Mon 4 Oct 2010
MY 100 “BEST” MYSTERIES, by DAVID L. VINEYARD.
Posted by Steve under Bibliographies, Lists & Checklists[15] Comments
by DAVID L. VINEYARD
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!
October 4th, 2010 at 7:31 pm
Of the three lists so far, in terms of authors, if not books, this comes the closest to one I might put together, if I were to do one.
And yet, paradoxically, there are more authors in this list with whom I am not familiar than in any of the others.
I assume, David, that’s what you meant by eclectic.
But from all three lists, many many books I have not read, although I’ve meant to. I hope everyone else is having the same problem.
October 4th, 2010 at 8:16 pm
What I’m finding interesting when comparing the lists and with my own personal opinion, is that major authors are represented by different books. For instance, Ross MacDonald and John D. MacDonald are on both lists, but with different books. And neither list has a title I would have selected. BUT, that’s the beauty of books and reading, right? BTW, interesting choice with BLACK MONEY. Terrific under-rated book by RM. Not may favorite, but right up there. That ending …
October 4th, 2010 at 8:18 pm
PS: i echo what Steve wrote in that there are several books mentioned that i haven’t read and some that I never heard of. Shall track them down. Thanks.
October 4th, 2010 at 8:33 pm
While there may have others that I’ve missed in several quick run-through’s, but THE MALTESE FALCON is one novel that’s so far been all three lists.
I may be in error in leaking this information in advance, but while Hammett is one of the authors on Geoff’s list, he limited himself to one title per author, and FALCON’s streak will thus be ended.
October 4th, 2010 at 10:28 pm
Wot, no Cyril Hare?
October 5th, 2010 at 1:01 am
David A.
Cyril Hare got outsted by a nose, as did Arthur Upfield. Actually the runners up are every bit as good as the main field in this case — to be honest a top 500 would have been easier and more honest.
Among the writers who just missed the list are Freeman Crofts, Norah Lofts (writing as Peter Curtis), Elizabeth Saxnay Holding, Hare, Upfield, Hillerman, K.C. Constantine, Robert B. Parker, Stephen Greenleaf, Jeremiah Healey, John Godey, Dan Marlowe, Peter Rabe, Charles Williams, Marcia Muller, Elmore Leonard, Loren Estleman, Lawrence Block, Sara Paretsky, Sue Grafton, Lester Dent (DEAD AT TAKE OFF), Philip Wylie (EXPERIMENT IN CRIME), Ruth Rendell, Elizabeth Peters, Ellis Peters, Henry Kitchell Webster, Henry Wade, Sarah Cauldwell, William Campbell Gault, Chester Himes, Thomas Dewey (SAD SONG SINGING was a real toss up with Ard’s HELL IS A CITY), Rufus King, Ed Lacy, Geoffrey Homes (BUILD MY GALLOWS HIGH), and Cleve Adams. A few foreign writers got bumped too, Delacorta (Danile Odier), San Antonio (F. Dard), Poul Orum, Hans Koenig, Hubert Montilhet, Leo Perutz, and Claude Avelline.
I made an effort to include a few less familiar names that wrote a book I really liked, rather than just do the usual who’s who of the obvious suspects.
The one book that should have made the list and didn’t was WHO IS KILLING THE GREAT CHEF’S OF EUROPE? by Nan and Ivon Lyons. Just plain forgot about it. Make it 101, a sort of bakers’ one hundred if you will.
I really considered CHARADE by Peter Stone too, but though it was first published in book form and serialized in REDBOOK it was still concieved as a screenplay, so I bit the bullet …
Steve
RE Hammett and the FALCON it was a close call, but FALCON won out over THE GLASS KEY because the detective element is better — but that’s about the only reason. A few of these were a tie.
I made an effort to work more modern writers in or I could easily have passed the 100 mark before I got to the mid sixties. In fact I could easily have done a top 100 Golden Age and had a perfectly good list.
October 5th, 2010 at 1:30 am
Steve
Oh, and by eclectic I suppose I meant that I am all over the place, from fair play detection to suspense to hard boiled to crime novels, from grim and depressing to surreal humor.
I’m assuming the two books on the list that more people won’t know are Edward Cline’s FIRST PRIZE (Mysterious Press, 1988) and HIGH ART by Rubem (Rubem is the correct spelling) Fonseca. Cline’s book is about a private detective hired to find out what happened to an author who disapeared without accepting a prestigious literary prize by a journalist who wrote for THE WALL STREET JOURNAL among others, and HIGH ART is a Brazilian crime novel about a lawyer (photographer in the film) drawn into the complex and violent world of knife fighting culture when he looks into the murder of a prostitute tied to a Bolivian drug ring. The 1991 film (released here as EXSPOSURE) starred Peter Coyote as Peter Mandrake and Amanda Pays and was the basis for a television series called MANDRAKE.
The book is excellent, the film a bit arty.
October 5th, 2010 at 1:46 am
Frank
Re the Macdonald, I was torn between BLACK MONEY, THE DOOMSTERS, and THE GALTON CASE, and BM won out for that ending you mention, but other than that it was a hard call between those which come from his best period — at least as far as I’m concerned.
Incidentally, one of Margaret Millar’s Tom Aragon books just missed the list.
As for why HEADED FOR A HEARSE rather than SOLOMON’S VINEYARD (or LADY IN THE MORGUE) for Latimer, it’s because HEARSE features at least two solid moments of detective work worthy of any Golden Age classic with Bill Crane as high handed as Philo Vance at the end, plus it is one of the best race to save the condemned man novels, and aside from all that and being very funny it also includes a quietly moving bit at the end and one of the great last lines in the literature.
