First a brief bit of definition. The Thriller as I am using the term is distinct from the Detective and Suspense novel by several factors which I’ll attempt to define as broadly and generally as possible.

   In the Thriller the primary emphasis is on incident, action, adventure, and movement with the protagonist — even when he is an innocent caught up in larger events — taking a proactive role in those events. The thriller to some extent has its models in Homer’s Odyssey and books like Robert Louis Stevenson’s Kidnapped (which is the model for the entire Buchan school). In a thriller all the elements are secondary to incident, action, and movement.

   In the Detective novel the emphasis is on method, motive, and the pursuit of clues. There may be colorful incident and action as well as considerable suspense involved, but at heart those things are secondary to the procedure of investigation. Atmosphere, locale, adventure, all the elements of the thriller may play a role, even a major role, but they are still secondary to the solution of the central problem.

   In the Suspense novel an individual or group is at the mercy of fate. Even when they try to take a proactive role they are still largely at the mercy of blind fate and seldom save themselves merely by skill, intelligence, courage, or even common sense. At best when the opportunity arises they may take advantage of it, but they are usually saved or damned not by their own actions but sheer fate.

   There is more crossover and argument about suspense vs thriller than any other area, but in general suspense novels are darker and more psychological. I’m including most Gothic novels under the broad suspense genre as well as most crime novels.

   For this little exercise I have defined four basic types of Thriller. Many books are combinations of these, so that Rogue Male by Geoffrey Household combines the novel of Chase and Pursuit with The Mission.

1. Chase and Pursuit — an innocent (usually) is drawn into a mysterious situation through no fault of his own, but using his intelligence (in some more comic versions his lack of it), cunning, and other untapped abilities he overcomes and usually not only survives but triumphs. Buchan’s The 39 Steps is the great model.

2. The Quest — the search for the Great Whatits, the McGuffin. It may be a place, a thing, a person, or even an idea, but it drives the action of the protagonist and the villains. Most of today’s thrillers in the Cussler school are quest novels.

3. The Journey — The protagonist or protagonists have to get from A to B. Why, how, and everything else related is still sublimated to the mere fact that they must reach the end of the journey. Elleston Trevor’s Flight of the Phoenix is a journey novel.

4. The Mission — this is often incorporated with the others and may feature an avenger hero, a tough professional of some sort, an amateur, or even a gentleman crook who sets out to accomplish some goal. It may be saving the world or swindling the crooks, rescuing a girl in trouble or destroying some evil. Most secret agent fiction is a mission style thriller such as From Russia With Love by Ian Fleming which also incorporates elements of the other three. Most Avenger style novels fit under the Mission category.

   But above all in a thriller incident, action, adventure, and movement are the predominant themes. Elements of horror, the supernatural, and even science fiction may appear. A few books on the list are closer to mainstream novels than genre novels, but that is another of the oddities about the thriller since it can run from the lowest denominator of the men’s action series to books that are clearly literature.

   The list is more or less chronological to when the writer in question first appeared, so in general even with a later book the writer in question will appear when his first work was published (though with Andrew Garve, Victor Canning, and Hammond Innes I have chosen to place them in the post-war era though all debuted pre-war, and both Richard Sale and Richard Llewelyn are listed in the 1930’s for books published in the 1960’s as is Frank Gruber for books published in the late 1950’s). The dates are general however and not exact. Many of these writers had careers that ran thirty and more years.

   I’ve limited myself to one book per writer, and in general few short story collections since there are not a lot of short thriller collections out there. I’ve also allowed for ties in a many cases, a second or equal work since many of these writers wrote over long periods of time.

   The starting date is not as arbitrary as it may seem, the thriller as we know it grows a great deal out of the work of Robert Louis Stevenson and since Kidnapped appeared in 1886 and The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde appeared in 1888, 1890 seemed a good starting place for the modern thriller, and since 1990 marked a natural cut off place I chose that, though obviously James Rollins, Douglas Preston and Lincoln Childs, Arturo Perez-Reverte, and Barry Eisler would all be represented if the list ran longer.

   I’ve also left out the crime novel which is often closer to the hard-boiled and or suspense school so certain writers such as W.R. Burnett, Peter Rabe, Dan J. Marlowe (whose best work in my opinion is in the crime school), Richard Stark, and the like are not listed. Most hard-boiled writers are closer to the detective story and not listed.

   As with my mystery and suspense list this is a list of favorites, not bests. Keep in mind many of these writers wrote other kinds of books that would be on other lists (Reginald Hill for instance) but this is confined to thrillers. It is very Anglo-centric since relatively few American writers worked in the thriller mode until recently.

   As in my previous list of 100 “best” mysteries, an * indicates a film or television adaptation.

         1890’s

Sant of the Secret Service or The Veiled Man [TIE] by William LeQueux
Dr. Nikola by Guy Boothby
The Iron Pirate or The Diamond Ship by Max Pemberton
The Brotherhood of the Seven Kings by L.T. Meade & Robert Eustace
The Prisoner of Zenda * by Anthony Hope

         1900’s-1910’s

El Dorado * by Baroness Orczy
Truxton King a Novel of Graustark by George Barr McCutcheon
The Four Just Men * or Dark Eyes of London * by Edgar Wallace
Phantom of the Opera * by Gaston Leroux
813 or The Countess Cagliostro * by Maurice Leblanc
The Adventures of Jimmie Dale the Gray Seal by Frank L. Packard
The Lone Wolf * by Louis Joseph Vance
The Day The World Ended or The Quest of the Sacred Slipper by Sax Rohmer
The Great Impersonation * or The Wrath To Come by E. Philips Oppenheim
The Riddle of the Sands * by Erskine Childers
The Three Hostages * or A Prince of the Captivity by John Buchan
Anthony Trent Gentleman Adventurer or The Secret of the Silver Car by Wyndham Martin

         1920’s

The Final Count * or Jim Maitland by H. C. McNeile writing as Sapper
The Man With the Club Foot or Mr. Ramosi by Valentine Williams
Ashenden or the British Agent * by W. Somerset Maugham
Blind Corner or Storm Music by Dornford Yates
Chipstead of the Lone Hand or The Curse of Doone by Sydney Horler
Portrait of a Man With Red Hair* by Hugh Walpole
Solomon’s Quest by H. Bedford-Jones writing as Alan Hawkwood
Jimgrim or King of the Khyber Rifles * by Talbot Mundy
The Trail of the Black King by Anthony Armstrong
Death Rides the Forest or Gunston Cotton Secret Agent by Rupert Grayson
Blackshirt by Bruce Graeme
The Murderer Invisible * or Experiment in Crime by Philip Wylie
The Last Hero or The Saint in New York * by Leslie Charteris
The Mystery of the Dead Police (aka X vs Rex) * by Philip MacDonald
The Confidential Agent * or Our Man in Havana * by Graham Greene

