Qualifications are the writers had to publish their first true detective novel between 1920 and 1941 (the true Golden Age) and be British or close enough (Carr). So writers like, say, R. Austin Freeman, Michael Gilbert and S. S. Van Dine get excluded.

I wanted to get outside the box a bit and so I’m sure I made what will strike some as some odd choices. This is a personal list. If I were making a totally representative list John Dickson Carr’s The Three Coffins, Nicholas Blake’s The Beast Must Die, Michael Innes’ Lament for a Maker, Anthony Berkeley’s The Poisoned Chocolates Case, Sayers’ Gaudy Night, etc., would all be there). And lists evolve over time. It’s highly likely, for example, that as I read more of Anthony Wynne and David Hume, for example, they would get more listings. Visit sites like https://my-drama.com/ to explore novels from various genres.

Also I excluded great novels like And Then There Were None, The Burning Court and Trial and Error, for example, because I felt like they didn’t fully fit the definition of true detective novels. In any list list I would make of great mysteries, they would be there.

If people conclude from this list that my five favorite Golden Age generation British detective novelists are Christie, Street, Mitchell, Carr and Bruce, that would be fair enough, though I must add that they were very prolific writers, so more listings shouldn’t be so surprising.

The 150 novels break down by decade as follows:

1920s 9 (6%)
1930s 87 (58%)
1940s 30 (20%)
1950s and beyond 24 (16%)

A pretty graphic indicator of my preference for the 1930s!

Also, of the 61 writers, I believe 40 are men and 21 women — I hope my count is right! — which challenges the conventional view today that most British detective novels of the Golden Age were produced by women. Of these, 31, or just over half, eventually became members of the Detection Club. I exclude a few of these luminaries, such as Ronald Knox and Victor Whitechurch (am I anti-clerical?!).

JOHN DICKSON CARR (8)
The Crooked Hinge (1938)
The Judas Window (1938) (as Carter Dickson)
The Reader Is Warned (1939) (as Carter Dickson)
The Man Who Could Not Shudder (1940)
The Case of the Constant Suicides (1941)
The Gilded Man (1942) (as Carter Dickson)
She Died a Lady (1944) (as Carter Dickson)
He Who Whispers (1946)
● It’s probably sacrilege not to have The Three Coffins on the list (especially when you have The Gilded Man!), but when I read Coffins I enjoyed it for the horror more than the locked room, which seemed overcomplicated too me (need to reread though).

AGATHA CHRISTIE (8)
The Murder of Roger Ackroyd 1926
Murder at the Vicarage 1930
The ABC Murders 1936
Death on the Nile 1937
One, Two, Buckle My Shoe 1940
Five Little Pigs 1942
A Murder Is Announced 1950
The Pale Horse 1961
● Haven’t reread The ABC Murders recently; was somewhat disappointed with Murder on the Orient Express when rereading and thus excluded from the list. And Then There Were None regretfully excluded, because I wasn’t sure it really qualifies as a detective story (there’s not really a detective and the solution comes per accidens).

GLADYS MITCHELL (8)
Speedy Death (1929)
The Mystery of a Butcher’s Shop (1929)
The Saltmarsh Murders (1932)
Death at the Opera (1934)
The Devil at Saxon Wall (1935)
St. Peter’s Finger (1938)
The Rising of the Moon (1944)
Late, Late in the Evening (1976)
● A true original, but not to everyone’s taste.

JOHN RHODE (MAJOR CECIL JOHN CHARLES STREET) (8)
The Davidson Case (1929)
Shot at Dawn (1934)
The Corpse in the Car (1935)
Death on the Board (1937)
The Bloody Tower (1938)
Death at the Helm (1941)
Murder, M.D. (1943) (as Miles Burton)
Vegetable Duck (1944)
● The Golden Age master of murder means, underrated in my view.

LEO BRUCE (8)
Case for Three Detectives (1936)
Case with Ropes and Rings (1940)
Case for Sergeant Beef (1947)
Our Jubilee is Death (1959)
Furious Old Women (1960)
A Bone and a Hank of Hair (1961)
Nothing Like Blood (1962)
Death at Hallows End (1965)
● In print but underappreciated, he carried on the Golden Age witty puzzle tradition in a tarnishing era for puzzle lovers.

J. J. CONNINGTON (5)
The Case With Nine Solutions (1929)
The Sweepstake Murders (1935)
The Castleford Conundrum (1932)
The Ha-Ha Case (1934)
In Whose Dim Shadow (1935)
● An accomplished, knowledgeable puzzler.

E.C.R. LORAC (EDITH CAROLINE RIVETT) (5)
Death of An Author (1935)
Policemen in the Precinct (1949)
Murder of a Martinet (1951)
Murder in the Mill-Race (1952)
The Double Turn (1956) (as Carol Carnac)
● Has taken a back seat to the Crime Queens, but was very prolific and often quite good (my favorites, as can be seen, are more from the 1950s, when she became a little less convention bound).

E. R. PUNSHON (5)
Genius in Murder (1932)
Crossword Mystery (1934)
Mystery of Mr. Jessop (1937)
Ten Star Clues (1941)
Diabolic Candelabra (1942)
● Admired by Sayers, this longtime professional writer (he published novels for over half a century) is underservingly out of print.

MARGERY ALLINGHAM (4)
Death of a Ghost (1934)
The Case of the Late Pig (1937)
Dancers in Mourning (1937)
More Work for the Undertaker (1949)
● Her imagination tends to overflow the banks of pure detection, but these are very good, genuine puzzles.

G. D. H. and MARGARET COLE (4)
Burglars in Bucks (1930)
The Brothers Sackville (1936)
Disgrace to the College (1937)
Counterpoint Murder (1940)
● Clever tales by husband and wife academics not altogether justly classified as “Humdrums.”

FREEMAN WILLS CROFTS (4)
The Sea Mystery (1928)
Sir John Magill’s Last Journey (1930)
The Hog’s Back Mystery (1933)
Mystery on Southampton Water (1934)
● The “Alibi King,” he’s more paid lip service (particularly for genre milestone The Cask) than actually read today, but at his best he is is worth reading for puzzle fans.

NGAIO MARSH (4)
Artists in Crime (1938)
Seath in a White Tie (1938)
Surfeit of Lampreys (1940)
Opening Night (1951)
● Art, society and theater all appealingly addressed by a very witty writer, with genuine detection included.

DOROTHY L. SAYERS (4)
Strong Poison (1930)
The Five Red Herrings (1931)
Have His Carcase (1932)
Murder Must Advertise (1933)
● As can be guessed I prefer middle period Sayers — less facetious than earlier books, but also less self-important than later ones.

HENRY WADE (4)
The Dying Alderman (1930)
No Friendly Drop (1931)
Lonely Magdalen (1940)
A Dying Fall (1955)
● Very underrated writer — some other good works (Mist on the Saltings, Heir Presumptive) were left out because they are more crime novels.

JOSEPHINE BELL (3)
Murder in Hospital (1937)
From Natural Causes (1939)
Death in Retirement (1956)
● Far less known than the Crime Queens, but a worthy if inconsistent author.

NICHOLAS BLAKE (3)
A Question of Proof (1935)
Thou Shell of Death (1936)
Minute for Murder (1949)
● His most important book in genre history is The Beast Must Die, but I prefer these as puzzles.

CHRISTIANNA BRAND (3)
Death in High Heels (1941)
Green for Danger (1945)
Tour de Force (1955)
● One of the few who can match Christie in the capacity to surprise while playing fair.

