, Kid Lawyer series (not really mysteries) by John Grisham is clean.

Except for the first two, and some of the Aaron Elkins titles, I've been able to find these as audiobooks.

Wow, thanks for the great list, Ken! I'm going to check some of these out tonight.

All of these are clean~

Thanks, C. Will check some of these out!

Elena wrote: "Can anyone suggest mysteries that are clean? I've read tons of different authors....Christie (my favorite!), Sayers, Wentworth, Tey, and other golden age mystery authors...plus a few contemporary a..."

Maisy Dobbs books and the Aunt Dimity series are clean. They both have an element of the supernatural, with the Maisy books taking that more seriously and the Aunt Dimity more cheekily.

I'm reading a series that are romance/mystery but I'm not a romance fan so the mystery makes it worthwhile by Dani Pettrey Called the Alaskan Courage Series that are clean, from a Christian Worldview. There is a 5 in one book
The Alaskan Courage Collection

Oh I just read an awesome book by Charles Martin called A Life Intercepted . Now it is football themed but I really liked it and it touched my heart as well. I had to keep reading to find out what in the world had happened.

The Flavia deLuce books by Alan Bradley.

My sister Loretta Jackson and I are delighted to announce book 7 in the High Country Mystery Series, MURDER AND THE GOOD OLD BOYS' CLUB.

Review: “Murder and the Good Old Boys’ Club” is a brilliant new addition to their long list of captivating, clean-reading titles: a who-done-it that leaves readers wondering who did it." Author Stephanie Parker McKean

Who is lying? Who is telling the truth? Ben Ward and his four partners have sunk vast sums of money into a recreational community, Pleasant Valley Retreat, and this failing project has flamed anger among the investors. Now Ben Ward has received a death threat. As the date draws nearer, a killer stalks the resort. McQuede must act quickly before a vandal’s threats turn into reality.

Thank you, everyone!

I'm sorry, I forgot that you wanted books in the Audiobook format so I checked and all those titles that I suggested are available except 'Forget Me' and 'Seek and Find'.

Where Secrets Sleep
Mark Of The Loon[audible]
The Fate Of Mercy Alban
Danger In Plain Sight[audible]
Missing
The Search
Found
Halos
Edge Of Recall
A Cry In The Night[audible.audio,cassette]

I think Crocodile on the Sandbank by Elizabeth Peters is available in audio. Funny and, I believe, clean of bad !anguage or objectionable material and non-religious for those who care.

I forgot Richard Mabry's excellent books which are all on audio as far as I know.

I was going to say Maisie Dobbs too!

I recently read The Secrets of Wishtide by Kate Saunders and loved it. Very clean, interesting, funny, and non-religious.

My library's ebook site has a number of books by Elizabeth Peters that are audio books. (I am editing this on 4/2/17 because I discovered on re-reading ber books that there is quite a bit of profanity in most of them.)

Kayla wrote: "I was going to say Maisie Dobbs too!"
On the strength of people's recommendations for Maisie Dobbs, I listened to Birds of a Feather (#2 in the series) and enjoyed it. I found her uncanny "intuitions" a bit over-the-top, but entertaining.

I've read all the Maisie Dobbs series starting at the time the first done was published. I do think of them as clean reads but I do think those looking for clean reads need to know that in some books and particularly the more recent ones there is behavior that is accepted and condoned by the characters that I think is inappropriate and not sure how historically accurate it is. I think the author is trying to push today's inappropriate sexual attitudes onto her readers and her characters. Just a heads up.

Thanks for all the info, everybody.

Just finished, and loved this time-slip-mystery/romance a few scattered curses, no "F" bombs.

The Southern Ghost Hunter's Mysteries series~

Vanetta Chapman has several Amish mysteries in audiobook: Murder Simply Brewed, Murder Tightly Knit, and Murder Freshly Baked.

I just fnished re-reading two novels by Lis Wiehl and April Henry: A Matter of Trust and RISKY BUSINESS. Any Lis Wiehl books are good. Her four Triple Threat volumes, Face of Betrayal, Heart lf Ice, Hand of Fate and one more whose title I forgot, are excellent. Also liked Snapshot. I haven't read the Salem trilogy which is different--spooky.

Thanks, Christine! Will check them out.

Diamond

The Flavia deLuce books were recommended on this and another Goodreads clean discussion group so I started the first in the series. If Flavia was saying "oh scissors" at first, why did she later start using the "D" and "H" words? Also, I don't think an eleven-year-old with a negative attitude toward people and an obsession with poison is a great character. I couldn't decide if this is a book for adults or very mature children with good reading skills and vocabulary. I opted out of finishing the book.

Christine wrote: "The Flavia deLuce books were recommended on this and another Goodreads clean discussion group so I started the first in the series. If Flavia was saying "oh scissors" at first, why did she later st..."

I agree! I have only read the first book, and she just doesn't come off as believable or likeable to me, so haven't felt like reading any more of those.

I just finished reading and really enjoyed it. It's the first time I've tried anything from Harlequin's "Heartwarming" line, and I was very pleased to find it a sweet romance with absolutely no cussing and a sum total of three kisses. It also included a gentle mystery with a person haunting the riverboat and stealing valuables from the guests. Five stars and recommended.

