If you're looking for mysteries that won't take a long time to finish, I highly recommend Dick Francis, He was a former champion jockey in England before turning to writing. All of his books involve horse-racing in some way, but his main characters are almost always different and can have any number of jobs, usually well-researched and accurate to. Off the top of my head, the heroes have been: jockey, horse trainer, horsebox driver, inventor, glass-blower, painter, pilot, accountant, biker, meteorologist, actor, spy, private investigator, teacher, lawyer... the list goes on. I have no interest in horse racing whatsoever and I love these books.
If you like a little more action, I suggest Nelson DeMille. Some are straight up action with a sarcastic antagonist, but he's got some that delve interestingly into issues such as the decline of the older Long Island rich familes (the Gold Coast, the Gate House) dealing with fallout from V|ietnam (Word of Honor, in which a man is taken to trial for crimes that were commited by his unit, similar to the real-life My Lai trials and Up Country, in which the main character goes back to Vietnam and retraces his steps, Fantastic book.
If you have any interest in Vietnam, I also suggest Stephen Hunter. Some of his later books have gotten silly, and he's a pro-gun guy, but his early Bob Lee Swagger stuff is fantastic (Point of Impact, Black Light, Time to Hunt).
Point of Impact was made into Shooter, starring Mark Walhberg, but the book is far better,.
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