JOANNA CANNAN (3)
They Rang Up the Police (1939)
Murder Included (1950)
And Be a Villain (1958)
● Underrated mainstream novelist who dabbled in detection.

BELTON COBB (3)
The Poisoner’s Mistake (1936)
Quickly Dead (1937)
Like a Guilty Thing (1938)
● Almost forgotten, but an enjoyable, humanist detective novelist (B. C. worked in the publishing industry and was the son of novelist Thomas Cobb, who also wrote mysteries)

JEFFERSON FARJEON (3)
Thirteen Guests (1938)
The Judge Sums Up (1942)
The Double Crime (1953)
● A member of the famous and talented Farjeon family (both his father Benjamin and sister Eleanor were notable writers), he wrote mostly thrillers but produced some more genuine detection.

ELIZABETH FERRARS (3)
Give a Corpse a Bad Name (1940)
Neck in a Noose (1942)
Enough to Kill a Horse (1955)
● Came in at the tail-end of the Golden Age, like Brand, though she was more prolific (and not as good). She started with an appealing Lord Peter Wimsey knock-off (Toby Dyke), but eventually helped found the more middle class and modern “country cottage” mystery (downsized from the country house).

CYRIL HARE (3)
When the Wind Blows (1949)
An English Murder (1951)
That Yew Trees Shade (1954)
● Another one who came in near the end of the Golden Age proper, his best is considered to be Tragedy at Law (see P. D. James), but I like best the tales he produced in postwar years.

R. C. WOODTHORPE (3)
The Public School Murder (1932)
A Dagger in Fleet Street (1934)
The Shadow on the Downs (1935)
● A surprisingly underrated writer, witty and clever in the the way people like English mystery writers to be (why has no one reprinted him?).

ROGER EAST (2)
The Bell Is Answered (1934)
Twenty-Five Sanitary Inspectors (1935)
● Another mostly forgotten farceur of detection.

GEORGE GOODCHILD & BECHHOFER ROBERTS (2)
Tidings of Joy (1934)
We Shot an Arrow (1939)
● Working together, these two authors (one, Goodchild, a prolific thriller writer) produced some fine detective novels (their best-known works are a pair based on real life trials).

GEORGETTE HEYER (2)
A Blunt Instrument (1938)
Detection Unlimited (1953)
● Better known for her Regency romances (still read today), Heyer produced some admired exuberantly humorous (if a bit formulaic) detective novels (plotted by her husband).

ELSPETH HUXLEY (2)
Murder on Safari (1938)
Death of an Aryan (1939)
● After a decent apprentice genre effort, this fine writer produced two fine detective novels, interestingly set in Africa, with an excellent series detective.

MICHAEL INNES (2)
The Daffodil Affair (1942)
What Happened at Hazelwood (1946)
● So exuberantly imaginative, he is hard to contain within the banks of true detection, but these are close enough, I think, and I prefer them to his earlier, better-known works.

MILWARD KENNEDY (2)
Death in a Deck Chair (1930)
Corpse in Cold Storage ((1934)
● A neglected mainstay of the Detection Club, hardly read today.

C. H. B. KITCHIN (2)
Death of My Aunt (1929)
Death of His Uncle (1939)
● These are fairly well-known attempts at more literate detective fiction, by an accomplished serious novelist.

PHILIP MACDONALD (2)
Rynox (1930)
The Maze (1932)
● A writer who often stepped into thriller territory (and produced some classics of that form), he produced with these two books closer efforts at true detection (indeed, the latter is a pure puzzle)

CLIFFORD WITTING (2)
Midsummer Murder (1937)
Measure for Murder (1941)
● Clever efforts by an underappreciated author.

FRANCIS BEEDING
He Should Not Have Slipped! (1939)
● About the closest I would say that this author (actually two men) came to full dress detection.

ANTHONY BERKELEY
Not to be Taken (1938)
● A true detective novel and first-rate village poisoning tale by this important figure in the mystery genre, who often tweaked conventional detection.

DOROTHY BOWERS
The Bells of Old Bailey (1947)
● Best of this literate lady’s detective novels, her last before her untimely death.

CHRISTOPHER BUSH
Cut-Throat (1932)
● Prolific writer who is not my favorite, but I liked this one, with its clever alibi problem.

A. FIELDING
The Upfold Farm Mystery (1931)
● Uneven, prolific detective novelist, but this one has much to please.

ROBERT GORE-BROWNE
Murder of an M.P.! (1928)
● One of my favorite 1920s detective novels, by a mere dabbler in the field.

CECIL FREEMAN GREGG
Expert Evidence (1938)
● Surprisingly cerebral effort by a “tough” British thriller writer.

ANTHONY GILBERT
Murder Comes Home (1950)
● My favorite books by this author tend to be more suspense than true detection.

JAMES HILTON
Murder at School (1931)
● Good foray into detection by well-regarded straight novelist.

RICHARD HULL
The Ghost It Was (1936)
● About the closest I would say that this crime novelist came to detection.

DAVID HUME
Bullets Bite Deep (1932)
● Though this series later devolved into beat ’em up thrillers, this first effort has genuine detection (and American gangsters). More reading of this author’s other series may yield additional results.

IANTHE JERROLD
Dead Man’s Quarry (1930)
● One of the two detective novels by a forgotten member of the Detection Club, more a mainstream novelist (though forgotten in that capacity as well).

A. G. MACDONELL
Body Found Stabbed (1932) (as John Cameron)
● Detective novel by writer better known for his satire.

PAUL MCGUIRE
Burial Service (1939)
● Mostly forgotten Australian-born writer of detective fiction, mostly set in Britain. This tale, his finest, is not. It one of the most original of the period.

JAMES QUINCE
Casual Slaughters (1935)
● A very good, virtually unknown village tale.

LAURENCE MEYNELL
On the Night of the 18th…. (1936)
● More realistic detective novel for the place and period, in terms of its depiction of often unattractive human motivations, by a writer who veered more toward thrillers and crime novels.

A. A. MILNE
The Red House Mystery (1922)
● A well-known classic, mocked by Chandler — but, hey, what a sourpuss he was, what?

EDEN PHILLPOTTS
The Captain’s Curio (1933)
● Counted because his true detection started in the Golden Age. His best work, however, is found in crime novels (and straight novels)

E. BAKER QUINN
One Man’s Muddle (1937)
● A strikingly hardboiled tale by a little-known author who was written of on this website fairly recently.

HARRIET RUTLAND
Knock, Murderer, Knock! (1939)
● Mysterious individual who wrote three acidulous detective novels. This is the first, a classic spa tale.

CHRISTOPHER ST. JOHN SPRIGG
The Perfect Alibi (1934)
● A fine farceur of detection, whose genre talent was purged when he became a humorless Stalinist ideologue (he was killed in action in Spain).

W. STANLEY SYKES
The Missing Moneylender (1931)
● Controversial because of comments about Jews (as the title should suggest), yet extremely clever.

JOSEPHINE TEY
The Franchise Affair (1948)
● Genuine detection, though veering into crime novel territory (and veering very well, thank you).

EDGAR WALLACE
The Clue of the Silver Key (1930)
● One of the closest attempts at true detection by the famed thriller writer.

ETHEL LINA WHITE
She Faded Into Air (1941)
● See Edgar Wallace. A classic vanishing case, with some of the author’s patented shuddery moments.

ANTHONY WYNNE
Murder of a Lady (1931)
● Fine locked room novel by an author who tended to be too formulaic but could be good (can probably add one or two more as I read him).

