IMBA's 100 Favorite Mysteries of the Century
The 100 Favorite Mysteries of the Century
Selected by the Independent Mystery Booksellers Association
(listed by author; current paperback publisher is noted for in-print titles)
Allingham, Margery. The Tiger in the Smoke (Carroll & Graf)
Ambler, Eric. A Coffin for Dimitrios (Carroll & Graf)
Armstrong, Charlotte. A Dram of Poison (currently unavailable)
Atherton, Nancy. Aunt Dimity's Death (Penguin)
Ball, John. In the Heat of the Night (Carroll & Graf)
Barnard, Robert. Death by Sheer Torture (currently unavailable)
Barr, Nevada. Track of the Cat (Avon)
Blake, Nicholas. The Beast Must Die (currently unavailable)
Block, Lawrence. When the Sacred Ginmill Closes (Avon)
Brand, Christianna. Green for Danger (Carroll & Graf)
Brown, Frederic. The Fabulous Clipjoint (currently unavailable)
Buchan, John. The 39 Steps (Dover)
Burke, James Lee. Black Cherry Blues (Avon)
Cain, James M.. The Postman Always Rings Twice (Vintage/Black Lizard)
Cannell, Dorothy. The Thin Woman (Bantam)
Carr, John Dickson. The Three Coffins (currently unavailable)
Caudwell, Sarah. Thus Was Adonis Murdered (Dell)
Chandler, Raymond. The Big Sleep (Vintage)
Christie, Agatha. The Murder of Roger Ackroyd (HarperPaperbacks)
Connelly, Michael. The Concrete Blonde (St. Martin's)
Constantine, K.C.. The Man Who Liked Slow Tomatoes (David R. Godine)
Crais, Robert. The Monkey's Raincoat (Bantam)
Crispin, Edmund. The Moving Toyshop (Penguin)
Crombie, Deborah. Dreaming of the Bones (Bantam)
Crumley, James. The Last Good Kiss (Vintage)
Dickinson, Peter. The Yellow Room Conspiracy (currently unavailable)
Doyle, Arthur Conan. The Hound of the Baskervilles (Berkley)
DuMaurier, Daphne. Rebecca (Avon)
Dunning, John. Booked to Die (Avon)
Elkins, Aaron. Old Bones (Mysterious)
Evanovich, Janet. One for the Money (HarperPaperbacks)
Finney, Jack. Time and Again (Scribner)
Ford, G.M.. Who in Hell Is Wanda Fuca? (Avon)
Francis, Dick. Whip Hand (Jove)
Fremlin, Celia. The Hours Before Dawn (Academy Chicago)
George, Elizabeth. A Great Deliverance (Bantam)
Gilbert, Michael. Smallbone Deceased (currently unavailable)
Grafton, Sue. "A" is for Alibi (Bantam)
Graham, Caroline. The Killings at Badger's Drift (currently unavailable)
Grimes, Martha. The Man With the Load of Mischief (currently unavailable)
Hammett, Dashiell. The Maltese Falcon (Vintage)
Hare, Cyril. An English Murder (currently unavailable)
Harris, Thomas. The Silence of the Lambs (St. Martin's)
Hiaasen, Carl. Tourist Season (Warner)
Highsmith, Patricia. The Talented Mr. Ripley (Vintage)
Hill, Reginald. On Beulah Height (Dell)
Hillerman, Tony. A Thief of Time (HarperPaperbacks)
Himes, Chester. Cotton Comes to Harlem (Vintage)
Innes, Michael. Hamlet, Revenge (currently unavailable)
James, P.D.. An Unsuitable Job for a Woman (Warner)
