At the Deadly Ink conference in New Jersey last weekend, I was invited to talk about mysteries that I like and would recommend to other readers. As a handout to attendees, I turned out a list of some favorites. This is NOT meant to be a "10 best" list - it's merely a list of books that I enjoy reading and often rereading that I think would make good introductory selections for someone who wants to go back and read some of the classics in the field and meet some of the classic authors. It's NOT meant to be comprehensive, particularly since I have tried to limit my choices to books that are still in print or otherwise readily available, as in e-book formats.
Your comments and suggestions are equally valid and are welcome below. Here are the ones I suggested.
The four “Crime Queens” of the Golden Age of Detective Fiction
Agatha Christie |
And Then There Were None The A. B. C. Murders 4:50 from Paddington
|
Dorothy L. Sayers |
The Nine Tailors Murder Must Advertise Gaudy Night
|
Margery Allingham |
Flowers for the Judge
|
Ngaio Marsh |
Death in a White Tie |
Other “Golden Age” (and beyond) authors worth reading
Edmund Crispin |
The Moving Toyshop
|
Gladys Mitchell |
A Hearse on May-Day
|
Josephine Tey |
Miss Pym Disposes The Daughter of Time
|
Michael Innes |
Lament for a Maker Hamlet, Revenge!
|
Anthony Berkeley |
The Poisoned Chocolates Case
|
Christianna Brand |
Green for Danger |
Impossible Crimes and Locked Rooms
John Dickson Carr |
Hag’s Nook He Who Whispers
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“Carter Dickson” (John Dickson Carr) |
The Judas Window The Plague Court Murders
|
Hake Talbot |
Rim of the Pit |
Funny mysteries
Craig Rice |
The Corpse Steps Out Home Sweet Homicide
|
Phoebe Atwood Taylor |
Going, Going, Gone
|
“Alice Tilton” (Phoebe Atwood Taylor) |
The Left Leg |
Some classic Americans
Ellery Queen |
The Siamese Twin Mystery There Was an Old Woman
|
Rex Stout |
The Doorbell Rang Before Midnight
|
Elizabeth Daly |
The Book of the Dead
|
Earl Derr Biggers |
The Black Camel
|
Raymond Chandler |
The Big Sleep The Lady in the Lake
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Dashiell Hammett |
The Maltese Falcon The Thin Man |
Other places, other times
Robert Van Gulik |
Necklace and Calabash
|
Arthur W. Upfield |
Murder Must Wait
|
Ellis Peters |
An Excellent Mystery |
‘Tecs in shorts
Ellery Queen |
“The Lamp of God” – in New Adventures of EQ
|
Agatha Christie |
The Labors of Hercules
|
Arthur Conan Doyle |
The Complete Sherlock Holmes
|
G. K. Chesterton |
The Complete Father Brown Stories |
I'm with you on most of this, Les. Though for Josephine Tey I'd have added BRAT FARRAR and A SHILLING FOR CANDLES as well as DAUGHTER OF TIME.
For Michael Innes I'd have made different choices simply because there are Innes books I liked better.
It's so hard to know what other people will enjoy reading.
Posted by: Yvettespaintbox | August 15, 2015 at 01:46 PM
Agreed, Yvette - it's always hard to know what others will enjoy. That's why I stressed that this is really just a list of some of my own personal likes, which may or may not be useful to others who may have different tastes. But I suspect we'll all have fun reading any or all of these.
Posted by: Les Blatt | August 15, 2015 at 07:25 PM
I'd like to try some of the British LIbrary Crime Classics but don't know where to start. Do you have one or two suggestions that you really like?
joe allegretti
Posted by: joe allegretti | August 16, 2015 at 10:05 PM
Joe, you might enjoy "The Hog's Back Mystery" by Freeman Wills Crofts and/or "The Sussex Downs Murder," by John Bude. Both are clever mysteries very much in the Golden Age style. You'll find links to my podcast reviews of both books in the right hand column of this page. Enjoy!
Posted by: Les Blatt | August 16, 2015 at 11:28 PM