Editorial Comment:   Coming up soon (as soon as I can format it for posting) and covering some of the same ground as Curt’s, is a list of “100 Good Detective Novels,” by Mike Grost. The emphasis is also on detective fiction, so obviously some of the authors will be the same as those in Curt’s list, but Mike doesn’t restrict himself to British authors, and the time period is much wider, ranging from 1866 to 1988, and the actual overlap is very small.

   This is a list of books that appealed to me as I read them. I have simply gone on my fond memories of reading them, some many years ago, in a few cases when I was just a boy. I haven’t re-assessed and no doubt a stint of re-reading would lead to a change of mind for several of them.

   No doubt there are many books on the list that you can’t imagine why they are there. No doubt, also, there are some that you can’t imagine why they are not there but many are probably absent because I haven’t read them as I would make no claims to be widely read.

   I have restricted myself to one title per author, pseudonyms included.

   I haven’t counted as I compiled the list but I think there are 81 titles there. I’m sure there are other I should add if they came to mind. In the meantime this listing should be regarded as a work in progress rather than the finished thing.

Eric Ambler: Passage of Arms (1959)
   I read a lot of Ambler back in the ’60s but this was the one that gripped me more than the others.
H.C. Bailey: Call Mr Fortune (1920)
   I bought an omnibus of the first four Mr Fortune short story collections. I started reading intending to just read this first book but ended reading all four straight off.
Francis Beeding: Death Walks in Eastrepps (1931)
   I can’t remember the details but I remember enjoying it.
Nicholas Blake: The Beast Must Die (1938)
   An author sets out to find the hit-and-run driver who killed his son.
Lawrence Block: A Stab In The Dark (1981)
   The best of the earlyish Scudders.
Edward Boyd and Bill Knox: The View From Daniel Pike (1974)
   Short stories about a Glasgow private eye. Boyd wrote the tv scripts Knox turned them into stories.
Ernest Bramah: Max Carrados (1914)
   Classic short stories about a blind detective.
Howard Browne: The Taste Of Ashes (1957)
The best of Paul Pine, private detective.
Curt Cannon [1]: I’m Cannon — For Hire (1958)
   I enjoyed this story of the down-and-out detective.
Sarah Caudwell: Thus Was Adonis Murdered (1981)
   Witty badinage in the legal chambers and in Greece.
Raymond Chandler: Farewell My Lovely (1940)
   My favourite of the Chandlers.
G. K. Chesterton: The Innocence of Father Brown (1911)
   Another classic short story collection.
Erskine Childers: The Riddle of the Sands (1903)
   Immaculate adventure/spy story
Agatha Christie: Death on the Nile (1938)
   An intricately contrived crime that ties up the loose ends.
Tucker Coe: Kinds of Love, Kinds of Death (1966)
   I enjoyed the whole Mitch Tobin sequence and this first one set the tone nicely.
John Collee: Paper Mask (1987)
   The tale of a doomed hospital porter who steps out of his station.
J. J. Connington: Nemesis at Raynham Parva (1929)
   Domestic crime set in the country, with a cunning twist. [2]
Freeman Wills Crofts: The Groote Park Murder (1925)
   A pre-French Crofts but the intricate plot works.
Len Deighton: The Ipcress File (1962)
   The spy novel becomes working class.
Carter Dickson [3]: The Judas Window (1938)
   One of Carr’s intricate impossible crimes.
Warwick Downing: The Player (1974)
   I’ve forgotten the details but I know I enjoyed it.
Arthur Conan Doyle: The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (1892)
   Probably Doyle’s best set of short stories. (I’m not chickening out by selecting The Complete SH.)
Friedrich Dürrenmatt: The Pledge (1959)
   Short tale of a detective’s mental deterioration as he seeks a child killer.
Stanley Ellin: Mystery Stories (1956)
   Excellent and varied set of short stories.
G. J. Feakes: Moonrakers and Mischief (1961)
   A little weak in the plot but hilariously funny.
Dick Francis: Enquiry (1970)
   My favourite among many excellent racing thrillers.
R. Austin Freeman: The Red Thumb Mark (1907)
   The meticulous Thorndyke at his intricate best.
Stephen Greenleaf: Beyond Blame (1986)
   My favourite of the Tanner books. The ending stood up which it often didn’t in Greenleaf’s other books, good as they were to read.
Michael Gilbert: Death in Captivity (1952)
   Whodunit and PoW escape novel all in one book.
Donald Hamilton: Death of a Citizen (1960)
   First in an excellent series.
Dashiell Hammet: Red Harvest (1928)
   My favourite of his novels, otherwise I might have gone for a short story collection.
Cyril Hare: Tragedy at Law (1942)
   Pettigrew and the murder of a judge on the circuit that the author knew so well.
Thomas Harris: Red Dragon (1981)
   Excellent story with a captivating villain.
Jeremiah Healy: So Like Sleep (1987)
   My favourite of the early Cuddy’s.
Patricia Highsmith: Deep Water (1957)
   I enjoyed this murderous tale better than her more famous works.
Edward D. Hoch: Diagnosis Impossible (1996)
   Excellent collection of ‘impossible’ crimes concerning Dr Sam Hawthorne.
E. W. Hornung: The Amateur Cracksman (1899)
   First of the tales of Raffles. gentleman-thief.
Geoffrey Household: Rogue Male (1939)
   The best thriller I have read.
Richard Hull: The Murder of My Aunt (1934)
   Excellently humorous ‘inverted’ tale.
Stanley Hyland: Who Goes Hang? (1958)
   The details have gone but I know I enjoyed this tales set in the House of Commons.
Francis Iles [4]: Malice Aforethought (1931)
   Excellent inverted novel.
Dan Kavanagh: Putting the Boot In (1985)
   The best book I have read set around football.
Harry Stephen Keeler: The Amazing Web (1929)
   Typically intricate Keeler tale that all ties together neatly at the end.
Maurice Leblanc: The Confessions of Arsène Lupin (1912)
   Amusing and intricate tales of the French rogue.
John le Carré: Call For the Dead (1961)
   Excellent detective story set in the world of espionage.
Ira Levin: A Kiss Before Dying (1953)
   Has the best single moment I can recall reading.
Dick Lochte: Sleeping Dog (1985)
   Funny and yet enthralling p.i. tale.
Peter Lovesey: A Case of Spirits (1975)
   Excellent impossible crime about the excellent Sergeant Cribb.
Arthur Lyons: All God’s Children (1975)
   A very enjoyable p.i. tale with Jacob Asch.
John D. MacDonald: A Deadly Shade of Gold (1965)
   I read, and enjoyed, the McGee’s a long while ago but this is the one I seem to remember enjoying most.
Philip MacDonald: The Nursemaid Who Disappeared (1938)
   Colonel Gethryn on a case with very little to work on.
Ross Macdonald: The Underground Man (1971)
   My favourite of the Lew Archer books.
Raymond Marshall [5]: Hit and Run (1958)
   Outstanding first person tale of a man who is enticed and becomes wanted for murder.
L.A. Morse: The Old Dick
   I enjoyed this tale of an elderly detective.
John Mortimer: Rumpole of the Bailey (1978)
   The first collection of stories about the Old Bailey hack.
Sara Paretsky: Bitter Medicine (1987)
   My favourite of the Warshawski’s.
Robert B. Parker: Paper Doll (1993)
   Spenser finds the murderer of a businessman’s wife without Hawk’s help.
David Pierce: Down in the Valley (1989)
   The first about private eye Vic Daniel.
Jeremy Pikser: Junk on the Hill (1984)
   I’ve forgotten the details of this but I remember I enjoyed it.
Joyce Porter: Dover and the Unkindest Cut of All (1967)
   Dover investigates forcible castrations.
Talmage Powell: The Girl’s Number Doesn’t Answer (1960)
   The strongest of the five books about Tampa p.i. Ed Rivers
Bill Pronzini: Shackles (1988)
   Nameless is imprisoned and left to die, while working out who his captor is.
Ellery Queen: The Glass Village (1954)
   My favourite Queen though Ellery is not in it.
Patrick Quentin: Puzzle for Fiends (1946)
   Intriguing tale of Peter Duluth institutionalised with amnesia.
Ruth Rendell: A Demon in my View (1976)
   Excellent plot and beguiling story.
Sax Rohmer: The Mystery of Dr Fu-Manchu (1913)
   I loved this as a youngster; Fu-Manchu dominates every page he is on.
James Sallis: The Long-Legged Fly (1992)
   I enjoyed this first in the Lew Griffin series and the second, too, though they started to pall after that.
Sapper: The Female of the Species (1928)
   Bulldog Drummond was racist and objectionable but as a boy I raced through his exploits. This was my favourite as he had to decipher a message to rescue his wife.
Gunnar Staalesen: At Night All Wolves Are Grey (1986)
   Excellent, if bleak, p.i. tale set in Norway.
Rex Stout: In the Best Families (1950) [6]
   Wolfe’s routine is disrupted in this tale.
Josephine Tey: The Franchise Affair (1948)
   A slow build up to a revealing climax as a country solicitor defends two women accused of kidnapping.
Jim Thompson: Pop. 1280 (1964)
   One of Thompson’s riveting tales of a descent into madness.
June Thomson: The Secret Files of Sherlock Holmes (1990)
   Excellent Holmes short story pastiches.
Masako Togawa: The Lady Killer (1985)
   A serial killer in Tokyo.
Peter Tremayne: The Return of Raffles (1981)
   Excellent tale following Raffles’s return from the Boer War.
S. S. Van Dine: The Bishop Murder Case (1929)
   Van Dine is out of favour nowadays but this is one I really enjoyed.
Roy Vickers: The Department of Dead Ends (1947)
   Classic tales of cold cases revived from a single clue.
Henry Wade: Mist on the Saltings (1933)
   A nicely turned out story in which things are as they seemed.
Edgar Wallace: The Fellowship of the Frog
   Another author I read extensively as a boy. This is one of my favourites that I suspect might not stand up to a second reading.
Colin Watson: Hopjoy Was Here (1962)
   A funny, yet involving detective story.
Charles Williams: Dead Calm (1963)
   A riveting tale of skulduggery on the high seas.

