Tue 11 Oct 2011
The 1980 Mystery*File AUTHORS’ RATING POLL, A to B.
Posted by Steve under Authors , Bibliographies, Lists & Checklists[9] Comments
I am reprinting this from Fatal Kiss #13 (May 1980), the same issue in which I reported the results of the first annual Top Ten Tec Poll.
The poll consisted of my listing ten authors whose last names began with either the letter A or B, then requesting respondees to rate them on a scale from 1 to 10. If you were not familiar with an author, then one of three categories were to have applied:
A = I never intend to read this author
B = I’d like to read this author but I haven’t yet
C = I’ve never heard of this author [or no vote]
There were 42 responses, including my own, from mystery readers scattered all over the world. Here are the results:
Author // Numerical Responses // Average // A — B — C
Eric Ambler 35 6.83 2 — 3 — 2
Nicholas Blake 26 6.65 3 — 7 — 6
Margery Allingham 32 6.00 2 — 6 — 2
Lawrence Block 23 5.89 1 — 11 — 7
Earl Derr Biggers 30 5.67 6 — 3 — 3
Charlotte Armstrong 28 5.29 5 — 6 — 3
Edgar Box 22 5.28 4 — 11 — 5
George Bagby 24 4.44 6 — 9 — 3
Edward S. Aarons 23 4.23 11 — 5 — 3
Carter Brown 24 3.79 10 — 5 — 3
One small surprise was the healthy showing of Lawrence Block, obviously not familiar to many people in 1980, but those who’d read him liked what they’d seen. [In 1980, Block had written a sizable list of paperback originals, the first three Matt Scudder books, and the first two “Burglar†novels.]
As I said at the time, I expected Ambler and Blake to do well, and they did. Aarons and Carter Brown did not do well with female voters, while Allingham and Charlotte Armstrong did not do as well with most male readers. And yes, I knew that Edgar Box was really Gore Vidal.
Since response was so high, I thought at the time that it was worth doing again. I’ll list the authors I suggested for the next poll, all of whose last names began with “C.” I don’t know if I have the issue in which the results were tabulated, or even if they ever were. I’ll have to do some searching in the garage where most of my back issues are stored.
If you’d care to record your opinions on the following authors, either in the Comments or by emailing me directly, feel free to do so:
Victor Canning, John Dickson Carr, M. E. Chaber, Raymond Chandler, Leslie Charteris, G. K. Chesterton, Agatha Christie, Manning Coles, James Hadley Chase, Tucker Coe, George Harmon Coxe, Frances Crane, John Creasey, Edmund Crispin, Freeman Wills Croft, Ursula Curtiss.
October 12th, 2011 at 4:14 am
as an aside, Steve :
I nurture the growing suspicion that you just live as a guest of books and magazines in that house of ‘yours’ !
The Doc
October 12th, 2011 at 8:36 am
I never thought of it that way, Doc, but you may be right.
October 12th, 2011 at 8:39 am
My own vote, for what it’s worth:
Victor Canning B
John Dickson Carr 10
M. E. Chaber 7
Raymond Chandler 10
Leslie Charteris 9
G. K. Chesterton 8
Agatha Christie 10
Manning Coles 9
James Hadley Chase 6
Tucker Coe 6
George Harmon Coxe 8
Frances Crane B
John Creasey 7
Edmund Crispin 7
Freeman Wills Croft B
Ursula Curtiss B
October 12th, 2011 at 1:59 pm
While I had read most of these authors, I see only three I was still reading in the 1980s: Eric Ambler, Lawrence Block and Raymond Chandler.
October 12th, 2011 at 4:50 pm
Edmund Crispin :
Initially, and mainly, a composer, who, to his chagrin, was ,as such, best remembered for the music in the ‘Carry On’ series of comedies.
Wrote his first mystery to win a bet.
Carried on, and what can one say? Veddy British, indeed !
Besides the mystery and the humour, there is a good look at post-war Britain.
October 12th, 2011 at 6:10 pm
Victor Canning B
John Dickson Carr 10
M. E. Chaber 7
Raymond Chandler 8
Leslie Charteris 4
G. K. Chesterton 9
Agatha Christie 10
Manning Coles 5
James Hadley Chase B
Tucker Coe C
George Harmon Coxe 7
Frances Crane 2
John Creasey 3
Edmund Crispin 2
Freeman Wills Crofts 7
Ursula Curtiss B
October 12th, 2011 at 6:13 pm
Some of these votes are hard.
I read and liked four books by Manning Coles as a teen – haven’t read any since.
Crispin wrote some good short stories in BEWARE OF THE TRAINS. Though the three novels I read were awful.
I’ve only read 2 Frances Crane books. They seemed long, slow and dull.
But maybe some others are much better.
October 13th, 2011 at 4:29 pm
Here’s my lurker votes:
Victor Canning 7
John Dickson Carr 8 (early Carr 10, late Carr 6 = an 8 average)
M. E. Chaber 4
Raymond Chandler 10
Leslie Charteris 10
G. K. Chesterton 8
Agatha Christie 9
Manning Coles 10
James Hadley Chase B
Tucker Coe B (though Westlake’s an 8 )
George Harmon Coxe 8
Frances Crane 3
John Creasey 4
Edmund Crispin B
Freeman Wills Croft B
Ursula Curtiss 4
October 13th, 2011 at 7:19 pm
Mike and Joel
Thanks for the votes and other input. Nicely done! But obviously we could use some more. Anyone?