Reader: Robert, Newton

Book Challenge: I like detective novels. The news of the recent death of Umberto Eco

reminded me how much I enjoy detective novels that are a bit out of the ordinary, that are set in different times and/or unusual places, and in

which the detective is not necessarily your typical tough white guy with a suit. Eco’s “The Name of the Rose’’ had all of that, as did “Morality Play’’ by Barry Unsworth and Alan Bradley’s “Flavia de Luce’’ series featuring a young girl detective. Can you suggest more like these?

Match Book: I read a lot of Ellery Queen, Nancy Drew, and Agatha Christie as a youngster. As a grown-up reader I lost my knack for loving mysteries, though I am always trying to get my groove back. Back then I loved “The Name of the Rose.’’ One spooky book I have on my to-read pile is “The Last Policeman’’ by Ben H. Winters, a mystery set in the shadow of a forthcoming apocalypse. If you like the Winters novel there are more: “Countdown City’’ and “World of Trouble’’ — it’s a trilogy. Another on my to-read pile that sounds like it might suit you: John Wray’s “The Lost Time Accidents’’ (just out last month), a mysterious and historical science fiction novel. The mash-up should satisfy your need for an out-of-the-ordinary mystery. I never stop evangelizing about Wray’s first novel, “Lowboy,’’ a harrowing novel with a twist of the deeply psychological variety. A few (broadly defined) mysteries (more recent than Nancy Drew!) that I have read and really enjoyed include Chang-Rae Lee’s “Native Speaker’’; “Andorra’’ by Peter Cameron; Glen David Gold’s historical novel about a magician, “Carter Beats the Devil’’; and “The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time’’ by Mark Haddon, which became a Tony Award-winning play. Haddon has a new collection of stories, “The Pier Falls,’’ which will be published in May of this year. The title story is not a mystery, but a meticulous recounting of a real-life historical disaster. I read it recently and found it hard to tear myself away.

NICOLE LAMY

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Nicole Lamy can be reached at nicole.lamy@globe.com.