I have a few to recommend-all are by series authors but not of a series.

A Most Contagious Game by Catherine Aird.
Deadly Duo Margery Allingham
The Skeleton in the Closet by M.C. Beaton
Foul Matter Martha Grimes
Death in the Garden Elizabeth Ironside

Cece, thank you so much. I'll order those. I might have already read the Allingham, but I'm sure I've forgotten what it's about even if I have. I'm familiar with Beaton and Grimes; Aird and Ironside are new to me. It's hard to keep up with so many writers these days, especially since I'm an intermittent mystery reader. It's even harder to figure out which books are standalones or one-offs unless I actually read them or have someone to ask.

If you think of others, please let me know!

Thinking about it further, I have often liked the first book in a series. Sometimes the first book feels like a set-up for subsequent ones though, and the second book will actually be better than the first. After the third one, I'm afraid most go downhill or get too much accummulated backstory for me. My dislike of series seems to be not the norm of most readers -- I think I lost the desire to read series after my Nancy Drew days...I read the whole kaboodle of those that had been written up to that time.

John Hart is a fairly new author and has 3 books out - I have read all three & they are good stand-alones. King of Lies; Down River & his latest which I recently finished & really enjoyed was The Last Child.

Pat

The Grave Tattoo by Val McDermid is a gripping standalone mystery and intelligently written. Literary scholarship, genealogy, forensic anthropology, old rumours about Fletcher Christian and the Bounty mutiny, and a setting in England's Lake District combined to make this a thoroughly enjoyable read for me.

Ed McBain wrote the 87th Precinct and the Matthew Hope novels. However, this was a pen-name; his real name was Evan Hunter and he has written a few novels under this name - the most famous was his first, The Blackboard Jungle which is well worth reading.

Frieda, I enjoyed Slammerkin by Emma Donohue. It is both historical and something of a mystery.

I am afraid I have to disagree with mumby about the Val McDermid - I didn't like it much at all.

An author called Patricia Wright wrote a history of England in two smallish volumes called I am England and That Near & Distant Place.

And my favourite historical saga type book is The Source by Michener. It starts with an archaelogical dig in Israel and describes artifacts that are found then goes back to tell the story of how they got there.

Frieda, these are mostly older titles, but if you're going to cite Eric Ambler then they should fit right in.

John Creasy, Masters of Bow Street This was close to being the prolific Mr. Creasy's last book, a fun 18th C story about the Bow Street Runners.

R. F. Delderfield, To Serve Them All My Days Recipes for cooking schoolboys A British public school between the two World Wars. Was a tv miniseries, so you've probably read or seen it, but since Delderfield mostly wrote trilogies of family sagas, this stands out. He also wrote a prequel to Treasure Island called The Adventures of Ben Gunn.

Josephine Tey, The Daughter of Time. If you read mysteries at all you've certainly been pointed to this before. Ostensibly part of her mystery series, it's a standalone in that the mystery dates from the 15th C.

Dorothy Dunnett, King Hereafter. Her only non-series book, a historical about Macbeth. She apparently propounded an original historical theory, but I have no idea how it was received in the academic community. Probably ignored...

I apologize if some of these are insultingly obvious. You just never know what gaps people have in their reading histories.

balrog, all recommendations are appreciated. You've hit several of my gaps!

I didn't know about the Creasy book. I like that sort of story, 18th century and all.

I have read some Delderfield, an aeon or two ago. I liked him back then. The prequel sounds fun.

Oh, yes, The Daughter of Time. Thanks for reminding me. Tey wrote another speculative mystery based on a real-life incident: The Franchise Affair. I didn't become a Ricardian because of TDOT, but I sure do enjoy the controversy. With Franchise she seemed to have hit the nail on the head, but then there aren't as many people arguing about that one or writers coming up with new theories.

Dunnett: I read all of the Lymond Chronicles, but spread out over thirty-something years, with a couple of rereads in between. I only managed the first three (I think) of the House of Niccolo, but my mistake was trying to read them all back to back. I have not read King Hereafter and I had forgotten it was about Macbeth.
She apparently propounded an original historical theory...Well, that does it, balrog: you've hooked me. I want to know the theory. From Dunnett, I expect a reasoned one.

Frieda, I once did a paper in college on the historical background of Macbeth, but this one is way beyond me.

At the time (c.1050 CE) "Scotland" was apparently the area from Hadrian's Wall to the Highlands; the Highlands had been conquered by various Norse raiders who extracted taxes from the inhabitants. (i.e. "Pay us or we'll send a few longboats over to take what we can.") One of these was Thorfinn, Jarl (Earl) of Orkney, who as a young man had been driven into exile but then returned and overcame the usurper.

Dunnett's ideas was that Thorfinn was the same person as Macbeth, and that he derived rights over lowland Scotland through his mother and the Highlands through his father. Thus he felt perfectly justified to kill Duncan, etc. Gruoch (Lady Macbeth...that really was her name) survived him to be married to Malcom to cement his claim to the throne and become St. Margaret.

I've never found out if Dunnett actually wrote out the details of her idea in non-fiction form. Those who know the period better than I tell me that King Hereafter is pretty explicit about her variances from both historical "truth" and Shakespeare.