      FOOTNOTES:

1. aka Evan Hunter or Ed McBain
2. This is a title that should be read after sampling several of the earlier Connington’s
3. aka John Dickson Carr
4. aka Anthony Berkeley
5. aka James Hadley Chase
6. This is a title that should be read after sampling several of the earlier Nero Wolfe tales, especially And Be a Villain and The Second Confession.

Editorial Comment:   I have one more list of favorite or “best” mysteries to go. I’ll post one from Curt Evans tomorrow. If you’ve been following his reviews on this blog, you won’t be surprised to know that his list consists solely of Golden Age British Detective Novels. Even with that restriction, his list is the longest: 120 books in all. So far.

ANTHONY BOURDAIN – Bone in the Throat. Bloomsbury, reprint softcover, September 2000; hardcover edition: Villard, June 1995.

   Before he gained fame and fortune as a food writer/celebrity chef, Anthony Bourdain was an obscure, but damn fine, crime fiction writer.

   Tommy Pagano, a sous-chef at the Dreadnaught, accidentally gets mixed up in a murder committed by his misfit gangster uncle, Sally “Wig,” and his creepy sidekick “Skinny,” who kills in the nude to avoid getting evidence on his clothes.

   The feds are convinced Tommy’s dirty — and he doesn’t know that the restaurant where he works is an elaborate federal sting operation. Can this end well for anyone?

   Bone in the Throat is wickedly humorous, which only serves to intensify the noir tension. The few scenes set in a heroin house are truly terrifying. Dark, funny, fine and recommended.

ANTHONY BORDAIN – Crime Fiction:

      Bone in the Throat. Villard, 1995.
      Gone Bamboo. Villard, 1997.

      The Bobby Gold Stories. Bloomsbury, 2003.

   I quickly went through the list of books I’ve read since 1993 to see potential additions to my earlier list and came up with quite a few. I tried to pick books I really liked when I read them, though I might not choose them today, if that makes any sense. In any case, they are more or less chronological from when I read them (except if there is a second book by the same author).

Brian Freemantle, The Inscrutable Charlie Muffin
Minette Walters, The Sculptress
Reginald Hill, Exit Lines
Mary Willis Walker, Zero at the Bone (also Under the Beetle’s Cellar)
S. J. Rozan, China Trade (also The Shanghai Moon)
Thomas Perry, The Butcher’s Boy (also Metzger’s Dog)
Edward D. Hoch, Diagnosis…Impossible (ss)
Gerry Boyle, Deadline
Robert Barnard, Out of the Blackout (also The Masters of the House)
Lee Child, Killing Floor
Bill Fitzhugh, Pest Control (also Radio Activity)
Michael Connelly, Blood Work
Alan Beechey, An Embarrassment of Corpses
Barbara Seranella, No Offense Intended
Ed Gorman, Famous Blue Raincoat (ss, plus other ss collections)
Donald Harstad, Eleven Days
Joe Gores, Cases (also Spade and Archer and the DKA File collection, Stakeout on Page Street)
William Deverell, Trial of Passion
Owen Parry, Faded Coat of Blue
Clark Howard, Challenge to the Widow-Maker (ss)
Brendan Dubois, Resurrection Day (also The Dark Snow & Other Stories – ss)
Lawrence Block, The Collected Mystery Stories
Val McDermid, A Place of Execution
Joe R. Lansdale, The Bottoms
Fred Willard, Down on Ponce
Sarah Caudwell, Thus Was Adonis Murdered
Julia Spencer-Fleming, In the Bleak Midwinter
Ken Bruen, The Guards (also The White Trilogy)
P. J. Tracy, Monkeewrench
James Sallis, Cypress Grove (also Drive)
James Swain, Grift Sense
Cornell Woolrich, Night & Fear: A Centennial Collection (ss)
Edward Wright, Clea’s Moon
Bill Crider, We’ll Always Have Murder
Joseph Commings, Banner Deadlines (ss)
Michael Gruber, Tropic of Night
Terence Faherty, The Confessions of Owen Keane (ss)
Duane Swierczynski, The Wheelman (also Severance Package)
Charlie Huston, Already Dead
Craig Johnson, The Cold Dish
Erle Stanley Gardner, The Casebook of Sidney Zoom (ss)
Norbert Davis, Sally’s in the Alley
Charles McCarry, The Tears of Autumn
Ross Macdonald, The Archer Files (ss)
Colin Cotterill, The Coroner’s Lunch
Stieg Larsson, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
Josh Bazell, Beat the Reaper
Alan Bradley, The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie
Carlos Ruiz Zafon, The Shadow of the Wind
Rebecca Cantrell, A Trace of Smoke
Tarquin Hall, The Case of the Missing Servant
Jamie Freveletti, Running From the Devil

   Steve suggested we might try our hands at a 100 best list, so here with some reservations is mine. Reservation number 1:   I have limited myself to mystery and suspense novels, so no thrillers, adventure, or spy novels.

