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Recommendations by Nick Fuller

Page history last edited by Jon 14 years, 7 months ago

I was recently contacted off list by somebody who wanted a list of must read detective stories or books that I particularly enjoyed.  Here are my choices - a fairly broad list, ranging from the early writers such as Mason and Orczy to modern writers such as Hill and Dexter, from the imaginative writers such as Gladys Mitchell and Michael Innes to drier writers such as Crofts and Rhode, and also including a fair slew of the Americans. 

 

There are several writers I haven't read very much of - e.g., McCloy, Lorac, Palmer, Stout, Bell, Erskine, Fitt - so if anybody wants to expand on this list, you're more than welcome.  (I wouldn't mind a reading list for those writers myself.)

 

MY LIST OF MUST READ DETECTIVE STORIES

 

 

EARLY WRITERS

 

E.C. BENTLEY

(Philip Trent)

Trent’s Last Case (1913)

Trent Intervenes (1938)

 

ERNEST BRAMAH

(Max Carrados)

Max Carrados short stories (1914–27)

 

G.K. CHESTERTON

(Father Brown)

The complete Father Brown stories (1911–35)

 

SIR ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE

(Sherlock Holmes)

The complete Sherlock Holmes (1887–1927)

 

R. AUSTIN FREEMAN

(Dr. Thorndyke)

The Eye of Osiris (1911)

The Mystery of Angelina Frood (1924)

The D’Arblay Mystery (1926)

As a Thief in the Night (1928)

Mr. Pottermack’s Oversight (1930)

The Stoneware Monkey (1938)

Dr. Thorndyke short stories (especially The Singing Bone)

 

A.E.W. MASON

(Hanaud)

At the Villa Rose (1910)

The House of the Arrow (1924)

The Prisoner in the Opal (1928)

 

BARONESS ORCZY

(The Old Man in the Corner)

The Old Man in the Corner stories

 

 

1920S WRITERS

 

H.C. BAILEY

(Reggie Fortune; Joshua Clunk)

Shadow on the Wall (1934)

The Sullen Sky Mystery (1935)

Black Land, White Land (1937)

The Bishop’s Crime (1940)

The Mr. Fortune short stories (1920–1940)

 

ANTHONY BERKELEY

(Roger Sheringham; Mr. Chitterwick)

The Silk Stocking Murders (1928)

The Poisoned Chocolates Case (1929)

The Piccadilly Murder (1929)

Top Storey Murder (1931)

Jumping Jenny (1933)

Trial and Error (1937)

As Francis Iles

Malice Aforethought (1931)

 

CHRISTOPHER BUSH

(Ludovic Travers)

Dead Man Twice (1930)

Cut Throat (1932)

The Case of the April Fools (1933)

The Case of the Missing Minutes (1937)

The Case of the Tudor Queen (1938)

 

G.D.H. & M. COLE

(Superintendent Wilson)

The Brooklyn Murders (1923)

The Death of a Millionaire (1925)

The Man from the River (1928)

Superintendent Wilson’s Holiday (1928)

Dead Man’s Watch (1931)

Death in the Quarry (1934)

 

J.J. CONNINGTON

(Sir Clinton Driffield)

Murder in the Maze (1927)

The Case with Nine Solutions (1928)

The Castleford Conundrum (1932)

The Ha-ha Case (1934)

Jack-in-the-Box (1944)

 

FREEMAN WILLS CROFTS

(Inspector French)

The Cask (1920)

The Groote Park Murder (1923)

Inspector French and the Starvel Tragedy (1927)

The Sea Mystery (1928)

 

MILWARD KENNEDY

The Murderer of Sleep (1932)

 

PHILIP MACDONALD

(Colonel Gethryn)

Murder Gone Mad (1931)

The List of Adrian Messenger (1960)

 

E.R. PUNSHON

(Bobby Owen)

Information Received (1933)

Crossword Mystery (1934)

Death Comes to Cambers (1935)

The Dusky Hour (1937)

Diabolic Candelabra (1942)

 

JOHN RHODE

(Dr. Priestley)

The Davidson Case (1929)

The Claverton Mystery (1933)

The Venner Crime (1933)

The Corpse in the Car (1935)

Death on the Board (1937)

Vegetable Duck (1944)

The Lake House (1946)

Death in Harley Street (1946)

As Miles Burton

(Desmond Merrion)

The Platinum Cat (1938)

Murder, M.D. (1943)

The Three Corpse Trick (1944)

 

HENRY WADE

(Inspector Poole)

The Missing Partners (1928)

The Duke of York’s Steps (1929)

No Friendly Drop (1931)

The Hanging Captain (1932)

Constable, Guard Thyself! (1934)

Heir Presumptive (1935)

The High Sheriff (1937)

 

 

CRIME QUEENS

 

MARGERY ALLINGHAM

(Albert Campion)

Police at the Funeral (1931)

Flowers for the Judge (1936)

Dancers in Mourning (1937)