October 5th, 2010 at 5:58 am
It was eclectic indeed. Good list, of which I’ve read about half and really liked a lot of them. I think BLACK MONEY is one of the Macdonalds I’ve yet to read. THE GALTON CASE and THE CHILL are two of my favorites.
I did do a quick update of books read since I did the original list in 1993, which I’ll send to Steve in case he wants to add it.
October 5th, 2010 at 6:34 am
Looking over the lists, I notice many of the entries aren’t actually mysteries, but more like crime novels. This means something, but I don’t know what.
October 5th, 2010 at 7:46 am
This is very well-conceived list, and one that I am proud to be on.
Picking a Rex Stout would have given me a migraine, but SOME BURIED CAESAR is a great choice. For me the other contenders are TOO MANY COOKS and THE GOLDEN SPIDERS.
My Christie would probably be one of the post-war Poirots, like TAKEN AT THE FLOOD, THE HOLLOW or FIVE LITTLE PIGS.
As much as I admire RED HARVEST, THE DAIN CURSE and THE GLASS KEY, the only choice is THE MALTESE FALCON. It’s the private eye novel from which flow all subsequent private eye novels. It’s glib and not entirely accurate, but I always think of Hammett as inventing, defining, transcending and then walking away from the private eye novel…in one book.
ONE LONELY NIGHT — the right Spillane choice (most lists go for I, THE JURY).
A list with this sense of history is really impressive.
October 5th, 2010 at 6:47 pm
Max
Obviously I agree on the FALCON and Spillane (even if I didn’t like the others NIGHT would stand out from the crowd, it really is a remarkable — and to some extent unrecognised — book).
My actual favorite Christie is a short story collection, THE MYSTERIOUS MR.QUIN, which I think offers some of her finest writing and shows off some skills we don’t usually associate with her, but since I wasn’t doing short story collections I picked on NONE (and I think that is by far the best of its many titles) because it could easily be just a gimmick book and isn’t. But picking one Christie was as hard as one Stout.
CAESAR I chose for the simple reason that it shows off Stout’s humor as well as his gifts as a detective story writer. Stout isn’t a laugh out loud writer, but much of the fun lies in the sly smile of recognition he produces so easily. In any case, Wolfe in the middle of a open field fending off an angry bull was irresistable.
Dan
You are on the nose on the number of crime novels on all the lists so far — I included them under the broad category of mystery and suspense, but probably should have said mystery, suspense, and crime.
Oddly, I notice no one has included James M. Cain yet. He was on my list originally but got bumped for a couple of reasons (my favorite Cain is SERENADE which isn’t really a mystery or suspense novel), but it does say something about the slump in his popularity recently I suppose.
Jeff
As I’ve said my choices for MacDonald were BLACK MONEY, THE DOOMSTERS, THE GALTON CASE, or THE CHILL and I chose MONEY because of the great ending, and because it is probably the least known of the four, and the one most deserving of credit.
I conciously tried to think of titles by the writers I picked that I really enjoyed, and not just the best known books, so my Collins was STOLEN AWAY rathter than one of the fine earlier Hellers, my Elliot Paul FRACAS rather than MICKEY FINN or HUGGER MUGGER, and so on. I wasn’t trying to be obscure, just picking out the ones that really stood out.
In some of these cases the difference was razor thin. As the old line goes, I’d hate to have to live on the difference, and in a few cases, like FAREWELL MY LOVELY, I just picked the first one I read that knocked my socks off and I never recovered from.
My 100 best Thrillers would be a quite different list, though one or two writers would make both lists. And as for short story collections I couldn’t top QUEEN’S QUORUM if I tried. Though if I had done shorts one of Ed Hoch’s Simon Ark books and Rice and Palmer’s THE PEOPLE Vs WITHERS AND MALONE would have been the first on the list along with Ellin’s SPECIALTY OF THE HOUSE and one of the Hammett Op collections.
October 6th, 2010 at 4:43 pm
I often like to challenge consensus picks, but sometimes the consensus is dead-on in my view, as with Rice’s Trial by Fury. I recently read all her books and that was the real stand-out for me, mostly I think because the local color was so good (and the dog!).
October 7th, 2010 at 3:12 am
Curt
It was Hercules, the dog in TRIAL BY FURY, that cinched it for me — and maybe the scene when Malone has just been blown up in the local bank and announces to Helene Justus, “I am too dead.” Hard to top a line like that, or a bloodhound who operates on dollar gin.
I’m surprised some of mine were consensus picks, generally my tastes aren’t quite that mainstream.
If I had to pick one book on here that probably fewer people have read in recent years that deserves to be rediscovered, it would be Helen McCloy’s Dr. Basil Willing mystery THROUGH A GLASS DARKLY (and in general her books deserve to be rediscovered, especially GOBLIN MARKET and MR. SPLITFOOT).
It’s perhaps the finest example of what has been called the Janus Solution, one in which both the rational and supernatural explanation still have equal weight when the book is over. Even Carr ended up loading the question in favor of the supernatural in THE BURNING COURT (which got bumped by SHUDDER on my list because of that). Read McCloy and you will never again smell lemon verbenna without a frisson.
And I know SHUDDER may seem an odd choice for Carr, but it is overrun with impossibilities to be explained, the actual killer (if not the actual murderer) is the least likely of least likely suspects since he is technically guilty and actually innocent, and Fell indulges in what may well be the most high handed behavior of any Great Detective in all the literature.
May 5th, 2015 at 9:35 am
When was this list, My 100 “Best” Mysteries (Vineyard), originally created or completed?
I need the date for my research. Thanks, Roger