Kellerman, Faye. The Ritual Bath (Avon)
Kellerman, Jonathan. When the Bough Breaks (Bantam)
King, Laurie. The Beekeeper's Apprentice (Bantam)
Langton, Jane. Dark Nantucket Noon (Penguin)
le Carre, John. The Spy Who Came in From The Cold (Ballantine)
Lee, Harper. To Kill a Mockingbird (Warner)
Lehane, Dennie. Darkness, Take My Hand (Avon)
Leonard, Elmore. Get Shorty (Delta)
Lochte, Dick. Sleeping Dog (Poisoned Pen Press)
Lovesey, Peter. Rough Cider (currently unavailable)
MacDonald, John D.. The Deep Blue Good-by (Fawcett)
MacDonald, Philip. The List of Adrian Messenger (currently unavailable)
Macdonald, Ross. The Chill (Vintage/Black Lizard)
Maron, Margaret. Bootlegger's Daughter (Mysterious)
Marsh, Ngaio. Death of a Peer (St. Martin's)
McBain, Ed. Sadie When She Died (currently unavailable)
McClure, James. The Sunday Hangman (currently unavailable)
McCrumb, Sharyn. If Ever I Return, Pretty Peggy-O (Ballantine)
Millar, Margaret. Stranger in My Grave (currently unavailable)
Mosley, Walter. Devil in a Blue Dress (Pocket)
Muller, Marcia. Edwin of the Iron Shoes (currently unavailable)
Neel, Janet. Death's Bright Angel (currently unavailable)
O'Connell, Carol. Mallory's Oracle (Jove)
Padgett, Abigail. Child of Silence (currently unavailable)
Paretsky, Sara. Deadlock (Dell)
Parker, Robert. Looking for Rachel Wallace (Dell)
Perez-Reverte, Arturo. The Club Dumas (Vintage)
Perry, Thomas. Vanishing Act (Ivy)
Peters, Elizabeth. Crocodile on the Sandbank (Warner)
Peters, Ellis. One Corpse Too Many (Mysterious)
Pronzini, Bill. Blue Lonesome (Walker)
Queen, Ellery. Cat of Many Tails (currently unavailable)
Rendell, Ruth. No More Dying Then (Vintage)
Rice, Craig. The Wrong Murder (International Polygonics)
Rinehart, Mary Roberts. The Circular Staircase (Kensington)
Robinson, Peter. Blood at the Root (Avon)
Rosen, Richard. Strike Three You're Dead (currently unavailable)
Ross, Kate. A Broken Vessel (Penguin)
Rozan, S.J.. Concourse (St. Martin's)
Sayers, Dorothy. Murder Must Advertise (HarperPaperbacks)
Sjowall & Wahloo. The Laughing Policeman (currently unavailable)
Stout, Rex. Some Buried Caesar (currently unavailable)
Tey, Josephine. Brat Farrar (Scribner)
Thomas, Ross. Chinaman's Chance (currently unavailable)
Todd, Charles. A Test of Wills (Bantam)
Turow, Scott. Presumed Innocent (Warner)
Upfield, Arthur. The Sands of Windee (currently unavailable)
Walters, Minette. The Ice House (St. Martin's)
White, Randy Wayne. Sanibel Flats (St. Martin's)
Woolrich, Cornell. I Married a Dead Man (Penguin)
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H.R.F. Keating's 100 Best Crime & Mystery Books
100 Best Crime & Mystery Books
In 1987, noted mystery author and reviewer H.R.F. Keating composed this list of his picks of the best mysteries.