         1930’s

The Cadaver of Gideon Wyck by Andrew Laing
The White Python or King Cobra by Mark Channing
The Wheel Spins * by Ethel Lina White
Without Armor * by James Hilton
The Nine Wax Faces by Francis Beeding
The Himalayan Assignment by Van Wyck Mason
A Toast to Tomorrow or Alias Uncle Hugo by Manning Coles
A Coffin for Dimitrios * or Dr. Frigo by Eric Ambler
Mr. Moto is So Sorry or Think Fast Mr. Moto * by John P. Marquand
Murder Chop Chop by James Norman
The Devil Rides Out * by Dennis Wheatley
A Knife for the Toff or Mists of Fear by John Creasey
The Stars Are Dark or Dark Duet by Peter Cheyney
Four Men and a Prayer * by David Garth
The General Died at Dawn * by Charles G. Booth
Bridge of Sand or Brothers of Silence by Frank Gruber
End of the Rug by Richard Llewelyn
Above Suspicion * or Assignment in Brittany* by Helen MacInnes
Most Secret or No Highway * by Nevil Shute
Rogue Male * or Watcher in the Shadows * by Geoffrey Household
Night Without Stars * or Take My Life * by Winston Graham
For The President’s Eyes Only by Richard Sale

         1940’s

Never Come Back * by John B. Mair
Colonel Blessington by Pamela Frankau
The Small Back Room * or Mine Own Executioner * by Nigel Balchin
Game Without Rules or The Long Journey Home by Michael Gilbert
The Megstone Plot (A Touch of Larceny) * by Andrew Garve
Levkas Man * or Doomed Oasis by Hammond Innes
Finger of Saturn or Queen’s Pawn by Victor Canning
The Three Roads by Kenneth Millar
Woman in the Picture by John August
Desperate Moment * by Martha Albrand
Odd Man Out * by F. L. Green
The Conspirators * or Nine Days to Muksala by Frederick Prokosh
Undertow or Deadfall * by Desmond Cory
The Last Quarter Hour or Cold Spell by Jean Bruce
The Sub Killers or Tough Justice by San Antonio
Girl on the Run or Assignment–Lily Lamaris by Edward S. Aarons
Run Mongoose or The Last Clear Chance by Burke Wilkinson
White Eagles Over Serbia by Lawrence Durrell
Cormorant Isle or House of Darkness by Allan MacKinnon

         1950’s

From Russia With Love * or On Her Majesty’s Secret Service * by Ian Fleming
Soldier of Fortune * by Ernest K. Gann
A Sunlit Ambush by Mark Derby
The Fifth Passenger by Edward Young
A Noble Profession by Pierre Boulle
Uhruhu or Something of Value * by Robert Ruark
Murder in Morocco or The Man With No Shadow by Stephen Marlowe
Free Agent by Frederic Wakeman
Dead Men of Sestos or Eye of the Devil * by Philip Loraine
The Breaking Strain by John Masters
Night Walker or Death of a Citizen by Donald Hamilton
The Silk Road or The Red Road by Simon Harvester
The Rose of Tibet or Kolmsky Heights by Lionel Davidson
The Old Dark House of Fear by Russell Kirk
Maneater * or The Buckingham Palace Connection by Ted Willis
The High Road to China * or The Golden Sabre by Jon Cleary
The Achilles Affair or Without Prejudice by Berkeley Mather
The Fever Tree by Richard Mason
Flaw in the Crystal by Godfrey Smith
Ossian’s Ride by Fred Hoyle
The League of Gentlemen * by John Boland
A Captive in the Land by James Aldridge
The Game of X * or Dead Run * by Robert Sheckley
Wildfire at Midnight or Airs Above Ground by Mary Stewart
The White Tower * by James Ramsey Ullman
Third Side of the Coin or The Green Fields of Eden by Francis Clifford
The Expedition or Nine Hours to Rama * by Stanley Wolpert
The Last Mandarin or The Chinese Bandit by Stephen Becker
The Guns of Navarone * or The Satan Bug * by Alistair MacLean
High Wire or The Telemann Touch by William Haggard
Rampage * by Allan Calliou
Kill Claudio by P. M. Hubbard
High Citadel or Running Blind * by Desmond Bagley
Winter’s Madness by David Walker
Flight of the Phoenix * as Elleston Trevor or The Kobra Manifesto as Adam Hall
Midnight Plus One by Gavin Lyall

         1960’s

Season of Assassins by Geoffrey Wagner
River of Diamonds or Hunter Killer by Geoffrey Jenkins
Gibraltar Road or The Man From Moscow by Philip McCutchan
The Manchurian Candidate* by Richard Condon
A Small Town in Germany or Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy * by John Le Carre
Ring of Roses or A Scent of New Mown Hay by John Blackburn
Rather a Vicious Gentleman by Frank McAuliffe
No Road Home by Geoffrey Rose
Village of Stars by Paul Stanton
Red Alert * by Peter George
Seven Days in May * by Fletcher Knebel and Charles Bailey II
Charade * by Peter Stone
Dark of the Sun (aka The Mercenaries and Last Train From Katanga) * by Wilbur Smith
Not Only the Same Sun by John Gordon Davis
Isle of Snakes or The Hoffman Miniatures by Robert L. Fish
False Beards (aka Barbouze) or Holy of Holies by Alan Williams
The Ordeal of Major Grigsby by John Sherlock
A Dandy in Aspic * by Derek Marlowe
The Liquidator * by John Gardner
I, Lucifer or A Taste for Death by Peter O’Donnell
Diecast by Michael Brett
Otley by Martin Waddell
For Kicks or The Edge by Dick Francis
The Wrath of God* as James Graham or East of Desolation as Jack Higgins
Black Camelot by Duncan Kyle
Passport for a Pilgrim (aka Where the Spies Are) * by James Leasor
Sergeant Death by James Mayo
Callan * as James Mitchell or The Man Who Sold Death as James Munro
The Ipcress File * or Funeral in Berlin * by Len Deighton
Spargo by Jack Denton Scott
Murderer’s Burning by S. H. Courtier
Tree Frog or Blue Bone by Martin Wodehouse
The Dolly Dolly Spy by Adam Diment
The Yermakov Transfer as Derek Lambert or Blackstone and the Scourge of Europe as Richard Falkirk
Chinaman’s Chance or The Singapore Wink by Ross Thomas
Assassin by Evelyn Anthony
Deadlight by Archie Roy
Her Cousin John or Crocodile On the Sandbank by Elizabeth Peters
Nightclimber by Jon Manchip White
Our Man in Camelot or Colonel Butler’s Wolf by Anthony Price (I’m not sure if one or both of these was adapted for the Terence Stamp David Audley series or not)
The Man From Greek and Roman by James Goldman
Night Probe or Treasure by Clive Cussler
Dolly and the Singing Bird or Dolly and the Starry Bird by Dorothy Dunnett