   Number 2:   I have no short story collections on the list — I couldn’t top the Queen’s Quorum anyway.

   Number 3:   I am skipping the early classics from The Moonstone to The Hound of the Baskervilles. For all practical purposes this list begins with the birth of the Golden Age which most would place with E. C. Bentley’s Trent’s Last Case. The books before that are deserving of a list of their own.

   Also, I have limited myself to one title per writer though obviously some writers should have multiple entries.

   The final reservation is that this is no “best” list. More a favorites list, and of course at different times there would be some variation. Some favorite writers don’t make the list because another, sometimes lesser, writer wrote one very good book. And though they wrote well after the cut off date I’m leaving R. Austin Freeman to the earlier period along with Conan Doyle and Chesterton.

   And warning, this list is extremely eclectic.

   It struck me too how many of these had been filmed so a * marks a film version.

   With those caveats, herewith:

About the Murder of The Circus Queen by A. Abbott *
The Death of Achilles by Boris Akunin
Tiger in the Smoke by Margery Allingham *
Terror on Broadway by David Alexander
Perish By the Sword by Poul Anderson
Hell Is a City by William Ard
The Unsuspected by Charlotte Armstrong *
Murder in Las Vegas by W. T. Ballard
Death Walks in Eastrepps by Francis Beeding
Charlie Chan Carries On by Earl Derr Biggers *
The Beast Must Die by Nicholas Blake *
Bombay Mail by Lawrence G. Blochman *
No Good From a Corpse by Leigh Brackett
Green For Danger by Christianna Brand *
The Clock Strikes Thirteen by Herbert Brean
A Case for Three Detectives by Leo Bruce
The Screaming Mimi by Fredric Brown *
Asphalt Jungle by W. R. Burnett *
The Secret of High Eldersham by Miles Burton
Fast One by Paul Cain *
Circus Couronne by R. Wright Campbell
The Man Who Could Not Shudder by John Dickson Carr
Farewell My Lovely by Raymond Chandler *
Elsinore by Jerome Charyn
And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie *
First Prize by Edward Cline
Stolen Away by Max Allan Collins
Brass Rainbow by Michael Collins
The Moving Toyshop by Edmund Crispin
The Wrong Case by James Crumley
Snarl of the Beast by Carroll John Daly
Sally in the Alley by Norbert Davis
The Poisoned Oracle by Peter Dickinson
To Catch A Thief by David Dodge *
My Cousin Rachel by Daphne Du Maurier *
End of the Game (aka The Judge and His Hangman) by Friedrich Duerrenmatt *
The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco *
The Naked Spur by Charles Einstein *
The Eighth Circle by Stanley Ellin
L.A. Confidential by James Ellroy *
Mirage by Walter Ericson (Howard Fast) *
Double Or Quits by A. A. Fair
The Big Clock by Kenneth Fearing *
Death Comes to Perigord by John Ferguson
Isle of Snakes by Robert L. Fish
High Art by Rubem Fonseca *
King of the Rainy Country by Nicholas Freeling
Operation Terror by the Gordons *
Take My Life by Winston Graham *
Brighton Rock by Graham Greene *
It Happened In Boston by Russell Greenhan
The Maltese Falcon by Dashiell Hammett *
Violent Saturday by W. L. Heath *
Why Shoot a Butler by Georgette Heyer
The Talented Mr. Ripley by Patricia Highsmith *
Night Has 1000 Eyes by George Hopley (Cornell Woolrich) *
Flush as May by P. M. Hubbard
Ride the Pink Horse by Dorothy B. Hughes *
One Man Show by Michael Innes
An Unsuitable Job For a Woman by P. D. James *
The 10:30 From Marseilles by Sebastian Japrisot *
The Last Express by Baynard Kendrick
Night and the City by Gerald Kersh *
Fata Morgana by William Kotzwinkle
Murder of a Wife by Henry Kuttner
Headed for a Hearse by Jonathan Latimer *
Curtain for a Jester by Richard and Francis Lockridge
Let’s Hear it For the Deaf Man by Ed McBain *
Through a Glass Darkly by Helen McCloy
The Green Ripper by John D. MacDonald
The List of Adrian Messenger by Philip MacDonald *
Black Money by Ross Macdonald
Gideon’s Day by J. J. Marric (John Creasey) *
Died in the Wool by Ngaio Marsh
Guilty Bystander by Wade Miller *
A Neat Little Corpse by Max Murray *
Sleeper’s East by Frederic Nebel *
Let’s Kill Uncle by Rohan O’Grady *
Puzzle for Fools by Q. Patrick
Fracas in the Foothills by Eliot Paul
To Live and Die in L.A. by Gerald Petivich *
Shackles by Bill Pronzini
Cat of Many Tails by Ellery Queen *
Footprints on the Ceiling by Clayton Rawson
Trial by Fury by Craig Rice
The Erasers by Alain Robbe-Grillett *
The Nine Tailors by Dorothy L. Sayers *
So Evil My Love by Joseph Shearing *
Stain on the Snow (aka The Snow is Black) by Georges Simenon *
The Laughing Policeman by Maj Sjowall & Per Waloo *
Death Under Sail by C. P. Snow
Blues for the Prince by Bart Spicer
One Lonely Night by Mickey Spillane
Judas Inc. by Kurt Steel
Some Buried Caesar by Rex Stout
Rim of the Pit by Hake Talbot
The Bishop Murder Case by S. S. Van Dine *
Above the Dark Circus by Hugh Walpole
Death Takes the Bus by Lionel White
Death in a Bowl by Raoul Whitfield

Editorial Comment:   Previously on this blog have been top 100 lists from Barry Gardner and Jeff Meyerson. Coming tomorrow is another such list from Geoff Bradley, editor and publisher of CADS (Crime and Detective Stories) . Thanks to all!

   Barry Gardner’s recent list has inspired me to do one of my own. I’ve tried to give a good variety by limiting myself to no more than two titles per author (or pseudonym). I’ve also tried to include books that impressed me greatly when read, even if it was twenty years ago and I’d probably not read that book today. On some heavily read authors (McBain, Simenon) titles were chosen nearly at random. Still, it’s a list that I can live with, and one you might find worth checking for titles to try.