1845 - Edgar Allan Poe - Tales of Mystery and Imagination
1868 - Wilkie Collins - The Moonstone
1870 - Charles Dickens - The Mystery of Edwin Drood
1892 - Arthur Conan Doyle - The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes
1899 - EW Hornung - The Amateur Cracksman
1902 - Arthur Conan Doyle - The Hound of the Baskervilles
1907 - Jacques Futrelle - The Thinking Machine
1908 - Mary Roberts Rinehart - The Circular Staircase
1911 - GK Chesterton - The Innocence of Father Brown
1918 - Melville Davisson Post - Uncle Abner
1925 - Edgar Wallace - The Mind of JG Reeder
1926 - Agatha Christie - The Murder of Roger Ackroyd
1929 - Dashiell Hammett - Red Harvest
1929 - CHB Kitchin - Death of My Aunt
1930 - Dorothy L. Sayers - The Documents in the Case
1930 - Dashiell Hammett - The Maltese Falcon
1931 - Arthur W. Upfield - The Sands of Windee
1932 - Francis Iles - Before the Fact
1933 - Erle Stanley Gardner - The Case of the Sulky Girl
1934 - Agatha Christie - Murder on the Orient Express
1934 - James M Cain - The Postman Always Rings Twice
1934 - Dorothy L Sayers - The Nine Tailors
1935 - John Dickson Carr - The Hollow Man
1935 - Rex Stout - The League of Frightened Men
1936 - Ethel Lina White - The Wheel Spins
1938 - Nicholas Blake - The Beast Must Die
1940 - Cornell Woolrich - The Bride Wore Black
1940 - Ngaio Marsh - Surfeit of Lampreys or Death of a Peer
1942 - Ellery Queen - Calamity Town
1942 - Cyril Hare - Tragedy at Law
1942 - Raymond Chandler - The High Window
1944 - Christianna Brand - Green for Danger
1945 - Michael Innes - Appleby’s End
1946 - Elizabeth Ferrars - Murder Among Friends
1946 - Helen Eustis - The Horizontal Man
1946 - Edmund Crispin - The Moving Toyshop
1947 - Frederic Brown - The Fabulous Clipjoint
1948 - Josephine Tey - The Franchise Affair
1948 - John Franklin Bardin - Devil Take the Blue-Tail Fly
1948 - Margery Allingham - More Work for the Undertaker
1949 - Georges Simenon - My Friend Maigret
1949 - W.R. Burnett - The Asphalt Jungle
1950 - Michael Gilbert - Smallbone Deceased
1950 - Georges Simenon - The Stain on the Snow, The Snow Was Black.
1951 - Josephine Tey - The Daughter of Time
1952 - Hillary Waugh - Last Seen Wearing
1952 - Margery Allingham - The Tiger in the Smoke
1953 - John Bingham - Five Roundabouts to Heaven
1953 - Raymond Chandler - The Long Goodbye
1953 - Guy Cullingford - Post Mortem
1954 - Shelley Smith - The Party at No. 5
1955 - Patricia Highsmith - The Talented Mr Ripley
1955 - Margaret Millar - The Beast in View
1956 - JJ Marric (John Creasey) - Gideon’s Week
1956 - Stanley Ellin - Mystery Stories
1960 - Georges Simenon - Maigret in Court
1960 - Michael Innes - The New Sonia Wayward
1963 - Nicholas Freeling - Gun Before Butter
1963 - Dorothy Hughes - The Expendable Man
1964 - Jim Thompson - Pop. 1280
1966 - EB Eberhart - R.S.V.P. Murder
1967 - Julian Symons - The Man Who Killed Himself
1967 - Emma Lathen - Murder Against the Grain
1967 - Sjowall & Wahloo - Roseanna
1967 - George Sims - The Last Best Friend
1968 - Peter Dickinson - The Glass-Sided Ants Nest
1968 - Helen McCloy - Mr. Splitfoot
1969 - Patricia Highsmith - The Tremor of Forgery
1969 - Chester Himes - Blind Man With a Pistol
1970 - Joan Fleming - Young Man, I Think You're Dying
1970 - Margaret Millar - Beyond This Point are Monsters
1972 - Ed McBain - Sadie When She Died
1972 - George V Higgins - The Friends of Eddie Coyle
1972 - Julian Symons - The Players and the Game
1972 - Stanley Ellin - Mirror, Mirror on the Wall
1973 - Tony Hillerman - Dance Hall of the Dead
1974 - Peter Dickinson - The Poison Oracle
1974 - Gregory McDonald - Fletch
1975 - PD James - The Black Tower
1975 - Celia Fremlin - The Long Shadow
1975 - Colin Watson - The Naked Nuns
1976 - Ross Macdonald - The Blue Hammer
1976 - Agatha Christie - Sleeping Murder
1976 - Dorothy Salisbury Davis - A Death in the Life
1976 - Dorothy Uhnak - The Investigation
1977 - Ruth Rendell - A Judgement in Stone
1977 - William McIlvanney - Laidlaw
1977 - Donald Westlake - Nobody's Perfect
1978 - Reginald Hill - A Pinch of Snuff
1979 - Joseph Hansen - Skinflick
1979 - PM Hubbard - Kill Claudio
1979 - John D MacDonald - The Green Ripper
1981 - John Wainwright - All On a Summers Day
1981 - Amanda Cross - Death in a Tenured Position
1981 - Joseph Wambaugh - The Glitter Dome
1982 - June Thomson - To Make a Killing
1982 - Peter Lovesey - The False Inspector Dew
1984 - James McClure - The Artful Egg
1986 - PD James - A Taste for Death
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Must-Read Thrillers
Must-Read Thrillers
The following is a list of "must-read" thrillers designed to introduce readers to the genre. It is not an exhaustive selection, but it does represent a substantial introduction to the thriller novel.