The Case of the Late Pig (1937)

The Fashion in Shrouds (1938)

More Work for the Undertaker (1948)

Hide My Eyes (1958)

 

CHRISTIANNA BRAND

(Inspector Cockrill)

Green for Danger (1945)

Death of Jezebel (1949)

London Particular (1952)

Tour de Force (1955)

 

AGATHA CHRISTIE

(Hercule Poirot; Miss Marple)

The Murder of Roger Ackroyd (1926)

The Mysterious Mr. Quin (1930)

Lord Edgware Dies (1933)

Murder on the Orient Express (1934)

The ABC Murders (1936)

Murder in Mesopotamia (1936)

Cards on the Table (1936)

Murder in the Mews (1937)

Death on the Nile (1937)

Hercule Poirot’s Christmas (1938)

Ten Little Niggers (1939)

One, Two, Buckle My Shoe (1940)

Evil Under the Sun (1941)

Five Little Pigs (1942)

Towards Zero (1944)

The Labours of Hercules (1947)

A Murder is Announced (1950)

Mrs. McGinty’s Dead (1952)

After the Funeral (1953)

A Pocketful of Rye (1953)

The Pale Horse (1961)

 

NGAIO MARSH

(Superintendent Roderick Alleyn)

Death in Ecstasy (1936)

Artists in Crime (1938)

Overture to Death (1939)

Death at the Bar (1940)

Surfeit of Lampreys (1941)

Death and the Dancing Footman (1942)

Colour Scheme (1943)

Final Curtain (1947)

Scales of Justice (1955)

Off With His Head (1957)

Singing in the Shrouds (1959)

Clutch of Constables (1968)

 

GLADYS MITCHELL

(Mrs. Bradley)

Speedy Death (1929)

The Mystery of a Butcher’s Shop (1929)

The Saltmarsh Murders (1932)

Death at the Opera (1934)

The Devil at Saxon Wall (1935)

Dead Men’s Morris (1936)

Come Away, Death (1937)

St. Peter’s Finger (1938)

Brazen Tongue (1940)

When Last I Died (1941)

The Rising of the Moon (1945)

Death and the Maiden (1947)

Tom Brown’s Body (1949)

The Echoing Strangers (1952)

Merlin’s Furlong (1953)

The Twenty-third Man (1957)

 

DOROTHY L. SAYERS

(Lord Peter Wimsey)

Unnatural Death (1927)

Lord Peter Views the Body (1928)

The Documents in the Case (1930)

The Five Red Herrings (1931)

Have His Carcase (1932)

Murder Must Advertise (1933)

The Nine Tailors (1934)

Gaudy Night (1935)

 

 

AMERICAN WRITERS

 

ANTHONY BOUCHER

(Fergus O’Breen)

The Case of the Seven of Calvary (1937)

The Case of the Crumpled Knave (1939)

 

JOHN DICKSON CARR

(Dr. Gideon Fell)

The Corpse in the Waxworks (1932)

Hag’s Nook (1933)

The Mad Hatter Mystery (1933)

The Blind Barber (1934)

The Three Coffins / The Hollow Man (1935)

The Arabian Nights Murder (1936)

The Murder of Sir Edmund Godfrey (1936)

The Crooked Hinge (1938)

The Problem of the Green Capsule (1939)

The Seat of the Scornful (1941)

The Emperor’s Snuffbox (1942)

He Who Whispers (1946)

The Sleeping Sphinx (1947)

The Devil in Velvet (1951)

The Nine Wrong Answers (1952)

As Carter Dickson

(Sir Henry Merrivale)

The Plague Court Murders (1934)

The Red Widow Murders (1935)

The Unicorn Murders (1935)

The Punch and Judy Murders (1936)

Death in Five Boxes (1938)

The Reader is Warned (1939)

Nine—and Death Makes Ten (1940)

The Department of Queer Complaints (1940)

She Died a Lady (1943)

 

C. DALY KING

(Captain Lord)

Obelists Fly High       (1935)

 

HELEN MCCLOY

(Dr. Willing)

The Deadly Truth (1941)

Who’s Calling? (1942)

Through a Glass, Darkly (1950)

The Pleasant Assassin (2003)

 

STUART PALMER

(Miss Withers)

The Green Ace (1950)

 

ELLERY QUEEN

(Ellery Queen)

The French Powder Mystery (1930)

The Greek Coffin Mystery (1932)

The Siamese Twin Mystery (1933)

The Adventures of Ellery Queen (1934)

As Barnaby Ross

(Drury Lane)

The Tragedy of X (1932)

The Tragedy of Z (1933)

 

CLAYTON RAWSON

Death from a Top Hat (1938)

 

REX STOUT

(Nero Wolfe)

Too Many Cooks (1938)

Some Buried Caesar (1939)

Over My Dead Body (1939)

 

HAKE TALBOT

(Rogan Kincaid)

Rim of the Pit (1944)

 

S.S. VAN DINE

(Philo Vance)

