Suggested reading for a non-native speaker

The young woman currently modeling for my art class is Russian. Her English, although heavily accented, is very competent. She wants to gain skill in reading and writing English, and she likes detective stories. She asked me for suggested reading.

Narrowing down the field, I've eliminated British authors entirely (although we both love them) because they will not help her cope with becoming a 21st-century American. The same goes for the classic American mystery authors such as Rex Stout. I can read them comfortably enough, but the language is dated and they definitely reflect outmoded attitudes of sexism, racism, etc.

She might enjoy the Harry Dresden stories, but they are loaded with slang and figures of speech and Harry's characteristic little twists of language, which might be real impediments to an ESL reader. And Harry is not really a fit model of speech for the same reasons that make him entertaining.

I'm looking for suggestions that are more or less the literary equivalent of the Harry Potter stories, but American and in the mystery genre: that is, plain, capable American English, without much subtlety, wordplay, ornamentation, or advanced grammar and vocabulary. The lustrous prose of Ellis Peters' Cadfael series is probably as far out of reach for her as Dresden's sarcasm and double entendres. (She says she did read Cadfael in Russian.)

I don't know the current YA field in this genre at all, but there might be some promise there, as long as the stories are mature enough for an intelligent 30-year-old woman.

Suggestions?

Thank you.

Actually, British authors allow a very good foundation into reading English - which is very useful when you go for something more American (if she has issues reading Agatha Christie, she will get lost in the American authors - I went through all that when I was learning English, you really need a foundation before going higher). If she is already comfortable with Christie, then what you are looking for is an author that is keeping English a bit cleaner than usual

YA tackles easier themes and choices sometimes but the language is not really suitable for ESL that is not comfortable into it - not the ones that are worth reading for the most part. :(

If you insist on American:
Edward D. Hoch's stories may be a good start
Greg Iles - if she is fine with thrillers
Sue Grafton
John Grisham is relatively easy to read for an ESL student (not detective again but still)

Maybe she should just get to a library and look through books and see what catches her eye :)

I'd suggest any of the Spenser novels by Robert B. Parker. Parker is almost Hemingway-esque in the simplicity and clarity of his prose.

Donna Andrews is good if she likes cozy mysteries.

Greg Iles, Linwood Barclay and Harlan Coben are more literary thriller/mysteries.

Jeffrey Deaver, Robert Crais, Owen Laukkanen are all good mystery writers that are easy reads.

Tess Gerritsen is very good, as is Karin Slaughter.

I would have suggested Deaver as 4 did, however I feel he does not meet those requirements, at least with the Lincoln Rhyme books (which are his most prominent & prolific), as Rhyme is a forensic specialist and therefore there's a lot of language a non-native is probably not familiar with. However, possibly the couple Rune books would work. James Patterson, while these days is not so favorably looked upon by many for churning out so many titles and having so little to do with a lot of them, still likely meets the needs here. Diane Mott Davidson's Goldy Bear series would probably be pretty good, cozy-ish style mysteries. SJ Rozan's Bill Smith/Lydia Chin series, too, PIs, not cozy but not gritty either, a nice balance.

>2 AnnieMod:

What she said. Although stuff like Christie doesn't reflect contemporary society (either side of the Atlantic) the prose is very clean and readable.

Seconding Sue Grafton and Robert B. Parker (recommended by TempleCat).