Patricia Highsmith,
The Talented Mister Ripley, 1955
Graham Greene,
Our Man in Havana, 1958
Richard Condon,
The Manchurian Candidate, 1959
Len Deighton,
The Ipcress File, 1962
Adam Hall,
The Quiller Memorandum, 1965
Mario Puzo,
The Godfather, 1969
Michael Crichton,
The Andromeda Strain, 1969
Frederick Forsyth,
The Day of the Jackal, 1971
Trevanian,
The Eiger Sanction, 1972
William Goldman,
Marathon Man, 1974
Ross Thomas,
Chinaman's Chance, 1978
Robert Ludlum,
The Bourne Identity, 1980
Dick Francis,
Whip Hand, 1981
Thomas Harris,
Red Dragon, 1981
Thomas Perry,
Butcher's Boy, 1982
David Morrell,
The Brotherhood of the Rose, 1984
Warren Murphy & Molly Cochran,
Grandmaster, 1985
Stephen King,
Misery, 1987
John Grisham,
The Firm, 1991
Dean Koontz,
Mr. Murder, 1993
Lee Child,
Killing Floor, 1997
Daniel Silva,
The Mark of the Assassin, 1998
David Montgomery's list was originally compiled for the International Thriller Writers Association.
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Mysteries On Location
Mysteries On Location (author list)
New York City: Lawrence Block, Nero Wolfe, F. Paul Wilson, Harlan Coben, Jeffery Deaver, Greg Rucka
Los Angeles: Michael Connelly, Robert Crais, Raymond Chandler, Walter Mosley, Gar Anthony Haywood, Ross Macdonald, James Ellroy
Chicago: Libby Fischer Hellmann, J.A. Konrath, Michael A. Black, Eleanor Taylor Bland
Florida: John D. MacDonald, Jonathon King, James O. Born, Carl Hiaasen, Laurence Shames
Seattle: G.M. Ford, Ridley Pearson, Earl Emerson
New Jersey: Harlan Coben, Janet Evanovich
Southern California: T. Jefferson Parker, Robert Ferrigno
Baltimore: Laura Lippman, Robert Ward, Tim Cockey
Colorado: Stephen White, John Dunning
Boston: Robert B. Parker, Chris Mooney, Jeremiah Healey
Minnesota: John Sandford, William Kent Krueger, P.J. Tracy, Lilian Jackson Braun
Washington, D.C.: George Pelecanos, James Patterson (Alex Cross), Robert Andrews
Northern Michigan: Steve Hamilton, Henry Kisor
Detroit: Elmore Leonard, Loren Estleman
San Francisco: Dashiell Hammett, Joe Gores, Bill Pronzini, John Lescroart, Marcia Muller, Eddie Muller
Texas: Joe R. Lansdale, Jay Brandon
American South: Ace Atkins, James Lee Burke
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Twenty Rules for Writing Detective Stories
Twenty Rules for Writing Detective Stories
By S.S. Van Dine
In 1936, S.S. Van Dine (author of the Philo Vance mysteries) published an article titled "Twenty Rules for Writing Detective Stories." Obviously, a lot has changed since then -- but maybe not as much as we might think. The rules are:
1) The reader should have the same opportunity as the detective to solve the crime.