The ebook is on sale for 1.99 this weekend.

Christine wrote: "The Flavia deLuce books were recommended on this and another Goodreads clean discussion group so I started the first in the series. If Flavia was saying "oh scissors" at first, why did she later st..."

And her language throughout the books only gets worse. She seems to say the "d" word more as time goes on. Very disappointing. It was so long ago when I read the first book that I don't remember exactly how her character was. I think she does seem to become more likeable. But some of the latter books, in my opinion, just went downhill. They got too serious and sad and depressing. Aside from not having the best mysteries, which is why I picked up the books in the first place... for the mystery. I had to put down the latest book.

Harlequin does have the Love Inspired Suspense line of light-weight but clean mysteries and it sounds as if the heart-warming line might be clean also. But one has to remember that Harlequin made its money and reputation, such as it is, on soft-porn novels with graphic sex scenes. So, I am suspicious about anything that I don't recognize as a clean line of books from them.

Christine wrote: "Harlequin does have the Love Inspired Suspense line of light-weight but clean mysteries and it sounds as if the heart-warming line might be clean also. But one has to remember that Harlequin made i..."

Yes...that's why I made sure the one I tried was from an author I'd read before!

Good for you, Hannah! We have to be careful. That's why I appreciate good recommendations from other readers. One of my pet peeves is authors who start out clean and after you get interested in the story slip in a bunch of objectionable material hoping you will keep reading even if it is filth. Why do they do this?

I don't know. I just ran across it in the third book of a series I was really enjoying...a "Christian" novel with sex in it. It is happening more and more in Christian books and is driving me nuts.

That's terrible because the Christian market was the one place we were always sure of clean material. And, with formerly clean authors going mainstream and secular, it is difficult to tell if the book is clean.

Hannah wrote: "I don't know. I just ran across it in the third book of a series I was really enjoying...a "Christian" novel with sex in it. It is happening more and more in Christian books and is driving me nuts."

One clue to those books can sometimes be found in the author's bio~ BEWARE of any so-called "Christian" author, that boasts that they write "edgy" Christian fiction! Those were the ones that I found wrote stuff, that no devout Christian would even consider writing, including rape, or near rape scenes, such as in a book from the Legacy of the King's Pirates series by Marylu Tyndale Where one character continually tried to force himself on the heroine! It happened so often that I began to suspect this author gets off on rape, and stopped reading, and put her on my " authors to AVOID list"!

Also pay attention to the publishers, some like Bethany House would not have such books, at all.

C. wrote: "Hannah wrote: "I don't know. I just ran across it in the third book of a series I was really enjoying...a "Christian" novel with sex in it. It is happening more and more in Christian books and is d..."

That's why it was such a shock...this is my second Bethany House read to have junk in it.
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Oh wow, Bethany House, that is a shock! I wonder if like so many other "formerly Christian Publishing Houses", have been bought by a secular Publishing House? You will often notice a change in the books in that case.

As an ex-Christian, now a Naturalist, I no longer adhere to "Christian" fiction for the past few years[just want the "clean" without the preaching], so if Bethany House can no longer be trusted, I wouldn't know if ANY publishing house still sticks to CBA standards!

I think books in Amazon's Clean and Wholesome category and those mentioned at Harlequin like the Love Inspired and Heartwarming lines are safe. :D

https://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_ss...

Hopefully it's a fluke. Perhaps I should write to the publisher and complain! So far Bethany House is still owned by Baker books.

I was just going to mention that Baker bought up a lot of publishing companies but Hannah beat me to it. A complaint might help. Maybe it is the fault of editors. But in the end, it is really the writers. Not everyone who calls himself or herself a Christian is really living close to the Lord and that may be why some have become disillusioned with Christianity even though the failures of men have little to do with the reality of God and the deity of Jesus Christ. I have read books that are"Christian" that have very little to do with God except that the characters go to church. Some mean well but do get "preachy". But there are authors out there who write books of spiritual depth based on an authentic Christian life.

All of Josi Killpack's food mystery series is clean, and there's twelve of them to read :) Still haven't made it through all of them for time purposes.

Yes, quite a few in the Cozy Mystery genre are good "clean" reads.

Ann George has a wonderful series with Southern Sisters. Murder on a Bad Hair Day is one of the books. They are also a lot of fun on audiobooks.

Karen MacInerney's Gray Whale Inn Mysteries, cozy mysteries set in a bed and breakfast in Maine, are clean.

Ellis Peter's Father Cadfael mysteries are clean.

I like the Needlecraft Mystery series by Monica Ferris. "Crewel World" is the first one that introduces the character. The books are self contained mysteries, but the characters move and develop over time. If read out of order, you may find yourself in a "when did that happen?" situation with one of the character's backstory but it doesn't detract enough to worry about it.

Based on the recommendation I read Crewel World. It had about a dozen curse words. Without that it was an interesting mystery. I don't consider it clean,though.

Christine wrote: "Based on the recommendation I read Crewel World. It had about a dozen curse words. Without that it was an interesting mystery. I don't consider it clean,though."
My mistake; I define "clean" in a novel as no overly descriptive sexual situations. Toes curling kissing is usually OK.

I define "clean" as no profanity or taking God's name in a curse, no graphic sex, no horrendous violence in graphic detail.