SIMPLE AND SATISFYING

Reader’s Digest editors have rounded up some of their favourite writers who keep it simple, along with first lines that let you sample their less-is-more literary styles.

AGATHA CHRISTIE

Her novels are direct and unadorned, even when the hero is a fussy Belgian. Her language couldn’t be simpler, but her plots continue to fool readers generation after generation.

MURDER ON THE ORIENT EXPRESS: “It was five o’clock on a winter’s morning in Syria.”

MICHAEL CONNELLY

There’s nothing in the pages of his crime novels but simple, get-going writing. No froufrou, no distractions, just the facts, making him perhaps the best procedural writer in the business. Ever. THE BLACK ECHO: “The boy couldn’t see in the dark, but he didn’t need to.”

JANET EVANOVICH

Her books are short, sharp and funny. That’s rare in any kind of writing, and she’s prolific in a variety of genres. ONE FOR THE MONEY: “There are some men who enter a woman’s life and screw it up forever.”

STEPHEN KING

It’s his ideas and imagination that are superior; his writing, while uniquely his, pulls readers from page one with its accessibility.

THE DARK TOWER – THE GUNSLINGER: “The man in black fled across

the desert, and the gunslinger followed.”

SOPHIE KINSELLA

Through her conversational writing, she creates wonderfully sympathetic narrators: average young English women who are full of quirks and always funny.

CONFESSIONS OF A SHOPAHOLIC: “OK. Don’t panic. Don’t panic. It’s only a Visa bill. It’s a piece of paper; a few numbers. I mean, just how scary can a few numbers be?”

ELMORE LEONARD

His prose is lean and easy, even when the action is hard and fast. His mysteries and Westerns pick you up and carry you along and never sound like writing. OUT OF SIGHT: “Foley had never seen a prison where you could walk right up to the fence without getting shot.”

WALTER MOSLEY

Deliberately bringing black male heroes into the mainstream, Mosley’s Easy Rawlins detective stories revive the classic Raymond Chandler and Dashiell Hammett style.

A LITTLE YELLOW DOG: “When I got to work that Monday morning, I knew something was wrong.”

J.K. ROWLING

Yes, the Harry Potter books are ostensibly for children, but many adults read them for their sheer joy.

HARRY POTTER AND THE SORCERER’S STONE: “Mr and Mrs Dursley, of number four, Privet Drive, were proud to say that they were perfectly normal, thank you very much.”

NICHOLAS SPARKS

This penner of tearjerkers writes in the affectless voice of the heartland, creating authentic characters every time.

THE NOTEBOOK: “Who am I? And how, I wonder, will this story end?”