         1970’s

Stained Glass or Who’s On First? by William F. Buckley
A Flock of Ships by Brian Callison
The Wilby Conspiracy * by Peter Driscoll
The Scarlatti Inheritance or The Bourne Identity * by Robert Ludlum
Tank In Armor or The Heights of Zervos by Colin Forbes
Shibumi by Trevanian (Rod Whitaker)
Vandenberg * by Oliver Lange
The Day of the Dolphin * by Robert Merle
Day of the Jackal* by Frederick Forsyth
The Other Side of Silence by Ted Allbeury
Royal Flash or Flashman at the Charge by George MacDonald Fraser
Heights of Rim Ring by Duff Hart-Davis
Firefox * by Craig Thomas
Madonna Red by James Carroll
Eye of the Needle * or Night Over Water by Ken Follett
The Spy Who Sat and Waited by R. Wright Campbell
The Trans-Siberian Express by Warren Adler
Kiss Me Once as Thomas Maxwell or Assassini as Thomas Gifford
A Flag for Sunrise by Robert Stone
Sisters by Robert Littell
The Better Angels by Charles McCarry
The Sixth Directive by Joseph Hone
Code Name: Grand Guignol by Ib Melchior
Marathon Man by William Goldman
The Man Who Loved Mata Hari by Dan Sherman

         1980’s

November Man by Bill Granger
Metzger’s Dog by Thomas Perry
Daddy by Loup Durand
The Queen’s Messenger by W. L. Duncan
Yellowfish by John Keeble
Who Guards a Prince? as Reginald Hill or The Long Kill as Patrick Ruell
Shipkiller by Justin Scott
The Quest by Richard Ben Sapir
The Names by Don Delillo
The Two Thyrdes by Bertie Denhem
Winner Harris by Iain St. James
In Honour Bound by Gerald Seymour
The Frog and the Moonflower or The Power of the Bug by Ivor Drummond
Red Dragon * by Thomas Harris
The Seventh Sanctuary or Brotherhood of the Tomb by Daniel Easterman
The Eight by Katherine Neville
Embassy House by Nicholas Proffett
Imperial Agent by T. N. Murari
Sharpe’s Gold or Wildtrack by Bernard Cornwell
The Beasts of Valhalla by George Chesbro
Night Soldiers by Alan Furst
The Scorpion by Andrew Kaplan

   I’m sure someone will notice I did not choose a Fu Manchu novel for Sax Rohmer. Much as I like the Devil Doctor, I think the two I chose are among Rohmer’s best thrillers and better than any individual Fu Manchu titles. However if forced to pick a Fu Manchu I suspect The Masks of Fu Manchu and Daughter of Fu Manchu would be my choices.

   And just for arguments sake, here is a quick list of supernatural, lost world, and science fiction thrillers that only just miss the list:

Dracula * by Bram Stoker
The Beetle by Richard Marsh
The Mucker by Edgar Rice Burroughs
Marching Sands by Harold Lamb
The Flying Legion by George Allan England
Seven Footprints to Satan * and Creep Shadow * by A. Merritt
The Ghoul * by Frank King
The Aerodrome by Rex Warner
Ninth Life by Jack Mann
Undying Monster * by Jessie Douglas Keruish
The Ka of Gifford Hillary or The Star of Ill Omen by Dennis Wheatley
The Edge of Running Water * by William Sloane
Dark Freehold (aka The Uninvited) * by Dorothy MacArdle
Conjure Wife * by Fritz Leiber
Darker Than You Think by Jack Williamson
Sinister Barrier by Eric Frank Russell
Heroes Walk by Robert Crane
The Haunting of Hill House * by Shirley Jackson
Beyond Eden by David Duncan
The Main Experiment by Christopher Hodder-Williams
A is For Andromeda* or Andromeda Breakthrough* by Fred Hoyle and John Elliott
Fire Past the Future by Charles Eric Maine
The Man With Two Shadows by Roderick Macleish
The Other * by Tom Tryon
Salem’s Lot * by Stephen King
Lord of the Trees by Philip Jose Farmer
Neither the Sea Nor the Sand * by Gordon Honeycombe
Catholics * by Brian Moore
Somewhere in Time * or Hell House * by Richard Matheson
Running Wild by J. G. Ballard
The Further Adventures of Captain Gregory Dangerfield by Jeremy Lloyd
Runes by Christopher Fowler
Mutant 59 the Plastic Eaters * by Kit Pedler & Gerry Davis
The Andromeda Strain * by Michael Crichton

   Finally, honorable mention who did not make the list with a single book, but who deserve credit: George Goodchild, Hugh Cleverly, Berkeley Gray, Edmund Snell, Captain A. O. Pollard, Gerard Fairlie, Ernest Dudley, L. F. Hay, Francis Gerard, Richie Perry, John Newton Chance, Francis Durbridge, William Diehl, William Martin, Phyllis Whitney, Kenneth Royce, George B. Mair, Achmed Abdullah, A. E. Apple, Walter Wager, William Stevenson, Eric Van Lustbader, David Morrell, R. Vernon Beste, Nicholas Luard, Norman Lewis, David Gurr, A.W. Mykel, Michael Malone, David Lindsey, Dan Simmons, Hans Helmut Kirst, Lindsay Hardy, Alan Dipper, Marvin Albert, Ken Crossen, and too many others to list.

   Plus as a small army of writers whose work has appeared since my cut off date of 1990, including James Rollins, Jack Du Brul, Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child, Barry Eisler, Neal Stephenson, Matt Reilly, Anthony Horowitz, Boris Akunin, and many more.

   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.

   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.

   In mid-September 2010 the Library of Congress proudly announced that not only had it (the Library’s Moving Image Section) discovered some 68 rare British TV recordings in the Library’s National Educational Television (NET) Collection but they were handing over digital copies of this treasure trove representing Britain’s “golden age of television” to a very grateful British Film Institute (BFI).