Neil Albert, THE JANUARY CORPSE
Eric Ambler, A CORPSE FOR DIMITRIOS
Delano Ames, SHE SHALL HAVE MURDER
Linda Barnes, A TROUBLE OF FOOLS
Lawrence Block, WHEN THE SACRED GINMILL CLOSES
Christianna Brand, GREEN FOR DANGER
Jay Brandon, FADE THE HEAT
Herbert Brean, WILDERS WALK AWAY
Fredric Brown, THE FABULOUS CLIPJOINT
          NIGHT OF THE JABBERWOCK
Paul Cain, FAST ONE
John Dickson Carr, THE THREE COFFINS
Raymond Chandler, FAREWELL, MY LOVELY
         THE LADY IN THE LAKE
George C. Chesbro, BONE
Agatha Christie, AND THEN THERE WERE NONE
          PARTNERS IN CRIME
Liza Cody, BUCKET NUT
Max Allan Collins, TRUE DETECTIVE
K. C. Constantine, THE MAN WHO LIKED SLOW TOMATOES
William J. Coughlin, DEATH PENALTY
Bill Crider, SHOTGUN SATURDAY NIGHT
James Crumley, THE LAST GOOD KISS
Peter Dickinson, KING & JOKER
Jerome Doolittle, BODY SCISSORS
Arthur Conan Doyle, THE HOUND OF THE BASKERVILLES
John Dunning, BOOKED TO DIE
Aaron Elkins, OLD BONES
James Ellroy, THE BLACK DAHLIA
Loren D. Estleman, SUGARTOWN
          PEEPER
Michael Gilbert, DEATH IN CAPTIVITY
Joe Goes, HAMMETT
James W. Hall, UNDER COVER OF DAYLIGHT
Parnell Hall, DETECTIVE
Donald Hamilton, DEATH OF A CITIZEN
Dashiell Hammett, RED HARVEST
          THE MALTESE FALCON
Joseph Hansen, A COUNTRY OF OLD MEN .
Thomas Harris, RED DRAGON
Carl Hiaasen, TOURIST SEASON
Tony Hillerman, DANCE HALL OF THE DEAD
          A THIEF OF TIME
William Hjortsberg, FALLING ANGEL
P. D. James, SHROUD FOR A NIGHTINGALE
Faye Kellerman, DAY OF ATONEMENT
Jonathan Kellerman, WHEN THE BOUGH BREAKS
Joseph Koenig, FLOATER
Jonathan Latimer, MURDER IN THE MADHOUSE
Elmore Leonard, CITY PRIMEVIL
Ira Levin, A KISS BEFORE DYING
Michael Z. Lewin, NIGHT COVER
Dick Lochte, SLEEPING DOG
Peter Lovesey, WOBBLE TO DEATH
          THE FALSE INSPECTOR DEW
Arthur Lyons, CASTLES BURNING
Frank McAuliffe, OF ALL THE BLOODY CHEEK
Ed McBain, LET’S HEAR IT FOR THE DEAF MAN
Gregory Mcdonald, FLETCH
John D. MacDonald, THE END OF THE NIGHT
          THE DREADFUL LEMON SKY
Ross Macdonald, THE GALTON CASE
          THE CHILL
Dan J. Marlowe, THE NAME OF THE GAME IS DEATH
Margaret Maron, BOOTLEGGER’S DAUGHTER
Ngaio Marsh, ARTISTS IN CRIME
W. Somerset Maugham, ASHENDEN
Archer Mayor, OPEN SEASON
L. A. Morse, THE OLD DICK
Robert B. Parker, GOD SAVE THE CHILD
Marcia Muller, PENNIES ON A DEAD WOMAN’S EYES
Ridley Pearson, UNDERCURRENTS
Anthony Price, OTHER PATHS TO GLORY
Bill Pronzini, BONES
Ellery Queen, CALAMITY TOWN
          CAT OF MANY TAILS
Barnaby Ross (Queen), THE TRAGEDY OF Y
Dorothy L. Sayers, MURDER MUST ADVERTISE
Laurence Shames, FLORIDA STRAITS
Richard Shattuck, THE WEDDING GUEST SAT ON A STONE
Georges Simenon, MAIGRET GOES HOME
Roger L. Simon, THE BIG FIX
Gerald Sinstadt, THE FIDELIO SCORE
Maj Sjowall/Per Wahloo, THE LAUGHING POLICEMAN
Julie Smith, NEW ORLEANS MOURNING
Richard Stark (Westlake), BUTCHER’S MOON
Rex Stout, TOO MANY COOKS
Grif Stockley, PROBABLE CAUSE
Josephine Tey, THE DAUGHTER OF TIME
Ross Thomas, THE FOOLS IN TOWN ARE ON OUR SIDE
          CHINAMAN’S CHANCE
Jim Thompson, THE KILLER INSIDE ME
          A HELL OF A WOMAN
Arthur W. Upfield, DEATH OF A LAKE
Donald E. Westlake, DANCING AZTECS
Teri White, FAULT LINES
Kate Wilhelm, O, SUSANNAH!
Charles Willeford, MIAMI BLUES
Stuart Woods, CHIEFS
Eric Wright, FINAL CUT

Editorial Comment:   I have one more list like this one to post, and perhaps two. Yours would be welcome, if you’d like to do one. The ground rules are pretty much up to you; any restrictions or boundaries you’d like to place on it are yours to make and to abide by. If you’d care to come up with only a top 10, 15, or 50, that’s fine, too.

    When he agreed to let me reprint this list, Jeff promised to give his reactions when he saw it again. He came up with this list of books and authors 17 years ago, and he hasn’t seen or thought about it since.

   I was recently asked if I could produce a list of my “100 Best” mysteries, and list lover that I am I couldn’t resist. I wouldn’t call them my 100 best, though – “best” implies a more rigorously articulated set of standards than I can lay claim to.

   Let’s say that these are 100 books that, after 40-odd years of reading in the field, I might choose to build a basic library of the kinds of books I like most to read. If I were to go through the same process tomorrow a number of the individual titles might change, but there would be very few changes among the authors.

ADAMS, Harold – The Man Who Met the Train
ATLEE, Philip – The Green Wound
BLEECK, Oliver (Ross Thomas) – The Procane Chronicles
BLOCK, Lawrence – When the Sacred Ginmill Closes
         A Walk Among the Tombstones
BOYER, Rick – The Daisy Ducks
BROWN, Fredric – The Fabulous Clipjoint
BROWNE, Howard – The Taste of Ashes
BURKE, James Lee – The Neon Rain
      Black Cherry Blues
CAMP, John – The Empress File
CARR, John Dickson – Castle Skull
CHANDLER, Raymond – The Big Sleep
      The Long Goodbye
CHARTERIS, Leslie – The Last Hero
CHESTERTON, G. K. – The Man Who Was Thursday
CLEARY, Jon – Now and Then, Amen
COLLINS, Max Allan – Neon Mirage
COLLINS, Michael – Freak
CONSTANTINE, K. C. – The Man Who Liked Slow Tomatoes
DICKSON, Carter (J. D. Carr) – The Punch and Judy Murders
      The Judas Window
ESTLEMAN, Loren D. – Sugartown
FAULKNER, William – Knight’s Gambit
FREEMANTLE, Brian – Charlie M
      Charlie Muffin, U.S.A.
FRIEDMAN, Kinky – When the Cat’s Away
GAULT, William Campbell – Day ofthe Ram
GILBERT, Michael – Game Without Rules
      Mr. Calder and Mr. Behrens
GILL, Bartholomew – The Death of Love
GORES, Joe – A TIme of Predators
GRANGER, Bill – The November Man
GREENLEAF, Stephen – Fatal Obsession
HALL, Adam – The Quiller Memorandum
HAMILTON, Donald – Death of a Citizen
HAMMETT, Dashiell – Red Harvest
      Blood Money
      The Maltese Falcon
HARE, Cyril – An English Murder
      Tragedy at Law
HARVEY, John – Wasted Years
HEALY, Jeremiah – The Staked Goat
HILL, Reginald – Recalled To Life
HILLERMAN, Tony – Skinwalkers
HIMES, Chester – The Big Gold Dream
INNES, Michael – Seven Suspects
      Appleby’s End
JAMES, P. D. – An Unsuitable Job for a Woman
KAMINSKY, Stuart M. – A Cold Red Sunrise
KELLERMAN, Jonathan – Over the Edge
LINDSEY, David L. – In the Lake of the Moon
      Body of Truth
LYONS, Arthur – Dead Ringer
MacDONALD, John D. – A Purple Place for Dying
      The Girl, the Gold Watch, and Everything
MACDONALD, Ross – The Doomsters
      Black Money
MALCOLM, John – The Gwen John Sculpture
MARON, Margaret – Bootlegger’s Daughter
MAYOR. Archer – Open Season
McCLURE, James – The Song Dog
      Steam Pig
McGOWN, Jill – Murder at the Old Vicarage
McILVANNEY, William – Strange Loyalties
NEEL, Janet – Death on Site
OLIVER, Anthony – The Pew Group
PARKER. Robert B. – Mortal Stakes
      Early Autumn
PERRY, Thomas – The Butcher’s Boy
      Metzger’s Dog
PICKARD, Nancy – I.O.U.
PIERCE, David M. – Down in the Valley
PRICE, Anthony M. – The Labyrinth Makers
      Colonel Butler’s Wolf
      The ’44 Vintage
PRONZlNI, Bill – Shackles
QUEEN, Ellery – Calamity Town
RENDELL, Ruth – Murder Being Once Done
RIGGS, John R. – Haunt of the Nightingale
ROBERTS, Les – Deep Shaker
      Seeing the Elephant
ROSS, Jonathan – Here Lies Nancy Frail
SAYERS, Dorothy L. – The Nine Tailors
      Gaudy Night
SAYLOR, Steven – Roman Blood
SPICER, Bart – Blues for the Prince
STARK, Richard (Donald Westlake) – The Hunter
      The Outfit
      Butcher’s Moon
STOUT, Rex – Fer de Lance
      Too Many Cooks
      Black Orchids
      The Black Mountain
THOMAS, Ross – The Fools in Town Are on Our Side
      The Seersucker Whipsaw
      Chinaman’s Chance
      The Cold War Swap
VALIN, Jonathan – The Lime Pit
WOODRELL, Daniel – Under the Bright Lights

