to be the first police procedural told from the point of view of the details of the investigation, and fantastic.5. Ngaio Marsh - again, any, really - I'd pick one with Agatha Troy in it. (wife of the detective, Roderick Alleyn)6.Patricia Highsmith - the Ripley books were the start of something really else, but Strangers on a Train is great, much darker than the movie.7. James Cain, eg The Postman Always Rings Twice8. Raymond Chandler, any. (Lady in the Lake, perhaps?)9. Wilkie Collins, either The Woman in White or No Name or Armadale (The Moonstone, to my mind, has not stood the test of time so well because the police detective novel has been so regularly imitated, and dare I say it, developed in more interesting ways) 10. I've run out! So many more I could choose. Dorothy Sayers is a bit snobbish but she is a classic so one of hers , eg Nine Tailors or Have His Carcasse.If I may, I'll continue to a Baker's dozen:I was going to suggest John Franklin Bardin, who wrote three extrordinary novels - one could buy them in a three-in-one Penguin edition years ago. And I also highly recommend Julian Symons, a superb author. One of his earlier ones (pre1970), eg The Man who killed himself or the Solomon Grundy one. Finally, Maj Sjowell and Per Wahloo's books were mainly written after 1970 but Roseanna, the first, just about scrapes in and of all these old books, is perhaps the freshest today in terms of its lean prose and lack of "style of the times".Happy reading!
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Posted By: Stevie on: 05/25/2013 02:07:02 EDT