2) No tricks can be played to mislead the reader unless it is also done to the detective by the criminal.
3) The detective should not have a love interest.
4) Neither the detective nor one of the official investigators can turn out to be the criminal.
5) The villain must be found by logical deduction, not luck, accident, or un-motivated confessions.
6) The story must have a detective who also solves the crime (by detection).
7) It must be a murder mystery ("the deader the corpse the better").
8) The solution must come by "naturalistic means"; e.g., no ouija-boards.
9) There can be only one detective; not a team.
10) The villain has to be someone who plays a prominent part of the story.
11) The culprit can't be a servant (none of this, "The butler did it.").
12) There can only be one murderer. The villain could have a helper or "co-plotter," but only one is going to get the ax in the matter.
13) No secret societies ("mafias, et al"). The murderer, too, needs a sporting chance to outwit the detective.
14) The method of the murder must not be beyond plausibility. No super-natural means, nor the introduction of a fictional device or element ("super-radium, let us say" is not fair).
15) The truth of the solution must be apparent. The reader should be able to pick the book upon completion and see that the answer was in fact starring at him all the time.
16) The detective "novel" must be just that, no side issues of "literary dallying" or "atmospheric preoccupations." These devices interfere with the purpose of detective fiction, "which is to state a problem, analyze it" and solve it.
17) The culprit must be an amateur, not a professional criminal.
18) The solution must never be an accident or suicide.
19) Motives for the crime must be personal, not political or professional.
20) All of the following tricks and devices are verboten. They've been done to death or are otherwise unfair.
a) Comparing a cigarette butt with the suspect's cigarette.
b) Using a séance to frighten the culprit into revealing himself.
c) Using phony fingerprints.
d) Using a dummy figure to establish a false alibi.
e) Learning that the culprit was familiar because the dog didn't bark.
f) Having "the twin" do it.
g) Using knock-out drops.
h) If the murder is in a locked room, it has to be done before the police have actually broken in.
i) Using a word-association test for guilt.
j) Having the solution in a coded message that takes the detective until the end of book to figure out.
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Second Bananas
Guide to sidekicks, assistants, partners & gofers
Sidekick (by Last Name*) |
Hero |
Author |
Mick Ballou |
Matthew Scudder |
Lawrence Block |
Carolyn the Dog Groomer |
Bernie Rhodenbarr |
Lawrence Block |
Eric & Tinker |
Lovejoy |
Jonathan Gash |
Archie Goodwin |
Nero Wolfe |
Rex Stout |
Hawk |
Spenser |
Robert B. Parker |
Dr. Boris Koulomzin |
J. J. Donovan |
Michael I. Leahey |
Bridgett Logan |
Atticus Kodiak |
Greg Rucka |
Pete Marino |
Kay Scarpetta |
Patricia Cornwell |
Daphne Matthews |
Lou Boldt |
Ridley Pearson |
Meyer |
Travis McGee |
John D. MacDonald |
Mouse |
Easy Rawlins |
Walter Mosley |
Joe Pike |
Elvis Cole |
Robert Crais |
Leon Prudell |
Alex McKnight |
Steve Hamilton |
Ranger |
Stephanie Plum |
Janet Evanovich |
Amelia Sachs |
Lincoln Rhyme |
Jeffery Deaver |
John Sampson |
Alex Cross |
James Patterson |
Spike |
Sunny Randall |
Robert B. Parker |
T. J. |
Matthew Scudder |
Lawrence Block |
Paul von Wagner |
Nina Reilly |
Perri O'Shaughnessy |
Windsor Horne Lockwood, III |
Myron Bolitar |
Harlan Coben |
Why do so many sidekicks have only one name?
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Who writes that series? Guide to authors by series character
Who writes that series?