   Obviously, my preferences lean more to the modern than the classic, and to the hard-edged than the cozy. When I make one of these, I’m always surprised at some of my choices, and at how hard it is to make them. I could have done 200, and still been happy with the quality.

Editorial Comment:   If Barry were still with us today, it would be interesting to have him compare his favorites now with those he came up with back then. It’s hard work making up a list like this — I’ve never been able to do it myself — but if anyone would like to take up the challenge, I’d be glad to post it here.

   I do have one ready in hand from Jeff Meyerson, one he also did in 1993, and in fact it was in direct response to this one from Barry. I’ll post it here on Sunday.

Steve and David —

   Hi, it’s me again. I’m the one who suggested the recent “Man on the Run” lists which appeared on your blog, for which I am eternally grateful. They have been of enormous assistance.

   Here’s another question, based on a thought that came to me, one somewhere between screwball and noir. It is about a retired single man who places a Personal ad in a sailing magazine (this is very common) seeking a woman to sail around the world with him “as long as it’s fun.” He finds the right woman and they set off, he falls in love and they get married. But of course she has another husband who wants her to kill the new husband to collect the insurance.

    So it’s a noir on a boat.

    Double Indemnity and The Postman Always Rings Twice certainly come to mind but I’m sure I’m missing some good ones. Murder on the High Seas (1932, aka Love Bound) is very dated. Body Heat meets Dead Calm meets A Fish Called Wanda is probably what I’m going for.

   If there are any films you could recommend I would be even more eternally grateful. Thank you.

         Josh

       — —

   Steve here first. I believe the most recent variation of the “Man on the Run” movie lists was actually a “Couples on the Run” list, which you can find here. (There are links in that post that you can use to find most if not all of the earlier ones.)

   David Vineyard is much better at this than I am. Here’s his reply, which I received soon after I sent Josh’s new inquiry on to him:

DEAD CALM was the first to come to mind, but I can’t think of a lot of films with a similar premise. Most of the films with a sailing theme tend to be adventure films involving treasure or pearls, deep sea diving, and some tough skipper like John Payne (CROSSWINDS), Errol Flynn (MARA MARU), or John Wayne (WAKE OF THE RED WITCH).

John Sturges’s UNDERWATER with Jane Russell, Richard Egan, and Gilbert Roland is typical, but again it’s a treasure hunt movie, and existed mostly to exploit the then new technology allowing for extensive technicolor photography underwater.

There is a true story with a similar theme — minus the murder — Nicholas Roeg’s CASTAWAY from 1987 where Oliver Reed advertises for a woman to be marooned on a desert island with him and Amanda Donohoe answers the ad; based on Lucy Irvine’s book about her experiences. Oddly enough Irvine is every bit the knockout Donohoe is and the odder bits of the film are true.

As I said, there is no murder or crime — other than criminal stupidity on the part of Reed’s character — but you might pick up some ideas and Donohoe is nice to look at nude, semi nude, and in a bikini while the book is fully illustrated with color photos of Irvine in the same state.

You might also check out the miniseries AND THE SEA WILL TELL with Richard Crenna, based on Vincent Bugliosi’s book of the trial and investigation of a couple accused of murdering another couple on a yacht who were sharing a deserted island with them. Rachel Ward played Bugliosi’s client, on trial for murder. It used to show up regularly on cable and there may be a VHS or DVD.

Again, no murder, but THE LITTLE HUT with Ava Gardner, Stewart Granger, and David Niven has the wife, husband, and boyfriend all stranded on a desert island together after a shipwreck. Diverting little sex comedy handsomely shot in technicolor. At least you get to see what sort of a Tarzan Granger might have made.

Most of these are going to be set on islands rather than the boat.

A TOUCH OF LARCENY is a wry tale based on Andrew Garve’s THE MEGSTONE PLOT where Naval officer James Mason contrives to shipwreck himself on his holiday and be accused of treason while missing in hopes of making a fortune suing the British tabloids when he is rescued — everything goes wrong of course. You can check out my review here on the blog

A RAW WIND IN EDEN has wealthy Esther Williams plane crash and she is rescued on a remote island by Jeff Chandler where jealousy, murder, and every other complication ensues.

L’AVVENTURA by Michelangelo Antonioni is of course the classic film (skip the remake with Madonna) of a spoiled rich woman (Monica Vitti) ship wrecked with a crude sailor (Gabriele Ferzetti) .

At least a small section of ARRIVEDERCI BABY! features lonely hearts killer Tony Curtis and Black Widow Rossano Shiaffano trying to kill each other while sailing in a black comedy.

And you might check out CAPTAIN RON a particularly unfunny comedy in which Martin Short and family inherit a sail boat and take on captain Kurt Russell an eye patched drunken lecher for a vacation from Hell — if you are masochistic enough to sit through it.

Almost as bad is THE ISLAND based on Peter Benchley’s book about a modern man (Michael Caine) and his son whose yachting holiday is disturbed when they are taken hostage by latter day pirates. This is the one where Leonard Maltin’s terrible review noted “You know you are in trouble when David Warner is the most normal guy on the island.” He’s absolutely right, if anything he is too kind, though in fairness he has no lower rating than BOMB.

Again most are going to be the shipwreck theme more than the boat itself, everything from THE ADMIRABLE CRICHTON (Kenneth More, Diane Cliento) — which was also a Bing Crosby musical PARADISE LAGOON — to SWISS FAMILY ROBINSON.

You might check out EBB TIDE, a tough little adventure film based on Robert Louis Stevenson’s story with Ray Milland, Oscar Homloka, and Lloyd Nolan and remade as ADVENTURE ISLAND with Rory Calhoun. Nolan is quite good as the monomaniacal madman in the original, shot in early color.

