“Where Do I Begin”: Suggestions for Starting Points with Classic Mysteries

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
“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
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

 

 

Comments

[Yvettespaintbox]

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.

[Les Blatt]

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.

[joe allegretti]

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

[Les Blatt]

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!