   These treasures include such rare finds as Sean Connery and Dorothy Tutin in Jean Anouilh’s Colombe (BBC, 1960), the Zeffirelli-directed (stage) Much Ado About Nothing (BBC, 1967) and director-producer Rudolph Cartier’s Rembrandt (BBC, 1969).

   Perhaps for the crime and mystery buff, one of these treasures is (I am delighted to say) the 1966 BBC series Thirteen Against Fate, long considered “missing, believed wiped.” Now, along with the few surviving episodes held by the BFI, the discovery of the rest of the series (ten additional episodes from the Library of Congress) makes this, finally, a “complete” series. Soon, hopefully, all will be available for viewing; and, perhaps, one day, they’ll be out on DVD!

   The following quotes are from the the British editions of the daily newspapers:

   This seems like an appropriate opportunity to present an episode guide for your perusal:

A BBC production. Produced by Irene Shubik. Transmitted via BBC1: June to September 1966. Based on 13 non-Maigret stories by Georges Simenon.

1. The Lodger (transmitted 19 June)
Script: Hugh Leonard. Director: James Ferman.
Cast: Zia Mohyeddin, Gwendolyn Watts, Gemma Jones.
Based on Simenon story “Le Locataire” (1934).

2. Trapped (26 June)
Scr: Julia Jones. Dir: George Spenton-Foster.
Cast: Ronald Lewis, Keith Buckley, Sylvia Coleridge.
Based on “Cours d’Assises” (1941).

3. The Traveller (3 July)
Scr: Stanley Miller. Dir: Herbert Wise.
Cast: Kenneth J. Warren, Hywel Bennett, André van Gyseghem.
Based on “Le Voyageur de la Toussaint” (1941).

4. The Widower (10 July)
Scr: Clive Exton. Dir: Silvio Narizzano.
Cast: Joss Ackland, Henry Gilbert, Patricia Healey.
Based on “Le Veuf” (1959).

5. The Judge (17 July)
Scr: Hugh Leonard. Dir: Naomi Capon.
Cast: Alexander Knox, John Ronane, Peter Howell.
Based on “Les Témoins” (1955).

6. The Schoolmaster (24 July)
Scr: Alun Richards. Dir: Peter Potter.
Cast: Stephen Murray, Helen Cherry, Cyril Shaps.
Based on “L’Evadé” (1936).

7. The Witness (31 July)
Scr: John Hale. Dir: John Gorrie.
Cast: Pamela Brown, Daphne Heard, Moultrie Kelsall.
Based on “Le Haut Mal” (1933).

8. The Friends (7 August)
Scr: Anthony Steven. Dir: Michael Hayes.
Cast: Jessica Dunning, Frederick Jaeger, Sandor Elès.
Based on “Chemin sans issue” (1938).

9. The Survivors (14 August)
Scr: Stanley Miller. Dir: Rudolph Cartier.
Cast: Lila Kedrova, David Buck, Kathleen Breck, Terence de Marney.
Based on “Les Rescapés du Télémaque” (1938).

10. The Son (21 August)
Scr: Jeremy Paul. Dir: Waris Hussein.
Cast: Joan Miller, Simon Ward, Jack Woolgar, Clive Dunn, [way down the cast list] Lila Kaye.
Based on “Les Destins des Malous” (1947).

11. The Murderer (28 August)
Scr: Clive Exton. Dir: Alan Bridges
Cast: Frank Finlay, Michael Goodliffe, Annette Crosbie, Lyndon Brook.
Based on “L’Assassin” (1937).

12. The Suspect (4 September)
Scr: Donal Giltinan. Dir: Michael Hayes.
Cast: Marius Goring, Mary Miller, Peter Halliday.
Based on “Les Fiançailles de M. Hire” (1933).

13. The Consul (11 September)
Scr: Leo Lehman. Dir: John Gorrie.
Cast: Jonathan Burn, Michele Dotrice, Jeannette Sterke.
Based on “Les Gens d’en Face” (1933).

Editorial Comment: A complete listing of this recently uncovered cache of vintage BBC programs can be found here. (Scroll down.)

Hi Steve,

A while ago I asked you about man-on-the-run novels and you and David Vineyard gave me a magnificent reply. I am still working my way through that long list of books and shall be for quite some time! In the process I have already discovered several fine authors whom I had not known of, or read, before.

I have another enquiry that perhaps you and David can help me with. As well as man-on-the-run stories I enjoy reading tales of searches for buried treasures and artefacts. This type of story seems to have made a big comeback in recent years but it’s really the older novels I’m interested in. For example, one that I read a few weeks ago was David Dodge’s Plunder of the Sun, about lost treasure in Peru. Another was Archie Roy’s Deadlight, about a search on the Scottish Island of Arran for buried scientific notes that disclose a new technology.

Of course, once found, the “treasure” can turn out to be a Pandora’s Box, releasing something malicious or vengeful or deadly, and I like these kinds of stories too.

Can you and David, and the readers of your excellent blog, suggest any more such novels?

Thank you in anticipation,     — D.

And here’s David Vineyard’s reply:

Hmm, if you don’t mind I will forget anything past about 1990 so I don’t have to do too many of the Cussler and other types. Here is a quick list and perhaps it can be expanded upon by myself and others. I won’t go back so far as Rider Haggard and Stevenson, and I’ll limit myself to thrillers too.

THE THIRD HOUR by Geoffrey Household

VIVIERO LETTER and THE GOLDEN KEEL by Desmond Bagley

LEVKAS MAN, THE GOLDEN SOAK, and ISVIK by Hammond Innes

TREASURE by A.E. Hotchner

GIRL ON THE RUN by Edward S. Aarons

TROJAN GOLD and HER COUSIN JOHN and the entire Amelia Peabody series by Elizabeth Peters

