Weekly Geeks - It's a Mystery

So I'm super-excited for this week's Weekly Geek topic. Mostly because I suggested it and I'm just really blown away that it would be used :o) Read on...

1."Do you love a little suspense in your life? Have you ever read a book that keeps you twisting and turning until the last page? Tell us about it (but not too much , we want to be left hanging ourselves). Or maybe there is a series of mysteries that you adore. Why do you keep reading about the same detectives?"***

2. To expand on that a little: the new TV series Castle revolves around a popular mystery writer. There's even talk that a novel will be published supposedly written by Castle himself. TV and books will muddy the entertainment waters once again. I think we all know of the Agatha Christie and Sherlock Holmes series on PBS and BBC as well. Not to mention the new movie Sherlock Holmes starring Robert Downey Jr and Jude Law will open December 25, 2009. Looks pretty exciting!

If you were to be given special TV or movie producing powers, which mystery novel character(s) would you create a TV series or movie for? Who would you cast in the major roles?

You can:

Get creative and post photos of the cast, even the locations you'd love to see them in. If you're really feeling artsy, create a fake imbd page on your blog or make a trailer for your fantasy show.

Have fun!

I actually haven't read a lot of mysteries myself - strange I know. I really got into the Stephanie Plum Books (by Janet Evanovich) last summer and was hoping for some mystery ideas to further my knowledge of this area of writing.
I love the Plum books as they are funny and sassy. I know they aren't traditional mysteries (more crime solving than whodunnits). There must be other books out there that fit the bill. When you read a series like that do you stay in order? Is that important? I did read the Plum books in order and think it added to the series (as character histories and relationships were being built).
As to the movie side of things, I love a good mystery on film. I've seen more than I've read. And I am very much looking forward to the new Sherlock Holmes movie this winter. The best mysteries are the ones that you really just don't know until the very end. I feel I've gotten my $10+ worth out of it then.
I think I read more mysteries when I was a kid. I definately remember a series about 3 siblings who would run into mysteries quite a bit (One was called the Haunted Tree House, anyone remember it?).