Book help?
I'm looking for top-notch mystery/thriller genre recs (preferably available unabridged in audiobook format) - specifically written by women - and I need your assistance.


I've been bonding with my fiancee's dad (he's in his mid 60s) about murder mysteries and pulpy thrillers. We've had some fun conversations about the genre, but I've noticed that virtually all of the protagonists he reads about are cis, white, upper-middle-class baby boomer men who boldly rescue attractive young white women who may or may not be sexually available to them from the perils of ~urban society~ (completely unaware of their own privilege). Suffice to say, there is some classist, sexist, racist bullshit encoded into these novels' overt content and in their worldbuilding (and it's presented with so little self-awareness it's mind-boggling). On top of that, he's said recently in an off-handed way that women "just don't write mysteries as neatly or tightly" as the WASPy guys he likes to read. Your mission, if you choose to accept it, is to help me show him how very wrong he is.

Now, future dad-in-law is a cool guy - he admits that the books he's been reading are flawed and that his perspective on female authors is sexist and that the content of some of the books are racist. He owns that, and agrees that that is bad. I know that just laying into him about the privilege in his books isn't going to help - that's why I'm looking for your recs. I know that if I give him some top-quality, edge-of-your-seat thrillers or tightly-plotted, satisfying mysteries written by women, he'll eat his words, buy more of their books, and recommend them to others.

His favorite authors are James Lee Burke, Robert Crais, Elmore Leonard, David Baldacci and Michael Connelly. My rec list currently includes Val McDermid and Sharyn McCrumb; I think he'll really like McDermid, but expect that McCrumb will be hit-or-miss (depending on how he takes to the historical framework).

Thanks for takin' the time!