THE SALZBURG CONNECTION by Helen MacInnes

BOY ON A DOLPHIN by David Divine

PLUNDER IN THE SUN, THE RED TASSEL by David Dodge

MURDER IN NEW GUINEA by John Vandercook

GRAIL by Ben Sapir

THE SECRET SCEPTRE and PRISONER OF THE PYRAMID by Francis Gerard

THE GYRTH CHALICE MYSTERY by Margery Allingham

GUARDIAN OF THE TREASURE (aka ISLAND OF TERROR) by Sapper

LIVE AND LET DIE by Ian Fleming

THE ROSE OF TIBET and THE MENNORAH MAN by Lionel Davidson

THE TREASURE OF SIERRA MADRE by B. Traven

THE LAST PLACE GOD LEFT by Jack Higgins

THE EYE OF THE TIGER and THE DIAMOND HUNTERS by Wilbur Smith

TWIST OF SAND, RIVER OF DIAMONDS and GRUE OF ICE by Geoffrey Jenkins

BRIDGE OF SAND and BROTHERS OF SILENCE by Frank Gruber

FEAR IS THE KEY by Alistair MacLean

BLACK ORCHID by Nicholas Meyer and Barry Jay Kaplan

THE Q DOCUMENT by James Robert Duncan

THE THIRTEENTH APOSTLE by Eugene Vale

PEKING MAN IS MISSING by Claire Tardashian

THE SAINT AND THE TEMPLAR TREASURE by Leslie Charteris

THE TOMB OF T’SIN by Edgar Wallace

THE GHOUL by Frank King

PRESTER JOHN by John Buchan

QUEST FOR THE SACRED SLIPPER by Sax Rohmer

THE WHITE SAVAGE by Edison Marshall

THE VENUS OF KOMPARA by John Masters

STONES OF ENCHANTMENT by Wyndham Martin (lost world novel featuring Anthony Trent)

THE SAPPHIRE by A.E.W. Mason

TREASURE FOR TREASURE by Justin Scott

TREASURE OF SAINTE-FOY by Macdonald Harris

TREASURE TRAIL by Roland Pertwee

Many of the Doc Savage novels as by Kenneth Robeson

GOLD BAIT by Walt J. Sheldon

MR. RAMOSI by Valentine Williams

GOLD IS WHERE YOU FIND IT by James B. Hendryx

BURNING DAYLIGHT by Jack London

GOLD OF ST. MATTHEW by Duff Hart-Davis

GOLD OF TROY by Robert L. Fish

GOLDEN BUDDHA by Capt. A. O. Pollard

THE GOLDEN SPANIARD by Dennis Wheatley

A DEADLY SHADE OF GOLD by John D. MacDonald

THE RAINBOW TRAIL by John Cunningham

MACKENNA’S GOLD by Will Henry

THE LAST TOMB by John Lange (Michael Crichton)

CONGO by Michael Crichton

APPOINTMENT WITH DEATH by Agatha Christie

THE TREASURE OF MATACUMBE by Robert Louis Taylor

TREASURE by Clive Cussler (and most of the Dirk Pitt novels)

THE MESSIAH STONE by Martin Caidin

THE MEDUSA STONE by Jack Du Bruhl

BLOOD ROYAL, BLIND CORNER, SHE FELL AMONG THIEVES, BERRY AND COMPANY by Dornford Yates (many of Yates novels involve some sort of treasure or loot)

THE PINK JUNGLE by Alan Williams

HIS BONES ARE CORAL and THE GOLDEN SALAMANDER by Victor Canning (both films, the former as SHARK by Sam Fuller with Burt Reynolds)

ANY OLD IRON by Anthony Burgess ( a modern family of British Jews are guardians of Excalibur)

APPOINTMENT WITH DEATH by Agatha Christie

THE GOLDEN HOARD by Philip Wylie (when the government called in gold a miser’s hoard becomes the focus of gangsters)

TREASURE OF MATACUMBE by Robert Louis Taylor

MARCHING SANDS and THE GARDEN OF EDEN by Harold Lamb (also some of his shorts from ADVENTURE about Khlit the Cossack deal with the lost treasures of Genghis Khan and the Hashishin)

THE MASK OF FU MANCHU and THE DRUMS OF FU MANCHU by Sax Rohmer

THE SANDS OF KARAKORAM by James Ramsey Ullman

THE MYSTERY OF KHUFU’S TOMB, THE NINE UNKNOWN, THE DEVIL’S GUARD, KING OF THE KHYBER RIFLES, THE IVORY TRAIL by Talbot Mundy

SPHINX by Robin Cook

THE GOLD OF MALABAR by Berkley Mather

THE NAUTICAL CHART by Arturo Perez-Reverte (a recent one, but worth reading)

THE ARROW OF GOLD by Joseph Conrad

IMPERIAL EXPRESS by James Bellah

TERENCE O’ROURKE GENTLEMAN ADVENTURER and THE POOL OF FLAME (both with Terence O’Rourke) by Louis Joseph Vance

THE SECRET OF SAREK, THE COUNTESS CAGLIOSTRO, 813, THE BLOND LADY, THE HOLLOW NEEDLE by Maurice LeBlanc (all Arsene Lupin and most dealing with his quest for the lost treasures of the Kings of France)

THE SPOTTED PANTHER by James Francis Dwyer

THE MATING OF THE BLADES (many titles) by Achmed Abdullah (NIck Romanov, a career Brit solider and the son of an Indian Princess and a Russian aristocrat, author of THE THIEF OF BAGHDAD and the screenplay for LIVES OF THE BENGAL LANCERS)

THE BLUE EYED MANDARIN by Stephen Becker

GOLD OF THE SEVEN SAINTS by Steve Frazee (western)

THE DEEP by Peter Benchley

WHITE WITCH OF THE SOUTH SEAS and ISLAND WHERE TIME STOOD STILL by Dennis Wheatley

JOURNEY TO ORASSIA by Alan Caillou

ZADOK’S TREASURE by Margot Arnold (Toby Glendower mystery)

THE FAMILY TOMB by Michael Gilbert

THE RIDDLE OF SAMPSON by Andrew Garve

THE CUP OF GOLD, THE ETRUSCAN TOMB, THE GREEK AFFAIR by Frank Gruber

THE DANCING MAN by P.M. Hubbard (one of the great thriller writers on any theme)

FIGUREHEAD by Bill Knox (a lost gold ship and a deadly feud on a Scottish island plus a possible monster — one of the Webb Carrick Fisheries Protection Service novel — yes, the Fish Police — also check out his Talos Cord series and as Noah Webster, his Jonathan Gaunt books)

THE CROWN OF COLUMBUS by Louise Edrich and Michael Dorris (good example of the literary version of the treasure hunt)

TARZAN AND THE FORBIDDEN CITY by Edgar Rice Burroughs (search for the ‘Mother of Diamonds’ also known as THE RED STAR OF TARZAN and basis for the serial THE NEW ADVENTURES OF TARZAN serialized on radio)

SEA GOLD by Ian Slater

OUT OF THE DEPTHS by Leonard Holton (Father Bredder on holiday goes scuba diving for treasure and murder)

