Tue 19 Nov 2024
I was asked the following question by email a couple of days ago. I won’t include the name of the person asking in case he doesn’t want it circulating online without his knowing about it, but I thought it interesting enough to see how others besides myself might answer it:
“I am a fan of old, rare books and I wonder if there is any mystery/crime/horror/suspense not widely known book from the past decades that hasn’t been turned into a feature film that deserves it?”
November 19th, 2024 at 5:48 pm
Hundreds! Thousands!
November 19th, 2024 at 6:33 pm
Understood. I feel the same way, but as for today, I’ve narrowed it down to two. (Tomorrow the two on the top may be quite different.)
John Dickson Carr, The Three Coffins
Ellery Queen, The Greek Coffin Mystery
Or, almost anything else by either gentlemen.
November 20th, 2024 at 1:54 am
THE WRONG SIDE OF THE SKY, Gavin Lyall
November 20th, 2024 at 3:42 am
I agree there are probably many hundreds of rousing, classic yarns never adapted.
But I was wondering if the curious gentleman was inquiring about more recent decades. What era was he pinpointing? Did he mean prior to the dissolution of the Studio System or afterwards?
November 20th, 2024 at 11:10 am
Yes, quite right. I will ask the inquirer for more details.
November 20th, 2024 at 11:46 am
Hello everyone,
I was the one asking Steve my question. Thank you for your suggestions. I am interested in books published up to 1989.
November 20th, 2024 at 12:18 pm
My choice would be Frank McAuliffe and his series of novellas published by Ballantine some years ago. The first is ‘Of all the bloody cheek,’ which sets the tone for these works featuring the assassin and all-round delightful bad boy named Augustus Mandrell. These take place pre-during-post WWII, and there is a thirteenth episode wherein Mandrell finds himself an active participant in the activities of the falcon (Maltese, that is) and Sam Spade. Well worth seeking out and having the best ACCURATE film retelling.
November 20th, 2024 at 1:06 pm
Well, all the John Ball Virgil Tibbs novels after IN THE HEAT OF THE NIGHT, for obvious example…I think Ball was unexcited by the changes rung on Tibbs by Siliphant’s script and the rest of the film, so the next novel, THE COOL COTTONTAIL, was “unfilmable” in the late ’60s (as set in a “nudist colony”, even given A SHOT IN THE DARK), and none of the remainder were given a cinematic go. Robert Bloch’s NIGHT WORLD, much less AMERICAN GOTHIC. Marijane Meaker’s novels. And and and.
November 20th, 2024 at 1:08 pm
Kate Wilhelm’s DEATH QUALIFIED among others. Kit Reed’s MOTHER ISN’T DEAD, SHE’S ONLY SLEEPING among others.
November 20th, 2024 at 1:12 pm
With some fantasticated aspects, like the cited Wilhelm, Avram Davidson’s MASTERS OF THE MAZE. Without any fantastica per so, his “The Lord of Central Park”…among others.
November 21st, 2024 at 4:18 pm
Thank you so much for all the suggestions.
November 23rd, 2024 at 12:13 am
Midnight Plus One by Gavin Lyall
Murder Gone Mad by Philip MacDonald
Send No More Roses by Eric Ambler
Greenmantle by John Buchan
One Lonely Night by Mickey Spillane
November 28th, 2024 at 9:34 pm
Kolymsky Heights by Lionel Davidson would be utterly, jawdroppingly awesome on the big screen.