The 100 Best Mysteries of All Time

[MULTIZ321]

The 100 Best Mysteries of All Time
Selected by Mystery Writers of America/ Book Advice/ medium.com

"The Top 100 Crime Novels of All Time is a list published in book form in 1990 by the British-based Crime Writers’ Association. Five years later, the Mystery Writers of America published a similar list entitled The Top 100 Mystery Novels of All Time. Many titles can be found in both lists...."

Both lists are included in the link. I'm not familiar with Josephine Tey, she has more than one listing - she's now on my Books to read list.
I just learned about P.D.James this year , a prolific writer in her lifetime. I've enjoyed the couple of books I've read from her oeuvre.

Richard

 

[WalnutBaron]

Thanks, Richard. Great list! You've managed to add to Amazon's future revenues as I plan to purchase a number of these books for my Kindle.

 

["Roger"]

Thanks Richard. It is always interesting to see these sorts of lists. That having been said, like often happens, while agreeing with some on the list, I would take exception to others. Some more specific comments:

Josephine Tey's Daughter of Time is an absolute classic. It is unusual in that it is more than the usual fictional mystery, but an exploration of who really killed Richard III and whether he has gotten a bad rap for his reputation. It is not entirely a piece of fiction.

The first list includes quite a few items where I think it is a bit of a stretch to label them as mystery novels.

Not surprisingly, quite a few novels that are listed come from what is sometimes labeled as the golden era of mysteries. Some are fairly good, but, to be honest, some seem more quaint and dated. On top of that, one of the author's books contain some pretty blatant anti-antisemitism.

I forget which Sarah Cauldwell novels are which, but I think the one listed (The Shortest Way to Hades) is the one that is absolutely hilarious. Until seeing this list, I had forgotten about her. Great writer, but she started later in life and died prematurely from cancer.

A warning about Charles Dickens Mystery of Edwin Drood. I was totally immersed in this book. As it got toward the end, I wondered how he was going to wrap everything up. I get to the end and find out Dickens died before he finished the book. Nobody knows how, who some of the mysterious personages were, etc. This might be the greatest mystery novel of all time in that is ends up a total mystery.

 

[x3 skier]

Love Westlake and the Dortmunder books. "The Hot Rock" movie with Robert Redford is a classic!

Cheers

 

[bizaro86]

I was disappointed to see that Rex Stout was completely overlooked here. I've read the majority of the list, and would say he compares rather well to much of it.

 

[x3 skier]

I was disappointed to see that Rex Stout was completely overlooked here. I've read the majority of the list, and would say he compares rather well to much of it.

No.66

Cheers

 

[bizaro86]

No.66

Cheers

Lol. Apparently my reading comprehension isn't as good as I think it is. Thanks!

 

[MuranoJo]

I've read a few of these titles, but lots of great new read ideas, thanks.
Glad to see Tony Hillerman's A Thief of Time was on both lists--that was the one book that got me started on the Hillerman series.

 

[wackymother]

I've read Daughter of Time, years ago. There used to be a whole cult following for it, saying that Richard III got a bum rap for killing the princes in the Tower. The debate still rages on!
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/u...olved-after-more-than-500-years-10466190.html

 

[WalnutBaron]

No.66

Cheers

Here's a strong endorsement for Rex Stout's Nero Wolfe novels. Outstanding, and nearly all of them still in print nearly fifty years after he published his last one before Stout died.

No. 66 on the list is The Doorbell Rang, one of Rex Stout's best Nero Wolfe novels. But as one who has read nearly all of them, I would definitely put a few others ahead of it: Too Many Cooks, Some Buried Caesar, and Fer-de-Lance. The relationship between Nero Wolfe and his undaunted leg man, Archie Goodwin, is priceless. And Rex Stout's writing is wry, witty, and crisp. A couple of my favorite Archie Goodwin quotes: "I will ride my luck on occasion, but I like to pick the occasion" and then this one: "I would appreciate it if they would call a halt on all their devoted efforts to find a way to abolish war or eliminate disease or run trains with atoms or extend the span of the human life to a couple of centuries, and everybody concentrate for a while on how to wake me up in the morning without my resenting it.”

 

[x3 skier]

Nero Wolfe is at the top of my list. I had at one time all of his books in paperback. I always liked the ones when he was forced out of the house for an Orchid appointment or some other reason.

I have an old time Radio app on my phone that I use to play the Nero Wolfe (Sidney Greenstreet) radio shows in my car and keep looking for the short lived TV show om a streaming channel.

Cheers