RIPTIDE and ICE LIMIT by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Childs (okay, they are well into the later period but both outstanding)

THAI GOLD by Jason Shoonover ( not the greatest writer in the world, but interesting because the author is a treasure hunter and relic hunter in real life)

Many of Jonathan Gash’s Lovejoy books touch on treasure hunts

TEMPLE TOWER by Sapper aka H.C. McNeile (Bulldog Drummond hunts a treasure and battles a master criminal,Le Bossu, the Hunchback, in France)

THE NAME OF THE ROSE by Umberto Eco

THE CLUB DUMAS by Arturo Reverte-Perez

THE TAKERS by Jerry Ahern (UFO’s, lost Atlantis, the Antarctic — everything but the kitchen sink)

ICEBOUND by Rick Spenser (paperback original series but better written than usual, the VIKING CIPHER series)

THE ABOLITION OF DEATH by James Anderson

MYSTIC WARRIOR by Ryder Jorgenson [NOTE: See Comment #3 for the correction to this entry.]

THE POLLENBERG INHERITANCE by Evelyn Anthony

GRAVE DOUBT by Ivor Baker

THE TEMPLE TREE by David Beatty (gold-carrying plane crashes on a sacred Asian temple)

THE BUCKINGHAM PALACE CONNECTION by Ted Willis

SOLOMON’S QUEST by H. Bedford-Jones writing as Alan Hawkwood. A classic pulp adventure by the King of the Pulps one of the long running John Solomon series about cherubic Cockney businessman and adventurer Solomon — in this one he races to prevent evidence from being produced that could set the Mid-East aflame — namely that Mohammed converted to Christianity… Needless to say not politically correct. Also JOHN SOLOMON SUPER CARGO and many others.

BLACK CORAL by Nancy Ferguson

DAUGHTER OF THE HAWK by C. S. Forester. Englishwoman’s father leads a South American revolution.

THE WIND CHILL FACTOR, THE GLENDOWER LEGACY, ASSASSINI by Thomas Gifford

THE HOLLOW SEA, CLEFT OF STARS by Geoffrey Jenkins

A TASTE FOR DEATH by Peter O’Donnell. Modesty and Willie battle criminals looking for ancient treasure and using slave labor to do it.

THE LABYRINTH MAKERS by Anthony Price

TERROR KEEP by Edgar Wallace — Mr. J.G. Reeder finds love and treasure.

THE DIAMONDS OF LORETA by Ivor Drummond (Sandro, Colly, and Lady Jenny adventure)

Dear Steve,

Greetings from a total stranger. I wonder if you can spare me a few minutes of your time and some of your expertise.

I am a keen reader of the “man on the run” type of thriller novel. As you know, this is a sub genre where a person, usually male, finds himself pursued by a deadly enemy for most of the book. He has to elude his opponent in clever and creative ways before finally confronting him/ it/ them. I particularly like wilderness or countryside settings for these pursuits rather than urban ones.

I have read the few classic examples that I know of: Household’s Rogue Male, Watcher in the Shadows and Dance of the Dwarfs, and Buchan’s The Thirty-Nine Steps come to mind.

Now comes the inevitable question: do you know of any bibliographies or reading lists for this kind of thriller, or can you suggest some more authors and titles I should seek out?

Thank you in anticipation,     — D.

I passed the question on to David Vineyard, who quickly responded with the list that follows.     — Steve

   As a lover of the man on the run thriller myself, I’m glad to say there is quite a bit on it to be found at various sources.

   To begin with, look up a book called The World of the Thriller, by Ralph Harper. Harper was a British minister (religious kind, not political) and his book is mostly dedicated to the man on the run style thriller. There is also a good article on the subject in Dilys Winn’s Mystery Ink. The subject comes up in some of the books on the spy novel, too, since it is closely related. .

   Below I’ve done a sort of annotated list that deal with the subject in general. Generally it’s a British thing, but a few Americans, South Africans, and Canadians have contributed too.

   The first use of the man on the run theme was William Godwin’s (Mary Shelly’s father) Caleb Williams, the story of a man framed by his employer who ends up befriended by outlaws before clearing his name, though you could easily say the genre began with Homer and The Odyssey. Odysseus the man pursued by fate and the gods.

   Before Buchan came along, the model was established by Robert Louis Stevenson with Kidnapped, Catriona (sequel to Kidnapped), St. Ives (the story of an escaped Napoleonic soldier in England), and the novella “Pavillion on the Links.”

   Conrad also touches on it in his novel, The Rover, about a Frenchman who has to sink a British blockade ship during the Napoleonic wars. Elements of it figure in books like The Prisoner of Zenda, A.E.W. Mason’s The Four Feathers, and of course Victor Hugo’s Les Miserables.

   The Power House by John Buchan (1910) generally considered the first of the form and called by Graham Greene the first modern spy novel. Most of the pursuit is in London, but historically important.

   Prester John — a young man in Africa falls in with a hypnotic African leader who plots a bloody uprising.

   Mr. Standfast/Greenmantle/The Three Hostages/Island of Sheep — the adventures of Richard Hannay — all featuring the man on the run theme to one extent or the other.

   A Prince of the Captivity — stand alone novel by Buchan about a British agent who sets out to find a man he believes can save society from the dangers of fascism. Good details of his actions in WWI as an undercover agent, a rescue in the arctic, and a chase across the Alps pursued by Storm Troopers.

   Also by Buchan and touching the theme, The Dancing Floor, John McNab, Huntingtower, Castle Gay, House of the Four Winds and the historical novels Salute to Adventurers, Blanket of the Dark, and The Free Fishers.

    Also:

Riddle of the Sands by Erskine Childers — prophetic novel of two men who uncover a German plot to invade England prior to WWI.

Brown on Resolution by C.S. Forester — a British sailor with a rifle holds a German raider at bay on a desert island while the crew hunts him. Also a film as Sailor of the King.

The Great Impersonation by E. Phillips Oppenheim — a British nobleman in Africa is replaced by a German agent on the eve of WWI — or is he?

Francis Beeding — best known today for the book that became Hitchcock’s Spellbound, his series about Col. Alistair Granby are often of the man on the run variety. The Five Flamboys.

Valentine Williams — his novels featuring the German spy Clubfoot are often as not chase and pursuit novels with the British hero a hunted spy in Germany.

Household — virtually all of his books are on this theme — other than the ones you mention try The High Place, The Fifth Passenger (a humorous take), A Time to Die, A Rough Shoot, The Courtesy of Death, The Sending, and Red Anger.

