Susan hill

Yes, I've read several of her books and I find they vary greatly. Some I have enjoyed and others not. I'll try and get back to you with the ones I thought were best.

The Simon Serailler detective series.

Another vote for the Simon Serrailler series.

Another vote for the Serrailler series - The Various Haunts of Men being the first

I liked the first Simon Serrailler that I read, "The Various Haunts of Men" I agree they vary greatly some okish, but probably fair to say that about most crime writers, there's a lot of competition out there in that particular genre.

Before the film, I remember seeing the Woman in Black on stage, it did make me jump out of my skin literally! The film was good too.

The Simon Serrailler series here as well.

All the Simon Serralier books on audible - wonderfully absorbing

The Simon Serailler series is very good, one book in the series is a bit off but generally a well written police procedural and family story.
I enjoyed the Woman in Black but not so much her other books.

I’ve got a little note from Susan Hill. She wrote for The Observer at the time of the Iranian Embassy siege and said how frightened she was and how she couldn’t wait to get home to her children and hug them. So I wrote to her and she said she’d been inundated with letters from other mothers. I don’t think she wrote for the Observer after that.

Mrs de Winter, (a sequel to Daphne du Mauriers’ Rebecca)

The Mist In The Mirror.

A Bit Of Singing and Dancing

Another vote for the Simon Serailler books

I enjoyed all the Simon Serrailler books enormously, binge listening on Audible and couldn’t wait for the last one, but was oddly disappointed with it.

Woman In Black was good .

I studies ‘A bit of singing and dancing’ for my English A Level and loved the stories. Wasn’t too fussed by the Woman in Black (terrified by the stage production though) and enjoyed Mrs De Winter. I’ll give the Serrailler books a try.

I Am The King of the Castle.

It was recommended to me when I was doing A levels. It is excellent but not if you are looking for a “light “ read. Some may find it upsetting.

The Woman in Black is the most terrifying ghost story I have ever read, and the stage play is excellent. (The film is melodramatic rubbish).
Try The Magic Apple Tree a beautifully written diary of a country year at her home in Oxfordshire, and Howard's End is on the Landing, a cheerful account of her rediscovery of many of her books and their literary associations on her enviably crammed and haphazard bookshelves.

Two of my personal favourites
‘strange Meeting’ and ‘The Beacon’
I also love the Serailler books. But if you start them, I would start at the beginning.

My favourite book is her "Lanterns Across the Snow" - it is a beautiful evocation of a snowy Christmas in an Edwardian (?) rectory through the eyes of a little girl. My copy has beautiful black and white woodcuts.

The Simon Serallier books are excellent. The latter ones have his sister, a doctor, working for a private GP service and plugging its virtues, which reflects her right-wing political leanings.

When I say "her" I mean Susan Hill.

I too have enjoyed many of the Susan Hill books mentioned, but I am very mixed about the Simon Seraillier books.
They are very odd in many ways. The characters are very well drawn and engaging, and some of the incidents beautifully described. However a lot of the 'procedural' stuff does not reflect real life.
I don't think I realised that she (Susan Hill) was right-wing.

TerriBull

I liked the first Simon Serrailler that I read, "The Various Haunts of Men" I agree they vary greatly some okish, but probably fair to say that about most crime writers, there's a lot of competition out there in that particular genre.

Before the film, I remember seeing the Woman in Black on stage, it did make me jump out of my skin literally! The film was good too.

We jumped out of our skins too! Saw it one New Year’s Eve with a dd, who unlike her elder sister, was too young to go out raving.
NYE can be a good time to get usually booked-up theatre tickets.

Yes saw it on the London Stage again like you Witzend in the depths of winter. My son had been taken to see it with the drama department on a school trip a couple of years previously and did warn me that it had scared the living daylights out of them, early teens if I remember rightly, which stayed with them all for quite a while. In spite of that warning still jumped out of my skin and the dramatic effects were very scary.

I wasn't keen on the first Simon Serailler book I read so haven't read the others.

One series of detective books I have loved (thanks to NanKate's recommendation) is the Ruth Galloway series written by Elly Griffiths. They are really good and kept me going last year.

Sorry to go off piste .....

I find the Serailler family unbearably smug, but the books are well written.
Greatly enjoyed a bit of singing and dancing,
The Woman in Black really scary on stage.

Sparklefizz - one of my absolute favourites! And others by Elly Griffiths.
Perhaps we should start another 'crime novels' thread?

Also Ilovecheese - spot on with the Seraillers - although with their weird history - nothing to be smug about!