Editor’s Note: Sarah Weinman writes a monthly crime fiction column for the Los Angeles Times, contributes to The Washington Post, the New York Post, the Baltimore Sun and many other print and online publications, as well as blogs about the genre at Confessions of an Idiosyncratic Mind.

After romance, mystery novels are the most popular genre of fiction being bought and read — especially by women, and especially now. When times are tough, it’s hard to resist the allure of a chaotic world being restored to order with the help of a memorable detective. Or being whisked off to new worlds and amazing adventures. Or spending time in the company of quirky characters and sharing their love of a particular topic or trade, be it shopping for priceless antiques or looking for clues among ancient bones. Here are some recommendations for devoted mystery fans and newcomers alike, just in time for the annual Malice Domestic Convention, the most important gathering for murder written by women for women that takes place this weekend in Arlington, VA.

Lately I’m seeing a return to the traditional mystery fiction written by the likes of Agatha Christie, Margery Allingham and Josephine Tey, but these "new traditionalist" novels, as I like to call them, are still thoroughly modern. Take Louise Penny, a Canadian crime writer who sets her series in the deceptively sedate Quebec town of Three Pines — but as her lovably, crusty Detective Inspector finds out time and again, there are always secrets whose long festering leads to criminal misdeeds. Start with Still Life and continue through to the latest, A Rule Against Murder. Or try Alan Bradley, another Canadian, whose upcoming début, The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie, kicks off a delightful new series featuring 11-year-old Flavia De Luce, a plucky, resourceful girl with a passion for poison and a nose for crime-solving around her country English estate during the early 1950s. Morag Joss’s award-winning psychological suspense novels, Half Broken Things and Puccini’s Ghosts, are as good as P.D. James and Ruth Rendell in their respective heydays. 

And of course there’s Alexander McCall Smith, a veritable juggernaut who seems to produce a new work every other week. His #1 Ladies Detective Agency novels are in the public eye at the moment thanks to the HBO adaptation starring Jill Scott as the "traditionally built" Botswanan detective Precious Ramotswe, but he’s also deep into a series of philosophical investigations featuring sensible Scottish heroine Isabel Dalhousie. McCall Smith has a knack for taking the tiniest of details and building fascinating mysteries of life and human behavior around them. 

Donna Leon has that same gift; she imbues her Inspector Brunetti novels — the most recent is About Face — with the pungent flavors of her beloved Venice. If airfares prove too prohibitive and you still want to escape, travel vicariously to Laos in the company of Colin Cotterill’s idiosyncratic protagonist Dr. Siri, first introduced in The Coroner’s Lunch. Or go to Norway with Karin Fossum, dubbed the country’s "Queen of Crime" for her chilling psychological thrillers (including the LA Times Book Prize winner The Indian Bride) starring Inspector Sejer. Or visit Russia with Boris Akunin, whose Golden Age pastiches have sold in the millions since The Winter Queen introduced raffish sleuth Erast Fandorin.

Here in America, you can experience "new traditionalism" by subject. If you love gardening, Susan Wittig Albert’s China Bayles series, starting with Thyme of Death, is your best choice. For antiques, appraise Jane Cleland’s four-book series, recently continuing with Killer Keepsakes. And if you’re a foodie, bite into Katherine Hall Page’s Faith Fairchild novels, starting with The Body in the Belfry.

These are just a few of the many wonderful examples of how women from all walks of life can come together to contemplate murder.

Sarah Weinman