Hammond Innes — the king of the British adventure story in the fifties — all of his novels are outdoor adventure with one man against the odds. The Wreck of the Mary Deare, Atlantic Fury, Blue Ice, White South, Campbell’s Kingdom, The Strode Venturer, Levkas Man.

Gavin Lyall — his early novels are much in the Innes mode with a touch of Eric Ambler — The Most Dangerous Game, Shooting Script, Venus With Pistol, Midnight Plus One. His later books are more often spy novels.

Desmond Bagley — South African writer in the Innes/Alistair MacLean mode — The Vivero Letter, High Citadel (a group of people stranded by a plane crash hunted by a South American army), Freedom Trap (filmed as MacIntosh Man), Running Blind, many more.

Wilbur Smith — several of his novels deal with the theme including A Time to Kill, Shout at the Devil, and The Diamond Hunters.

    Others:

Alistair MacLean — particularly the books Guns of Navarone, Night Without End, Fear is the Key, The Secret Ways, The Satan Bug, South By Java Head, When Eight Bells Toll, The Black Shrike

Duncan Kyle — Black Camelot, others

Anthony Trew — South African writer — variations on the theme

Mary Stewart — My Brother Michael, The Gabriel Hounds, Moonspinners, Wildfire at Midnight — romantic suspense, but with a strong Buchan/Hitchcock theme

Geoffrey Jenkins —South African writer — River of Diamonds, A Twist of Sand, A Grue of Ice, Hunter Killer

Douglas Orgill

Steve Frazee (Sky Block and Run Target)

Charles Williams (Man on the Run)

Q. Patrick (Man in the Net)

James Goldman (The Man From Greek and Roman)

Graham Greene (The Man Inside)

David Garth (most titles)

Edward Abbey (The Brave Cowboy — a modern cowboy in New Mexico flees across the Sangre de Cristos — filmed with Kirk Douglas and Walter Matthau as Lonely Are the Brave)

Gavin Black (the Paul Harris series)

Alan Furst (most of his novels feature protagonists who find themselves hunted by the Nazi’s)

Ethel Vance — Escape (an American has to save his German mother from the Nazi’s)

Helen MacInnes — the best woman writer of the genre — Above Suspicion, Assignment in Brittainy, Horizon, Pray for a Brave Heart, more

Martha Albrand — another woman with a taste for the man on the run theme

Dornford Yates — Storm Music, Cost Paid, She Fell Among Thieves — his heroes are usually on the run from the villains while hunting a treasure in some remote European location

Allan Caillou — actor and writer — many of his books are on the theme — Journey to Orassia, Rampage (a film with Robert Mitchum)

Ted Willis — Man Eater about a man hunting a man eating Tiger on the loose in rural England, Buckingham Palace Connection — a Brit in revolutionary Russia tries to save the Royal family

Victor Canning — one of the greats. Any of his books.

David Dodge — Plunder of the Sun, The Red Tassel, The Long Escape, To Catch a Thief, Angel Ransom

David Walker — Harry Black and the Tiger

John Masters — The Breaking Strain, Himalayan Concerto, Far Far the Mountain Peak, Lotus in the Wind — many of his novels feature the hero in classic chase and pursuit while others are more historical or adventure writers.

Berkely Mathers — The Achilles Affair, Without Prejudice (Mather co-wrote the screenplay of Dr.No) others.

Elleston Trevor — variations on the theme — also Adam Hall, many of the Quiller books have him on the run and alone — in fact most of them.

Nevil Shute — some of his novels follow the theme — So Disdained, Most Secret, Trustee in the Toolroom

Ernest Gann — variations on the theme particularly in Soldier of Fortune, Band of Brothers, The Aviator

Lawrence Durrell — White Eagles of Serbia a juvenile novel

Geoffrey Rose — A Clear Road to Archangel, No Road Home — outstanding and too little known in the US

Alan Williams — False Beards, Snake River, Holy of Holies.

Francis Clifford — Act of Mercy, The Naked Runner, more

Eric Ambler — Background to Danger, Epitaph for a Spy, Journey Into Fear, Cause for Alarm, The Schirmer Inheritance, A Kind of Anger, The Light of Day, Dr. Frigo

Jack Higgins — most of his books before The Eagle Has Landed fit the bill.

John Willard — The Action of the Tiger

Allan Dipper

Rupert Hart-Davis — The Heights of Rim Ring, Level 7

John Welcome — Run For Cover, Before Midnight good thrillers in the adventure vein

Archie Roy — Brit scientist whose books are often in the chase and pursuit vein of Buchan.

P.M. Hubbard — Kill Claudio — most of his books. Well worth finding. Similar to Household but not imitative.

Fred Hoyle — Buchanesque sf novel Ossian’s Ride.

L.P. Davies — some sf some thriller some mix the two. His heroes are frequently trying to find their identity while pursued by some threat

John Christopher— same mix

Desmond Cory — his hero Johnny Fedora often on the run from spies and the law

Michael Gilbert — some of his books fall into the genre such as The Etruscan Tomb, The Long Journey Home, The 92nd Tiger, Danger Route (based on his escape from an Italian POW camp in WW II).

Andrew Garve — some of his many novels fall into the category — Two if by Sea, Ascent of D-13, The Megstone Plot

Philip Loraine — Brit thriller writer and screenwriter — Dead Men on Sestos, Nightmare in Dublin, Break in the Circle.

Alan MacKinnon — hard to find but well worth it.

Donald Mackenzie — before his John Raven series his novels often featured small time crooks on the run from police and other crooks or spies.

Donald Hamilton — his non series novels, and even many of the Matt Helms fall into the general category.

Edward S. Aarons — Girl on the Run, chase for lost treasure in post war France

Frank Gruber — Bridge of Sand, Brothers of the Sword excellent Ambleresque adventures

Lionel Davidson — one of the best ever — Rose of Tibet, Night of Wenecslas, The Menorah Men, The Sun Chemist, Kolmsky Heights (read this one), Smith’s Gazelle

James Aldridge — The Statesmen’s Game, A Captive in the Land

George Macdonald Fraser — most of the Flashman novels feature Flashy hunted and pursued on all sides — very funny, and also the adventure novel done right.

Bernard Cornwell — several good modern thrillers and the Richard Sharpe series which often finds Sharpe and his friend Sgt. Harper hunted and on the run from Napoleon’s army and other enemies.

Mark Derby — hard to find, but good adventure thriller writer from the fifties and early sixties usually in the chase and pursuit vein.