There is a little British film from the post war period where a honeymooning couple sailing to Calais pick up a ship wreck survivor and find themselves involved in a smuggling plot, but the name escapes me — it’s a slight and very short comedy.

And there is another with John Cassavettes (of all people) where a honeymooning couple try living on a small island in the Caribbean, but again the name eludes me — should be easy enough to find though as Cassavettes didn’t do a lot of comedy. Laurel and Hardy’s last feature involved them on a small boat, shipwrecked, and with a nuclear bomb if my memory is right.

Ship board crime and murder is a little better represented, with THE PRINCESS COMES ACROSS (Carol Lombard and Fred MacMurray, reviewed here, DANGEROUS CROSSING (based on John Dickson Carr’s “Cabin B-13” with Jeanne Crain and Michael Rennie remade for television as TREACHEROUS CROSSING), THE GREAT LOVER ( Bob Hope and Rhonda Fleming), JUGGERNAUT (Richard Harris, Anthony Hopkins, Omar Sharif battle an extortionist), DARKER THAN AMBER (Rod Taylor as Travis McGee), and THE LAST OF SHEILA (James Mason, James Coburn, Anthony Perkins …).

That last one is an outstanding mystery/suspense film with an all star cast including Dyan Cannon, Joan Hackett, and Raquel Welch and written by mystery fans Perkins and composer Stephen Sondheim (who collaborated on Broadway with Hugh Wheeler, one half of Q. Patrick).

And of course disaster at sea is well represented in all three films entitled TITANIC (1943, 1953, 1997), A NIGHT TO REMEMBER, THE LAST VOYAGE, SHIP OF FOOLS, VOYAGE OF THE DAMNED (the last two more drama than disaster— save the emotional kind), ABANDON SHIP, ARISE MY LOVE, THE POSEIDON ADVENTURE, TWILIGHT OF THE GODS, GOLDEN RENDEZVOUS, CAPTAIN CHINA, KRAKATOA EAST OF JAVA (and it’s not East of Java, in fact it is West of Java), and Hitchcock’s LIFEBOAT.

Hammond Innes THE WRECK OF THE MARY DEARE was filmed by Michael Anderson with Charlton Heston and Gary Cooper and involved the skipper of small salvage ship uncovering skullduggery at sea. BREAK IN THE CIRCLE (based on the novel by Philip Loraine), THE HOUSE OF SEVEN HAWKS (based on Victor Canning’s HOUSE OF TURKISH FLIES), NEVER LET ME GO (based on Andrew Garve’s TWO IF BY SEA), ACTION OF THE TIGER (based on John Welland’s novel), and A TWIST OF SAND (based on Geoffrey Jenkins novel) all deal with international intrigue and small boats,

S.O.S. PACIFIC is a solid little suspense film about a plane load of Grand Hotel types who crash on an island that is about to be used for nuclear test — Eddie Constantine (for once in his own voice), Pier Angelli, Richard Attenborogh (outstanding), and John Gregson star and Guy Green directed. Really nerve wracking suspense — sort of a South Pacific version of Dick Powell’s SPLIT SECOND.

Hopefully this will be some help. Nothing really fits quiet as well as DEAD CALM, but some of these are in the same general area. There are a handful of horror and sf films that come close — everything from THE CREATURE OF THE BLACK LAGOON to some of the made for television Bermuda Triangle movies, but that list could go on forever, and I really don’t think you are interested in mutant sharks, zombies, aliens, and man eating fish.

But that’s all I can come up with off hand. Book wise you might try the novels of J.R.L. Anderson and Bernard Cornwell’s thrillers, they are to small boats what Dick Francis is to racing, and of course Charles Williams who wrote the novel DEAD CALM.

Dorothy Dunnett’s Johnson Johnson books usually involve sailing too, and so do many of the thrillers in the Buchan mold by Hammond Innes, Geoffrey Jenkins, Wilbur Smith, Desmond Bagley, Eric Ambler (as Eliot Reed with Charles Rodda), Andrew Garve, and such.

TAFFY CANNON – A Pocket Full of Karma. Nan Robinson #1. Carroll & Graf, hardcover, 1993. Reprint paperback: Fawcett Crest, 1995. This is Cannon’s first mystery, though she has had one novel published previously.

   Nan Robinson is an investigator with the State Bar of California, single and in her late thirties. She is surprised when a letter arrives at the office for her ex-secretary, Debra, who hadn’t worked there in three years.

   More puzzling still, it was from her mother. Nan and her secretary were from the same town, and though they had never been close friends, Nan feels guilty for not having kept better track of her.

   She decides to deliver the letter in person, but finds an empty house, with signs that the woman had vanished rather abruptly. Her curiosity aroused, she begins to try to track her down, and discovers that she has been working for a firm specializing in hypnotic regression to past incarnations.

   Just to complicate things, Nan finds herself attracted strangely to one of the owners of the firm. But what’s happened to Debra, and where is she?

   We know where Debra is, or at least what happened to her, because the book opens with a couple of pages from the mind of the killer. There are several other such interludes, though the rest of the story is told third-person from Nan’s viewpoint.

   This is a competently told first mystery, with only a few unlikely aspects to the plot. Nan is a likable enough character, though in all honesty not someone who really grabbed my attention or enlisted my sympathies.

   One saving grace is that she doesn’t fall in love with a cop. All told, this is a decent if not exceptional book, making it better than many.

      The Nan Robinson series —

    A Pocketful of Karma. Carroll & Graf, hc, 1993.
    Tangled Roots. Carroll & Graf, hc, 1995.

    Class Reunions Are Murder. Gold Medal, pb, 1996.

D. B. OLSEN [aka DOLORES HITCHENS] – Cats Don’t Smile. Doubleday Doran/Crime Club, hardcover, 1945. Later published in Two Complete Detective Books #36, pulp magazine, January 1946 (with She Fell Among Actors, by James Warren).

    Rachel and Jennifer Murdock, whose exploits — if Jennifer can be said to engage in exploits — Olsen has chronicled before and after this novel, go to Sacramento, Calif., to house-sit for Cousin Julia, who for reasons she doesn’t explain must leave the house and does not want her roomers unsupervised.

    Miss Rachel embroils herself in the roomers’ affairs and those of the next-door neighbors. Before she can meddle much, one of the roomers is murdered.

    For those who enjoy Little-Old-Lady detectives, this should be a pleasing mystery, particularly if active LOL’s are preferred. For my part, I have always thought Jane Marple was the perfect type. Not for her the burglary at dead of night or skulking in gardens eluding who knows what.

    Both interesting and unusual is the motive for murder. However, I had difficulty in accepting the solution, for reasons which I won’t go into since it would reveal the murderer’s identity.

    Warning: Cat lovers may be upset by one of the incidents in the novel.

       The Rachel & Jennifer Murdock series —

    The Cat Saw Murder. 1939. [Doubleday Crime Club for all but one.]

    The Alarm of the Black Cat, 1942.

    Cat’s Claw. 1943.
    Catspaw for Murder. 1943.
    The Cat Wears a Noose. 1944.
    Cats Don’t Smile. 1945.
    Cats Don’t Need Coffins, 1946.
    Cats Have Tall Shadows. Ziff-Davis, 1948

    The Cat Wears a Mask. 1949.
    Death Wears Cat’s Eyes. 1950.
    The Cat and Capricorn. 1951.

    The Cat Walk, 1953.
    Death Walks on Cat Feet. 1956.