The “Canary” Murder Case (1927)

The Greene Murder Case (1928)

The Bishop Murder Case (1929)

The Scarab Murder Case (1930)

The Kennel Murder Case (1933)

 

 

1930S WRITERS

 

JOSEPHINE BELL

(Dr. Wintringham)

Death at Half Term (1939)

Death at the Medical Board (1944)

 

NICHOLAS BLAKE

(Nigel Strangeways)

A Question of Proof (1935)

Thou Shell of Death (1936)

The Case of the Abominable Snowman (1941)

Head of a Traveller (1949)

The Widow’s Cruise (1959)

 

LEO BRUCE

(Sergeant Beef)

Case for Three Detectives (1936)

 

MARY FITT

(Superintendent Mallett)

Requiem for Robert (1942)

 

ANTHONY GILBERT

(Arthur Crook)

The Clock in the Hat-box (1939)

 

CYRIL HARE

(Francis Pettigrew)

Suicide Excepted (1939)

Tragedy at Law (1942)

An English Murder (1951)

 

GEORGETTE HEYER

(Superintendent Hannasyde)

A Blunt Instrument (1938)

No Wind of Blame (1939)

Envious Casca (1941)

 

RICHARD HULL

The Murder of My Aunt (1934)

Excellent Intentions (1938)

 

ELSPETH HUXLEY

(Superintendent Vachell)

Murder at Government House (1937)

Murder on Safari (1938)

Death of an Aryan (1939)

The Merry Hippo (1963)

 

MICHAEL INNES

(Inspector Appleby)

Death at the President’s Lodging (1936)

Hamlet, Revenge! (1937)

Lament for a Maker (1938)

Stop Press (1939)

The Daffodil Affair (1942)

The Weight of the Evidence (1944)

>From London Far (1946)

What Happened at Hazelwood (1946)

A Night of Errors (1947)

The New Sonia Wayward (1960)

 

RUPERT PENNY

(Inspector Beale)

Policeman’s Holiday (1937)

The Lucky Policeman (1938)

 

JOSEPHINE TEY

(Inspector Grant)

Brat Farrar (1949)

To Love and Be Wise (1950)

The Daughter of Time (1951)

 

CLIFFORD WITTING

(Inspector Charlton)

Catt Out of the Bag (1939)

Dead on Time (1948)

 

 

POST-WWII WRITERS

 

PETER ANTONY (=Peter & Anthony Shaffer)

(Mr. Verity)

The Woman in the Wardrobe (1951)

Withered Murder (1955)

 

EDMUND CRISPIN

(Professor Gervase Fen)

The Case of the Gilded Fly (1944)

Holy Disorders (1945)

Swan Song (1947)

Love Lies Bleeding (1948)

The Long Divorce (1951)

 

MARGARET ERSKINE

(Inspector Finch)

The Woman at Belguardo (1961)

 

MICHAEL GILBERT

Smallbone Deceased (1950)

Death Has Deep Roots (1951)

Death in Captivity (1952)

The Dust and the Heat (1967)

 

 

MODERN WRITERS

 

COLIN DEXTER

(Inspector Morse)

The Silent World of Nicholas Quinn (1977)

The Dead of Jericho (1981)

The Wench is Dead (1989)

 

PETER DICKINSON

(Inspector Pibble)

Skin Deep (1968)

The Seals (1970)

King and the Joker (1976)

 

CHRISTOPHER FOWLER

The Water Room (2004)

Ten Second Staircase (2006)

 

REGINALD HILL

(Dalziel & Pascoe)

Under World (1988)

Recalled to Life (1992)

Pictures of Perfection (1994)

The Wood Beyond (1995)

On Beulah Height (1998)

Dialogues of the Dead (2001)

The Stranger House (2006)

 

P.D. JAMES

(Commander Adam Dalgliesh)

A Mind to Murder (1963)

Shroud for a Nightingale (1971)

The Black Tower (1975)

Death of an Expert Witness (1977)

A Taste for Death (1986)

 

H.R.F. KEATING

(Inspector Ghote)

The Dog It Was That Died (1962)

The Perfect Murder (1964)

Inspector Ghote’s Good Crusade (1966)

Inspector Ghote Goes by Train (1971)

Inspector Ghote Draws a Line (1979)

Under a Monsoon Cloud (1986)

 

RUTH RENDELL

(Inspector Wexford)

Wolf to the Slaughter (1967)

An Unkindness of Ravens (1985)

Kissing the Gunner’s Daughter (1992)

The Crocodile Bird (1993)

 

JULIAN SYMONS

The Thirty-first of February (1950)

The Plot Against Roger Rider (1973)

The Blackheath Poisonings (1978)

Death’s Darkest Face (1990)

 

 

ONE-OFFS

ROMILLY & KATHERINE JOHN

Death by Request

 

C.P. SNOW

Death Under Sail

 

WILLIAM WIEGAND

At Last, Mr. Tolliver

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