Anthony Horowitz — his juvenile Alex Rider series often finds his young hero alone and on the run from his enemies — well written and not just for young readers.

Barry England — Figures in a Landscape — forget the awful movie — two men escape a brutal prison and flee across desert and mountains. A bit too literary, but well done.

Jon Manchip White — Nightclimber, Game of Troy — fine examples of the theme with almost Poe like touches.

Peter O’Donnell — you’d be surprised how often Modesty Blaise and Willie Garvin end up alone and hunted on all sides. Notably in Sabre-Tooth, A Taste for Death, The Impossible Virgin, The Last Day in Limbo, Night of Morning Star.

Norman Lewis — travel writer and adventure novelist. In real life escaped from an Italian POW camp in WW II with Michael Gilbert so he knows whereof he writes.

   Anyway, these will lead you to many others. Considering how simple the theme is, the variations are endless.

          David Vineyard

JOHN WELCOME – Stop at Nothing. Faber & Faber, UK, hardcover, 1959. Alfred A. Knopf, US, hc, 1960. Paperback reprint: Perennial Library P665, US, 1983.

   John Welcome was a British solicitor, anthologist, and novelist whose greatest claim to fame was that his list of clients included his long time friend Dick Francis. As an anthologist he edited a series of books such as Best Racing Stories and Best Secret Service Stories, that managed to reprint some less common stories than the usual retreads.

   As a solicitor he is in a long tradition of mystery writers including John Buchan, Dornford Yates, and Michael Gilbert, and his novels all have some of the qualities of those writers.

   Stop at Nothing is the second of his novels, and does not feature his series hero Richard Graham, a former steeplechase jockey. In this one the hero is Simon Herald, an amateur race driver (Formula One) who is a modern variation on the sportsman heroes of another age.

   That said, Herald occupies a world much closer to ours than that of Richard Hannay. As the back cover of the Perennial paperback edition says:

    “Pink champagne and barbiturates, Benzedrine for breakfast, and a glass of wine at Cap Ferat evoke the giddy glamour and insidious shadow of danger for Simon Herald …”

   It’s the world of the Jet Set and Euro Trash, new money, jaded appetites, and casual drug use, and at forty, Simon Herald doesn’t really fit into it. Still he accepts an invitation to a party at Clevendon Court (one of the two genuine Robert Adam houses in Ireland) held by the wealthy Mantovelli.

   There he meets Roddy Marston, a young riding champion in a bad temper, Stuart Jason, a tough polished thug who works for his host (“he fell in love with violence during the war and can’t forget it”), and Mantovelli himself: “His face was seamed and wrinkled and scarred with lines of age, he had very bright blue eyes as hard as polished steel.”

   An invitation to visit Mantovelli on his upcoming trip to France involves him with Roddy Marston’s sister, Sue, and finds him reluctantly helping the obnoxious Roddy as a result.

   This is familiar thriller territory, and you shouldn’t expect any surprises along the way. This is the literary equivalent of a good blended Scotch, smooth but with an appreciable kick. Magnificent mountains in Provence, the beauty of the Riviera, and powerful Bentley’s, Rolls, Ferrari’s, and Aston Martin’s are the accouterments of people playing dangerous games with lives often above or beyond the reach of the law.

   Simon Herald’s skill behind the wheel and his cool nerve make him the ideal man to negotiate these obstacles, and ultimately put pay to the nasty Mantovelli and his death-haunted henchman Jason.

   The writing is accomplished and the plotting sure. Barzun and Taylor suitably praised it, though they did ask rather archly if you could actually see lights, much less breathe, from the presumably air-tight boot of an Aston Martin.

   Still, minor things like that can be ignored when the thuggery is this sophisticated, the atmosphere this posh, and the derring-do starts on page one and doesn’t end until the last word on the last page.

   Anthony Boucher called it “… lively, vivid, and highly readable…,” which is exactly what you can expect.

   Welcome wrote several more novels, mostly international intrigue in this tradition with Richard Graham as the hero, as well as a good historical novel, Bellary Bay.

   Almost all of them have the qualities of a good film, say Hitchcock in To Catch a Thief mode, nothing serious, but a kind of light and accomplished professional thriller that too few writers today seem capable of writing.

   This is the perfect antidote to today’s bloated thrillers full of lunk-headed supermen and villains who wouldn’t pass muster in a bad comic book.

   Stop at Nothing is the next best thing to visiting the Cote d’Azur and meeting a beautiful girl for a bit of romance and adventure and glamour and good life on your own, and a good deal less tiring and dangerous. It is what used to be meant by the term escapist.

   At least, Welcome doesn’t have the hero drive from Gibraltar to Cannes in two hours like a certain geographically challenged best-selling thriller writer I recently encountered.

   Oh for the days when thriller writers could actually read a map.

   And write.

   Mike Ashley recently asked me for a list of mystery anthology publishers. As part of the process in generating that list, counts of the authors and stories in 2,244 anthologies were also produced.

   This was based on the latest edition of the Mystery Short Fiction Miscellany CD (available from Locus Press), excluding stories reprinted in single-author collections, round-robin novels, and magazines.

                Bill C.

    Authors with 40 or more stories that have appeared in mystery anthologies:

   Stories that have appeared in mystery anthologies 10 or more times:

  Bill,

   Thanks for generating those two lists.

   Hats off to Ed Hoch for topping the list as most anthologised — but then as the most prolific still active writer of short stories, maybe he ought to be up the top there somewhere. Still, it shows his work is sufficiently memorable, though clearly no single story stands out as he’s not in the second list.

   Conversely, Poe, Futrelle and Berkeley top the second list but don’t appear in the first. So we have a distinction here between writers who produce few major short stories but clearly a handful that hit the bullseye and those who produce many worthy stories but no individual one that stands out.

   Once we get to Ellery Queen and Agatha Christie, though, they hit both lists and evidently these are writers who can produce both quantity and quality.

   I think the first story that surprises me in the second list is Gardner’s “The Case of the Irate Witness”. It’s certainly not one that would have come instantly to mind and though I’m sure I’ve read it, I can’t bring it to mind at all! Intriguing to see Harry Kemelman’s “Nine Mile Walk” up there, too.

   I previously put forward the argument that many of those that will top the list will be because their work is out of copyright, but though this may be a factor in why Poe and Futrelle top list 2, it certainly doesn’t apply to most of the stories and clearly not the authors in list 1. I’m rather glad about that. Quality shines through rather than being able to use a story on the cheap.

               Mike A.