Guide to authors by series character
Series Character |
Author |
Gabriel Allon |
Daniel Silva |
Lew Archer |
Ross Macdonald |
Lou Boldt |
Ridley Pearson |
Myron Bolitar |
Harlan Coben |
Harry Bosch |
Michael Connelly |
Burke |
Andrew Vachss |
John Caine |
Charles Knief |
Marcus Clay |
George Pelecanos |
Elvis Cole |
Robert Crais |
Kat Colorado |
Karen Kijewski |
Frank Corso |
G.M. Ford |
Alex Cross |
James Patterson |
John F. Cudder |
Jeremiah Healey |
Lucas Davenport |
John Sandford |
Eve Duncan |
Iris Johansen |
DKA Associates |
Joe Gores |
Fletch |
Gregory Mcdonald |
Lew Griffin |
James Sallis |
Wil Hardesty |
Richard Barre |
Dismas Hardy |
John Lescroart |
Cliff Janeway |
John Dunning |
Dimitri Karros |
George Pelecanos |
Keller |
Lawrence Block |
Atticus Kodiak |
Greg Rucka |
Lovejoy |
Jonathan Gash |
Philip Marlowe |
Raymond Chandler |
McCorkle & Padillo |
Ross Thomas |
Travis McGee |
John D. MacDonald |
Alex McKnight |
Steve Hamilton |
Kinsey Milhone |
Sue Grafton |
"Nameless" Detective |
Bill Pronzini |
Cork O'Connor |
William Kent Krueger |
Parker |
Richard Stark |
Charlie "Bird" Parker |
John Connolly |
Joe Pickett |
C. J. Box |
Stephanie Plum |
Janet Evanovich |
Sunny Randall |
Robert B. Parker |
Easy Rawlins |
Walter Mosley |
Jack Reacher |
Lee Child |
Nina Reilly |
Perri O'Shaughnessy |
Repairman Jack |
F. Paul Wilson |
Bernie Rhodenbarr |
Lawrence Block |
Lincoln Rhyme |
Jeffery Deaver |
Kay Scarpetta |
Patricia Cornwell |
Matthew Scudder |
Lawrence Block |
Sam Spade |
Dashiell Hammett |
Spenser |
Robert B. Parker |
Jesse Stone |
Robert B. Parker |
Nick Stefanos |
George Pelecanos |
Evan Tanner |
Lawrence Block |
Nick Travers |
Ace Atkins |
Leo Waterman |
G.M. Ford |
Nero Wolfe |
Rex Stout |
Woo & Durant |
Ross Thomas |
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What Are the Different Types of Mysteries?
Hard-Boiled
The tough and gritty mystery, one that usually incorporates violence and graphic descriptions of crime scenes. The typical storyline involves either the commission or the detection of a crime. (The protagonist might be the detective or the criminal.) The narrative style is usually terse and colloquial, often told from the first-person perspective. The stories tend to emphasize character more than plot.
Notable hard-boiled writers include Raymond Chandler, Lawrence Block, Michael Connelly, and Robert B. Parker.
Soft-Boiled
The gentler mystery, although it still has some bite to it. There may be some violence and a hint of blood, but the description of it will never be explicit. Sometimes the stories will take on a somewhat sinister overtone, but there are often comic moments throughout.
Notable soft-boiled writers include Janet Evanovich and Sharyn McCrumb.
Cozy
The lightest style of mystery, one without blood and gore, although they almost always involve a nice, "civilized" murder. The sleuth is nearly always a "reluctant" amateur. The protagonist will never be the criminal. Murders generally take place close to home.
Notable cozy writers include Agatha Christie and Dorothy L. Sayers.
Police Procedurals
A mystery that offers a step-by-step, in-depth look at the personnel and methods used in the investigation of a crime, including detailed information about procedures. The protagonist is usually a police officer, although s/he is sometimes a private detective. The stories tend to balance character and plot.
Notable police procedural writers include Ed McBain, P.D. James, Joseph Wambaugh, and Tony Hillerman.
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