Positive Press

I love mysteries, and they have been my literary mainstay since age 16. I do read most other genre’s, other than horror and most romance, but thrillers, suspense novels and some espionage comprise a large portion of my reading over the years.

Here are a few Christian mysteries that uplift me while intriguing, and a few great novels that were encouraging or inspiring; one of them is quite dark, but the story was so good, that I still got something out of it:

My first Christian thrillers were penned by pastor, attorney and writer, Randy Singer. I enjoyed Directed Verdict, Irreparable Harm, Self Incrimination and more; The Judge is my favorite, but all have encouraging stories, thrilling plot lines and balanced portrayals of the Christian faith:

Another writer named Randy, who writes a lot of Christian nonfiction, authored a mystery trilogy that entertains, excites and stimulates with faith and good provocative stories.

Deadline is a story of faith, friendship, murder, and a journalist’s quest for the truth. Dominion recounts another journalists frustration with God when a family member is taken home too soon. Deception is a great gumshoe tale about corruption and eternity.

These are known on goodreads as the Ollie Chandler Series, and were written by Randy Alcorn…

David Baldacci is a skilled and entertaining mystery writer. I’ve enjoyed the earlier Amos Decker novels, some of the standalones like True Blue and outstanding departures like Wish You Well and A Calamity of Souls.

His mysteries tend to be somewhat uplifting if sometimes brooding, and he is a good bet when wanting what is essentially a secular thriller that has positive elements, To Die For for example. While only one is a mystery , here are two I have read recently, and one that is being released soon:

Michael Connelly is one of my favorite writers, and I’ve met him, and if he was a personal friend, I think he’d be high up on my list; he’s a man of character.

Harry Bosch sometimes has an attitude, and so does Mickey Haller, and these books are a bit gritty for being uplifting, but they both promote characters who possess a strong sense of justice; here are three of my favorite Connelly works:

I’ll close with my first and longtime favorite mystery writer, Dick Francis, the Queen’s WW2 era champion jockey, and mystery writer. His wife did a lot of ghostwriting for him without credit, he conceived of dozens of great writings concerning horseracing, intrigue and mystery, and his son, Felix, has penned some great volumes as well, a family affair:

Enjoy!